Mane Effect

Chapters

Prologue: The Shepard's Lament
Chapter 1: Welcome Aboard the Normanedy
Chapter 2: Dis-Utopia
Chapter 3: Eclipsed
Chapter 4: The Heart of a Galaxy
Chapter 5: Underbelly
Chapter 6: Hammerfall
Chapter 7: The Shepard's Flight
Chapter 8: The Dig
Chapter 10: Hidden Gem
Chapter 11: Guise of Night
Chapter 12: Rust Bucket
Chapter 13: Living the Nightlife
Chapter 14: The Wrench in the Machine
Chapter 15: Breaking Point
Preface: The M.A.N.E Effect
Chapter 9: Miscommunication

Prologue: The Shepard's Lament

Prologue: The Shepard’s Lament

“Am I the right pony to protect the Galaxy? I’ll let you be the judge.”

Choice.

Throughout our entire lives, we are plagued with choice. From the first words we say as foals, to the last words we say before we inevitably pass on into the ether beyond, we can never escape the decisions we must make to survive. We seldom think we are the only pony who has to make the hardest choices, but we don’t often stop to think about the choices made by others and how they affect us. Or the choices we make and how they affect others. I’d like to feel that the choices that I made were the more difficult than most, and the ponies I have known in my life would probably agree.

Yet here I am, surrounded by the consequences of every decision I have made in my life thus far and those affected by them, seeking answers, recompense, and justice. I’ve done a great deal in the past few years, the results will change the face of our galaxy forever, for better or worse. I did things that some would call heroic, and things that some would call barbaric. But I did them, nopony else. Just me.

I’m not proud of some of the things I have done, but even knowing what I know now, I would probably make the same choices. I don’t believe in the concept of fate. I grew up believing that the choices we make in life mattered , whether they were small or significant. Sure it would have be easier to believe that our lives were plotted out before us, but what fun is there in life if you aren’t in control? The idea of legacy is what drove me to appreciate my role in life. I knew where I came from and I was certain that, if I my made the choices that I felt were the best, regardless if they were right or wrong, I knew where I was going. I was leaving behind something for the future, knowing that I made my mark on the universe. Even my legacy has its tragic beginnings.

What would one hope to learn from a story such as this? To hear the tale of a fallen hero? Or the history of a traitor? Are you looking to learn where I went wrong, or just to find new evidence to lend credence to my convictions? Personally, I don’t give a damn either way. This is a story no pony has heard except the ones who were there. Those who are still alive anyways. The only evidence I have to put forward are the things I have seen, heard and done; and I doubt any of you will believe any of it. Why would you? I’ll tell you what I think. Ponies believed in me once, and there is no reason they can’t believe in me again, here and now. This is a story that everypony should hear, so they know why I did what I did.

Where to begin then? That’s never easy. Some ponies think that stories only have one definite beginning and one definite end. They are wrong. Look at my file, and what will you see? Shepard, Commander, Earth Born, Hero. What does any of that explain about me? Nothing. Let me add some context to the events before my life really started. My story starts much sooner than most would guess. I could easily doubt anyone knew or cared about my life before I became a hero. I was ghost unnoticed by the failed system above. Before I was a Commander, before I was a soldier, before I was even some pony named Shepard. I was alone, unloved and unappreciated. So let’s start with that.

Earth. Yea, Earth. A lush, verdant world filled with beautiful flora, fauna, and a powerful civilization on the cusp of interstellar travel and intergalactic relations, and we name it after dirt. Brilliant. That was my home for the first half of my life, and I wouldn’t easily dismiss it as the boring half. The great towering metropolitan cities that dotted the surface of our homeworld were quite the sight to see. The grand skyscrapers looming high in the sky, even above the clouds themselves, brought a level a majesty that you would read in old stories. But the higher the cities rose, it was inevitable that the shadows they cast on the world below them would grow, and the spaces in between them began to teem with unsavory creatures. The depraved, the desperate, the unfortunate, and the unforgivable. So where did I fit in with all this? Well, if you can imagine the lowest possible rung of society, and go down a few more steps, you would be close to where I ended up.

Growing up an orphan in a city slum would not have been my first choice. What I remember of my parents is barely more than a whisper in the back of my mind now. ‘You are our most precious star’ seems to repeat most often, but I had little time for those memories after they were gone. Even in the so called advanced society we lived in, metropolis slums still sucked. The authorities didn’t care to help. They were too scared for their own lives to deal the gangs and drug cartels that roamed the underground freely. I didn’t blame them. The things that ponies did in the shadows of this city would give nightmares to a Manticore.

I was just trying to survive the life I was given. The life I lived there, on Earth. Not out in space, our newest broken threshold. First contact happened when I was barely babbling coherent words. None of it really interested me. I watched some vids or heard some gossip about the wars that broke out or the peace that followed, but I just didn’t care. I was more interested in surviving down there.

Living on the streets was as easy as one would guess. Fighting through groups of desperate ponies and other muck dwellers, as well as the pains of your own weakening body, inching through poverty stricken streets with your head hung low to avoid drawing attention to yourself. Your head would be pounding, your stomach would be screaming, almost begging for that next meal even if it was somepony else’s garbage. Even on a day where the markets were quiet, and you would snatch from an untended stall and bolt, there was the running. The running to avoid getting caught as if your life depended on it. No law down there meant you had to make your own, and being caught by those with nothing to lose was more terrifying than being caught by the law. If you managed to survive a day of scraping food together and remaining unseen, then you only had one further challenge to go; finding a place for the night. You could luck out and find an unlocked venting shaft and keep warm, though the noise would keep you awake and you seldom fit in them for long. Or you would just find a box in a dark alley that felt just a tiny bit warmer than it did outside. Just a day in the life I used to live. In circumstances like those, you either grow up quick or die. So I did what was necessary, and to my credit, I got really good at it.

I found in between scavenging food and shelter that the slums had no shortage of junk to take either. At first I wouldn’t have paid it a second glance, being far more interested in collecting food. As I got older though, I started to view it in vastly different ways. Where one would see simple metal sheets laying in a gutter, I would see that if propped together, they would serve as a suitable metal tent from the rain. I started adding bits of scrap into my saddlebags in addition to finding food and if I managed to find a suitable shelter that night, I would spend countless hours looking for ways to tinker them together. I would find sheets of metal and make a shelter, I would find bits of old circuits and make them into functional circuit boards. My fascination in manipulating salvage into working tech evolved into a passion, a passion that at times overtook my desire to find food. The only reason my passion didn’t grow into a full blown obsession was the limitations of self teaching. Thankfully, they had institutions for that even in the poorer neighborhoods that I frequented.

I tried schools from time to time, if only to get the book-smarts on how computers worked. Didn’t really need it for long though, since I had managed to hack my own way into the registries before they even started to teach math. It wasn’t very long before I was just loitering, plain and simple. It kept me out of the streets, and gave me the occasional meal. I could never stay in one place for too long. They would eventually ask me about home, or about my parents. That was the tell all sign that it was time to leave. Eventually I ran out of schools to con and just stopped trying. I had learned what I needed, at least enough that I could challenge myself further with bigger fish.

Police presence was always high in the gutters. You could always feel their presence, even if you never saw a single officer. They had outposts in place to intimidate the gangs into obedience, not that it ever worked. I doubted they even had actual ponies attending to them, just mechs. Which made stealing from them all the easier. It was exhilarating to be stealing from the law’s cookie jar. A few schematics here, a few payroll deductions there. I even once managed to disable an entire automated outpost and took some higher quality equipment while the guard drones just stared at me absently. I even took them too. It’s not like Stable was using them for anything useful.

I don’t know why I was drawn to scrapyards every night. Maybe part of me thought technology would be the source of my cutie mark. After countless months and no mark to speak of, I figured I was meant for something even greater. Besides, who wants a picture of a welding torch as their cutie mark anyways? I became skilled enough to rebuild old loading drones, and even give them meager armaments for protection. Raiding salvage yards became easier, as did life. It was only natural that I would eventually attract attention from others. The kind your mothers would warn you about.

Some of the lesser gangs eventually caught wind of my less-than legal exploits. They were nice enough about my recruitment at least. No boring paperwork, or long interview process. Nope. Just pounce on me when I’m not paying attention and drag me to their lynchpony. Great outreach program. They did give a kid like me a decent enough opportunity. Steal lots of stuff, and you don’t get shot. In the interest of self preservation I complied dutifully. I didn’t appreciate being dragged down to their level, but I also preferred it to not being on the receiving end of a gang beating.

They gave me simple enough jobs. They did the shooting, I did the stealing. I was grateful for that at least, not being forced to bear actual blood on my own hooves. I realized I was still helping them with their dirty work regardless, but it was the only solace I could find to get myself to sleep at night. They attacked everything I would expect them to: other gangs, the authorities, even poorly defended shelters. Lines were being crossed, lines I would have never dared to step over. I was in the bowels of Earth Pony society, no pony was looking out for me, no pony cared about me, least of all these criminals. I was not yet convinced that I was a horrible pony like them. I was still clean from everything that this crap world threw at me. Until the scum I was forced into aiding crossed a line even the monsters of nightmares would not cross.

Raiding homeless shelters was one thing. Rounding up the newly orphaned fillies and colts like cattle was beyond what I could handle. Slavery, they said, carting these poor foals about like goods to sell at the market. I thought that sort of thing had been abolished centuries ago, but I guess some things never die. Things had to change. I had to choose; my own flank, or the well being of theirs. I had to get the buck out of there, and they gave me the perfect resources to break their own chains.

My newest employment opportunity due to recent company growth ( I kept telling myself that to soften the fact that I was working for depraved psychoponies) was attaching crude collars to the newly acquired merchandise: explosive slave collars. The overseers seemed to trust me enough to not watch me while doing the deed, or at least think I was weak and terrified enough to not dare defy them. Foals. All I had to do was prove that the collars worked on stuffed dummies, and they instantly believed that they were the real deal as I strapped them to the terror stricken foals.

I kept the explosives for myself. Week by week I snuck about the compound laying them in innocuous places that few bothered to frequent. I was planning a party with a great fireworks display, not a theatrical final act. I was not as twisted as them, and was not prepared to lower myself to murder just for the sake of others. There was always a better way, and I had found it. I was going to get these fillies and colts out of here, and I was going to kill as few ponies as possible in the process.

As well as strapping on the collars, I was also given the task of keeping an eye on the foals and keeping them quiet. The perfect opportunity to build trust with them, and show that I was a friend, not an enemy. I snuck them extra rations to keep them quiet, and read them what meager stories I could to help them through the night. They didn’t trust me at first, which was understandable since I was the one that attached the source of their nightmares to their necks. The older ones tentatively came to trust me, not enough for names, but enough for trust. I took great care in alerting them to my plan, because everything hinged on everything coming together perfectly.

Eventually the perfect opportunity presented itself for me to throw a wrench in this gang’s new business venture. If there was one thing you could count on down in the slums to ruin a gang’s day, it was another gang. Explosions and gunfire rattled the heaps of scrap and debris that comprised most of the compound’s walls. Knowing full well that my contract here did not stipulate combat involvement (Yes, I was getting tired of the business-speak allegories at this point too), I managed to sneak into the lower areas of the compound where the foals were being kept. They were understandably frightened at the conflict raging above. The colts that I had befriended looked to me expectantly. I nodded at them, it was show time.

I had been there for several months even before the gang had begun to cart in the foals for slave traders, and had a thorough knowledge of the compound’s layout. I instructed the older colts to keep the rest of the foals quiet while we navigated to the surface. I was expecting, as a worst case, a few guards remaining inside to deal with infiltrators, or escapees. I was right, unfortunately, but I always made a point to have a back up plan. The charges I had rigged were set off if the collars went out of range of the transmitter; the collars that were still being worn by the foals. My plan actually depended on the fact that the explosives would go off after we were sufficiently away to not risk getting caught in the blast. It looked like I was going to have to improvise.

It was a safe bet that the only guards left in the base would also be the least capable, so coming up with an effective plan to remove them wasn’t hard in the slightest. It was getting rid of them without killing them or alerting them to the fact that I had two dozen or so prisoners behind me that was the problem. The best way to occupy them was to make them think the compound was compromised from the battle above, so I had to detonate some of my explosives early. My transmitter was jury rigged at best, and even I could not feel confident in its use. The rogue signal could just as easily set off all the bombs, bringing the entire place on our heads. There was no time for second doubts. It was time to light that candle.

The explosions worked, barely. Nearly half of what I had laid went off at once, much more than I wanted. Thankfully it was the half that was on the far side of the base, earning the attention of everypony that could possibly get in our way. I heard screaming and shouting through static and broken radios; the base was on full alert, leaving the area we were in completely vacant. With a reprieve at last, I ushered the foals through the winding corridors, with nary an incident, to their freedom, and mine.

We ran for as long as we could to escape their reach, resting and laying low as best we could to avoid recapture, until we heard later that both gangs had nearly wiped each other out, and had nothing left. We were safe, from them at least, but we were still homeless, still alone in the ghetto. The rest of the foals begun to warm to me, naturally.I couldn’t just leave them on their own and go back to living on my own. They needed me, and as much I would have hated to admit it then, I needed them.

They looked up to me, like the parents they never had, like the parents I never had. I just did what felt right. I used what skills I had to build them shelter, and provide them with food, some stolen, some we made ourselves. It was no paradise, but it was home. These kids were my family now, and I was going to do my best to protect them.

We grew up quick together, and it kept us alive. Everypony had their skills, some even had their cutie marks to prove it. Some could cook, some could scavenge, some could even stay perfectly hidden, which would be the most useful skill to have down here. Being noticed got you killed, didn’t matter who did the noticing. Any time we felt our home was threatened, we left for greener pastures. Well, as green as you can get with rusty metal heaps and piles of refuse. We never would risk fighting over a plot of land that didn’t rightly belong to anypony. We were foals, not fighters.

We shared everything together. Our lives, our treasures, even our birthdays. The day we became a family would be the most precious day to us forever. Funny enough, it happened to be the same day as my real birthday, but they didn’t know that. Our family birthday would always be that much more special for me, and we always hoped those days would never end.Until the one birthday that changed everything forever. It was the one I’ll never forget, the one I wish could forget; our final birthday together. That day will be with me forever.

They had found us. I don’t know how, but they found us. A gang that we had been stealing scrap from had followed us after one of our raids. I was stupid because of what day it was. It was our day of celebration, our birthday. I felt invincible on those days. And I led them right to us. We had long since found a permanent home in the remnants of an old space shuttle graveyard, miles from the city. We still had to go into the city for working parts, this place had been here for decades, not one piece of usable tech to be found anywhere. We used an old train rail to load it between the city limits and the shuttle yard.

I had no idea that the gang was vindictive enough to consider scrap to be their property, or that they were smarter than they appeared. They were watching us the whole time, and I never noticed. I used to always keep an old signal scanner to watch for cameras or radios that would give us away, but we never had problems, so I stopped using it. I got complacent, and I ruined everything.

They had tech savvy ponies of their own. They followed us right to the rail yard, to our home. They had time to plan, to prepare, and they picked to perfect time to attack;Right in the middle of our birthday dinner. There was no cake, no sweets, no presents, but it was still the greatest dinner we ever had all year, and those monsters crashed it and they ruined everything.

The alarms I had set up went off late, but looking back on it now, late was better than not at all. The cameras I had were fuzzy at best, but I could see them, dozens of them. The foals started to scream, the fillies started to cry, and the colts looked to me with pleading eyes. I knew what had to be done, but even I doubted it would work. We had a safe house here, sort of. It was a hole in the ground, with one way in and one way out. I led everypony inside, knowing full well that I was probably leading them to their grave.

I never told them that I had planned for this. I didn’t think it would be necessary. I found all sorts of things useful for defense in our raids, but I had always told the foals how dangerous the stuff we found was and to stay away from it. Most of it was old rifles, pistols and old worn out ammunition; The weapons themselves were useless, but the parts would make for some excellent explosives. The foals never knew that I had built mines and laid them all over the shuttle just in case. I had hoped never having to actually use them, but this was my fault, my burden to bear.

I watched from my makeshift command center as dozens of the psychopaths began stampeding into our home, unaware of the small metal discs that they were stepping over. I held the detonator in my hooves, hesitantly. These ponies, these angry, downtrodden, murderers without compassion or kindness were descending upon us with intent to kill or worse, and I couldn’t press the button. I couldn’t bring myself to their level. I wasn’t a murderer. I was just a dumb foal, trying to protect my family, but not like this.

I sent everything else I had left at the intruders; anything that might slow them down. I heard the explosions and gunfire ring out from all directions, shaking the very foundations that kept the scrapheap from falling on our heads. Accomplishing what I could, I raced to the safe house to keep everypony calm. The safe house could be easily described as a metal box twenty feet deep in the earth. From what I could tell when I was digging this place out, it used to be an engine core. Heavily re-enforced, deep under the wreckage and rubble of the junkyard, and reeking of several unidentifiable fluids, it was the perfect place to hide, not the best place to die.

I entered the dilapidated reactor, feeling dozens of eyes upon me. I searched across their faces, terror and panic evident on each and every one. I had long since lost my voice amidst the chaos. What could I say to them? That we were about to die? I did what any responsible guardian would do; I huddled together with them, to comfort them as best I could. I could feel the fear pouring out from the others, but I held them firmly, assuring them it would be ok. I was lying of course, but they didn’t need to know that either.

The gunfire roared endlessly from above. Seconds stretched into stale hours, as the explosions drew closer and closer to our hiding place. Eventually the gunfire began to slow, replaced by shouting and screaming. The walls of the room were thick, and I could not discern what was being said, only the emotion behind the words. First was confusion, perhaps they did not know where we were? Then came anger, they were clearly agitated to have come all this way for no bloodshed. Then....panic. The shell that we hid in trembled violently, a great swooping roar echoed from all directions. Gunfire erupted from above us once again. Whoever was outside was screaming in panic. One by one the sources of the muffled shouting from above vanished into silence.

Then nothing. For what felt like an eternity I heard nothing. The others had quieted down, believing that the worst was over, but I knew better. Something was wrong. I stepped away from the others, and trotted cautiously over to the door. I placed my ear to the wall, listening intently for anything that could tell me what was going on.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

I stumbled backwards in surprise. Even in light of what was going on, some of the foals giggled at my display of acrobatics. I regained what grace I had left and moved back to the door. Then I did something that I deemed immediately in retrospect to be the, single, dumbest, thing I had ever done in my life. I knocked back.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

A voice called out from the other side. It was deep, strong and commanding, but It also betrayed a feeling of safety and trust to me. “You can come out now. It’s all over.”

Every fiber of my instincts protested that this was not our salvation. It could have been a trap, a convincing lie to get us to expose ourselves to the slaughter. It took great difficulty convincing my brain, but I managed to ignore the fear. I knew that this was the right thing to do. I knew we were safe. I carefully removed the lock, and opened the door. I was met with a blinding white light from atop the corridor. As my eyes struggled to regain vision, my ears took in all new sounds. I heard radio chatter, voices speaking in military code babbling on in the distance, the droning roar of a hovering drop-ship ,and the pathetic whining of a wounded gang member.

My eyes eventually recovered, and fell upon a dark silhouette within the light atop the ramp. It stepped forward into the bunker, its features gradually gaining coherence. It was a large chestnut pony, clad in military blue. His jet black mane tossed about in the gusting winds rushing inside. His deep blue eyes were squarely focused on me. He looked at me carefully, then glanced at the foals behind me. His expression became far sterner then I would have liked. As if from instinct, I retreated backwards to the cowering foals, standing between them and the newcomer, my own fears now greatly outweighing their own.

The chestnut stallion came closer, bowing his head to me, as if yielding. “What is your name, child?” he asked. His voice was low, calming and soothing at the same time. His tone alone were deflating the worry gripping at my panicking heart.

My name? By now, the name I was given at birth was just one more thing I would have loved to forget of my life up to this point. The deeds I committed, the atrocities I did to survive, who in their right mind would want to remember? The foals had taken to calling me something, but in the midst of what was happening, it was lost to me. Suffice it to say, I had no acceptable answer that I would willingly give to this stranger.

“That’s our Shepard!” a tiny voice shouted.

I turned to the little filly that had spoken up in my defense. I could see the defiance in her eyes, showing no fear towards this stranger in our home. Shepard. That was it. That was what I was to these foals; their guardian, their steward, their....shepard. The stallion’s eyes glanced to her, then back to me. He was smiling.

“Shepard, eh? Well, Shepard, you are certainly a hard pony to find.”

Stable was looking for me as well? It had been months, maybe even years since I had raided their outposts, and they were still looking for me? Worry began to creep back into me, making me start to wish I was left for the gangs. A second soldier had entered the chamber silently behind the other during the conversation thus far, covered head to hoof in blackened armor. He was staring at me the entire descent into the room, until he was side to side with the other stallion.

“Are you certain this is the one?” the officer demanded.

The black clad pony nodded. “There is no doubt sir, this is the one.” His voice was raspy, distorted by a breathing apparatus in his suit. He looked at me, tapping on his ear with his hoof. A holographic visor appeared across where his eyes would have been, if i could have seen them. A small part of me was yearning for the chance to use that technology, provided I survived this encounter. He padded at his hooves, activating a device I had never seen before; a holographic interface! Embedded into his armor! Now I was jealous.

I watched in fascination as he used the device to bring up holographic displays before my eyes. Until I realised what was on said displays. Top quality, high definition, full color images of....me. Images of all my raids of Stable outposts, for all to see. There was my first attempt, where I simply disabled the security to see if I could do it, poking my head into full view of the camera that somehow avoided deactivation. Then the second, where I actually entered the outpost proper to take whatever small scrap I could carry. The third; where I reprogrammed their mechs for my own personal use, taking the time to make a funny face at the camera I thought was broken. The foals giggled behind me, while the officer remained stone faced.

“Stealing from the military is a serious crime, Shepard. So is gang involvement, kidnapping, murder and slavery. I hope you realise that.” he said calmly.

Disbelief. That was the single thought that ran through my mind. Was he seriously expecting me to believe that he brought an entire regiment of soldiers, eliminated an entire gang, just to find me?

“But you aren’t here to arrest me, are you?” I questioned.

He smiled again. “On the contrary. I’m here to give you a job.” He raised his head from its gentle bow, now speaking with a hint of vigor and praise. “ It is no easy feat to break into Stable outposts, and yet you made it look like child’s play. You worked to undermine a gang and disable two violent criminal forces in the process of saving a great deal of young foals. And you managed to hide from our infiltrators as well for a very long time, at your age. Most impressive.”

He turned to the black pony, and shook his head dismissively. The subordinate nodded, and trotted out of the room.

“This is a life changing decision, Shepard. I won’t force you to make it lightly,” he continued, without turning back to me. “But do you honestly wish to remain here when you could accomplish so much more out there?” He pointed up the ramp as he spoke. The blinding floodlight had long since faded away, and through the vaulted corridor I could see several sections of metal ceiling had been torn out from the room beyond in the earlier chaos. It was clear to me that he was not merely pointing outside of this metal box, but up to the small sections of sky that were visible even from here in this pit.

More choices. Doubt crept over me like a blanket of lead. The choices I’d made up until now had ended in disaster each time. Was this soldier really offering me an out? How could I trust somepony that I had just met. The grip of the foals around me grew tighter. I met eyes with them, I could still see fear in their eyes. Not for any further danger, but of abandonment. They could not bear to lose me, and I didn’t think I could lose them either. I couldn’t leave them here, alone. The military was here for me, why would they bother with them? I had to take a chance, for their sake.

“I have one condition,” I said with weak desperation.

He turned to face me, a quizzical look on his face. “You are in an awfully unique situation to think there is room for bargaining Shepard.”

“You can at least hear me out.” I don’t think my voice sounded so pathetic as it did then. I looked up at him, his never changing expression still resolute.

His brow arched, and he leaned forward with interest, but said nothing.

I could not look to the foals again, but I could feel their grip on me still tightening on me. They felt I was ready to abandon them. They were right, but only partially.

“I want you to find good homes for them, all of them. I won’t settle for anything less. Do that, and I’ll go with you. I’ll be your willing lapdog.”

His features relaxed with dawning comprehension. A smile slowly crept onto his face. He stepped forward and extended a hoof to me. “I assure you that you will be put to much more use than a mere lapdog, Shepard. There are bright things in your future.”

He pulled me from the weakening grasp of the group hug. I stood face to face with him, his oppressive stature not diminishing in the slightest even after rising from the ground. This pony reeked an authoritative presence that demanded respect, even from a civilian garbage rat like me. I was not afraid, not even uneasy. I felt...safe. For the first time in my life I felt that ever-present sense of danger was finally gone.

“Thank you, Sir...” I said wearily, remembering that I had not even asked his name.

“Quartermane,” he responded. “Commander Regal Quartermane. And you are most welcome Shepard.” He turned away towards the ramp to the surface. “Let’s get you all out of here.”

We were led slowly up the ramp into open air. The sun was just barely beginning to rise, but the night sky was still fully visible through the crumbling integrity of our now former home. The canvas of lights on the pitch of night was still there, and did not fail to make me feel infinitesimally small.

I felt a tiny tug on my ratty barding. “Shepard look!”

The same little filly was pointing wildly at my flank. I craned my neck to see what it was, hoping it wasn’t a wound that I was unaware of. What I did see was far more incredible. A wavy sheet of black...no, it was a dark blue like the night sky. Four tiny bursts of white lined in a pattern: a familiar pattern. I looked back up to the sky, searching for it. And there it was, just above the cresting sun, yet fully visible. The scale of the sky, the scholars tool. The constellation of Choices. I looked back to my flank. It was an exact match.

So that’s how I joined the military, got myself out of the gutters, saved over two dozen foals from a life of poverty and slavery, even got a name I could be proud of, and that’s the day I earned my Cutie Mark.

Chapter 1: Welcome Aboard the Normanedy

Chapter 1: Welcome Aboard the Normanedy

“Be careful on that first take-off. It’s a doozy”

Starting anew.

It was something that I would never have predicted. Being saved from the streets, given a new life, an actual career. My purpose had changed, and hopefully it was for the better. I was a military pony now, and I was learning to see the world I lived in in a whole new way. The dull, grey, monotonous existence I lived on Earth was gone. My life had meaning now, I didn’t feel like another blip missed by the system anymore. I had a narrative now, one that I could actually control for myself.

My new life in the military took some time getting used to. I had a modicum of freedom in the slums, and being thrust into a structured and disciplined environment was different than what I had grown accustomed to, but it was not as bad I had imagined. It was worse. Early mornings, late nights, bad food and short tempered instructors. Physical drills in the mornings, combat drills in the afternoon, and more of both in the evening. It was an experience that made me miss the dumpster diving back home. I made some friends here and there through my training, but none really noteworthy as I got shifted around through different camps and instructors. If nothing else, they were some friendly faces to pass the time with, and I appreciated the company as I drifted through the ranks.

The only bearable parts of my new life were the training sessions that focused around my actual talents: Computer and engineering studies. My instructors seemed to enjoy working with me, and as my skills increased, I became the prodigy any teacher dreams of teaching. It was a decent relief from the tedium of military training, until I started to excel past the instructors and force them to give me more work. Yay, the benefits of being gifted. At least the work they gave me was fun, but I could not shake the feeling that I was being groomed for a specific reason, one that I had yet to uncover.

Weeks drifted into months, and then into years. I had actually gotten promoted a few times, and been brought along on actual military exercises, some with training purposes, some not. I was always designated the engineer for obvious reasons, but I always ended up having to carry a weapon at some point. From a technological standpoint, weapons of the current age were very cleverly designed. Most standard weapons were shaped like manacles, that attached to the hoof, and unfolded when in use. The assault rifles, in my opinion, were the most practical. Their plating was much larger than other weapons, and when not in use could be used as a makeshift shield, which would have been rather useful, if I was any good with it. Or any weapon really. At the end of my field evaluations, it was recommended that if I had to carry a weapon, it should be a pistol, just because it would cause the least amount of collateral damage.

At the end of it all, I ended up getting promoted to Specialist, whatever that meant. I was told that it was strictly a tactical role, much like a Lieutenant, but with more unique duties depending on my commanding officer. I was just grateful that I didn’t have to endure boot camp training any longer, and I now had my own choice of assignments and projects to work on. And I knew exactly which one to start on.

Since my enlistment, I had begun digging up rumors in my free time about a special project that was about to begin under Earth Military supervision. They called it ‘Project Normanedy’, and it was one of the many hushed whispers that floated about the various training facilities I drifted through as part of my new life. At first, it was just ‘something big’ planned by the upper brass, but as the months droned on, further information leaked about Normanedy. It was a ship, an experimental military frigate. Supposedly the greatest ship we could possibly build with the cutting edge of technology. What I found most intriguing of all was the fact that the project was funded by the Corral Council and co-developed in conjunction with the Pegasi.

Part of my learning experience with S.T.A.B.L.E was, like many others since first contact, learning about the new races of the galaxy that we had begun diplomatic relations with. The Pegasi were a sour topic among the senior officers, on account of the first contact war. I was just a foal when it happened, so I was grateful to learn more about it. It all started over the WHIP gates that we started discovering over two decades ago. Every time we found one, we unlocked new possibilities for the Earth Pony race. Unfortunately, we had no idea that activating them had earned us the ire of other sentient and space faring races. The Pegasi were the first, who immediately became hostile towards our reckless activation of untested Alicorn technology. After weeks of fighting the Unicorns introduced themselves to us, and intervened, settling the dispute diplomatically. And that was it, the hostilities ended, and the Earth Pony was accepted into the Corral Space Alliance. Those who had actually survived through that first encounter continued to have a strong negative connotation towards our new allies. Being the techno-dork that I was though, I was far more interested in the ship than those who were building it.

Eventually my former instructors started including me on smaller projects that involved working on individual components meant for the Normanedy, though they never admitted the classified details freely to me. I jumped at the opportunity to work anywhere near that vessel. I droned through the months of military exercises just to return to my technical training and my work. My life in between being a part of the Normanedy became unimportant. My very hooves, along with several dozens more, had touched part of what many hoped to be a new Earth Pony legacy.

Five years in the making, the Normanedy was the culmination of the greatest minds and resources the Earth Pony collective could muster. It was a vessel that we, as a race, could be proud of, and that would prove our capabilities on the galactic stage. Her weapons were capable of tearing through shields and hulls like they were made of tissue paper and marshmallow; her engines were capable of breaking the speed of light and then some. The stealth system was the most impressive addition, a countermeasure that could make a vessel completely undetectable from any sensory equipment. The cloaking field was a scientific breakthrough that scientists could only dream about before the M.A.N.E Effect, and the Normanedy was the first of her kind to have it. Truly it was a craft anypony would be lucky to be a part of, and it was easy to believe that I nearly died of excitement when I received a personal request from the Normanedy’s captain to be a member of its crew. To be hoof picked to be a member of its maiden voyage was obviously a dream come true. It would be the experience of a lifetime.

The day I arrived was one I will never forget. There was excitement, and there was the state I was in. I think I earned a few strange looks as I trotted across the spaceport with the biggest grin I could muster. I think I was even skipping most of the way, hopping along in blissful glee. I felt I was being led along by the snout, but I didn’t care. I knew where it was talking me. And there she was, that beautiful, sleek, shining masterpiece that had been calling my name for five long years. Her core was a slender metal shell, hooked at its front like the beak of a falcon, flanked on either side by two framed and retractable wings. Near the rear were other fixtures of fins, tails and anything else this ship needed to be the best. All of it was colored the S.T.A.B.L.E blue, contrasted with white, black and steely greys. Across its bow, the name NORMANEDY was written along the hull in bold letters. I had made it. I could barely contain my excitement at the reality I was now facing. I was aboard THE Normanedy.

And I was about to paint her Med-Bay with my stomach contents.

I was in Heaven and Hell at the same time. On one hoof, I was aboard the greatest technological creation ever conceived, practically salivating at the opportunity to part of her engineering crew. On the other hoof, I was frozen on a medical bed, writhing in agony, trying and losing in a battle against constant waves of nausea. A little fact that S.T.A.B.L.E military often neglects telling it’s Earth born recruits is that being born in natural gravity makes it slightly more difficult to grow accustomed to the synthesized gravity aboard a standard spacecraft.

“Slightly more difficult my flank”, I muttered to nopony in particular.

“Terra-Firma Syndome, huh?”

Oh thank the stars! Someone who knew and hopefully shared my pain. I struggled to turn over, hoping to see somepony at least in similar agony to me, so I wouldn’t have to be alone in this torment. Instead, my gaze fell upon a stallion casually reclined on the bed beside me. He looked like he was enjoying a relaxing vacation with the way he laid with his body outstretched and hooves crossed behind his head, not strapped to a sick-bay table and ready to die like I was. What outraged me the most about this pony is the self satisfied little smirk plastered on his face. I made a mental note that I was going to hate him very much.

“Yeah, I had a bout with TFS when I started flying too”, he continued, oblivious to the glare I was giving him. “Nothing a few hours in a gravity chamber couldn’t fix.”

“Ugh,” I grumbled, resisting another wave. “I tried that already, didn’t work.”

He gave me a quizzical look, then threw his head back, laughing. “Oh well. I guess some ponies get used to it.” He waved his hoof passively towards himself, then me. “And some don’t.”

The urge to get up and strangle this pony was overwhelming, only to be silenced by yet another wave of cursed nausea. I groaned and turned away from my new best enemy, hoping to show him that I wasn’t interested in further conversation. Unfortunately, he kept on nickering to himself, thinking himself to be quite the joker, no doubt. His giggling only subsided when the sound of hoof steps approached from behind the curtain walls that surrounded us.

I turned over again to see the curtain fly open, revealing a light grey mare standing in the opening, with a very stern expression on her face. She was wearing a white coat with a red cross on the sleeve, which led me to conclude that she was the medical officer. Her cutie mark however, was something I could not determine. It looked like a small white cylinder with a faded white trail following it. I couldn’t get a better look as she trotted very loudly over to the stallion who lay beside me, his bemused expression unfazed.

“Piper! The captain has been looking for you everywhere!” she snapped, clearly not in the mood for jokes.

“Oh, but Doctor Chalkdust!” ‘Piper’ whined. “The captain said I needed to be cleared with a medical examination before I was fit for service.”

“Maybe I should check your memory then, because your examination was finished hours ago. Now get off your rump and get to the bridge! The last I checked, a ship needs it’s helmsman to go through the Whip Gates.”

“But this bed is sooooooo comfy!” he said, stretching himself out again to show his point. “Can’t it wait a few more minutes?

Chalkdust halted, inches from the bed. She glared at the rebellious stallion, tapping her hooves impatiently. Piper stared back, expression unchanged, mood unsullied. I lost count of the seconds elapsed of what I was witnessing, but I assumed that if it continued, I was going to be caught in the crossfire.

Chalkdust’s voice took on a tone of extreme restraint and refinement. “Mr. Piper, if you don’t get out the bed this instant and march your sorry flank to the bridge, I will get the Lieutenant down here and have him drag you there. Do you understand me?” Chalkdust took one final step forward, inches from Pipers’ muzzle to finalize her point.

“Ugh, fine!” Piper groaned. He shot his hooves in the air, conceding defeat. Chalkdust stepped back, allowing Piper to roll out of the bed. Now that he was standing, I was able to get a proper look at him. He was white coated with large brown spots speckled all over. The most predominant spot was one over his left eye, making him look something like an old fashioned pirate. The red bandanna wrapped around head, and the wooden rudder wheel as his Cutie Mark certainly solidified the similarity, but what was more jarring to me was this stallion, who apparently was the helmsman of the Normanedy, was barely larger than a full grown colt. He was lean and thin set with spindly legs, and a short stubby brown tail. If I hadn’t known any better, Piper looked like he was of age to start flight academy, not be a graduate.

He casually trotted past Chalkdust, who was still tapping her hooves, waiting for him to leave. He stopped briefly just past the curtain before turning back, with that silly grin still on his face. “Oh and Chalky, please call me Pipsqueak. It’s more...me, y’know?” He flashed one final grin before he stepped out of sight, and I heard his hoof steps clatter on the other side of the curtain, then silence as the door beyond slid shut.

I turned back to Chalkdust. She was shaking her head, muttering something under her breath. She turned her attention towards me, and moved to the base of my bed, grabbing the medical chart hanging from the edge. I could see her mouthing words from the chart, but I had no idea what she was reading. My body quivered with another wave of nausea, apparently sensing that immediate self termination might be a good contingency plan.

“So you’re the illustrious Shepard I’ve heard so much about,” she said, not looking up from the chart.

For a moment, my brain seemed to stall. Was she asking me a question? It was simple enough if it was, but for some reason I couldn’t immediately answer it. Most likely it was the fear of opening my mouth would have been giving my stomach the ‘all clear’ signal to evacuate. I decided on an alternative. “Y-yes, that’s me,” I stammered through clenched teeth.

Chalkdust looked up from the chart, eyeing me in bemusement. “It says here you have gone through every medical test possible to abate the symptoms of T.F.S and none have worked. Is this true?”

Not willing to open my mouth again, I simply nodded.

The old grey mare smiled. “Well then. We’ll have to fix that now won’t we? I happen to have a sure fire treatment for T.F.S that works every time. Definitely not something you learn from a textbook, that’s for sure.”

She returned the chart to the bed, and walked over the the medical cabinet on the wall. She reached inside with a hoof, rummaging through the bottles. I could hear the containers rattling together.

Clink. Clank. Click.

Wait. Click? At that moment, the cabinet slid over, revealing a small latch and a keypad. Chalkdust padded at the lock and it swung open, revealing what I assumed to be a secret stash of expensive medicines. There were strange shaped bottles filled with equally strange colored liquids. I could swear one was glowing blue. She grabbed the first bottle in her hoof, a long rectangular bottle filled with an amber liquid. She poured the liquid into a small glass that she took from the bedside table, and thrust it towards me, only to withdraw it momentarily. Her eyes narrowed, once again critically examining me.

She tentatively placed the glass in my hooves. “Drink it all down. Don’t stare at it, don’t taste it, don’t smell it. Just drink it,” she ordered.

I complied with no argument, downing the contents in one go. I instantly wish I hadn’t. The liquid wasn’t hot to touch and yet it burned like liquid fire, it wasn’t sour and yet it stung my eyes like pure lemon juice. My nostrils flared and my eyes watered in protest. Whatever I had just ingested was immediately at war with my insides. I made another mental note that this pony was trying to kill me. After several painful seconds the spasms eventually ceased, and I slowly regained my ability to form coherent thought. “What the bucking hell was that?!” I sputtered. Despite the briefness of the episode, I was panting heavily and drenched in cold sweat.

Chalkdust was laughing. She turned away from me to return the bottle to the safe. “If I didn’t know any better, I would guess that you have never drank a day in your life.” she chided. “That my little pony is the best hard apple cider this side of the galaxy. I dare you to find better.”

I blinked. “Alcohol,” I blurted. “You gave me alcohol? Is this some kind of cruel joke?”

I’ve had a drink or two before, even though I didn’t much care for it, but what pony didn’t to get through basic training? But this, none of them were as horrendous as this. This wasn’t pleasant. This wasn’t even enjoyable. This just hurt. A lot. “What proof was that? Fifty?”

Chalkdust glanced at the bottle absently. “Its probably closer to eighty. The more important question is; how is your stomach?”

I blinked again. My stomach...didn’t hurt anymore. The nausea was gone. All of the nasty pains that my body had been experiencing since we had left the spaceport were replaced by a soothing warmth. I felt good. “W-what? How did...?”

She smiled. “It gives the stomach something else to focus on. It should last a few hours, but we should be back planetside long before the-”.

“Doctor Chalkdust!” a voice shouted from no discernible source. Chalkdust lifted her right hoof, and brushed her sleeve away, revealing a device attached to her foreleg. It emitted series of lights and images enveloping her hoof. I recognised it immediately as a holographic omni-tool.

“Yes, Captain?” Chalkdust responded.

“Is your medical examination of our newest recruit finished?” the voice inquired. I identified the voice of that of a stallion’s, one that invoked a sense of familiarity it me, but I could not place it.

“Yes Captain. I’ve just finished.” Chalkdust replied, winking at me.

“Excellent. Shepard?” the voice asked, now directed at me.

I was caught off guard that the Captain was aware of my presence despite my being perfectly silent.

“Y-yes Sir!” I responded automatically.

“Please meet me in the briefing room. I would like to speak to you before we arrive at the Whip Gate.”

“Yes Sir, right away!”

The voice ceased. Chalkdust lowered her hoof, and walked over to the curtain. She took it with her mouth and pulled it aside, removing the barrier between us and the rest of the Med-Bay. Aside from the two of us, the bay was empty. I took this opportunity to examine the room, not having much time between stomach spasms upon my admittance aboard to take in the sights. It was, advanced, to say the least. I counted some beds, all adorned with expensive looking medical paraphernalia that I would most likely never understand their use. I had a feeling that I would be seeing the inside of this room a lot in the future.

“If you are done looking around, the Captain will see you now Shepard.”

Chalkdust had settled herself behind her desk beside the doorway. She was immediately focused on typing reports into her computer. I took that as a good sign that it was time to leave. I rolled over onto the floor, no small feat after enduring hours of stomach pain and then five seconds of enough booze to kill a small animal. Thankfully the soothing buzz did little to affect my ability to walk. I trotted past the desk and out into the hallways.

“Thanks, Doc. I owe you.” I heard no response, only a quiet humming as the doctor continued her work.

The Normanedy was a hive of activity. We had been flying for a few hours since we left Solaris Station, and it was growing increasingly difficult to move through the corridors without running into somepony who wasn’t paying attention or doing something important. Everypony was in full preparation mode, getting everything ready for the Normanedys’ shakedown run. From the Med-Bay I passed through several sections of the ship, moving from compartment to compartment with mild enthusiasm at their contents; the armory, communications, science bay. To a pony like me, nothing exciting. I got more kicks out of plasma fueled carbine injectors, and sub-sonic wave emitters. I hoped the captains summons did not take too long, because I desperately wanted to inspect the engineering deck afterwards.

I had a vague idea where the briefing room was, but I had a feeling I was drifting in the right direction. I lost count of how many doors and stairs I drifted through so far and was unavoidably moving up to another. ‘Navigation’ was imprinted on the door. I shrugged, and crossed through the threshold as the door slid open.

Jackpot. I had found the brain of the Normandy, and it was beautiful. Rows of navigational computers lined the walls, all being monitored by at least a dozen ponies. In the center sat an enormous holographic display showing star charts and galactic travel routes. The words NORMANEDY were painted on the wall before me in a steely blue. In front of the galaxy map stood an authoritative stallion in officers colors issuing commands to everypony within earshot. I approached him and announced myself.

“Specialist Shepard, reporting for duty Captain!” I said firmly, saluting.

The stallion turned to me, with a confused look on his face. He eyed me up and down, and begun to laugh. I dropped my hoof tentatively, my brow furrowed in confusion. With him now facing me, I could clearly see that he was not wearing a Captain's badge. He was an older stallion, but far from venerable. His cutie mark was a gilded compass rose, contrasting his auburn coat and blue officers tunic.

“I appreciate the compliment my friend, but I’m not the Captain” the stallion corrected. He straightened, saluting me in return. “Navigator Westward, at your service Shepard. The Captain has spoken very highly of you. He expects great things from you I’m sure.”

My ears drooped in embarrassment, and the only thing I could manage to save face was a stupid grin. I was definitely failing at being a good soldier. Thankfully, Westward didn’t seem to care. “The Captain will meet you in there.” He pointed a hoof at the door beyond the navigation computer on the far side of the room. I stepped aside to allow him to do his job, and quickly moved towards what I hoped to be the last door I needed to stumble through today.

The door slid shut silently behind me. The room was small, dimly lit and devoid of life. The only reliable source of light came from a large holo-screen on the far side. I walked towards the monitor, which sprung to life as I approached it. The S.T.A.B.L.E Military logo flashed across the screen, which began processing through worded documents. The screen was cycling through paragraphs of what appeared to be a classified military dossier. My classified military dossier. Records, facts, histories, grades, pictures and pretty much my entire life story was on display for all to see if anypony was to walk in here. Thankfully, it was only me in here to read it.

Me, and whoever was trotting up behind me.

A voice appeared from the darkness of the room. It was feminine, but other than that I had no idea who it was. “Shepard. Rank; Specialist, Engineer Level First Class. Graduated top of your class with honors. Involved in several terrestrial campaigns, some with scientific merit. Less than exemplary combat and drill skills.”

Whoever was in here reciting my life knew more about me than I did. I turned to face whoever she was, but nopony was there. I turned back the screen, and was muzzle to muzzle with what appeared to be a very large mare. The light from the screen behind her obscured her features in a hazy silhouette, but I could make out her golden eyes piercing through the darkness right at me. I instinctively stepped back, but she stepped towards me in tandem.

“But it isn’t your military accolades that interest me, Shepard. It’s the fascinating amount of criminal activities before your ,ahem, forced enlistment. Grew up in the slums of a capital Earth city. Moved from school to school, getting kicked out of or vanishing from each one. Multiple counts of theft ranging from valuable electronic hardware to software, hacking into secure military information banks. Quite the impressive list of crime I must say. I take it you fancy computers and hardware then?”

I did not particularly enjoy being interrogated by somepony who didn’t even extend the courtesy of introducing themselves, even if they were a Captain of a ship, especially when they were throwing my own past in my face. I wasn’t proud of I had done in my time growing up on Earth, but I wasn’t going to feel sorry for myself for what was in the past. It was time to show some backbone.

“Give me a wireless hacking interface and ten seconds, and I’ll have a V-Class Hunter Killer drone dancing and singing show tunes for you, Sir” I said with an edge. I stood my ground against the advancing mystery pony. They weren’t going to get me to back down.

She just laughed. I was getting tired of ponies laughing at me today.

“An impressive boast, I look forward to the opportunity to see you prove it. I can see that I will enjoy working with-”

A new voice called out from behind me. It was deep, commanding, and once again, I detected the same sense of familiarity I had from the voice in the Med-Bay. “I see you have introduced yourself to our star of the hour then, Nimbus.” I turned my head to see a stallion enter the room. He tapped on the wall beside him, removing the darkness of the room with a dull light. I watched as the new pony approached me. He was tall, imposing, and rather frightening. He was chestnut in color with a silvery black mane and deep blue eyes, but his color scheme did little the soften the serious expression on his face. A face I remembered; Quartermane. I saluted out of habit, not realising that he was not paying any attention to me. His eyes were squarely fixed on the mare behind me.

“Of course Captain Quartermane,” the mare crooned sarcastically. “ I was merely getting, acquainted, with the pony I’ll be working with on this mission.”

I was definitely tired of being left out of conversations too. “Mission? What miss-.” I had turned my head to get a look at this mystery pony that had not yet done anything to gain my approval and was already signing me up for missions I had no idea what was involved. What I saw was something I would never have expected. It was not the fact that this pony had strange colored markings on her face masking a shimmering silver coat and golden mane. Nor was it the crimson colored exoskeleton armor that nearly doubled the size of her form. It was the fact that jutting from her sides were two large, extended, silvery feathered wings.

“Y-you’re a..a...pegasus?” I knew that the Pegasi were involved in the construction of the Normanedy, but I did not expect one to be part of its crew. I felt all I had learned of the Pegasi slip from my mind in panic, uncertain of what to say or how to act without offending her, noting that my boasting earlier may have already done so.

She simply kept smiling, and bowed her head slightly towards me. “Sky-Captain Nimbus, pleasure to meet you at last Shepard. I apologise for the cloak and shadow, I merely wished to interact with you for a moment before we got down to business. Captain Quartermane has spoken very highly of your talents. I look forward to seeing them put to the test. It isn’t everyday that you are called to action by a Council Sleipnir.”

I looked back to Quartermane. Captain Quartermane now. It certainly made sense, five years was a long time, plenty of time for him to earn a few promotions. He was beaming with pride as if one of his own fillies had won Little Miss Universe. I was part of this crew for no more than a few hours and I already being paraded around like a trophy. Sure I did well in my practical engineering , but to be chosen by a Council Sleipnir for those talents was a bit mu-. Wait, a Sleipnir?

“Special Logistics Enforcement Infiltration Protectorate and Naval Intelligence Reconnaissance,” Nimbus somehow rattled off in one breath. “The Sleipnir are the Corral Council’s chosen elite. The best of the best in Corral Space. Sent on the most dangerous of missions to preserve the peace that the Corral races have fought for over the last five millenia. And as it stands now, there are no Earth Ponies in the Sleipnir ranks, not yet anyways.” She gazed intently at me, as if she were suggesting something as crazy as-.

No bucking way. My combat and drill skills were poor for a reason. I sucked at them. My expertise was computers and machines, not infiltration and enforcement. And yet here I was, staring face to face with a Council Sleipnir speaking as if she were here to recruit me.

“Me? You want me to become a Sleipnir?

She laughed again, shaking her head. There was a slight hesitation in her voice. “Not... exactly.”

Quartermane placed a hoof on my shoulder, a look of encouragement on his face. “It’s time we were honest about why you are actually here Shepard. S.T.A.B.L.E has been looking for someone to put forward as a suitable candidate for the Sleipnir for the past twenty years. To become a Sleipnir is no easy task, but it not an honor bestowed solely on combat prowess. Sleipnir are those who can think critically, under pressure. They have to be flexible, able to lead squads into dangerous situations and come out on top. The Council insists that Earth Ponies are not ready yet, but we have made some headway in improving our standing.”

“A compromise would be the best word,” Nimbus interjected. “Most think that Sleipnir operate alone, and while it is true that we operate independently, sometimes we enlist the aid of a varied team to maximise our potential.”

Nimbus had a reminiscent look on her face, her eyes appeared lost in memory. “I’ve been a Sleipnir for a long time Shepard. I’ve always had a small crew to call my own. Some were soldiers, doctors, assassins, even magitechs. I have never had a mechanical expert boasting your talents.” She looked back to the holo-screen, which was still scrolling through my dossier. She waved her hoof towards it, activating her omni-tool, and the screen went blank. Then she looked back at me.

“And we have the perfect assignment to get your started. We can get to that in a moment, first let me get a good look at you.”

Nimbus began circling around me. Step by step she eyed me up and down. I began to wish I could escape this ship without further scrutinising. She passed in front of me and I caught sight of her cutie mark emblazoned on her armor; a small puffy cloud with a trail following behind it. I followed her carefully with my own eyes, and I noticed her staring at my flank. My face felt flushed.

“Shepard, I don’t suppose you could explain the significance of your cutie mark for me?”

Oh, that’s what she was staring at. Heh, right. I craned my head back to remark the thing that made me unique, made me special, made me, well....me. A canvas of stars alight upon the black void of space, four particular stars burning brighter than any other.

“It’s the constellation Scolar, the Scale of the Sky. Those born under it are believed to be those who make wise and logical decisions, at least that’s what astrologists will have you think. For somepony like me to have it as a cutie mark, I guess my talent is making choices.”

Nimbus scratched her chin thoughtfully. “The thing about decisions, is not all of them are easy to make. Some will pit you between right and wrong, good and evil, life and death. Many choices lie ahead of you Shepard, none will be easy.”

I nodded in agreement. That was surprisingly deep and metaphorical from a member of a species that prided itself on military strength, but it was no less appropriate.“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Quartermane chimed in. “And see we shall. Pipsqueak!”

The radio buzzed to life. “Aye, Captain Quartermane?”

I immediately recognised the voice of the scrawny stallion I had met earlier, and my previous fears were verified. That tiny pony really was the one behind the wheel of this ship, and I knew that I should find a way to play nice, or he may do extra barrel rolls just to torture my poor stomach. Quartermane continued despite the panicked noises I was sputtering.

“If everything is ready, you may proceed through the Whip Gate helmsman. I expect us to be in Equestria Prime’s orbit by sixteen hundred hours.”

“Aye aye Sir! Consider it done.” Pipsqueak responded, with a level of respect I did not think him capable of.

“So Shepard,” Nimbus continued, regaining my attention. “Have you ever been to Equestria Prime?”

“I can’t say I have.” I responded simply. It wasn’t a lie, I had honestly never left Earth’s solar system during basic training, and barely any further after I had graduated. Equestria Prime was as I recalled, on the edge of the Everfree Systems, and what I knew of those regions was limited. Independent, lawless, dangerous were the choice words used when Everfree was described to me, and I merely made a note to avoid those areas as best I could.

“Equestria Prime is considered to be a tremendous achievement for our kind Shepard.” Quartermane added. “It is the most successful planet colonisation we have ever accomplished, and is the closest planet to Earth’s natural climate that we have ever been able to find. It’s a paradise in its own right.”

“An excellent assessment Captain,” Nimbus said, once again taking hold of the conversation. “I look very forward to seeing it myself. The oceanic worlds we Pegasi live on are suitable to build our cloud cities in the sky, though they distinctly lack the aesthetic appeal that you Earth Ponies value so deeply.”

I could tell that Nimbus’ lament was genuine. She was not anything like the Pegasi that I was expecting. Strong, boastful, arrogant, militaristic to the extreme. Nimbus showed some of these traits, but not at the level I was expecting. Perhaps Pegasi were not as bad as I had been led to believe. Or she was really good at hiding it.

“What do you know of the Alicorns, Shepard?”

Now I was truly stumped. The Alicorns, the race that predated us by at least fifty thousand years. An advanced space faring civilisation that vanished without a trace. The only thing left behind of them was their technology. Like the ones we found forty years ago inside our own solar system.

“I guess that is the million credit question isn’t it?” I began. “They were a super advanced race way ahead of our time, fifty thousand years ago that vanished into thin air. The stuff we find now that brings about any significant advancement is mostly their technology.”

“And the exact reason why we are going to Equestria Prime.” the pegasus added. “They found something we believe to be Alicorn in origin. An obelisk or monolith of some sort. And its still functioning.”

That got my attention. Functioning Alicorn technology? I was starting to think that I was not only chosen for my talents pertaining to this amazing vessel, I had also been hoof picked to help decipher ancient Alicorn technology. Best. Day. Ever.

Quartermane broke me out of my reverie. “Now Shepard. You and the Lieutenant will accompany Nimbus to the surface to secure and recover the artifact. It’s was discovered near a small farming colony so there should be no incid-”

Pipsqueak’s voice shouted over the intercom. “Captain! We’re picking up a distress signal from the colony. You’re gonna want to see this.”

“Put it on-screen Pip,” the captain ordered.

We all turned to the screen, as the image shifted through static. Images whizzed by, accompanied by loud noises. Explosions and gunfire. The monitor continued to show something spinning sickeningly in circles, until I realised these images were from a helmet mounted camera. The spinning slowed down, showing glimpses of ponies, clad in heavy armor and carrying assault weapons. They were firing at something in the distance, off screen. The camera focused on a panicked stallion, shouting into his radio.

“We are under attack by unknown hostiles! They came from nowhere, we need help! We can’t hold out for much longe-.”

He stopped to look at something behind the camera, a look of terror developed on his face. The camera swiveled around, focusing on a large cloud of dust and smoke in the distance. There was something emerging from the cloud. Through the static and the motion of the camera, I could barely discern what I was looking at, and I could tell the Captain and Nimbus were having the same difficulty. At a first glance, it was.....well, large would be an understatement. It was colossal, and appeared to made of metallic plating. I focused on any detail I could to identify what this thing was, until the camera shifted again at the sound of nearby explosions drawing the camerapony’s attention.

Figures appeared on the ridge behind the frightened soldier, but he took no notice, still transfixed on what was beyond in the distance. The figures appeared equine in shape, but something was off, something I could not tell in the chaos of what I was witnessing. More gunfire and close quarters detonations rung out, the squad engaging whatever those...things were.

A blur of white dived into the frame, tackling the frozen stallion out of his stupor. “Ya’ll wanna get your muzzle shot off? Git’ down an’ return fire!” It was a mare! She had rallied the soldiers to defend themselves, even more gunfire ringing out, before the screen went blank. The channel hissed with ominous static.

“That’s all there is Captain,” Pipsqueak continued. “No comm signals from anywhere on the entire colony.”

Quartermane looked grim. “Rewind that message, hold at thirty four five.”

The screen obliged, showing a still image of the...whatever the hell it was. It was still enormous and imposing. It appeared to be a metal construct, maybe a vessel of some kind. The size was beyond recognisable scope. It was long and serpentine, with large tendril like appendages sweeping below it. It was emitting a field of energy, crimson bolts of electricity were bounding all over its massive form.

I turned to Nimbus, her eyes were intently focused on the anomaly. Even I could tell she had no idea what it was. Then I turned to the Captain. His grim demeanor had not changed. “How far out are we from the colony, Pipsqueak?”

“Fifteen minutes at best sir, closest S.T.A.B.L.E cruiser is about an hour.”

“Then we go in alone, we have no time to waste.” Quartermane turned to me. “Shepard, get to the cargo bay and prepare for a surface drop.”

“Yes Sir!” I responded. I turned face and quickly trotted towards the exit, as Quartermane continued issuing orders.

“Pipsqueak, engage stealth systems as soon as we are out of the jump. Take us in nice and quiet.”

The helmsman complied dutifully and the comm channel went silent. Just as I crossed the threshold of the door, I turned to look one last time into the room. Nimbus had rounded to face Quartermane, who was now pacing around the room.

The door slid shut in front of me. I shook my head and turned towards the stairs to the lower decks.

“Well,” I thought to myself. “Looks like this mission got a lot more complicated.”

“Now explain something to me. What exactly is a ‘Specialist’? And why are they only qualified to use pistols?”

My look of disdain towards the requisition officer did little to nullify the pure shock in his reaction to my equipment manifest. After the third repeat of the question, I simply gave up explaining it and snagged my gear from his table to prepare far away from his prying. Weapons never interested me, and I honestly hoped I could have gotten through my life in the military without actually using one. I realised that was moot at this point of course, but I could at least hope I would not have to use one often. I wandered around and eventually found an empty locker near the back corner and began going through my things.

The armored barding was a steely black with red and white trim. By all accounts, the material looked and felt as if it were made of solid metal and weighed about the same, but in my hooves it was surprisingly light. I examined the armor from helmet to hoofguard, only pausing once to realise that the section that would cover the flank was bare.

“I guess I have to get the cutie mark emblazoned on afterwards,” I thought to myself.

The armor was easy enough to put on, although I felt a tad foolish being the only pony left in the ship that wasn’t armored. Once I had that settled away, I busied myself with attaching my sidearm. I laughed to myself as I studied the hoof mounted weapon, it giving a whole new meaning to the term ‘point and shoot’. I enjoyed a few moments basking in my wit only for the sound of approaching hoofsteps to interrupt me.

“Shepard, right?”

How many ponies knew me already on this ship? I turned hesitantly around to introduce myself. The stallion appeared strangely laid back, relaxed, and incredibly calm all things considered. He was a gentle tan color with a dark blue mane, which did a poor job of hiding the scars along his face just under his ears. I peered for just a moment, catching a glimpse of metal, no, circuitry, embedded into his flesh. Implants. Was this pony actually a cyber-pony? I realised technology jumped forward a few hundred years in the past few decades, but this was a bit freaky.

He thrust a hoof to me. “Lieutenant Poindexter, Magitech division. You can just call me Dexter, everypony does.”

So this pony was the lieutenant that Pipsqueak was afraid of? He didn’t seem the slightest bit scary. Sure, the implants and scars added an air of brutality to him, but his calm and relaxed demeanor alleviated any sense of unease I had from him. He cleared his throat, to which I immediately fixed eyes with him, realising that I was staring at his implants the whole time! Worse yet, I had not even extended the same courtesy to shake his hoof in return. I jerked a hoof out, nearly striking his away.

“Yes, that’s me,” I blurted, completing the hoofshake. I noticed his eyebrow arch in confusion. “Sorry about the...staring.”

His face lit in comprehension. His hoof traced the side of his face, his smile remained constant. At least they didn’t look painful. “Don’t worry about it, I still run into ponies who have no idea what Magitechs are, or what being one involves. It’s still a fairly new ordeal for us Earth Ponies.”

Machitechs, another thing that accompanied my studies of the new expanding universe. Apparently the new technology we unearthed taught us how to refine a unique element required to actually power the more complex devices, including the engine cores capable of FTL travel. And, as is standard with any incredibly powerful element, comes rather nasty side effects if mishandled. In other words; radioactive side effects. In the early years of synthesizing Element X, (Again, brilliant naming. Might as well have called it sugar, spice and everything nice, considering what it was meant to do for us.) there were complications. Complications that included words like ‘unintended venting’ and ‘emergency containment protocols’. Suffice it to say, the ensuing fallout caused an unforeseen result.

Genetic mutation occurred within days, and scores of once healthy ponies became laden with strange illnesses. Quarantine happened within hours, and tests were underway to determine the repercussions of exposure to EX. After weeks of fear borne from the possibility of a new pandemic, reports started leaking out that those exposed to EX started developing strange abilities. They were faint at first, but as time went on and new tech was implemented, Earth Ponies were gaining a steady ability to actually harness and control magic, albeit at a reduced capacity compared to, say, the Unicorns. And thus the Magitech division was born, Earth Pony soldiers with the ability to perform incredible feats of telekinetic power with the aid of tumors brought on by radiation and surgical implants meant to control them.

“Once you get used to the headaches, you barely notice it,” the Lieutenant lamented. He trotted to the locker next to mine and closed his eyes, as if focusing. I saw a faint glow emit from his implant, and around the lock. It spun wildly around, and stopped precisely three times. The locker swung open on its own, and the Lieutenant opened his eyes. He beamed a smile at me. I just stood there, staring in awe at what I witnessed. In a seemingly futile attempt to kick start my mind, I tore my eyes from his, if only for a moment. For that brief moment, I caught a glance of his armor. It was solid black, but looked similar in design to mine, except that his actually had a Cutie Mark; A set of silver crescents in an arrow-like formation. A question came to mind, if only to break the awkward silence.

“Who do you speak to to get your Cutie Mark emblazoned onto your armor?” I queried.

He blinked a few times, then laughed. “You mean that Cutie Mark?” he said, pointing at my flank.

I turned to look, thinking he was just another crazy pony. And there it was, on the flank as if it were masterfully painted onto the armor, was my Cutie Mark. I looked back to him in confusion.

“The wonders of LED technology, huh?” was all he said.

My head twitched slightly, cocking to the side. Ohhhhhh, I get it. LED camera takes a picture of the Mark, then transmits the image to fibre optic plating. Clever, if a bit excessive.It would have been less expensive just to paint it.

“I can tell you are going to be a lot of fun to work with, Shepard.” Dexter continued. “We better get going, the Captain is waiting for us.”

He started to trot away, and I immediately followed suit. The cargo bay was steadily filling with small formations of soldiers, receiving orders from their superiors. I casually glanced around as Dexter led me to our destination. The walls were a continuation of lockers and storage bins. The requisitions officer that chided me earlier was still at his post, dutifully handing out equipment and armaments to the preparing soldiers. As we approached the rear of the bay, I noticed a large blob of canvas in the far right corner. It looked like a giant tarp was strapped down to cover something, but I paid no heed to it as we trotted past it and a familiar voice got my attention.

“Shepard! Dexter! Glad you could make it,” the captain shouted. Nimbus was standing next to him, busying herself with her equipment like the rest of the ship. Quartermane looked to Dexter, who had paused slightly at the sight of the out of place Pegasus, showing wariness towards her. “Dexter this is Sky-Captain Nimbus from the Corral, she’ll be spearheading your infiltration of the colony.”

Nimbus’ expression remained unchanged, still intently focused on the rifle attached astride her right wing. “Pleasure to meet you, and you again Shepard.” She said without looking up.

“You’re coming with us Nimbus?” I asked.

That got her attention. She looked up at me, a serious expression on her face. My earlier assumptions were apparently correct, she was very good at hiding her inner Pegasus nature. “The situation has changed I’m afraid Shepard. If this were a simple retrieval, I would most certainly be accompanying you. If what we saw of the colony’s condition is anything like we saw in the distress message, it is far more dire that we had expected.” She glanced at Quartermane, who nodded in agreement.

“The security of the Alicorn Relic is of top priority to the Corral, and I can’t take any chances with its recovery. With no offense to you, or your partner, I’ll be moving forward alone, with you as a rear guard while I scout ahead. I’ll keep in radio contact and meet you at the excavation site.”

The sound of rushing air and whirring hydraulics roared as I watched the cargo bay doors slowly descend, revealing the planet below. The surface whizzed by as we flew over what used to be plentiful farmlands. Now, it was a scorched battlefield. Smoke and fire tore across the landscape, and I felt a small pang of homesickness as I was reminded of a vast plains that surrounded my home back on Earth.

“Approaching drop point one Captain,” Pipsqueak shouted over the radio.

Nimbus stepped to the edge of the ramp, scanning the view below. She turned back to me one last time, with a smile on her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll see you on the other side.”

She flared her wings proudly, giving them a single strong beat. She arched her back, and shook herself through. Even with the roar of the wind outside, I could hear her take a single deep breath. Then she tensed, leaned forward, and bounded out into the open air. As she left the shadows of the ship, I could see the light catch on her silvery feathers, shimmering ever so slightly. She swooped out wide, and collided with an errant cloud that had somehow earned her ire. She plowed through it, leaving a small puff of white behind and an effervescent beam of white trailed behind her.

The Lieutenant scoffed. “That’s a bit flashy for an infiltration mission, if you don’t mind me saying Sir.”

Quartermane chuckled slightly. “True, but she knows what she’s doing. I hope there won’t be too much trouble with her methods, Lieutenant.”

“No Sir. Of course not.”

Pipsqueak’s voice shouted over the radio again. “Approaching drop point two Captain.”

“Right then. Shepard, Dexter, you two know the drill. Nimbus will be ahead of you, giving relayed communications. Scout out the colony, and find out where the relic is. Keep alert down there, we still have no idea who or what is attacking the colony.”

“What about survivors Sir?” Dexter inquired. “What should we do if we find anypony alive down there?”

“The relic is your primary objective Lieutenant. If you find survivors en route to the dig site then aid them as best you can, but don’t let it impede you. Our security forces will be dropped shortly after you to contain the situation, it is none of your concern. Stick to the mission.”

I could hear the Normanedy groan to a crawl as the earth below us began to slow. She hovered over a small ridge above the colony, which I could see smoldering in the distance. I could hear gunfire and explosions from all directions, but could see no sign of fighting nearby. I stepped tentatively to the edge, examining the ground only a foot or two below me.

“After you, Shepard.” Dexter said encouragingly.

I mustered what courage I could spare, and stepped out of the Normanedy and onto the earth of a battlefield, an act I hoped I would never have to do in my life. A small part of my mind tried to calm me as best it could. I mean, what was the worst that could happen?

S.T.A.B.L.E PROFILE CONSTRUCTION COMPLETE

NAME: SHEPARD, SPECIALIST

PSYCHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND: EARTH BORN HERO

CODEX ENTRIES ADDED

RACE: EARTH PONY

RACE: PEGASUS

Chapter 2: Dis-Utopia

Chapter 2: Dis-Utopia

“Smoke is spreading all over Equestria, and its from something far worse than a Dragon.”

Paradise.

Is it the perfect organisation of ecological and environmental variables, or is there really some divine influence overseeing each divergent molecule of existence and perfection much like an artist who manipulates his canvas? Maybe the idea of paradise is just a pony-made allegory, to give ourselves the hope, even the potential to create paradise for ourselves, not find it. Ponies said that Earth was supposed to be paradise too. Sure it was a paradise, albeit a dirty, fearful and oppressive paradise. I spent everyday of my life on the run, or hiding under a rock. Even despite the chaos that surrounded me then, it was strangely...pristine, in its imperfection. I guess in that regard, paradise is too subjective to really understand it properly.

Equestria Prime in all its glory, was as Quartermane put it, supposed to be paradise. Our greatest achievement as a species in the space-faring age, a testament to what we could accomplish with the hard work of our own hooves despite what any other races thought of us. An unspoiled world treated with care and attention, love and affection. Built with the help of neither magic nor wings, just good old fashioned Earth Pony labor. Whatever facade built within my mind by the stories I had heard or from the Captain of this so called utopia were quickly crumbling before me.

I found myself lamenting on this as I surveyed the situation I currently found myself in.The colony was ablaze and falling rapidly into ruin. All around me ponies were being killed, lives were being destroyed, and I was busying myself with the origins of perfection. My mind snapped back to reality to see the Lieutenant beckoning me towards a rocky clearing. I gazed out to my left, out over the plateau which the Normanedy had just moments ago dropped us off. I could see pillars of fire and smoke littering the landscape into the distance. To my right, I could see down a gentle valley decline, dotted with small buildings and other similar constructions. For now they had escaped the destruction, but I could hear the screams of civilians and the explosions of gunfighting. Soon the fate of the outlying areas would reach them, and I hoped that I could help them in time.

“Shepard, I think we can get down to the excavation site this way. We’d better hurry.” Dexter called out as he disappeared behind a rock wall into the canyon beyond. I released a breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding, my forlorn sightseeing had wasted enough time. I galloped down the ridge to rejoin with my companion.

I dashed around the corner to catch up to Dexter only to run into something soft and spongy. The object in question bounced off my face and steadily floated away from the impact. It was round and bulbous, hissing slightly as it drifted aloft in the wind. My eyes became transfixed on this aerial oddity, among others that came listlessly into view over the plain. It was strangely peaceful in light of the goings on around me. Peaceful until a certain tan pony decided to laugh at the situation.

“Gas bags, perfectly harmless as long as you don’t hit them too hard.” Dexter observed. “Smaller colonies like this harvest them for methane.”

I blinked for a moment, confused. It wasn’t the floating sponges in front of me that were weirding me out. I mean yea, the floating squishy things were odd, but it was the other floating sphere just behind Dexter that had caught my eye. It floated quietly in the air among the gas bags, and seemed extremely out of place in the group of flying sponges. It was a perfectly round, metallic orb hovering silently in the air. A glass lens darted around its shape, peering between me and Dexter, who was still completely oblivious of its existence. He eventually caught notice of my fixed gaze, turning his head to see what I was so interested in.

“What on Earth is-”

He never got to finish that sentence. The lens began glowing an ominous red, and the orb began to hum loudly.

Bweeeeee!

That was a very bad sound. Years of military training told me so, years more of living a life of petty crime and gang wars told me even more so. Even my legs agreed , because with little regard for my conscious commands I launched forward, tackling the Lieutenant.

Zrrrt. Zrrrt. Zrrrt!

Dexter and I tumbled over each other, narrowly avoiding the hostile response that quickly followed.

The three blasts shot out in rapid succession. I could feel the heat as the beams narrowly missed me, only partially rebounding off my shield. As I attempted to shake myself free of Dexter, I struggled to regain a grasp of the situation through the smell of my singed mane and spiking heart rate. I rose my head to see the assailing orb turn about for a second attempt. Its ocular device began glowing again, readying itself for another attempt on our lives. I could see the smoking earth on the place myself and the Lieutenant were standing just moments ago, glowing red of heated earth and stone. It drifted closer towards me, the droning noise once again filling the air. I scrambled to aim my gun, but I was shaking too much for a steady shot. I closed my eyes, realising my end was near.

Zrrrt!

A second passed. Then another, and another. After a few moments of silence, I realised I could still feel my heart beating, and the clamminess of my sweat drenched fur. I felt no pain at all. I tentatively opened my eyes, which fell upon a smoking wreckage before me. The drone-like thing had been shot clean through. Did I do that? I examined my sidearm, no shots fired. Then what? I turned my head to see Dexter standing, his rifle floating aloft, its barrel smoking through a hazy shimmer. His face was set in concentration, the implants in his head were glowing brightly. His eyes peered intently at the former threat, not breaking sight of it for a moment. He moved cautiously beside me, edging closer to it, the floating gun still aimed squarely at what I hoped was its corpse.

“Are you ok Shepard?” he asked, still advancing on the drone.

“Y-yea, I’m fine.”

Dexter stood above the drone, delivering a swift kick with his foreleg. Its solidity thus determined, he turned to deliver a crushing blow with his hind-leg. What life that remained in that metallic shell fizzled and spurted into nothingness after being thoroughly flattened. Dexter turned to me, extending a hoof to help me up. I accepted the aid, and righted myself to my hooves. I took the time to dust myself off while Dexter trotted in our intended direction, intent on preventing any further incidents.

I trotted towards the metal carcass, peering over it intently. We had barely been on the ground for ten minutes and we were already encountering hostilities. My excitement in this endeavor was steadily starting to dwindle. My funk was interrupted by my omni-tool buzzing to life, a familiar voice crackling over the radio.

“Shepard. I just did a flyover of an encampment ahead of you, no sign of movement. The dig site should be just ahead, I’m going to check it out. Nimbus out,” and the radio faded into silence.

“Ok Nimbus that’s cool. It’s not like we nearly got vaporized or anything,” I groaned to the empty air. That Pegasus had certainly broken my depression, only to replace it with a rising frustration. Her by-the-books assessment of the situation with nary a concern for well being of the civilians or her companions was wearing on my patience.. Anger was not my preferred emotional state, so I decided a swift kick to my recently downed foe would serve as an adequate outlet; One I immediately regretted.

After a few moments of spastic hopping and cursing to abate the throbbing pain in my hoof, I heard a burst of faint static from the drone, indicating it still had a small amount of power left. Out of curiosity, I activated my omni-tool, interested in some further information as to its origin. My tool beeped excitedly, revealing the drone’s transmitter was still barely working. It was sending out code in a computer language I was unfamiliar with, but it gave no sense of urgency or alert, so I assumed it was not a distress call. As its power reserves steadily dwindled, the transmission died, only leaving its husk to examine, but that would have to be an adventure for another day. I stored away the new information I had earned, and went to rejoin my friend.

Dexter had not gone far. He was standing at the crest of yet another pathway leading deeper into the valley, staring carefully at every possible angle. I could tell in his stance that he had no intention of lowering his gun for the remainder of our stay here, and I felt the same as well. He looked back to me, nodding his head forward.

“Let’s keep going, there’s bound to be more of those things on the way.”

“Yea, good idea.” I agreed. I stepped down the ledge without a second thought of doubt. We had been attacked, nearly killed even, but I could not turn back now. There were still innocents down here and I was going to do my best to help them, orders or not. My pace felt quickened by either noble intent or adrenaline now, giving me the strength to endure. Whichever it was, I was grateful for the surge of will to continue.

“And Shepard?” Dexter's words were quiet, almost apologetic. I turned to see him still standing on the ledge, his hoof frozen in hesitation mid step.

“Thank you, for saving my life. I owe you one.” A small smile crept onto his face, a smile of respect and admiration. One which I returned. I grabbed his hoof, pulling him forward.

“No problem LT,” I replied plainly. It seemed that we both had a similar leniency for strict military protocol, and he was certainly friendly enough. Maybe we could be friends? He seemed easy going enough for it to be possible, and I wasn’t the perfect model of a soldier anyways. “ Now let’s get going, we have a colony to save.”

He nodded, his smile widening into a grin. “You’re right, let’s go Shepard.”

After minutes of steady climbing, we made into the central valley without further incident. We entered what I assumed was the encampment that Nimbus had mentioned earlier, but it was far worse than I was expecting. The camp was pieced together primarily by portable lodgings and shelters, put together into makeshift homes and other community buildings. This section of the valley was narrow, the buildings lined up along either side much like a makeshift neighborhood street. Scorch marks marred the dirty metal sidings of the abodes, and deep ashen craters lay scattered about the ground before me and my companion.

Fires were ravenously eating through any flammable material nearby, the heat radiating through my armor and drenching me in sweat. The air was nauseatingly acrid, smoke billowing from the burning buildings all around us and dowsing the land in an eerie haze. No words were spoken by either myself or my companion, none were needed; something terrible happened here, and we missed it by mere minutes. I drifted my eyes skyward, following the endless towers of blackened ash and raging flames. The sky was turning a dark red, as if the entire planet was in pain at what was happening to it, and I felt like a tiny speck upon it with nary a thought of what to do.

My upward gaze quickly spun out of control as I suddenly fell forward, feeling my hooves catch on something. After another delightful tumble head over hooves, I shook my head clear and looked to my hind legs to see what I had tripped over. It was exactly what I expected, and exactly what I hoped to never see. Through the black veil of smoke and ash I could see a very fresh, very blackened, scarred and scorched corpse in sickening clarity. Fate was not kind enough to send the body of another attack drone from earlier. It was a biological being, that of an equine, an Earth Pony.

It, she, was amber colored, or perhaps a fainter yellow if not for the smoke dulling my vision. Her lime green mane lay haphazardly tangled about her head, almost covering her face. Despite being dead for, at my best guess, less than an hour, her eyes were wide open, transfixed in horror staring squarely in my direction. My stomach churned in disgust, as I frantically scrambled free of its death grip on me. I escaped in a panicked lurch, only to roll over and land face to face with another freshly killed colonist. I stood upright in stark fright, regretting the decision immediately. Now standing, I could clearly see that I was in the middle of an open grave.

Bodies of ponies of all shapes and sizes lay scattered around me. Some large, some small, some old, and some far too young for the fates they received. Dexter stepped carefully around the bodies towards me, his face paling steadily in horror. He looked around, not making eye contact with me.

“Who could do this to unarmed civilians?” he asked sombrely.

My eyes fell on the body of a young filly, still gripped firmly in the arms of what I assumed was her mother. She had escaped the weapon fire that took the life of her parent, only to be apparently crushed by a stampede of panicked ponies running for their lives, or from their pursuers. My mind descended into rapid depression. I thought I had escaped this sort of depravity on Earth after I had left the gutters, but what I came to realise here on Equestria Prime was just one more fact that was universally constant; monsters exist anywhere, even in the depths of space.

My grim thoughts became distanced by an approaching sound, just beyond the valley ahead of us. My ears perked upwards to gain a better read on what it was. It quickly became closer and more coherent, and it was not long until I recognised it as weapon fire. I wheeled around towards the opposite side of the encampment, Dexter following suit with weapon drawn. Flashes of light blazed on the valley walls, massive silhouettes plastered on them like grim portrayals of impending doom. Drawing ever closer, the shadows slowly gained cohesion. They were pony shaped!

“Survivors!” I cried, lowering my gun-hoof. I ran forward to offer any help I could.

“Shepard wait!” Dexter yelled after me, but I didn’t listen. No more ponies were going to die if I could help it.

I rounded the corner of the camp walls, coming into a wide clearing. Laser fire whizzed waywardly over the plains. A shape darted into view, and was galloping madly towards the camp. As it got closer, Inoticed that it was clad in heavy white armor. She, was clad in heavy white armor. The armored mare kept coming closer, and more details became visible. She appeared to be a ranking officer of the local forces, and bore a set of sapphire blue saddlebags swaying madly astride her in her full gallop. Her face was plastered in panic, only partially covered by her scarlet mane flailing in the wind behind her.

Behind her, I saw more ponies come into view around the corner, being pursued by more of those floating drones. I waved madly to gain her attention, beckoning her towards me. “Over here!” I shouted. She glanced in my direction, only to trip and fall forward in her mad dash. She stumbled over a few times, but quickly recovered, leaping behind a nearby rock across from me. I did the same, taking cover behind an adjacent rock. I watched her as she recovered from her ordeal, then she glared at me in angry confusion.

“What are you waitin’ for!? Shoot em’!” She screamed at me.

I peered over the rock, the other ponies were still a long ways from cover, but the drones were gaining fast. There was no sign of Dexter, it looked like it was up to me. I took hold of my weapon sights, aiming shakily at the looming spheres, only to be distracted by more yelling.

“What are you aimin’ at them for? Aim at those!” she shouted through ragged breaths, pointing her hooves wildly at something much lower than the floating orbs. I looked through my sights again, and my eyes widened in terror. What in the hell? Those were not earth ponies. I mean, they certainly had the same shape as earth ponies, they ran like earth ponies. By all accounts, they were shaped exactly like earth ponies, but they were not Earth Ponies. White steel plating was molded around an equine shape, hiding wires and tubing underneath like muscles. Their heads were much smaller than that of an earth pony, shaped like rounded armor plates circling a single brightened spherical light. A light glowing a very bright red. Saddle-like appendages hung from their sides, equipped with weapons of indiscernible but matching origin. Weapons they were firing at us.

I dove back into cover, narrowly avoiding a shot to my head. I looked back to the mare, who was still bobbing forward in shallow breaths. “ What the hell are those things?” I shouted to her bewilderedly.

She glanced in my direction with annoyance in her eyes. “What does it matter? They’r shootin’ at us. Means we should be shootin’ at them! Now git yer gun out and blast the damn things!” She reared up, brandishing her assault rifle expertly in her hooves, and began to fire at our attackers from her cover. Some of her shots rang true, striking one of the creatures on the front leg. It wobbled and lurched sickeningly, feeling the force of the heated slug digging into its limb, but still it continued its advance unhindered.

I sat behind the rock, trying to formulate a plan. If an assault rifle wouldn’t slow those things, my pistol would be more than useless. I needed something a lot bigger. I peered carefully over the rock, catching sight of those damn orb things again, which floated loyally aside their masters. Very loyally, I thought. I activated my omni-tool, an idea forming in my head. The mare continued firing while I began searching for the rogue signal I had acquired earlier from the downed attack drone. My tool bleeped joyfully at the acquisition of several new signals that were very nearby. I smiled a wicked little grin, one I utterly failed at hiding. This was going to be good.

“What in the hay are you smilin’ at?” my cover buddy shouted.

I flicked madly at the new functions my tool had gained access to. The code was unified in origin, and hacking into one allowed access to all of them. I watched as the drones began to spasm wildly, fluttering up and down like humming birds on caffeine. Then I looked back to the mare. “Just watch this.”

One last button press, and the orbs seized suddenly, plummeting to the ground aside the pony look-a-likes. Even though they were clearly inorganic, they paused briefly in animal-like confusion at the display of what I assumed were their pets. Pets which began humming and whirring very loudly, and shone like erupting stars.

“I’d get down if I were you.” I warned the soldier, ducking down and covering my head. She shot one last panicked glance at the scene developing before her, before comprehension sunk in. She dove into the dirt, mere seconds before the impending-

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The sound was far more deafening than I anticipated. Even with covered ears I could hear a faint ringing in my head. I steadily rose to my hooves, watching debris rain down over the valley. Dexter showed himself at last, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. He hobbled towards me, apparently sharing the same effect from the blast as I was. I saw his lips moving, but it took several tries before I could hear the words.

“What the hell was that?!”

I grinned. Activating my omni-tool again, I showed him the flashing signal and the words OVERRIDE in flashing letters. He started at it incredulously, then back to me. “Science!” Did I really just say that?

“And who’s that?” He asked, pointing at the mare behind me.

“Oh that’s, um..” I started, not realising I had yet to actually have a real conversation with the mystery mare. Me and Dexter approached her carefully. She too was carefully regaining composure from the explosion, dusting herself off and checking her equipment. She withdrew something small and leather from her saddlebag and shook it of any other debris that may of sullied it before placing the white hat securely on her head.

Her cowpony hat. Oh boy, she was going to be fun. She tipped her hat up, and finally acknowledged our existence. She wandered over to us, shaking her head every few steps. “Next time ya’ll do that, a bit more warnin’ would be much appreciated.” Her accent was thick with the dixie like drawl that I came to expect from natives of the Prarieland territories back on Earth, along the attitude. “Not that I don’t appreciate the help an’ all, but mah ears are ringin’ somethin’ fierce.”

She looked at us both, and noticed that we were sharing the same side effects of the explosion. “What platoon are you from?” she inquired. “I ain’t seen y’all around before.” Her head cocked sideways towards Dexter, her inquisitive gaze stopping on his Lieutenants badge. Her eyes widened slightly, and her hoof shot up to her head in an automatic salute. “Um, what Ah meant to say was-.” It was amazing how quickly that sassy attitude shriveled away in the presence of a superior officer.

Dexter held up a hoof to stop her sudden stammering. “Calm down, this isn’t the time or place to worry about the chain of command. Can you tell us what happened here, miss...?”

The mare relaxed, but I could still hear her rapid breathing. She glanced in my direction, and I noticed a strange look in her eyes before she looked back to Dexter. Her scarlet hair cascaded over her mahogany features in gentle whispy motions, shielding her eyes from my sight. I watched her carefully, examining for any wounds she may be ignoring out of stubborn pride. I saw no blood, or any armor damage of any kind. Her shield took the beating like a champ, making me feel inadequately protected in my light armoring. Her tail flicked about nervously as she told her story to Dexter, drawing my attention to her Cutie Mark on her armor; A pair of brass bells tied together by a red ribbon.

“Belle,” she began slowly, her breaths steadily improving. “Sergeant Major Southern Belle, Security Detail. And honestly Sir, Ah ain’t got no earthly idea what is goin’ on. Just this mornin’ everything was just peachy. We were getting ready to move the relic they found to the loading docks when these, things, show up and everything goes straight to hell.” She cast a sidelong glance at the massive crater that I caused, before she hung her head down in shame. I looked as well, noticing that something was hanging off the edge of the crater, motionless. I let the conversation continue without me and drifted towards my hoof-work to investigate.

“I lost half my squad in the first hour, an’ we’ve been losin’ steadily since then. I ain’t never seen this kind of pony before, or with this kind of firepower.”

Neither did I. I arrived at the edge of the crater just as Belle had finished speaking. The thing that had caught my attention was a mostly intact shell of whatever these things were that attacked us. Few new details became clearer from standing next to it than what I saw through my scope. This thing was not definitely biological in origin, but was very much equine in shape. Its silvery white armor plating ran along its frame like sections of skin and bone, protecting the sinewy cords of muscle and coolant that leaked from its severed limbs. Its fore body hung mangled in a heap over the lip of the crater, its rear body was nowhere in sight. I called back to Dexter.

“Lieutenant, you might wanna come see this.”

Dexter and Belle trotted slowly towards me, their eyes locked on the same thing mine was. Belle looked away in disgust, but Dexter stared wide eyed and drew closer.

“I think it’s a Geld,” he said with disbelief.

Both Belle and I did a double take each, looking at eachother, then back to Dexter. Our voices found unison in the concern that the Lieutenant may have lost his marbles.

“A WHAT?”

The story of the Geld that Dexter explained was as complex as it had sounded. Council Space, much like Stable, had put a sizeable limitation on Artificial Intelligence research based on the fears of its dangerous potential. Certainly the idea of a self thinking computer could solve countless problems but then the AI asks questions it shouldn’t be asking; why do I exist, what is my purpose, do I have a soul? Then it all goes to hell from there. Rebellion, refusal, reclamation, the three R’s of why A.I’s are inevitably dangerous, and unquestioningly illegal to research. One of the Council races took exception to this, claiming it was some sort of ‘divine calling’ or something like that, Dexter wasn’t very sure on the details. Inevitably, all of the fears came true, and the Geld rose up against their creators in a bloody skirmish, exiling from their own homeworld. I wished Dexter had remembered the name of the race that built them, but they were incredibly elusive in their exile, and were not popular topics in polite conversation.

I’d watched a lot of old movies from the archives back in training during down time, and the Termineightor was one of them. As ancient as the film was, it scared the hell out of me. It even cropped up as key examples as the Lieutenant carefully explained what he knew about the Geld, what little it was, as we continued our trek towards the excavation site.

“Other than the fact that they are a rogue AI, there isn’t much more that I can tell about the Geld. They succeeded in conquering the homeworld of the race that built them, and then they just kept to themselves after that.”

I just wanted to know why somepony would call them Geld of all things. Has no pony ever taken an anatomy class before? I suppose being robots they had little reason to care what they were called, but being an AI, their sense of existence is something they should care about. Even Belle was shocked at the use of that word at first, but her curiosities soon shifted to other subjects to ask the Lieutenant after he asked her to come with us.

Belle was more than happy to join us, if not out of gratitude for saving her, but out of a need of revenge for her platoon. She was feisty, and still had a sour disposition towards me for my little fireworks display despite my saving her life, but I was grateful for the extra gun. The fact that she knew the exact layout of the surrounding colony didn’t hurt either. We left the ruined encampment behind us, continuing deeper into the descending valley network. While the persistent sound of battle raged all around us, the canyon seemed eerily calm. Too calm, I thought. Belle on the other hoof continued inquiring of the nature of the Geld, intent on understanding their motivation.

“Why exactly is the Geld such a surprise to you LT? You seem to know an awful lot about ‘em.”

Dexter did not respond immediately. He led the party, with Belle just behind him, and both took great care in surveying the land before us with guns drawn. I kept an eye on our rear, watching for any potential ambushes.

“Because they haven’t been seen out of their territory in over two hundred years, and that’s pretty much all S.T.A.B.L.E was able to explain to us. The Council has been hesitant to reveal much about them to us, and I can see why.”

“Why those stuck up, feather brained no good-” the soldier mare grumbled. “If they actually bothered givin’ us useful information, we might not be in this mess!”

Her frustrations settled into quiet muttering as we continued forward. It had been nearly twenty minutes since the incident in the plains, and I realised we had not heard from a certain somepony in some time, and despite my earlier anger with her, I was starting to worry. I activated my radio, and attempted to hail Nimbus.

“Captain Nimbus, do you read? This is Shepard. We are approaching the last known whereabouts of the relic, do you copy?”

The radio was silent at first, buzzing with the same ominous static that I had grown to despise by now. Dexter and Belle both looked at me as I continued hailing the radio. Dexter seemed to show understanding as to what I was doing. Belle, on the other hand was less restrained in her inquiries.

“Who’s this Nimbus you’re tryin’ to reach? Friend of yours?”

As if on queue, my radio grabbed onto a faint signal from a location towards the north. A voice garbled through white noise, but I managed remove some of the interference to hear the message clearly.

“Shepard, Dexter. I flew over the excavation site, no sign of the relic. There appears to be loading equipment scattered over this part of the valley, maybe there is something more ahead. I should see you soon. Be careful, this area is way too quiet....” and the radio returned to static.

Once again Nimbus’ one sided conversation had struck a nerve in me. I groaned loudly as I vainly attempted to retune my omni-tool to reconnect with her and have an actual conversation, ignoring the further inquiries of Belle.

“You have air support down here? Why didn’t you say so earlier? Woulda saved us a lot of trouble if you ask me.”

“I would hardly call one pony viable air support Sergeant,” I shot back out of anger. I was in desperate need of another outlet for my nerves. “And Nimbus is a bit preoccupied with her task to babysit us.”

“Well, then who is this Nimbus that she’s far too busy flying in a fighter or what have you in the sky than fightin’ down here where the real battle is?”

“She’s a Council Sleipnir, Miss Belle. Sent to oversee the acquisition of the relic you dug up down here, and evaluate Shepard’s field skills,” Dexter replied matter-of-factly.

Even though I was more focused in getting my radio to work through all this static, I could not fail to notice the wide eyed stare of disbelief that Belle was giving me. I chuckled lightly at her demeanor only to watch it turn into a scowl directed right through my heart.

“Why a Council Sleipnir would be interested in the likes of you, ifin’ you’re gonna pull stunts like the one you pulled back there and- Wait an apple bucking minute here!”

Now I looked up to see what she was going on about this time. Her head swiveled wildly to Dexter, but even staring at the back of her head, I could feel the shock on her face.

“A Sleipnir? A Council Sleipnir? You mean those hoity toity, too-good-for-Earth-Ponies-private-soldiers that the Council parade in front of us, and tell us that we ain’t good enough for their club? That’s who’s leadin’ you? A non Earth Pony? Lemme guess, a Pegasus?”

Her voice faltered noticeably, almost a choking gasp at the utterance of the word Pegasus. She faced forward, and I could see her face contort in sadness. She was fighting hard to keep her emotions in check, a fight I could tell she was losing.

“Is there something you want to tell us, Miss Belle?” Dexter asked calmly. “I’m no stranger to the prejudice most feel towards the Pegasi.”

She shook her head, slowly lifting it to face the sky. Her eyes twinkled in the approaching twilight on the horizon. “We don’t have the time to listen to my sob stories, we need to get goin’ if we’re gonna save anypony.”

She seemed to snap back into her disciplined stance with nary a thought or fleeting farewell. She righted her gun, and trotted ahead of the pack, only stopping to berate us for standing about and wasting further time. I gave up on fixing my radio, and Dexter gave on leading us forward. It was clear that Belle had more than revenge on her mind; she was aiming to prove herself to somepony, but I couldn’t be certain who.

“An’ stop callin’ me 'Miss Belle'. Just call me South.”

Her head twisted in a short little huffy motion that signaled to me that she was finished talking on the subject, and remained silent for the rest of the trek through the valley. Dexter and I exchanged worried looks, but decided wordlessly that it would might be best to let the matter drop for now. Like he said earlier, few were strangers to the prejudice and animosity towards the Pegasi, many of my instructors saying few kind words in their regard. My experience so far with Nimbus was my first and only interaction with a Pegasus so far, so I really had no solid basis to outwardly hate an entire species just because we fought a war with them. Earth Ponies fought thousands of wars between ourselves before we even made it to space travel, and grudges were natural, but this was just silly. What made this different? What made it so hard to forgive? One of the many reasons I preferred dealing with machines, not ponies. I had a feeling that I would get along with whatever race had build the Geld, just to have some common interests.

The valley sharply opened into a wide clearing that did not appear to be natural stone, but recently disturbed earth and rock. We had arrived at our destination, and it was a disaster area. Storage equipment and containers were tossed about the site, most of which, if not all of it was covered in scorch marks and blaster scars. Small handfuls of surveying gear was left sitting on what appeared to be a large stone dais in the middle of the dug earth. Nopony of the group spoke as we carefully approached the ruin, still wary of potential ambushes in the eerie calm that blanketed the area like lead. Both Dexter and South focused their attention upwards at the cliffs above us, while I stepped forward onto the shaped stone platform of the dais. It looked ancient, and yet was skillfully worked and carved with precision. I ran my hoof along the section that I assumed was the center, which was smooth to the touch, and strangely warm. Perhaps this was the exact spot where the relic stood, and the earth radiated with the heat of its power. Or maybe it just radiated radiation. Either way, this was the closest I’d been to functioning Alicorn technology so far and I was going to savor the moment.

My companions eventually joined me on the dais, lowering their weapons in satisfaction that we were not being watched. Dexter busied himself with a nearby terminal, while South observed the dias as I was. I could see anger in her face as she paced back and forth, her eyes never leaving the center. “The relic was right here this mornin’ and we weren’t even close to getting ready to move it.”

She glanced around, as though she was looking for something. She paced about looking behind containers and around the scattered equipment, becoming more distressed by the second. Eventually she wandered slowly back to the dais beside me, her head hung low in sadness. I could tell she was distraught, but experience so far with her far told me it was best to let her begin talking, lest I risk the chance of personal injury.

“Mah platoon was stationed here.” She spoke slowly, sadly. “We were in charge of watching the relic before we got separated. I’ve been tryin’ to get back all day, only to get ambushed and lose more of mah friends.”

She cast her head side to side in a vain attempt to see what wasn’t there. “But they ain’t here, none of them. Not even the bodies.” Her last words dripped with righteous anger.” What the hell did those monsters do to them?”

I thought carefully of what I could say to comfort her. Everything I thought I knew of this soldier pony was falling apart at the sight of her distress. She was on the outside, a capable and well trained soldier through and through, but on the inside, she was just as vulnerable as anypony else in this kind of situation. The military trained us to view our units and platoons as family, a family we fight alongside and die alongside. A metaphor South appeared to be taking to heart.

“Shepard, can you come here for a moment?” Dexter called to me.

I hesitated a moment, not wishing to leave South alone in her depression. I placed a hoof on her shoulder to offer what little comfort I could, only for her to brush it away. She looked at me with emotionless eyes, rose to her hooves and trotted away without a word. So much for that idea. I shrugged at South’s uncanny ability to convey conflicting emotions and confuse the hell out of me, and walked over to see what Dexter wanted.

“What do you make of this, Shepard?” Dexter was standing in front of a strange looking device. It appeared to be a portable terminal, but it bore no markings that I recognized. It was unique compared to the other equipment scattered around the camp, differing in color, shape, and interface. I pressed a few buttons on the alien screen, only hearing a strange beeping noise in response. The alphabet on the terminal was unrecognisable too. Whatever this thing was, it did not belong to any Earth Pony scientist, which left one alternative.

“Maybe it belongs to the Geld,” I remarked. “It certainly does look like they share the same origin.”

Dexter bore a thoughtful expression on his face. “Then this is far more than a random invasion.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, military strategy not being my forte.

“If this was a simple invasion, there would be no need to bring any equipment like this to the surface. They would bring ordinance and weapons, but not computer terminals like this, unless they were actually looking for something.”

It didn’t take long, even for me, to make the connection. “They’re here for the relic.” I looked to the spot where the object in question most likely sat mere minutes ago. “And they probably already have it.”

“You better tell Nimbus, i’ll get South ready to go.” Dexter said, readying his weapon and trotting away to the quiet soldier.

“Good luck with that one, Lieutenant,” I muttered under my breath as he left me alone. I brought out my omni-tool, attempting to reconnect with the elusive pegasus. Once again I was met with irritating static, and a new sound that I did not expect, a painfully loud screeching. My tool started to freak out at being in close proximity to an exceptionally powerful jamming signal. My eyes narrowed on the strange device that lay before me, the pieces neatly falling into place in my mind. I waved my hoof at the offending object, my tool responding by translating the Geld’s language into something readable. With the gibberish turned to something useful, it was no challenge to turn off the cause of my days irritation.

“Please, somepony, anypony! Please help us!” my radio screamed at me the moment the static dissipated. The voice was wrought with panic, and I could hear a faint thumping noise drowning out her heavy breathing. “They are just outside, trying to break in. I don’t know how long the door will hold. Is anypony out there?”

“Ah recognise that voice!”

I turned around to see Dexter and South both right behind me, listening intently to the distress signal. South was wide eyed, mouth agape. Before I or Dexter could say anything, South ran past us towards the ascending path out of the valley without us. There was a moment of dumbfounded silence before the both of us realised our new companion had ran off into a no doubt dangerous situation, and we charged immediately after her.

We caught up with South at the peak of the hill, as we stumbled into a grim scene. Bodies lay scattered around the narrow clearing, many of which were piled alongside a portable bunker on the far side. We stepped carefully around the dead as we made our way through towards the building. South moved with haste ahead of us, taking less care in walking over the recently deceased. Whoever sent out that distress signal must have had some importance for her to show such little respect for the dead. Dexter at the very least showed the restraint I knew him capable of as he surveyed the area for potential threats.

My attention was drawn to the strange spike like protrusions that stuck out from the rest of the materials I had seen so far on the planet. At first glance, they appeared to be symmetrical metal rods attached to a tri-pod base. The legs appeared claw-like, and the entire thing did not look like anything of Earth Pony design. Perhaps it was more of the Geld’s technology, maybe a different style of transmitter? As I got closer, I noticed a fluid dripping from the base of the spike and pooling in the earth beneath it. From my work with machines, I remarked that some cooling fluids came in unique colors, but I had never seen it in a shade of red. I dabbed a small amount of it on my hooves to sample it. It was unusually warm for any coolant I was familiar with, and reeked of iron. My omni-tool beeped at me with a statistical analysis of the liquid.

Blood. This was blood? My hooves trembled slightly as the reality began to suffocate me like a torrent of ice cold water. My stomach twisted violently, feeling much like my first hour aboard the Normanedy. It seemed to me that even Dr. Chalkdust’s ‘treatment’ would not work for this level of horror. I looked up at the length of the spike, noticing that the entirety of it was dripping with the sickening red liquid. I backed up slowly, each step a separate battle of mind vs body to avoid losing what little of my lunch I had left. I looked to the nearby bodies, confirming the sickening truth to my weakening resolve. Many of the bodies had been violently impaled onto these horrifying spires, then discarded into piles for a purpose I hoped to never discover.

“What the hell are you doing South?” I heard Dexter shout from across the field. I turned to see Dexter staring at South in anger. From the distance I was from them, I could only see South kneeling before the bodies, moving them in an unkempt manner. I started to walk towards them and the bunker as they continued shouting at each other.

“One of these ponies had to be from mah squad,” South yelled back at Dexter, not showing the slightest bit of remorse of what she was doing. “I have to know if any of them made it, or if any of them are....” Her voice choked on the final words, as she continued turning over the bodies. Dexter just shook his head in disapproval of South’s actions, and trotted away loudly. I felt sympathetic for South’s situation, but even I had to agree with Dexter that she was allowing her grief to overcome her judgement. I kept moving towards her as she continued her search, when she suddenly leapt back in fright.

“W-what the hell is this?” she stammered in horror.

I dashed over to her to see what was the matter, following her eyes to the object in question. What the hell indeed. It appeared to be another body of a recently killed colonist, but its body was colored a disgusting ashen grey that tarnished its original color, whatever it may have been. Grooves appeared to be carved into its flesh that pulsated a bright blue. Its face was frozen in a blank expression, the strange grooves running the length of its face, even boring the eerie blue into their eyes. Eyes that I could not break away from. What had been done to this colonist was horrifying, a crime against nature, but I could not tear my gaze away from those eyes that had been drained of what life it once had. I felt that I was staring into the abyss of death itself, and that I could be sucked into it at any given moment as if I stood on the precipice of oblivion.

Then the eyes looked back at me.

Whatever thought processes I had left in my brain came crashing to a cataclysmic end. It was all I could do to watch in a mix of frozen terror and disbelief as I watched the body, no, bodies of several colonists twitch and spasm with the throes of renewing life. One, three, five was the count as the pile in front of me and South began to stand up shakily. They wavered, stumbling like zombie ponies, but who was I kidding? These things were zombie ponies! What was left of their flesh and fur was taught, emaciated, and spotted unevenly with black char or those pulsating blue veins. They lumbered forward, moaning and growling in low hushed tones like predators awaiting the instinct to pounce. I stood frozen in fear, while South slowly but shakily brought her gun to bear.

“They’re still alive!” she snapped in a hushed whisper.

I couldn’t even respond vocally. Whatever the hell these things were, they were not alive, they were not dead, they were not even ponies any more. They were monsters, and the Geld had done this to them. As they stepped closer, I could hear South attempt in vain to steady her weapon, only to hear it rattle louder in her quivering hooves. I doubt even S.T.A.B.L.E trained its soldiers in preparation for a zombie uprising. I glanced over to Dexter, who was on the far side of the ridge investigating the way forward and completely oblivious to what was unfolding behind him. I could have called out to him, but that would most likely be akin to disturbing a hornets nest of hungry predators.

A feat South took it upon herself to instigate anyways. The first volley struck the closest husk soundly, causing it to topple forwards in a slump, never to rise again. A point to note was that these things were not very resilient, but they were incredibly fast when agitated. In the time for the first one to fall, the rest charged us en masse, punctuating their anger with a bloodcurdling roar. I saw South deftly bash two away with the butt of her rifle, while the other two tackled me to the ground. The smaller one stumbled over the other, launching over me and landing squarely on its head beside me. I could hear the sickening snap of its neck as it hit the ground, twitching slightly before settling to the earth. The one on top of me gnashed its teeth wildly at me, thrashing me with its hooves, and I was barely able to dodge its feeble attempts to bite me. I held its head back with my hooves around its throat, but its attempts to strike me continued unabated.

I heard more gunfire as South dealt with the creatures encroaching upon her, and galloping hooves in the distance that hopefully belonged to Dexter. I realised that if I didn’t do something soon, I might soon become a zombie initiate myself. As my grip on its neck was beginning to weaken, I shifted my hooves for a better hold, giving me a visual reminder of the weapon attached to my blasted hoof! Somehow I managed lift my hind legs to buck the creature off me, giving me a precious second to ready the gun. Time seemed to slow as the husk lunged on top of me. Two previous attempts on my life within the same hour taught me that hesitation will get you killed, causing my mind to piece together every moment of weapon training I had ever taken in my mind in crystalline clarity. With little pause for thought, I aimed, and proceeded to fire endlessly into the monster’s head, only stopping when my omni-tool locked my weapon to prevent a damaging overheat.

It wobbled slightly at the force of the gunfire, pausing briefly in what appeared to be shock at my audacity of actually shooting it. It slumped forward, landing directly on top of me with a painful thud. I struggled to move the carcass on top of me, only now realising that despite the emaciated and gaunt look of these things, they weighed an abnormal amount. I twisted and grunted, but to no avail as I started to notice a difficulty in breathing from the crushing weight. With weakening resolve, and fading air supply, I managed to choke out a faint, “help!” before I noticed a sudden silence all around me. South’s gunfire had ceased, but I could hear her labored breathing not fifteen feet away. The galloping I had heard had stopped, and I desperately hoped it was really Dexter. My prayers were verified as I felt the warm glow of his telekinesis wrap around the felled husk and gently lifted it off of me.

I was able to sit up a bit, not just yet ready to get to my hooves. I breathed steadily, as I looked around at the changed scene around me. Dexter stood in front of me, his focus directed at disposing the zombie like being that was just moments ago crushing my lungs. I looked behind me to South, who was doing the same, breathing heavily and slowly regaining her color. I wondered idly on how much excitement she could possibly handly before simply collapsing, because it was becoming an increasingly appealing decision on my part. I steadily rose to my hooves, taking great care not to overdo it. I lifted my head to take a deep relaxing breath, and slowly opened my eyes. In front of me was the bunker, who’s door had opened during the aftermath. A mare poked her head out tentatively, looking around nervously before she looked straight at me and my companions.

“I-is it over?”

“Shepard, I found the loading docks just north of your position. I think the Geld moved the relic through here. I’m going to make sure it’s clear, then wait for you here. See you soon.”

I didn’t even feel anything for Nimbus’ communications anymore. Sure she was professional, and probably had killed quite of few of these things herself, but if she was really so close, she could have bothered to help us. I was certainly going to give that mare a piece of my mind once this was over. I turned off my radio and trotted over to Dexter and South, who were in the middle of listening to the two scientists we had rescued from the bunker. The mare was frightened, but stable, while her companion seemed much further detached from reality. He was skittish, and spend most of the introductions spouting nonsense and end of the world gibberish. We managed calm them down, and secure the bunker for the arrival of legitimate retrieval while we continued with our task. I managed to sit down as the mare was finishing her tale.

“And that’s when Professor Twidget and myself barricaded ourselves in here while the guards held them off,” she recounted calmly. “Those soldiers gave their lives to protect us.”

“There is no protecting us!” Twidget muttered. “This is the end times! The age of the Equine races is over!”

“Twidget, please! Now is not the time for your nonsense.” The mare turned to Dexter. “I’m really sorry about him, we’ve been through a lot.”

Dexter waved his hoof dismissively. “It’s all right Dr. Terra. Once we get you safely out of here, we can get him the help he needs.”

The mare relaxed a bit more at Dexters words, before he continued pressing for information. “Now, is there anything else you can tell us about what happened. Anything about the relic that you found?”

“The beacon of our doom has been brought before the eternal judge!” Twidget shouted.” Our fates are now in his merciful hooves!”

Terra hushed Twidget again, before returning to her thoughts. “I can’t remember much else, I’m afraid. Those things were pounding on the door for nearly an hour before you arrived. I thought I heard some of the loading equipment move by, but I can’t be certain.

Dexter looked to me and South. “I guess they moved the relic through here to the loading docks. Looks like Nimbus was right.”

“Hmph, lucky guess,” South said, disinterested.

It was my turn for a question. “Did either of you see our friend pass through here? She’s a Pegasus Sleipnir sent with us to secure that relic.”

Twidget screamed and backed himself into a corner at the uttering of the word Pegasus, and whimpered loudly for several moments as we all gawked at his display. He appeared to be muttering to himself, which steadily got louder until we could hear it clearly. “He walks among them, the winged harbinger of our doom! He lords over the indoctrinated, and will force his will on any who defy his purpose!”

“I’m no expert on Pegasus physiology, but I’m pretty sure I can recognise a female Pegasus when I see one,” Dexter commented. “That can’t have been Nimbus.”

“Twidget, hush! You don’t know what you are saying.” Terra snapped at the whimpering stallion, the looked away from him to us again. “I’m really sorry about him, but I have no idea what he is talking about. I saw no Pegasus out there, male or female.”

“Nimbus was on the Normanedy with us before the attack even happened,” I remarked. “She couldn’t have been here.”

Dexter nodded in agreement, while South’s indifference remained unchanged. Twidget quieted down eventually, and Dexter continued his questions.

“Even if you didn’t see the relic, where could they possibly move it from the loading docks?”

Terra thought a moment, before shaking her head in confusion. “The only trains that were moving today were between the loading area here and the spaceport in the center of the colony.”

“Spaceport?” Dexter said quickly. “Then they are trying to get the relic off planet. We should get going.”

Dexter and South moved quickly to the door, while I lingered for a moment. Twidget had passed out, but was still mumbling in his sleep. “Harbinger! Harbinger! Harbinger!” Terra trotted softly towards him to keep a close eye on him.

“Once we are out of this horrid place, he can get his medication. He will be fine.”

I nodded in feigned agreement, as if I knew the inner workings of a crazy pony. “I’m sure he will. Just stay in here, I’ll leave the door locked and send a message to the security clean up so they know where you are.”

I stepped outside and padded on the keypad to seal the door behind me. Just before I did, I glanced at Terra, who had moved Twidget to a makeshift bed. She looked at me with relief in her eyes. “Thank you Commander.”

The door slid shut quietly, while I stood staring at empty space for a moment, thinking on what Terra had said. Commander, heh. That will be the day.

“Shepard, come look at this! Now!”

I returned to reality and dashed towards the source of the shouting. I found Dexter and South standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the loading docks we were told about. I noted the ramp that would take us there, failing to understand what the matter was. I looked to my friends, and realised that they were staring at the sky, not down into the valley. I looked up and was met with a sight that would no doubt haunt my dreams for many nights to come.

Towering at what had to be no less than a kilometer high and was no less than the same distance away from us was the same metallic monstrosity that I had seen in the distress video. The difference now was that the obscuring cloud of smoke and dust was gone, and I could see this thing in perfect clarity against the velvet red sky. Its serpent like hull stretched into the sky, with long tendril like appendages acting as mooring lines tying it to the earth. It glowed with a field of crimson energy, the entire surface covered in a red electrical current. The beast, if that’s what I could call it, swayed slightly in various directions before leaning towards us. At the peak of its height, I could make out a long set of protrusions, much like a snout and horns of a mad and frightful creature.

I could not be certain that it saw, or even acknowledged our insignificant presence, as it loomed over the valley between us. The ground began to shake, the tendrils holding it down began detaching from the ground, and the behemoth steadily rose to the sky. A loud booming roar echoed over the planet as it broke free of the earth, sending us to our rumps in terror. The noise it made cut through me like a wave of fear, leaving me gasping for breath and quivering with each inhale. The massive metal serpent rose beyond the clouds and vanished from our sight with a speed that defied its colossal size.

We sat on the cliff for a long while in perfect silence. South was the first to break the calm, collapsing to the earth in panicked breathing. “What in the hell was that thing?” she panted. “A ship or a monster?”

“I don’t know,” Dexter said quietly.” But I don’t think I want to stick around and find out.”

I agreed quietly, my mind still dwelling on the whatever the hell that thing was. There was countless things it could have been, and I doubt any of them were pleasant. But it was gone, for now, and we had to hope that we could continue our mission before it returned, and worry about what it was and what it wanted then.

I gazed into the valley below, looking for any signs of movement in the docks. There were several rows of large crates and containers, turning it into a maze, making it difficult to see anything. Hopefully, Nimbus was indeed down there waiting for us before proceeding. I felt that South would have loved to meet her face to face, and I probably would have enjoyed the ensuing conversation. The devious little grin I developed at that thought quickly evaporated at a sudden sound that shattered the calm of the area below us. It sounded like a gunshot of a very powerful weapon, much like the one Nimbus was carrying.

“Nimbus may be in trouble,” I shouted, galloping down the ramp into the valley. “We’d better go help her.”

Dexter and South quickly followed suit, South giving a contemptuous guffaw as she cantered alongside me. “A council Sleipnir, needing our help? That’ll be the day.”

South’s constant show of disdain for non Earth Ponies was beginning to wear on me. Whatever reason she had to have such dislike in the Pegasi, she could have at least done a better job keeping it to herself. I paid no further attention to her as I approached the base of the canyon. We kept our speed as we approached the metal catwalks of the loading area, slowing to a trot in the midst of sharp corners and wide openings. We split up silently, fanning across the veranda and weaved through the containers looking for any sources of danger, or our elusive companion. I found more strange equipment that looked to belong to the Geld, at least confirming that they had moved through here recently, but I found no evidence of the relic, or Nimbus.

“Shepard, you’re gonna want to see this.” Dexter’s voice was quiet, sombre.

I navigated out of the containers with little difficulty, and found Dexter and South standing next to each other, staring at something around a corner. I approached carefully and peered around the corner slowly, noting the upset look in Dexter’s eyes as I neared him. What lay around the corner was a pony. A Pegasus, rather. A familiar Pegasus. A dead Pegasus.

“It’s Nimbus.”

I kept my distance from Dexter as he examined the body of our fallen friend and South secured the perimeter, hopefully looking to find out who had done this to Nimbus. I remained silent, thinking of how I was going to explain this to Quartermane once we returned to the ship. If we returned to the ship. I looked to Nimbus, her eyes were thankfully shut, but her beautiful golden mane was tarnished by the pool of her own blood that she laid in. I examined her weapon, an elegant rifle that had seen much use here on the surface, but no shots were fired recently, the barrel being ice cold. She never saw it coming.

“Somethin’s movin’ in there!” South shouted.

I immediately raised the rifle in the direction that South was pointing, fumbling slightly with the configuration meant for a Pegasi. Dexter did the same with his weapon, carefully stepping around Nimbus and stepping beside me.

“Ya’ll got five seconds to git’ out here before I toss a grenade in there for good measure, ya hear?”

I heard a crate fall over and smash on the ground, as a panicked stallion stumbled out of the mountain of boxes, his right hoof raised in submittance. “Please don’t shoot! I’m one of you!”

He was in fact an earth pony, a dock worker by the looks of his overalls. He twitched and fidgeted nervously as he trotted tentatively towards us. Dexter and I both lowered our weapons, which was starting to get awkward to hold anyways, but South kept hers drawn. He stopped several feet from us, and collapsed to his rump. Dexter approached him, offering an emergency ration from his saddlebag to calm the poor fellow down.

“Thank god this nightmare is over!” the dockworker gasped. “Ever since that mothership landed, everything has been going to hell!”

“Mothership?’ I inquired.” You mean that giant snake like thing that took off a while ago?”

He nodded. “Yea, that the one. It landed sometime this morning, right before the Geld showed up. It was scary as hell how it broke through the clouds, casting a shadow over everything. I’ve never seen anything so massive.”

“Can you tell us what happened here?”

He took a deep breath, before nodding hesitantly. “Yea, I can.” He looked around at his surroundings, taking in what was there to jog his memory. “We were moving everything around to get ready to move the relic through on to the colony for safe keeping. Then that mother ship shows up and everything falls to pieces. Our communications were hit first, then the Geld started showing up in droves. They hit this area hard, If I wasn’t hiding behind the boxes, I’d be dead just like the rest of them.”

“Did you at least see anything useful hiding back there?” Dexter asked.

The dockworker thought a moment. “Yea, I saw what happened to your friend there,” he said, pointing to Nimbus. “She was moving through the boxes all quiet like, when she came across another Pegasus like her, even called him by name, ‘Artemis’ I think it was. They seemed to know each other, so she lowers her guard. Then Artemis walks behind her and shoots her in the back of the head. Just like that. Then he left towards the trams, you just missed him.”

Why would another Pegasus be here, how could anypony else be aware of what we were doing down here? This whole endeavor was starting to stink of foul play.

“If you managed t' hide behind those crates, why did nopony else do th' same?” South inquired, finally lowering her weapon.

“They didn’t even have a chance, the Geld were already on top of us when the attack started.”

“Then how did you get there in time?” South’s eyebrows were raised in confusion.

“I…I was already behind the crates when it happened,” he admitted with shame.

“What were you busy doin’ back there? Spyin’?” South snapped poking the dockworker with an accusatory hoof.

“No! Nothing like that,” he explained. “Its just that….I work such long shifts, sometimes I can barely make it through the day. So I was busy….napping so I could get through the afternoon.”

“You survived because yer lazy?” South shouted. I swear she was about to pull a gun on this poor pony when an explosion drew our attention to the train tracks. Smoke rose from the platform below, and it did not take long for the dockworker to realise what was happening.

“They’re blowing up the tracks! Thats the last way to the inner colonies. If you want to catch the one that did this, you’d better hurry!”

Instinct took over as we left the civilian behind and dashed down the final ramp to the tracks. I almost tripped trying to hold onto Nimbus’s rifle, and decided to fold it away into my saddlebags for later. We saw a small group of Geld soldiers working their way past the remaining trains, carrying what appeared to be a very large storage crate. “They have the relic!” I shouted.

South roared with anger as she ran ahead of Dexter and I, engaging the Geld. They appeared to be surprised at the sudden ambush, but did not return fire. Instead they sped up, racing towards the final tram. They boarded quickly, and the tram steadily began to pick up speed, leaving the station without us. South continued firing as she galloped astride the moving tram, and bounded aboard. Dexter and I galloped as fast as we could to catch up with our overzealous friend. The Lieutenant managed to jump on the train, narrowly missing the guard rail. He turned back to me with a hoof extended.

“Jump, Shepard! I’ll catch you!

I maintained my speed, but the train was steadily going faster, and I was running out of platform.

“I’ll never make it!” I wheezed through ragged breaths. I was already exhausted of the day’s events so far. You would think five years of P.T day and night would give me more than ten seconds of sprinting time.

“You can, you just have to try! Trust me!”

If there was one thing I learned from today, it was that Dexter was somepony I could depend on. Whatever doubts I had, Dexter’s reassuring smile drained them away. I looked for an opening in the guardrails, and upon seeing one, I threw out all rational thought from my mind and dove towards the speeding tram. I saw it approaching ever so slightly, before I noticed I was falling too fast. I shut my eyes in panic, and awaited the inevitable plummet to the earth below. When it never came, though, I eventually opened my eyes to see that I was still in the air, floating in tandem with the tram. I looked down, and saw that I was covered in a glowing blue aura, as I slowly drifted towards the tram car. I saw Dexter struggling to stand, his eyes tightly shut in strained focus, his implants shining brightly. He set me down gently on the car, before wavering slightly, nearly collapsing from the effort.

He stood there for a moment, panting heavily, before he looked up at me, smiling. “Now we’re even.”

“I guess so,” I panted. “Now let’s go save South before she gets herself killed.”

Dexter nodded, and we both stood and leapt from car to car in the hopes of reaching the lead car before South did something foolish. As we approached the front, the sound of exchanging gunfire put me at ease to the fact that South was at least still conscious, and firing at the Geld at the front of the train. We finally made it to the front car, and found South crouched behind cover, ducking out to fire at the single remaining Geld from the four we saw earlier. I peeked out myself to see that the other three were dead, lying beside the crate they had brought on board. I saw the fourth Geld, duck in and out of cover, glancing at the three of us. I heard a series of beeps and tones come from its head, apparently attempting to communicate in its strange language.

Then all of a sudden, it keeled over with a loud thud. There was no way of us could have hit it from its cover, but yet it fell over, and was clearly dead from where we sat. South jumped over the crate she had been using for cover, and moved carefully towards the crate, trotting slowly around it to investigate her kills. She appeared satisfied with what she had accomplished alone, when the giant crate shook violently beside her. I watched her aim her gun at it, Dexter doing the same. I readied my pistol redundantly, remembering the effectiveness of my companions weapons versus mine. The crate shook again and again, each motion accompanied by a loud thud.

The lid of the crate blew off, flying overhead and landing far below us under the tracks. The sides of the container groaned and grinded, as they slowly fell away from each other neatly. Inside the crate was another Geld, but this one was easily two, if not three times the size of the rest of them. It rose to its hooves, towering over South who was still standing right beside it. She stepped back slowly, but was not quick enough to avoid the massive synthetic swiping at her with its giant hoof, sending the cowpony flying over us.

She landed with a loud thud, but groaned loudly hinting that she was still partially conscious. Dexter and I immediately began firing at the machine, as it simply stood there, taking the punishment. It did not take long for both of us to overheat our weapons, but the Geld was still standing unfazed by our onslaught. I stepped ponderously towards us, each step threatening to rattle the tram off its tracks.

“Shepard,” Dexter whispered to me.” I have an idea, stand back.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked fearfully.

“You know what they say.” He grinned. “The bigger they are…”

His voice trailed off as he began to glow his trademark blue. The Geld kept coming closer as Dexter concentrated. It was mere feet from us when the Lieutenant opened his eyes, glaring at the approaching beast. His pupils had glazed over white, and I could feel the power radiating off him. He lifted his hoof slowly, pouring all his energy into it. The Geld halted, and rose its front hooves high in the air in preparation to trample us. But before gravity could take hold, Dexter screamed, throwing his hoof into a punching motion towards the towering Geld. The energy built up in his hooves flew out in a wave of force, catching the machine square in the head. It lurched backwards, before toppling over and landing onto its back in a glorious crash.

As it lay helpless on its backside, I watched it flail its hooves in vain as it tried to right itself up like a downed turtle. Me and Dexter laughed at the display, when we noticed that South was standing just behind us, brandishing something in her mouth dangling by a pin. It looked like an apple, but it was rainbow colored. She shook her head upwards, relieving the apple from the pin. As it sailed upwards, she spun around gracefully with her tail aloft. She paused, waiting for a proper moment, before swatting the apple deftly with her tail. It flew over my head, and landed precisely in the exposed rib cage of the Geld’s underside. I looked back to South, who was smiling a familiar grin.

“I’d git’ down if I were you,” she crooned, mocking my voice almost perfectly.

“Oh crap.” I muttered, knowing exactly what she meant.

BOOOOOM!

The car shook and swayed violently from the resulting explosion, sending crates, debris and synthetic body parts raining over the tram and nearby canyon. The way the car was now rocking suggested that the tram was no longer securely fastened to the rail, but was holding course all the same. The speed of the vehicle cleared the smoke quickly, revealing a blackened section where the giant Geld once stood as a whole. The smaller Geld shells had been tossed off the side as well, leaving very little left on the lead car in way of supplies and cargo, aside from the singed control panel at the front of the car. After observing in the new scene before me, I steadily got up for what seemed to be the millionth time today. It would have been nice to escape from a near death situation without getting knocked to the ground, but that felt like a fool’s hope at this point.

I shuffled slowly to my hooves, looking around to see if my companions fared any better. South, being the instigator of the situation at hoof, was fully prepared to deal with the consequences of what she had done. The explosion didn’t seem to have affected her at all, only knocking off her precious hat. I watched her snatch it off the ground and hold it dexterously with her tail and plop it back onto her head. Her smirk conveyed an air of superiority and I didn’t much care for it as she pulled what I hoped to be a real apple from her saddle bag. She inspected it carefully, and gave it a thorough polish before biting into it loudly.

“Now,” she garbled through her chewing. “That’s how we settle things back on the farm.”

Dexter, on the other hoof seemed to be the middle of painful suffering, with the way he held his head and rubbed at his temples. He had not risen to his hooves, choosing the remain on his rump while nursing what appeared to be one nasty headache. His mane was matted, and slightly parted in a way I could see his implants. The circuitry throbbed with a low humming sound, and fizzled slightly. I saw blood dripping from his ears and nose, which he wiped away nonchalantly in his dazed state.

“Are you ok Dexter?” I asked with concern.

It took time for him to acknowledge my presence, let alone my question. He swayed weakly, shaking his head over and over to clear his head of the dizzyness. “I’ll be fine, j...just give me a minute,” he breathed. I glared at South, intent to tear her ear off before Dexter stopped me. “N..no, Shepard. It wasn’t the grenade. I just over exerted myself.”

I grunted in compliance. I focused my attention to other things, choosing the fact that this train was still moving, and we had no idea to where.

“So,” South began. “Does anyone know where this boat is headed?”

“I don’t know.” I replied without looking at her directly. The tram veered around a wide bend, before it began to noticeably decelerate. Around the corner I could see what appeared to be a station, and no further track to abide us. It appeared that we had arrived at the end of the line, wherever the hell it was.

“But we’re about to find out.”

The tram groaned to a stop at the end of the rail, the brakes squealing in protest at any further punishment. The station and nearby area were dead silent. It seemed the further into this hell we traveled, the quieter the world became, as if we truly were walking along the razor’s edge into the firey pits of Tartaurus itself. The calm made me feel uneasy, having grown accustomed to the sounds of battle since my time here.

South and Dexter stepped off the tram first, weapons drawn and focus set. The Lieutenant had recovered quickly, or so it seemed. His head twitched occasionally, and I don’t think he realised I was noticing. He was still in pain, but I guessed he felt this particular brand before and was accustomed to dealing with it. His attention was unfaltering as he scanned the station with South carefully, slowly. If this wasn't the climax of our day so far, it certainly felt close.

I left the train after South silently signaled ‘all clear’, as the two of them continued forward. I lingered behind, taking my own readings of the situation. The station ramps climbed upwards from the tram cars, perfect places for an ambush. My companions went upwards level by level, while I stayed at a careful distance. Nothing seemed out of place, no disturbed containers or even more of the Geld’s strange terminals. This area was seemingly untouched by the battle in the surrounding hills. Seemingly of course, and I wasn’t about to let my guard down just yet, not until I was off this blasted planet.

After we navigated the series of ramps and boxes, we made it to the top level of the station. This particular level appeared to connect to many adjacent areas that fed into the nearby colonies, with their own transfer points and loading areas. The scaffolding of this floor was very high in the air, and looking over the opposite side we could see a wide veranda looking over a lake, ripples gently forming from a calm breeze rolling over the hills. It was not, thankfully, so high that we could not easily miss the five or six Geld troopers patrolling the platform. Many of them were standing attentively on the far side, standing next to a stone pillar formation that glowed an ominous green. Even from up here it could tell it was important to them to protect, therefore, it had to be important for us to get to it.

“Is that what I think it is?” I asked, pointing out the obelisk to the others.

“Eeyep,” I heard South reply. “That’s the relic they dug up. Looks like they took good care of it.”

“But, why did they stop here?” Dexter remarked. “That platform is a dead end.” He came up to the railing next to me, and leaned over to get a better view. “And what are they doing there?” he said pointing at three Geld I had not noticed right below the catwalk we stood on. They were interacting with a set of cylindrical objects. They appeared innocuous enough from up here, but experience told me it was no doubt bad news for us.

“Let’s get down there and put a stop to this.” I said decidedly. “This has gone on long enough.”

Dexter chuckled slightly, smiling and nodding at me. He pointed towards the closest ramp down. “After you Shepard.”

I felt that the Lieutenant was humoring me, but as I recalled it was me that Nimbus was interested in. It only seemed natural to me that with her gone, I should at least try to lead for the remainder of the excursion. I paid no attention to his teasing and made my way down the ramp. Dexter and South followed behind me as we quietly trotted down towards the bottom. The Geld continued their appointed tasks as we moved from cover to cover, little as it was along the catwalks. They were completely oblivious to our presence, I hoped at least as we moved from the last section of ramp to a large wall that divided the platform tangentially from where we stood.

From the bottom of the ramp, we found ourselves closest to the three Geld that were focused on their cylinders. Down here, I could see that the things I thought were containers were, in fact, not containers at all. They each had computer interfaces, which the Geld were in the middle of accessing. They were also the first piece of technology that did not appear to belong to the Geld, the casings matching much of the excavation equipment from the relic site. I turned my focus towards the relic and its guards, not dwelling further on the cases, before my omni-tool bleeped noisily in my ear. I ducked my head behind cover, hoping the troopers did not hear it, while Dexter and South looked to me expectantly from their respective cover.

After gauging that our cover had not yet been ruined, I looked to my tool to see what was the matter. The screen showed a high concentration of unstable materials nearby, materials I recognised as incredibly explosive, and popular components of.....excavation charges. I facehoofed at not realising it sooner. Used properly in solid earth, an excavation charge causes a minimal explosion under pressure and simply loosens, or even disintegrates stubborn earth and rock without damaging worked stone. But if used in open air, and with purposeful sabotage, they could annihilate the nearby area with no trouble at all, including ancient alicorn relics.

I made quick gestures to Dexter, remembering what little I did from training to convey that these Geld had to go now. He seemed to understand, as he raised his rifle in preparation, as did South. They both nodded to me, awaiting my signal. I looked around the pillar, and still the Geld saboteurs were still heavily focused on their duty. The Geld near the relic too, were not paying any particular attention to the area we were hidden behind. This was as good a chance as any. I nodded to my companions, and I leaned around the corner, gun ready. I took aim at the closest Geld I could, and fired, praying I would hit its unprotected backside and not the explosive device next to it.

The Geld fell to the bullet in its back, and toppled onto its side. The other Geld were too slow to realise the situation at hoof, and both perished at the synchronized shots of my companions. The true challenge here would would lie in the four brutish troopers that were descending upon us from their places by the relic. They charged at us with reckless abandon, firing at us with little regard for aim or tact. Their task was clear; nopony was allowed near the relic. It was a task that I was looking forward to ruining for them. I ducked back into cover that was closer to the bombs, while South moved forward firing madly at the brutes. I had lost sight of Dexter, but I had far more immediate and troubling matters to deal with.

My omni-tool had not shut up since I approached the explosives, and I finally realised why. The tool wasn’t screaming merely because of the dangerous nearby materials, those blasted things were armed and counting! This certainly was going to spice up an otherwise dreary gunfight. “South, I gotta deal with these bombs, keep those things busy!” I shouted.

“Guh!” South grunted, taking a blast right to her shield, but not slowing down an inch. “Easier said than done!”

I ran to the bombs, bringing up my omni-tool’s interface. Thankfully the bombs were mundane equipment, the Geld’s tinkering only making it marginally more difficult. I pried off the manifold off of the first one and revealed a rainbow of wires and circuitry inside. I tugged at the loose cables, searching for the one I remembered from my training. It wasn’t difficult to diffuse a bomb, but it being in the middle of a firefight always made things interesting. My omni-tool blurted schematics and circuit diagrams at me, but it was proving difficult to concentrate on anything useful with bullets flying over my head. I looked over to the battle that was progressing without me. South appeared to have taken one of them down, and was busy wrestling with a second, while Dexter had flattened one with an enormous storage crate. But where was the fourth?

A mystery quickly resolved by a metal hoof punching me square across the face. I think I flew a good ten feet before I reconnected with solid ground, but not in the reunion that one would considered pleasant. I coughed and groaned, while I struggled to regain my balance. I heard loud hoof steps approaching me, the loud clanging of metal on metal ringing in my dazed head. The Geld stepped towards me, its head twisting with curiosity. It looked at me, but even with a face devoid of ways to show expressions, I could tell that it was conflicted about which method it should employ to kill me.

I scrambled away from it, making little difference as it continued forward. My companions were still busy with problems of their own, and the likelihood of them reaching me in time was shrinking fast. None of this was helped by the fact that my blasted omni-tool was still yelling at me about those bombs! Wait, my omni tool! I didn’t know much about the Geld, but they were still machines, and no machine enjoys a heaping dose of electromagnetism. I scrolled hastily through my tool, finding a suitable command just in time. With no hesitation, I aimed the device at the encroaching synthetic, and fired.

A bolt of energy flew from my hoof straight through the Geld, causing it to pause momentarily. A loud crackling noise filled the air, as static erupted from the metal plating of its armor, much like water seeks to be free of a confining dam. The creature twitched and jerked madly, swaying to and fro like a broken top as the excessive energy poured out, tearing its shell to pieces. It gave one last profound seizure, before it flashed like an erupting star, and an explosion that matched. When the light cleared, the Geld was on the ground in a heap and smoking slightly. It crackled with latent energy but remained still as I moved towards it. I glanced to the bombs, which also appeared to have suffered from the explosion and were now useless pieces of wiring and metal. Finally, I could breath a sigh of relief.

“Shepard, are you ok?”

I saw Dexter, standing next to South in the center of the platform. The remaining Geld had been dealt with, and we were finally free to accomplish our goal. I walked over to meet them, as they turned to face our prize. The relic was far more impressive close up, as we moved towards it. It was not as monolithic as I was led to believe but it was still a marvel to behold. It was a masterfully cut piece of metal and stone, fused together in a process that was tens of thousands of years old. Inlaid grooves glowed an effervescent green, and it hummed ever so quietly.

“I can’t believe this, actual working Alicorn technology!” Dexter exclaimed. It seemed he was more ecstatic about this discovery than I was.

South moved closer to the relic, her head bent sideways in awe. “It wasn’t doin’ anythin’ like that when they dug it up. Ah wonder what turned it on?”

“Maybe it was that ‘Artemis’ the dockworker mentioned. He probably got what he wanted from it and took off. We can worry about that after we get it onto the Normanedy.”

Dexter turned on his radio, and began to hail for our ride out of here. I prepared my omni-tool to send the data of everything we encountered on the surface to the Captain, who was no doubt expecting a full report of everything; the Geld, Nimbus, the mysterious Artemis character, and our recovering of the relic. I nearly finished when I heard a loud throbbing sound. Dexter appeared to have heard it as well, and looked around for the source as did I. I glanced behind him, and saw that the sound was coming from the relic. South had gotten closer to it, and it appeared to be reacting to her proximity to it. I could see South being dragged towards it by an unseen force, as it began to glow brighter and brighter.

I pushed Dexter aside and ran to South, grabbing her tail with my mouth. We both struggled against the pulling sensation, but were steadily losing ground to it. I managed to summon what little strength I had left, and yanked as hard as I could. I managed to throw South up over top of me towards Dexter with a loud thud. Unfortunately this momentum propelled me straight into the middle of the invisible force. My hooves left the ground as I was suddenly picked up into the air, hovering several feet off the ground. I felt a strange sensation wash over me, my body ached as if something was attempting to pull me apart, each of my limbs being pulled in different directions. All of this pain was just a minor inconvenience compared to what was happening to my mind.

I felt my brain being filled with information that was most definitely not meant for a single pony. I could feel the experiences of all kinds of different lives being forced into my head. I could feel the emotions, memories, experiences, thoughts, and dreams of thousands if not millions of lifeforms being forced into my head; I could feel them all, and they all conveyed the same things: Pain, anguish, terror, misery, panic, hysteria, and fear, pure and unbridled fear.

Images flashed before my eyes, but of what I could not tell. I saw glimpses of monsters, machines, and equines, mish mashed and mismatched together. I was witnessing a civilisations worth of pain and sorrow, and I was not certain how much more I could take.

The visions steadily slowed, but the throbbing pain that threatened to tear my head apart did not abate in the slightest. I could hear the relic pulsating louder and louder and it kept shining brighter and brighter, each undulating pulse adding to the cacophony of information and anguish that was being done to my mind, until it could impart no more knowledge to me. I would not remember what happened next as the relic overloaded, sending me flying through the air. My last thoughts were of the crimson sky, as it melted all around me into darkness, and I slipped into blissful blackness.

Engineer Skills Unlocked: Hacking, Decryption, Overload, Marksman

Codex Entries Added

Race: The Geld

Chapter 3: Eclipsed

“Secrets and Lies, Dreams and Doomsdays.”

The subconscious mind is an interesting thing when you think about it. A source of untold power, limitless resources, and unthinkable capabilities available to sentient minds. There is almost nothing one cannot do with the power of their subconscious mind, which only ruins the reality that one can only use it to its fullest potential when sleeping. The power of imagination is a wondrous thing, and one of the main reasons I didn't simply die of boredom back on Earth. Most ponies in my situation back then would seek out sleep because they had to, while I sought it out to escape from the dull reality around me; rust, dirt, grime, poverty, metal, and more dirt. Who wouldn't want a dreamland paradise to call their own, if only just to stave off the encroaching insanity of tedium and repetition?

I dreamt often when I knew I had found a safe haven for the night, and would fight off consciousness as long as possible, until hunger or impending danger would rouse me out of my slumber. I would, of course have the occasional nightmare, but that was par for the course with witnessing some of the choice atrocities available to city slums. My dreamstates almost became a second nature through the nights, and kept me company for the early years I spent alone. I could even tell when I was dreaming, and through sheer will bend the reality of them to my liking. It was that idle talent that made me realise what was happening to me now was no mere dream.

As I became aware of where I was and what was around me, it was clear that something was off. My body felt strange, alien even. It was like I was wearing a body that did not belong to me. My senses were there, but they were strangely distant, as if they were as confused as I was. My head felt heavier than normal, not by much, but enough to be noticeable. I felt smaller, smaller than I actually was anyways. I always viewed myself as larger than an average mare, but smaller than an average stallion. My body now felt far off that scale. My mane was longer too. Much longer. I never kept my mane in any state of neatness, but I could feel the side of my head and neck matted with long straightened hair. I tried to get a look at it, when I realised that something else was wrong.

The edges of my vision were blurry, and no matter how much I tried to shift my eyes, nothing happened. I stepped further into the room, or at least attempted to. My hooves remained still, ignoring my commands. I tried again and again, but my body did not respond. I felt that I was breathing and the natural motions of standing were there, but I could not move. It was not a feeling of paralysis, my body simply refused to listen to me. Another thing that worried me was that despite my rising panic, my breathing did not change whatsoever.

I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t even move my eyes. What was happening to me? If this wasn’t a dream, it was certainly becoming more of a nightmare. I felt disconnected from my own emotions, and even my own body ignored the urge to react in any discernible way. At times like this I would try to breath deeply to calm down, but that wasn’t an option. The only thing I could do was watch for anything that would release my body from its uncontrolled state.

I was standing in what appeared to be a long narrow corridor. The walls were made of the purest white marble I had ever seen, and the floors were covered in immaculate tiles and rugs. Long towering frosted windows adorned the walls of the hall, letting in the daylight sun. The room appeared to rejoice and praise the very presence of light, and made the room all the more enjoyable to be in. At least I appeared to be somewhere safe, and began to calm down.

Until my head swiveled on its own, looking around the room automatically. Had I changed something? I tried again to make a move of my own, but still nothing happened. I felt my head and neck turn about, looking casually around the room and eventually settling on the nearest window. Was I being shown something? The window was difficult to see through, but I was able to make a few minor observations, if anything to occupy my mind from panic. The sun outside was high in the sky, and there didn’t appear to be a cloud in sight.

I did not focus on the weather for long, however, because the window allowed me to see my reflection. Or at least it should have been mine. The blurred style of the window made it impossible to determine shapes clearly, but I could clearly see that the pony in the window was colored a brightish purple with a darker colored mane, which was most definitely not my color scheme. My mind raced at what could possibly be happening. If this wasn’t a dream, then what was it, and why would I be in another pony’s body? Perhaps the reflection was false, or colors were poorly distinguished in this dreamworld. Whatever it was, it felt far too vivid to be a creation of imagination. I was not in control here, and I didn’t understand anything that was happening to me. I was just going to have to go along for the ride and see where it took me and hope for the best.

There was a faint murmuring sound from down the hall, and my host turned towards it. The door at the far end was wide open, and a single Earth Pony stallion stood within its threshold. How old was this memory, if an Earth Pony was present? And what would an Earth Pony be doing in the memories of an Alicorn relic? None of this made sense, but at least I could try to focus on it while my host moved on its own. My body moved again towards the door, and halted just before the threshold and turned to the stallion. He was dressed in ancient looking armor that would have been new hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. It looked like it was fitted with brass, steel and other precious metals. His helmet was the most impressive, carved into the shape of an eagle’s head fashioned from gold and silver. He nodded his head to me, and stepped aside to allow my host into the great hall beyond.

The chamber was vast, stretching on forever into the high vaulted ceilings above. Stained glass windows were on either side of the room, many of which appeared to be made of simple abstract colors. My head moved again on its own, taking in the sights as if it were trying to show me on purpose. One particular set of windows caught my host’s attention, gazing lengthily at them as we continued walking forward. These windows were far more elaborate in their design, and they looked to be telling a story with pictures rather than words. The first had the body of a mare framed in the center, shrouded in shadows and darkness. She did not look like a happy or even pleasant pony. From what I could tell of these ancient designs, she was downright nasty. Around her appeared to be six ponies of various colors and races. I counted two Earth Ponies, two Pegasi and two Unicorns, each connected to the shadowy mare by beams of prismatic light.

The second window had a similar story to tell, with what appeared to be the same characters. The same six ponies, together, working against a creature of evil. The villain of this tale, however, was not something I recognised. It was a sinister creature with a wicked look in its mismatched eyes. It was a long and disheveled being and looked to be composed of many different creatures in one. Lion, pony, bat, snake, goat and even eagle were some of the few features I could recognise. I hoped the stories being told upon these windows were legend, because I did not wish to face such a horrid, misshapen creature in my lifetime.

My body halted, and my host faced forward. I looked in awe at what I saw before me. A regal throne was built in the center of this fantastic room. It was guarded by two stallions that appeared to be dressed like the one who stood by the entrance, but one was a Pegasus and one was a Unicorn. My mind reeled in confusion. All three pony races, together? I thought the legends on the windows were just that, legends. Myths and stories of whatever Earth Pony culture that I thought this was, but here in front of me was evidence that even that assumption was wrong. If this was a vision of the past, then it showed me that once upon a time, Earth Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi all existed together on the same world. The question was where? Or more importantly, when?

The two guards saluted stiffly at my hosts approach and bowed in a peculiar manner that pointed out the massive throne behind them. The dais was build out of elegantly carved bronze, and was adorned with fountains, draperies and flowers of every color. The steps were covered in a beautiful red rug that climbed the entire length of the staircase leading up to the throne. All of this, however, paled in comparison to the one all of this was made to honor before me. On the throne sat a creature that shattered any rational definition for beauty, regality and grace. Her opalescent coat radiated brilliantly in the beams of light that washed over her from the world outside. Her mane and tail were difficult to look at without becoming entranced as they rippled of their own accord, shimmering various shades of blues, violets, pinks and greens. Her eyes were a gentle pinkish shade, and together with a smile that could melt the heart of even the most maddened and psychotic criminal, her face was the picture of kindness, love and affection.

But even in light of all her natural beauties other things steadily come into focus as I grew accustomed to being in the presence of this celestial being. She wore golden regalia, a crown atop her head, a jeweled torc around her neck, and pearl colored slippers covered her hooves. She was no doubt a being of not only respect, but of power, to which my body bowed appropriately. When my head rose again to the queen, or princess, or deity or whatever she was, I noticed she was significantly larger than a normal pony, even from where she sat on her throne. The most amazing feature of this angelic being, this ancestral royalty of ages past, was that she had both the wings of a Pegasus and the horn of a Unicorn, traits which she made look insignificant in comparison to her guards. Coupled with her large stature, which had to have been inherited from an Earth Pony, this being was a pony comprised of aspects that made us different. Was this being one of the mythical Alicorn of the past? Was I the first pony to look upon the life of our forebears, and learn of their past?

The Alicorn bowed her head to my host, and her mouth moved as though she was speaking. I could hear words being spoken, but they were muffled, distant. Whatever was being said was only unintelligible noises to my ear. I could hear the emotions behind the words, understanding whether the words were of praise and joy when I noticed a laugh or a smile, or something of a more serious nature with a scowl or a lowered head. The only other thing that I could decipher was that my host had a gentle feminine voice, at least deducing that I was in the body of a mare. My host and the Alicorn spoke at great length, but I could not make out anything of importance. Despite what was happening around me, without the context of what was being said, I was actually starting to get bored of this vision, much to my dissapointment.

The conversation went on for several minutes, resulting in many changes of tone and even local, as the Alicorn occasionally left the throne to pace beside my host as the walked around the room during their lengthy conversation. The Alicorn looked even more imposing as she trotted quietly beside me, but I felt my face form expressions of fondness and joy as my host spoke with her. I tried in vain to at least attempt to piece the distorted words together, but it only made my head hurt. I felt that something was missing, like a vital part was removed or damaged. If this really was a result of the Alicorn relic, then perhaps sitting in the ground for fifty thousand years had taken its toll on the ancient machine. Maybe I could fix it with the right parts and information?

A sudden silence caught my attention, and I noticed that the conversation had stopped. The Alicorn paused abruptly in her sentence turning her head quickly to the right. She stared out the window with narrowed eyes. Then shock. Her eyes widened noticeably bearing a look of deep concern. My host ran forward up the steps clearly confused as to what was going on, as was I. The host stopped halfway up the stairs and turned to look out the window as well. The daylight that shone brightly through the windows was steadily fading away, the room becoming darker very quickly. Looking back to the Alicorn, I could see that she appeared to be in pain at the loss of the light. My host was yelling, her voice filled with concern and worry.

The Alicorn looked up to the window again, staring intently towards the sun with sadness in her eyes. My host ran to the window until she was right in front of it, looking out over the land outside. This window was not as blurred as the others, and I was able to finally get a better look at my host in the reflection. It was definitely a mare, but she was a Unicorn mare. At least that explained the strange feeling I was noticing at the top of my skull. She had an aged look about her, one that showed the distinguishment, experience and knowledge of a long and well lived life. She was certainly far from decrepit, but her youth was clearly well behind her. Her coat was a beautiful shade of lavender, and her mane was a darkened purple, with a single pink and purple highlight that failed to cover up the grey of age. Her posture made it impossible for me to see her Cutie Mark, but I figured that was a moot concern compared to what was happening. Her eyes were darting, scanning the sky fervently at what was causing her mistress’ sudden distress.

Her eyes eventually fell to the sun, which had become obscured by something. No, several somethings. It was not a cloud of white fluff, but a cloud of something else, something I could not describe. They were like locusts, descending from the sky and blotting out the very light of the sun. Hundreds, if not thousands of them filled the once empty open sky, and appeared to be approaching towards us. I could see the shock in the eyes of my host in the reflection, before she turned back to her mistress.

She still looked to be visibly pained, but held herself high, her regality not diminishing in the slightest. My host trotted slowly towards the foot of the dais, her muffled voice pleading. The Alicorn glanced absently to the scene unfolding outside, and then to a separate window to her left. It was a stained glass window much like the others, but it was bare, no story on it to tell. Her eyes made it back to mine, and I noticed that her smile was gone.

The blurring of my vision began to worsen, as the walls of this reality were slowly warping and stretching themselves into oblivion. The corners of my eyes began to darken, and I felt a slight tugging at the back of my mind. The Alicorn was the only thing retaining its clarity, as if it was the only thing my host dared focus on. The graceful monarch stepped from the throne and trotted slowly towards me. Her head bowed until it was eye to eye with my host. She spoke again, a single word leaving her mouth before I lost all sense of sight and sound.

Despite the reality of this world collapsing around me, my last conscious thought was of that single word. I could not hear like any other words spoken in this memory, but I did not need to hear it to understand. The word was simple, and was easy to read from her lips. It was an appropriate word, given the circumstances, and one I hoped my host was wise enough to heed.

Run.

My thoughts twisted and turned rapidly in my mind, playing the same sequence of events over and over. The tugging sensation at the edge of my consciousness continued to pester me, as the visions swimming in my head slowly faded into darkness. What had I experienced? It did not feel like a true experience to me, but it was most definitely real for somepony, and that somepony was probably the one I had seen in the windows’ reflection.

Maybe it wasn’t a vision. Maybe...it was a memory, and I viewed it through a host’s eyes, ears and body. If that were true, then where was I in the memory? Who was I? When was I? What did it all mean? Was there more to see, was that just one of many clues to the fate of the Alicorn? Or was it just a single piece to an unsolvable puzzle? If there were more pieces, where could I find them? Would it even be possible to find them? All these questions crashed through my mind, spurring them to a painful halt.

I felt my senses returning, the bleary haze of my vision finally fading. Through the veil of black, I could see a tiny pinprick of light in the distance, coming closer towards me and growing rapidly. The encroaching radiance came to a stop just inches from me, basking me in its warmth. A faint buzzing filled my ears with a melodious humming sound. My senses finally calmed from their turmoil, and slowly the world around me became clear once more.

First my eyes. The coalescing light that surrounded me began to fade in intensity, and I was able to discern its source; a lamp, hovering just above me giving off a gentle glow. My eyes focused on this for a long while, before my mind shocked to its senses and realised I had seen this lamp before. As well as the ceiling, the medical apparatus around me, and that same white curtain. I could see silhouettes of ponies behind it, who looked to be engrossed in hasty conversation.

I shifted around, realising that I was on my back and covered tightly in a small blanket. It was soft and very warm, my body relishing its presence with a relaxing sigh. My ears twitched at several sounds that crept into my awareness, the gentle beeps of the machines, the monotone humming of the lighting, and the increasingly volatile conversation that was happening outside the cotton walls. I paid no attention to it, more interested in gauging my current well being. I shifted again, moving all of my parts to check and see if they were all still functional. My hooves stretched and quivered in that universally wonderful feeling of waking up after a long restful sleep. I breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that the alien feeling of being in somepony else's body was gone, and I was finally back in control of my own body. I tossed the blanket off and rolled onto the floor to see just exactly what condition I was in.

The sound of my hooves clattering on the cold metal floor brought a sudden silence from beyond the curtain, and a sudden twisting feeling in my head. A light grey head poked in briefly and looked at me, before disappearing again. “You, stay here. Let me check on Shepard before you start your pestering,” I heard from the other side. The curtain flipped open again, and this time I was graced with the entirety of Dr. Chalkdust as she trotted through towards me. “If you are planning on making a habit of gracing my Med-Bay Shepard, I do hope you will have the courtesy of warning me before next time,” she said with a smile. “I’ll have the bed warmed for you.”

She stepped beside me and waved her medical-tool around my head, taking several readings and muttering something under her breath at each one. I tried to catch a glimpse at what her omni-tool was saying, but my head was starting to spin, and my stomach was starting to rebel against me. Finally satisfied, she stepped away from me, stowing her tools. “How are you feeling, Shepard? You gave everypony quite the scare.”

“Nnng,” I groaned. “Dizzy.”

She seemed mildly concerned at my answer. “Oh, of course, time for a booster!”

Chalkdust stepped from my vision as I stood very still, trying in vain to will my mind and body to cease. When she returned, she was brandishing a small glass with a familiar amber liquid. My entire body acted on its own, stepping away from the sinister drink out of reflex. Chalkdust looked cross at my avoidance, and moved towards me with a intense look in her eyes. “You know this will make you feel better, Shepard. There is no sense avoiding it.”

She had a painfully accurate point. If I was going to serve on this ship, I needed to be at my best, even if it meant willingly ingesting a mental deterrent. I took the glass from Chalkdust, eyeing it hesitantly. I swirled the liquid in its vessel, before conceding ultimate defeat, and drank it as fast as I could. The experience, if I could still call it one, was not nearly as bad as the first. My body flushed and senses screamed in pain and joy at the same time, before suddenly dissipating as before. At least it was getting marginally easier each time.

Chalkdust smiled, taking the empty glass and stowing it away. “How do you feel now, Shepard?”

“Ugh,” I groaned again. “Better, I guess.”

With the nausea gone, I noticed that my body still ached terribly. I moved and stretched, working out what felt like a months worth of cramps and sores. “How long was I out?”

“Nearly a full day.” The doctor replied with an idle expression. “You certainly had us all worried there for a while Shepard.”

A full day? I didn’t know exactly how to handle that answer. My mind was certainly well engaged, but how could a dream keep me occupied for such a long time? I guess the next question was obvious. “What happened?”

“Ah can answer that,” a second voice responded from behind the curtain. The curtain fluttered again, allowing a familiar mahogany pony entrance into the secluded bed area. South was no longer wearing her heavy plated armoring, now dressed in casual S.T.A.B.L.E blue attire. Her white cowpony hat was still settled firmly on her head as it confined what little it could of her raggedy scarlet mane. She trotted over to me, ignoring the scowl that Chalkdust was giving her.

“Miss Belle, I told you to wait outside!” she snapped.

“A’n Ah suppose you can give Shepard a clear answer as to what happened back there on Equestria Prime?” South retorted.

“What do you mean back there?” I asked. “Where are we now?” My question went unanswered as the staring match between the doctor and soldier continued, the deja vu of this particular situation becoming painfully clear. I cleared my throat in a vain attempt to diffuse the situation, and to my surprise it seemed to work. Chalkdust shook her head, feigning defeat with an exasperated sigh to which South took the opportunity to flash a triumphant grin.

“We are on our way to the Corral, Shepard.” Chalkdust began. “The council is going to want to hear what happened first hoof from those who were on Equestria Prime.”

I nodded my head in understanding, before realising that somepony was still missing. “Where’s Dexter?”

“He is debriefing with the Captain, I don’t believe they will be much longer to check in on you.”

I looked back to South, who was quietly awaiting her turn. “So what did happen? I remember the relic activating, then exploding, but not much else.”

“Well,” South began sheepishly. “I musta’ activated some sort of defense mechanism when I got too close to it. You ran in and tossed me outta the way, only to get pulled in yourself. It picked you up, and it looked like it was trying to tear you apart before it exploded and sent you flyin.”

She looked away, breaking eye contact. Her voice was filled with shame. “It’s all mah fault. If I didn’t get so close, I wouldn’t of set it off and nearly got you killed, or broken the artifact.”

South looked genuinely upset at the fault she had caused, and was beating herself up over it on my account. I trotted over to her and placed my hoof on her shoulder. Her eyes met mine again, her eyes filled with regret. “Don’t worry about it.” I smiled. “ There was no way of knowing what would have happened. And everything turned out alright in the end.”

She appeared to take some comfort in my words, but her morose expression remained. She backed away slowly, and remained silent. South seemed to be a deeply caring soul, but had a lot of issues in showing it. The only thing I felt I could do was to chalk it up to the Prairieland pride she was no doubt stewed in when growing up. I had a feeling that I was going to have to get to know her better if she was ever going to come out of her shell.

“Well then,” Chalkdust began, breaking the silence. “If I may continue with my examination.” The grey mare shooed South, who stepped away despondently. The doctor reactivated her omni-tool, and sorted through the results, showing marginal interest in many of them, except the final one. Her eyes widened considerably, as she padded at the tool hastily. “That can’t be right,” she muttered.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, becoming concerned at Chalkdust’s wide eyed state.

“I’m not sure.” She checked the results of my vitals over and over, but she continued to get the same answer. “All of your vitals are normal, physical status is fine. But it’s these brain waves that don’t make any sense. This level of brain activity is common with intense dreaming, but the readings are off the charts.”

“Actually, that does make sense to me.”

“Oh?” Chalkdust’s look of concern shifted to intrigue. “What exactly did that relic to do you Shepard?”

I wracked my brain, sorting through the jumble of thoughts that were mine and those that weren’t . My head was still aching slightly from the ordeal, but it was far from unbearable. I could remember the vision in perfect clarity of what was shown to me, as if it were burned into my mind forever. Every moment, every sight, every panicked word and emotion. If it weren’t for the strange sound of distance in the spoken voices, the vision may have given me truly useful knowledge. But now, it was merely an ominous retelling of what may have been the beginning of the end for the Alicorn empire.

“There’s no way I can tell you what I saw and have it make any sense,” I began. “It was a vision, I think. More like a memory, retold through somepony else’s eyes.”

“What did you see?” Chalkdust’s intrigue was noticeably growing, as was South’s. Both of them peered at me, interested in hearing more.

“I was in a castle of some kind, not like anything we’ve ever had back on Earth. The entire building was fantastic, pristine, nearly a paradise in and of itself.” My hooves flourished in the air as I traced out the magnitude of what I was saying. “I was watching through a host; a Unicorn, and she appeared to be having a conversation with a monarch of some kind.”

I paused briefly, realising what I was about to say. I wondered how they would react to the news. Nopony to to date knew much about the Alicorns. We had found some ruins of what appeared to be great colonies, some old texts, and most importantly; their technology. We never found any devices or archives that showed us what they looked like, it was all hunches and guesswork. I steeled myself, finding the words and giving them voice.

“I believe this monarch was an Alicorn.”

The reaction was immediate. Both South and Chalkdust stared in shock, eyes wide and mouths agape. I smirked slightly at their reactions, until a familiar voice made itself known from beyond the curtain. “An Alicorn you say?”

The three of us turned to see Captain Quartermane standing in the doorway, even he was showing a look of surprise at what I had said. No one even bothered to salute his arrival, still shocked over what I had revealed from my vision. “What makes you say that Shepard?”

He beckoned me to continue. I recovered my place in the story, clearing my throat and continuing. “This being that I saw, was much larger than a normal pony. She was tall and slender, easily standing twice an average pony’s height. But she wasn’t just bigger than a normal pony, she also had wings of a Pegasus and a horn of a Unicorn.”

“And the relic showed you this?” Quartermane’s voice was steady, but failed to mask his interest.

I nodded. “It felt like a dream at first, but it was more like a memory, imprinted in the relic to be shown to any who accessed it.”

“Hmm,” he mumbled. “What else did you see?”

I played through the rest of the vision again, going through the details as finely as I could. However, as I reached the end of it, I swallowed grimly as I slowly reminded myself of what I had seen. I looked solemly to the Captain, who noted my worry with confusion.

“My host, the Unicorn. She was talking to the Alicorn about something. I couldn’t understand any of it though. The words were muffled, or distant as if something was missing from the relic.”

Quartermane grunted. “Perhaps the relic was more damaged than we thought.” My eyes wandered to South, who was trying to hide a guilty look behind the Captain’s back. “Or perhaps Artemis tampered with it after he was finished with it.”

“Maybe,” I agreed, noticing South sighing in relief. “But the lack of words wasn’t the worst part. Something happened, interrupting them. Something, several somethings were filling the sky like locusts. There were thousands of them, enough to block out the sun and the Alicorn looked like she was in pain because of it.”

I waited for further reaction, but the Captain did not wait for long. “What happened next?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. That was where the vision ended. It played over and over in my head until I woke up, and I don’t think I will forget any of it anytime soon.”

The Captain thought quietly a moment. The rest of us shifted nervously, casting quick glances as the Captain pondered the next move. He looked at me suddenly, then to Chalkdust and South. “I’d like a moment alone with Shepard.”

South saluted with a quick, “Yes Sir!”, while Chalkdust bowed her head respectfully, before they departed together out of the curtained area and out into the halls of the Normanedy. Quartermane waited patiently for the door to shut behind them.

I started before him, one subject nagging at the back of my mind begging to be answered. “Sir, if I may quickly ask, why is Sergeant Major South here? Wasn’t she stationed on Equestria Prime?”

“Yes, she was.” He replied slowly. “Her platoon was a security detail that managed the major colony centers, and I’m not certain how many made it out alive. Our reserve security forces remained on the planet to assist in the clean up once back up arrived. Lieutenant Poindexter vouched for her, and I requested she be reassigned to the Normanedy. We could use the hooves-on experience with the Geld, now that they have shown themselves to be a credible threat.

“She certainly did prove to be capable down there, Sir.” I agreed. “She’ll be a valuable asset to the crew.”

“I’m certain she will, Shepard. Now, there are other things I need to speak to you about.”

“Of course, Sir.” I felt that I was about to be disciplined for certain events that may or may not have been my fault. I tried my best to maintain a straight face, but I braced myself for the worst.

“First of all, I want to apologise to you Shepard.”

I was not expecting that. “For what, Sir?”

“I may not have seen you for these past five years, Shepard, but I have been paying attention to your progress. I knew exactly what talents you were meant to bring to the table in military service, and direct battlefield engagement was not one of my intentions for you.”

I had no response to think of, and remained silent.

“I realize direct combat isn’t your specialty Shepard, but your skills were far greater than I, or really anypony expected in the military. It was not my decision to have you here aboard the Normanedy, not that I’m unhappy that you are here. S.T.A.B.L.E command has been pushing for a Sleipnir in their ranks for years, and once they managed to come to this compromise with the Corral Council, they jumped at the chance.”

He had a distant look in his eyes, and his voice trembled with quiet anger and sorrow. “They were counting on this coalition with Nimbus to work, Shepard. But now that she’s dead, and the relic was destroyed, I’m not sure where we stand with the Council.”

The captain seemed to be beating himself up over something he had no control over. It certainly didn’t feel right to allow him to punish himself over something nopony could have possibly prepared for.

“Sir, there was no way we could have known what was down there. And we managed to maintain control despite the lack of intel.”

He scoffed. “You may be right about that, Shepard, but the Council is going to look for any possible reason to blame this on us. Not to mention Artemis’s involvement.”

Artemis, right, the pegasus that killed Nimbus. The way Captain Quartermane said his name led me to assume he had previous experience with him.

“Do you know this Artemis, Sir?”

“I’ve run into him a few times, yes. He’s a Council Sleipnir, one of the best as far as the rest of the galaxy is concerned. And if what the Lieutenant told me about what happened on Equestria Prime is correct, then we have every reason to believe he’s gone rogue. Not that it surprises me.”

The captains final remark had a hint of venom to it, one I felt I had to call him on. “Why is that, sir?”

“Artemis has a reputation for hating Earth Ponies, thinks we are growing too fast. And he isn’t one to show restraint in his prejudices either. I wouldn’t doubt that he’s been a strong supporter of keeping us out of the Sleipnir.”

There seemed to be a lot more to the events of the past two days than was apparent, but I was prepared to pursue it further, at least to satisfy my own curiosity. I was not certain how I was going to deal with the Council, or much rather a possible rogue Sleipnir that probably hated my entire race more than mine hated his. I knew what my next question was, and I’m sure the Captain had his own thoughts as well.

“What’s our next move then?”

The Captain sighed, breaking eye contact and looking absently around the room as he began to pace away from me. “I’ll need to forward my report to the Earth Pony ambassador. We’ll have to talk to him and hope he can get us a hearing with the Council to deal with the aftermath of this attack. They aren’t going to enjoy us accusing their best agent without solid proof, but we have to at least do something.”

“And the vision from the relic? What should we do about that, Sir?”

He looked at me sternly. “It seems to me that there is much missing from that vision, Shepard. If there was more to it we might have more to work with, but unless we come across any other relics, it is probably best to not to dwell on them. It may please the archeology world to no end that we may have finally learned what the Alicorns looked like, but the discovery of their fate may be a bit too much.”

He passed through the curtain, and I quickly followed him to the door. He paused at the open doorway, and looked at me. “Go to the bridge and tell Pipsqueak to get us to the Corral as soon as he can. I’ll be in my quarters dealing with the ambassador.”

The way he spoke told me that he was not looking forward to the experience. I saluted his departure, and he trotted away down the hall, and out of sight. I stood there alone in the hallway a moment. The captain was probably going to be a while talking to the ambassador, which maybe gave me some time to talk to somepony else before I went to the bridge. I trotted down the hall, my destination clear, hearing the Med-Bay doors slide close behind me.

The crew decks were sparsely filled, a few groups of soldiers scattered about the various tables and engaging in idle chatter. They seemed none the worse for wear, considering the battlefield they had just walked out of mere hours ago, and were enjoying loud conversation between themselves. I moved past them, searching through the faces for a particular one. It did not take me long to reach the furthest side of the room, and find reclined beside a opened locker, the pony I was searching for.

“Dexter? Are you ok?” I asked quietly.

Dexter was alert, but seemed to be staring at something that was not there, his eyes distant and unfocused. His eyes drifted to mine, but they did not seem to clearly acknowledge my presence, still retaining their unfocused appearance. “I’ll live, if that’s what you’re asking,” he chuckled. “The headache meds are just kicking in is all.”

“Oh,” was all I managed to say. There were many times back on Equestria Prime when he looked ready to collapse, but I never imagined he was going through so much pain because of it. I learned from various places that the implants required to control a magitechs power sometimes came with nasty side effects, and none of them were good. I wondered what Dexter had to deal with for his gift.

“Its good to see you are ok, Shepard. I wasn’t sure what to think after the relic exploded and sent you flying. South started freaking out, and I was about ready to pass out. It was one hell of a party down there.”

“Yea,” I said reassuringly. “One hell of a party.”

Dexter’s head wavered back and forth, slipping between focusing on me and random sections of wall. My look of concern was lost on him in the brief moments he did look in my direction, and I was having a hard time deciding whether I should be worried for his well being or not. I watched him for awhile, listening to his steady breathing, when I heard quiet hooves trotting behind me.

“Lieutenant, it’s time for your...oh, Shepard, there you are.”

I turned to see Dr. Chalkdust approaching us, with a small satchel dangling from her barding. She passed by me without a word, moving to Dexter’s side. She withdrew a small syringe from the satchel delicately in her teeth and proceeded to inject into Dexter’s foreleg without any warning from her or complaint from him. The delirious Lieutenant was completely oblivious to what Chalkdust had done, and was still staring deeply into distant space. He shut his eyes, and leaned against the wall of lockers, breathing deeply before drifting into what looked like a peaceful sleep. Chalkdust returned the medicine to the satchel, and backed away from the resting pony slowly, signaling me to follow.

When we were sufficiently away from the sleeping officer, I spoke up. “Is he going to be alright, Dr. Chalkdust?”

She gave me a gentle smile. “Oh yes, dear, he will be just fine. He’s just exerted himself more in the past day then he has in a long while. The medicine I gave him will give him some much needed rest, he’ll be awake in a few hours.”

We meandered over to an empty table, and Chalkdust invited me to sit down a moment. I complied, and sat across from her. She engaged me in idle conversation, but I could not help but turn the conversation back to Dexter. “Is it alright to just leave him lying against the wall like that?” I asked, glancing in the direction of my slumbering friend.

Chalkdust nodded. “While I agree that it is very strange, the Lieutenant seems to prefer the cold steel floors to the beds we provide in the crew chambers. I think its the way the metal vibrates with the ship that calms him.”

“What about his implants? They seemed to be causing him a lot of pain.”

She nodded again. “He is one of the lucky few who do not suffer some of the agonizing side effects of his generation. I’ve seen ponies go stark raving mad under the influence of defective implants, but the L2 variation certainly had the worst of it.”

“L2 generation?” I inquired. “What’s that?”

“The price of emergent science, that’s what it is,” she groused. “When the EX radiation leaks occurred, we were nowhere near ready to deal with the consequences. Once we realised what was happening to those affected, the science was quick to fill in the gaps. The first generation of implants were a complete disaster, killing nearly the entire population of test subjects, which to date nopony knows exactly how many.”

Chalkdust shook her head in disgust. “The second generation fared better, the subjects actually surviving the first rounds of testing to make it to the side effects. They ranged from at worst, complete psychosis, to at best, intense migraines, like the Lieutenant. He survived all of the trials the testing companies threw at him, and became one of the first and greatest Magitech soldiers of the Earth Pony race.”

“Haven’t there been any further improvements since then? It has been several years since first exposure hasn’t it?”

The grey mare smiled. “That’s where the Lieutenant’s stubbornness comes in. Yes there have been much more improvements since then. As it stands now with the new collaborations with the Corral races, we are currently in the third generation of magitech , and I believe that there have been rumors of advancing into a fourth within the next few months. However, the Lieutenant claims that while the L3 and possibly the new L4 implants are considerably more stable, they don’t put out near the levels of raw power that the L2 can. He figures that if the worst he has to deal with is headaches, then he can tough it out.”

Chalkdust’s face bore a look of fondness as she finished her tale. “I suppose he considers his implants as a badge of honor.”

I found myself sharing her expression, a smile forming on my face in regards to our discussion. I had only known Dexter, or really anypony on this crew for no more than a day, and I felt I was learning a great deal about them without the chaos of a battlefield to distract me. It seemed that even aboard the Normanedy, there would be no lack of conversation, or learning of my crewmates further to be had. The crowd of ponies at the head table began to laugh loudly, apparently finding the perfect way to shake off the tension of the previous day’s battle. With time, I might get to know them all better and make new friends. It was certainly something to look forward to.

I bade the doctor goodbye, remembering that I still had one pressing matter to attend to. I set off towards the elevators to the upper deck, looking back once to see Chalkdust remaining at the table, glancing towards the still form of the Lieutenant. Yes, definitely something to look forward to.

Little had changed from my last visit to the Navigation room, if anything it was busier than ever. Ponies were feverishly typing into the computers, and many of them were also communicating through numerous radio channels. I caught certain words they spoke to countless listeners, which led me to believe that this was damage control of the catastrophe of the day before. Even Navigator Westward was busily using the galaxy map, searching for flight paths and points of interest the Geld may choose next, and hopefully warn them of impending invasion. I knew I would be of no use on this deck, and proceeded through the room towards the hallway on the far side. At the far end of the hall was a door labeled ‘Bridge’, one which I passed through quickly to drown out the loud chattering of the previous chamber.

The bridge was a pleasingly simple room. A few simple screens with various diagnostic data of the Normanedy’s systems, flight trajectory data, and other useful data for the pilot to do his job properly. In the center was a large chair sitting before a set of controls. As I approached it, it swiveled around slowly, revealing the colt sized stallion I was looking for. He still had the same mirthful expression from our first meeting, and began to chuckle quietly.

“You are certainly looking well Shepard.” he said with sarcastic concern. “Not everyday you get picked up by an Alicorn relic and tossed around like a ragdoll.”

I wasn’t sure what kind of answer I could give him, so I just decided to ignore the statement and stick to my task at hoof. “The Captain wants us at the Corral as soon as you can manage.”

Pipsqueak smirked. “Yea, yea. We’re coming up on the Whip Gate now.”

He turned to point out the window that looked out into space. I stepped towards it for a better view, looking out over the inky void. I couldn’t fathom the thought of attempting to count all the stars I saw and probably would only count a fraction of them all in the entire galaxy during my lifetime. I looked forward, and saw our destination. I had seen Whip Gates in pictures and replications, but never a real one up close before. Its name was certainly appropriate, the entire construction being shaped like a giant leather crop. It pulsated with blue energy contained within a spherical set of rings at its core, whirling, spinning, containing the immense power that the ancient device emitted.

Pipsqueak returned to his controls, and steered the ship alongside the massive structure. A single tendril of energy leapt from the core, enveloping the Normanedy in a fluorescent blue. I could hear the instruments of Pipsqueaks console hum loudly, as did the entire ship, charging with otherworldly power. The ship began to vibrate ever so slightly, as the vessel started lurching forward at an increasing pace. The surge of energy pouring into the ship coarsed louder and brighter, and I could see the horizon ahead of us warping and twisting. As we cleared past the Gate, the arcing tendril gave one final push before snapping resoundly, and the Normanedy launched into light speed.

I wobbled slightly as the motion dampeners kicked in, preventing me from becoming a smear on the wall. Pipsqueak hoofed expertly at his controls, never missing a beat in keeping the vessel steady as we traveled faster than light itself. Outside the Normanedy, I could see us traveling in what appeared to be a tunnel of blue light. It was rather calming to watch the galaxy whisk past us, while we sped past it with reckless abandon towards our destination.

“It sure is something, isn’t it?” Pipsqueak asked, still focused on his task.

“Yeah,” I replied. “It really is.”

“You never get bored of it, no matter how many times you watch it go by.” Pipsqueak spoke with a great reverence of space. I never had much time to care about space growing up, but now that I was here in the thick of it, I could appreciate the life I could have lost forever if things had been different. I don’t think I could ever match his fondess of space, but I probably would come pretty close if this trip continued along the same path.

“Quite the adventure this trip has turned to huh?”

“I guess so.” I said, shrugging. “First a Sleipnir shows up for me, then the colony we planned to visit just happens to get attacked the same day.”

Pipsqueak spun in his chair idly, reclining to a posture of relaxation and ease. “Things just end up being bigger than they seem don’t they?”

“I guess so. Now all that’s left to do is see where it takes us next.”

“Well, you better be damned sure that I’ll be the one taking you there,” he declared with glee. “No more boring trawler runs for me. This is the good stuff, and I can’t think of any better bird to be taking along for the ride.”

I nodded in agreement as his console began to beep. He swiveled back, regaining control of the vessel. I watched out the window as the tunnel of light began to wax and wane, and in an instant, snapped out of sight. I could feel the motion dampers strain against the momentum of the ship as we slowed from the spatial jump. Out the window, I could see that the Normanedy had emerged into a set of thick nebulous clouds, darkening the light of a nearby star. I watched as the thick puffs of space dust and gas passed us by in a blink, admiring the beauty of it all.

Through the depths of the clouds, I could see a solid shape, struggling to be seen through the hazy fog. As the ship moved along its course, the silhouette became more clear as we approached it when at last, we broke through the final wall of fog. What I saw there was a sight that I could only imagine in my wildest dreams. It was a circular construction, shaped like an enormous ring that had to be hundreds if not thousands of kilometers in diameter. Suspended above the ring were sets of large metal shells that were shaped not unlike the petals of a flower, and were they to close, would lock together and seal the inner ring away.

As we drifted nearer to this construction, I could see many ships surrounding the nearby area. Many of the vessels were unique, unlike anything I had ever seen of the fleets in the S.T.A.B.L.E armada. Hundreds of fighters raced across the sky in defensive formations, dancing acrobatically through the air. They darted past us, many of them moving with a grace that would be reserved for actual creatures of flight, not spacecraft.

Moving even closer to the station, we flew past an enormous dreadnought cruiser, the only discernible markings I could read identified it as a vessel of Unicorn design. It was a sleek and nimble construction that did little to detract from its massive size, easily dwarfing most, if not all of Earth’s own battleships. It’s wings were translucent, made from a crystalline material I had never seen before, and shimmered with prismatic colors. The bow of of the ship was shaped like the head of a pony, in deep blue and violet shades. It was clear that the Unicorns valued beauty and grace, as well as raw power, and showed it very plainly in their ships.

“Thats the Dawn Star.” the pilot remarked. “Supposedly the best vessel in the Council fleet, and the flagship of the Council itself.”

We drifted past the Dawn Star as it hovered idly in place. Scores of smaller ships seemed to dance around it, before the ship was well behind us and out of sight. The Normanedy swerved again to the right, and I looked ahead at the next set of ships that encompassed the area.

The Pegasi warships were far more practical in appearance. Their massive ships were shaped much like birds of prey, adorned with steely wings and impressive cannons. The color schemes were brighter, a mix of fiery reds and electric yellows and blues. Even the dreadnaughts bore resemblance to giant, terrifying winged creatures made of solid metal, with massive weapons attached on each wing. Where the Unicorn vessels showed power through simplicity, the Pegasi showed its dominance with raw strength of arms.

We cruised past the perimeter fleets, towards the great circular space station that was our destination. It appeared even larger as we approached it, and I could make out many more details of its construction. The ring and its arms were strewn with bright lights and towering structures. Each arm appeared to hold enclosed cities, while the center ring had many separate sections quartered off individually. Each section had to have a population of no less than hundreds of thousands of living beings using the vast station as their home. This place, this sanctuary, could have no greater meaning in its name.

A button on the main console began to flash, which Pipsqueak responded by pressing it, and speaking to his radio. “S.T.A.B.L.E control tower this is SSV Normanedy, requesting docking permission.”

The radio was silent for a moment, before a voice replied. “Roger that Normanedy, you are cleared to dock. Please proceed to dock D twenty four.”

Pipsqueak took the reins of his ship once more, veering hard to the right. We approached one of the closer arms, and I saw a magnificent city skyline fill my field of vision as we approached an empty dock near the base of the shell. The Normanedy slowed to a crawl as she coasted quietly into place, magnetic coils clamping onto the vessel, holding her steady. The hydraulic arms hissed as they locked the Normanedy into place, and the engines dulled to a quiet hum. I could hear groaning metal as the gangway slid across towards the ship, and sealed itself into the airlock.

The voice from the radio spoke once more. “Welcome Normanedy, to the Corral.”

Codex Entries Added

Vessel: The Corral Fleet

Chapter 4: The Heart of a Galaxy

Chapter 4: The Heart of a Galaxy

“And so, with this grand station our Civilization has its heart, so that we may spread peace and unity throughout the galaxy...”

“Decontamination complete. Disembarking procedure complete.”

The Normanedy’s computer went silent as the airlock slid silently behind me and South. She moved slowly across the gangway while I trotted quickly to the end and peered over the edge. My mouth fell open at the size of the dock we had stopped in. Down below us, and high above was a giant wallface that curved around the entire inner ring of the Corral. Thousands of similar gangways and platforms stuck out along it like blades of grass in an endless field. Even though this area was a small part of the entire Corral itself, it did a good job of putting its massive size into scale.

South, however, had better things to do than survey the scenery of where we were like me. She moved along the dock with placid intensity, moving past me and beelining towards the elevators at the end. She nodded to the two Earth Pony guards posted at the door, who noted her presence with a similar gesture. South entered the lift and turned around to face me. She stared at me with a bored look in her eyes that slowly shifted into impatience. Realizing that she was in no mood for looky-loo today, I rolled my eyes and begrudgingly left the edge of the dock and entered the elevator with her.

The door shut silently, and the lift rocked slightly as it started its descent into the heart of the Corral. A small screen in the corner sprung to life as the descent began, chiming with the familiar tune of a Corral Network news report. It broadcasted a few minor reports, but nothing really got my attention. There were windows in the cabin, but behind them were rows of metal slabs and other boring grey decorations. This had the makings of being the most boring elevator ride of my life, until snippets of bright lights started to break through the dull steel outside the cabin. I caught intermittent glimpses of something beyond the elevator shaft. It was bright, shining and incredibly welcoming.

Light suddenly began to fill the small elevator. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I looked out through the window to see what we had descended into. The elevator was now falling along a series of clear tubes joined to several other elevators. The nexus of elevators was descending down into a long narrow shaft that opened into a much wider room at the end. At the bottom, I saw even more light pour through the opening. As we crossed the threshold of the shaft, my jaw dropped at what came into view, a single thought running through my mind.

Unprepared.

I was unmistakingly, overwhelmingly, mind-blowingly unprepared for the sheer magnitude of the Corral. I had seen pictures, videos, looked at schematics and blueprints, listened to stories and other testimonies, but none of it helped prepare me for this moment. The Corral on the inside was unimaginably immense, far bigger than any of the cities I lived under on Earth and was thousands of times cleaner. The elevator had dropped down through the ceiling of what appeared to be a single enormous chamber. I looked out the glass elevator in unbridled awe at the pristine white pathways, crystal clear rivers and verdant green parks that spread as far as the eye could see of the luxurious inner ring of the Promenade. I pressed my face against the glass like a child peering into a toy shop, peering intently for any wonders I may have missed. Until a certain somepony’s stifled giggle decided to ruin it for me.

“Whut in tarnation are you doin?”

My reverie broken, I turned to see South rolling her eyes at me with a mirthful grin on her face. She had been leaning up against the window since we entered the elevator and casting idle glances out the opposite side. The majority of her focus was drawn to the small holo-screen in the side of the lift, still broadcasting random selections of new reports. South looked bored, despite what was happening outside the elevator..

“How can you look at all of this,” I said, with a sweeping motion of my hoof towards the window. “And not be impressed?”

South calmly trotted over to the window beside me and gazed out over the edge. Her muzzle scrunched in contemplation as her eyes slowly traveled from side to side. She quietly scoffed and shook her head, before looking back to me, unimpressed. “Too shiny.”

Too shin-. It took almost all of my will to not lose it right there in the elevator at my companion. I had known South for no more than a full day and she had proved to be an incredibly stubborn, thick headed, reckless and cocky individual and I was finding it increasingly difficult to be around her. She had shown signs of a softer side back on the Normanedy, but I knew getting her to open up about it would be akin to pulling horseshoes. I was already starting to miss Dexter, but he still needed to recover and was left on the ship to rest, leaving me with the prairie mare.

“Let’s just go find the embassies,” I said curtly, quickly changing the subject. “I don’t think the Captain will want to be alone with the ambassador for too long.”

South nodded and she trotted back to her side of the elevator. There was simply too much going on around me to sit idly and stare, but I had a commitment to keep. Maybe, just maybe, when this was all over I would have some time to explore. That was as pleasant a thought as any.

“Do you even know where we gotta go?”

I recalled the set of instructions Captain Quartermane gave me before he left us to prepare on the Normanedy. We were supposed to wait a while to see if Poindexter would recover in time, but barring that we were to leave to rejoin with the Captain after about an hour. The Captain also insisted we come with our equipment ready, a request that I found odd. If this was the heart of galactic power, why would we need to protect ourselves? South had no problems with donning her armor again, so I complied simply to avoid further argument. As for actual directions to rejoin with the Captain, the instructions were alarmingly simple.

“We take this elevator down to the Corral Security offices, then talk to somepony named Corrina for directions from there.”

“Hmph,” South huffed. “Easy enough I suppose.”

She returned to her idle gaze out her window, while my thoughts drifted back to the matter at hoof. I wondered what the Captain and the ambassador would be able to come up with in a short hour and if any of it would be useful in a Council trial. There were so many things that were inconclusive, like the Geld involvement, the relic, Nimbus’s death at the hands of a supposedly rogue Sleipnir. None of it made any sense to me and I doubt anypony else would make much of it either.

My attention was drawn to the small screen behind us by another chiming sound. It was an alert for a special Extra-Net broadcast. A picture of a planet with several Stable warships in orbit around it flashed across the screen; a very familiar planet.

”Stable Alliance Military forces have finally contained the sudden Geld invasion of Equestria Prime and are now searching through adjacent sectors to discover any further threats to Earth Pony colonies. The reason behind the invasion is still under investigation and Corral Council members will be adjudicating over evidence in a hearing, later today.”

The remainder of the report turned to dull static in my head. It was regrettable what happened to Equestria Prime, but at least it did not take long for S.T.A.B.L.E to arrive and put an end to the Geld threat. It was strange that they were keeping quiet about the Alicorn relic, or Artemis’s involvement. There had to be a reason for keeping it quiet. Hopefully the answer would be found at the ambassador's office. South was still leaning against the wall of the elevator, with her forelegs crossed. Her eyes were shut and appeared to be actively ignoring the news report, but the way her tail twitched in irritation proved otherwise.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

South was quiet for a moment, slowly opening her eyes before looking towards me. She looked like she was somewhere between anger and calm in the way she stared at me, before breaking eye contact to gaze back out the window. “It’s just funny is all, how quick they are in keepin’ what happened back there quiet until they can talk about it all official like. We were there. We know what happened down there. An’ we can’t say a ruttin’ thing about it to anypony. Not t’ the survivors, or t’ the families of the ones that died.”

She rapped her hoof against the glass in anger, before turning back to me. “So no, I ain’t alright. Not until we bring this Artemis bastard down for what he did to mah friends.”

She turned around to listen to the remainder of the news regarding Equestria Prime. I just stared absently in her general direction, uncertain of what to say, if there was anything I could say. An awkward silence descended upon the elevator, not even the gentle hum of the mechanism did much to alleviate the tension. This was going to be a long ride.

After what seemed like an eternity, the elevator finally reached its destination, whirring gently as it came to a halt. The doors slid open quietly, revealing an active scene on the other side. Droves of ponies rushed back and forth in the hallway outside the elevator. Many of them were chatting among themselves, others hurrying back and forth with papers bulging out of saddle bags and some even escorting sour looking individuals in hoofcuffs. I stepped out of the elevator into what appeared to be a giant atrium. There was no ceiling that I could make out, only walls that encompassed a series of hallways and stairwells. The words C-SEC were painted numerous times along the sides of the room I stood in and guards stood dutifully in front of each sign, stone faced and stiff.

I trotted down the stairs from the elevator into the atrium proper, looking for signage that would direct me to my destination. I stopped at the bottom when I realised that South was not following me. She was still at the top of the stairs, her eyes darting about in panic. I sighed and trotted back towards her. “What is it now?” I asked in a hushed voice.

She was breathing quickly, her jaw set and teeth bared. “Whut do you mean, what is it? Look!” she seethed.

I looked again. Still the same ponies wandering about doing their jobs, the same ponies working together to protect the citizens of the Corral. In an effort to humor South, I did attempt to look a bit harder. The ponies were all wearing a similar style of blue armor. It looked rather imposing on them, almost doubling their actual size. It reminded me of the armor that Nimbus wore, albite hers looked far lighter and more maneuverable. They even had the same strange styles of paints on their faces as Nimbus, done in varieties of colors and designs that did a similar job of adding further intensity to their bright coloring. Then there was the fact that all of these ponies had-

Oh. I looked at every pony that was in view, confirming my realisation. All of them had wings. All of them, all of C-Sec, or at least this particular office, were all Pegasi. I let the reality sink in a bit, before I simply shrugged. They were Pegasi, big deal. I still didn’t get what all the fuss was about. It wasn’t like I was going to have any problems here, but my companion on the other hoof...

South was still standing at the crest of the stairs, on the verge of some sort of mental breakdown. I trotted beside her and nudged her forward. She resisted of course, but only slightly. I heaved a weary sigh. “Look South, I know you have issues with the Pegasi, thought I don’t know why exactly. I certainly don’t understand it, but that’s not my problem here.” I poked my hoof at her and she vaguely showed attentiveness.

I could be nice about it. Clearly South had issues with non Earth Ponies, but the fact that it was slowing us down was going to cause problems. Problems that we needed to avoid. Sometimes a dose of tough love is exactly what is needed in a time like this.

“My problem is why you can’t seem to put it behind you and move on. We have a job to do here. All that justice you want for Equestria Prime isn’t going to happen if you just sit here and act like all the feathered ponies down there are going to eat you.”

She looked at me, probably more shocked that I was scolding her than the fact I was using what little authoritative strength I had on her for compliance. I didn’t like what I had said to her, but I hoped South was a big enough mare to not hold it against me, or immediately snap on me right there in the middle of C-Sec. An argument in the middle of a security station was not something I wanted to be a part of. Her eyes wavered downwards, before her head hung low in sullen compliance. “Fine, whatever. Let’s just git outta here.”

She trotted loudly down the stairs, but at least she was moving. I sighed in relief at this minor victory for myself, noting that I was probably going to have to apologise for it later and rushed down to follow her. We were both stopped at the exit by two Pegasus stallions guarding the checkpoint. They requested our identification, which we provided obediently with a wave of our omni-tools. Their scanners bleeped approvingly and the guards let us through. South pushed her way past them quickly and moved on through the doors, while I remained a moment to ask the guards if they could give me directions.

“Excuse me sir, but where can I-”

The guards looked away, as did I at the sound of shouting, shouting that was quickly getting nearer. All eyes were fixed on a grey pegasus that came into view around the corner with a scowl on his face. He was trotting very loudly away from a second larger pegasus. The former was wearing a styled blue tunic of unknown design, while the latter was wearing full security gear, complete with helmet and a black visor. The two appeared to be in a heated argument, the smaller of the two attempting to walk away from the other, while the larger one continuously darted in front of the other attempting to get his attention.

“Absolutely not!” the smaller pegasus barked, turning away again from the other.

“But Sir, I know I have something solid! I just need more time!” The second Pegasus pleaded. The voice was distorted underneath the helmet, but the insistence in it was clear as day. The armor he was wearing was far bulkier and not as form fitting as the other Pegasi present. Even his tail was hidden under the black and blue canvas material in between the joints of the armor.

“No, You had your time and it’s been used up. The Council will not wait any longer. If you didn’t find anything useful, then you aren’t going to.”

The large one darted in front of the officer, flaring his wings out to force his superior to halt. With his wings outstretched, I noticed the feathers of his frosted white wings were tinged a bright red at the tips. “But I know he’s guilty and I have the proof, I just need to-”

The officer held up his hoof to stop his subordinate mid sentence. He flared his wings in response and actually managed to tower over the larger pegasus before him, not in size, but in sheer presence. “I know you need more time. I know you need more proof. It’s the same excuse every time. Just like with all the others. You have all these hunches Firestorm, but nothing to back it up.”

The officer turn away, pumping his wings to get airborne and hovered just above the ground for a moment.

“The sooner you realise how C-Sec is supposed to conduct itself, the sooner you might actually get somepony to listen to your ‘hunches’.” He gave a mighty beat of his wings and rocketed away up out of the atrium.

The remaining pegasus watched him leave as the C-Sec office descended into silence. All eyes were on him as he stood watching the officer vanish from sight. He stamped his hooves in anger before turning his attention to those around him. He looked around the room, nopony daring to meet his gaze as they returned to their duties. Eventually his head faced my direction. I was still standing next to the checkpoint guards, but they had both returned to idly attending the gate while I continued to stare at the beleaguered security pony. He was looking directly at me and was incredibly still as he did so. I fidgeted nervously as his gaze remained unbroken. He cocked his head sideways sharply, an action I could easily translate as ‘what are you looking at?’, before he pumped his wings and rocketed away, a corona of white and red streaking behind him.

One of the guards next to me chuckled. “Looks like old Stormy is on the warpath again. When will that pony learn?”

“I wonder why the Captain keeps that hothead around?” the other added. “Never gets anything useful done.”

I stared vacantly at the spot where the two Pegasi had been standing, wondering what the argument had been all about. The Captain had mentioned the Council’s involvement, maybe the Council had a lot more on their hooves than Earth Pony colonies to worry about. And the other Pegasus, he said he had proof that ‘he’ was guilty. I wonder who they were talking about. It couldn’t have been anything we were concerned with, what reason could a Pegasus have to be concerned with our problems? My thoughts trailed off as I realised one of the guards was speaking to me. “Is there something you needed?”

“Oh, I, um...” I muttered, trying to remember what I was asking before the argument. “I was looking for directions on how to get to the embassies.”

He pointed a hoof out the doors behind me. “Out the door, just outside the C-Sec offices, talk to Corrina at her kiosk. If that is everything I’ll have to ask you to move along please” He waved me along with a hoof, returning to his other duties. I stepped away from them as they tended to others coming and going through the terminal. At least this Corrina wasn’t far, so we could get moving quickly. I smirked at the continuing simplicity of my task as I approached the exit to C-Sec and trotted through the door out into the Promenade.

“Whut took you so long?”

South’s question was on me the second I stepped out the door. She was leaning on a pillar on the opposite side of the door and staring directly at me with the same bored eyes she had since the elevator. Was she going to be like this the entire time? There had to be something on this station that would excite her, or at least make her less of a stick in the mud. I moved towards her, shaking my head at the unlikeliness of anything interesting happening today, at least anything interesting to her.

“Just seeing Pegasus politics at work,” I replied sarcastically. “Very dramatic.”

She raised an eyebrow at the vagueness of my answer and gave a quiet huff. I chuckled to myself; if she was going to push my buttons, I would push hers. Walking past her, I came out of the covered antechamber of C-Sec into a wide pathway. Opened sky spread out all around the circular inner ring that was the Promenade of the Corral. I could see the immense space we were in bend around in the distance, coiling upwards and out of sight. The ceiling was painted with puffs of white that slowly moved of their own accord, giving the illusion of a partly cloudy sky. On the other side of a short barrier on the edge of the path I could see an artificial river trickling through a vast channel below. The water was pristine, almost luminescent in the brightness of color all around. It wasn’t just the construction of the Promenade that awed me however, it was the diversity of those who inhabited it.

From my high vantage point outside the C-Sec offices I could see many different creatures in all directions. My gaze darted about, observing all of the different groupings of races that were moving through what appeared to be a large park area below me. I saw groups of Pegasi civilians walking with Unicorns and even Earth Ponies. They trotted along leisurely through the square enjoying what appeared to be a pleasant walk in a park, with no animosity between them. At least somepony’s could get past old hatreds and learn to be friends.

At a nearby bench I saw a pair of lanky robed bipeds engaged in idle chatter. Their lengthy clothing covered much of their bodies, but I could see grey furry limbs protruding from the usual places. They stood hunched on twisted legs and they gestured to each other with clawed appendages. Despite the gaunt and dishevelled appearance of their bodies, they seemed to comport themselves in an almost regal fashion with how they bowed politely to each other and anyone that passed by.

Beside them was a lone pony with silver colored limbs ushering a group of foals through the road. There was something odd with the way she carried herself. She almost seemed to glide as she walked along with the children in tow. She was not wearing much clothing, but it was not indecently so. It was like she didn’t need any. A nagging doubt in my mind told me that there was something much more to this pony that met the eye, but unless I got closer I would not discover it here. I guess I should have payed more attention in class after all.

South coughed and my attention turned back to her.

“Where’s this Corrina we’re supposed t’ talk to?”

I looked around the immediate area. The pathway was very wide and open, the tall pillars laid up against the chamber walls. But despite the clear view nothing that looked like a kiosk stood out, or anything at all nearby for that matter. The only thing that appeared remotely out of place was a lone terminal overlooking the river below to our left. Upon closer inspection the terminal had a single command displayed, labeled ‘Help’. South and I looked at the button tentatively, but it was obvious that we were lost and some help would be nice. I placed a hoof on the terminal and it flashed a series of lights in reply before going blank.

A second later, a burst of color flourished behind the terminal. Vibrant shades of blue and purple swirled as a glowing mass of color and light coalesced into solid shapes. Slowly the edges hardened and eventually settled into the shape of a holographic pony. It stood in front of us at the terminal, its form outlined by lines of blending hues as the final details of its visage took shape. It was a Unicorn, or at least the effigy of one, evident by the protrusion from its head. It also appeared feminine, the shape of its body outlined by gentle curves and a soft smile. Its genesis completed, her eyes fluttered open to reveal two orbs of glowing white, which were directed straight at me.

“Hello,” she began. Her voice was melodious, ethereal, but lacking...something. I didn’t know how to describe it, but it was like she was missing something vital behind her words. If I could place a word on it, I could would say that it was as if she had no soul in her voice, and the lack of which made me uneasy around her. “Welcome to the Promenade. I am Corrina, a Corral designated Virtual Intelligence designed to assist new visitors. How may I help you today?”

“Uh...” I began. I was still a little distracted by Corrina’s ‘emergence’ to be able to think straight. I had worked around V.I.’s before, but they were never given forms of their own, even if this one was only a hologram. The Unicorns certainly had a flair for beauty and the dramatic, evidenced clearly by the ghost like presence standing before me. Questions started flooding my mind, but I quickly silenced the torrent and sifted through the more appropriate ones to ask.

“What is your primary function?”

Corrina nodded. “I am a data quantifying and relaying program designed to access and deliver requested information and other relevant data to those who request them, barring restricted access.”

Ok, now this was cool. A library of potentially endless knowledge about the Corral at my hooftips and I was going to make the most of it while I could.

“What can you tell me of the Corral?”

Corrina tilted her head, confused. “I’m sorry. Could you please be more specific in your inquiry?”

Hmm. Specific. I thought carefully as I looked again at the impressive chamber I was standing in. The Corral was beyond incredible and an engineer such as myself would love to know how it was put together.

“How are the Corral districts organised?”

Corrina nodded approvingly. “The Corral is made up of two distinctive sections, comprised of multiple districts in between them; the Promenade and the Warrens. The inner ring of the Promenade serves as home to the Corral’s vital services, such as the Corral Embassies, hospitals, C-Sec headquarters and other high class establishments, as well as domiciles. You will also find the Corral Council Tower here, at the pinnacle of the ring, where the Corral Council sits and adjudicates over galactic matters.”

“The Warrens encompasses the numerous districts that are housed in the Corral’s five arms and has been used largely as residential and commercial sectors. However, due to the much larger size of the Warrens, it is far more difficult for C-Sec to maintain order and peace. You will find many core C-Sec offices within the Warrens, as well as a popular nightlife scene if you are brave enough to take the risks involved.”

Interesting. The Corral just seemed like a giant mega city; complete with high class, middle class and low class and all the bits in between. It was just the sheer scope of its all that amazed me and another question came to mind.

“What is the current population of the Corral?”

Corrina stared forward a moment, completely still. The white of her eyes shifted as streams of light darted across them in an instant, before she blinked and looked back to me. “As per the most recent survey of date, the current population of the Corral is estimated at nine point five three million. Sixty two percent of the total population is equine and the remaining thirty eight percent are under other classifications.”

Other classifications? I did see that one creature that stood on two legs, but I had no idea what it was, maybe that was one of the other races that inhabited the Corral and maybe Corrina could explain them to me.

“What are the other classifications?”

Corrina began to speak, before a hoof was placed on my shoulder. I saw South, annoyed, staring directly at me with angry eyes. “While Ah would love to sit here and gab over a bunch of useless information, we got us a job to do, don’t we Shepard?”

Killjoy. I sighed in compliance and changed my question. “What is the quickest way to the Earth Pony Embassies?”

Corrina pointed her luminescent hoof to the right. “If you follow this walkway for ten minutes, you will find yourself in the heart of the Embassy district.”

“Thank you, Corrina.” I said, before turning to South. “Let’s go.”

Corrina nodded again, as her form began to flicker. “You are most welcome. Enjoy your stay on the Promenade. Logging you out, Shepard.” And she was gone.

I froze a moment. How did she know who I was? I would have asked her again, but South nudged me forward. “C’mon now, we’ve wasted enough time with the pretty shiny pony. The Captain’s gonna want to see us on the double.”

I sighed again. “Fine, whatever.” I grumbled as we walked away from the kiosk and down the ivory path.

The Embassy District appeared to be a nexus of doors, elevators and stairwells stretching all over the nearby area like a maze. Me and South walked along the path, passing by many windows and occupied offices. The scenery remained drearily constant until we reached what appeared to be the heart of the district center. A large circular desk stood out from the countless entrances, surrounded by several ponies waiting in line. Seeing no alternative we approached the gaggle of ponies to wait our turn.

South maintained her uninterested posture, staring straight ahead. She looked like she was actively avoiding looking around. Her continued boredom of this fantastic place was wearing on me. I on the other hoof, continued to look haphazardly around, much to the objection of my straining neck, to see as much as I possibly could. I could hear the ponies in line ahead talking, gossiping among themselves, but none of it stood out to me as particularly interesting; Corral politics, future Geld attacks, extremist terrorist groups and even pie recipes drifted past my ear from inane conversations as I waited patiently for directions from the receptionist.

The herd ahead of us finally trickled away and South gave me another push forward as our turn finally arrived. I stepped up to the desk, but there was no pony there to greet me. I looked around to see if there was another button to summon a VI, when a silver hoof waved out from underneath the desk. “Just a moment!” A gentle voice chimed from under the table. “I just dropped something. Now where did it..ah! Here it is.”

I watched as a teal coated backside rise from the ground and slowly straightened up to its full height. The receptionist smiled happily at me, as she corrected the glasses that were crookedly hanging from her snout. “Welcome to the Corral Embassies. How may I help you today?”

I returned the friendly smile. “I’d like directions....to.....the.....”

My words trailed off at a sudden realisation, one of the many realisations I’d been having since I started this crazy trip. At a first glance, this pony looked like a normal turquoise colored Earth Pony with amber eyes, but as I stared, things I did not notice before were sending warning signals in my brain. Her legs, first off, from the shoulder right to the hoof, were not simply silver covered, they were made of metal! This pony had robotic limbs or something of similar design, as if she had been in some kind of horrible accident, but the weird definitely didn’t stop there. Around her neck was a strange collar filled with what I assumed to be water and bubbles and her coat glistened as if was permanently wetted. Finally, the way she was sitting at the desk was completely alien to me, her rear planted on the chair and her back straight upright, with her forelegs resting on the desk and her hooves pressed together together.

Confusion set in on her features as my silence continued. My eyes simply widened in awe as she stood up hurriedly in worry. “Are you ok? Is something the matter?” She leaned forward and I caught sight of her tail flitting around. Her hairless tail. No, it wasn’t even a hairless tail. It was just a mass of muscle with fins on the end, shiny and slippery just like the rest of her. What in the galaxy was this thing?

“I...you...uh....pony?” I stuttered pointlessly, backing up slightly. I ran into something that firmly cut off my escape, which turned out to be South, who did not share my state of confusion and panic. No, she just had her usual look of disapproval and irritation as she sighed vehemently. “Ah swear, it’s like you’ve never seen uh Sea-Pony before!” she chided.

A Sea-Pony? I had heard about such a race during my training years, but I thought they were just myths and rumors. An actual race of half pony and half fish? It just sounded ridiculous. But here one was, sitting right in front of me, plain as day. I turned to look at the receptionist again, who seemed to be understanding what was happening. She returned to her chair and the gentle smile from moments ago returned in force. The collar around her neck continued to bubble lazily with a range of luminescent colors. Oh! A breathing device! Thats what it is! And the legs must be...

Upon closer inspection, the metallic limbs were indeed attached by some sort of harness around her dolphin like body, which looked like it could easily be detached with a bit of effort. I assumed that her front fins were hidden underneath the forelegs and together the false limbs did an astounding job of making her far more equine in appearance. She noticed my searching eyes and struck a pose with her forelegs to display them better. “Most Sea-Ponies dye their casings to match their coats, but I like the silver. Such a radiant color.” She fawned. “My name is Aqualia, how can I help you...?”

“South,” my companion said in my place. “An’ this gawkin’ gussy is Shepard. We’re here to speak to the Earth Pony Ambassador.”

Aqualia smiled again. “Of course, let me see if he is busy.”

She turned her attention to her console and after a few moments of searching looked back to us. “He appears to be in a meeting with one of the Council, but you are both expected.” She stood again and pointed at one of the many doors behind her. “If you follow that door all the way to the end you will find his office there.”

Apparently satisfied with that answer, South uttered a quick “thank you,” and stepped aside quickly, starting towards the door with me following behind. I looked back to see Aqualia already busy with another visitor from the line up that had grown behind us. Once we were out of earshot I hurried up beside South, a thought nagging at me. “I don’t get you South.” I said quietly, hoping the vagueness of the statement would pique her interest.

It did. She slowed to a stop just before the door and stared at me. “Whut do you mean?”

“When we hang around a Pegasus, you have a panic attack, but when you introduce me to a Sea-Pony, it’s like nothing is wrong. At first I just thought you hated all non Earth Ponies, but now it obvious you only hate Pegasi.” I gave her a hard look to strengthen my next question. “Why?”

Her stare wavered a moment. “Ah don’t hate the Pegasi.” she said quietly. “Ah just....don’t trust em.”

“Can you tell me why?”

South stood silent for a while before pressing the switch to open the door to the offices. She stepped through, her head shaking slowly. “Maybe some other time,” she said quietly.

I sighed, giving up on the matter for now. One day I was going to have the time to question South on her issues, but that would have to wait till after the Council hearing. Hopefully the Captain was having more luck with the ambassador than I was with South.

Shouting. There was a large amount of shouting coming from the ambassadors officer as me and South stepped through the entrance. The room was actually a large veranda with a wide balcony opening out into the Promenade. A large desk sat just in front of the edge, but nopony was sitting at it. Instead I saw a dark tan pony with elegant clothing and a greying black mane standing and shouting at somepony, or something hidden behind a wall. The door slid shut behind us, to which a second pony stepped from behind the obstructing wall. It was Quartermane. He looked tired, but had still had the strength to bring a hoof up to his mouth to signal for us to remain quiet.

We trotted silently towards him and looked around the corner of the room to see what was the focus of the ambassadors ire. “Twenty four hours!” he shouted. “This is absolutely unacceptable! Twenty four hours and no assistance whatsoever from the Council, while the Geld slaughter our ponies like animals.”

I stepped around the corner just in time to see to whom the ambassador was speaking. It was a hologram. A set of projectors sat in a row along the right wall, only one of which was active. The image was of a navy blue Unicorn, dressed in an elegant dress of ruby red. She was shaking her head in an unamused fashion, while the Ambassador continued his tirade.

“The Council would have intervened faster if it were a Unicorn colony, or even a Pegasus colony, while we continued to be treated like second class citizens!”

“The Unicorns,” the hologram snapped. “Or the Pegasi don’t settle colonies so close to the Everfree systems, Ambassador. If not for the sudden appearance of the Geld, it is surprising that we are involved at all.”

The Ambassador sneered. “Yes, the Geld. Far more important a task to round up the renegade synthetics than assist dying colonists, when you could have obliterated the lot of them centuries ago.”

The Ambassador began to pace in front of the image. “A lack of foresight is what allowed the Geld to become a threat in the first place, Councilor and now they are being led by one of your precious Sleipnir like toys.”

The Councilmare raised her hoof for silence. “This meeting is not to discuss the so called actions of Sleipnir Artemis. The testimonies and evidence will be given at the hearing, not before. If that is all you have to ask ambassador, the rest of the Council and I will meet you at the Corral tower in two hours for the hearing. Please don’t be late.”

The projector flickered and the Unicorns’ image was gone. The ambassador stared forward silently for a long time. The scowl on his face had not subsided, nor the angry seething from his nostrils. He eventually rounded to me and South and his face shifted into something I thought to be much scarier; a smile.

“Welllll”, he began with mock sincerity. “If it isn’t the conquering heroes from Equestria Prime! Specialist Shepard and Sergeant Major South, the very ponies who got us into this mess!”

The false kindness in his voice slowly drained away into sincere anger as he trotted slowly towards us. South stood her ground, her face mimicking the Captain's stone faced expression. I, on the other hoof was seriously considering a tactical retreat. The ambassador halted just before Quartermane, but stared at us as he continued talking. “Quartermane, I do hope this isn’t the entire group that ruined this chance for us. I would love to discipline them all at once to save time.”

Quartermane huffed indignantly. “Lieutenant Poindexter is still recovering from the ordeal, you will only have Shepard and South’s testimony at the hearing.”

“Excellent, the words of a soldier and a engineer will weigh magnificently against the words of a Sleipnir at the hearing,” the ambassador groaned sarcastically. He looked straight at me with accusation in his eyes. “You were supposed to be our first step into the Sleipnir, Shepard. Not the one that gets us banned forever. Perhaps I chose too hastily in advancing your dossier to Nimbus. Had I known you would be the one that would get her killed, I would have considered other options.”

“I didn’t get her killed!”

I regretted the words the second they left my mouth, but it was too late now. The ambassador shook his head disappointedly. “Then who else is to blame then, Shepard? Artemis? Do you have any idea how difficult it is to accuse a Sleipnir of a crime and succeed, even with an eye witness? The Council would sooner accuse you of Nimbus’ death and the destruction the Alicorn relic to be done with it, rather than one of their own chosen soldiers. As far as the Council is concerned, the word of a Sleipnir is greater than anypony elses.”

“Whut can we do then?” South asked, looking at Quartermane.

The Captain sighed. “There isn’t much we can do without some solid evidence. C-Sec had made some inquiries on our behalf, but we won’t know what they learned, if anything, until the hearing.”

“Which will be next to nothing if a Sleipnir of Artemis’s caliber has any good sense.” The ambassador added, “Sleipnir are above the law and anything they involve themselves with might as well not exist as credible evidence against them.”

“So basically,” he breathed slowly, adding an air of finality to the conversation. “We have nothing.”

“Then we go in with nothing and hope for the best then?” I said jokingly.

The ambassador did not approve. He trained his scowl directly at me, then looked expectantly at Captain Quartermane. “Perhaps we should go speak with the C-Sec commander and ask them about their findings beforehoof to try and work something out.”

The Captain nodded silently and stood still as the ambassador trotted past him towards the exit. He turned to us once the diplomat was sufficiently away. “There isn’t much more we can do here until the hearing. All I can suggest is you two take this time to explore the promenade a bit more before the Council convenes.”

South and I nodded and Quartermane turned to follow the ambassador. “Aqualia can give you directions when you leave. Just try not to cause any trouble, I don’t think the ambassador needs any more damage control to do for today.” South smirked at the Captains remark and I couldn’t help but join her. He walked out the door and he looked back at us one final time before the door closed, nodding.

South and I stood still in silence for a long while. Growing bored I meandered over to the balcony and looked out over the Promenade. Little had changed in the ten or so minutes since we had entered the embassies from our journey here. There were still droves of ponies and others wandering up and down the lanes, going about their day like nothing was wrong. I envied them of their carefree bliss, if only slightly, because my life was steadily becoming far more complicated than I ever expected it to be. I turned to the sound of hoofsteps, seeing South heading for the door. “Where are you going?”

She looked at me, a pensive look on her face. “I reckon there’s a lot of thinkin’ to do on the subject at hoof, an’ there’s only one place I do any thinkin’.”

She turned away, trotting through the door and before it shut behind her, I heard her shout back. “Ah’m goin’ to get a drink!”

A few moments later, after my brain decided to register what South had said, I dashed to the door to chase after her. Quartermane asked us to stay out of trouble and letting South anywhere near a bar alone sounded like a bad idea.

I exited out into the nexus of the embassies and caught up to South, much faster than I thought I would. She had stopped suddenly behind the reception desk and appeared to be listening to a conversation between Aqualia and.....nothing. I stopped beside my eavesdropping companion, looking at her quizzically. She responded with a shrug and looked back to the desk. We stepped around it slowly, listening to the conversation continue.

“I’m sorry, sir.” Aqualia repeated to the unseen conversant, shaking her head. “But I must ask that you do your preaching elsewhere. The embassies are not sanctioned under freedom of religious practices.”

“Oh but you misunderstand,” a calm, nasally voice countered. “My words come from the Founders themselves, surely even you can see their importance, Sea-Clan.”

I made it around the desk to see a short and stout figure standing before the desk, barely standing over its height and straining itself to stand as tall as it could. It was round and furry with a pointed snout with whiskers and wearing a pair of comically large thick lensed goggles. Its short stubby limbs were covered with leathery garb and had a set of spindly digits on each one. I didn’t even know where to begin addressing the oddity of what I was looking at, but South saw fit to let a tiny giggle slip from her mouth.

The creature rounded on us and I saw the tiny pinpricks of its eyes widen considerably in its oversized glasses. He raised an arm at us as if it was....saluting?

“Hail to you, members of the Earth-Clan!” he praised, his voice rising slightly in excitement. He flourished his statement with a little bow. “It pleases this member of the Mole-Clan to be in the presence of a fellow earth dweller. How may I be of service to you?”

I looked at this tiny creature addressing me and wondered who was slowly going crazier. “Members of what-clan?” I asked, a look of obvious perplexment on my face.

“Ahem,” Aqualia intervened. “The Mole Clan Collective tend to revere those who live close to the earth as they do. They were...how do I put this?” she paused, scratching her chin thoughtfully with her silver hoof. “Ah, yes. Optimistically overjoyed, when the Earth Ponies joined the Corral.”

“I see...” My face scrunched in confusion. A race of creatures that revered us because we lived on the ground? I looked again at this... Mole. Despite his height, he did appear to have very strong arms and the digits on his... paws I think they were called, looked like they were made for digging. But the fact that these stout little diggers respected us so much out of a shared connection to the ground we walked on was a bit much. I for one was glad when I broke free of Earth and came out here into space.

“Whut are th’ Founders?” South asked.

Aqualia chuckled softly. “It’s a play on the word foundation. You have to start from the ground up and you always start with the foundation. The Founders, as the Mole-Clans put it, are the creators of everything, a race of beings that predate even the Alicorns.”

“If I may correct you, Sea-Clan,” the Mole intoned. “But Founders are far more than idle trivia and I would ask that you do not assume them as such.”

The Mole turned back to us, pointing a long crooked claw at the Sea-Pony. “I ask of you, benevolent Earth-Clans, to explain to this creature to allow me to spread my gospel without incident.”

I wasn’t much for religion,and this mole wasn’t helping his case much. I did not appreciate his condescending tone towards Aqualia and even South looked indignant towards his rudeness towards the ever kind receptionist. Aqualia shook her head and sighed quietly. “I have a great deal of respect for the beliefs of others, even my own kind has a variety of the theology.”

She raised a hoof, pointing out a sign that redundantly reminded us where we were. “But this is the Corral embassies. This is the only place that religious preaching isn’t allowed, because this is where all of the Corral races meet and discuss between themselves, without religious persecution or bullying.” She directed her final comment with a stern glare at the mole, who crossed his stubby arms solemnly.

“The last thing the Council wants is an incident between the many races that live here over a difference of faith. Can you please convince him to leave?” she pleaded. “He will listen to you.”

I looked tentatively at her, then at the squat little thing that was staring at me expectantly. His stance had not changed and was still actively ignoring Aqualia’s presence. I had no idea what she expected me to do, I’d never dealt with religious fanatics before and I’d probably end up making it worse before I made it any better. But I guess I had to start somewhere.

“Tell me about the Founders,” I asked, moving towards him. “What are they like?”

The mole looked like he had been waiting all day for somepony to ask that question. He uncrossed his arms and raised them into the air, waving them excitedly. “The Founders are the origin of existence itself. They are beings that we, as lesser creatures will never hope to understand. They exist beyond the veil of time and space itself and it is by their very minds that we are allowed to exist.”

He took a moment to breathe, his snout making a labored snorting sounds with each breath. “We exist because the Founders will it and we exists for them to observe their creations.”

If I was supposed to be learning something new, it wasn’t happening. The Founders sounded like any other deity I’d ever heard of, just with a different name. This mole-prophet, if thats how he would refer to himself, was probably just as intent at spreading his gospel as any other religious fanatic. I needed something else if I was going to have any chance at dissuading him. “Why do the Founders observe us?”

“They observe from beyond our sight, so that they can learn from our experiences of how we live our lives, so that they may better themselves.”

Wait, what? I looked at the mole intently, but his expression was completely serious. At least I think it was. Those inch thick goggles were not making it easy to read him. “Why would. All powerful beings. Need to better themselves?” I asked staggeredly.

The mole did not waver for a second. “There are always lessons to be learned, knowledge to be found, skills to be mastered. Even for the Founders.” he remarked, shaking a claw at me. “They have faltered from their destined path and so they created us as a means to return. It is through their observations of our harmonious existence that they may return to grace.”

The only destiny I felt like embellishing was the headache I was no doubt fated to have at this very moment. This mole seemed prepared to continue all day if he wanted to. I saw that Aqualia’s smile had finally faded into a disapproving frown, signaling to me that this needed to end. The tale of the Founders had its share of absurdities, but at least he finally gave me something I could work with. “Now explain something to me,” I said calmly, matching the tone of the stout preacher. “If the Founders endeavor to learn from our ‘harmonious’ existence, wouldn’t your actions here serve to defy them?”

He shook his head. “That is the very reason I am here. To spread the word of the Founders to all, so none fall from their loving gaze.” He cast a claw upwards, pointing at nothing.

“But, as the kindly receptionist here has stated,” I countered. “Your being here could cause an interspecies conflict. That doesn’t sound very harmonious to me.”

He pointed an accusatory claw at Aqualia, who shirked away from the gangly appendage. “They have yet to see the truth and do not know the true grace of the Founders. They believe the Alicorn’s are their true forbears, but it was the Founders that created them, as they did us.”

“So you are saying that we worship the Alicorns as false gods?”

He shook his finger at me. “Not at all. The Alicorn’s were the first to be given life by the Founders. They are their chosen ones, and the Mole-Clan revere them as strongly as any race. But it is the accomplishments of the Founders that is truly worthy of praise. Without them, we would not exist and the harmonious existence they had planned would crumble to nothing.”

I smirked. “But your rudeness towards another species just because they don’t live on or in the ground doesn’t sound very harmonious to me.” I approached him slowly and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Are you sure you aren’t going about this the wrong way?”

He did not answer. He simply stood there, staring at me intently. His nose whistled slightly as he breathed, the nasally sound the only thing disturbing the relative peace around me.

“Why do you seek to dissuade me from my task, Earth-Clan? Have you too not heard the word of the Founders?”

I shook my head. “I’m not trying to dissuade you on proclaiming your faith, but I would assume that even the Founders had rules and followed them. It is no place of mine or anypony to step over your faith, but we all our own rules to follow.”

“What would you have me do then, Earth-Clan? If they would not listen to the word of the Founders here, then where would they?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. The Corral is a large place, and I’m certain you could find a perfect place to do your preaching without risking a conflict.”

“You could try the terraces around the Promenade”, Aqualia added. “Many ponies walk through those areas daily. It would be the perfect audience.” The mole didn’t make any indication that he had heard her, but I could see that the idea had made it through his mind regardless.

The mole was quiet. He scratched his chin, thinking deeply.

“Perhaps...” he began slowly. “There is merit to your claims, Earth-Clan.” He bowed away, breaking my grasp of him and stepped from the desk. “Perhaps I have sullied the good word of the Founders and must rethink my gospel.” He waddled away, not uttering another word. I sighed in relief at diffusing the situation and turned to Aqualia.

She was clapping her hooves together, which made gentle clinking noises. Her kindly smile returned and I felt a tinge of happiness wash over me as it did. There was something hypnotic about this sea-pony that made it impossible to be upset with her nearby and I was grateful for that feeling.

“Well done!” she chirped. “You have no idea how relieved I am to have him leave willingly. I would have hated to call C-Sec on the poor thing.”

“Ya didn’t seem that way b’fore,” South chided.

The soldier mare did little to dull Aqualia’s mood. She merely held the smile and looked at my companion. “It was unfortunately my duty to enforce that silly rule, but that doesn’t make it any less mean to have him carted away. He was only doing what he believed in and you can’t fault him for that.”

“No,” South said agreedly. “I don’t suppose Ah could.”

South looked away and kicked the ground quietly, having been caught in her own self righteousness. Aqualia paid no attention to her and looked back at me. “Now then, Shepard was it? I do believe I will have to owe you something for your help.”

I’d been only on the Corral for an hour or so and was already accruing favors from its populous. Things were certainly looking up. Being in a generous mood, I decided to indulge in my companions prior aspiration. “I’ll have to hold you to that at some point, I’m sure. But for now, could you direct me and my friend to the nearest bar? I believe some victory drinks are in order.” I finished with a silly little victory pose, to which Aqualia swiftly giggled. I wasn’t sure if South had noticed, because she had softly trotted away into the walkways, leaving me alone, again.

“Well let me see...” she began, looking at her computer. “I suppose you could try the Den. Its the closest to walk to, though it is technically part of the Warrens. If you just keep going along the path till the first entrance to the Warrens you see, it will be there. You can’t miss it.”

I nodded and dashed away to catch up with South, saying a few quick goodbyes to the friendly sea-pony. Thankfully South had gone in the right direction and was moving at a moderate pace. I walked astride her and pointed out the directions that Aqualia had given me. She gave me a funny look. “Ah didn’t figure you for th’ drinkin’ type, Shepard.”

I chuckled. “I’m not really, but after what’s happened today, I think I could use a drink too.”

For the first time since I’d known her, South actually laughed. It was a simple little chuckle, but it was better than nothing. We carried on with our friendly giggles as we walked down the endless ivory path and down towards the Warrens.

Codex Entries Added:

Race: Sea-Pony

Race: Mole-Clan

The Promenade

You’re going to Love and Tolerate! :Renegade Points Earned

Peace-Keeper :Paragon Points Earned

Chapter 5: Underbelly

Chapter 5: Underbelly

“...But take care not to fall between the many spaces, for even this heart has its diseases.”

I had expected the Warrens, from the colorful description given to me by Corrina, to be another low class junk heap much like the places I lived in back on Earth. While my first few steps into the area treated me to monotonous steel colored walls, and the occasional skittish passer-by, it just seemed a tad too bland to be a pit of squalor. The ponies down here looked more down to earth, less reserved, and well....normal. Nothing struck out to me as potentially dangerous or ominous, just another city section, albeit with darker colors and less polish. I felt naturally at home here, unlike back in the Promenade, and South seemed to share the sentiment.

She struck me as the type who showed no interest in the high class life, my assumption of her being from the Prairielands was all the evidence I needed. She seemed noticeably more relaxed in our new setting, trotting along with a sense of familiarity. We meandered down the various pathways for a while, glancing at a few random market stalls, or groups of gawkers staring at the two military equipped ponies that were casually walking past them. Maybe bringing our weapons here wasn’t such a good idea.

South stopped suddenly. I noticed a smile on her face as she turned her head upwards. Above us was a red neon lit sign that simply read ‘The Den’. A gruff looking Earth pony stood at the entrance, staring blankly at nothing in particular. However as we approached, he glanced at us both, staring at us with narrowed eyes. He looked us over, clearly noticing our weapons and other equipment, but nodded his head towards the door anyways letting us pass. I entered first, and took in the sights of the shady bar. The club was dimly lit, with more red neon strips yielding the only light in the room. Music poured in from everywhere, filled with copious bass and electric sounds. Many of the patrons were dancing to the rhythm on a wide dance floor. Small tables and chairs were scattered about, many of them empty, and a bar was located in the center of the room and on the far side.

“Would ya look at that,” South griped. I turned to see her give a quiet snort, looking up at a platform in the center of the room just above the bar, with stern eyes. On top of it was a group of mares dancing around a circular stage in the center of the bar. Most of them were Earth Ponies, but I noticed a Unicorn or two as well, wearing skimpy outfits and all writhing about in suggestive ways. I looked away, if only to avoid South seeing the reflexive red developing on my face. “Thousands of years of growin’ up, an’ theres still the need for young fillies to do such a thing.” Her voice reeked of disgust, and she stomped off towards the bar, which I assumed she did to avoid losing her temper even further.

As I sat down beside her, I heard her quickly order a pair of drinks, to which the bartender lazily began to mix. She kept her head down, away from the exotic dancers above, and focused her attention on the glasses that were slowly but surely being filled with alcohol from across the bar. I drummed on the counter awkwardly, opting to look anywhere but the bar. There were a few downtrodden looking ponies at the tables around us, many of them staring at one of the many empty glasses that surrounded them. A few others seemed to be enjoying the ‘company’ of some of the dancers, who giggled mindlessly at the drunken drivel that came out of their newest clients. Now I really wanted that drink.

My prayers were answered when the bartender returned, drinks in tow. He placed them in front of us with the level of care one would expect from a small explosion and trotted away. South scooped up her glass and emptied it in a single go, while I stared at mine absently. Now that it was actually in front of me, I was not sure if I had been serious about actually wanting this drink. On one hoof I still did not care for the state of drunkenness, and on the other...well, as far as this day was headed, a drink or two wouldn’t kill me.

“Ya gonna drink that?” South asked, beckoning the bartender for another.

“Yeah,” I replied. “Eventually.”

She snorted again. “Well then git to it! It ain’t no fun drinkin’ alone.”

I swirled the glass, delaying the inevitable. South continued to berate me with a piercing stare, before I could take no more. I swallowed hard, and downed the cider. The usual feelings returned, but I held them down as best I could. This particular brand seemed marginally weaker than the kind Chalkdust had locked away in her safe, and part of me actually felt disappointed. I shrugged, and set the glass down, eliciting a rowdy cheer from South. She slammed down her second glass and looked at me, not with anger or any other of the choice emotions that I had already seen her use so far. This time, she chose curiosity.

“So,” she began. “Whut’s yer story Shepard?”

Was she actually asking me about myself? After this entire time of me asking her? I looked at her like she was the crazy pony, and she responded with a hushed guffaw. “Ya’ll seem awful keen in learning what my deal is Shepard, but Ah ain’t heard a lick about you a t’all.”

She traced the rim of her empty glass, staring into it dreamily. “The way Ah reckon, iffin’ ya want to know somethin’ about me, Ah gotta know somethin’ bout you first. That only seems fair right?”

I wasn’t certain what troubled me more; the fact that what she had said made perfect sense, or that I felt like actually obliging her. There wasn’t much worth hiding, but I wasn’t the kind of pony who talked about myself much. Having the kind of past that I did, it was just one of those things you prefered to stay buried. I thought of a few choice things that would serve to outline who I was, without giving her too much, or digging too deep. The hardest part of telling others about yourself is where to start.

“Not really a fairy tale beginning really,” I recalled to her. “I grew up mostly in the streets, won’t bother saying where, all metropolis slums are the same. Drifted around a bit alone, I guess. learned a few things here and there raiding scrap heaps.” I glanced longingly at my empty glass, wishing it was refilled. “But that was just to start.” A few of the darker memories managed to surface, but I kept the worst ones down. “I did some...things that I’m not proud of to survive. Worked for some... unsavory ponies. But I managed to pull through, even managed to save a few others from that life, before Captain Quartermane pulled me out of there.”

South did not say anything immediately. Her face had taken to a look of quiet shock, as she absorbed what I had told her. I realised that she had been the only other pony that I had openly told my story to, aside from Quartermane, but I figured it was an excellent trump card to get her to open up a bit herself. She tapped her glass, signaling the bartender for a third round. Even after it came she drank it in silence before finally finishing it and turning back to me.

“So the Cap’ was the one that recruited you huh?” she inquired.

I smiled as the fond memory came to the surface of my mind. “Yea, he did. Wasn’t expecting him to be my C.O here either. I haven’t seen him since he brought me into Stable.”

South mulled her thoughts quietly for a moment. She stared into her empty glass, tracing the rim slowly with the tip of her hoof. “That’s quite the story, Shepard. Ah can’t say that mine is near as exciting.”

“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?” I said with a smile.

She returned the smile weakly. Her mouth opened as she began to speak, but her attention was drawn to the sound of laughter beside us. Our attention turned to the pony on my left who had been chuckling loudly since I had stopped speaking. He appeared to be on his fifth or sixth drink, but didn’t yet look ready to fall over. He was a haggard looking Earth Pony, his ratty black hair drooping over his face and his ghostly grey coat missed what I expected to be its fourth shower this morning. His head rose slowly as his laughing hit its peak and looked at me with intrigue.

“So, you know Captain Quartermane huh?” His voice was cold, raspy. “How does it feel to be working for Stable’s biggest disappointment?”

I glared at this mysterious pony. “Do I know you?”

“Heh,” he chuckled. “No, but I know you Shepard. Must be nice to be a puppet so Quartermane can atone for his own screw ups.”

South joined me in glaring daggers at this drunk, but I still had no idea what he was going on about or what I could say to learn anything useful from him, so I just let him keep talking.

“It’s funny that the first Sleipinir candidate in twenty years ends up screwing up just the same under his command, just like he did.”

How would somepony like him know about what happened on Equestria Prime? I pushed away from the bar, getting a better view of him in his slouch. He was wearing a blue uniform that I recognised from my trip through C-Sec. His Cutie Mark looked like an old playing card, except that the face of it was a ghostly effigy of something I could not identify. None of this answered the question on how a C-Sec officer would know anything about what I had been through in the past two days. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” I lied, hoping to change the subject.

“Heh, whatever. Ask him yourself if you don't believe me.” He finished another drink, placing the glass down delicately. “But sooner or later, you’re gonna have to ask yourself who is worth trusting. And It ain’t Quartermane. Especially when Artemis is involved.”

My ears perked slightly at the uttering of Artemis' name. This pony was clearly toying with me, but he had knew something, or else he wouldn’t have bothered to talk to me. “What do you know about Artemis.”

He smiled sinisterly. “Lets just say Artemis needs to do a better job of choosing who he trusts, just like you. And if he isn’t careful, it will bite him in the flank soon enough.”

With that, he got to his hooves, and shakily made his way towards the exit. “Be seeing you, Shepard. Try not to get killed too soon,” he crooned as he lumbered away.

I watched him leave, desperately processing what he had said. Was he trying to help me, or just irritate me? Somehow he knew way too much of what was going on, and the sheer coincidence of me running into him here of all places was a bit strange. I looked at South, who didn’t know what to make of him either. She returned her glass to the bar, and wheeled around in her chair, and leaned her back against the bar.

“Ah suppose it would be bad form to tell mah tale now, after that,” she said with a smirk.

It seemed that fate was conspiring against me, if I was ever going to learn anything useful about South. But she was right. As vague as that random drunk had been, he had hinted at something useful, something potentially damaging to Artemis. And if anything like that existed, I needed to get it now. “I guess you will have to owe me a story later.”

South nodded, and we both hopped off our stools and trotted towards the exit. I managed to make it out of the door first, and looked around for the pony we were following. The bouncer was missing, as were some of the stall tenders that were adjacent to the club. I stood quietly observing the eerie change of scenery, when I heard hoof steps approach from behind.

“You Shepard?”

I turned to see a black dressed pegasus with a slicked back mane emerge from the alley beside the club. He had a deadpan expression on his face as he awaited my response. He raised an eyebrow when South finally appeared beside me, who did not look amused at the presence of a pegasus.

“An’ who’re you?” she demanded.

The pegasus’ expression did not change, casting his bored eyes back to me. “I said, are you Shepard?”

I was not in the mood for more delays. I had to catch up with that drunkard and find out what he knew. “I might be, what’s it to you?”

Finally, the pegasus produced a smile. A smile like he had won the lottery and decided to be insufferably smug about it. “It’s nothing really to me, but my employer...” He cast sidelong glances in both directions. “Would like to have a little chat with you.”

I followed his gaze, noticing that from the darkness of the alleys, we were surrounded by at least four armed thugs.

“Don’t even try it princess.” Okay, make that five. I turned around to see South trying to raise her gun, only to be halted by a scrawny looking Earth Pony hold a gun to her head. She glared at him with a look that gave me chills.

“Call me princess, one more time, Ah dare ya.” She spoke with a level of danger and venom that sent off warning signals in my brain, and I hoped the stallion with the gun to her head was smart enough to notice

Of course he wasn’t. The weasley pony laughed, and lowered his gun, and decided to poke South with his other hoof. “What, you don’t like being called princess, prince-.”

Before he could utter it a second time, South quickly grabbed his extended hoof and yanked on it with all her might. It gave a sickening pop as the limb was savagely dislocated from his shoulder. The stallion tore away, screaming and howling in pain, as the four other thugs trained their guns on South. She glanced at them defiantly, waiting for the next one to dare cross her. “Ah warned him,” she gloated.

The wounded thug rolled around on the ground in agony, screaming obscenities and other colorful words as the pegasus in charge of the group shook his head. “Now now, there isn’t any need to get violent. Our employer would prefer if you came along quietly.”

“And if we don’t?” I asked.

The screaming pony managed to subside his howls, righting himself enough to raise his unbroken gun hoof and training it on South. “The bitch broke my leg, she dies now!” My eyes widened at the sound of his gun heating up. I moved to shove South out of the way before-

BANG!

I reeled back in pain, the sound of the shot ringing in my head. I looked back to see South...completely unharmed. The pony that attempted to fire was now prone on the ground, blood oozing from a fresh hole in his head. South looked mildly startled, but not at the recent attempt on her life. She was far more focused in the pegasus standing beside us. I turned back to the him, seeing that he had produced a now smoking rifle from under his wing. His deadpan expression returned as he stared at the corpse of his now former employee.

“-bad things will happen.”

We were led in silence down the many maze-like corridors that made up the entirety of what appeared to one of the Warrens less desirable districts. While my first impression of the Warrens was better than what I first thought, our forced trot deeper into the darkened alleys dissolved whatever remained of that first foray into slimy muck. The steely walls shifted into rust colored slabs of unkempt metal, dimly lit by either an occasional emergency light or neon sign. The ponies that watched us pass by became more jittery and desperate looking, and quickly turned tail and ran at the sight of our group, as if they knew what was going to happen to us.

The four remaining armed goons surrounded us in formation, while the black pegasus followed from behind to prevent any ‘further incidents’, as he put it. South trotted quietly beside me, eyes front and scowling, while I took a few furtive glances at the quickly changing scenery. Worry crept into my mind, and while I had never been a panic prone pony, I was becoming genuinely terrified at my fate at the hooves of these thugs. I had never been in this kind of situation before, and I had no idea how I was going to get out of this alive. Maybe if we could recover our weapons we could fight our way out, but even that plan would risk failure before it even started.

I glanced back at the pegasus. He was paying a great deal of attention to our surroundings, casting quick deliberate glances around us, before looking forward again. I thought I saw him catch my eyes, but if he did, he made no comment, returning to his placid expression of professionalism. The goons would give me a shove if I lingered too long, laughing as they did so. I was not small in relation to most ponies my age, but these thugs were considerably larger and more menacing than I taking pleasure in shoving me around. If only I had my gun. Heh, who was I kidding? Even if I had my gun I wouldn’t accomplish much. I had my omni-tool, but even the simplest command would have been noticed.

Eventually we came to a dilapidated structure deep in the bowels of the Warrens. It was small, maybe an old shipping warehouse of some kind, but had fallen into disuse and disrepair. We were led inside to a darkened room, that appeared to be the only safe place in the building. All of the adjoining doors and paths were blocked off by rubbish and debris. The only source of light was a grimy window, which I could see blurs of vehicles of the transitway beyond, and not much else.

A single desk and some chairs were the only furniture, and looked grossly out of place considering how filthy this room was. The pegasus walked over to the desk, placing our weapons on it. The other goods directed us towards the wall beside the window, and ordered us to sit. I complied quietly, while South resisted. The larger of the goons went to strike her, when the pegasus spoke up.

“Remember what happened earlier, Thud. We don’t want a repeat experience do we? The boss wants them unharmed until he gives us other instructions.”

‘Thud’ lowered his hoof, and stepped away from South, who continued to glare at him. “Yeh, okay boss.”

The four thugs each took a seat, each of them staring in our direction, as their leader rifled through the desk, and looked at his computer. South eventually sat down, not out of compliance, but out of boredom. She stared back at Thud, who sneered gleefully back at her. “Any ideas?” she asked quietly.

“Not really,” I whispered back. “If they weren’t staring at us could call for help on my omni-tool, but I doubt they will give us the chance.”

“Hmph. Got a plan B then?”

“No talking!” Thud shouted.

We both looked at the eager stallion, who clopped his hooves together in anticipation of our eventual beating. He must have really hated us for what South did to the other pony before he got himself killed, and I definitely did not want to be left alone with him for too long. A beeping noise from the desk drew his attention, as it did everypony else. The computer had received a message of some kind, which the pegasus was responding to in hushed words. The distraction was short, not nearly long enough for me to send for help, but it was enough for me to rig my omni-tool to listen in on the conversation.

“Razor, do you have them?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“Yes, sir, they are here now.” the pegasus replied. “What do you want us to do with them?”

There was a moment before the other answered. “Nothing yet, not until you deal with that other loose end. I want you to see to it personally, Razor. No screw ups, or Artemis is going to have our hides.”

“Yes sir, I’ll get it done right away!”

There was another dramatic pause, this one actually lasting long enough for Razor to develop a look of concern on his face, before the other voice finally replied.

“See that you do.”

The computer went silent. Razor mulled his thoughts silently for a few minutes, before suddenly rising from the desk and heading to the exit. Two of the goons went with him, while Thud and the other one with him remained seated in front of us. The black pegasus halted at the door, and looked right at Thud. “Keep them here until I say otherwise. Got that Thud?”

Thud looked absently at Razor, before turning back to us with glee in his eyes. “Yeh, boss, no problem at all.”

And then he was gone. The door slammed unceremoniously behind him, leaving us alone with the two bigger thugs alone. We stared at each other quietly for a long time, each side looking waiting for the other to make their move. As much as Thud looked like he wanted to hurt us, he was stoic in his dedication to following his orders. He engaged in idle conversation with the other thug, whom he identified as Spanner. What was it with thugs and their thug names? I mean, did their parents know that their children were going to grow up to be criminals or something, and just gave them appropriate names so they didn’t get picked on by their thug-buddies?

The staring contest continued for what easily turned into an hour of silent boredom. I had long since grown exhausted at the game, leaving South to defend our honor alone, which she happily did. I had thrown in a few faces for good measure, but they were lost on the gruff ponies overwatching us. An hour of this, and nothing interesting had happened. Another hour, and the Council hearing would begin, and we definitely were not going to be attending. Artemis made sure of that. But why? Why would he impose further risk to himself if he was already in the clear? Maybe that drunken pony from the bar was right, maybe Artemis did screw something up, and now he was eliminating every loose end possible.

The computer at the desk came to life again, prompting Thud to forfeit his hateful staring to answer it. The lumbered over to it drearily, and prodded at the controls to reply. My omni-tool was still listening in, so I turned my back to Spanner so he didn’t see what I was up to.

“What is it?” Thud answered.

“That’s what is it, Sir.” the same voice from earlier snapped.

“Uh, yeh, right, sir!” Thud stammered, actually saluting to the blank computer screen.

“Artemis says we need to get moving things along. Razor is dealing with the other loose end now, you can deal with the one at hoof.”

“R-really?” Thud replied, a noticeable tone of expectant joy taking hold of his voice.

“Yes, really. Dispose of them, just don’t make it too messy. Get back here when you are done.”

“Yes sir!” Thud half shouted. “Right away sir...” His voice trailed off with a sinister cackle as the computer died again.

I turned my omni-tool off, looking back at the two hulking ponies now slowly approaching us. South looked shocked at their advance, and glanced to me. “Whut are they doin’ now?”

I stared blankly at her. “Disposing of us.” I replied weakly. Her eyes widened considerably as she looked back to Thud, who was only a few yards away, brandishing a large shotgun attached to his hoof. "So much for not making it messy", I deadpanned to myself. He halted just before South, who glared at him with anger.

“I’d love to end you first for getting Twitch killed, bitch.” he growled at South, before turning to me. “But th’ boss seems to have a special interest in you, so I’ll oblige you first, as a courtesy to him.”

He brought his gun to bear, pointing it directly at me. South tried to shove me away, but Spanner smacked her away with his own weapon. I stared, frozen in fear for my impending doom, right down the barrel of the weapon that was keen to end my life. I shut my eyes as the weapon primed, its whirring steadily rising to a deafening crescendo.

And then everything went to hell.

What happened next will forever be one of the many blurs in my memory of things to come. I don’t think I could ever look back at these moments and ever recall them clearly, but I will do my best. It was safe to say, that from start to finish, the following moments would take place over a mere ten seconds.

First there was the sound of glass. Lots of it, as it cascaded over the room and a symphony of tinkles and clatters. I opened my eyes for a moment, to see the room littered with the tiny crystals that scattered all over the room. The shotgun that was once pointed at my head was now pointing high in the air, its bearer screaming in pain. Even through his flailing, I could see red spurting from the hoof and the weapon had been pierced through, giving off a series of shocks and static.

Spanner, responding at a speed that I honestly found surprising for his intelligence level, rushed to an unbroken part of the window, peering vainly through the dirt and grime for something, anything that could have perpetrated these events. He froze suddenly, and backed away slowly from the window, terror in his eyes. He fired wildly into the window, at a slowly growing silhouette that filled the window, before colliding with a amazing crash.

A blur of blue and white shot through the window, colliding with the frightened stallion and knocking him squarely to the ground. The blue streak came to a stop just above the prone thug, standing over him. It was a pegasus, dressed in blue C-Sec armor from head to hoof with a smoking sniper strapped to his back. He flared his white wings, as the panicked Spanner tried desperately aim his weapon, before the pegasus stomped on his hoof, breaking it with a resounding snap. Ignoring the screams of pain and agony he had caused, the pegasus grabbed Spanner in his hooves and dragged him over to the open window. He threw the disheveled Earth pony out, dangling him over the edge by his long greasy mane. The look on his face suggested that it was a very long fall on the other side.

“Where’s your boss?” the pegasus demanded, his voice warbled under the radio static of his helmet.

“Fuck you Sec, I ain’t telling you shit!” he spat. I was surprised that Spanner had any spine left to answer after the beating he had received.

Spanner slipped a few inches from the officers grasp, as he purposely started to drop him in annoyance.

“Did you know most pegasus are deathly afraid of falling?” the pegasus mocked. “Silly isn’t it, that a creature born to fly is afraid to fall. Not like you earth ponies. You fall just like everything else without wings, and yet you hang here, unafraid. Why is that?”

The pegasus continued his tirade at the unflinching pony in his hooves, while me and South watched on, dumbfounded. I looked at her as she scoffed quietly, disgust in her eyes. “Iffin’ there were a list of reasons why Ah don’t trust Pegasi, that’d be one right there.” she snarked. I actually found myself smiling at her comment, when movement caught my eyes. Thud was still alive, and moving towards the unsuspecting pegasus.

“Look out!” I shouted.

He almost didn’t react in time. He turned his head to face Thud, who slammed his unwounded hoof into his helmet. The officer managed to deflect some of the blow, but was unbalanced from the force of it. He staggered away from Thud, both of which seemed to have instantly forgotten that somepony was missing. The long winded scream of Spanner quickly faded into nothing as he fell over the edge, as the spar between Earth Pony and Pegasus continued unhindered.

The C-Sec officer shook his head, clearing some broken fragments of his visor away so he could see. Thud limped towards him, rushing for another strike. A pair of lightning blue eyes peered angrily though the broken visor of the helmet as he deftly dodged the powerful swing of the wounded stallion. The pegasus charged past the lumbering Thud with speed that defied his size, sweeping his legs out from under him with a pass of his wings. Thud collapsed to the ground with a sound faithful to his name, sprawling onto his back. He regained his awareness just as the officer stood above him, his rifle pointed at Thuds head.

“I don’t suppose you would be more helpful than your former cohort?” he said icily.

Thud was silent, only giving the officer above him a defiant snort.

“Didn’t think so.”

The pegasus lifted his hoof and smashed it into Thuds face, knocking him out cold. He gave a loud sigh of relief, as he sat on his haunches and worked to remove his damaged helmet. Now out of danger, I finally had a moment to observe our hero, realising that I had seen him before. The style of armor, and the red tinge on the edges of his wings, all reminded me of the pegasus I had seen at the C-Sec office this morning. At this range, I was even close enough to his Cutie Mark; A reticle shaped like a shield with fiery wings.

“Firestorm right?” I asked, standing up and walking over to the grunting pegasus, still trying to pry the bent helmet off his head. He did not answer as his struggle ended, the helmet coming off with a mighty tug.

“I just wanted to say thank....you?”

What was it and unexpected occurrences today? First there was Corrina, then the Sea-pony and the Mole, now this. I stared silently as the pegasus that had just saved us looked disapprovingly at his, her, now broken helmet. Her mane cascaded from the confines of the helm, falling out and obscuring half of her face. If one could conceivably name fire a color, it would be that of her mane, which shimmered every possible color of flame. The side of her head that did not get covered by her lengthy mane was covered by a similar device that Nimbus once wore; a targeting visor of some kind.

She gave me a hard look. “You’re Shepard right? Of the Normanedy?” She stood up and trotted over to me, offering me a hoof. “Yea, I’m Firestorm. I was the C-Sec officer assigned to your case against Artemis.” She looked around at the mess caused by her dramatic entrance, and gave me a sheepish grimace. “Sorry about cutting it so close there. I had to be sure if he was actually going to try something.”

I chuckled weakly, shaking her hoof. “Better late than never huh?”

She looked... mildly concerned at my passive attitude towards my near brush with death, but ignored it and trotted over to Thud. “I’ve been following you two since you got pinched outside the Den, I was hoping they would lead me to the one trying to cover all this up.”

She gave Thud a swift kick, who responded with an unconscious grunt. “But I don’t think these two would have been any good for leads anyways.”

“An’ why of all times did’ja choose just before our execution to help out?” South snapped at her, stomping the ground. “Did’ja want us to get killed?”

South was hunched over, seething like a bull ready to charge. Firestorm was confused at her outburst, and stepped back from the volatile mare. “Of course not!” she defended. “If I wanted you to get hurt I would have left to follow Razor. But I didn’t, now did I?”

South’s rage faltered only slightly. She straightened her posture, and directed her anger on something else with a loud snort, trotting over to the desk with our guns in it. Firestorm eyed her cautiously, until she was out of easy striking distance and looked back at me. “I don’t suppose you heard anything useful that might lead to something?”

She already knew who Razor was, but if that alone wasn’t something useful to her, she wouldn’t be here. Then I remembered that there was still an unknown party in all of this. “Actually, there is something.”

I activated my omni-tool, and played the two recordings from Razor’s mysterious employer. Firestorm listened intently, her eyes widening in realization. “I know that voice.” she said, scowling. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier.” Firestorm facehoofed angrily and turned towards the exit. “When I get my hooves on that slimy snake...” Her voice trailed off slowly. She stopped at the exit, and turned back to us.

“Are you two coming?”

“Coming where?” I asked, moving towards the door.

Firestorm opened her mouth to speak, but South returned to my side, and halted me. “Now just wait a minnit here.” she said harshly. “Who said anythin’ about us goin’ anywhere together?”

Firestorm raised an eyebrow. “I have as much stake in bringing Artemis down as you do. It makes more sense for us to work together.”

“A’n why is that?” South berated. “Whut business is it of yours to take down Artemis when it was our colony that he attacked?”

Firestorm didn’t respond immediately. She stared questioningly at South for a long time before she swung around and cantered out the door. “Because I’m C-Sec, and somepony has to,” she called out to us.

I followed her right away, out of the dank warehouse and back into the gloomy narrows of the Warrens. She trotted with a determined vigor, knowing exactly where she needed to be. I heard more trotting behind me, seeing that South had decided to follow us despite our new pegasus companion. She had a steely look on her face, and was keeping a cautious eye on Firestorm. I ran up beside her, only barely struggling to keep up with her pace.

“So,” I breathed. “Who was that on the recording? You clearly know who it was.”

She looked at me, remarking my curiosity. “Somepony I should have dealt with a long time ago. A little slime ball by the name of Mustang.”

She halted at a corner, and peered around it cautiously. South managed to catch up, choosing to remain quiet.

“Where does he normally hang out?”

“At his club,” she answered slowly. She peeked her head out of the alley and looked around. Satisfied with the surroundings, she edged out and continued down the alley, beckoning us to follow. “We’re going back to the Den.”

Our return to the upper sections of the Warrens was tedious, our time spent ducking in and out of shadowy alleyways and unpopulated areas. Firestorm insisted that we take measures in not being seen by Mustang’s scouts, so we could catch him off guard. She surmised that he had me and South led away from his hideout to deny any involvement in Artemis’s scheme, and he may be foolish enough to remain there unaware. I was thankful for her intuitive plan, because so far today we had come very close to ruining our only chance at stopping Artemis, and I doubted we would get another.

The sneaking was easy for me, from my youthful experiences. I kept up with Firestorm at an adept pace, only stopping periodically to ensure an area was safe for South to pass through unnoticed. We had a long way to travel, and I took the time to ask a few questions of our pegasus friend.

“What were you doing before you started following us?”

We came to a wide stretch of vacant pathways, not a single pony in sight. The level of quiet of the nearby area was unnerving considering what time it was. Firestorm was not disturbed by it at all, only slowing her pace slightly as she continued ahead.

“That pony you were talking to. The drunk. Do you know him?” she asked.

I shook my head.

“I do. He is, was, a C-Sec officer until recently. Too many shady dealings with unsavory types. I always suspected he knew too much about the gang involvement down here, and now I know why.”

We rounded another corner, and I started noticing familiar surroundings. I estimated we were only a few more minutes from our destination, and Firestorm seemed intent on getting us there even sooner. The pathways had returned to their dull steel coloring, and the streets were starting to fill with semblances of activity and life again. Crowds filled the market sections in front of us, milling about their business blissfully. Firestorm finally took a moment to relax, and leaned casually against the edge of the wall, casting glances between the crowds on the path and me.

“We knew him in C-Sec as Aces, though I never believed that was his real name.”

Her eyes arched angrily, before looking away. “I never trusted him, but he managed to do his job right, at first.”

“What did he do to get kicked out of C-Sec?” I asked.

My question seemed to go unanswered as she stood straight and slipped out into the gathering crowd, with us following closely behind. “He worked down here a lot, working around the gangs mostly.”

The gaggle of ponies we trudged through seemed to gravitate away from Firestorm, as she cut a path through for us to follow. Despite the tension I felt from the ponies that lived down here, most of them were respectful of the presence of a C-Sec officer among them. Either that, or none of them wanted to run afoul of her and get into trouble. Whatever the reason for the berth they gave us, it kept us hidden from any of Mustangs goons watching out for us, and still maintain a decent pace.

“The problem is,” she continued. “Is that when you work around these ponies too long, they start to get to you. The things they do, the crap they get away with. You become inured to it. Then, you start to become it.”

“Aces fell into their type of crowd. Started hanging around the clubs the gangs owned after work for fun. And in exchange for not getting the air beat out of him, he sold us out.” The rising anger in her voice was growing steadily volatile, even to the point that passers by were noticing her dipping mood and widening the space between us and them.

“Eventually we busted him on it, but not before draining him of any information that would get him out of trouble. We took quite a few gangs out because of his spineless need for self preservation.”

We came to another corner, a very familiar corner. The large ascending staircase that South and I had used to enter the Warrens was directly in front of us. Razor and his goons had led us past this on our way to his hideout, so the Den was only one street away. The crowds around us stymied, splitting off noticeably in droves that sought to leave the Warrens out into the Promenade, and those who remained in the scattered markets. Firestorm halted in the midst of the flows of ponies, looking very carefully in our intended direction as she had been since we left the lower levels.

I looked to South. She had been unusually quiet the entire journey. I had at first thought it because of the presence of our pegasus companion that held her tongue, until I saw her eyes. They way she looked at Firestorm suggested she was listening very intently to her story. They both burned with vengeful intensity as the tale of Aces the traitor was told. I don’t know how, if at all, South’s attitude towards Pegasi was changing, but I knew that Firestorm had hit on something that the Soldier found an equal level of distaste for.

“So why is somepony like that allowed t’ walk around free?”

Firestorm looked at her, noting her previous silence and sudden addition to the conversation with quiet perplexity. “Because even spineless ponies have their uses. You would be surprised how much Aces will spill on his ‘friends’ to stay out of trouble. I don’t know how he does it, but somehow he keeps himself in the loop with them.”

“Hmph,” South grunted. “Seems to me it’d be easier jus’ t’ shoot him.”

Firestorm chuckled at that comment. “You have no idea how hard it is to not shoot him. He knows he’s valuable to us, and takes a great deal of pleasure in reminding us of it.”

The Pegasus took point again, pushing her way through the crowd. South actually went ahead of me, keeping closer to the Pegasus than I thought her capable. The civilians thinned considerably as we neared the final bend, and turned into the final alley. The road beyond was empty, not a pony in sight, armed or otherwise. My companions eyes narrowed at the uneasiness of the scene before us.

Firestorm stepped forwards first, readying her shoulder-mounted weapon with a shrug. “But enough about Aces,” she said casually. “There’s another scumbag I’m just dying to introduce you to.”

She said it smiling.

The Den appeared closed, due to the fact that the large neon sign above the door was no longer lit. The bouncer from earlier was not present, and the booming music from inside was silent. Somehow, I had ended in the front of the group, as Firestorm and South trotted cautiously up behind me, checking for trouble.

“Something must have spooked Mustang”, Firestorm groused. “This place is never closed.”

“Then maybe we should hurry,” I said, lurching forward into the open doorway. “He might be gone alrea-”

I had almost rounded the first corner into the club, before I ran into something large and furry. I backed up from the expanse of hair in front of me, and craned my head up to see what on earth it was.

My voice died in my throat as I looked up at what I had bumped into. At first I thought it was the absurdly tall pony bouncer, but in reality it was something far more terrifying. I knew exactly what I was looking at, but even seeing it in the flesh could not have prepared me for it. It stood at least twice my height, and towered over me with a gruff, humorless expression. It worked its fanged jaw behind closed lips as it no doubt contemplated ending my existence, its barbed tail flitted back and forth in anticipation. It stepped towards me with an enormous paw that was covered, along with its entire body, in thick crimson armor plating. It arched downwards, bringing its feline eyes level with mine, giving his bat-like wings a predatory flair.

“Club’s closed. Come back tomorrow.” Its voice was low, guttural, feral.

I backed away from the leonine terror standing over me, only to bump into Firestorm. I saw her focused glare boring into the walking obstruction in our path. South shared the expression, but her muzzle curled up in a expectant smile of glee. These two actually wanted to fight this thing, and I wanted to run away like a foal with my tail between my legs. I thought over the insanity of my friends, knowing full well that it was probably going to get me killed. I would stand no chance against this thing, but my friends were more than capable. Maybe I should just play along then?

“We’re here to see your boss.” I said, mustering whatever authority I could.

The brute’s expression did not change. “He ain’t here.”

I forced a smug grin, trying to choose my next words carefully. “Look pal, you’d best let us through.”

He actually smiled at that. “Or. You’ll. What?”

“Well,” I began dismissively, looking back to my friends. “There isn’t much I can do.” I stepped to the side to shift his attention to my companions. “But you see my two friends here with the really big guns? They haven’t been having the greatest day, and I wouldn’t doubt that they are looking to cause some trouble to relax.”

Firestorm and South both looked confused at what I was leading to, but it didn’t take long for them to realise my intentions, and continued to glare at the bouncer in force. He was silent for a moment, I assumed he was a tad slow at understanding, until he started laughing. He chuckled dopely before looking back at me.

“Heh heh, that was a good one. I always wondered if Earth Ponies had spines, now its a shame I have to break them.”

He stepped towards us, his eyes sparked with harmful intent. “Now which one of you pretty ponies wants to go first? I promise to make it qui-”

WHAM!

If I had blinked, I would have barely see the lightning fast buck of Firestorm connect with the giant’s face. He recoiled in pain, howling in anger before he righted himself on all fours, readying to charge. Firestorm wobbled forward, unbalanced by the hardness of his skull. His eye was beginning to bruise, and blood trickled down his greasy mane, but that did not detract from the sheer hatred in his face. “Why you little runt, I’ll tear you in half!”

He bolted, charging straight for Firestorm. She had not fully recovered from her attack, and was frozen at the sight of the crimson clad behemoth charging at her. She attempted to turn around, or even take off, but her movements were too slow to react in time, any second the beast was going to-

WHAM!!!

The lumbering oaf shrugged to the left by at least five feet, colliding with a disposal bin. He crashed in a terrible slump, but remained on the ground, unmoving. After watching something three times larger that I get swatted like a bug, I turned to the source of its defeat. South dropped her rear legs with practiced grace, as if she had done that on a daily basis. She turned to us and smirked at me. “Well that wuz fun.”

Firestorm was still bug eyed at the mountain that had charged at us and was now crumpled in a heap with the rest of the garbage. She shook her head and readied her gun, looking into the entrance of the bar. There was no noise to indicate that there was anypony inside, but I doubt we would have come this far just to fall into another trap. South on the other hoof, moved over to me, joining my observation of our recently defeated enemy.

“Well Shepard, Ah didn’t take you for the kind a pony that’d stare down a Manticore, an’ live t’ talk about it.”

“Yea well,” I said, my heart rate finally starting to catch up with me. “I’m full of surprises.”

“Guys,” Firestorm called out. “We should hurry before Mustang disappears.”

South nodded at her, and readied her gun. They both went ahead, while I moved slowly to join them. I was starting to notice a frightening pattern in the events I had found myself in. I was coming frighteningly close to death too much lately, and I wondered how much it was going to happen before I just passed out from all the stress. The sound of gunfire from inside brought me to my senses, and I charged in after my friends, adding another notch to the tally.

The club was very different from what I remembered. The dismal lighting of the red neon showed a disheveled scene of overturned tables, seats and boxes. Weapon scorch marks were being quickly added the the dull steel walls, and the bodies of armed thugs were slowly piling up between the exchange of them and my friends. Firestorm had taken cover behind a metal table, and ducked in and out to fire at her attackers. South, not surprisingly, decided to take cover from behind the bar, muttering curses every time a stray shot punctured a glass bottle behind her. Whether she was angry at the broken shards of glass cascading on her head, or the rampant waste of alcohol, I would have to find out later.

A shot or two whizzed past in my direction, and I dove for the nearest available cover. I pressed myself against a stack of boxes, casting quick glances into the firefight to see who was left to remove from our path. South had just taken out what appeared to be the fifth of the seven that was defending this room, and Firestorm was diving from cover to cover to get closer. The remaining two thugs that I could see did not appear aware of where I was. The stood behind a second bar enclosure on the far side of the room, adjacent to a set of doors that led into what I assumed to be a private office.

I readied my gun, and peeked once more out at the thugs, still oblivious to my presence. I decided to use that to my advantage, edging carefully out of cover, and fired. My shot went wide, striking some of the many shelves of alcohol behind them, missing spectacularly, and drawing their attention to me. They fired at me, prompting me to move back into cover, taking a few glancing hits to my shield. I heard one of them laughing.

“Heh, with aim like that, you couldn’t hit the broad side of a buffalo!”

Of course they would take the time to mock my shooting in the middle of a fire fight. I scowled at their comments, and peered around the edge to attempt a second time. South had taking a few shots of opportunity after my attempt, but did not succeed. I noticed something odd about the impacts of my shots, mostly on how the shelves now appeared to be wobbling. An idea formed in my head, and as crazy as it was, it involved more shooting. I fired again, aiming at the same place as before. I did not even wait to see what their retaliation was, but I heard more chuckling. “You just don’t learn do ya? Maybe I should teach you a less-”

The voice was drowned out by a loud creaking noise, then a cacophonous crash of cascading glass filled the air. My stray shots, as predicted, had damaged the supports holding the six or so shelves filled with large thick bottles, that rained painfully on the heads of thugs underneath. They shouted in pain as the heavy glass pounded and broke overtop of them, one of them actually jumping out of cover and directly into a well placed shot from Firestorm. He slumped over dead in a heap, while the tumbling shelves eventually quieted. South jumped from her cover, and approached the opposing bar, gun drawn. She peered over the edge, chuckling at what she saw.

“He’s out cold.”

I joined in looking over the bar, seeing the results of my plan. As described, the remaining thug was indeed unconscious, a few prominent bumps forming on his head as a result of one of the many bottles surrounding him on the ground. It was strange how peaceful the scene looked, before shouting from the adjacent room caught our attention. “What do I pay you idiots for?!” The voice was the same from the recordings back at the warehouse. Mustang was here!

A small object rolled across the floor out of the doorway. I looked at it curiously as it came to a stop just in front of me. It was a small cylinder, that began spinning wildly on the ground and spewing dark smoke. I heard Firestorm grunt as she took to the air, and beat her wings furiously to blow the obscuring gas away.

“It’s going to take more than a smoke grenade to stop me, Mustang!” she shouted.

Satisfied that the smoke was cleared enough, the zealous pegasus landed, and charged into the room ahead of us. The dissipating smoke lingered around the doorway, which gave an ominous feeling to it. South was unaffected as she trotted through after Firestorm and I reluctantly went after her. The sound of laser fire signaled me to move faster. I broke into a gallop down the narrow hallway, passing South in my haste.

The office was small and cramped, with a small desk sitting at the head of a small staircase. A short wall flanked both sides of the stairs, which Firestorm had decided to hide behind. Her face was contorted in pain and she was clutching her sides tightly. Her dark blue armor was tainted by a crimson red that was oozing from a singed hole in her armor. She saw me enter the room, a worried expression on her face. “Get down!”

I looked up, confused. Behind the desk, I saw a tuft of silvery hair sticking out from the other side. Beside the desk, on both sides, were two ugly identical art pieces. They looked like rounded pieces of metal with narrow snouted barrels. Barrels that were smoking...

Oh.

I fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding a bolt of energy impaling through my shield and armor like it had done with Firestorm. I crawled towards her, and pressed myself against the wall beside her. South peeked in through the doorway, and saw us huddled on the ground. I motioned for her to stay down, which she nodded in compliance. She crouched low, and rolled deftly across the room to the opposite wall, and held her gun high, ready to engage. I peeked out at the turrets, that returned to their idle positions. A faint blue aura hummed quietly around them, pulsing every few seconds.

“It’s a shame you came all this way to die, Firestorm!” Mustang called out. “Artemis will get what he wants.”

“What happened with the King, Mustang?” the pegasus replied smugly. “Was he not paying you enough?”

Mustang did not respond immediately. I heard a pompous cackle from where he was hiding. “It’s just business, Firestorm. Just like this!”

He punctuated his statement with another volley from his turrets. I could smell the melting metal from the other side of the wall, and I could feel the heat from the steel I was pressed against. A few more shots like that and they would pierce clean through. It was as good a time as any for another ridiculous idea. South decided to fire blindly around the corner while the turrets focused on me and Firestorm. Some of her shots hit the turrets, but bounced harmlessly off their shields. She grunted angrily at the ineffectiveness of her weapon, and looked to me for ideas.

“Shepard.” Firestorm grunted. She placed something into my hooves. I was a cartridge that glowed an electric blue. “Toss this to your friend, she’ll know what to do with it.”

With confusion, I complied, sliding the object over the floor to South. She scooped it up, and examined it for a moment. I saw her eyes widen, as a grin formed on her face. She lifted her weapon and popped something out of the magazine, replacing it with the strange blue cartridge. Satisfied with what she had done, she leaned her gun out for another attempt. The projectiles sprayed across the room, most of them not hitting anything in particular. I noticed something odd about them, what once used to fly through the air a crimson red, they were now a steely blue and sliced through the shielding of Mustangs turrets like butter.

The blue aura around the turrets fizzled and snapped, and their incessant humming finally stopped. Unfortunately, the bullets only ricocheted harmlessly off the metal shells. South cursed as the turrets responded in kind with a volley of laser fire in her direction. I peeked out as the commotion subsided, Hearing another laugh from behind the desk. “It’s gonna take more than disruption rounds to take these out Storm!”

Disruption rounds? Now those were something I could work with. It’s amazing how much damage a round charged with electromagnetism can do on an electrical level, say for instance take out a stubborn shield, or better yet, take down whatever hacking protection it may have had. I activated my omni-tool and looked for exactly the opening I needed. I caught Firestorm looking at what I was doing. I didn’t figure her for the tech type, but she seemed to smile slightly at what I was doing. I wasn’t confident in many of my physical skills, but if nothing else, I could do this with an air of confidence.

Confident enough, actually, to step out into the open, gun holstered. I saw Mustang peek his head out over the desk, and even he was confused. I heard South yell at me to get down, but I ignored her, staring our opponent square in the eyes. He lifted his head up, high enough for me to see the smile of indifference on his face. “Just one less mook to deal with,” he chortled. The turrets swiveled around towards me, but I kept staring at him. “Any last words before these babies turn you into dust?”

I smiled. “Yeah. Duck.”

I waved my hoof, and my tool beeped obediently. The turrets that were once pointed at me spun around, and fired just inches above Mustangs head, even singing a few hairs on his shimmering mane. It took him a few moments to realise exactly what happened, before he raised both his hooves shakily above his head. I stepped back, and turned to South. “Deal with him while I help Firestorm.”

South nodded and trotted over to Mustang, hearing a few more bucks and punches than I had I wanted, but whatever. At least he was being ‘dealt with’. What mattered more to me was tending to my wounded friend. Firestorm was still, but alert and responsive. The bleeding seemed to have slowed, probably more to the cauterizing effect of the laser that grazed her than anything else. “Are you going to be ok?” I asked concernedly.

She swayed to stand upright, leaning on me for support. She winced in pain as she continued to hold her side.

“Nothing a little Medi-Gel won’t fix.” She trotted up the stairs slowly, and ignoring the scene between South and Mustang, went straight for the metal safe in the wall behind the desk. She laughed as it opened at her touch and even more at the sight at what was inside. She reached inside and turned around, placing a capsule of blue liquid into her omni-tool.

“Only you would be arrogant enough to leave your safe unlocked Mustang,” she mocked. Her tool glowed a bright blue, and I saw the tension in her face fade as the pain of her wound melted away.

South had just finished hog tying Mustang with a rope of unknown origins and I decided just to leave it at that. Firestorm walked around the desk towards him, and grabbed him by the mane, forcing his head to look squarely at her. Ignoring the grunts of pain, she began her questioning. “Now. Not that I don’t appreciate relieving you of your precious supplies, you know that I’m here for something else.” She dropped his head, which hit the floor with a painful thud. “Start talking Mustang.”

Mustang growled quietly, avoiding eye contact with all of us. Firestorm let out a unimpressed sigh. “Maybe I should give your old boss a call, let him know what hole you’ve crawled into. I bet he’d just love to give a house call, not that he doesn’t already know where you are.” She trotted over the the computer terminal on the desk, and poked absently at a few buttons. “But maybe if we let it slip to him that you are gift wrapped, he might take some enjoyment from that.”

Mustang grunted again, and Firestorm seemed irritated that her pressing wasn’t working. “What did Artemis pay you to defy him?”

“Enough.”

Firestorm was not amused. I saw a flicker in her eyes, and even her mane seemed to spark slightly with fiery anger. She began typing on the computer, loudly dictating her words. “Dear Shadow King, today I learned-”

“Wait!”

The pegasus stopped, turning to the begging Earth Pony with a frightening grin. She knelt down and yanked on his head again, bringing Mustangs eyes to hers. “Where’s Razor? What’s this ‘loose end’ you got him dealing with?”

Mustang’s face contorted between anger and submission, as he pressed uselessly against his bonds. He appeared to be torn on whether or not to tell Firestorm what she wanted, and whether or not he would still be alive if he did. His head drooped in defeat, releasing a long tired sigh. “East market maintenance tunnels. Thats all you get.”

Firestorm did not seem immediately satisfied with that answer and went in for another blow. “You better hurry,” Mustang said amusedly. “I don’t think Razor will be much longer with her either.”

Her? The other loose end was another witness? The fiery pegasus’s ears flared in alarm and dropped Mustang again onto his face. She whirled around and started out of the room without another word. I followed behind her, and South dawdled for just a moment, as Mustang yelled at her. “You aren’t just going to leave me tied up are you?”

South looked at him with a blank expression, working her jaw in bored contemplation. “Eeyup.” She turned to follow me out of the office, while Mustang started to shout obscenities at us. His ranting dulled to nothing as we walked out of the hall into the destroyed club. Nothing had changed as Firestorm stepped carefully over the bodies of the slain thugs, beelining towards the exit. South and I hurried through in her hoofsteps and made it out of the club with no more surprises. Our pegasus friend was waiting for us outside, observing the still unconscious manticore lying in the dumpsters.

“The maintenance tunnels are this way,” she said hurriedly. She cantered off, and both South and I chased after her. I managed to catch up to her, and South moved ahead of me. A question nagged at me since the confrontation with Mustang, and since we were most likely heading to another gunfight, now seemed the best chance to ask. “Firestorm, who’s the Shadow King?”

She did not look at me, focusing on where she was running. “The last thing in the galaxy you want to piss off.”

We slipped into the secluded tunnels behind the markets in what could have been a record time, based on the pain in my lungs flaring in protest at the punishment I was forcing on them. South and Firestorm were in considerably better condition as they surveyed the sharp narrow corners of the red lit corridors we found ourselves in. The sounds of moving machinery and smell of burning materials filled the air, evoking a sense of nostalgia from my past work in fixing military vehicles as training.

Firestorm led the way as usual, while South and I followed carefully behind her. I thought a few times of what exactly Razor would be doing to tie up a loose end down here of all places, but nothing apparent came to mind. He was a thug, that was obvious and this seemed like the perfect place to do his less than legal business. The deeper we went into the darkened passage, the more I wondered how many ponies were unfairly killed or disposed of down in this forsaken pit.

Firestorm signaled us to stop at a corner and peered around it cautiously. South moved in beside her and knelt down quietly, gun ready. Firestorm shook her head, and whispered something I couldn’t hear. I saw South roll her eyes, and lowered her weapon, muttering something equally unintelligible. I made it to the corner myself, and looked around to see what the fuss was about. A set of stairs descended into a wider section of the hallway, with large boxes and containers littering the area. A lone pony stood in the open, a long hooded cloak covering their body.

The pony appeared to be waiting, I think, with the way it paced back and forth, and glanced around at the slightest noise. I don’t think it knew we were here, even though it had looked in our direction several times. “Where are they,” she snapped to nopony in particular. Her voice was sophisticated, almost regal despite her impatience. Hoofsteps caught our attention, as well as hers, coming from all directions, and she turned around wildly at the sight of encroaching shadows.

Five new ponies surrounded her, all equally large and scary looking, each brandishing a large weapon. A sixth pony, a pegasus, swooped in from above, landing deftly beside the lone mare. The light was dim, but I could still tell who it was from his shape. Razor. The cloaked pony backed away slightly, but Razor maintained a close proximity to her. “So, do you have what we want? Or is this going to get messy?”

“I wished to speak to the Shadow King directly, and you are definitely not him.” the mare replied flippantly.

I could barely make out the sinister smile on Razors face, as he got even closer to the defiant mare. “You don’t seem to understand that nopony meets the King. Nopony, not even someone as respected as you.” Razor lifted a hoof and stroked the side of the mares face, which she swiftly batted away.

“Then this deal is off, and I will see someone more respected, perhaps the Council if the King is not interested.” She turned away from Razor, but one of his goons barred her way. The ponies surrounding her aimed their weapons at her, and she glanced at them panickedly.

Razor laughed. “That’s not going to happen either.” He stared at the mare, who simply stared back. “Messy way it is then.”

Firestorm bolted around the corner, as did South, guns drawn. I stumbled after them, still watching the gun toting lunatics about to execute an innocent bystander. They did not notice us until we got to the bottom of the stairs, but by then it was too late. Each of them loosed a volley of shots towards the lone mare, and I felt a wrenching feeling in my gut at the fact that I was too late again. My despair faded, however, when I noticed that the shrouded mare was still standing, surrounded by a field of latent energy. The heated metal slugs of the fired weapons hovered harmlessly in the air around her, as static bounded in between them. The cloak of the mare whipped and waved in coalescing energy, as a rising hum filled the air.

Razor and his goons backed up slowly at the show of power in front of them, but they were not fast enough to evade the following explosion of light. A great shock wave flowed from the mare, engulfing and knocking back all within its radius. Even Firestorm and South were shoved aside at the wave of energy, which dissipated as it passed through me as well. As far as the first telekinetic shockwaves i’d been hit with in my life, it was pleasantly warm.

I landed on my back, par for the course really. I could hear a chorus of groaning and other pained sounds echo from the room I had been ejected from. I squirmed to my hooves, and moved back to the vantage point to see what exactly had happened. Razor, as well as his goons, were thrown violently against the surrounding walls. Razor also seemed to be the only one who was still conscious, as he moved with slug like vigor to return to his senses. South and Firestorm had been bounced into each other, and were awkwardly disentangling themselves, the soldier mare muttering a few curses, while the pegasus tried in vain to protect her wings from being stepped on.

And at the center of all of it, the lone mare who had caused everything had been completely unaffected. She was still standing, surrounded by the still forms of her former attackers, and surveyed the results of her labour. She eventually noticed us on the stairs, and moved cautiously towards us. I trotted past my companions, who were nearly done relearning how to stand and stopped in front of the strange mare.

She stopped in kind, and bowed her head respectfully, lowering her hood as she did so. I was not surprised that the mare was of course, a Unicorn. She was sapphire blue, and her long flowing mane sparkled with gemstones and other precious metals. Underneath her cloak, I could see that she was very well dressed and did not belong down here at all. She looked at me curiously, then looked at my companions behind me.

“You are not with these ruffians, are you?” she asked.

I shook my head. “No, we aren’t. I’d like to say we were coming to rescue you, but...” I looked again at the supine bodies of the unconscious guards, and Razor had made no progress in standing up, collapsing to the ground. “It doesn’t look like you need it.”

She giggled daintily, when I saw Firestorm finally grace us with her presence. She has a look of shock on her face, as she looked critically at the mare standing in front of her. “Countess, what are you doing down here?”

She smiled. “Getting myself into trouble I suppose. Thank you for attempting to help, but I am quite alright I assure you.”

“Countess?” I asked, confused. “Are you some sort of noble?”

Both she and Firestorm laughed. “Oh my no, my dear. I am more of a, how do I put this...a purveyor of certain fantasies that may otherwise be unattainable through mundane means.” She fluttered her eyes at me, and stared with a sultry gaze. Oh. I blushed a little, and Firestorm continued her questions.

“I mean, why would Razor be after you? Do you know something about Artemis?”

She nodded somberly. “Yes, in fact I do.” Her horned glowed as she telekinetically tugged on a portion of her mane, and removed a clasp from it. It was a small ruby signet, which she held in front of her longingly. “A dear friend of mine has fallen into trouble with that pegasus. We used to speak to each other daily, but I hadn’t heard from her in weeks. Until recently that is.”

She returned the clasp to its place in her mane, then lifted her hoof, showing us her omni-tool. She removed a storage device from it, and placed it Firestorms hoof. The pegasus looked at it questioningly, while the Countess continued her tale. “This was sent to me a few days ago, from her. She said that I had to show it to somepony who could help, but then Artemis had sent his ponies after my before I could come to C-Sec.”

She trotted over the Razor, who had finally slipped into unconsciousness. “Then this ruffian claims the Shadow King can protect me. How foalish I was to believe him.”

Firestorm scoffed. “It seems Artemis has paid off every lowlife down in the Warrens, even enough to defy the Shadow King. Whatever your friend gave you Countess, Artemis wants it destroyed.”

She came back towards us. “Then it makes all the sense in the galaxy for me to give it to you. I am certain you would put it to far greater use than I could.”

“Who is your friend, Countess? Perhaps we could find her and keep her safe.”

She shook her head solemnly. “I cannot tell you. She will already be in worlds of trouble in giving this to me, and I would only seal her fate further if I let it slip even here that it was her that betrayed Artemis. If you do pursue him, you will find her soon enough. All I ask is that you do what you can for her.”

She trotted past us, and up the way we had come in. “Are you going to be alright alone, Countess?”

She smiled back at Firestorm. “I’ll be fine dear. As your friend said, I can look after myself.”

She vanished around the corner, leaving us alone with the group of unconscious thugs and goons. Firestorm was mystified at the confusing nature of the Countess. So was I, but that was besides the point. Only South seemed to be unbothered by the unicorns guileful nature. “Well she was nice ‘nuff. Whut do you suppose is on that data drive then?

Our attention fell on the small device in Firestorm’s hoof. “Hopefully something good.” She handed it to me, and I examined it carefully. It was an audio file, which I played immediately. Two voices played in tandem, neither of which I recognised. One was male and the other female, and the latter appeared to be subservient to the former. Firestorm’s eyes widened as the recording played, a victorious smile plastered on her face.

“The Council is going to love this.”

Wing-Guard: Paragon Points Earned

Codex Entry Added: The Warrens

Codex Entry Added: The Shadow King

Codex Entry Added: The Countess

Chapter 6: Hammerfall

Chapter 6: Hammerfall

“You’re not understanding me! I want you to confess!”

What was the reason we were going to all this trouble in the first place? What happened to Equestria Prime was a travesty and we all had reasons to believe that Artemis was the one to blame. But now we had proof, undeniable proof that he was the one behind it all, and it was because of that discovery that we all felt a surge of victory in bringing Artemis down. But was it solely justice that drove us? Why not just for the sake of the galaxy as a whole, by stopping a potentially dangerous pony from doing who knows what? I knew why I wanted to bring him down, because it was just the right thing to do. But the reasons my new companions were so vindictive towards him still eluded me and as we galloped full speed back to the Promenade, my chances to ask would have to wait until much later.

We left the Warrens as quickly as we possibly could, taking little time to deal with the remnants of our involvement. The damage to the Den and the warehouses, as well as the squadron of thugs laying in an unconscious heap that we had left behind was just the tip of the chaos we caused in the Warrens. We had what we went there for, so the cleanup would just have to wait until after all was said and done. I was relieved to be back in the Promenade. The dreariness of the Warrens was starting to wear on me, and was reminding me far too much of life back on Earth. Even the running did not bother me, our discovery giving me enough vigor to power on with my friends towards the embassies, hoping that the Captain and the Ambassador were still there.

The embassies were quiet on our arrival, only a few noticeable ponies wandering about during the mid day. At the reception desk, I saw Aqualia assisting a few random dignitaries, and I waved to her as we cantered past. She was surprised at our haste, and watched us go past towards to the door to the inner offices. When it was obvious that we weren’t going to be stopping in line, she began waving frantically at us.

“W-wait,” she shouted. “You can’t!”

“Sorry Aqualia, no time!” I shouted back. “We need to see the Ambassador right away!”

Her shouts faded away as we rushed through the door and towards the offices. Firestorm was in the lead, and made it through the door first, and South and I came in just behind. We nearly ran into the pegasus when we noticed she had come to a full stop just inside the doorway. We skidded to a halt, and before South could start berating the C-Sec officer, we both realised why she had stopped so suddenly.

The office was empty. There was no sign of either the Captain or the Ambassador. Had they returned at all from their inquiries at C-Sec? Or had Artemis stooped even lower than we thought?

“They left for the hearing ten minutes ago,” a gentle voice from behind replied.

We turned to see Aqualia standing behind us, looking a little dismayed. “They couldn’t wait any longer for you, so they left without you. The Ambassador was not pleased.”

“Damnit!” Firestorm cursed. “The hearing will start any minute now! We have to get this data file to them!”

“Well,” South deadpanned. “Ah’m open to ideas.”

“If you ran to the Corral Tower, you wouldn’t be terribly late.” Aqualia suggested meekly.

“That’s all Artemis will need to throw us under the bridge. We have to get there faster,” Firestorm snarked.

She paced around angrily, not looking at any of us. Aqualia fidgeted nervously, but remained despite her duties being unattended. Firestorm trotted out to the veranda, and peered down the pathway, tapping her hoof impatiently. South and I joined her on the balcony, and even Aqualia entered the room tentatively. Firestorm looked at me, eyeing me up and down.

“Are you afraid of heights, Shepard?”

“Uh..” I blurted, confused at the out of place question. “No?”

Firestorm shrugged, a faint smile forming on her muzzle. “I guess there’s no way around it.”

“Around what?” I asked, my confusion growing to the point of frustration. “What are you talking abou- WHOA!”

Without warning, I felt my hooves leave the solid ground beneath me. In the blink of an eye, Firestorm had lifted off, and scooped me up with her forelegs. She hovered a moment, turning to South and Aqualia, who stared at us in shock and confusion. “Aqualia, could you please give South directions to the Tower? I’ll take Shepard ahead and hopefully get there in time.”

The Sea-Pony nodded silently, and even South was at a complete loss of words. With no further delays, Firestorm turned towards the open air with me in tow, and rocketed off with a mighty beat of her wings. I really wasn’t afraid of heights, but soaring at this speed was still hair-raising. Firestorm bobbed side to side, maintaining a rapid pace as she deftly flew through the open air with me in her hooves. I wondered how silly I must have looked hanging under the speeding Pegasus, but I doubted anypony would be able to see us at this height.

I looked up to the pony cradling me. It was difficult to see her entire face from below her, but I could see a glint of her eyes, and the fierce determination that burned within. She beat her wings furiously, still gaining speed as the ground below rushed past in a blurry haze. She wasn’t even breathing hard at the effort, or at the strain of carrying me or that heavy armor that she wore. Firestorm was, like what I expected of other pegasi, bred for combat in skill, stamina, and speed. I was glad I could count on her as an ally, at least until this business with Artemis was dealt with, and hopefully along the way I could uncover why she was so intent on bringing him down.

The Promenade was rather peaceful to observe from the grasp of a speeding pegasus, as odd as that sounds. While the inhabitants below were nothing more than tiny specs, the sheer number of them did little to soften the reality of how big the Corral really was. Corrina had told me that millions of creatures lived here, and I could not help but feel that there was room for millions more. It must have taken decades, if not centuries for the Alicorns to build this place, and it only made the truth sadder that a race that could build such a wonderful place vanished without a trace.

Firestorm banked wide, aiming towards a looming spire in the distance. The tunnel shaped pathway around us seemed to bend upwards with the strange shaped tower we were racing towards. I glanced around, noticing that much of the ceiling was changing from ivory white metal to crystal clear glass. Looking through, I could see the enormous inner ring of the Corral, and a large protrusion extending from it towards the epicenter of the entire station. While it was not very large in comparison, it was clear to me that the spire that I was looking at was the true heart of the Corral, literally and figuratively; the Corral Council Tower.

Firestorm slowed her pace, swooping upwards into a steady climb. Flying upwards with baggage seemed much more difficult for her, as her wings beat at a far steadier pace. The deafening wind subsided, and I could hear a tinge of labored breathing. I looked at the spire in front of us. It was a series of glass elevators that climbed the entire length of the massive construction. Looking up, I noticed that the tower itself had to be no less than two kilometers high, and I wondered if Firestorm would be able to make the distance with me dangling underneath her.

We climbed slowly but surely, making good distance with each passing minute. We were not yet late for the hearing, but glancing at my omni-tool showed me that we would not have many seconds to spare. Firestorm grunted slightly as she repositioned her grip on me, a pang of panic raced through my heart at the sensation. “Sorry about that.” she apologised. You’re heavier than you look.” I frowned at her comment, crossing my hooves, realising that it was a pointless gesture since she couldn’t see them.

“So..” she continued. “Your friend South seems a bit high strung. What’s her deal?”

I tried shrugging, but I don’t think it accomplished much. “She doesn’t trust pegasi for some reason.” I said plainly. “She hasn’t told me why either, so I don’t know what to tell you.”

She was quiet for a while. “I see...”

She went into quiet contemplation as we continued to climb up the tower. I estimated we had covered half the distance, and Firestorm did not seem any more fatigued than earlier, and looked like she could make it all the way to the top without any trouble. I was relieved at that at least, and felt comfortable enough to ask a question or two of my own.

“So why are you so intent on bringing Artemis down?”

There was no immediate answer. Instead, I heard the rhythm of her wings beat faster, increasing the speed of the climb. She took in deeper breaths, and was moving faster than I thought possible under the circumstances. Her burst of speed was short lived, however, as she slowed again to her usual pace. We had made good distance in the meantime, but now I noticed a considerable level of exhaustion in my brash friend.

I heard her sigh. “I’ve been in C-Sec for a long time, and the one complaint I hear the most from my superiors is how much they distrust the Sleipnir. Complete autonomy, and completely untouchable. They hated the fact that the Sleipnir could, and often break the rules to get the job done.”

I remembered a few things that Nimbus told me of the Sleipnir, and some of the things I learned for myself. What Firestorm said was true, but it had to go deeper than that.

“But me? I didn’t hate them. I envied them. Too many ponies and the like get away with some disgusting things because the officers sworn to protect them wouldn’t do whatever it took to get the job done.”

I had no trouble believing that Firestorm was a pony that would do anything possible to ensure justice was served, even dangling a pony out a window by his mane and shooting up a club that could have had an innocent bystander in it. None of this even made her seem evil, just dangerous. It was her fiery determination that gave her the feeling a dependability. That she would get the job done, no matter the cost.

I could respect that, even though I probably wouldn’t do the same.

“It isn’t common that a Sleipnir takes it too far, but it happens. Artemis is just one of many that lose sight of what is ultimately right, and he’s been doing it long before he became a Sleipnir. He’s a ruthless monster, and there’s nothing I would like more than to be the one that helps bring him down.”

I lost myself in thought at what she was telling me, even to the point where I didn’t notice that we had cleared the crest of the tower and were now moving forward again. I heard Firestorm huff a few shallow breaths, as she glided slowly down to the terrace below, and dropped me carefully onto the ground. She landed with a modicom of grace, and hobbled a few times while she caught her breath. I looked around where we landed, and saw that we were in a garden of sorts. Large sections of space were fenced off. The sections of tilled earth behind the railings and walls of glass were filled with exotic plants. A set of stairs caught my eye, climbing up towards the center of the tower, where groups of well dressed ponies hung around listlessly.

Firestorm trotted beside me, having regained what little stamina she could. She had a hard look in her eyes, looking up the stairs towards our destination. “I don’t know what Artemis has done to change so drastically, but I’m tired of him making the Pegasi look bad, Sleipnir or not.”

I matched her stare, looking forward towards the tower’s apex. It seemed everypony had a lot riding on Artemis being brought down, not just Earth Ponies. We had allies elsewhere, and as much as tensions between our races were high, I was not going to let that stop me from doing what was right. I started moving towards the stairs, looking back to my newest friend with a smile. “Then let’s go stop him together.”

She gave me a fond smile, and nodded. She joined me as we climbed the stairs into the heart of the Corral Tower, and hopefully to the better part of a long and tiring day.

“Where have you been?”

I don’t think I had ever seen the Captain angry before, but the look on his face was undeniable as he caught sight of us approaching the final set of stairs into the Council chambers. He had been pacing for a long time before he noticed us, and shot Firestorm a strange look. Firestorm, showing respect, gave Quartermane a firm salute, but it did little to soften his confusion.

“Where is South, Shepard? Who is this?”

I looked at my companion, who just shook her head. I looked at the Captain, and thought of the best way to answer his questions, if at all.

“This is Firestorm, she was the C-Sec officer in charge of Artemis’s inquiry.”

The Captain did not seem all that impressed at my answer, and looked sternly at Firestorm. “Your commanding officer said you were unable to find anything useful. Why are you here?”

Firestorm didn’t even blink at the accusatory nature in which the Captain was berating her. “I had found something, but my captain refused to give me the time necessary to acquire it. Your subordinates were more than helpful in my investigation.”

“South is on her way, sir,” I added. “We had run out of time, so Firestorm flew me here in time for the trial. How late are we?”

Quartermane seemed a bit overwhelmed at all the facts that were were throwing at him. He looked at me curiously. “She...flew you here?”

I nodded. “We tried to meet you back at the embassies with what we had found, but you were already gone. It was the fastest way.”

He did not appear to have anything to say to that statement. He just continued staring at the pair of us, his eyes deep in thought. A bookish looking pegasus appeared at the crest of the stairs, clearing his throat to get our attention. The captain turned to the timid looking pony. “Um..Captain Quartermane,” he stammered. “The Ambassador has requested your presence in the hearing.”

The Captain shook his head. “Of course he did,” he sighed. He looked back to us, beckoning us to follow. We strode beside him as we all followed the clerk into the Council chamber. The captain continued his questions, but kept his voice quiet. “You say you found something?”

I nodded. “Yes, Sir. We did.”

He looked at me with intrigue. “Is it anything good?”

“Oh yeah,” Firestorm replied. “It’s good.”

“Well, let’s hope its enough then.”

We were led up a long set of stairs that opened into a large vaulted chamber. I heard murmured whispers floating in the air, coming from the large amount of onlookers from several balconies overlooking the center of the room. A loud and angry voice carried through the room, and I recognised its source as the Ambassador, who stood alone on a small ledge before a set of podiums across a pit of glass and vegetation.

We stopped unnoticed behind the Ambassador, as he finished his current tirade, and I was close enough now to make out the calmer rebuttals from the Council members themselves. The pegasus councilor, dressed in grey vestments spoke first.

“Ambassador, you speak as if your one witness is at all credible. A traumatized dockworker is hardly valid as evidence.”

The Ambassador stomped his hoof. “And I suppose Artemis is sloppy enough to allow any survivors, let alone one to testify. You cannot expect us to uncover evidence against a Sleipnir when all they touch becomes private information.”

“Then,” the Unicorn Councilor interjected. “I would hope that you would attempt better to build a credible case, than to falsely accuse one of our own operatives with no evidence to support your claims. We cannot simply believe your story just because you have nothing else.”

The two councilors looked over to their third member. Now I remembered what creature it was, from the one I had seen earlier today. The third Council Race; the Gemini. A race of sentient, biped, and erratically intelligent hounds that had an appetite for gemstones. While they often looked haggard and slovenly, their ‘Alpha Females’ were unnervingly eloquent. This particular Gemini stood quietly on two gangly grey furred legs, only partially hidden by an exquisite full body robe. Her arms were crossed gracefully behind her back, and she regarded her fellow councilors with a silent nod. Her beady yellow eyes scanned scrupulously across the chamber, darting to everyone in attendance, before falling on me. I saw her large furry jaw shift in thought as her eyes pierced through me, her ear twitching slightly.

“It seems the Gemini councilor has no comment to add, Ambassador.” The Unicorn Councilor continued.

A harsh sounding chuckle filled the room. I looked up, noticing that above the councilors was a large holographic projector. The image displayed was of a pony I had never seen before, but it was obvious enough to know who it was. A steel blue Pegasus, wearing silver armor was displayed. I saw that he was covered in bits of silvery metals across his body and face, no doubt hiding a series of scars and wounds that never fully healed. His cold eyed glare was focused on the councilors, and his face was contorted in a sinister grin as his chuckle subsided. “A shame really,” his voice filled with fake disappointment. “I do so enjoy the councilors comments.”

“What say you, to these accusations, Artemis?” the Unicorn Councilor asked.

Artemis adopted a look fake interest, directed at the Ambassador. “The Earth Ponies have every right to be upset at what happened to Equestria Prime. A terrible thing, the Geld invading without warning. And to lose an Alicorn relic and a Council Sleipnir in the process. It would look terrible if it was to be your fault wouldn’t it?”

“And how would you know anything about that, Artemis?” the Captain snapped, stepping forward. “Those events have not been mentioned during this hearing.”

Artemis sneered as he turned his head towards Quartermane. “You underestimate how well informed the Sleipnir are, Captain Quartermane. I was a direct superior to Nimbus, and upon the news of her death I was given access to her reports. It seems that your hopeful performed well, until Nimbus was killed.”

“You mean after Nimbus was murdered. By you.” Quartermane’s face was set in anger. “How many more innocents and friends have to die around you before the Galaxy recognizes you for the monster you are!”

Quartermane was shouting now, and all eyes in the room were focused on him. Except mine. I was starting at Artemis, gauging his reaction. His sneer morphed into a wicked smile, as he glanced back to the councilors.

“It seems the Earth Captain can’t leave old ghosts in the past where they belong, Councilors. I do believe this hearing is meant for more pressing matters, is it not?”

The Unicorn Councilor nodded. “Sleipnir Artemis is correct Captain Quartermane. Unless you have something to add to the matter at hoof, I will ask you to remain silent.”

Quartermane’s anger softened slightly as he broke his gaze with Artemis to the councilors. After a weighted pause, he nodded slowly and backed away from the podiums.

“Now then,” The Unicorn continued. “Is there anything else, Ambassador, that you wish to say before we make our decision?”

The Ambassador did not respond. A look of self satisfaction developed on Artemis’ face, as he looked back to the councilors.

The Pegasus councilor stepped forward. “If the Earth Pony ambassador has nothing further to add, then I believe it is time to end this pointless debate.”

“I have something!”

If it weren’t for all the eyes falling to me, I would not have believed that I had said anything at all. The Ambassador turned to me, and appeared to still be mad at me for being late, but I did not focus on him for long. I looked at the captain, who nodded towards the podiums. Even Firestorm gave me a gentle nudge forward, as I trotted slowly to the center of the room. My eyes glanced up to Artemis, who looked amused at my outburst.

“So, this is Shepard?” he mocked. “This is your newest prodigy, Quartermane? I do believe they are getting smaller.”

He directed his mocking glare at Quartermane, who did not respond to it at all. The councilors stared at me as I approached the dais.

“Shepard?” the Pegasus councilor questioned. “So you were the one that Nimbus chose to evaluate.”

“Yes, I was.” I replied.

“Then perhaps you can tell us something useful. Did you see operative Artemis shoot Nimbus as your ambassador was claimed?”

I did not appreciate the level of spite in his voice, and I glared at him in kind. “No, I didn’t”

His eyes narrowed. “Then what use are you, not only to the Sleipnir, but to the Corral as a species?”

Artemis laughed. “Now Councilor, there is no need to be so harsh on the poor pony. You did try your very best, didn’t you Shepard?”

I had had it with the condescending tone that the two Pegasi were using on me. For once, I finally understood, at least a little bit, of how South could dislike them so much. All of their anger and spite was directed at me, and they were twisting it into an attack of not only myself, but my entire race, and I had had enough of it it.

I looked up to Artemis. “Maybe if your race wasn’t so busy being smug jerks to the new ponies in the Galaxy, you would do a better job of covering your tracks.”

I raised my omni-tool, accessing the file that the Countess had gave us. My tool gave a little flash, the recording ready to play.

“This is a voice recording given to us by somepony who Artemis sought killed to prevent it from reaching this hearing, and even attempted to kill me to do it.”

The chamber went still, and sounds of hushed shock and whispers filled the air from the audience. Artemis feigned interest, but the Councilors leaned forward in anticipation. I pressed play, allowing the voices from the tool to carry across the room so all could hear it.

“My lord?” a female voice asked.

“Yes, what is it?” A second voice replied, clearly belonging to Artemis.

“We have found something that may interest you. Another relic has been found.”

“Where?” Artemis’s voice was rapt with interest.

“On Equestria Prime, an Earth Pony Colony in the Weaver Nebula.”

“Are you certain?” Artemis’ voice was growling, and echoed of metal.

“Yes, there is no doubt. I made certain myself.”

“Excellent, then we must get to it at once.”

“There is one other thing, however. The Council has already been informed, and will dispatch a different Sleipnir to recover it shortly.”

Artemis did not reply immediately. “Hrrm,” he grunted. “Then we will have to make sure that they do not get their grubby hooves on it first. Prepare to deploy the Geld to the colony. I will see to this personally.”

The recording ended, and the room was dead silent. The Councilors, the Captain, the Ambassador, and the entire crowd of onlookers were frozen in shock. It was quiet enough to be deafening, the only sound I heard was one of...applause?

Artemis...was applauding. The slow, clopping sound echoed through the chambers, each sound piercing the room like a razor. He wasn’t angry, or even concerned that his ploy had been uncovered. He looked...pleased.

“Oh ho ho,” he chortled. “Well done Shepard, well done! It seems that you have caught my mistake, and made it public to all. I must say, perhaps your race isn’t as useless as I thought.” Something about his praise made me feel sick to my stomach.

“Artemis,” the Unicorn Councilor said, aghast. “Are you saying this is true? That you sought to defy the council?”

Artemis scowled at her. “You look surprised, Councilor. Here I thought your kind were the smartest in the Galaxy. It appears that I was wrong”

“This act of treason will be your death, Artemis!” the Pegasus Councilor shouted. “To defy the council, and murder innocent civilians will see your Sleipnir status and life forfeit!”

Artemis scoffed. “I do not need your petty resources to accomplish what I have started, and you have an entire Galaxy to scour if you wish to find me.”

He looked at me one last time. “Good luck, you will all need it.”

The projection of his image flicked, and sputtered into nothing. Silence rushed over the room once again, before erupting into a storm of anger and outrage. The entire audience was engulfed in furious anger, and was teetering on boiling out of control. The chamber guards sprung into action, moving to quell the sudden riot.

“SILENCE!!!”

Order returned, silence prevailed, as the entire Council Chamber stared at the Gemini Councilor. The lithe creature stood with a wide stance, arms at her side in response to her ear shattering shout. She regained her composure, returning to her demure stance of indifference and nodded to her fellow Council members.

“Now then,” she began. Her voice was strong, but had an air of quiet regality to it. “It is a great shock that Sleipnir Artemis has gone to great lengths to defy us, but it serves no purpose to lose our heads to anger.”

She looked to us on the Dais. “We should give thanks to these brave soldiers who went above and beyond to see that this travesty was brought to light, and now we can begin to move forward and bring the traitorous Artemis to justice.”

The other councilors nodded in agreement. “But Artemis is right on one part,” the Pegasus Councilor added. “We have no idea what he is doing, or where he is going.”

“Actually,” I interjected, raising my hoof meekly. “There is more on the recording that I did not play. Officer Firestorm suggested I not play the entire message, to falsify how much we actually knew of Artemis’ plan.”

The Gemini Councilor smiled. “Very clever, may we hear the rest of it?”

I complied, bringing up my omni-tool again and hitting play.

“Has your, associate, found anything else?” Artemis’ voice continued.

“Um,” the second voice faltered. “I am not certain. There were rumors of something in the Meridian Cluster, but I have heard nothing else.”

“Well then, see to it that the rumor is examined thoroughly.” Artemis snapped. “I want nothing left to chance, no matter the risk. Or do you need reminder of our agreement?” Artemiss voice was dead of any emotion, and made me unwary of his intention.

“N-no, that fine. I will ensure it is done as you requested, Lord Artemis.”

“Good. Nothing will stop the return of the Purifiers. Least of all your incompetence.”

I closed the file, looking as matter-of-factly as I could to the Council. “That’s all there is.”

More silence, as the Councillors contemplated quietly. The Unicorn was first to speak.

“What are these Purifiers that Artemis spoke of? Was there any other information on them?”

I shook my head. “He only mentioned them once in the recording, Councilor. There was nothing else in the file about them.”

“And that other voice,” The Pegasus Councilor added, “she seemed frightened, perhaps under duress. I do not know who she is though.”

“Nor do I,” The Gemini Council added. “But this added information is quiet helpful. You have proven to be very resourceful, Shepard.”

The Gemini clapped her paws together once. “Now, we must consider options in locating Artemis. Our only clue at the moment seems to be that his forces are in the Meridian Cluster.”

“That is a very large section of space,” The Unicorn added. “And part of the Everfree systems. It would be a risky venture to send any considerable amount of scouts to search for him.”

“Then we send a single operative after him,” the Pegasus added. “There are other Sleipnir than Artemis.

The Gemini shook her head. “Artemis was one of our best, and Nimbus was as well. The board has been cleared, and Artemis has the advantage.”

“May I make a suggestion, Councillors?”

The Ambassador stepped forward. He had a focused look on his face, and I could almost see the wheels in his head turning. He had a plan in his head, and as much as I couldn’t stand his negativity, he was the Earth Pony Ambassador for a reason. The Councillors looked at him curiously. “What do you have in mind, Ambassador?”

He cleared his throat. “While I understand that you have a selection of your own personal operatives to solve this problem, I would like to suggest a different kind of variable to the equation, if I may?”

“Such as?”

“Somepony with personal stake. Artemis’s recent act has angered a race, Councillors. Our race. And any member of us with any level of patriotism would wish to seek Artemis personally for justice. Better still, we have somepony here today who has personal reasons to wish Artemis brought down, one who would put everything on the line to see that the task was fulfilled if the resources you can provide are given to them. Vindication is an excellent asset if put to good use.”

I wondered at what point the Ambassador was trying to make, and who on earth he was talking about. Maybe he was talking about the Captain, or even Firestorm. Both of them seemed to have a lot of reasons to want to chase after Artemis, and would be perfect for the job. The Councillors looked between themselves pensively, intrigue being the dominant expression on their faces.

“The Ambassador raises an excellent point.” the Unicorn commented. “While vindication can easily fall prey to revenge, it can be useful in situations such as this.”

“If you believe your candidate to be worth the time, Ambassador.” the Gemini added. “This is not a decision we make lightly.”

The Ambassador nodded. “I have the utmost faith in them, Councilor. We would not have gotten this far without their effort.”

The two female councilors looked to the Pegasus, waiting for any indication of his opinion. He glanced between them and the Ambassador, and reluctantly nodded.

“Very well then.” The Gemini reached out her paw expectantly, gesturing towards the dais. “Have your candidate step forward please.”

The Ambassador stepped off the dais, and pointed his hoof towards it. I looked between those present to see who he was waiting for. Nopony moved though, and I looked to the Ambassador. He was looking right at me.

“Well, Shepard?” he said impatiently.

“Well what?” I replied, confused.

“Get up there!” he hissed quietly.

Before I could object, or even think on what what was going on, I felt a hoof on my shoulder. Quartermane looked at me fondly, a proud smile on his face. He nodded reassuringly, and he too gestured me towards the awaiting dais. Seeing no alternative, and no way out, I stepped slowly back into the center of the room and the center of attention. The councilors all used the consoles in front of them in unison, and silence descended on the room once more.

“Specialist Shepard,” the Gemini began. “Through your recent actions, you have shown a steadfast dedication to completing the tasks set before you.”

The Unicorn spoke next. “Today you have aided invaluable in bringing an unforeseen conspiracy against the Corral to light, and we can never fully repay you for your actions.”

Then the Pegasus spoke in turn, continuing the cycle. “While there has been debate on where or not the Earth Ponies were ready for the responsibilities that entail being a Sleipnir, you have shown a level of tact and resourcefulness that our operatives pride themselves on in completing their roles as defenders of the Corral.”

“Your Ambassador makes a valid point, you have personally dealt with Artemis’ treachery, and your life has been threatened as such. Whether you feel the urge of vindication towards him is up to you, but it is clear that you would work hard to hunt him down.”

“You skills are varied, and your allies are strong. You can be, in time, proof that your race is indeed deserving of greater status within Corral space.”

“Are you ready and willing, to accept the responsibilities of the Sleipnir, and join the Council elite?”

It seemed like they were actually giving me a choice, even though I already knew the answer. I looked back to my friends, the Captain and Firestorm. They all nodded, giving me the courage to speak, and seal my fate.

“I am.”

The Gemini raised her arms in a conciliatory manner. “Then it is done.”

“I quit.”

After the hearing had adjourned, I was expecting to receive all kinds of praise and attention. The last thing I expected to hear was somepony’s declaration of resignation. The Council had long since filed out of the chambers, as did many of the onlookers from the vestibules above, leaving me to deal with the flow of events that would follow. Ponies came and went, and there was a great deal of chaos and shifting in the Corral Tower as one of the biggest decisions of the day had been made. The ambassador had stolen the Captain way for a private conversation, even before he could offer an official congratulations. Instead, Firestorm took me aside for her own conversation, one she seemed desperately interested in talking about.

“I want to go with you after Artemis, Shepard.”

“But what about C-Sec?” I inquired. Firestorm was a skilled officer, with a strong insight on the criminal underbelly of the Corral, and the thought of taking her away from here seemed like a disservice to those that lived here.

“You’ve seen how C-Sec does their business,” she stated. “If we had done this their way, that hearing would have gone very differently. And that irritates me.”

“Rules are there for a reason, Firestorm,” I countered.

“Yeah,” she mused. “They’re there for somepony else to break them.”

I couldn’t argue with that. Having freedom to do anything could be beneficial in my duties to come. I had never need to break rules before, but having the option was something at least. This all led to the inevitable conversation that followed when Firestorm confronted her commanding officer who was on his way out of the tower.

“You what?” he grunted.

“You heard me,” Firestorm snarked. “I quit. I’m going with Shepard to hunt down Artemis.”

“And what makes you think i’ll allow that?”

“Did you not hear the part where I quit? If I had listened to you, Artemis would have gotten away with everything. I’m tired of not being able to do what it takes to get the job done, and let criminals get away.”

The C-Sec officer glared at his defiant, now former employee. He broke eye contact with an impassive glance to me. “Flare’s not gonna like this Sunny.”

I saw a heated look in Firestorms face, but she quelled it with a shake of her head. “I stopped caring what she thought the moment she tossed me into bootcamp.”

She started walking away, but paused briefly. “I have to do this,” she said quietly, then kept walking. The look in the gruff Pegasus’s eyes was foreign to me. It was sad, but trying to hide behind a stoic exterior. He watched quietly as Firestorm trotted away, then looked at me. He looked lost, like he was rooted to the spot and had no idea which way to go.

“Shepard.”

My eyes fell on his. He appeared to be torn between several emotional states, and was just barely keeping them in check. It reminded me of a certain pony that still owed me her life story. The officer sighed, and trotted past me, towards the edge of the terrace. “Keep her safe.”

He flared his wings and leapt off the edge, plummeting down the tower spire and out of sight. Failing to decipher what that meant, I stumbled away and caught up with Firestorm, intent on getting answers. She had stopped near a high ledge and appeared to be talking to a group of ponies that I had not noticed before. As I got closer, I noticed that the three ponies surrounding Firestorm were all Unicorns. Two of them wore long flowing shawls that covered their entire bodies and faces, only the glow of their eyes piercing through the intricate clothing. Between them, was a pony I recognised. She no long was wearing a ratty cloak, letting her extravagant violet dress skirt across the ground. Her jeweled mane was dazzling in the bright lights of the tower, and she had a demure smile on her face.

She noticed me as I approached, beckoning me over with a gentle motion. “Ah, Shepard.” She said softly. “I’d like to wish you congratulations for your victory over that dreadful Artemis.”

“It was no trouble at all, Countess.” Knowing that she was a pony of respect, I felt that the least I should do was bow. She smiled at the gesture, returning it in kind.

“There is no need for such formality my dear. You saved my life, in more ways than one, and I am indebted to you.”

“Are you certain you are safe now, Countess?” Firestorm asked. “I doubt Artemis is one to easily forgive.”

The Countess giggled softly. “With his betrayal revealed, I believe his resources here will dwindle. I should not have anything further to fear from him, so long as I travel with my guardians from now on.”

The two escorts beside her nodded, speaking in unison. “We live to serve you Countess.”

The monotonous tone of the guards was unsettling, but neither Firestorm or the Countess were bothered by it at all. The mistress smiled at the devotion of her servants and then looked back to us.

“If that is all, I must take my leave. I have been from my chambers for too long.” She turned to leave, but Firestorm stepped forward, giving her pause.

They stared at each other silently for a while, Firestorms gaze filled with piercing curiosity, while the Countess’ were calm and lucid.

“Who was the other voice on that recording, Countess? Even the Councilors didn’t know who she was. But if Artemis needs her, she can’t be just a common thug.”

The Countess closed her eyes. She appeared to be lost in deep, cherished memories with the small curl of her lips. Her eyes fluttered open, looking at Firestorm.

“As I said before, she is a dear friend, whom I’ve known for as long as I can remember. But she is also a very secretive mare, who lives a solitary and troubled life. I did much for her before she disappeared, to try and break her from her shell, but whenever we are apart she falls into her old habits again.” She trotted slowly away from us as she told us with her tale.

“I doubt even you would know who she is, Officer Firestorm. She rarely used her name in common society, preferring falsities to hide herself. On the border worlds, she is known as the Black Mistress, but I know her as Lady Midnight.”

“Lady Midnight? Is she a Matron like you?”

“Oh heavens no,” the Countess chuckled. “She had never took an interest in my line of work. She had her mind focused on ancient secrets of the past.”

“Like the Alicorns?” I added.

She cast a smile in my direction. “I believe so yes. And I believe it is her experience that attracted Artemis to her.”

She and her guardians had circled around us and paused just before the veranda leading back into the tower. She looked back to us once more, her eyes shimmered softly in sadness.

“I fear for her safety, but there is little I can do from here. If there is anything you can do, should you pursue Artemis, please do what you can to help her.”

She turned away and left me and Firestorm on the towers edge without any further questions. We stood there watching her leave quietly before she blended into the dispersing crowds and vanished from sight. Firestorm shifted awkwardly at the silence that descended on us and returned to her heated pace. I snapped to my senses as well in her hasty departure and rushed up beside her.

“What was that all about?” I asked hurriedly.

“I don’t like going in without all the facts, Shepard. Not knowing who Artemis was working with bothered me.”

“No, not that. What was that with your commanding officer?”

She gave me a hard look, then looked away sharply. “Don’t worry about it.”

She attempted to speed up, but I grabbed her by the shoulder forcing her to stop. She stared at me blankly, shaking her head. Her fiery mane danced around her face, but it did little to distract the hard look I was returning.

“I want you to come along with us Firestorm, you did more than help out. But you are leaving a lot behind, and I’d like to know that it isn’t going to come back and bite you in the flank.”

She smirked. “Family issues usually do.” She stepped away from my grasp and trotted towards the edge. “I’ll see you back at C-Sec on your way out.” She jumped off, and was gone.

Just what I needed, more baggage. While dealing with my newest squadmates issues would be no end of entertainment, I needed to speak to the Captain about what our next move should be. Thankfully, by the time I found him, he and the Ambassador looked to be finishing their conversation. He noticed me, and beckoned me over with the fakest smile of appreciation I had ever seen.

“Shepard! Glad you could join us. I was just discussing with the Captain some details of your recent accomplishment. Congratulations, by the way.”

The Captain rolled his eyes at the excessive cheeriness that the Ambassador was suddenly exhibiting, offering me a hoofshake of his own. “It wasn’t part of the plan, but the Council couldn’t have picked a better pony Shepard. I’m proud of you, and I know you will do well.”

“Thank you, Sir.” I said, returning the hoofshake. “I’ll do my best.”

I looked back to the Ambassador. “What details are you talking about?”

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with, I assure you Shepard. The Captain and I will iron everything out before you get started. First of all is your own ship of course! You can’t possibly serve as a Sleipnir without your own ship. I’ll have to speak to Stable command and see what I can get together. Quartermane, come with me. I’ll need your help.”

The ambassador started off quickly, not even noticing the Captain mutter something as he trotted away. “That’s a first.”

We both smiled as the giddy stallion trotted down the stairs, and thankfully out of sight. The Captain and I basked in a pleasing moment of silence, before we walked together towards the elevators ourselves. I was surprised by how quickly the tower had emptied, seeing only a few ponies left of the dozens that filled the council chamber not minutes ago. I saw the nexus of elevators, and the Ambassador was the only one waiting. We took our time in descending the stairs, watching in amusement as the greying stallion tapped his hooves impatiently.

The contented expression of the Captain relieved a great deal of the stress that had piled up in my mind. But something about his stoic expression nagged at my mind, remembering his outburst during the trial. The Captain I knew had always been able to control his temper, even when things went south, but what I saw in him minutes ago was nothing like I had ever seen.

“Uh, Sir.” I blurted, my mind getting ahead of me. “If I may, what was it that Artemis did that has you so angry at him? What you said back there, it didn’t seem like you.”

He slowed his descent, but did not look at me. He maintained his stone faced expression, looking ever forward.

“It’s not a past I enjoy talking about Shepard,” he said sternly.

“Neither is mine, Sir. But I told it to you. If I’m going after him, I need to know what I’m getting into.”

That caused him to stop entirely and finally look at me. He scanned over me with a curious glare. Then he smiled. “You aren’t going to drop this are you?” he asked wryly.

I shook my head. He sighed, returning to his steady descent down the stairs.

“Meeting ponies like Artemis changes you for the worse, Shepard. Something I learned the hard way. It was about twenty years ago, during the First Contact War. I was a Junior Lieutenant then. I was part of one of the smaller skirmishes in those times, as reinforcements.”

Quartermane looked up, as he searched through his memories. I saw his eyes quiver slightly, glistening with anger.

“One of our forward assaults went bad. Real bad. It was such a decisive loss that the commanding officer of that fleet surrendered just to prevent further loss of life. We were called in to give them aid. When we got there, there were only a few ships of ours left, surrounded by Pegasi warships.”

The Captain halted again at the bottom of the stairs. He looked away from me, but I could hear the rage curdling in his voice.

“We received a message from our command ship. The Pegasi had boarded them and taken the ship. We watched them take the bridge of the ship, and Artemis was one of them. He was much less scarred back then, and actually looked like he was capable of kindness. But even monsters can wear masks. He took the commanding officer, and executed him and his entire crew right there on the spot. He did it easily, and made us watch. He even justified it by saying ‘weakness deserves no mercy’.”

Quartermane’s revelation made me sick to my stomach. I figured that Artemis was a skilled veteran, battle hardened from decades of service. I knew that he was going to be a challenging adversary. But finding out that he was a heartless killer and murderer was just too much to take. The Ambassador was right, I had a lot of reasons to want to take Artemis down, and now I had another.

“But how does he know you personally?” I asked.

“We had more reinforcements than they could handle. We managed to surround their ships in return. I was part of the team that went to reclaim our ships. We had to fight our way into the bridge. It was absolute chaos. Somehow he managed to get the upperhoof in our own ship and take us by surprise.”

“They managed to capture our boarding party, and corralled us back into the bridge, intent on executing us as well. When we got there, I noticed that many of the Pegasi were showing signs of dissent against Artemis’s actions. There was an argument between them and it was enough for us to cause a riot among the survivors.”

“The chaos was short, but we managed to cause some damage to them. I took a few shots at Artemis, giving him a few of those scars on his face. He was about to return the favor when something stopped him. This was about the time the Council finally intervened, near the end of the war. They had ordered the cease fire of all Pegasi warships and were already working with Stable for a hasty end to the conflict.”

We finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Quartermane seemed calmer at the end of his story, but he was still showing signs of repressed anger at his past.

“That cease fire saved my life, and I could tell Artemis was furious. But he wasn’t stupid. One wrong move then would have reignited the war and he would have been branded a war criminal. The Pegasi left the ship and returned to their systems. That was the last time I saw Artemis. Until now. I guess he remembered me as well, but who could forget the one who scarred your face like I did to him?”

Quartermane chuckled at his morbid comment while we continued towards the waiting Ambassador. His face returned to its previous expression of calm, and it was enough to show that he was finished on that particular subject.

“So what did you think of your first visit to the Corral, Shepard?” Quartermane asked passively, changing the subject swiftly.

In the course of a few hours today, I had been present for several arguments, persuaded a religious preacher, been pony-napped, stared down a Manticore, and been in more gunfights that I cared to count. Not to mention being on a planet side battlefield not two days ago, and now was tasked to hunt down the rogue pony that had started it all.

“It was...exciting.” I said slowly.

“Well, you better get used to it.” He grinned. “You’re a hero now Shepard, excitement is part of the job.”

We made it to the waiting Ambassador just as an elevator rose to a stop from the giant glass tube. The doors parted, and revealed a familiar mahogany pony standing inside. She noticed us immediately, looking at the three of us dumbfoundedly while tipping her white hat courteously. “Uh...heya.”

Quartermane chuckled. “I’ll let you fill Sergeant Major South in on what’s happened, Shepard. We’ll meet you back at the docks.”

He and the Ambassador trotted into the open elevator, while South carefully stepped out, attempting not to bump into either of them. She looked around at the open terrace that she found herself on, mystified at the scenery much like I was when I first arrived. The door began to close and before it did, the Captain shot me a firm salute, one I quickly returned before the door slid shut and began its descent.

South and I watched the capsule descend down the glass tube quietly, before she gave me a curious look.

“So whut’d Ah miss?”

I suggested we take the longest possible route back to the Normanedy, so that everypony could get all their business dealt with without me, and I could give South the most detailed retelling of the hearing. She was less impressed at the parts where Artemis and the Pegasus councilor openly mocked our race, and in retrospect, I was glad that South wasn’t actually there to begin with. The part where I nailed Artemis to the wall however, sent South into a fit of giggles.

When I got to the part where the council had appointed me a Sleipnir, she was oddly silent. She didn’t seem distant, or confused, not even upset. She just had no visible expression or opinion at all. I probably should have felt irritated at the fact that somepony that I considered at least moderate friend wasn’t showering me with praise, but honestly, South did not seem the type to get all emotional. The following playful punch to my shoulder hinted that she prefers being physical in her accolades. One step forward, one step back I guess.

After the story was finished, we descended in and out of random conversation, either talking about something we noticed in passing along our walk, or just trotting along in silence. I could have pressed South about herself, but I did not want to ruin her elated mood with the potential of dragging up memories that she had a reason to hide. As always, the best time would have to be later.

The surrounding area started to get familiar, and my eyes immediately searched for the entrance to C-Sec, and the elevators to the docks. Our little hike took the better part of an hour, and I had hoped that the Captain had managed to help the ambassador without strangling him, as his exasperation with the diplomat suggested. I noted the glowing kiosk to our right, wishing a few more moments with Corrina, but I knew South would have dragged me away kicking and screaming if I tried. Maybe next time.

Instead I turned left, walking towards the atrium like structure of C-Sec. Not much had changed from this morning. Droves of Pegasi were moving back and forth in groups and individually, doing their appointed tasks. South seemed...marginally less spastic upon entering, and hopefully we could walk through here to the elevators without incident.

“Hey, Shepard!”

Oh right, that. Crap.

Firestorm trotted briskly towards us, even giving South a pleasant salute. South returned a similar pleasantry, but kept a careful eye on the approaching Pegasus. “Came t’ say goodbye, Firestorm?”

Firestorms brow arched for a moment. “No, I’ve said all my good byes that matter here. I’m ready to go whenever you are.”

Oh crap. Crap, crap, crap! I didn’t plan for this! I didn’t even consider this exchange. Of course this would slip my mind at the worst possible time.

“Shepard,” South said in a low voice. “Whuts she talkin’ about?”

Firestorm looked at me too. “You didn’t tell her did you?”

Doom. Critical failure. Game over. My adventure was over before it even began. I stared blankly between the two accusing mares, not making eye contact with either of them, praying that if I didn’t answer, maybe everything would explode around me and I might survive the blast.

“South,” Firestorm started. “I asked to come along to help you all catch Artemis, and Shepard said yes.”

I saw Souths eyes widen a bit in the corner of my eyes, but I remained still.

“But if that will cause too much of a problem with you, I understand. I just felt that we worked well together, and would give Artemis a run for his money.”

South didn’t respond, still focusing the flicker of anger in her eyes on me.

"If you’re afraid of being shown up by a Pegasus, I can understand that too”

My head painfully snapped to Firestorm of its own volition in horror. Was she trying to cause a nuclear explosion in the middle of C-Sec? I tried backing away, but my brain decided to go on vacation for the rest of the day.

South turned her head slowly from me to the boastful pegasus. “Whut. Did. You. Say?”

The lightning eyed pegasus gave a confident smirk. “You don’t trust the Pegasi, I get that. But wouldn’t a soldier such as yourself love an opportunity to beat one at their own game? I’m sure even you can appreciate a good natured wager?”

Souths eyes narrowed. “Whut do you have in mind?”

Firestorm flashed her teeth victoriously. “At the end of this Artemis business, I bet I can kill more Geld than you. Loser buys the winner all the drinks they can handle.” She spat into her hoof, and extended it to South with a straight face. “Deal?”

My head twisted again to South, and I made a note to ask Chalkdust later if she knew chiropractic medicine. South stared vacantly, thinking hard on Firestorms boast. I did not know real fear until I saw her mimic the pegasus’ smug smile, and spit into her own hoof in kind, completing the disgusting ritual.

“Yer on!”

It took awhile for me to to return to cognitive function, my mind still focused on what force of nature had I just loosed on the galaxy. I figured for now it would be best to just roll with it, if anything to get the day moving to an end and hopefully get to a soft bed. The galaxy could fall apart tomorrow as a result of these twos wager, and I would have prefered to be well rested. I muscled past the ‘you’re going downs’ and the ‘hope you brought your credit chit’ and moved towards the elevator. I pressed the call button as much as I possibly could without breaking it.

I entered the elevator quietly, and my companions managed to enter silently as well, saving their feud for another day. I braced myself for the eternity long ride back to the docks, and hoped decades of established peace between two races didn’t dissolve during an elevator brawl.

Thankfully it didn’t, and arrived at the docks with no incident, aside from a bit of off beat banter between the two feisty soldiers. It was nice to see the Normanedy again, but seeing it now reminded me that there were many changes in my future, one of them being that I was to receive my own vessel. I guess I could appreciate the value of owning my own, but it would be no Normanedy.

I saw the Captain standing with the Ambassador near the airlock. They were idly conversing, but the Captain waved us over as soon as he caught notice of us approaching. The ambassador turned to us, still wearing the look of excessive happiness that did an excellent job of freaking me out. He looked to South and Firestorm, and addressed them politely, before focusing his attention on me.

“It’s excellent that you’re here, Shepard. The Captain and I have just finished speaking with Stable Command, and we have managed to pull some very delicate strings to get you the resources you need to get started.”

Here we go. I tried to look as appreciative as I could, but I had a feeling that even with my new Sleipnir status, I would be getting some kind of second banana. “So what kind of ship did you acquire?”

He chuckled softly. “Well, you’re standing right next to it, of course. Why else would we have you meet us here?”

Bwuh? I looked to the Captain, but he only added to my confusion with an agreeing nod. “He’s telling the truth, Shepard. The Normanedy’s yours now.”

“B-but, you’re the Captain.” I stammered. “She’s your ship.”

“Not anymore. You were part of the team that built her Shepard. You know her inside and out. And she was built exactly for this kind of assignment. I know she’ll do just as well in your hooves as she would mine, if not better.”

“What exactly brought this on?”

The ambassador decided to answer the question with smug satisfaction. “You are a Council Sleipnir now Shepard. All of Stable knows that you are our first step in being respected by the Galactic community, and you have performed many of your duties admirably and with skill. It took a little bending, but even Admiral Packard agreed that you deserve a chance in proving yourself, and having your own vessel to do it.”

“But I can’t lead an entire ship, I’m not even a Captain.”

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about commanding the entire ship, Shepard. Many of the military security personnel will be reassigned, leaving only the essential crew. You will only have to worry about yourself and your squad, which I see you have taken the liberty of assembling on your own.”

I looked back to ‘my squad’. As far as the kind of ponies I would want to be working together with on this endeavor, I could choose nopony better. But I felt that I would need a lot more if I was going to hunt down Artemis with any hope of success. Then it occurred to me that somepony was still missing.

“What about Lieutenant Poindexter?”

“What about me, Sir?”

I turned to the open airlock, and saw the tan pony with the electric blue mane standing there. He was smiling, as was usual for him, and he looked like he woke up from the most relaxing nap of his life. He trotted over to me, and saluted. “It will be an honor to work with you on this Shepard.”

I saluted back tentatively. “What’s with the sirs and saluting? Aren't we the sort of the same rank?”

“Oh right, “the Ambassador continued. “That's the other thing I needed to mention. Stable command felt that if they were going to give you your own ship, the least they could do was give you the level of authority to command it.”

The Ambassador reached his hoof around my neck and pulled me into a far too friendly hug, as he admired the magnificent ship before us, while I was still trying to piece together what the hell he was talking about.

“The Normanedy is yours...Commander Shepard.”

Oh, thats what he meant.

Codex Entry Added: Sleipnir

Codex Entry Added: The Gemini

Codex Entry Added: Artemis

Codex Entry Added: Regal Quartermane

Chapter 7: The Shepard's Flight

Chapter 7: The Shepard’s Flight

“Everypony’s counting on you, Shepard. No Pressure.”

What makes a good leader? Courage? The ability to bite down their fear and refuse to show it in the face of danger? Wisdom? The ability to make calculated and strategically logical decisions on a battlefield? Maybe Tenacity? The absolute refusal to give up, to never surrender, to never back down. Maybe it is all these things and more. Traits that ponies of history have embodied in times of crisis, commanding those around them to battle, to victory. And somehow somepony thought I had those traits, and given me the rank to ‘prove’ it.

Commander.

That word seemed to be mocking me, laughing at me. No matter how many times I searched through the roster, or refreshed the Stable database, the same thing kept popping up unchanged. Commander Shepard. I had a ship of my own now, the greatest ship I could ever hope for. I had my own crew as well, a selection of soldiers and other skilled fighters at my side. We even had a mission, to find and apprehend a dangerous fugitive with dark and sinister motives. And I still couldn’t believe any of it.

I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t even aiming for this. I never considered myself a leader, having been much more of a loner as I grew up. I’d never waned to have ponies depending on me, and even when I did they were just foals. But now I had much more than mere children following me, and with greater consequences if I failed.

Thankfully the announcement was kept simple, and the official ceremonies, if there were going to be any, would wait until much later. There were far more important things for me to be doing than accepting a medal. After the Ambassador had made his declaration, a few hearty congratulations were given from those in earshot so we could quickly returned to work and board the Normanedy to prepare her for launch.

I wondered how many hooves the Ambassador had to bend in order to get this approved. A jump up the ranks to Commander was extreme, even with me being a Sleipnir now the whole thing still seemed poorly weighted. Maybe Quartermane vouched for me. He had been in the military for a long time, and despite his run in with Artemis in the past, he didn't appear to have lost any standing with his superiors. If I had known he had as much sway as I thought he did, I probably would have asked him politely not to, just to avoid all of this pressure.

I was at least grateful that the ships crew were able to handle the preparations without me for the time being, while I muddled through my conflicting concerns. No doubt Navigator Westward and Pipsqueak were setting out our route to get to the Meridian Cluster, and everypony else was getting the ship ready for another Whip-Gate jump. I wondered how long a ship’s commanding officer could realistically hide away in their quarters until ponies started asking questions.

I had to face the facts eventually though. I was a Sleipnir now, and a Commander of the Stable military. My eyes drifted around the quarters I had hidden away in since we had left the Corral. What used to be the Captain’s private room was now mine. The computer I sat before was mine. The ship itself, the Normanedy, was mine. The vessel I had helped build, the greatest project of my career, was under my command now, and that fact alone threw my head through a blender. I certainly hoped that bed was comfortable.

The storm of errant thoughts came to a halt when I heard a knock at my door. I buried everything I could into the depths of my mind, and lazily plodded over to the solid steel door that had done well in hiding me from the rest of the ship.

I pressed the button to unlock the door, and it slid open to reveal a startled looking South on the other side. She went stiff and immediately saluted. I noted a touch of intensity in her eyes. “Permission t’ enter, Commander?” she uttered.

I groaned quietly, shaking my head. “South,” I began plaintively, putting up a hoof to stop her. “You don’t have to do that. Just call me Shepard, please. This ‘Commander’ business is just too much for me right now, and I don’t need you adding to it.”

Her eyes arched in confusion. “S-sorry Command- uh, Ah mean, Shepard.”

I sighed. “That’s a start. Was there something you needed?” I stepped aside and allowed her into the quarters. She trotted in stiffly, still sticking to her subordinate nature. She looked around slowly, then halted in the center of the room. She turned to me, and lowered her head sombrely, taking off her hat and holding it to her chest. “Ah want t’ apologise to you Shepard.”

Bwuh? I don’t think even South missed the look of dumbfounded perplexity my face contorted into as the words left her mouth. My mind darted for a moment, trying to recall a moment where I felt South had reason to apologise for. She had caused a lot of issues, but none of them were explicitly her fault, or required her to apologise to me of all ponies.

“Apologise for what?”

She scuffed her hooves across the metal floor. “Well, Ah ain’t exactly been the friendliest of ponies t’wards ya Shepard, Commander or not. Ya saved my life, and others, and Ah keep making a mess o’ things for ya. You got a good head on your shoulders Shepard, an’ my pappy always told me to pony up to my mistakes, no matter what.”

She returned her hat to her head, and swished her tail to her sides. It wriggled in a peculiar manner, before she withdrew a bottle from it and two small glasses. She smiled as she balanced the drinks effortlessly in her hooves before setting them onto the nearby table. “So Ah came with a peace offerin’.”

I stared at the drinks incredulously. I realised now that it was probably a mistake to join South at a bar, and probably would have too look forward to this sort of treatment from now on. “Your dad taught you to make peace with your superior officers with alcohol?” I asked sardonically.

Her face went pale in shock. “No!” she stammered. “It’s uh, Ah mean, Ah didn’t, um, what Ah meant to say wuz...”

“South,” I said glibly. “Calm down. I was just joking.”

Her panicked sputtering droned out, and she looked away shamefully. I rolled my eyes at South’s inability to maintain a straight face and instead trotted over to the table with the glasses. The bottle that South had brought looked similar to the one that Chalkdust had hidden away in her office, but it was a much darker red. The label had been torn off and at least half of the mysterious liquid remained in the bottle. As much as I didn't want to offend South or derail her apology, I think I had had enough burning sensations in my throat to last a week.

“I appreciate the gesture, South, but I’m not certain I should be drinking when we are about to hit the Whip Gate.”

She understood, thankfully, and set the glasses aside with the bottle. “Ah suppose yer right. Not sure why Ah thought this was a good idea.” She smirked slightly, and trotted towards the door.

“Wait,” I uttered. “You mentioned your dad.”

She looked at me strangely. “Yea, whut of him?”

“Well, I still haven’t gotten that story from you, maybe now is a good time to tell me a little about yourself. You do still owe me one.”

She smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head nervously. “Ah guess Ah do, don’t ah?”

South paced around the room, settling on veering towards the chair in the corner. “Ah suppose a deal’s a deal.” She sat on the chair lazily, and she scratched her head thoughtfully. “Ah grew up outside of Trotter Valley on mah family’s farm.”

I tried to look surprised, but probably failed horribly. “No kidding? What did your family farm?”

“Rocks,” she stated.

“R-rocks?” I blurted. “What kind of farm grows rocks?”

“We din’t grow the rocks,” she scoffed. “We tended them! Where else do ya think we get gemstones from?”

“I don’t know, the ground?”

“An’ where do rocks come from?” she said pointedly.

“The...ground?” Ok she had me there. I tried to look innocent, but I honestly had more pressing matters than looking up the origin of gemstones when I lived on the streets. How was I supposed to know that you could harvest them from tending rocks? It did bring a question to my mind. “How do you harvest them?”

She tapped a hoof on the floor with a clang. “We buck em’ o’course! How else would we do it?”

“Can’t you get a machine do it?”

“Ya could,” she mused wryly. “But Ah ain’t see any contraption tuh date that cn’ hit a fracture point as good as a well trained pony. Most of th’ time, they end up ruinin’ them gems b’fore they dig up anythin’ useful.”

“Ah grew up buckin’ rocks, an’ iffin’ Ah wern’t out here, Ah’d probly buck em’ till Ah couldn’t buck no more.”

She lifted one of her rear legs, wiping some grime from the bottom of her hooves. I saw a glint of something shining under the muck and dirt. “An’ the diamond coated shoes don’t hurt nothin’ neither,” she said, smirking.

I stared at the gem inlaid shoes on her hooves a moment, realising now how she was able to perform a certain feat that she did effortlessly not hours ago.

“I guess thats how you can buck a manticore across the face without breaking a sweat.”

She laughed. “Thats nothin’. You should see mah big brother buck rocks. He could cleave a rock the size of th’ Normanedy in half with his left leg trussed to his side.”

“Brother? You have siblings?”

She nodded happily. “Ayep, three of em. Ah’m the eldest daughter, and my brother is the only stallion.”

“And are they all named after cardinal directions?”

She shot me a sharp look, obviously irritated by my attempt at a joke. Then she started laughing again. “South is just a nickname my brother gave me. Ah always got in tuh the most trouble, a’n he thought it real funny to explain when ever I did somethin’ wrong as ‘goin South’. A’h called him North just to see if it would rile him up any, but he took it in stride, thinkin’ it a real appropriate name. Mah sisters didn’t wanna feel left out so they took East and West. The ‘Wayward Belle’s’ wuz whut they called us.”

I tried to fight off a snicker, but South beat me to it. I don’t know why she had such an issue talking about her home life, she seemed to be enjoying the fond memories. “What do they all do?”

“Well,” she continued. “North an’ Ah are th’ only ones that followed our pappy’s hoofsteps into th’ military. He joined two years before Ah did. Ah think he’s an L.T or somethin’ by now. Ah don’t get to talk t’ him that often.”

“Oh.” My ears drooped a little. South sounded unbelievably fond of her brother, and the admission that she didn’t speak to him much struck a chord in her mood.

“What about your sisters?”

My further probing brought her out of her melancholy. “Well, little West is too young t’ leave the farm just yet, but East is a mighty fine mechanic. She could probably give you a run for your money one day Shepard. Ah think she’s got a job out on Sigma in the junkyards. She’s always sendin’ fixed parts pack to the homestead to help out.”

“What about your parents? How are they doing with almost all their children out in space?”

There was a slight shift in Souths posture as the words left my mouth. She didn’t appear angry, upset or irritated, but if I had not been paying close attention, a change could have gone unnoticed. I had no idea what subject I had tripped over, but South was lost in thought and I couldn’t be sure if it was a good thing or not. She rose slowly from the chair, and wandered casually towards the door. Before she got there, she looked at me with a sudden smile on her face. “Ah think thats e’nuff fer now Shepard. Maybe next time Ah’ll tell ya more.”

Drat. Looks like she plans on toying with me. She definitely was as devious as she was dangerous. The door opened and she started to walk out. I would have let the conversation drop at that, but a sudden thought struck my mind, one that I hoped to avoid.

“South wait,” I called out to her. “Just one thing.”

She turned back to me with a confused look on her face.

“About Firestorm...,” my voice trailed off as I watched Souths expression sour.

“Whut about her?” she said acidly.

I coughed awkwardly. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about bringing her with us. But you saw how she handles herself. I thought she would be good to bring along, and she has the same drive to take down Artemis as we do. I just don’t want this bet you two have to get out of hoof.”

South worked her jaw as she thought about what I had said. “Is that an’ order, Sir?”

I smiled. “No South, that’s a request. As a friend. Please just try to get along with her.”

“Hmph,” she huffed. “Ah’ll try, Shepard. Fer you.”

She left the room, and the door slid shut before I could even say ‘thanks’. Alone again. I paced around the room, the storm of thoughts trying to force themselves back to the front of my mind. There was still an enormous number of questions that would probably go unanswered for a long time, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t pursue then whenever I could. I found myself back in front of my computer, staring at my still open dossier, the word ‘Commander’ still attached to my name. A small sigh slipped from my lips. That one word merged all my thoughts into one single statement. Was I ready for this?

My mind drifted back to South. She believed in me, and so did Poindexter. I wondered how the rest of the crew took my promotion, as well as the other new addition to my team. As Firestorm crossed my mind, I realised I had not spoken to her since she came aboard with us. I didn’t think she would have trouble getting along with the crew, but I was not sure if the crew would get along with the fiery pegasus.

I closed the dossier file, and turned the computer off. I cast another glance around the room. Everything was as the Captain had left it, and I intended to do the same. I moved towards the door, and slipped out quietly to search for my flighty companion.

Seven.

I counted seven times that somepony had immediately stopped what they were doing just to salute to me as I passed them in the narrow corridors of the Normanedy. It was a little flattering I guess, but after seven times the novelty had long worn off. At least I didn’t have to remind them to return to their tasks after their were finished and none of them seemed keen on stopping to engage me in conversation. That left me all the time I needed to search the decks for Firestorm without interruptions.

She was wasn’t in the crew decks outside the med-bay, so now I was in the cramped elevator heading towards the cargo bay. As the lift slowly descended the ten or so feet it needed to change floors, I contemplated looking for the pony in charge of installing the elevators and slowly strangle them for improperly installing the hydraulics. I wouldn’t have botched a simple elevator so badly.

The cargo bay was mostly empty, or at least appeared to be as I stepped out of the elevator. I noticed the requisitions officer was still seated in the same place, leaning back on his chair. His head was reclined against the wall and his hat was tipped down over his eyes. He didn’t rouse as I approached him, but when I stopped at his table, he took a minor awareness to my presence.

“Just fill out a requisition form,” he said without looking up. “I’ll get it done as soon as I can.”

I looked at this lazing pony critically. The same pony who not days before was making fun of my equipment manifest was now lying here not performing his tasks. Worse yet, he didn’t even bothering to look up to see who he was talking to. It’s not like I wasn’t his commanding officer or anything. I doubted the Captain would have tolerated such insubordination, but was I the same way? It was technically my job to sort this out, but I was not all that comfortable lording over a promotion I had just received, especially one I wasn’t certain I deserved. But that didn't mean I couldn’t have a little fun with it.

“And what if the Commander needs something right away?” I asked, speaking in an even tone.

The stallion started to look up as he spoke. “Well then Shepard can come down and get it--”

His eyes widened as his head finally lifted high enough to see me clearly. His mouth hung open, twitching slightly. He performed the usual acrobatics involved with the realisation that you just sassed an officer in front of them, bounding from his chair to his hooves and nearly smashed the side of his own head with a forceful salute. It was hard to fight off a smile, but I endured just to see what else he would do next.

“C-commander!” he stammered. “I didn’t know it was you! Requisition Officer Depot, at your service, sir.”

I dismissed his saluted with a wave my hoof. “At ease, Depot.” I smiled. “And please, just call me Shepard. This ‘Commander’ thing is a bit sudden for all of us.”

He lowered his hoof and slowly returned to his chair, not yet comfortable to relax just yet. “O-of course, Shepard. Is there something I can help you with, sir?”

I scrunched my face as his utterance of the word ‘sir’, but that was something that I was probably not going to get out of. “I’m looking for the Pegasus that joined the ship, have you seen her?”

He stared a moment, shaking his head briskly in revelation. “Oh, Officer Firestorm? Yea she’s down here.”

He pointed his hoof the the farthest corner of the room. I saw stacks of boxes and other junk that I expected down here. Behind one of the piles, I caught glimpse of a fiery tail flitting back and forth. I looked back at Depot. “Officer Firestorm?”

“Well yea,” he responded, nodding. “Thats C-Sec armor she’s wearing isn’t it?”

“It is...” I replied. “And the fact that she’s a Pegasus doesn’t bother you?”

“No, why would it?”

I shrugged. It was nice to know that it wasn’t just me on this ship that had difficulty in dealing with Pegasi, but I had other things to deal with. “No reason, just nice to know.”

“Is that everything, Sir?”

I nodded, letting him get back to whatever he considered ‘work’ and walked towards where Firestorm was. As I got closer, I heard clicking and humming. I peeked around the corner, seeing Firestorm still dressed in her C-Sec armor. She was standing at a work table, busily disassembling and reassembling her rifle with practiced and experienced care. I watched quietly as she performed the task multiple times in only a few short seconds, actually using her wings dexterously as a second pair of limbs. After the fifth time in under a minute, she whistled satisfactorily.

She laid the gun out flat on the table and starting making adjustments to the lengthy weapon. Her movements and changes were precise. Even though I was not a connoisseur of weapons, I could appreciate the level of care she was taking with her equipment. A chuckle escaped her mouth.

“Are you going to sit there and stare all day?” she asked without turning around. “Or are you going to come over and say hello like a normal pony?”

I jumped a little, taken aback at her awareness of my standing here. “How did-”

She turned her head, a smug grin plastered on her face. She tossed her hair aside, pointing out the visor device attached to her ear. She walked towards me wordlessly, removing the device and placing in my hooves. I studied the device with care, bringing it up to my own eyes. The device fit snugly into my ear and it immediately sprung to life. It brought me into a whole new world of colors, lights and sounds. Various signals and other vital statistics flashed on the tiny screen, including body heat, movement and even sound levels of all nearby life forms. Glancing around, I observed Firestorm through the visor and even Depot on the far side of the room. The mountain of information it was displaying quickly became too much, and I removed the visor quickly to avoid a photosensitive seizure. This technology was impressive, but I doubted that C-Sec could or would afford to give this sort of equipment to all of its officers.

“I’m guessing that’s not C-Sec standard issue.” I asked, nursing a budding headache with a rub of my hoof.

She took the device and quickly popped back it into place hastily, as if she missed the precious time that it was gone. Another smile flashed across her mouth as she readjusted it. “Nope. Dad always told me that standard issue is nothing but issues.”

“Your dad, right...” The argument between Firestorm and her former superior officer came to mind. “He’s the pony you were arguing with back on the Corral wasn’t it?”

She laughed weakly. “Heh, that obvious huh?” Her hoof came up slowly to cradle the back of her neck, rubbing it slowly. “I can’t wait until mom gets wind of what I pulled. Gonna be a hurricane of epic proportions.”

She looked at me with a sidelong glance. “I bet your parents aren’t as insane.”

“Actually,” I began slowly. “My parents are dead.”

I watched her reaction change subtly. She looked away briefly, her blank expression not changing in the slightest. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

I shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t worry about it. Just one of those things that’s best to get out of the way early.”

“I guess so...”

The silence wasn’t as awkward as it was when I told other ponies about my orphan heritage, but there was still something about how Firestorm’s mood had changed that told me she didn’t want to dwell on it. The hull of the ship gave hummed quietly, and Firestorm saw fit to tap the metal floor with a hoof. “This ship is pretty impressive, even for Pegasi standards,” she observed.

“Yea, it really is.” I looked around, taking in the sleek metal housing of the underbelly of the ship. “I’m pretty sure I helped build half of it, and now its mine.”

“Is that so?” She walked away from the table and began to pace the length of the room. I followed beside her as we walked around. “I didn’t spend much time on frigates much when I was training. Spent more time in the Talon Squadrons.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Oh just the standard Pegasi fighter companies. Talon Class fighters are skirmish ships built around the movements of our wings.” She lifted one of her wings, tilting it forward. On the crest where muscle shifted into feathers, there were small metallic discs implanted into the flesh. “Talon fighters are essentially mechanical suits built around us. They read our wing movements and fly just as naturally as we do. Way more effective than any other steering system.”

The Pegasi really went all out in making sure that they were dominant force when it came to flight. Even I was impressed at the level of technology and innovation of the Talon fighter. It was enough to make me want to see one in action. “Just don’t say that to Pipsqueak’s face,” I mentioned. “He might be a bit upset that somepony can fly the Normanedy better than he can.”

“Heh,” Firestorm chuckled. “I wouldn’t worry about that. There’s no way a Talon config would work on a ship this size. It would take years of conditioning to get the motions of the ship and pilot to sync up to the level that the Pegasi would demand. Your pilot’s skills are safe, though I am very interested to see how an Earth Pony flies regardless.”

“He seems pretty confident about his abilities. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

She shot me an impassive stare. “Who said I was worried?” She smirked.

We circled the room slowly, making our way back to the elevator. Firestorm halted briefly, taking another look around the room. “What I’d really like to see...” she continued. “Is your weapon systems. I tried to get in there, but the guard wouldn’t let me. He was actually kind of rude about it.”

Ugh. I knew that someponies were going to voice a negative opinion about my bringing a Pegasus aboard, but I hoped they would have at least done so to me before taking it out on her. When Nimbus was here, it was as if she had snuck onboard. Nopony seemed to know about her until she appeared in front of the crew as we disembarked onto Equestria Prime, so it wasn't much of a problem. The fact that it was under Captain Quartermane’s jurisdiction probably helped too. But now, everpony knew about Firestorm, and it was my show, not Quartermane’s. She wasn’t a secret, and someponies weren’t making much of a secret of their disapproval.

“I’ll have a word with him if you want. I have to excercise my rank at least a bit, don’t I?”

“Heh, yea. Wouldn’t be much of a commander if you didn’t. But don't go out of your way on my account. I was just curious to see exactly how much of a hoof the Pegasi had in it. If its anything like what I’ve seen before, the weapon systems would have to be a work of art to match the rest of her.”

“I certainly hope so.”

Firestorm chuckled. She leaned against the wall, crossing her hooves casually. “We’ll just have to wait and see then.”

Suddenly the radio crackled to life, Pipsqueak’s voice calling out. “Hey, Shepard?”

Firestorm and I looked up to acknowledge the voice. “Yes Pipsqueak?” I replied.

“You’re needed on the Command Deck. We’re almost ready to leave.”

“Alright, I’ll be right there.”

The radio went silent. Firestorm stood up and walked back to her corner. She looked back at me before she got too far. “I’ll talk to you later, Shepard. Go give em’ hell.” She punctuated her farewell with a wave of her wing, and walked away.

I watched her disappear back to her worktable as the elevator finally arrived behind me. It was nice to know that I could have at least one normal conversation on this ship, if I could find the time in between my new duties. I sighed and entered the tiny box lift, wondering what I’d have to look forward to on the command deck.

“Commander on deck!”

The sound of synchronised hooves stomping to attention rang out through the room. Everypony stood stiff, hooves raised in a respectful salute. I stepped tentatively out of the elevator, trying to keep my worried glances short and subtle. The entire room was standing at attention and all eyes were on me, including Dexter and Westward. They were both standing next to the large holographic map in the center. I walked as calmly as I could towards them, praying I didn’t trip over anything. All this attention made my heart race and skin crawl and all I could do was try and not screw up and fall onto my face.

The two motioned me to the raised platform above the galactic map. I stepped up onto the dais with dozens of eyes watching me. It was difficult to not briefly indulge in the sense of power that this entailed. I observed the gathered crew as they held their salute. While I might be able to get used to this role in time, it was hard not to feel a little imposing with the crew and ship that was now under my command. I raised my hoof into a salute of my own. “As you were,” I ordered, trying not to sound as meek as I was feeling.

They complied, relaxing their postures. They returned to their duties automatically, the chorus of beeping and chatter filling the room once more. I turned to my two officers. They were working on a computer terminal of their own, wrapped in a rapid discussion. Dexter broke from the conversation briefly to beckon me over. I stepped down and walked towards them, glancing at the computer behind them. It showed an image of a large nebulous cloud, dotted with smaller solar systems. I started hearing details of their conversation once I made it beside them.

“No, I doubt they would have gone to the Tyrias or Vestid systems, Lieutenant.” Westward disagreed. “There’s nothing in those systems except dead planets.”

“Dead mining planets Westward. What other kind of worlds do you think technology of an ancient, all powerful and now extinct race would be found then, Westward?” Dexter argued. “A dead world now might have been a hub world for the Alicorn fifty thousand years ago.”

The navigator grumbled quietly to himself. Dexter noticed my eavesdropping and invited me into the discussion. “Shepard, glad you could join us. Westward and I were just trying to figure out what part of the Meridian Cluster we should look through first for Artemis.”

Dexter stepped aside to let me see the entirety of the monitor. I strained to look at the little lights that signified systems and words on the tiny screen. I looked at the computer dubiously and waved my omni-tool towards the galactic map. With a flick of my hoof, the map that once showed a small scale rendition of the known galaxy now showed a larger scaled version of the Meridian Cluster. Four shimmering lights stood out in the nebula, each marked with a designation: Tyrias, Vestid, Bolaris and Fenrir.

“Now as I’ve been explaining to the Lieutenant, Commander.” Westward continued. “Tyrias and Vestid are mostly dead worlds, mining facilities and the like. There’s nothing at all worthwhile in those systems.”

“But if Artemis is using the Geld,” Dexter countered. “Bolaris and Fenrir are both well populated and enforced. If he had to use force to find anything there, we would know about it.”

Dexter pressed a few buttons, removing the two latter planets from the list, and bringing the formers into a larger scale. “But these two systems are only used for mineral harvesting. Yeah they’re dead, but it's also easier to get around undetected while he finds what he’s looking for.”

I stared at the two systems, pondering on what facts had been discussed. Dexter’s point that the two populated systems would not go unnoticed if they were attacked was feasible. But I had seen first hoof how the Geld operated when it invaded worlds. They would be fast in disabling communications, making a call for help impossible. Maybe we could use that to our advantage.

“With what the Geld did on Equestria Prime, we know that if they invaded any world, they would cut communications with those jammers.”

Dexter and Westward both nodded in agreement to my statement. “What are you suggesting then Shepard?” Westward asked.

“If their target was either Bolaris or Fenrir, any planet that they go to would go dark. If we were close enough to keep an open line of communication with all of the systems there, we would notice.”

“Hmm,” Dexter mumbled. “Thats not a bad idea. And while we kept an ear open from a distance, we could search either Tyrias or Vestid without worry if Artemis does approach the other systems.”

“I suppose that could work.” Westward stared at the two highlight systems. “But what if the relic isn’t in these systems? We would be wasting our time and letting Artemis more time to consider his options.”

“That might have to be a risk that we have to take.” Dexter’s muzzle scrunched contemplatively.

I tapped on the first system. The Tyrias sector widened into full view, showing three planet sized worlds and a large asteroid belt as its prominent features. I noticed something odd about the largest world. “What’s on this planet here?” I asked, pointing my hoof.

Westward brought up a different screen, bringing up the planet into a larger view. “Trawlis. It's the largest mining world in the sector. The Granite company has a base of operations on the surface.”

“How long have they been there?”

“About a decade. It doesn’t say they’ve ever found anything interesting though.”

I stared at the rocky surface of the planet’s image. The satellite image showed the large mining complex encompassing nearly a quarter of the planet’s surface. A planet that size, it was easy to guess that if one were to find an Alicorn relic, it would be hidden well beneath the surface.

“Artemis seems to have a way to locate relics, so he has an advantage over us. While it would be a good plan to find out how, we’re better off trying to at least beat him to the relic. And if I had to guess, I have a feeling that the Granite company is about to make a discovery that won’t end well for them.”

Dexter and Westward seemed to agree, though the navigator was more hesitant. “It might be a good place to start at the very least to head to Trawlis. It will get us to the Cluster so we can check in on the adjoining systems for and suspicious activity.”

Dexter shrugged. “It’s as good a plan as any. I don’t like guessing much either Westward, but we’re running on limited intel. We’re lucky we got a system name out of that recording.”

“I suppose you’re right, Lieutenant.” Westward approached the console and typed a few commands into the screen. “It will be a few moments to get the navigation system ready. Somepony will need to let Pipsqueak know that we are almost ready to go.”

“I’ll do it,” I volunteered.

“Alright then. It’s about a seventeen hour jump so at least we’ll have time to get some rest before we get there. I’ll see about getting those communication channels ready once we arrive.”

Dexter nodded and trotted away. I lingered a moment with Westward before I turned to do the same, but the grizzled stallion stopped me. He had a sour look in his eyes, and the jovial attitude I remember from my first encounter with him seemed to shrivel away. He glanced behind him, apparently waiting for Dexter to be further away.

“If I may have a word, Commander,” he said hushedly. He led me aside, far from the center of the room where anypony might eavesdrop.

“Is something the matter Westward?”

He searched again from prying ears and eyes before looking back at me. “I thought it might be important to let you know that the newest addition of the crew was caught snooping around.”

I gave him a confused look. “Who, you mean Firestorm? Was it you who stopped her from getting into the weapon systems?”

He seemed relieved at that, his face relaxing slightly. “Oh, so you know already. No it wasn’t me, but one of the guards was quick to alert me that the pegasus was acting suspiciously.”

“I hardly call a Pegasi Weapons expert wishing to see our ships weapon systems as suspicious Westward.” I said pointedly.

“She may be an expert, Shepard, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that she was attempting to enter vital ship systems with no authority whatsoever.”

“She has my authority.”

Westward was taken aback at my plain response. Whether he was outraged or just offended I wasn’t sure, but he was going to lengths to ensure this conversation did not become a scene. “Are you certain that is wise Shepard? We have no idea that that Pegasus’ motives are, or her intentions.”

“That Pegasus...” I said curtly. “Has a name. And I trust her with my life, Westward. She’s saved it twice at least already, and done more for this ship, this crew and our entire race than the council races combined in the past day.”

Now I was finding it hard to not get angry. I expected a level of restraint from a seasoned officer like Westward, but apparently everypony that was alive during First Contact had wounds far too deep to heal. “I understand your reasons of distrust, Westward. But I’m hoping that the time you spend with a Pegasus here on the Normanedy can change your opinion of them, in time. They are not all evil.”

I briefly remembered the reason Firestorm was with us, and the reason were were going to all his trouble in the first place. “Only some of them are. We’re going to catch Artemis, with her help. And maybe then we can start to finally move on from all this hate.”

Westward looked like he tried to respond, but his mouth only opened and closed slowly, not a word leaving his lips. I wanted him to think on what I had said, and hopefully some of it would dig in.

“Now you have duties to attend to, Westward. As you were.” I saluted dismissively, and he returned the gesture.

“Of course...Commander.”

He trotted away stiffly, returning to his work. I sighed in relief that we both managed to keep that conversation from boiling over. Just like South, it was probably going to be a lot of work to keep everypony in line regarding Firestorm. But simply being Commander wasn’t enough. I wasn’t going to be able to just enforce compliance in all of them. I was going to have to show that she could be trusted, or she was going to have to do it herself. Either way, it was going to be a long time before anything changed.

But I had other things to worry about now. We still had a mission to do. I moved towards the door into the cockpit. The door slipped open silently revealing the darkened pilot’s nest. I lingered in the doorway a moment, casting a quick glance back into navigation. Everypony was still hard at work, making all the necessary preparations to get the ship ready for departure. It was satisfying that the crew could function perfectly fine on its own. It definitely would make my job easier in the long run as I slowly learned to full nature of my new responsibilities. One of those responsibilities, however, was going to keep the rebellious pilot in line. I sighed glumly at that encroaching reality as I entered the room and the door slid shut behind me.

The first thing I noticed once the din of the previous room had quieted down was music. A gentle cadence of melodious rhythms were steadily rising to a crescendo, woven with a repeating chorus of electronic bell like noises. The beeping of the consoles grounded the ethereal melody back to reality, but the harmonious wind sounds brought it to a level of serenity that I did not imagine possible.

The song continued as I moved towards Pipsqueaks pilot seat. The music was loud enough to mask my approach, for he did not seem to notice me as I stepped up beside his chair. He appeared to be lost in the music, leaning deeply into his chair and swaying his hooves gently with the rhythm. Even I could not help but get lost in the sea of sounds that he was broadcasting throughout the room. The music eventually slowed and steadily winded down into silence. Pipsqueak reached forward with a leg, tapping on the console to halt the music, never leaving his state of relaxation.

“That was some interesting music.” I said.

Pipsqueak sprung forward. “Whoa!” he shouted. “You don’t sneak up on a pilot when he’s at the wheel!” He looked at me with an irritated expression, before he realised who exactly he was talking to. He didn’t repeat Depots expression, returning to his mirthful grin and reclining his chair again. “Oh its you, Shepard.” he said passively. “What’s up?”

I was glad that he was another pony that was kind enough to not beat me over the head with my new promotion, but I guess he was doing it for reasons other than altruism.

“How did you make it this far if thats how you act around superior officers?”

He laughed. “Sometimes being the best has its perks. I didn’t bust my rump in flight school to get bossed around by a bunch of grouchy drill sergeants.”

“Then how did you get assigned to Quartermane?” I asked wryly.

He chuckled again. “Quartermane is exactly the kind of pony who understands and recognises talent. He picked the Lieutenant, Chalkdust and Westward because they are the best of their fields, just like me and you. The Normanedy couldn’t accept anything less.”

“But even he calls you Pipsqueak.”

“Well Pipsqueak sounds a whole lot better than Flight Lieutenant Piper.” He made a few stiff motions with his hooves as he spoke, mimicking robotic arms. “And even Quartermane doesn’t have a pole sized stick up his rear like South.” He spun in his chair to look behind us, making sure that his comment wasn’t heard by an unintended audience. “Now that mare has some issues.”

“Tell me about it.” I added.

“Oh you want some suggestions?” He grinned. “Cause I was working on a few theories...”

I shot him a look that gave even him a reason to shut up. But it didn’t completely stop him. “Fine, fine.” He waved his hoof in a little circle. “Maybe later, I’ll have something more concrete.”

I rolled my eyes, but I knew the sentiment was lost on him. It was nice to know that not everypony had issues onboard, and Pipsqueak was a little bit amusing I suppose, not that I would ever admit it to him. I wondered why his Cutie Mark wasn’t a jester instead of that old tiller wheel, or why he purposely used a name that insulted his own size.

“How did you get your nickname anyways?”

He looked at me with a deadpan stare. “Seriously?”

He wasn't fooling me. Pipsqueak was somepony built on his sarcastic wit, and I hardly believed that he would allow anypony to call him by that name unless he had some story built behind it.

“Seriously. I doubt your size is the only reason you have that name.”

He smiled again. He tapped on his console, bringing up an image of what looked like a historical document. It was a centuries old article, written about somepony named Pipsqueak the Pirate, who lived more than a thousand years ago. He too was an abnormally small stallion, at least evidenced by the ancient looking drawings and images accompanying the article. But his size did little to detract from how terrifying he looked. He was gaunt and looked like he reeked of death. His clothes were torn and ratty, caked in blood and dirt. He had an eye patch laced with a skull and crossbones and his right foreleg was replaced by a wooden peg. A chipped cutlass was clenched in between his teeth as he fought his way through ancient foes.

“Pipsqueak the Pirate basically owned the era of pirates,” the pilot began. There was nopony on Earth in those days that could rally against him. He was small yea, but he had presence. His crew was the nastiest bunch of lowlifes you could imagine, but none of them came close to his level of cruelty and bloodthirst.”

A few images cycled by, depictions and renditions of bloody naval battles. All of them had the miniscule pirate in the thick of battle, wading through his enemies in a sea of steel and blood. Pipsqueak chuckled at the images as they whizzed past.

“And you know the best part?” He smiled amusedly as he looked at me. “He wasn’t even the captain. He was just the pony that steered the ship.” I didn’t know what was more worrying; that a pony like that ever existed, or that my pilot idolized him. He closed the files and brought up the controls for the ship, spinning his chair to me. “We all have our idols, Shepard. Not all of them are the cleanest of ponies, but they can have an affect on you in the weirdest of ways.”

Pilot, jokester and now philosopher. It was almost eerie how philosophical his statement was. He was perfectly content in the fact that his hero was a bloodthirsty pirate and I guess if it made him better at his job I couldn’t really fault him for it. His stance of zen broke when he crossed his hooves in boredom and gave me an equally bored look.

“So where are we headed, anyways?”

At least he had some professionalism. I stepped forward right up to the chair beside him. I stared outside the window at the large nebula of clouds and dust that surrounded us. The Corral was well behind us as we moved towards the Whip Gate hidden within the mists ahead.

“Trawlis. I got a feeling that that’s where Artemis will be heading.”

“Got it.” Pipsqueak turned back to his console, bringing up the navigation information that Westward had completed. ”Sheesh,” Pipsqueak groaned sarcastically. “Seventeen hour jump. Long trip.”

“Plenty of time for some rest then.”

“Heh, I guess you’ll be needing a lot of it, commander.”

I was an idiot to think that he wouldn’t poke me with that at least once. He spun back to his console with a chuckle. He padded at his controls expertly and I hear the ship spring to life as it began to move. I glanced outside the window. We were steadily moving back into the thick clouds that encircled the Corral Station towards the Whip Gate that lay beyond. Shadows and dust obscured my vision, but Pipsqueak wasn’t hindered in the slightest. His hooves traced along the control as if it was an intricate dance of motion that only he had mastered.

The Normanedy broke through the clouds into a field of empty space. It was like the epicenter of a hurricane, with large swirling masses of clouds surrounding us. At the center of it all sat the Whip Gate, churning its core of otherworldly power. Another wave of peace washed over me as I surveyed the scene. The ship swayed smoothly through the void quietly as the looming construction we floated towards slowly grew larger in our view.

“So what do you think will happen when we run into Artemis?”

For once, Pipsqueak had asked a completely serious question and had a look on his face to match.

“I have no idea.”

“Do you think we can handle him? I took a look at some of the things he’s done. He’s not going to be a pushover.”

Pipsqueak had a point. From the story Quartermane told me and from outset of First Contact, Artemis had proven himself to be nothing less than a ruthless and merciless soldier. In the two decades or so since, his skills would have only gotten better. He managed to kill Nimbus, evade suspicion from those who oversaw him and now was hiding who knows where in the galaxy. My assumption that we would find him on Trawlis was far fetched to begin with. There wasn’t even a guarantee that he was there himself. He had hired gangs from the Corral to handle his dirty work, there was no reason he wouldn’t hire others. But it was all we had.

“You know what I think?” he continued. “I think when we find him, we’ll give him the flank kicking he deserves.”

“Heh. Here’s hoping.”

We were about halfway to the Whip Gate by now. I could hear the engines beginning to whir in preparation for the impending space jump. Pip idly pressed at his controls as the ship began to hum from the surge of energy.

“This is the start of something big, I think. Big enough to warrant a speech.”

He took one of the holographic screens floating in front of him and moved it in front of me with a wave of his hoof. The screen shifted slightly into an image of a microphone. A small light was flashing, a light labeled mute. I stared through the hologram at Pipsqueak incredulously.

“Honor’s all yours, Commander.” He grinned, probably the biggest grin I’d seen all day.

“What should I say?”

He shrugged. “I dunno, something inspiring, something that shows that you know what you’re doing, something that shows confidence.”

“Confidence...right...”

My mind raced at what would be the best thing to say, if there was. Of all the skills I probably wasn’t suited for in my new role, public speaking and inspiring confidence in others was probably not one of them. The only thing I could think of was our goal of stopping Artemis and all that served was bringing Pipsqueaks worries to the front of my mind. Here we were, on an experimental ship, chasing a well known and deadly fugitive across the Galaxy, with no idea where he was or what he was doing, all by the seat of our flanks. The crew was probably as well versed on Artemis as Pipsqueak was too and knew exactly the kind of psychopath we were chasing. They were probably as wary in hunting him as I was.

But maybe that was enough. Quartermane believed in me. The Council believed in me. Firestorm, Dexter, South, even Pipsqueak believed in me. Why couldn’t I believe in me? I could make the argument that I was way in over my head, but it was too late to turn back now. All that was left to do was go forward. I had ponies backing me, and a ship to take us where we needed to go. We were out here to do the right thing, and for me that was enough.

I cleared my throat, glancing once more out the window. We were less than a minute away from the Gate now, the outer shell of the ship now pulsing blue. The shields undulated loudly as the engine began to make its final preparations before the tendril of energy would connect to the ship and launch us forward. There was something majestic about how it all was starting to come together around me, and that enough to give me the courage to give my words a voice.

I tapped the screen, ending the incessant blink of the mute button. A new humming noise filled the air, signaling that the entire ship was wired in. Here we go.

“Attention Normanedy,” I began. I heard my voice spread through the room, and by extension, the entire ship. “This is Commander Shepard.”

I paused a moment, my mind lapsing slightly. I felt that waiting to ensure that everypony was paying attention would be a good idea, but now I just felt a rising panic. Pip turned in his chair to give me an encouraging gesture and an assuring smile.

Surprisingly, it worked. “There has probably been a fair amount of concern over the events over the past few days. I share your concerns. What started out as a simple shakedown run has certainly been taking a strange turn, but I knew that I was signing up for something big when I joined the Normanedy.”

“Things have changed, but that doesn’t mean we are any less ready for them. Just as always, we have a mission, and we will see it through to the end. Artemis knows we’re after him, and we’re going to give him the chase of his life.”

“He may be hiding now, but sooner or later we’ll find him, and when we do we’ll give him the punishment he deserves for his crimes. He has been an antagonist to the Earth Pony race for far too long, and he let his biased hatred of us get the better of him. That was his first mistake.”

“We won’t be doing it alone either. We have talented individuals among us that all wish to see him brought down. I know the crew I have chosen will do what needs to be done, and I trust each and every one of them to get the job done. I hope all of you can show them the same respect and trust as I do. They have each saved my life and the lives of others in their pursuit of Artemis. I owe them much more than a simple thank you, and I hope that you can all appreciate their part to play.”

“So I say this to you all. We will find him, wherever he is. We will stop him at whatever game he’s playing with us. And when we do, the galaxy will know that it was the crew of the Normanedy that stopped him.”

I could hear the chorus of cheers through the door as I returned the screen to Pipsqueak. He had a fond look in his eyes and failed at trying to hide it. “Well said, Shepard. Quartermane would be proud.”

I flashed a victorious smile back at him. “Lets give him a reason to be prouder, then. Let’s go catch a criminal.”

“Aye, aye, Commander!”

Pip took hold of the ship with almost childlike glee and excitement. The Normanedy swerved wide as it moved along side the massive structure. She trembled slightly as we connected with the Whip gate and the ship began to lurch forward. A corona of blue light began to coalesce around the hull as the ship vibrated with intense energy. The world outside began to bend and twist as the engine core sang its song. I grabbed hold of a nearby wall, preparing for the initial jump. With one final chorus of humming, the tendril of energy snapped, and we propelled into the black unknown.

End of Act One

Love and Tolerate! Redux: Paragon Points Earned.

Codex Entry Added: Sergeant Major Southern Belle

Chapter 8: The Dig

Chapter 8: The Dig

“Holy moly thats a lot of holies!”

Ponies in my line of work frequently live in the depths of space. Working on some distant trawler, or some backwater salvage depot, perhaps even, like myself, working on a military vessel. Whatever their tasks may be, whether it’s repairing a broken capacitor to make sure the warp drive functions, or that all the cutting tools are at maximum efficiency and ensuring that the weapon systems are fully primed and ready to go. While any of these ponies may work in vastly different settings, they all share one thing in common.

Space. It surrounds us, stretching out farther than the eye or the mind can fathom. Even on the surface of a planet, only so much of the worlds beyond it can be seen through the sky with the naked eye. With a telescope, the range grows wider, but still only covers at a best estimation, a single percent of the entire galaxy. Not even from the apex of space itself can we cover everything. Something always is missed, some little detail or hidden treasures that escape our combing eyes. Its those very secrets that make the endless emptiness of space seem bearable.

Swirling galaxies, endless nebulas, countless stars and millions of worlds. These are only a few of the trademark beauties in the universe that add color to the dismal landscape of black that fills the night sky, and makes working in it as a nomadic engineer all the easier. But sometimes, there are times where trudging through the blackness can be overwhelming to you. Sometimes the canvas of black can be all you see, and if you look into it deeply enough, you could be lost to it.

And that’s where I found myself now. Floating along, through what seemed to be an endless landscape of black. I tried to reach down in the hopes of finding a solid surface to ground myself, but only emptiness returned my swatting grasp. This place seemed to be endless, because I’d been hovering for at least ten minutes with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Maybe I was dreaming, but I’d never had a dream this boring before. It could have been another vision, but I had seen all that I could from the beacon on Equestria Prime. Or at least I thought I did. Since it was destroyed though, I would never know for certain. All I knew now is that I felt trapped in what might have been nothing more than a stress induced fever-dream from all the new happenings in my life.

I say black, not dark, because despite the void appearance of my surroundings, I still could see perfectly well. Sure, I could only see myself, but it was better than being shrouded in eternal darkness. I felt like I was being tugged towards something. It was a similar feeling that I remembered from the ending of the vision. That ever present sense of pestering at the front of my mind that pulled me from the dreamworld now seemed to be guiding me here, where to, though, had yet to be seen.

I wasn’t, freaking out, not yet anyways. Despite the eeriness of everything around, I felt no sense of dread, no malevolence, nothing. It was as if I was in the midst of complete and utter neutrality. Everything was still, motionless, non existent. I just wish I would hurry along and get to the point! As far as I was concerned, all this pointless floating around was robbing me of what should have been a pleasant nights sleep!

Somehow, I think something got the point at my rising frustrations. Slowly, a razors edge of light began to grow in the distance, forming a glowing horizon. A corona of light, slowly crept up into the inky sky, casting a violet light over the landscape. The source of the light filled the once blackened sky, an orb of prismatic colors, much like a dying sun. A shape formed within the light. It was a blob of darkness, or perhaps a shadow of something standing between me and the eternally setting sun. Its shape became clearer the closer I got to it, until it was impossible for me to not identify it. A slender body, four legs and hooves and a long flowing mane that shimmered in the light of dusk. It was a mare, of purplish color in coat and mane. A mare I had seen before, in my dreams.

Whatever force that was propelling me towards her stopped just as I arrived beside her. She looked a great deal younger than our last encounter, but there was no doubt that this was the same mare from the vision that I had seen in the reflection. Her lavender fur almost glistened in the unnatural light, her hair twisting in a phantom wind. She stared straight forward with violet eyes, her gaze unbreaking from the horizon.

“Excuse me,” I asked. “Where are we?”

No response. She blinked, but made no other indication that she had heard me.

“Who are you?”

Still nothing. I followed her gaze to the horizon, looking at the glowing sun that floated unmoving in the darkened sky. Aside from the strange glow it emitted from this strange landscape, it seemed like any normal sun. Why was this mare so focused on it? I turned my head back to her, only to see her looking right at me. She had a morose expression on her face, her eyes glinting with sadness. I would have asked another question, when the light illuminating her body began to fade away.

I looked back to the sun. Something had quickly moved in front of it, something very, very large. It was a rock, an asteroid, twice the size of any freighter or dreadnought that I had ever worked on. And it was moving right towards us. The monstrous rock took little effort in blotting out what little light there was, filling my entire field of view and still grew larger as it approached. I glanced back to the mare, who was still staring at me.

“What are you trying to tell me?”

She slowly turned her head to the asteroid, then back to me, closing her eyes.

“The asteroid? Is that important?”

She lifted her right hoof, tapping on her left just above the fetlock in a gentle motion. Her eyes opened again, a smile forming slowly on her muzzle. That was the last thing I saw before I felt the force holding me up dissipate around me, dropping me into the black abyss below. I tumbled into the inky darkness, catching glimpses of the moon sized monster that hung in the air like an a stagnant omen. The void wrapped around me, like silken strands of velvet as the spun themselves, constricting my movement. Now, I was feeling panic. I was falling, spinning, and being slowly wrapped tighter by the very darkness that I was surrounded by.

Then I hit rock bottom.

The surge of pain when you fall out of bed is more than enough to wake you from a unfriendly dream and for once, I was grateful for it. I was, however, conflicted on how I felt about my freedom from my strange dream. On one hoof, I had returned to the safety of solid ground. On the other, I had returned to the safety of solid ground, with my face. I groaned as the rest of my twisted body followed suit in my heads journey to the ground, tangled in the mess of cloth that were my blankets, a delightful thud accompanying my descent to the floor. Remaining motionless, I sat quietly on the floor, trying desperately to piece together my cryptic dream. That mare was trying to tell me something and it had something to do with an asteroid. A scary one at that. I didn’t think it was possible for a rock to worry me, but that one would give me nightmares for nights to come.

An pounding noise began echoing through my mind. It felt like listening to the sound of my heartbeat, rumbling through my spinning mind. It was rather calming, until I realised that the timing was off. I knew I had just woken up from a alarming dream, but my heart shouldn’t be racing at a constant, heightening pace. Or sound like it was speaking my name.

“Hey Shepard? You ok in there?”

It sounded like Dexter. I rolled over towards the source of his voice, my gaze falling on the door. Something was banging on it rather loudly. I slowly untangled myself from the bed and got to my hooves and trotted over to the door, my mind still distant by the ominous dream. I opened the door for the Lieutenant, who had a worried look on his face.

“Are you ok, Shepard? I’ve been knocking for a while.”

“I’m fine,” I said, yawning. “Just a weird dream.”

He nodded tentatively in understanding, but it didn’t help his worried look. “Is there something wrong?” I asked, trying to change the subject.

“No,” he shook his head. “But we’re about to exit the FTL jump. Thought you might want to get ready.”

I looked at the clock on my omni-tool, confirming what he said. We were about ten minutes out, but it was definitely a good idea to prepare ahead of time. “Alright, you go on ahead Dexter. I’ll catch up.”

“Of course.” He turned around and trotted away briskly. “I’ll see you there Shepard. Don’t take too long, or you’ll miss the show.”

The what? I would have asked, but Dexter was already gone. I returned to my room, sighing at the disastrous mess that used to be my bed. That dream had certainly gone to outrageous lengths to mess with my head, but what did it mean? Who was that mare, and why was she still in my head? These questions were going to have to wait until later, as well as repairing the damage it caused to my room. I shut the door behind me and chased after Dexter.

The ship was much quieter than normal as I darted through the corridors. I supposed others took the time to rest as I did. I couldn’t blame them. The last few days had been hectic, stressful and chaotic. Plus we had moved from the incident on Equestria Prime to the Corral and now to Trawlis in no less than twenty four hours. With little time to rest in between no less.

The alert that the jump was about to end seemed to rouse the ship from its slumber, as I noticed the decks steadily become filled with more ponies. The navigation room was the least affected by the long travel, many of the original technicians still at their posts. Westward was still at his position at the galaxy map, tapping away his holographic display dutifully. The door to the cockpit was propped open, and Dexter had just stepped through it.

I moved towards the pilots nest, stopping a few times to politely return a crewpony’s salute as I passed them. The darkened room was more populated than I expected as I entered. The grumpy soldier was leaning against the consoles along the left, while the aloof pegasus was standing just beside Pipsqueak’s chair on his right, on the opposite side from her newly acquired rival. Pipsqueak and her seemed to be talking about something, differences in piloting most likely, while South was staring quietly out the window into space, while Dexter continued walking up to the pilot.

“How much longer, Pipsqueak?” he asked.

I saw Pipsqueaks head turn from Firestorm to Dexter from behind his chair. “About five more minutes, Dex. Did you get Shepard?”

“I’m here,” I announced.

Everypony turned to look at me, inciting at least a pleasant smile from everypony but South, not that I expected anything different. I joined Dexter and Firestorm at the front of the room. Pipsqueak chuckled once I arrived beside him..

“Good to see you here, Shepard. Now you get to see the master at work for real.”

“Just don’t crash the ship coming out of a simple jump, Pipsqueak.” Dexter teased. “Wouldn’t be much of an assignment if we all died on the first day.”

“Jeeze Lieutenant,” Pipsqueak groaned. “Way to be morbid. You act as if I don’t know what I’m doing.”

Dexter smiled. “Just keep her steady flyboy. We’re on a short schedule and need to catch up to Artemis, wherever he is.”

“Yea, yea.” the pilot mumbled. He took hold of the ship, swiping at the holographic controls with practiced experience. The console bleeped steadily, toning the familiar noise that signaled the end of a FTL jump. A second tone accompanied the original, one I never heard before in my previous observations of a space jump. Pipsqueak glanced at the flashing set of lights, dismissing them with a casual shrug.

“Is that something important, Pipsqueak?” I asked.

“Nah, the hyperdrive sonar just picked up a bit of space junk in our exit space. The auto cannons will clean it up if there’s any risk. The odds of us running into anything big enough without a marker tag would be a million to one.”

The Normanedy shuddered as the blue vortice of light surrounding us began to wither and wane. The coursing energy of the EX core hummed loudly as the vessel began to return to normal speed. The tunnel of light fractured and shattered into nothing. The starry background of space blurred back into view as the FTL drives whirred to a crawl. Pipsqueak pulled back on the vessel and the Normanedy tilted upwards, bringing a series of large planets scattered over a vast region of space into view.

“See? Nothing to worry about. Like I said. Million to one.”

Pipsqueak spun around in his chair, beaming. He looked like he expected a round of applause and gave a little pout when he didn’t receive one. Dexter walked up to the window, looking out over the portion of space we had entered. His head became illuminated by the radiant light of a nearby star as he came close to the window. There was a pleasant look on his face as he looked out into space, when a blurr of shadow darted across him. I don’t think anypony but he and I noticed it, as we were the only ones who darted to the other window.

Peering frantically outside the cabin, I searched for the source of the strange shadow, not that it was difficult. Careening towards us, like a bad nightmare come to life, was the same massive asteroid that I remembered from my dream. Even as a plain old rock, it was impossible to not see the similarities of this massive chunk of space rock, including the rate as it was approaching us.

“Uh, Pipsqueak.” I blurted. “I think that will be that one you were talking about.”

He spun his chair forward again, trying to see over Dexter and I. “What are you talking abou-”

Warning signals started blaring through the cabin, accompanied by ear shattering wails and blinking red lights. Pipsqueak’s eyes doubled in size as his gaze finally fell onto the behemoth rock hurtling towards our tiny vessel. I heard his chair grind in protest as he whirled it to his controls.

“EVERYPONY, HOLD ON!”

The Normanedy dived downwards and swung out wide, narrowly avoiding the path of the asteroid. It was difficult to maintain balance with the sudden change of direction and even the motion dampeners failed to keep the ones of us that weren’t seated from bouncing into each other. I felt my hooves slip on the cold steel floors in the shift of gravity and nearly went flying when the Normanedy righted itself upwards again. I felt a warm glow surround me and Dexter, as he struggled his magic to keep us from flying around the confined room. Dexter was unable to keep me facing forward though, as I spun around in place. I saw South riding the turbulence with reckless enthusiasm, shifting her body with the rocking and tumbling of the Normanedy’s hull as if she had done it many times before. Firestorm seemed to also be keeping from tumbling around, beating her wings furiously to keep her hooves solidly on the ground.

Pipsqueak finally regained control of his emergency maneuver and brought the Normanedy to bear. The ship straightened itself in a single direction and the artificial gravity was finally doing its job at keeping us from crashing into the walls. Although we were safe, the tumble through space was enough to inconveniently bring back my space sickness. I wobbled on my hooves as the dizziness set in, but I managed to lean against the chair to keep my balance. For now, until we could determine what just happened, I was going to have to fight this feeling down before I sought Chalkdust’s and her ‘treatment’.

The Normanedy crawled to a stop. Pipsqueak released a weighted sigh of relief a he went limp in his chair, almost sliding out of it. South was the first to voice a coherent thought. “Is ev’ry pony ok?”

“Think I might have ruffled a few feathers there,” Firestorm replied glibly. “But I’ve been worse.”

South didn’t acknowledge the Pegasus, instead moving towards where Dexter and I were standing. He seemed to be ok, as well as Pipsqueak who was still breathing heavily. We all stared out the window at the giant rock that we nearly ran into, as it continued its journey through space unaffected by our presence.

“Will somepony get that lout Westward in here?” the pilot barked. “I’d love to know how he missed a rock the size of Manehatten state!”

“I’m right here, Mr. Piper.” the navigator groused.

We all turned around to see the elder stallion wobbling slightly as he entered the room, with a weary look on his face. His officers tunic was torn in some places, dirty in others. It seemed that we in the pilot’s roost were not the only one bounced around a fair bit.

“Would somepony kindly explain what in the seven circles of space happened?”

Pipsqueak spun in his chair, hopping out with a sharp clank on the metal floors. He beelined towards Westward in a huff with a very angry look on his face. “Would you like to explain how you missed that?!” he shouted, pointing out the window.

Westward trotted past the fuming pilot over to the window. Horror spread across his features as he too fully realized the reality of what happened. He muttered something harshly under his breath, darting over to the nearby console near the doorway.

“It can’t be,” he muttered. “It isn’t possible, not something that large.”

We all shared worried glances with each other over Westwards frantic state. He feverishly prodded at the console, flashing through readers and all sorts of navigational jargon that I might understand, if I bothered to research it.

“What is it, Westward?” I asked.

He stopped, looking at us with a slightly calmer expression. “That asteroid is twice the size of a class M.”

“Class M?”

Firestorm stepped beside me, giving me a plain look. “Asteroids that can cause serious harm to a planet are often tagged with danger levels, Shepard. Defense computers can pick up on them and allow Corral fleets to monitor them incase they become a threat to a colony.”

“E-exactly.” Westward agreed. “This one is the largest I have ever seen. A class M would destabilize a planets atmosphere by engulfing it in dust and debris, as well as leave a sizable hole in its surface. This one would obliterate a planet in seconds”

“Well, where did it come from?” Firestorm inquired.

“Whut do you mean, ‘where did it come from’?” South snarked. “It came from out there!”

Firestorm rolled her eyes. “We are also very close to the galactic rim here, its very possible that thing came from the dead space between galaxies. Thats probably why nopony has noticed it before.”

“She’s right. “Westward interrupted. He was at the console again, checking his data. “That thing would have only arrived from the galactic terminus less than a week ago at its current velocity. A very unfortunate coincidence.”

Coincidence my left hoof. That thing was from a dream I had woken up not ten minutes ago. That mare seemed to know something about it. Maybe it wasn’t just chance that we happened to run into it now. It had to go deeper than that.

“Where is it headed?” I asked.

Westward completed his calculations and mulled over the results. A weak laugh escaped his mouth, followed by the return of his morose expression. “Now that is just not playing fair,” he deadpanned.

“What, what is it?” Dexter asked worriedly.

“Trawlis. Thats where it’s headed.”

Pipsqueak groaned. “You have got to be kidding me!”

“I wish I was. In less than ten hours that rock will collide with Trawlis right along its equatorial fault line. Trawlis is a very large world, but even it wouldn’t survive a hit from something that large.”

“Then whut are we doing yammerin around here?” South drawled excitedly. “We gotta git’ a move on!”

“On it!” Pipsqueak bounded back to his chair and the Normanedy quickly lurched forward. Permission for a short distance jump, Commander? The faster we get there the better.”

“Do it, we’ve wasted enough time.”

I could feel the Normanedy’s engines hum loudly as it charged for a short distance jump. Everypony braced themselves for another dive through lightspeed, while I on the other hoof, wobbled sickeningly towards the exit out of the room.

Before the jump completed, I heard Dexter call after me. “Shepard, where are you going?”

“To see Chalkdust,” I replied weakly. “I need a drink.”

“I certainly hope I am not inuring you to this sort of treatment, Shepard.” The matronly doctor chided. “This was meant as a temporary solution while your body naturally adjusted to artificial gravity, not to be a crutch to rely on.”

I deposited the now emptied glass of the burning liquid onto the small white table with a heavy hoof. “You and me both, Doc.”

As much as the process of quelling my stomach tremors became easier, it was still an unpleasant method of achieving it. It looked pretty bad if the Commander of a spaceship couldn’t hold their liquor and it was even worse if they couldn’t stand switching between natural and artificial gravity. I really hoped that Chalkdust was right about my body eventually getting used to it, I just wished it would hurry the hell up.

“Are you certain you are alright though, Shepard? I can imagine these past few days have been taxing on you and I wouldn’t want you to overexert yourself. As much as I enjoy my profession, I do not enjoy repeat visits with such frequency.”

She had a solemn and worried expression on her face. I could tell she was genuinely concerned for my well being and I was very grateful for it. But I don’t think even she would fully understand the mess that became of my mind since the relic on Equestria Prime. First that vision, then the prophetic dream, I wondered grimly what else I would have to look forward to.

“I’ll be fine Chalkdust, really. I just need to get an actual nights rest for once.” I tried to add a sarcastic spin to my voice, but it was lost on the doting doctor. She merely shook her head and turned away to return her supplies and instruments.

I heard the door to the med-bay open, followed by two silhouettes moving towards us from behind the veiled curtain. The canvas cover fluttered open revealing an armored South and Dexter. Chalkdust nodded to the two entering soldiers. “The Commander is fit for duty, Lieutenant,” she said affirmingly. She quietly slipped out behind them, leaving us alone in the inner sanctum of the curtain.

“You ready to go Shepard?” Dexter asked. “Pipsqueak said we’re gonna be in Trawlis’ orbit any second now.”

“So long as he don’t try an’ crash us into any more o’ those asteroids,” South added dryly.

I hopped off the bed, shaking loose the last bit of tension from my aching body. “Yea, I’m good to go.” I glanced at my companions armor. “I guess I should get suited up too.”

Dexter stopped me when I tried to walk past him. He had a stern look on his face, which was something I never expected to see on the jovial Lieutenant. “Are you sure you are ok, Shepard? I saw that haunted look you had after that asteroid.”

I chuckled weakly, trying to dissuade his prying. “Who wouldn’t be spooked after a close call like that? I’m fine, Dexter. Really.”

He looked like he was going to press further, when South laid a hoof on his own. “Lay off, Dexter. If Shepard’s alright, then Shepard’s alright, don’t we got someplace tuh be thats more important right about now?”

South was defending me now, that was new. I wondered what I had done to earn such a gift, or perhaps she was just waiting until after all the shooting was done to pester me with worry. Whatever reason she had to be suddenly altruistic, it seemed to work on Dexter, who finally lowered his hoof that was barring my way. “Yea, ok. If you say you’re fine Shepard, I believe you. Just don’t hesitate to talk to somepony if something changes.”

I nodded silently at his concern and continued towards the exit. We joined together and left the med-bay, moving through the levels of the ship until we found ourselves in the depths of the cargo section. The room was still as scarcely populated as it was when we left the Corral and I found myself missing the platoons of soldiers that once called the Normanedy home. South and Dexter wandered over to the pile of supplies surrounding Depot, leaving me alone to get my equipment from my locker. Putting on my armor was also getting easier with practice, and it wasn’t long before I rejoined my companions at the front of the room. Depot was in the middle of showing them some rifles and other weapon paraphernalia, when I noticed the elevator doors open.

Firestorm stepped out, her sniper rifle cradled ominously over her shoulders. She glanced our way, moving across the room briskly. Her heavy Pegasus armor clanked loudly on the metal floors, causing South and Dexter to look her way. The Lieutenant gave the approaching Pegasus an approving nod, while South settled on a contemptuous snort.

“So Ah guess we all are goin’ down there together, huh?”

“Of course,” I replied. “Why wouldn’t we all go? We have no idea what’s down there, or if it’s safe.”

“Ah suppose so...” South agreed sourly.

Firestorm trotted up finally, looking around at us and even giving South a friendly smile. If she was purposely trying to goad her into anger, it seemed to be working. South shot back a sneer and snagged her rifle from the table, walking away in a huff. Nopony made a comment until the soldier trotted away towards the other side of the room.

“My coming along isn’t going to cause problems is it?” the Pegasus asked.

“She’ll be fine,” I remarked. “She just needs some time to warm up to you.”

“Or an ice pick,” Dexter added dryly.

Firestorm and I laughed at his comment. His face went still as he closed his eyes in focus. After a brief moment of concentration, a weak blue glow emitted from his temple, as a similar glow enveloped his own rifle. He lifted his weapon with his magic effortlessly and attached it to the side of his armor. Firestorm’s eyes widened slightly at the simple feat of telekinesis, whistling approvingly.

“I never did look into how Earth Pony’s reacted when they started getting into magitech. What generation are you?”

Dexter grinned. “I’m first generation myself. It was a pretty big mess when foals started lifting things with their minds. It took nearly a decade to balance it all out.”

Firestorm nodded with interest. “Cool. The Pegasi have had access to magitech for a few centuries now I think, since we ran into the Unicorns at least. But for the most part, we still only rely on our own natural talent of weather control. It’s all we’ve ever needed, and it’s probably all we’ll ever need.”

“That makes sense, I guess. We are sort of the same. We use it mostly for little things, like using tools more efficiently. But South over there is living proof that we as a race prefer to doing things ‘the Earth Pony way’.”

“Hah. I’d bet she would rather die than use magitech if she was given the choice.”

“Probably.”

I finally got around to getting the rest of my own gear sorted away, when the intercom buzzed to life.

“Hey guys,” Pipsqueak called out. “We’re five minutes from entering Trawlis’ orbit. I hope you guys are ready.”

“Almost, Pipsqueak,” I answered. “Have you hailed the colony on surface yet?”

“I did during the jump, but didn’t get anything. I’ll try again.”

A faint buzzing filled the air, as Pipsqueaks voice hummed through radio static. “Hailing Granite base of operations. This is SEV Normandey requesting docking clearance. Please respond.”

More buzzing, but no reply. “Granite base, this is Normanedy. A class M asteroid is on a direct collision course with Trawlis, do you read?”

Nothing. The channel simply continued to buzz with ominously quiet static.

“Looks like you might have been right about Artemis coming Shepard,” Dexter remarked gravely.

Of all things I would get right as my first official act as a Commander, and it had to be this. I should have felt relieved that we were on the right path, but the fact that an entire mining complex, one that encompassed nearly a quarter of a planet, had gone dark.

“Do you see anything out of the ordinary, Pipsqueak?” Firestorm added. “A Geld dropship maybe?”

“Nope, nothing. The sky over the complex is empty. Hang on, I’ll open the cargo doors once we clear atmo.”

The ship rumbled loudly as she slipped through the planets atmospheric barriers. The sound of air and friction roared from the outside of the steel walls of the vessel as we left the emptiness of space into the bonds of earth. I felt the gentle tug of natural gravity pull on me, and the relaxing sensation it brought to my stomach was a welcome relief.

“Almost to the colony, opening cargo-bay doors.”

The metal plating groaned as the hydraulic doors slowly began to descend. Air rushed into the room as the Normanedy flew threw the air. We all stepped slowly towards the door as it opened, taking in the sight of the surface as it came into view.

A barren, rocky mesa stretched out in all directions. Scores of jagged cliffs and desolate ravines disappeared below us as the Normanedy zipped along the surface. I noticed a series of towers protruding from the landscape in the distance. They stood out from the surrounding hills with sharp, deliberate shapes and sizes, not belonging among the rock and dust covered surface of Trawlis. As we got closer, the maze like web of canyons below us blended into wide, gaping chasms in the earth. Dozens of giant, black pits were scattered around in a large circular pattern around a central, pillar like structure.

The Normanedy began to slow, and lifted higher from the earth to soar above the strange cylindrical building that we had seen from space. The building, if I would call it that, was more like a giant metal scaffolding dug around the walls of an enormous crater. The structure appeared to be sectioned off in coils, each level separated at regular intervals into the pit. At the top, a platform was suspended in the air, connected by catwalks and ramps that weaved through each level of the coiling mineshaft.

“Now that,” South drawled. “Is a mighty big hole.”

“You can’t even see the bottom,” Dexter added.

I looked down into the massive pit below us. The coils were lined with powerful floodlights, illuminating the depths of the shaft, but it was not enough to reveal all of it. Just endless, ominous black descending into the center of the planet. The Normanedy hovered listlessly in the air, the droning noise of the engines bringing a sense of calm to my mind, which was a welcome feeling all things considered.

“How wide is it even?

“Almost five kilometers,” Firestorm replied quickly.

We all looked at her, everypony mimicking the same puzzled expression. She noticed our sudden stares and smirked, tapping her hoof to her visor.

“Does that thing say how deep it is?” I asked.

She shook her head. “This things range is about ten kilometers, if it goes farther than that, it won’t get an accurate reading.”

South snorted impatiently. “We’ll, we ain’t gettin’ nothin’ done gawkin’ up here like a bunch of birds. Pipsqueak, hows about you start landin’ down there?”

The pilots voice piped up over the speakers. “Yea, I’ll have to bring her down to the platform manually though. If nopony is responding, chances are we won’t be able to use the docking station.”

True to his word, Pipsqueak started the Normanedy on a slow descent towards the uppermost platform covering the massive chasm below us. The shaft grew wider as we got closer, like the opening maw of a massive creature waiting to gobble us up like a tasty treat. That thought alone sent a shiver down my spine. I broke my gaze from the hole to remove that disturbing thought from my mind, and instead focused on the series of platforms that we were approaching. The top layer looked to be comprised of storage areas. It was covered with countless boxes and other containers, stacked in piles all over.

We drifted towards an open area on the platform, devoid of any boxes or other junk that would impede our landing. I could feel the strafing movements of the Normanedy as Pipsqueak deftly steered the ship forward towards the looming platforms. Looking down at this point treated me to a full face of the blackness below, and it was all I could do from freaking out and falling to cling onto the hydraulic arm of the cargo bay doors.

Eventually the ship righted itself, and slowed into a gentle hover mere feet above the waiting storage area. My companions leaned over the edge, surveying the area carefully. A loud, boisterous cry filled the air as South bounded from the safety of the ship. Her long scarlet hair flailed wildly in the wind, seeking release from the white brimmed hat that rested securely on her head. Her landing echoed across the deserted platform below with a tremendous thud. She spun around deftly, taking hold of her hat and waving it triumphantly at us.

A bright blue light shone from beside me, as Dexter calmly walked towards the edge of the ship. Hs pace didn’t falter once, even as his hooves left the metal floor and began stepping through the empty air. His entire body shimmered with a blue outline as he steadily walked towards the ground on a phantom staircase. Even the rowdy mare below him went silent in awe at the display of magic.

Firestorm had the easiest of it. Even in her heavy looking armor, her wings flared out effortlessly and fluttered gracefully, lifting her from the ground. Her eyes were shut tightly as she tilted forward, dropping into a swift dive. Her speed of descent was great, descending far below the edge of the platform. With a single beat of her wings, her course corrected upwards, soaring just over the lip of the ground. Her wings coursed strongly, before she stopped graciously onto the solid found beneath her.

That of course, left me, still on the Normanedy by myself. The edge I was standing on was no longer lingering over the endless put below, but there was something about the five or so foot jump that wracked my limbs with dread. My mind raced and my body twitched with nervous worry. I watched my friends below, who had already begun spreading out across the platform, not even paying attention to the fact that I was still aboard the ship. If they could move on and move out without a second thought or care, then why couldn’t I?

I looked tentatively at the section of ground again, swallowing a lump forming in my throat.
I released my death grip of the Normanedy, shoving off from the edge with little skill or tact. I nearly tripped over my own hoofs as I hit the ground, twisting and skipping forward in an ungraceful manner. But I managed to not fall flat onto my face, so I guess that was worth something. Shortly after I had landed, I heard the Normanedy’s engines begin to rise. I looked behind me to see her spinning sleekly through the air, twisting sideways. She dropped downwards for a moment, low enough even for me to see Pipsqueak smiling through the aft window and waving at me. His voice crackled over my radio.

“I’ll keep her in low orbit Shepard. Just holler if you need anything, and be careful.”

I waved back as he steered away from the platform, angling the vessel upwards. With a blast that roared of thunder, the Normanedy surged upwards in a burst of speed and into the cloudless sky. Only when she was completely gone from my view did I bother to turn back to the reality I was now in. My friends hadn’t gone far, and were waiting for me before proceeding into the facility. Feigning any chance that this was some cruel joke, or another bizarre dream, I broke out into a canter, catching up with the rest of the party, ready to move on, madness and all.

“So. Anypony else creeped out by this place or is it just me?”

There was no arguing with that. It only took us a few minutes to go through the entirety of the storage areas on the top level of the facility. It would have gone slower had there been anypony working here, asking us pointless questions, or perhaps even shooting at us. But that was not the case. Each step we took through the area echoed gloomily against the vaulted walls surrounding us. Each breath, each word, each idle comment magnified and traveled endlessly and rebounded back to us. We were completely alone.

At this point, we were navigating the section of catwalks that connected the upper levels together, hoping that somewhere there was a sign of what had happened here before we arrived. With the four of us moving together, it was easy for us to move along while keeping an eye on every direction. The last thing we needed was to be ambushed by something, especially if it was something capable of wiping out an entire mining outpost.

“Does anypony see anything at all?” Dexter asked quietly.

“Nothing,” Firestorm replied. “My scanner isn’t picking up a thing.”

“Maybe you should rely on yer own senses then,” South groused.

“South...”

She looked at me with a smirk on her lips. I rolled my eyes at her attempt to cause a fight and returned to ‘leading’ the group. Finding nothing of value where we started, it was an obvious course of action to move through as quickly as possible until we at least found some kind of information hub. With that asteroid on its way as well, we were on a very strict timeline to get done quickly.

The walkways descended in many directions, though most of them all ended at a level lower than the highest one. It did not have any storage crates, but it did look like it houses a small amount of warehouses and other small buildings. One of them, hopefully, had to have something that could help us, like a map.

“Hopefully there’s something over here,” I observed. “It would be nice if we had a map of this place.”

“Thats just one of the things the Granite company keeps to themselves.” Firestorm commented. “They are the best for a reason. But I bet that if we could get access to a computer terminal of some kind we could get some useful information.”

“Like whut happened to the ponies that worked here.” South added glumly. “A mine this big, the amount of ponies ya’d need tuh work it. They wouldn’t jus’ disappear like that.”

“No kidding. This place has its own colony to support the staff. This facility alone would support hundreds of workers, maybe a thousand or two including their families.”

The warehouse platform proved to be as empty as the one above. Many of the large steel doors were wide open, and the equipment housed in them was still laying around just like it would be on a normal work day. Firestorm picked up her pace slightly, looking through the equipment critically. Dexter moved alongside her, trying to see what she was looking for. Unsatisfied, she raised her head, shaking it unhappily.

“No sign of struggle. No sign of combat, or death, or even an injury. Nothing!”

She kicked closest thing near her, a large forklift that had been left in the middle of the pathway. “Its just like they got up in the middle of work and vanished. But to where?”

“No sign of struggle or injury is a good thing, Firestorm. It means that nopony was hurt, at least not up here when it happened.”

“Unless they wuz vaporized.”

Dexter glared at South after her morbid comment. She shrugged at his disapproving look and trotted away to examine the closest open warehouse. She stopped tentatively in the open doorway, peering into the dimly lit building. I walked towards her, while the others moved further down the path to a separate set of buildings. From the doorway, I noticed that the inside of this particular building was filled with heavy loading equipment, from forklifts to industrial sized dozers and trawlers. South whistled at one specific model that stood close to the entrance.

“Well, ah’ll be,” she beamed. “Ah haven’t seen a Titan this big since Ah left home!”

She approached the colossal machine, giving it a light kick across its massive treads. It was rather amusing, watching South affectionately paw at the giant machine that was at least ten times larger than her. She hopped up onto it, climbing the steps leading to its drivers compartment.

“Mah daddy let me drive one o’ these when I was just a filly. Ma weren't too happy none when she found out.”

She hesitated at opening the door. Her hoof dangled in the air just before the knob for a short while, and even from down here, I saw it quiver slightly.

“South,” I called. “Are you alright?”

She snapped to her senses, lowering her hoof and looking down to me. She shook her head, and began to hop back down to the ground.

“Ah’ll be fine,” she grumbled.

I would have pressed further, but my radio began to beep at me. “Shepard? We found something over here you might want to look at.”

I sighed. Interrupted again. South had already moved on out of the warehouse, probably towards where the others had wandered off to. I tapped my omni-tool hesitantly. “Ok, Dexter.” I responded. “We’ll be right there.”

Back in the light of day, I saw South moving hastily towards the direction that Dexter and Firestorm had disappeared. I chased after her down the path and followed her around a corner. She had stopped in front of what looked like a small office. Beside her was Firestorm, eyes narrowed. The Pegasus’ gaze shifted often, looking in many directions quickly. Even after looking in a particular direction once, it wasn't long before she looked again, her weapon never lowering. South moved past her with no comment into the tiny building, where I assumed Dexter would be. The Pegasus nodded at me as I approached her, motioning towards the building.

“Dexter’s in there, said he found a computer or something.”

“What about you?”

She shrugged. “I’m fine out here. I’m no good with computers anyways. You’d better hurry though, before South tries to ‘help’.”

She chuckled softly, swiveling her sniper pose in various directions. “I’ll keep a lookout. Don’t worry.”

I nodded appreciatively at her devotion to her task, and decided to let her continue unbothered. I entered the small building, looking through the dimly lit lobby for any sign of which way South or Dexter had gone. A thumping noise in the back gave me all the direction I needed, moving quickly towards its source. Muffled grunting and cursing grumbled through the thin metal walls as I got closer, reaching a small office in the back. Dexter was standing in front of a small desk, reading through several data pads that floated around him in a familiar blue glow. South, on the other hoof, was in the middle of what appeared to be...redecorating?

“What are you doing?” I questioned.

She didn’t stop her straining effort as she attempted to move the large steel shelf that loomed against the far wall, nor did she pay me any attention. I looked at Dexter, who had an amusedl expression on his face. He hovered one of the date pads in his possession over to me.

“This thing says there’s a safe behind that shelf, so naturally South thought the best course of action was the forcibly move it.”

“Ah almost...” South grunted. “Got it!”

“You haven’t moved it an inch.” Dexter said glibly.

South ignored his pestering and continued heaving against the metal shelf. I moved closer to the desk, my eyes calling to the small computer terminal resting on it. Dexter noticed my approach and stepped aside, depositing the data pads back to where they came from.

“Nothing really useful on these things, but maybe that computer has something. Think you can crack it, Shepard?”

I accessed the terminal, bringing up a password prompt. The style of the computer screen suggested that this terminal belonged to a lowly forepony or similar crony, and should be relatively easy to get through. I brought up my omni-tool and activated my hacking interface. I smiled at the simple series of code that flashed on the screen, and it was only a few seconds of effort before the locked screen yielded. They would have been better off using simon says as a security system.

The fruits of my labor, however, were equally poor. This office seemed to only hold a few dockets of inventory informations and loading dock dates. The only notable thing I could claim was, in fact, a map of the surrounding levels, which would at least make searching this place a bit easier. I downloaded the file, and prepared to close the terminal, when I noticed that its discard file had something in it. Not one to leave any file untouched, I opened the directory.

I was met with another password prompt, which was interesting. Maybe there was something useful in here after all, and somepony tired to delete it.

“I think somepony tried to hide something in the garbage here,” I remarked to my companions. Dexter moved towards me and looked over my shoulder at the terminal. “I think I can get into it.”

“Who puts a password on the discard file?” Dexter questioned.

“Heh, South chuckled in between her constant grunting.. “Ya know whut they say. One pony’s trash is another’s treasure.”

“Maybe. Just be careful.”

Hacking interface at the ready, I began my latest attempt at breaking through the encryption. Surprisingly, this wall was much harder than getting into the computer itself, several levels harder in difficulty. My tool beeped alarmingly at me, warning that I had a limited amount of time before I would be locked out of the system. I carefully decoded the encryptions, not that it was that much more difficult. Only a few more seconds to go, and everything was looking-

CRASH!!

I jumped back in surprise. South had finally managed to move the metal shelf from the wall, causing it to tip over and crash onto the floor. She smiled victoriously as her eyes traced the giant metal slab that she had moved, then looked at the bared wall it once covered. There was indeed a safe hidden behind it, but that discovery alone did not excuse the interuption.
“South, will you keep it down?” I cautioned. “I’m trying to- uh oh.”

I glanced back to the terminal, noting that less than five seconds remained until my hacking tool would fail. I typed as quickly as I could, praying that I wasn’t making any mistakes. This game of simon says quickly turned into a potentially deadly game of roulette, one that I was dangerously close to losing. I was going to make it, just barely, as long as I kept going-

“Is everypony alright?” Firestorm shouted, bursting into the room. “I heard something crash.”

My head turned out or reaction to the now open door, and the Pegasus standing in it. My eye gave a twitch as my omni-tool continued to blare in my ear. The timer had struck zero, and the terminal fizzled with static before it went blank. Red lights began flashing and claxton sirens began wailing loudly at my failure, and probably signaled that something very bad was about to happen. South trudged across the room towards Firestorm, lifting a hoof poised to strike her.

“Lookit’ what ya made Shepard do!”

“Me!?” Firestorm barked. “I wasn’t the one who knocked over a hundred pound shelf!”

The two were head to head, snarling at each other when Dexter lept in between them. “Will you two give it a rest?! We have more important things to worry about.”

He looked back at me. “Can you fix this, Shepard?”

I reactivated my omni-tool and looked at the damage. The terminal wasn’t completely locked out, but it would take some time, time we probably didn’t have.

“Maybe, but I’ll need some time. Preferably time not being shot at.”

He nodded, and gave the bickering mares a shove out into the hallway. “You do what you can, we’ll go outside and see what kind of security system we just woke up.”

The three of them disappeared around the corner, leaving me alone in the office with the wailing alarm. Perfect. Just the kind of work environment I needed to work in. Loud noises, potential dangers, and a screaming computer system that did not want me poking inside of it. Not like there wasn’t any pressure or anything.

After a few minutes of quiet muttering, broken hubs and incorrectly coded algorithms, I managed to get back into the blasted terminal. The sirens still refused to cease however, suggesting the problem was far worse than I thought. Perhaps the discard file had a security directory hidden away in it, or at least something that would help solve this problem. Attempting to break into a second time would probably have made our problems even worse though. I needed the password.

I searched the room, looking over the scattered data pads that Dexter had looked through, hoping that he had missed something. But it was pointless. They were all as useless as I feared. Was I missing something? I glanced around the room, my eyes falling onto the metal shelf, then to the wall it was once hiding. Could it be that simple?

I dashed over to the safe, uttering a silent prayer to the empty air. This safe was not nearly as complicated as the computers in this office, and opened on the first attempt. Inside were a few cartridge like objects that I had seen Firestorm use before. I scooped them up quickly and deposited them into my bags for later inspection. Underneath them was what appeared to be a small data drive. Oh please let this be something useful!

I rushed back to the desk, downloading the contents of the file directly into my omni-tool. The terminal yielded immediately at my touch, recognising me as a high clearance administrator. I quickly muttered a thank you to whoever invented digital access I.D’s and opened the mischievous file that had been toying with me.

Inside the discard folder was a single file that looked innocuous enough. Until I looked at its code markings. I had seen this format before, and I immediately felt stupid for even trying to unlock it. Now I realised, far too late why this had been locked away. The terminal began to stutter and flash, the corruptive effects of the file starting to take hold. I tried to correct as much as I could, but the damage had been done. The only thing I could do was isolate the terminal, shut off that insufferable alarm and disconnect before my own equipment suffered a similar fate. I heard gunshots echo from outside. Seeing that my work was done, I bolted for the door. Hopefully my friends were having better luck than I was.

I poked my head out the door leading into the open terrace of the warehouses. Trails of smoke rose from burning holes bored into the metal ground and walls surrounding me, hitting me with a strong odor of molten steel. I crouched down low, glancing up and down the terrace. I saw Dexter and Firestorm sharing cover across from me behind a series of boxes. They were taking turns ducking out of cover, firing at something far down the narrow pathways between the warehouses.

I stepped out carefully, trying to get a better look of what they were shooting at. They were pony shaped objects, but moved stiffly with clockwork motions. They moved steadily towards us, firing in tandem with each other at my companions and their rapidly deteriorating cover. Their armor plating was bulky and unwieldy, limiting their speed to that of a stagnant crawl, not that it mattered. Their numbers alone would overwhelm us if they got much closer, and considering that my friends had only managed to kill a fifth of their total numbers, we would soon be in trouble.

I moved behind a crate of my own adjacent to the office. I don’t think I was noticed, at least by the fact that they hadn’t begun shooting at me yet. Dexter seemed to notice me, ducking down from his latest spray of shots. He muttered something to Firestorm, who nodded and jumped up from her cover, firing wildly at the advancing security drones. Each shot struck perfectly, many of the drones crumbling and falling down in a fiery explosion. They continued with their onslaught, focusing their attention on the Pegasus sniper.

Dexter took this opportunity to dive towards me, rolling across the ground and landing behind the crate I had hidden behind me. He pinned himself to the steel crate, and signaled the all clear to Firestorm, who acknowledged him, dropping back to the safety of her own cover. Then Dexter turned to me. He was breathing heavily from the whole ordeal so far, and his dive across the narrow alley hadn’t helped much.

“Did you not manage to turn off the security?” he asked raggedly.

I shook my head. “No. I turns out that the file that was locked away was a virus, meant to compromise the security system of the entire complex. Somepony was actually smart enough to lock it away and dull its effects, but me letting it out locked out the entire system.”

Dexter groaned. “Well, then I guess we are going to have to deal with these security mechs the hard way.”

“I guess so,” I agreed. “But Dexter, the virus coding. It was Geld in origin. I remember it from the code I used to hack their drones on Equestria Prime. They’re here, I’m sure of it.”

He managed a weak smile. “Well then our coming here wasn’t a complete waste of time then. Provided we manage to survive this at least.”

He glanced around the corner, floating his rifle out for a few more strafing shots. It must be nice for Unicorns and Magitechs to not have to hold their weapons around corners to fire. I peeked up over the boxes, noting the growing body count of our aggressors. Considering our combat skill, it was appropriate, but it could have been bigger. Wait a minute...

“Where’s South?”

Dexter shrugged. “No idea. She took a few of the first ones out on her own, then said she was going to flank them.” He pointed down the small alley space on the other side of the terrace. “She went that way.”

“And you let her go alone?”

“We’re kinda being shot at here Shepard. And Souths’ a big mare, she can take care of herself.”

He looked out again. “So how do you suggest we go about dealing with this lot so we can go find her?”

I counted the remaining mechs. There appeared to be five fully functional drones remaining, including a few that seemed to be attempting to crawl towards us on damaged limbs. I had to give the manufacturers some credit. They made their drones resilient to the bitter end. My skills were made for dealing with this sort of foe, but considering the extent of the damage the geld virus had done to their programming, any meddling on my part would only make it worse.

“I guess we just keep shooting. There isn’t much I can do with their damaged programming without ruining my own equipment.”

“Well.” Dexter smirked. “Shooting is one of our specialties.”

He looked away from me towards Firestorm. “You got anything that can deal with these, Firestorm? We need to get out of this bottleneck.”

She looked at us, pressing herself against her crate. “That depends,” she shouted. “How big a bang do you want?”

Dexter and I shared a worried look. “Big enough to clear these things out?” The hesitation in Dexters voice suggested he really didn’t want to see what was in Firestorm’s bag of tricks, and knowing how she fought I certainly shared the sentiment. She poked her head into her saddlebag, pulling out a grey cylinder. Using her wings as pseudo-dextrous limbs, she somehow managed to attack the object to the barrel of her sniper. She crouched behind the crate, ready to pounce. “I’d cover my ears if I were you.”

Let it never be said that I don’t learn from experience. There were too many times that I had been within spitting distance of somepony about to cause a massive explosion, myself included. I complied immediately, as Firestorm moved in one swift motion, leaping out from her cover and taking careful aim with her rifle. Time seemed to slow down momentarily as she lined up her shot with the round device attached to her already dangerous weapon.

Covering my ears was not nearly enough protection from the explosive sound that erupted from her shot. An endless ringing sensation filled my senses, my head reeling in pain. A blinding flash of light and smoke poured from the barrel, as the metal cylinder rocketed towards the mechs. It collided with the closest standing mech, tearing through its armor like it wasn’t even there. It sailed through unimpeded into the one directly behind it. The shell shattered on the second mech, but its force alone was enough to propel the robot backwards, tumbling it into a third, turning them both into a twisted mess of metal. By the time the tangled heap of steel stopped tumbling away, the first one finally realised it had been shot clean through, and collapsed onto its side.

The remaining crippled drones took enough collateral damage to push their short life spans over the edge. They sputtered in a flurry of sparks and smoke, before what remained of their integrity fell to pieces. The sound of the shot continued to echo across the narrow metal buildings before descending into an eerie silence. With the moment of safety we now had, we finally stepped out from our cover towards the wreckage.

The damage was far greater up close. I had never seen such devastation to solid metal mechs before, and wondered who in their right minds would make peice of ordinance so powerful. I wonder what else Firestorm had in that bag? She, of course, looked immensely pleased with herself at what she did. She regarded the destruction she caused with an air of satisfaction.

“Now what?” she asked, as she stepped around the scorched remains of the security.

A distant explosion answered her question. We all turned to look in the general direction of the noise, which was not too far from where Dexter told me South had vanished. We wasted no time in breaking into a full gallop towards the next area. Dexter and Firestorm bolted ahead of me, guns ready. I hoped that South had not gotten into much trouble, or worse, while she was alone. There was no telling how extensive the security system was, or what level of protection they expected from it. Either way, it wasn’t going to be good for us.

The second alleyway was similar to the first one we had come through, lined with many open warehouses. The sound of gunfire drew our attention to a second group of drones that were standing in front of the furthest warehouse, firing into the open doorway. Crimson bolts flew out from the inside in tandem with the weapons of the robots.

“South must be in there!” I exclaimed.

“Maybe,” Firestorm said hushedly. “Lets try and get closer first.”

The three of us filled into the alley way, moving carefully along the walls and behind boxes stacked against the buildings. We moved quietly, so the angry security drones did not seem to notice us as we got closer to them. They continued their assault on the phantom gunshots from the garage, who retaliatory attacks seemed to have ceased as we got closer.

Worry crept into my mind when I noticed that if South was indeed inside there, she was no longer returning fire. She could have merely overheated her weapon, but my mind decided to rush to the worst possible conclusion. I rushed ahead of the others, much to their worried cries. Having no smarter alternative, I shot my pistol towards them, if only to attract their attention away from my potentially wounded teammate.

Some of them took notice to my shots, turning their attention towards me. Of course I didn’t think this far ahead, and was now standing in the middle of an open alleyway, with no cover and nowhere to run. Three drones pointed their weapons towards me, and began to walk ponderously towards me. I barely managed to react when they fired at me, sending a volley of crimson pain in my direction. I felt a shot hit my shield, which managed to absorb its lethality. The force of the shot, however, caused me to lose my balance and trip and fall onto my face.

I heard a variety of sounds in my dazed state. I could have sworn I heard something calling my name, as well as a series of loud clanking noises. But of all the muffled sounds in my head, a large bellowing roar caught the focus of my shifting attention. My head turned reflexively towards the source, which I think was the garage, I couldn’t be certain. What I was sure of though was the drones that were keen on ending my life had gotten much closer to me. And even with their terrible aim, at this range they couldn’t possibly miss me. If they were aiming at me.

Once my eyes stopped spinning, I noticed that the dozen or so drones, as well as Dexter and Firestorm who were now right beside me, were all staring at the garage. Had they heard that strange roar as well? From the inside of the garage, I heard a undulating rumbling noise, that quickly heightened and lowered in pitch. And what ever it was, it was getting closer.

Our radios screeched with a cacophonous scream. “Yeehaw! Here comes Sue!”

A cataclysmic crash followed the sound of Souths voice, as the metal walls of the garage buckled over in a heap. The giant dozer roared out of the tiny warehouse, tipping over the walls of its confinement over onto half of the standing drones. But the great metal beast did not stop there. As South steered the massive machine, it rumbled ominously towards the remaining mechs and proceeded to run them over, collecting their remains in its giant scoop.

South, Titan, drones and all started moving in a beeline, crashing through any buildings and boxes that dared stand in its way. Nothing managed to even slow it down as it pushed everything aside, including any new coming drones that decided to test its luck against the runaway South and her new toy. We watched in awe as the the steel behemoth swatted the tiny bots aside, or crumpled them into its growing collection.

We followed her as quickly as we could, minding the massive wake of destruction she was leaving behind her. She had caused an impressive amount of damage, clearing out much of this level. What was once filled with small storage buildings and offices had been cleared almost half way from the dozer. And South still wasn’t stopping, even though the edge of the platform was rapidly approaching.

“South,” I shouted into the radio. “You plan on stopping that thing any time soon? You’re running out of driving room.”

“Inna minnit’,” she responded. “Ah’m almost done.”

I saw her moving rapidly through the driver's compartment, and a few flashes of light. Smoke started billowing out of the cabin, and I watched South jump out. Despite her no longer steering the Titan, it continued to move forward, at an even faster pace. The mare jumped across the machine, eventually finding a safe return to the ground behind the machine that was now moving on its own.

We caught up to South, who was busy dusting herself off, unconcerned about the beast she had just released. She turned back to her implement of destruction. As it approached the edge, she removed her hat, placing it affectionately over her heart. She closed her eyes and looked down solemnly, when the dozer finally reached the edge. The small safety barrier wilted at the metal beast, as it careened over the edge and fell down into the massive pit below us. The roar of the engine and the trail of smoke was all that remained, but even those reminders of its existence slowly vanished.

After silence returned, South returned her hat to her head, with a smile on her face. She nodded briskly.

She turned back to us, her smile twisting into a fierce grin. “So, whut’s next?”

Codex Entry Added: The Granite Company

New Skill Level Earned: Your Decryption skill is more efficient, allowing you to hack into more difficult computers.

Chapter 10: Hidden Gem

Chapter 10: Hidden Gem

“This big , beautiful, bedazzling rock is a DIAMOND!”

“So let me get this straight. We rush all the way out here, with no plan except a system name and a hunch. We get here, nearly crashing into a rock the size of a small moon. Then we go to the very planet that happens to be directly in said giant rock’s path, only to realise that it was the giant rock that was important in the first place?”

“That’s pretty much how it looks,” I replied.

“And none of this seems odd to you?”

I shrugged. Pipsqueak seemed to be quick on the uptake, but once I had told him we were heading back towards the same asteroid that we nearly crashed into, he was far more interested in berating me with repeated questions.

“I’m not sure if this is what Artemis had planned, but I doubt we’ve even scratched the surface of what he’s got in store for us. We knew he wasn’t going to make this easy for us.”

Pipsqueak shrugged, as he focused between his task of steering the ship and conversing with me over the rush of events of the past few hours.

“Not your average retrieval mission, huh?”

He was none too thrilled about piloting the Normanedy anywhere near that rock a second time, but what we had learned on the surface was too much to ignore. Our hunch about where Artemis was, or at least where his forces were, was close, but we had made one miscalculation. Trawlis was not the waste of time Westward had made it out to be, but we were still far from fully accomplishing our goal in the sector. Cleaning out an overrun facility of Geld might look good to some bigshot CEO, but saving lives was my primary concern.

By no small effort we were able to escape the facility on Trawlis, bringing the remaining Granite employees aboard. Whatever Geld that might have slowed us down lost whatever will they had to fight after we had dealt with the destroyers. I doubted anypony, machine or not, would want to fight somepony else who had managed to kill two Geld armatures.

Now we knew Artemis had something to do with the ‘evacuation” of the facility, but how he did it was unbelievable. Not only had he found what he was looking for, he managed to get to it without it being suspicious. Worse yet, he managed to do it while still looking like a hero.

I needed answers, and I knew exactly who I was going to get them from. “Let me know when we’re there, Pipsqueak. I’m going to talk to the Forepony again.”

“Got it.” He waved dismissively at me from his chair as I left him alone in the darkened room. I entered the navigation room to a tense conversation.

“Look,” an earthy voice grunted, almost growling. “I’ve explained it a million times. Artemis sent us a message about a week ago, warning us about the asteroid. We had no reason to disbelieve a Council Sleipnir.”

Quarry, the Granite Forepony that we had rescued, was locked in an impassive staring contest with Firestorm, who returned a narrow and critical glare. South and Dexter were nearby, but only watched on as our resident C-Sec officer questioned our primary witness.

“And the fact that a Council Sleipnir came out of the blue to offer you aid didn’t rouse any kind of suspicion?”

Quarry shrugged. “No, it didn’t. Isn’t that what Sleipnirs are supposed to do? Help ponies in need?”

Firestorm rolled her eyes. “They protect the Council’s interests and policies. They could care less about a single operation of a galaxy wide company, when it’s large enough to take care of itself.”

She paced around the disgruntled miner, whose gaze went unbroken as the pegasus circled around him. “I’m not the sort who turns away free help, ‘specially when it comes from somepony as powerful as a Sleipnir, whether they are interested in helping us or not.”

His unbreaking stare shifted into an angry glare. “And I would appreciate you not making it sound what I did was criminal! I did my job ensuring the safety of my workers and their families. Why are you so intent on turning this into an investigation?”

“Because,” Firestorm said cooly. “Artemis was branded a wanted criminal less than three days ago by the Corral Council.” She indicated all of us in the room with a sweep of her hoof. “And we’re the ones hunting him down.”

Quarry, slowly absorbing what Firestorm had told him, sunk to his haunches, as disbelief and shock crept onto his face. He finally broke his gaze away from the fiery mare, his eyes now focused squarely on the ground. We watched quietly as he processed the revelation, until he finally lifted his head. “I...I didn’t know.”

Firestorm moved closer to him, laying a hoof gently on his shoulder. Her accusatory expression softened to one of understanding. “No, I didn’t assume you did. Which is why you aren’t in any trouble. But you were the one in charge, so you have to know something, anything, that we can use to figure out exactly what he is doing out here.”

Quarry slowly raised a hoof to his temples, rubbing slowly. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth, as he looked around the room wearily. He met my gaze, regarding me with a quizzical look. I moved towards him, with a few questions of my own.

“You said he asked for supplies. What kind did he ask for?”

“Aside from the pony power, he asked for demo charges. Lots of them. And most of our standard digging equipment.”

“Whut kind o’ charges d’yall carry?” South inquired.

“We gave him our biggest ones; T-Six Dynamo’s, at least five of them.”

South’s brows arched intensely. Being so used to her natural state of grouchiness, seeing concern in her eyes was something that I didn’t expect. “Is that bad South?”

“Tee-Six’s...those are some powerful ‘splosives. With five o’ them, Ah don’t expect that asteroid tuh be ‘round fer long once Artemis wants it gone.”

“Why wouldn’t he want it gone?” Quarry was scratching his head. “Is this something about that relic thing you mentioned? What is it?”

I walked over to the map, which had been set to observe the distant asteroid. There wasn’t anything unique about it, shape or otherwise. It just looked like any ordinary rock, save for the fact that it was more than ten times the size of our small vessel. I looked back at Quarry. “We found an Alicorn relic on Equestria Prime a few days ago. Some of us were sent to retrieve it, only to find the colony in was found in burning to the ground. Artemis was the one behind it all, and now he’s hunting for more. If he’s interested in that asteroid, and not Trawlis itself, then its clear where his goals are.”

I pressed a button, re-orienting the image of the asteroid, bringing its flattest face forward. The image displayed a few anomalies along its surface, marked with registration codes that belonged to the Granite Company.

“This is where your crew landed?” Quarry nodded.

“Then that’s where we’re going. Pipsqueak will have us there in a bit.”

“What if he intends to stop you?”

“Ah suppose that manticore will see tuh that.” South grunted. She unraveled her weapon, tracing her free hoof along it affectionately. “We’ll just hafta deal with him when we git there.”

Quarry glanced at South, then back to me with even greater worry. “You mean the Manticore was with Artemis?”

Firestorm chuckled. “He’s on the run now, it would make sense for him to use mercenaries for...clean up. I bet he had hoped to get through this without arousing any suspicion, even coming out as the hero. Now that we branded him a rogue, I doubt he’ll care about who he hurts to get what he wants.”

“Then...why did the manticore take Emmy? Was she with them too?”

Firestorm glanced at me, exchanging a stern look with me. She shook her head slightly, striding past Quarry and towards Dexter and South. I looked back to Quarry, who looked like his world had been steadily chipped away until nothing was left.

“We don’t know. The Manticore will pose a problem, but your friend Emmy might not be who she says she is.”

Quarry sat quietly on the floor, his eyes lost in thought. He steadily rose to his hooves, moving ponderously towards the exit to the lower levels. “I...I’m going to return to the others, to try and keep them calm. Just do what you can to stop Artemis.” He lumbered past the others silently and out of the room.

I turned back to the others as the door closed slowly behind him. Dexter had a strange look on his face.

“Emmy...sounds short for M, for Midnight.”

I nodded. “That might be the case, but we don’t fully know if she’s actually here, or where her loyalties lie. If she was the one that sent out that cry for help, it would be in our best interest to keep her alive.”

“Ah suspect thats the manticore’s job as well.” South added bluntly.

I smirked. “Like you said, South. We’ll deal with him when we get there.”

As if on queue, Pipsqueak shouted over the radio. “Thirty seconds to the asteroid, Shepard! The landing zone looks hot!”

“Well then,” Firestorm said, her eyes glinting with determination. She had turned around, retrieving a helmet from a nearby storage container. It was white, contrasting greatly with her blue C-Sec armor. She took great care placing the helmet on her head, taking the time to hide away her lengthy mane within its confines. She turned back to us, staring at us through the tinted black visor. Her voiced crackled a familiar sound as she spoke through her helmet radio. “Never a dull moment.”

We moved towards the airlock, taking the time to equip our own helmets. I felt the Normanedy swerve as alarms began to go off throughout the cabin. The hull shook staggardley as loud thunking sounds echoed from all around us and more shouting came from the pilots nest.

“Just some debris! Nothing serious yet, until they start shooting! You guys better make it quick!”

We entered the sealed chamber of the airlock, as the pressured door hissed loudly behind us. It was several moments later as the opposite door slid open, revealing a rocky and cratered surface outside, racing past below us. The ship banked suddenly to the right, revealing a wide open plateau below us. A large open cave loomed on the far side, with Geld drones pouring out of it and moving towards us.

The others didn’t bother to wait for the ship to stop, leaping out onto the pockmarked surface of the asteroid. Without missing a beat, they opened fire at the encroaching Geld fodder. Not one to miss out on all the fun, I leapt out after them, knowing full well that this day would prove to be one of the longest ones of my life.

The closer we got to the open cavern, the more difficult it became to walk over the expanse of craters and piling bodies of broken Geld. We cut a considerable swathe in their ranks, but their numbers continued to trickle out of the looming hold ahead. Trudging over the wreckage was only made marginally easier by the reduced gravity, but hopping over them only made me a more obvious target for the Geld.

“That’s forty six!” South shouted through her radio, claiming another kill. “How many you at, Storm?”

Three shots fired in quick succession from the Pegasus’ rifle, barreling through the heads of three separate Geld. They toppled over slowly in the light gravity, while Firestorm glanced in Souths’ direction. “With those three? Fifty two.”

South grunted and growled through the radio. She rushed on ahead past Dexter and I, firing wildly into another wave of Geld. While her fevered determination to beat Firestorm was working wonders to get us through these things quickly, I hoped it wasn’t going to get her into anymore trouble. We had an unknown amount of Geld to deal with on this rock, as well as a Manticore mercenary and the possibility of a mysterious Unicorn Matron, which would give her plenty of chances to step up, or screw up. Whichever happens first.

Dexter motioned for me to keep up as he rushed ahead to keep pace with South. Firestorm was busy dodging retaliatory shots against her, either deftly hopping aside or taking to the air. She spiraled through the empty atmosphere, pumping her wings to surge herself forward. Her gun kept shooting as she soared above us, each shot hitting its mark.

“We’re almost there!” I yelled. “Pipsqueak, get ready to evacuate any civilians we send your way.”

“Way ahead of you Shepard.” The Normanedy circled around, taking a few shots of its own at the swarms of synthetics surrounding us. After sweeping overhead a few times, Pipsqueak righted her and brought her to a gentle hover above the now vacant plateau. She descended towards the ground, the cargo bay doors opening in tandem. A glossy orange force field covered the threshold as a metal ramp slid down onto the jagged earth below.

“Looks pretty clear out here guys,” the pilot continued. “I’ll sit tight for anypony you send my way, but you better hurry. We’re only a few hours until Trawlis, and being inside the asteroid is probably worse than being on the planet when it hits.”

The cave mouth wasn’t as dark up close. Wires decorated the ceiling, connected to several hanging rudimentary lamps along the cavern walls. A similar field of light than that of the cargo bay covered the entrance of the tunnel, sealing the inside from the empty void of space. Groups of Geld still trickled out towards us, but they were now starting to noticeably decline. With the rate that we were killing them, we shouldn’t have any trouble pushing through them inside.

I trotted towards the gate with the others, while they cleared out any of the immediate threats. “Ok guys, we’d better make this quick. They still have hostages in there, so nothing hasty until we get them out.”

I gave them all a determined look, Souths’ lasting a bit longer than the others. She shrugged at my elongated stare, but since I couldn’t see through her tinted visor, I couldn’t tell if she was being snarky or not. I guess I’d just have to wait and see.

We passed through the glowing barrier. Without the field blurring my sight, I could see very far down into the tunnel. Rough marks had been hewn into the stone wall, lined with scorches and broken metal. Dirt and rock had been discarded all around in piles, as well as large bits of stone and metal that were not of modern origin. The hasty work done by the subjugated miners had taken its toll on the ancient stone work, and I hoped that some of it, any of it was salvageable if this place was still standing after today. Who knows how much Alicorn history could be dug out of this place.

There seemed to be a lull in the Geld, finally. There weren’t any in the cave with us, nor any down the path that was set in front of us. I knew it wasn’t going to be that easy, but a breather for now was appreciated at least. Firestorm halted at a banking curve of the tunnel. She looked out around the corner slowly, and I saw a strong light cast a shadow of her head into the tunnel with us. She stepped away from the light, coming back over to the rest of us.

“I think I found the miners.” She said quietly. “No sign of any Geld though, or the Manticore.”

“Do they look injured?” Dexter inquired.

Firestorm just shook her head. “Can’t tell from here. They’re just digging away at the tunnel walls.”

I moved over to the corner, peering out carefully. The mouth of the tunnel opened up into a large chamber on the other side. There was a group of ponies, using heavy mining equipment against the walls of the room. I couldn’t tell either if they were in any sort of danger, but if they were, it didn’t stop them from their work.

“Should we get them out of here then?”

“Yea, but we should approach carefully. We don’t know if they’re being watched or not, and we don’t want to spook them with the sudden appearance of armed soldiers.”

“Just keep an eye out fer that Manticore.” South grunted.

Firestorm took the first step out into the light of the next room. “It’s hard to miss something that big.”

We followed along behind her into the chamber. We moved slowly, as to not attract any unwanted attention. The miners seemed to be oblivious to our presence, focused on their tasks. At a closer glance, none of them seemed hurt, but they all shared a similar frightened expression on their faces as they drilled away at the stony walls.

“What are you doing here!” a quiet voice hissed. We turned to see a small Earth Pony mare hiding in a stack of boxes, gesturing frantically us to come closer. Her eyes looked heavy with darkened circles weighing them down, and her mane was matted with sweat and tangles. She was trembling heavily as we approached her, casting quick and panicky glances around the room.

Dexter knelt down first, waving his omni tool briefly at the frightened mare. “Are you ok, miss? Can you tell us what’s going on here?”

“Who are you?” she asked quickly, ignoring Dexters question. “Are you with them?”

“No, we’re here to help. How many of you are there?”

The mare exhaled slowly, relief taking over as her dominant expression. “They’ve worked us to the bone at gunpoint for days, barely letting us rest or even eat!” She fell down onto her rump, looking down at the ground. “There are about twenty of us here, but that Manticore took some of them deeper into the cave down there.”

She motioned towards the other side of the cave, where a separate tunnel opened up leading even deeper into the asteroid.

“Have you seen Artemis here?” I asked.

She shook her head. “No, he only spoke to us back on Trawlis. Once we got here we were ambushed by the Geld and that Manticore. He passed through here recently with a Unicorn when he took some of the others with him.”

“Shepard?” Firestorm asked.

She was peeking out around the boxes, checking the room. “What?” I replied.

“There aren’t any guards, not in here anyways.”

“They all left.” The mare added. “They followed their master not too long ago either, but there are still Geld on the....wait.” Her eyes widened as she looked at us, then back at the cave we had entered through.

“If you are here, then that means...”

I nodded. “We cleared the Geld out up to here. Our ship is waiting on the surface just outside the cave with the others from Trawlis. If you can get the others in here to get their breathers on, the ship has more than enough room for all of you. We’ll go on ahead and get the others from the Manticore.”

She nodded in understanding, rising slowly back to her hooves. We moved together to the center of the chamber, slowly gaining the attention of everypony in the room. Some of them halted their tasks to regard us with confusion, some of them increasing their productivity in fear. I removed my helmet, so my voice would carry clearly through the entire cave.

“Everypony listen up! My name is Commander Shepard of the Normanedy, and we are here to help.” The room slowly descended into silence as the machinery ceased working, and the ponies once controlling them left to gather around us.

“I don’t know what lies the Sleipnir Artemis has told you, or why he’s keeping you here, but we are here to get you out. The Normanedy is waiting just outside this cave, with more than enough room and supplies to accommodate you. Any Geld along the way have been dealt with. Please get your your breathers on and make your way to the ship.”

“What about the others?” somepony shouted.

“The surface crew from Trawlis is already aboard the Normanedy. As for those taken by the Manticore, we will get them out too. But for now, we need you all to get out of here, so we can do our jobs. I promise your friends will be safe.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Shepard.”

I felt my heart stop briefly, as my eyes slowly traced the crowd towards the source of that voice, that deep, feral voice that sent shivers down my spine. Standing in the mouth of the entrance to the following tunnel, flanked by a group of Geld troopers, was the Manticore we’d been looking for. He towered over the synthetics surrounding him, making them nearly foal sized in comparison. He wore a familiar style of crimson armor that covered his entire, massive body.

He stepped into the room, a pensive look on his face. “Artemis told me a lot about you Shepard. Said you were resourceful, skilled and stubborn. But seein’ ya in the flesh makes me wonder if that feathered freak was just spoutin’ nonsense. Ya don’t look worthy to pluck the spines from my tail, let alone kill me.”

The crowd of civilians dispersed around me, taking refuge behind our group and far away from the towering feline. We moved towards him, guns ready.

“You don’t seem all too keen on your employer. Why work for him then?” I accused.

He shrugged his bulky shoulders. “Don’t have to like him, only have to like his money. And the killin’ he lets me do. Would be a sorry excuse for a ‘Core if I didn’t like the killin’.”

He grunted, snorting angrily at the metal soldiers beside him. “But he pays me even more to keep his work in order. So tell you what; if you manage to get through these tin toys he sent with me, I’ll promise that if you catch up, the rest of these precious little ponies will be one piece...mostly.”

He turned to exit the room, regarding the Geld with little approval. He paused, turning to give me one final look. “Of course that would be too easy. Scratch! Rake!”

Two lanky figures crept out of the shadows behind him. I wasn’t sure what what they were, as they stepped into the dim light of the cave. They were gruff, grizzled creatures, hunched over crudely as they lumbered forwards. They looked like Gemini, but they were wild, mad looking creatures, with unkempt fur and piercing bloodthirsty eyes.

“Mutts’!” Firestorm hissed.

The two disheveled hounds stopped next to their master, staring at us intently.

“Yes...” one began.

“...boss?” the other completed.

“Kill them,” he ordered.

The twin canines smiled gleefully, cracking their various limbs in anticipation of a fight.

“With...”

“…pleasure!”

The dogs took off immediately, bounding into the air towards us. The Geld leapt forward as well, hot on their heels, opening fire and charging towards us. The civilians began to scream as blaster shots began to fill the air. I screamed over the din of the chaos. “Everypony! Head to the exit! Head to the Normanedy! We’ll cover you, just RUN!!”

The gaggle of terrified miners seemed to hear his orders, aiming their panicked charge towards the surface. The Geld didn’t slow down their assault with the nearby civilians, so we had to take the fight to them, if only to avoid getting any innocents hurt.

The two feral ‘Mutts’ seemed keen on making that incredibly difficult for us though. They were fast, agile creatures, managing to jump deftly into the crowd of panicking ponies. They slashed their claws at any who were foalish to get too close. Screams of pain rang out from the crowd. South tried muscling her way through the crowd to chase him off, but they leapt away before she threatened them in any way. Eventually they split up, spreading their chaos evenly around the room.

One of them decided to get some distance from us, brandishing a crude looking weapon atop a small ledge dug out from the rock. It was a long barreled device, with a small but noticeable scope, all the trademarks of a long ranged weapon, but he held it low, braced against his side. He fired the weapon recklessly towards us, sending scattered shots in all directions. Many of them flew towards some of the civilians, but all of them ricocheted harmlessly of a sapphire blue barrier cast in front of the fleeing civilians. Dexter took careful steps towards this dog, focus flaring in his eyes.

The leaping hound landed near his partner, beckoning us towards him with outstretched claws. I was far more focused on the encroaching Geld, who were now on top of us. Firestorm managed to end some of them with a couple quick shots, but that left a few alive for me to deal with. Up close, the troopers attempted to swing at me with their synthetic limbs. I narrowly dodged their battering swings, taking the chance for a strike of my own. Knowing my own strength wouldn’t dent their thick armor, I resolved for a more familiar and effective weapon.

A quick swing of my omni-tool arm sent a razor sharp plasma cutter through the head of the nearest Geld, causing it to twitch and shudder violently before falling over. As the flimsy blade dissipated to recover, I turned towards the next Geld. It too attempted to swipe at me with its metal hooves, only to miss as I reflexively leapt backwards. My military training was finally starting to kick in, and for once, I found myself exhilarated in the thrill of combat. More gunshots filled the room as Dexter and South chased after the mercenary hounds. At least they had them under control for now, so Firestorm and I could deal with the rest of the metal abominations.

It was short work though. Geld were far less dangerous in close quarters, at least this particular model. While the stalkers were fast, and destroyers were nearly impervious, troopers were simply fodder that even I could easily deal with, after enough practice at least. Learning to use my omni-tool for more than its intended use didn’t hurt much either. A few more swipes of blistering hot plasma dealt with any of the remaining Geld foolish enough to get too close, while Firestorm lingered to clean up any that were smart enough to stay at a distance.

With the Geld disabled, only the dogs remained. Considering that the two flighty dogs were still bouncing around the room, taking turns in firing at us or engaging in melee, it seemed that it was going to take a lot more effort in dealing with them. South and Dexter were still chasing them around the room, but they only seemed the be negating the chaos that the two were causing instead of actively harming them.

With the workers gone, we had considerably more breathing room to work with. The dogs stopped jumping around when they noticed that the room had emptied of potential civilians casualties. They regrouped together on the far side of the room where they started from. I swear one of them was giggling, while the other rubbed his claws together expectantly.

“So...”

“...who’s first?”

The sound of charging hooves answered as South bolted towards them. She galloped towards them full tilt, not even bothering to unholster her rifle. The shotgun bearing Mutt cackled as he aimed the volatile weapon at the charging mare. His twin laughed maliciously as she continued, undeterred by the threat. I don’t know what South was planning, but wasn’t going to let her get herself hurt from her recklessness. I doubted my pistol would help much against their shields, but I had been getting used to my omni-tool as a reliable stand by.

I swung my hoof towards the hounds, a bolt of electricity flying from my tool towards them. The flying spark sizzled in the air, skating past South in a blink before reaching the twin Mutts. They scarcely reacted as the flurry of sparks exploded between them. The brawler stumbled away from the impact with a dizzying expression in his eyes. The other yelped in pain, as he hastily dropped his weapon. The glowing red weapon clattered to the ground, as steam poured from every part of it.

None of this caused South to slow down. Whether it was part of her plan or not, she reached her destination anyways, colliding head first into the gut of the disarmed Mutt. A wheezing ‘oof!’ croaked from his mouth as he flew backwards, crashing into the wall behind him. He groaned loudly as he landed prone on the ground, quivering slightly before collapsing in silence. Then South rounded on the other.

After his head had stopped spinning from the explosion I caused, the Mutt whom I guessed was ‘Scratch’ had a soured expression on his face. He growled menacingly as his face contorted into an angry snarl, leaning over to pounce. South mimicked his stance, arching forward and pawing at the ground with her hooves challengingly.

But before either of them could begin, a single shot blazed across the cave, striking the cavern wall just inches above Scratchs head. His ears tensed, arms quivered, and eyes twitched as he slowly turned his head towards Firestorm. Her smoking sniper rifle was all the evidence needed as to where the shot came from, while she tapped her hooves impatiently.

“While it’s all good and fun to dance with rabid dogs,” she snapped irritably, “we don’t really have the time to play around here. So can you be a good little Mutt and get out of our way?”

Scratches eyes darted between us, South, and his semi conscious friend beside him. If he did have any wheels turning in that tiny head of his, they made an awfully slow effort for calculate his painfully poor odds. He stepped back slowly, holding his arms out in front of him. We watched him carefully as he moved towards the tunnel. It was a refreshing change of pace that we didn’t have to gun down every obstacle in our way, when a mere show of superiority will do the trick. Even feral dogs can appreciate the lesson of self preservation.

No sooner than he reached the tunnel mouth, though, he swiftly swiped at a series of cables hanging along the wall with his claws. The grinding of metal and stone gave way to a burst of sparks as the power cable detonated. The room descended into darkness, filling swiftly with a loud, echoing cackle.

“Methinksss,” he snarled, “how good can ponies smell with those helmetsss? How goods can they see in the darknesss?”

“Damnit!” Dexter shouted “Flashlights, everypony!”

A trio of lights cut through the darkness as the others turned on their helmet lights. I activated my omni-tool light as well, but even that seemed like a needle of light a midst an ocean of black. I heard shifting rock from all directions, swinging my light around to see where it was coming from, but only found disturbed dust and stones.

“When Ah git mah hooves on that- Oof!”

I swung my light where I saw South last. She was still there, but sprawled on her side. I rushed over to help her, only to feel something scrape against my legs and trip me. I landed less than gracefully on my back, my hooves hung limply above me with my flashlight aimed upwards, casting a weak light around me. Firestorm and Dexter were side by side, each of them checking each other's blind spots. Dexter emitted a faint blue barrier creating a weak glow that cast small silhouettes around the room.

“Heheheh,” Scratch chuckled. “How long can the precious little ponies last in the dark?”

This goon was taking too much enjoyment at playing hide and seek, and was starting to irritate me. But he had the advantage, and it was only a matter of time before he stopped playing around and started drawing blood. I had to take that advantage away, somehow. Many of my omni-tools functions could make a spectacular light, but without a target or direction, it would only be a waste of energy. Even overloading my flashlight would only last a few seconds, and leave me defenseless.

“Storm,” Dexter whispered, “can’t you see him with your scanner?”

“He’s moving too fast. I’m only catching glimpses of him.”

“Can you predict where he goes?” I asked.

“I don’t think I- Wait! South, watch out!”

My ears caught sound of...something, skidding along the rocky walls. It was close, but not close enough to tell where it was exactly. Quick muffled steps sped along, towards a familiar area, where South was still recovering from the last assault. I aimed my light in her direction, just in time to see her head crane upwards suddenly to Firestorm’s warning. The movement quickened, punctuated with a bloodthirsty snarl.

So of course it was then, when my friend was probably in mortal danger that I got an idea. An idea that even the most insane minds would declare as reckless, foolhardy and unbelievably stupid. Had I not had a working knowledge of shield technology, or engineering at all, I might have come up with something else, something better, but all I could come up with now was going against the basic principle of my trade.

I needed to break something incredibly valuable, and potentially live saving, to save a life.

“South!” I shouted with little hesitation. “Don’t hate me for this!”

“Whut are you-”

I didn't bother to give her a chance to react, much less reply, lest she try and do something even more reckless or stupid than my own boneheaded idea. With my tool aimed right at her, I fired another bolt directly at her, striking her shields with a booming crack. The blue barrier surrounding her coalesced around her in retaliation of the attack, but shattered due to the overwhelming surge of energy. Tendrils of sparks arced in all directions at the shields failure, lighting up the area around South in a torrent of bright blue.

And crashing into the face of a very surprised dog.

The violent release of energy found a new home in the airborne hound, flowing through his flesh like metal to a magnet. His fur went rigid with the excessive charge that coursed through his body, causing his limbs to seize and his trajectory to become skewed. He crashed into the ground hard, going limp mere feet from South. His legs twitched spastically, as the smell of burning hair and flesh filled the air.

I rushed over to South, who was still lying on her side. She rolled back and and forth slowly, her helmeted head turning in various directions as I approached. “South! Are you ok?”

“”Shep..ard...” she groaned through a damaged radio. I made it to her side attempting to help her up, but she batted my hoof away.

“Iffin’ it wernt fer the grace o’ you bein’ mah commandin’ officer, Ah‘d kick you so hard ya’d land into next week.”

I smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes, then. C’mon, let’s get you up.”

The others gathered around as I helped South to her hooves, ignoring any further complaints. Firestorm held a hoof over her mouth as if she were trying to stifle a laugh, an act completely useless due to the fact she was still wearing her helmet.

“Wow Shepard,” she chuckled, “that was...quick thinking.”

I turned my head sharply to make sure the weak smile that made its way onto my face was unseen by South, who was still a little shaky on her hooves. “It wasn’t one of my best ideas...”

“Ya can say that again.” South grunted.

“I don’t know, South,” Firestorm continued, failing to hide her increasing laughter. “I certainly thought it was a bright idea!”

Even Dexter couldn’t help but snicker a little, as Firestorm burst out laughing, falling over and rolling around on the ground. South growled loudly and turned towards the next tunnel. The Pegasus continued her boisterous laughter as she went down the darkened path. As she reached the end of my light, she turned back.

“While Firestorm spends her time makin’ bad puns, Ah’m gonna go take care o’ that Manticore! So unless any o’ you wanna help...”

The giggling subsided to a faint chuckle as Firestorm slowly regained her ability to speak. “Hah...hah..ok..heh..I’m...fine. “she panted. “We should...heh...we should go after her...”

“After you.” I politely allowed her to go first, utterly failing to conceal my impish grin.

She gave me a sideways glance, when her head heaved down slowly and a loud sigh echoed out of it. “You just want her to kill me first don’t you?”

“I didn’t say anything. But we’d better hurry before she has all the fun to herself. Especially if there are more Geld in there.”

“Are you two coming?”

We both stared at Dexter, who had moved past Firestorm and I, and was already moving down the dark tunnel after South. We shared a shrug, and started after him. Never a dull moment indeed.

My tool blurted that we had traveled at least a few kilometers towards the core of the rock, and had many more to go. With nothing but the singular tunnel to follow, our only option was to continue moving deeper into the cave. As we went along, we encountered a far more natural series of caves that the coerced miners may have used to save time. The tunnel walls were rough, wound with a series of cable shaped stone formations.

We spent most of our time following these stones that winded downwards into the core of the asteroid seeing as was our only indication of a direction. Well, the others followed them, somehow I managed to trip over one of them.

South, showing her rare ability to help, meandered over to me to help me up. When she reached out to grab me though, her hoof froze, instead grazing it across the thing I tripped over.

“That ain’t right,” she mumbled.

“What is it?” I looked critically at the cable. Nothing jumped out at me as strange, aside that it was the color of stone.

“This ain’t a rock, its a...a tree root!”

“What” I said blankly.

“Ah ain’t kiddin’, look!” She pointed to a section of its shell. There was a rough design etched in the exterior. A coarse pattern rippled across the entire length, one that could not have been machined by any method that I knew of.

“Its petrified, and thousands of years old, but there ain’t no way to call this anythin’ else but a root.”

“What would a tree root be doing here?” Dexter asked.

“Beats me.” South shrugged. She looked up at the cavern walls. She moved to towards it, rubbing a hoof against it. “This asteroid ain’t right. Some of these walls wernt cut by any equipment Ah know of. It’s like they were already here. Ah know some asteroids ain’t completely solid, but this place...” She turned her head slowly back to us.

“It ain’t natural.”

Firestorm walked over to examine the ‘root’ herself. “Maybe the asteroid originated from an Alicorn world. Some of the ground isn’t even rock, just compacted earth.” She gave the stony, petrified limb a light kick. “There’s probably more of these lying around on the ground, not just the walls, best to watch where we are going.”

She was right. Once I got back to my hooves, I noticed that from the walls and floor, dangling appendages hung loosely from the earthen wall. Similar vines clung to the sides of the tunnel, covering more of the ancient decaying remains of what used to be a mighty tree as the tunnel continued. The petrified stone appearance made them look like ageless carvings on what might have been a temple wall, but in here they were only reminders that time makes foals of us all.

We left the roots behind, picking up our pace back into the winding tunnels. I strained my eyes to see through the dark, but I could barely see more than a few feet in front of me or make out any discernable shapes. The only reason I chose not to turn on my flashlight was to avoid making our approach obvious to any who might be watching out for us. Firestorm managed to keep ahead of us, stepping over any obstacle in her way like it wasn’t there. I managed to keep up with her by following the glint of light reflecting off of her armor, and considering how closely the others were following beside me, they must have been doing the same.

We entered another chamber, by far larger and better lit than the others within the asteroid. The strange roots were in this room as well, but in much greater quantity. They wrapped and spun around overturned stones and uncovered slabs of metal, but many of the stony tendrils had been crudely sliced through. More mining equipment was laying around the room, but most of it was discarded haphazardly on the ground. Walking past it, some of it looked like it hadn’t been used recently.

We moved across the uneven ground, when a loud guttural voice carried over the jagged walls.

“What do you mean ‘you don’t where she is?’” it bellowed.

We cleared a corner just in time to see the Manticore from earlier, towering over a quivering Earth Pony. Several others, as well as a couple of Moles were huddled against a wall, shaking in fear from the roaring feline. He continued his tirade against the frightened miner, unaware of our presence as we approached slowly.

“I gave you two things to do; watch the girl and dig a hole. And you useless runts can’t do either of them right!”

“We-we’re sorry!” the stallion stammered. “We couldn’t dig anymore because of the strange barrier we ran into.” He pointed to the far wall behind him. I don’t know how I missed it before, but behind what appeared to be a recently opened crevice of rock was a bright purple field of energy. It didn't look much different from the atmospheric barriers from the Normanedy, but I couldn’t see anything through it. Lying in front of it was a small selection of drilling equipment, all of which had damaged nozzles or bent pneumatic heads.

“So when we couldn’t get through it, we asked the Unicorn. She said she would take a look at it, then she vanished!”

The Manticore swiped his massive paw at the stallion, sending him flying through the air into the huddled group. The group screamed in panic as the ferocious behemoth slowly approached, his tail dancing in the air.

“Excuses! That’s all you ponies and moles are good for are excuses!”

He lifted his paw high in the air, claws drawn, when a loud shot fired from beside me. It ricocheted off of a rock very close to the Manticore’s head. His uplifted arm froze, as he turned his head towards us. He glared at us, but none so much as Firestorm, who was leaning forward.

“Pick on somepony your own size, you great oaf!” she yelled.

He chuckled, turning his entire body to face us. “Big words for such a little pony.”

Slowly, he began to walk across the room circling around us with measured, deliberate steps. His small bat like wings fluttered menacingly, and his barbed tail lashed back and forth like a viper ready to strike.

“I see those two useless hounds couldn’t deal with you. I expected them to last longer than that, but twenty minutes?” His head shook disappointedly. “You know what they say...” He stopped, lining up perfectly between us. “Never send a dog...to do a lions job.”

He tensed suddenly, shrugging his shoulder. Much like Firestorms sniper harness, the Manticore lifted his massive paw back to pull a very large weapon forward and balance it over his back, aimed directly at us. While at a first glance, it looked like a massive slab of metal, the glowing red and whirring noises made it sound and look more than dangerous enough for me to take note. I dove to the right just as he opened fire, gouging a huge crater into the rocky ground where I once was.

The explosive weapon launched me further than I intended, and I ended up landing behind a small pile of rocks. I scrambled to my hooves in time to see the others dive the opposite direction, returning fire at the Manticore as he slowly but steadily advanced towards us. I peeked out at the carnage unfolding on the other side. My friends managed to find similar cover to protect themselves from the unwavering onslaught of the Manticore. However many shots they fired, and no matter how many of them hit, each shot either deflected off his shield, or bounced off his thick armor.

He stopped firing occasionally, but only to shout more insults at us as he continued his advance. “It’s cute that you ponies are trying to play war with the likes of me. Manticore are bred for combat! We eat, breath, and sleep combat, while you grass eaters are no better fit to walk upright, let alone fight!”

He loosed another blast from his gun, slowly chipping away our cover. “But you Shepard? Artemis paid me a pretty penny to make sure you end up dead. The amount he gave me, I expected you to be a challenge. But this?” Another shot crashed through the rock beside me. I felt whatever protection I had slowly dwindle before me as he continued his rant. “This is just sad.”

“Hey buddy!” South shouted. “Ya’ll talk too much!”

A stream of shots exploded from where the others were. Over and over the sound repeated, only slightly masking the feral grunts that accompanied it. I peeked out again. South was still leaning out of cover, her smoking weapon aimed at the stopped Manticore. He was still standing, but he had a noticeably sterner expression on his face. Blood trickled down his face over his eyes and into into his thick red mane. He licked away the crimson fluid through a sinister grin.

“Ya got spunk, pony, I’ll give ya that!” He commented darkly. “I’ll save ya till last if ya want, if only so I can take my time strangling the life from you.”

South spat defiantly at him, ejecting a molten red thermal clip from her smoking weapon. “Ah’d like tuh see ya try!”

And try he did. With a ferocious roar he charged towards South and the others. Ignoring their guns, he smashed into the rock that they would have once called cover, turning it into a rubble. Now beside Firestorm and Dexter, he lashed his paws at them, bashing them into each other. South ducked her head down from the swiping claw, barely in time, and rolled away as another strike crashed into the rock beside her.

He snarled at her, eyes narrowed. He stepped towards South, who in turn took her own step back. He lumbered past my hiding spot, moving along either unaware, or uninterested of my presence, keeping his gaze level with South. I looked at her, but with her helmet still on, I couldn’t tell if she were worried or she had intended this all along. All I knew is that she was slowly running out of room to back into, and the Manticores steps were far bigger than hers.

“You were saying?” he mocked. He was only a few meters away from South by now, who had less than a few meters of room left herself. Dexter and Firestorm remained motionless against the wall. There was nopony else to help, there was just me. Me, against an angry, psychopathic, war-frenzied Manticore. So I did what any rational pony would do when faced with impossible odds.

I charged at him guns blazing.

I swung my omni-tool at him, overloading what remained of his shields in an attempt to make my meager attack as effective as possible. My pistol blasted into his sides, crashing against his thick armor. He took little notice at my assault, shrugging away the attack like one would swat a mosquito. Emphasis on the swatting. His tail sailed into me, hitting my in my side. The world turned blurry as intense pain surged through me, but even it wasn’t enough to mask the fact that I was no longer on the ground.

I was airborne, flying high and far over the piles of rock and remains, falling further into the room. I thought I heard somepony call my name, but I couldn’t be certain as the numbness of the strike slowly began to take hold. I felt dull and cold, even as I landed some several meters away. On the hard ground, I didn’t feel much better. The Manticore made his point, painfully so, that I was nothing to him.

Something tugged at me, prompting me to lift my head. One of the miners had rushed to my aid, and was trying to help me up. His omni tool flickered on his arm, glowing a calming blue. I stared at the coalescing colors of the device, as I felt a soothing warmth overtake me. The sound of my own breaths was no longer deafening to me, and I glanced appreciatively at the one who aided me.

“Are you ok?” he asked.

I grunted and groaned, rolling over to attempt to get back on my hooves. “I’ll be fine...I think.”

More gunshots caught my attention. I looked in vain back to where South was, only seeing the Manticore moving from a slow trot to a steady lumbering gait. His gravely laugh echoed through the cavern, almost masking the sound of galloping hooves. South was running, faster than I’d ever seen her run. She climbed over more of the rocks to escape her pursuer, only provoking more cruel laughs.

The Manticore had holstered his weapon, as if he wanted to pointlessly chase South around to add to his twisted sense of fun. South had the speed and stamina to keep ahead of him, but the Manticore had stride and power. She hesitated to buck a storage crate into his path, but he swatted the metal container away as if it were made of tin. She tried again with an errant boulder, but the result was the same, the Manticore plowing through it like it wasn’t there with a swipe of his paw. His face had become matted with his own blood, covering nearly half of it in the crimson bile. And if that didn’t manage to slow this thing down, what would?

I scanned around, looking for anything that might help us deal with this hulking warrior. The miners were still huddled together behind their equipment. Most of it looked damaged, either fizzling slightly or leaking precious fluids. One device stood out, not bearing any of the cracked casings or broken drill heads of the others. I muscled my way through the crowd to the machine, reaching a control console.

“What is this?” I asked hastily.

“One of our last plasma drills.” somepony beside me answered. “It’s the only one that didn’t overheat before we gave up on that barrier.”

“So it still works?”

“It should...” he replied weakly.

“What would this do to a Manticore?”

There was no immediate answer. I faced the crowd, remarking their confused looks. The lead pony looked at me uncertainly. “If he didn’t have his armor...” He trailed off as he winced the unpleasant thought from his mind. I placed a hoof on his shoulder.

“I don’t care if it kills him or not, I just need to stop him.” I jumped at a nearby crash. South was still evading the Manticore, but she was running out of time, time I intended to give her.

I pointed at the drill, shouting over the worried murmurs of the group. “Help me move this, we only have one chance at this!”

We heaved against the base of the machine, twisting it slowly on its platform. I felt my grip weaken as the strongest of the group managed to push the large drill on their own. Not needed for that, I went back to the controls, preparing it to fire. I saw the Manticore closing on South, who was backed into a narrow corner. She was shaking her rifle, the radiance of heat billowing from it. I could see a ferocious grin in the felines face, as he moved within mere feet of my friend.

“Hey ugly!” I shouted.

He turned his head at me. He tilted his head, confusion on his face.

I gave him an angry glare. “Stay away from my friend.”

Realization dawned, but far too late. The whirring machine spun up quickly, the loud hum vibrating in my ears. Before the Manticore could move, the drill lanced a massive beam through the ground, slicing upwards across him. The ground erupted geysers of dirt and rock as the plasma cut through the rock. As the dust settled, what I saw was incomprehensible. He was still standing. A massive swathe had been cut through his side, melting through his armor and flesh like butter. Blood oozed from the wound, dripping to the rock underneath him. But he was still standing. Somehow this, thing, was still alive.

“Is that...all you got?” he grunted.

I stared in disbelief. I knew Manticore’s were hard to fight, even harder to kill, but this was ridiculous. He was bleeding far too much for a normal creature to survive, but he held it together, barely.He tried to walk, only to misstep and slip. He managed to right himself and stay standing, but the weary look on his face made it seem like it was becoming an increasingly difficult task. I looked down at the controls of the drill. The screen was riddled with warnings and alerts. I hopped off, seeing that it was no longer any use to me. Now, we needed a miracle.

A large CRACK came from the entrance, and I turned just in time to see a rock nearly half his size flying towards him. It shimmered with a magical green glow as it hurtled through the air, striking the Manticore in the side. He roared in pain as the boulder smashed into him, collapsing to his haunches. His head wavered, drooping and swaying in circles as his forepaws quivered to maintain his posture, but eventually lost that battle and slumped forward.

The rock had widened the hole in his side, but the bleeding had slowed. His breathing began to fade into low, raspy wheezes. He managed to slowly lift his head, looking at me. He eyes were heavy, as he tried to glare at me through a half lidded stare.

“Killed by a damned pony...what a way to go...”

His head collapsed to the ground, and his body went still. I released a breath I didn’t realise I was holding, and trotted swiftly over to South, who was still frozen against the wall, staring at the dead Manticore.

Firestorm and Dexter also showed themselves at last, none the worse for wear. Firestorm’s hoof was cradled over Dexters back, who limped with every step. They took their time pacing around the Manticore, regarding it with a slow, cautious stare.

“You two alright?” I asked.

Firestorm managed to nod, but Dexter only managed to shake his head. Firestorm stopped to lay him down, then turned back to me. “It’s good to see that you guys are ok too.” She turned to the corpse. “And to kill a Blood Claw Merc, too. Not bad.”

I laughed weakly. “If it wasn’t for that rock that Dexter tossed, I doubt we would have.”

Dexter coughed, straining to bring his gaze to mine. “I didn’t throw any rock.”

“Uh, Shepard.” South interrupted. “Ah wuz about t’ say. Isn’t Dexter’s magic blue?”

The realization struck hard. How did I not realise it at the time? Playing it over in my mind, South was right. The rock was indeed thrown by a distinct green aura. I looked back at the remains of the Manticore and the rock that had felled him.

“If you didn’t throw it, then who did?”

“Um...’ a weak voice interjected. “Excuse me?”

I turned back to the small group of miners behind me. They looked mostly relieved that their captor was dead, but the one who had helped me up was pointing wildly at something. I followed his hoof back to the broken wall, where the purple barrier was still standing. What I didn’t remember, was the bright green orb hovering in front of it.

“Behold!” a loud, echoing voice bellowed. The strange orb shifted and warped into a series of odd shapes, glowing brighter and brighter.

“It is by the mighty grace of the Alicorn that you are spared! To spill blood on the sacred ground is a crime punishable by death! Only if you leave now will your transgression be forgiven!”

The orb grew in size, as a strange form began to shape within the light. A pair of eyes peered through the haze, as a equine form manifested around them.

“Well, Shepard?” South asked, breaking the silence between us. “Ya’ll is probably th’only one t’ see an Alicorn b’fore. Is that one?”

South had a point. To date, nopony had ever seen any evidence of what the Alicorn had looked like. There was no doubt that the regal looking creature that I had witnessed from the relic vision was a creature never seen in Equestrian space, but was it an Alicorn. The glowing shape in front of me shared many similarities with that of my vision. It was a slender creature, with long legs and a strange, rippling mane. But the similarities ended there.

Instead of wings, this creature had a set of long spindly tendrils growing from where its spin would be. They wriggled and coiled menacingly in the air, reaching far from its host to grip at the nearby walls. The horn was also different. Instead of a finely honed point, this things horn formed a deadly curve, complete with a sharpened, jagged edge.

“I will not repeat myself again! Leave this place now if you wish to see the light of the stars again!”

“You aren't an Alicorn,” I stated calmly.

The image seemed taken aback, but moved forward with an aerial stomp. The cave shook, bringing dust and rocks down on our heads, as the “Alicorn’s” mane writhed and grew like fire.

“You dare to resist the will of the Alicorn?!” it shouted, drawing closer to us. Several more rocks surrounding us began to lift into the air on their own, enveloped in the same greenish glow.

“Your insolence will be your deaths!”

“Shepard?”

Dexter managed to stand on his own, and stood beside me. “Somethings not right here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The magic...it isn’t focused around that...thing.”

I looked back at the glowing image. It was drifting closer, its arsenal of floating rocks slowly beginning to spin.

“So that means...what exactly?”

Dexter gazed around the room, stopping on a small stone near his hooves. His magic snatched the tiny rock from the ground, lingering in the air just beside him.

“Firestorm,” he asked. “Think you can dodge those rocks if they come at us?”

“Why?” she replied, turning her head sideways.

“Cause I need you to fetch this.”

The rock in his telekinetic grasp took off like a bullet, soaring through the glowing apparition harmlessly, It ricocheted across the rocky walls, disappearing into the distance.

The guardian roared in anger at being attacked by the stony projectile. “You have sealed your fates! Die!”

“Are you serious?” she snapped.

“Just do it, trust me!”

As predicted, the glowing rocks began to spin wildly in the air, before launching towards us. The workers screamed in panic as the volley of stones hurtled towards us. Firestorm lingered a moment, watching the rocks flying towards us, while Dexter continued yelling at her.

“Just go! I’ll deal with these!”

He stepped forward, taking hold of his magic once more. A bright sphere began to form around us, radiating a quiet hum through the cave. Firestorm, seeing that the rest of us were not in immediate danger, took off in an aerial charge towards the angered guardian. Much like Dexters stone, she sailed through the green specter like it was only air, dodging past the soaring rocks with practiced ease.

The guardian turned to follow her as she sailed past and reached the far side of the room. “No! Stay away from there!” it shouted.

Firestorm disappeared into the darkness of the far side of the cavern. The zealous spectre turned its attention from us, chasing after the pegasus. The boulders flying at us lost their magical projection, losing their velocity. They slowly lost their height, before landing harmlessly into the ground in front of us with a loud thunk! Dexter dropped his shield, and took off after the guardian and Firestorm, leaving South and I to follow him wordlessly.

“Firestorm!” I shouted. “Are you ok?”

A brilliant flurry of green sparks exploded from above, as the apparition above us flickered in and out of existence. It screamed in pain, as it seethed in rage. Its shape bubbled and warped, and its luminescent face contorted in agony as it struggled against a new threat. The spectral monstrosity twitched, before it began to tear itself apart, vanishing into a cloud of emerald mist.

We found Firestorm in the dimly lit tunnel, staring into the darkness. The lamp from her helmet was on, pointed into a small crevice in the rock. Something flashed from within, a glimmer of light reflecting off the shining light. We approached carefully, and as we did, I heard something. It was a sound I was all too familiar with. Rapid, irregular, shallow breaths, tempered by the futility of trying to hide it. It was the sound of fear.

“Stay away!” the lingering voice screeched. “Pay no attention to the pony behind the wall!”

Firestorm sighed, moving quickly over to the small hole. “I’ve had about enough of this!” she barked. She fished her hoof into the small hole. Soft, fearful squealing emitted from within, as Firestorm struggled with whoever was inside. After a few moments of rustling and screaming, the pegasus succeeded in pulling a small Unicorn mare from the cavern wall.

She tumbled out of her hiding space, landing flat on her stomach. Her widened eyes peered up at us quickly, darting between us. Thick, black circles underlined her eyes, but they did little to soften the absolute panic in them. Her tangled, disheveled mane was a shimmering green. She was wearing a white uniform not too different from the one Doctor Chalkdust wore, which only slightly hid her onyx colored fur.

She scrambled away on her belly, trying to get back to her hole, only for Firestorm to step on her tail.

“Lady Midnight I presume?”

The Unicorn’s head twisted suddenly to face the Pegasus. “No!” she screamed. “NO! You can’t be here! You were supposed to run! You were supposed to leave!”

Dexter approached her calmly, a hoof outreached. “Take it easy, we aren’t going to hurt you.”

She tried to back away again, swatting Dexters hoof away in the process. “No! Either you will hurt me, or he will! There isn’t any saving me. Unless I bring him what he wants! That means you have to leave!”

“Sorry,” Dexter said apologetically. “But we can’t do that. We only want to help.”

The frightened mare’s eye twitched. “The only way you can help...is...to...LEAVE!!!”

Her horn began to glow brightly, as she sent out a lance of green energy towards us. I tried to jump out of the way, but it proved pointless, as a blue bolt blasted from Dexter, meeting the Unicorns’ head on. I could hear him grunt with struggle through his helmet, as he braced himself to the ground to maintain his balance. The rest of us watched on as the two magical adversaries pitted their powers against each other. I was surprised that Dexter was actually holding his own against a full fledged Unicorn, but the swaying in his stance hinted that he wasn’t going to be able to keep it up for long.

I was even more surprised when South casually walked up to the Unicorn, and promptly bashed her in the head with the side of her rifle leg.

The Unicorn gave a weakened squeal, before collapsing to the ground. Firestorm quickly leaned down to examine her, while Dexter wheeled on South.

“South!” he snapped. “That was completely unnecessary!”

The soldier shrugged. “In case ya’ll fergot, there’s this asteroid, maybe ya heard of it, careenin’ t’wards this big ol’ planet. And there’s a fancy Alicorn relic inside it too, and a bunch o’ mean ponies tryin’ t’ stop us from gittin’ it.”

She trotted away from us back towards the miners and the barrier they had uncovered. “So while ya’ll try and play nice with little miss crazy Unicorn, Ah’m gonna see tuh gittin’ this job done.”

Dexter watched her leave, no doubt with a contemptuous glare underneath his helmet, then looked at me.

“You can’t honestly tell me you approve of that?”

I stared in thought, occasionally glancing between South and the angry Lieutenant.

“No, I don’t,” I replied, shaking my head. “But she is right, we’re running out of time.” I looked at the unconscious mare beside him. Her face no longer looked panic stricken as she slept, as if somehow, now that her worried mine was resting, she was finally at peace.

“Can you two carry her? We need to talk to her in a less stressful setting.” I noticed a freshly forming lump on the top of her head. “After Chalkdust has a look at her.”

“I got her,” Dexter said quickly. He focused his magic again, wrapping it around the Unicorn and lifting her gently from the ground onto his back.

“Now let’s go see about that barrier. Something tells me its got something very interesting behind it.”

Back in the main chamber, we found the remaining miners huddled together near the glowing barrier. As we approached, they turned to us, not with fear, but with relief. They started to move towards us, when they glanced past me, suddenly halting. Their eyes were filled with concern, focused on something behind me. I turned to see Dexter, with the unconscious Unicorn hanging off his back.

“It’s ok,” I assured them. “She’s out cold. We shouldn’t have any problems with her anymore.”

The group of them eyed the Unicorn uncertainly, stepping away from her as Dexter approached. South chuckled loudly at their worried glances.

“Ah’d like t’ see her wake up after the wallop Ah gave her!”

I glared at her. While I understood her motive for disabling the potential threat, she didn't need to be rubbing it in. She shook her head and meandered over to the hole in the wall where the barrier was. I turned back to the workers, who started looking uncertainly at South as she trotted past them.

“What I’d really appreciate is any ideas that you have to get through that.”

I pointed a hoof at the purple obstruction blocking our path. Up close, it looked spherical, like a giant bubble encased within the rock. Its bright coloring also concealed anything that was behind it, making it impossible to see through and see if there were any dangers inside.

One of the miners scoffed, pointing at the machinery aimed at the barrier wall. “As you can see...” he commented dryly. “That thing ate up all of our equipment. Even our most expensive plasma drill couldn’t get through it. And you went and overheated it, so we’re kind of out of options.”

I walked over to the stockpile of materials. I was no expert on digging through earth and stone, but what my expertise did recognise was obvious. This stuff was broke as hell. I shook my head, looking back at the barrier.

“We could always use them Dynamo’s” South said, pointing at a stack of metal cylinders stacked against the wall.

“And probably blow up what we’re trying to get.” Firestorm retorted. “Explosions don’t always solve our problems, South.

“Sez you,” she snarked.

“So any ideas on how to get through, Shepard?”

Dexter stopped between me and the shield, shrugging his shoulder every so often to make sure the mare was still secured on his back.

“I doubt anything I can do will get through this.” I waved my omni-tool at the wall, trying to get any kind of reading. All I got in return was a bunch of nothing, mixed with a heavy dose of magical interference.

“This thing is magical in nature. That’s your field of expertise, Dexter.”

“Hmm, well there might be something I can do.” He moved up to the barrier, placing a hoof against it. His body began to glow blue, as his magic poured from him and slowly leeched into the glowing wall. The field began to hum loudly, absorbing the blue hue of Dexters magic into its own, deepening in shade. This continued for a while, when a loud cracking noise thundered through the cave. Dexter hopped back from the wall, shaking his hoof.

“Ow!” he exclaimed. “I don't think it liked me doing that.”

I walked beside him, peering at the wall. Whatever Dexter had done was steadily undoing itself, the darkened hue fading back to its original purplish tones.

“What did you do?”

“I was trying to decipher what kind of spellwork we’re looking at here. It’s kinda like looking at its blueprints, but for spells.”

“Oh.” I had to admit, that was kind of clever, being able to apply scientific reasoning to the realm of magic. Magic was far beyond my understanding, outside of fairy tales and myths, so it was nice to have a Magitech of our own to sort this out.

“Shepard, “ he continued, a stern tone overtaking his voice. “Whoever made this barrier was immensely powerful. The spell weaving is complex, I doubt any Unicorn today could do something like this. And its still this strong despite being so ancient.”

“Wait, you can tell how old it is?”

He shrugged. “Not a precise age, no, but yeah, its old. Like, Alicorn old.”

“Well then whut are we gonna do?” South grated. “It’s not like we can jus’ sit here poundin’ on it all day.” She punctuated her frustrations with a hoof punch to the barrier. A loud electric noise filled the air, as it ushered a response in the form of a bolt directly at South. She yelped as the small jolt zapped her, causing her to trip and fall over.

Firestorm started to laugh, as I rushed to help South up. Her legs kicked and twitched, even coming close to sweeping me off my hooves as well. I navigated around her flailing limbs, placing my hoof against a wall for balance while I tried to get South back up.

“Shepard!” Dexter shouted. “What are you doing!”

I froze, halting my aid. I slowly turned my head to my outstretched hoof, realizing that I had unwittingly placed it onto the glowing barrier. Before I could take it away though, the glowing wall began to mirror Dexters earlier spell, seeping its aura into me. I felt a fluid warmth overtake me, as a small, probing feeling pricked at my mind.

A spark of light flashed before my eyes, followed by the sound of a slowly fading hum. I opened my eyes slowly, and found that the barrier was fading away. As the shimmering purple began to dissipate, I could see what lay through it. The crevice appeared to extend deeper into the rock, opening into a well lit chamber on the other side. The tunnel was narrow, but wide enough for us to travel one by one. Regardless of that little issue, the news was good.

“How did you do that?” Disbelief was the only thing I recognized in Dexter’s voice as he walked up beside me.

I looked back at him. “I have no idea. It felt like...like the barrier knew who I was. Like I was a...friend.”

“Maybe the relic back on Equestria Prime did more than give you memories.”

Could that have been it? Chalkdust did mention significantly strange readings on my brain after I had woken up from the relic. Considering the headache it gave me, there was little reason to disprove it. There was little to get excited about when you are face with the possibility that an ancient piece of technology might have rewired your brain.

“I’ll have Chalkdust take a closer look once we get back to the Normanedy. For now, I think we should take this chance to get what we came for and get out of here.”

We all stared into the darkened crevice, and at the lit room beyond.

“After you, Shepard.”

I can't remember who said that, not that I really mattered. All I knew is I was going in first, regardless of if I wanted to or not. The joys of being the ‘hero’, and with Alicorn shield breaking powers to boot. Who better to send in? Before I proceeded, though, I turned back to the workers, who merely stared on in wonderment at us.

“If the rest of you have your breathers, our ship is waiting just outside the cave to take your out of here. There are no Geld left in the way, so there shouldn’t be any trouble.”

I hailed the Normanedy. “Shepard to Normanedy, we’re sending the last of the miners to you. We found the relic chamber and are going to check it out, over.”

The radio only hissed static back to me.

“Bah,” I groaned. “Too much interference from the asteroid.” I looked at the workers. “Can you tell them that we’re going to be right behind you after checking this out?”

They nodded, moving as a group towards the way we came to leave the rest of us to the task at hoof. With nothing left to distract us, I crawled into the narrow passage, moving slowly as the rocky walls grinded against my armor. South filed in behind me, but I couldn’t tell who followed behind her in the cramped space. I kept a steady pace, not wanting to rush into anything dangerous. The light at the tunnel grew brighter, faster than my eyes could adjust from the dimly lit caves.

I stumbled out of the tiny space into a wide open chamber. I looked around, identifying the light sources as a series of brightly glowing runes along a rounded wall, that made the room look like a giant stone dome. A draft carried across the room, bringing a strange smell to my nose. It was a refreshing smell, like a calming summer breeze. I heard the rustling of leaves, bringing my attention to the center of the room. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes, as I stared in bewilderment at a large, towering oak sitting in the middle of a small grassy field within the chamber.

“Is that...” I heard from behind.

The others slowly filed into the room behind me. They all slowly took off their helmets, revealing their faces with a similar expression to mine. The tree was fully in bloom, with thick green leaves rustling vibrantly on the many branches. Its limbs twisted high into the ceiling of the chamber, swaying by the power of a phantom wind.

“I guess this is where those roots came from.” Firestorm mused.

“But...it’s still alive!” South added, disbelief ringing in her voice.

My eyes traced the length of the trunk, eventually reaching the core of the tree. One of the lower limbs was covered in wood paneling, which looked like a roughshod balcony, complete with a glass paned doorway. At the base of the tree was a large, solid carved door that swung listlessly in the errant wind that circled the room. A placard sign hung loosely from a damaged frame nearby, displaying a large painting of a book.

Despite the natural decay of neglect, the tree house looked surprisingly well preserved, considering the amount of time it would have had to be in here. I moved closer to the swinging door, surveying the area carefully. I heard the crunch of leaves and grass behind me, reassuring me that I wasn’t approaching the strange building alone.

Reaching the door, I pushed it aside with a gentle tap of my hoof and peeked inside. The room inside was decorated with many shelves, lined with various books. A small wooden table and a set of matching chairs was overturned on one side of the room. The room was devoid of dust or other debris that time would being, even in such a strangely manipulated environment.

“Is this...” Dexter intoned. “A Library?”

“And somepony left some of the books behind...” Firestorm added dryly.

“Why would t’ Alicorns have a Library like this?” South pointed out. “Wern't they more advanced than us?”

I took a few more steps into the room. The wooden floor creaked and groaned, and my hooves clopped loudly as I trotted across it. “It probably was an act of preservation. This place might have been in some sort of temple garden before it ended up out here.”

I stopped suddenly, something suddenly coming to mind. “The question is, how on Earth did this get out here in the first place?”

“Considering the power behind that shield, I don’t doubt it would be difficult for somepony to put this out here.”

“I’m more interested in what they tried to accomplish putting this out here.”

I trotted over to the shelves, taking out one of the books. It was worn and well read, but the symbols on it might as well have been gibberish. The Alicorn alphabet looked simple enough, but we were still some time away from fully understanding their ancient language.

“I bet an Alicorn researcher would give his full set of hooves to be in this room.”

“We should probably take some of it with us.” Dexter commented. “If any of these belonged to the one who made that shield, I’d like to learn a little bit more about them, if we could translate it.”

I placed the book in my saddlebag, and went back to looking around. From the middle of the room, I could see a broken staircase leading up towards an upper landing of the abode. Seeing no easy way to get up there myself, I waved Firestorm over. “Hey Firestorm, c’mere.”

She trotted beside me, following my eyes to the inaccessible area. She grinned, as she started to beat her wings to lift off. As she did though, I started to hear a loud groaning noise rumbling beneath me. Firestorm didn’t stop however, either unaware or too focused on the landing to notice. She launched off the ground with a powerful kick, causing the ground beneath me to creak and groan, before a large crack erupted from underneath me.

The wooden ground gave way, splintering and shattering under the stress of two heavily armored ponies. Firestorm eventually noticed what was happening, but was too slow in attempting to reach for me, just barely missing my hooves by inches. I fell through the floor into darkness, barely having the time to scream before I quickly hit a painful bottom.

I landed onto my stomach with a crash, as the fragile building material crumbled under me. I slowly lifted my head upwards, seeing the light from the room casting into the dank cellar I had fallen into, pair of blue eyes peering down at me.

“Shepard!” she shouted. “Are you ok?”

I watched her flit about in the air, readjusting her self as she attempted to enter the hole, but being larger than I, had little success in getting through, not without making the hole bigger at least.

“I’m fine,” I shouted back. “I just found the basement.”

“Do you see anything?” I heard Dexter ask from the floor above. “A way back up?”

I looked around, trying to make out anything from the limited light of my omni-tool. The room was as bare as the others, showing the same signs of hasty eviction. Dust and other debris littered the stony floor, masking scuff marks and grinded rock as if something large and heavy were swiftly displaced. I traced the marks along the ground with a hoof, following them into the room. Looking up, as my eyes grew accustomed to the dark, noticed the faint silhouette of a door on the far side of the room, at the top of a narrow stairwell.

“Yea” I replied to my friends. “I think I did, just gimme a sec.”

I carefully made my way across the room, circling around the center of the room towards the exit. Nearer to the stairs, I felt something hard and round under my hooves, nearly stumbling over it. I examined it closer, recognising the small cylindrical object as a power cable. Out of curiosity, I tugged at it, and was met with a sturdy resistance towards the center of the room.

My intrigue piqued, I followed the length of cable, discovering that it led me to a large stone edifice sitting in the center of the room that I had not noticed before. It was an interesting piece of carved stone, cut with interesting and familiar designs.

“Guys?” I called out. “ I think I found the relic!”

“What?” Dexter replied. “Are you sure?”

“Its kinda hard to mistake one of these once you’ve seen them before!”

“Is it active?”

I opened my mouth to respond, when a low, throbbing hum answered in my stead. My eyes widened as the familiar noise reached my ears, and I started to back away slowly.

“Shepard! What’s going on!?” Somepony screamed. Anything else they said went unheard as the relic began to pulsate louder, steadily beginning to glow, this time a deep blue. I felt a presence wash over me, a force creeping over and taking hold of my entire body. I scraped madly against the ground as I slowly lifted from the ground into the air. Knowing full well what was coming next, I tried to brace my mind, however one does that.

The storm of thoughts came quickly and suddenly, as before. Again, the emotions and fears of thousands, if not millions of living beings filled my mind, replaying the horrors of the previous relic in the front of my brain. Glimpses of pain, torture and panic flashed in front of my eyes, accompanied by sounds of screaming, agony and hysteria. The violent scratching of my head forced so much information into my head as it felt dangerously close to bursting.

When it all came to a head, I returned rudely to earth. I landed prone, my swaying head trying to maintain balance as the relic ended its torment on my mind. As the visions faded from my eyes, I slowly recognised my surroundings. The relic lay before me, no longer emitting the throbbing noise, and had stopped glowing. It shimmered with static electricity, as the small lights along its shell began burning out, one by one, until they all ceased to function.

I looked around the room, noticing that the door I was heading to was now burst open off of its hinges. Beside me was my friends, shouting at me and between each other, as they circled me slowly. My ears were ringing, and I could only hear some bits of what they were saying.

“Shepard! Are you ok?”

“Can you stand?”

“Whut did ya see?”

I shook my head, and waved my hoof dismissively at them. I slowly got back to my hooves, refusing their attempts to aid me with a swat of my leg.

“I’m fine. It wasn’t as bad this time.”

I stumbled and staggered on my hooves, swaying back and forth drunkenly. Somepony caught me, but I instinctively brushed them away again.

“I said I’m fine. Totally fine, I just need a nap. Perfectly fine.”

When everything started falling sideways, though, I knew that it would be remiss of me to not admit later when I woke up, that I was most definitely not fine.

Engineer Skills Upgraded: Your Overload ability now has a chance to affect an additional target, regardless of the primary target. In addition, your Overload sabotages enemy weapons, overheating them and rendering them incapable of firing.

Dixie De-light: Renegade points earned.

Codex Entry Added: Manticore

Chapter 11: Guise of Night

Chapter 11: Guise of Night

“Of course, We could not be happier. Is that not clear?”

Waking up in somepony elses body wasn’t as weird the second time around. It wasn’t as bizarre as last time, although it was still disconcerting. The world around me felt larger like the last time, and I noticed the similar strange feeling at the top of my skull. A quick test trying to move reminded me that whoevers body I was in, it was theirs to control. I think I was in the middle of circling around a dimly lit room, but it was hard to tell exactly what was going on when there was a big clipboard floating in my face.

A purple glow embraced the writing instrument, as well as a small feather quill that scribbled across the paper. A strange warmth envelop the two objects, as well as the top of my head. While I thought magic caused a varying level of strain on its user, the soothing heat was a welcome oversight. It wrote in the Alicorn tongue, so trying to figure out what it was writing was pointless. Every so often, I stopped, as did the scribbling, as my host lifted her head from the clipboard. It was the same room that I had found the relic in, but there was an incredible amount of lab equipment scattered around the room. Huge constructions of metal and wiring filled the small basement, all producing a cacophony of whirring and buzzing.

My host looked at a giant glass tube that rested in the center of the room. It was filled with a strange green liquid, that bubbled and boiled overtop an incandescent flame. The tube, although curved, showed the reflection of my host, revealing it to be once again the same mysterious lavender Unicorn from before. Despite the contoured expression that the glass reflected, I could see the frustrated look in her eyes as she shook her head swiftly, crossing something out on her clipboard.

She moved on after scribbling on her notes, towards a different device. It was a large metal box, covered in wires and blinking lights, as it printed off a series of papers. My hoof reached out to grab the growing sheet, and our eyes darted back and forth across it. I couldn’t read it, but the way my host shook her head and tossed the sheet aside suggested that she didn’t like what was on it anyways.

We moved along to another machine nearby. It looked like a mechanical cauldron, attached to what looked like a blender. Strangely colored liquids were poured into the pot from above, as the device mixed the colors together into a disgusting brown paste. The mixing head lifted from the metal tub, and the gooey mixture oozed and plopped back into the pit that spawned it with a sickening ‘blorp’. I felt a snort escape my nose, as the quill scribbled another line across the notes.

She continued to patrol around the room, examining the many machines that filled lab, taking notes on some, growling in frustration at others. As I looked at each one she passed, something about their simplistic and crude designs reminded me of something, something that South said just before I passed out. “Weren’t the Alicorns more advanced than us?” Where were the holographic projectors, or the power generators? Why did everything in this room look like it was still powered by steam and fossil fuels? Why did this seemingly intelligent being, who may or may not have been the source of that magical barrier not even have something as simple as an omni-tool to take her notes?

What I thought I knew and what I was seeing now of Alicorns was at war in my head. The source of our technological advancement couldn’t have come from something so primitive. We had light speed travel, advanced medicines, fusion power, while this lab looked like it could barely produce electricity.

I heard a door open behind me, and my host turned towards it. As it creaked open, a golden plated stallion stepped through the doorway onto the raised ledge above the lab. He cast his eyes down towards my host, a stern expression aimed towards me through his visored helmet. Once he was inside the room, he stepped aside from the door and snapped quickly to attention. He opened his mouth to speak, but to my dismay, the sound of voices was still damaged, even in this vision.

After his entrance he bowed his head low, inclining towards the door. I heard the sound of hoof steps echoing down the staircase, growing louder with each step. A shadow crept into view along the walls of the stairwell, growing longer as it descended. My host stepped backwards slowly, holding a hoof in mid air. I felt her ears fold back against her head.

A dark shape filled the doorway, as a tall, cloaked figure stepped into the room. A pair of glowing eyes peered down towards my host, but she did not continue her retreat. Instead she advanced, rather quickly towards the stairs with a vibrant spring in her step. She rushed up the stairs, colliding with the creature almost twice her size, her forelegs wrapped around its neck, squeezing tightly into a hug.

My host looked up at the mysterious newcomer, and it seemed her reckless tackle had knocked back the cowl that covered her head. Underneath it was a mare of the darkest blue, like the night sky. She also had a horn, as well as a black jeweled crown sitting on her head. She was smiling impishly, as she returned the hug to my host graciously.

As they separated, the regal mare brushed away at her cloak. As she did, it dissipated into a flock of bats, that shrieked and hissed as they fled up the stairs and out of sight. Without the black garment, I saw that she also had a jeweled torc, as black as her crown, and a pair of dark blue wings, like the other Alicorn from the previous vision. It seemed that these winged and horned ponies were all of nobility, at least from the limited evidence I had so far. Maybe the other pony races were subjugated to them in some way, or merely viewed these beings as deities. Whatever the reason these strange creatures were idolized so, it was easy to see why, and a greater shame that they were no more.

After their warm greeting, my host waved her hooves excitedly at the newest guest to her room, beckoning her to follow as she made her way back down the stairs into the lab.They exchanged a few muffled words, pleasantries probably, as they made their way into the thick of the whirring and bubbling equipment. I watched the dark Alicorn peer at many of the experiments, sometimes with a gaze of awe and wonderment, or confusion and intrigue.

Eventually, we came to a stop in the far corner, where a small table was placed. On top of it was something hidden underneath a white sheet. The alicorn tilted her head at the small blanket, as words continued to spill from my mouth in a buzz. My hooves flailed and flourished in the air, all the while pointing at the hidden object on the table. Without much theatrics, I felt a warmth rise from my head, as a purple glow enveloped the sheet, and lifted it off.

The Alicorn’s eyes widened, as well as mine, in spirit at least. On the table was a relic, much like the one on Equestria Prime or the asteroid, only smaller. The miniscule rock carving sat on the table, its etched grooves glowing a deep purple, much like the glow of this Unicorns magic. The Alicorn lifted a hoof to cover her mouth, as she continued staring at the small rock like object in shock. I felt my mouth twist into a giant smile, as my host waited patiently for the Alicorn to say something.

After a long, drawn out silence, the Alicorn slowly approached the table, and traced a hoof across the stone. It began to glow brighter, casting off a glimmering light upwards. A small shower of lights began to form above the relic, forming into small shapes. As the ancient hologram came to life, it slowly formed itself into what appeared to be a small planet of some kind. Considering its grey color, it was probably a moon, but I was an engineer, not an astrophysicist. My host looked back to the Alicorn, whose mood had dipped suddenly in the brief time I had been looking away. Her eyes were trembling, as the faintest tear streamed slowly down her face.

The Alicorn was crying.

I felt my smiling lips slowly shrivel to nothing, as my host began to speak in a far more worried tone. Her attention returned to the hologram, and I noticed that it had not finished displaying what it was programmed to. I could see, while a bit outdated, a diagram, and a series of blueprints to accompany it, of a spacecraft. More shapes surrounded the small moon, displaying dozens of different styles and models of ships, all unique in scope and size. From what I did know in this science, any number of these plans could serve to build adequate trawlers, colony ships, frigates and other vital vessels for a fledgling interstellar society.

Thats when everything began to come together. This vision, obviously set far before the one from Equestria Prime, had to have been very near to the beginning of the Alicorns foray into the stars. While their rudimentary technology seemed almost childish to me, they at least had a grasp on the nature of spacial travel, and with time, would grow the rest of their science in kind. I was witnessing the dawn of a new age for this ancient race, with front row seats no less.

As my host continued to blather on in her muffled voice, I could see a change in the Alicorn. While her eyes continued to look weakly at the hologram, a small semblance of a smile crept onto her muzzle. It was weak, but thick with a sense of overwhelming fondness and appreciation. The Alicorn turned to my host, and nodded softly, brushing away the tears that had began to stain her pristine coat.

My host bowed deeply to the Alicorn. When she raised her head, I saw that the Alicorn was slowly making her way to the exit. We followed her back through the vibrant machinery, ignoring the clattering noises emerging from some of the larger machines in the room. At the top of the stairs, the dark Alicorn dismissed her guard, before turning back to me and my host. They exchanged a few more words, only interrupted by a loud whistling sound piercing through the room, followed by a small, muffled explosion.

Smoke began to billow from one of the large contraptions, as well as emitting a loud grinding noise. My host stared wide eyed at the scene below, when a soft giggle caught her attention. The Alicorn was laughing, as she shook her head playfully at my host. She rolled her eyes, and smiled warmly, before uttering another word.

The smoke began to take up a large portion of my vision at this point, as it swirled around my face. When it began to blend into my sight, however, I realized that this vision was about to end. I felt the familiar tugging on my mind, as my sight slowly receded into a dark oblivion. As before, the power of the vision focused my mind on that final word. Although this time, it was not one of panic or fear, but one of praise, and gratitude, one I hoped my host took to heart as she continued her work.

“Thank you.”

My consciousness tumbled around my mind, as it did the last time. The storm of thoughts went past, the vision replaying over and over as I slowly slipped away from the darkness of my own head and back to reality. My eyes opened to the dull light of the lamp hovering above my head, as I slowly took note of my surroundings.

The bed was familiar, as well as the uncomfortable feeling it caused in my back. The dull grey sheets were warm, if a little constricting as I tried to worm my way out of them. I wriggled my way out of their death grip on me, when I hear a soft chuckle not too far away. I turned to see Doctor Chalkdust, sitting quietly in a chair beside my bed while she sipped from a steaming cup.

“Are my beds not comfortable enough for you Commander?” she said amusedly. “I’ll have to requisition some new ones next time we are docked.”

I righted myself in the bed, stretching out the kinks in my aching body. “They aren’t that bad, unless you are laying in them for a full day.”

Another demure laugh escaped her lips. “Oh, you haven’t been out that long. I’m happy to say that you were only asleep for twelve hours this time. Your mind must be growing accustomed to the relics effects on you. Perhaps the next one you might actually remain conscious.”

“If there is another one,” I remarked. “So what else happened? What about the asteroid?”

“Now that,” she said pointedly. “Is a good question.”

“What do you mean?”

She activated her omni-tool, producing a small, holographic image of the asteroid. “Its seems around the same time you disabled that barrier that Dexter mentioned, or you activated the relic, the asteroid just...stopped.”

I saw a few calculations flitter around the holographic rock, mostly velocity and momentum equations. “Whichever event caused it, it slowed down and stopped not too far from one of Trawlis’ moons.”

The image of the asteroid stopped moving, as a larger planetoid appeared in the image. Eventually, the massive rock began to slowly circle around the moon, as it fell into orbit around the rocky satellite.

“Heh,” I chuckled, now that I knew the rock was no longer a danger to anypony. “I bet the scientific community will love to get their hooves on what’s in that thing.”

Chalkdust nodded. “I would imagine. I glanced briefly at some of the things you had in your saddle bags. Alicorn litterature, very interesting. Were I still a teacher, I would take you up on that offer in a heartbeat.”

I blinked. “You were a teacher?”

She laughed “Well of course! What else did you think my Cutie Mark meant?”

She regarded the symbol on her flank with a fond glance. “I taught at the Palomino University for nearly twenty years, specialising in medicinal sciences of course. It was all good fun, but one day I was offered a position to help teach emergency care aboard military spacecraft.

“It was such a thrilling change of environment. The excitement of new locales, and ponies to meet. I worked through the later years of the contact wars, but I still worked on through the peace since. I’ve spent so much time studying all of the new races the galaxy was to offer. It was all so much better than sitting in a lab all day. So I stayed out here.” She looked back at me with a nostalgic look on her face. “And I haven’t looked back since.”

Chalkdust certainly led an interesting life. I had a great respect for teachers, especially the ones who I worked with during my technical training. But to work as an professor at one of the most decorated institutes back on Earth, then move into work for the military, certainly was an exciting change of pace.

“Well, I’m glad to have you here on the Normanedy. Considering the trouble we’re getting ourselves into, we’re going to need the best.”

“As mister Piper has been diligent in reminding us,” she remarked sarcastically.

I stretched again, yawning and shaking free of what exhaustion remained. “So what else has happened since I passed out?”

“Not much,” she mused drearily. “We stayed long enough to confirm that the asteroid was no longer a threat to Trawlis, then we left the sector. We stopped at one of Granite Company’s operations in the Bolaris system, resupplied and dropped off the rest of their employees.”

Chalkdust scratched her chin thoughtfully. “I expect them to send proper reinforcements back to Trawlis and continue their work at some point. We’re just on our way back to the Whip Gate now.”

I rubbed my head as I processed that information. “So we’re just drifting along then?”

She placed her mug on the bedside table and got up, trotting around the bed. “More or less. I believe the others were waiting for you two to awake before we made any further plans.”

My brows arched. “Two?”

She pointed at the bed beside me. Wrapped tightly in the bed beside me, was the Unicorn we had encountered in the asteroid. She was still, nearly motionless. The machines next to her beeped an ominous tone. She was still alive, but her heart was racing. Her mane was still a tangled mess, and even asleep her hooves were tightly clutching her blankets.

“The poor dear has been through a lot,” she continued. “She’s barely eaten in days, and my readings indicate she’s been under an awful lot of stress.” She grazed a hoof gently along the mares face, stopping on the crown of her head. She scowled slightly, looking at me. “And this bump on her head certainly didn’t help things. I assume I have Miss Belle to thank for that?”

Seeing no way out of her focused glare, I meekly nodded. She rolled her eyes, breaking her gaze back to the sleeping mare. “I’ll have to have a word about her tactics when dealing with frightened civilians.”

“She was trying to kill us at the time,” I added, though it came out far drier that I intended. Chalkdust gave me a blank look.

“Not all of us can handle the pressures of combat, Shepard. Considering all that was going on, she may have merely been confused, or frightened, and only meant to protect herself.”

I climbed out of my bed, giving the doctor an apologetic look. “Have we at least confirmed who she is?”

Chalkdust shook her head. “I tried, but her omni-tool is surprisingly well protected. It wouldn’t even divulge personal information. Perhaps you could look at it?”

I walked over to the bed, taking on of the Unicorns hooves in my own. Her omni-tool gave a little flash at my touch, as I brought up my own. But before I could do anything, she began to twist in her bed, mumbling and moaning as she began to stir from her sleep. She tugged and jerked, ripping her hoof from mine as she bolted upright in the bed, muttering sounds of panic and fear. Her eyes glanced at the startled looking doctor, then to me. Her eyes widened when her gaze met mine, and she scooted away from me in vain against the wall.

“No!” she shouted. “Not you!”

She clamped her eyes shut tightly, and clenched her teeth as her horn began to glow. The shaping magic tossed and broiled above her head, forming itself into a lethal edge of prismatic energy. Its edge honed into a glinting point, aimed directly at me. I backed up suddenly, just in time to see Chalkdust swiftly dash up the the frightened mare and swat her horn sharply.

The phantom blade withered and sputtered into nothing, as the Unicorn grasped at her horn. “Ow!”

When she turned to face her attacker, I noticed that Chalkdust had produced a small metallic ring in her hoof, and held it in front of the Unicorn’s face.

“I trust you know what this is child?” she asked in a calm, dangerous tone.

The Unicorn nodded slowly while her eyes were affixed on the innocuous looking object.

“I would assume that restricting a Unicorn’s magic is just as tortuous to you as restricting a Pegasi’s wings would be to them, so I say this once; No violence in my medical bay. Do you understand?”

The Unicorn met the Doctors unblinking stare. Her ears folded back, as she nodded again.

Chalkdust smiled at her demand being met, and turned to indicate me. “This is Commander Shepard, one of the ponies responsible for saving you from Artemis.” She turned to me. “And I assume you have questions for this young mare, now don’t you Shepard?”

I was starting to wonder whether I was actually the Commander or not. The assertive Doctor was incredibly intimidating, even to those she was allied to, and especially the one who was supposed to be in charge. But she was right, I had a lot of questions for this mare, if we had any hope of finding her former employer. I stepped slowly towards the mare, in an effort to not spook her any further.

“How long have you been in Artemis’ custody?”

The Unicorn looked at me nervously with her big, green eyes. She fidgeted, tapping her hooves together weakly as her eyes lost themselves in thought.

“A..a few months...” she managed.

“And what exactly has he had you do for him?”

She continued twiddling, as well as glancing nervously around the room as she answered my questions.

“Most...mostly keeping his movements hidden from the Council, a...and looking for any relic sightings thought the Extranet.”

That might have explained why the Council didn’t know of his illicit activities until I had come along. Artemis had a hacker, and an exceptionally good one too, considering the nature of that virus that cripple the security system of that facility.

“Why did you attack that Manticore? Wasn’t he meant to keep you safe?”

Her eyes glinted a trace of anger at me, buried under regret. “Hardly. He was a cruel, bloodthirsty savage. Artemis only had him watch me to keep me in line.”

She looked away guiltily. “I do admit, killing him was not something I regret, but it was not something I wanted to do. I managed to hide from him, hoping maybe I could avoid him shouting at me, or threatening to hurt me. That is, until you came along.”

Her breathing began to quicken, as her head bobbed back and forth with sharp intakes of air.

“I didn’t know what to do! Artemis told me you were trying to capture me for your own purposes, far worse than he was doing to me! When I saw that you were winning, I felt it was only a matter of time until you caught me. So I tried to scare you away with that illusion.”

“But you sent out that call for help. You knew Artemis was lying to you, didn’t you?”

She looked at me in confusion. “I didn’t send any calls for help.”

I gave her a hard glance. “I have a recorded message between you and Artemis discussing his activities and where his targets were. You sent that message to the Corral, Lady Midnight and that’s why we’re here now; To rescue you.”

She blinked. “L...lady Midnight?” she stammered. “You think I’m...” she grabbed her head with her hooves, and began shaking it in worry. “Oh no....no no no. Why did she...what was she...?”

After watching her mumble to herself for a few moments, I grabbed one of her hooves, and turned her attention back to me. Her eyes were deadened, as she looked right through me with a haunted expression.

“What? I snapped. “What’s wrong?”

An angered look quickly overtook her, as she swatted my hoof away. She turned her head away and stared at the blank curtain wall.

“I’m not Lady Midnight,” she admitted bluntly. “My name is Emerald Midnight. Lady Midnight...” she looked at me with saddened eyes. “...is my mother”

Chalkdust and I exchanged a worried glance, as ‘Emerald’ began to berate and punish herself over this unexpected revelation. She swatted at her own head with her hooves while rocking back and forth, terror in her eyes. It was only when the doctor stepped up and restrained her that she stopped freaking out or trying to hurt herself. Chalkdust, being the motherly sort, attempted to calm the worried Unicorn down, stroking her mane and and whispering calming things to her.

I watched as Chalkdusts intervention slowly, but surely, sparked a change in the flustered Unicorn. Emerald, in the span of seconds, went from being mostly docile, before suddenly breaking down into a full blown bawl. She clamped onto Chalkdust in a tight embrace as she tearfully vented weeks of torment and abuse.

“There, there,” Chalkdust cooed. “You’re safe now. Nopony is going to hurt you here.”

I didn’t want to interfere, mostly because I had no experience in dealing with this sort of thing. I could barely deal with the screaming children back when I was on Earth, so full grown ponies were definitely out of my league. I resorted to waiting patiently back on my bed until the distraught mare was ready to speak. She might not have been the mare we thought she was, but she was still forced to work for Artemis. She had to know something to us to use against him.

After a few minutes of quiet sobbing, Chalkdust began to slowly break away from Emerald. She wiped her hoof gingerly across the Unicorns face, brushing away the streaks of tears that stained her face. A single, pleasant smile was all it took from the doting doctor to incite the same, albeit weaker, reaction in the fragile mare beside her.

“Now there’s the smile you needed. I know you have been through a lot, Emerald...”

“Emmy...” Emerald interrupted. “P..please call me Emmy. O..only my mother calls me Emerald.”

Chalkdust nodded. “Alright. Emmy. Is there anything you can tell us about what Artemis is doing? Anything at all?”

She shook her head. “He wants the relics, but I don’t know why. He’s mentioned something about the return of the Purifiers, but I don’t know what they are either. He kept me separate from my mother, and threatened to hurt her if I refused to help him.”

More tears trickled down her face. “I haven’t seen or spoken to her in weeks.”

“Your mother,” I added. “What does she have that Artemis needs?”

Emmy rubbed her nose, sniffling loudly as she quelled another bout of tears. “She...she’s an archeologist. A very good one. She has a strong insight to deciphering ancient languages.”

“Is that her special talent? Linguistics?”

She shook her head again. “No...she’s....she’s a....”

A terrified look formed on her face, as she tried to shield herself from us with her hooves. “I...I can’t! I shouldn’t!”

Chalkdust grabbed Emmy’s hooves again, pulling them away from her head. “Calm down, Emmy. We only want to know what she’s capable of, so that we know that she can protect herself.” She looked back at me, with a strange look in her eyes. She stared at me, nodding her head at Emmy. “Isn’t that right, Shepard?”

“Oh! Yes, thats right.” I nodded. “We need to know she’s safe on her own, so we have time to make a plan to rescue her.”

Emmy gave me a cross look. She continued trying to explain herself, muttering between tired, choking sobs. “You...you don’t need to pat...patronize me. I’m not a b...baby. My...m...mother can look after herself. She’s done it all her life. My people look down on those like her.”

“And she would be...” I pressed.

She brought herself up, a weak, but determined furor in her eyes.”She’s a shadowmancer.”

“A what?” Chalkdust mirrored my statement as we stared at Emmy uncertainly, while she just sat and stared at us, gauging our reactions.

“Her magic can manipulate and control shadows and darkness. She can even make them corporeal, harming others or protecting herself. Unicorns idolize the magic of light cast by the sun and even the moon, while she draws power from the darkness produced from them. She is not treated kindly, even in polite company.”

“I can see how that would be....a strange skill.”

Emmy drew herself inward, trying to make herself as small as possible. She began quivering again, speaking in short, staggered breaths. “Everypony thinks she’s a freak!” she shouted, before withdrawing again. “Just like me. Artemis made it seem like he cared about us. That he wanted to help everypony to like us. I can’t believe my mother trusted him.”

“It seems Artemis has a charismatic allure.” Chalkdust remarked. “He’s made a fool of many, not just you.”

“He’s also got a lead on us.” I pointed out. “And we don’t where he is now.”

I fell to my haunches onto my bed, crossing my forelegs. Emmy remarked me with a sideways glance. She broke her gaze from me, looking around the enclosed area of the medical bay. “Where are we?”

“You’re aboard the SSV Normanedy.” Chalkdust answered. “We’re in the Bolaris system at the moment.”

“The Normanedy?” Emmy’s voice gained the hint of excitement and interest. “I’ve heard of it, the Extranet has been filled with interesting things to say about it.”

I leapt forward. “What?” I shouted. “Why would there be anything about the Normanedy on the Extranet? She’s supposed to be top secret.”

Emmy wasn’t paying attention to me. Her eyes were closed, and she had a tranquil look on her face. Her horn glowed faintly, humming in tune with the monitors beside her. A smile made its way to her mouth, and her eyes fluttered open.

“She’s very polite,” she said dreamily.

“She? She who? The Normanedy?”

She nodded. “Yes, she is very polite, but she is a little sad that nopony knows much about her. You should do something about that, Commander.”

I tried to point accusingly at her, but I had nothing to accuse her with. The way she was talking, what she was telling me, it was almost like she was...

“Are you... talking... to the Normanedy?”

“Yes...is that strange?”

My jaw nearly hit the floor, and my outstretched hoof went limp to the ground as the full force of her simple, but bluntly honest statement washed over me. I looked at Chalkdust, who did not share my sentiments.

“That would explain the significance of your Cutie Mark, then.” She smiled.

Emmy’s face tinged red, as she curled the loose blankets around herself.

The doctor laughed. “It was difficult to miss when they carried you in here, dear. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“What is your Cutie Mark?” I asked.

Emmy started shuffling her forehooves together awkwardly, her blush deepening. I’m not sure why she was so flustered by such a simple request, but I suppose Unicorns are stranger in more ways than most pony races. She squirmed in the bed, tossing the bed sheets aside. She was still wearing the white doctors uniform, which really did look a lot like the one Chalkdust had on. It was The coattails added an interesting frill to the design, but it did not completely cover up the series of ones and zeros that covered her flank.

“Is that...binary code?”

Emmy gave me an affirming nod.

“I’ve heard of Unicorns developing powers of empathy, telepathy, and other similar metasciences, but technopathy...very rare indeed.”

“You are very well studied in our biology, miss...” Emmy trailed off suddenly, her eyes going wide. “Oh! I didn't even ask your name.”

“Chalkdust, Doctor Chalkdust is fine, and the fault is mine.”

Emmy looked away in shame. “No, its just that...I’m terrible at speaking to anypony. I always get so nervous around others. I sometimes just freeze up, or just..b...break down...and then I run away.”

She glanced down at her Cutie Mark. “Sometimes I like to blame this. I’m just so comfortable talking to computers. They don’t judge, then don’t tease or talk about you behind your back. They just...accept you, so long as you are polite, no matter who you are.”

She broke her eyes away, looking back to Chalkdust and I. Tears began to well up in her eyes again, and Chalkdust walked up to her and placed a hoof on her shoulder. “No more of that here, we will find your mother, and save her from Artemis.”

Emmy seemed to take solace in the doctors constant mothering. She let out a long yawn, and blinked her eyes sleepily.

“But for now,” Chalkdust continued, smiling. “I believe it’s time you got some rest. You have been through alot.”

The suggestion of sleep hit Emmy immediately, as she slowly reclined back into the bed, draping the blankets back over herself with a tug of her magic. If I didn’t know any better, I’d suspect that Chalkdust knew a little magic of her own, at least of the sleeping variety. Chalkdust was quick to hurry me out of the room as she rested her head on the pillow. She drew back the curtain, poking her head through to ensure everything was as it should be.

We trotted together to the door, taking care to not make much noise. The door slid open with a gentle swish, as Chalkdust looked at me expectantly. “I’ll keep a good eye on her Shepard, but for now, I believe you have a ship to command. Dexter said he wished to speak to you as soon as you woke up, so I suggest you look for him first.”

I nodded, still wondering who was really in charge here. There were plenty of lessons I had grown accustomed to, where on the streets or in the military, and one of them was not to mess with a doctor and her patients. So regardless of what rank I had, I knew to listen intently. I doubt even Captain Quartermane would do anything to overtly upset the strong willed doctor.

I turned to leave, casting a quick glance at the veiled section of the room. I could almost make out the sleeping shape of Emmy, resting peacefully on the other side. Her mind was fragile, but I couldn’t call her weak. The kind of endurance you need to survive anything like what she went through...I shuddered at the thought.

“Yeah, I know she’ll be alright. She’s got the best doctor this side of the galaxy.”

Chalkdust smiled at my comment, and bowed softly, before stepping from the threshold and allowing the door to shut. With that obstacle dealt with, I had a Lieutenant to find.

“Hey, Shepard! There you are!”

Dexter was waving at me, as I spotted him across the crew deck talking to some of the crew. I trotted towards him as he bade goodbye to the soldiers and turned to me. It was nice to see him in high spirits, considering the last time I ran into him after a mission. The weak, drug addled state he was in last time was not something I wanted to get used to.

“You’re awake much sooner this time,” he beamed cheerfully. “Looks like you’re getting used to those relics.”

“I guess so,” I replied., rubbing my still aching head.

“See anything interesting?”

“Honestly?” I shrugged. “I don’t know. The visions are weird, and without hearing what anypony in them are saying, I can’t exactly be sure what they mean to tell me.”

He rubbed his chin. “Well, what did you see?”

I briefly explained the vision to, going into the details of the strange library, and its basement laboratory. He seemed as confused as I was as I described the nature of the experiments I saw, and the quality of the technology used. The sighting of the dark coated Alicorn, also stirred interest in him, as I finished with her strange reaction at the sight of the holographic moon, and the designs of their future spacecraft.

“...and thats about it,” I finished.

His expression was weak, filled with interest and confusion. He was quiet, as he stared through me, his eyes twisting in thought. “Huh...” he finally began. “Somehow, it’s kind of hard to miss that the Alicorn weren’t all they were cracked up as we were led to believe.”

He rambled on, taking the opportunity to lead me in a stroll through the deck. “I mean, yeah, what you say does sound like the beginning of their extra-terrestrial sciences, but the way you describe their machinery.” He frowned slightly before he went on. “It sounds like they skipped a vital step in their development.”

Dexter had a point, one that I shared. It was strange to imagine how the Alicorn went from...that...level of technology, and suddenly jumped into spacial travel. Even when the Earth Ponies started uncovering Alicorn data caches, it was decades before we could fully implement the sciences it unlocked. Even still, we were on the cusp of intergalactic travel on our own merit, the discovering of the relics merely...helped it along.

“So what do you think this means?” Dexter continued.

I shrugged. “Unless I find a relic that lets me hear what is being said, I don’t know. I’m not sure if I’ll even understand it when I do. Who knows how different their spoken language is from their written one.”

Another fact came to mind, one that bothered me greatly. “I don’t even understand what Artemis is looking for.”

Dexter shrugged. “Maybe he’s looking for a particular one. If he has some kind of insider information on how to find them, maybe he has an idea what he’s looking for.”

“Of course everything is easier for the bad guy. All we got were a bunch of books.”

“Yeah, books we can’t read. I imagine they would take months to translate and even still be full of useless information.”

Dexter face suddenly lit up. “Oh! Maybe Lady Midnight could translate them? Isn’t she an Alicorn specialist?”

“Oh,” I blurted. “Right...I forgot to tell you.”

His brows arched. “Tell me what?”

I went on again, this time explaining the conversation Chalkdust and I had with the timid Emerald Midnight. Dexter was a little disappointed that we had not gotten the mare we thought, but I pointed out that she would still be an invaluable asset to us. Her knowledge was limited, but it was the best we could hope for. all we could do now is wait, and hope that she could help us find what we needed.

“A technopath, eh? That sounds weird.”

“It was weirder when she actually talked to the Normanedy. Apparently, she’s very polite.”

He broke out laughing. “Far be it from me to doubt a Unicorn and her magic, but talking to computers? Even you can’t possibly believe that, Shepard.”

“Talk to her yourself when she wakes up, I doubt she’ll have trouble proving it to you.”

“I bet she will. But for now, we do have other things on our hooves. The others will want to know what’s happened, and what you learned. That, and we need a new plan of where to go to next.”

I nodded affirmingly.”Right.” I looked around the deck. There was a number of ponies milling around the small chamber, but none of them were those of my team. “Where is everypony, anyways?” I asked, turning back to Dexter.

“South is in the cargo bay I think, and Firestorm is in the weapon battery over there.” He pointed down a long hallway down the center of the ship. Past a corridor of pod like objects, was a wide framed doorway on the far side.

“How about I go get Firestorm, and you get South? We can meet in the comm room and try and figure out our next move.”

“Sounds good, Shepard.” He nodded, and gave me a quick salute, before excusing himself towards the elevators.

I headed to the hallway, obvercing the strange pods along the way. The glass lidded chambers were small, but big enough for a single pony. A soft looking material lined the insides. The pod was connected to the ship by a series of cables and tubes, some of which were leaking a faint white mist. I reached out to touch them, only to pull back at the intense feeling of cold washing over me. It didn’t take much reminding after that for me to realise what these were. But, with more pressing things to get to, I left the sleeper capsules behind, and continued to the weapon battery.

When the door slid open, I immediately heard laughter from within. I looked around, seeing Firestorm standing in front of one of the consoles, giggling. On the monitor in front of her, I saw the face of a Pegasus stallion, laughing as well. He was a bright blue, with a lightning yellow mane. He was trying very hard to muffle the sound of his giggling with his hoof, but was failing miserably.

“...so she says,” he said, continuing the conversation I had walked into. “If you don’t clean up this mess, I’ll have you cleaning the injectors until you moult your last feather!”

Firestorm burst out in another fit of boisterous laughter, stomping her hooves and bobbing her head.

“I’ve never seen her so angry in my life, you should have seen it, Storm!”

“Aheh,” Firestorm managed through her laughter. “If I was there, she would have found a way to blame me for it.”

She slowly controlled her mirth, breathing rapidly. “I still can’t believe you can stand being anywhere near her, Sparky.”

“She’s not that bad, Storm.”

“To you,” she grunted. “To me? I was just another grunt.”

The stallion sighed, the seriousness of Firestorms tone deflating his mood as well. “You’re never going to get over that, are you?”

She shook her head sharply. “Are you sure she doesn’t know?”

“If she did, I’m pretty sure half the fleet would be on fire right now. Dad was pretty insistent that I don’t tell her. Hell, I’m surprised he told me.”

“Because I wanted him to. I know you can keep a secret, even from her.”

“I guess,” he shrugged. “But it won’t stay that way for long. She’ll find out eventually, you know that.”

“Hopefully, I’ll be on the other side of the galaxy when she does.”

“I hope so too.” His eyes glanced past Firestorm, and fell on me. His eyes scrunched a little, and Firestorm must have noticed, turning to me.

“Oh, hey Shepard, you're awake.”

My eavesdropping blown, I begrudgingly approached her, hoping that I hadn’t offended her by listening in. She pointed a hoof at the screen to the stallion who was looking at me critically.

“Shepard, this is my little brother, Thunderhead.” She turned to the stallion, moving her hoof to me. “Sparky, this is Commander Shepard, the first Earth Pony Sleipnir.”

He nodded at me. “Nice to meet you, Shepard. I have to say, never thought I’d see an Earth Pony Sleipnir in my lifetime.”

“You and me both,” I replied.

He smiled brightly, turning back to Firestorm, snickering. “You didn’t have to introduce me with that silly nickname, Firebutt.”

Firestorm’s white face turned red, as she fumed at her brother. “Spar...Thunderhead! At least your nickname isn’t as embarrassing!”

It was hard not to laugh at the sibling quarrel unfolding in front of me, but considering Firestorm’s martial prowess, keeping my mouth shut was probably the best idea.

“It’s kind of hard to be taken seriously when ponies call you Wing-Sergeant Sparky.”

He smiled mischievously as he glanced past her at me. “But then again, at least my butt doesn't look like its on fire all the time.”

Firestorm looked at me with an embarrassed expression, the red in her face still plain as ever. She placed a hoof on the console. “Ok! Family meet time is over! Nice talking to you Sparky call me if mom finds out bye!” she blurted, before terminating the connection.

She wheeled back to me, staring at me weakly. “So, what’s new, Shepard?” she asked, almost squeaking.

“He seems...nice,” I commented wryly.

She sighed. “Kid gets a few promotions, and he thinks he’s on top of the galaxy.” She glared angrily at the blank screen. “Even to the point where he pokes fun at his big sister in front of her commanding officer.”

“You consider me your commanding officer?”

“Well yeah,” she affirmed with a nod. “I’m serving on your ship. I’m not technically part of your military, but Pegasi respect ships and their Captains. You might not be a Captain by your military’s standards, but you are in charge, that makes you the Captain in my eyes.”

“I guess it does.” I rubbed the back of my neck. Firestorm’s stance of command was certainly interesting, but viewing me as an actual Captain? Like I needed more responsibility.

“And Sparky’s a good little brother, and apparently he's got a future in the military. More than I ever did anyways.”

“Well, its nice to see that you have a family member you actually get along with.”

“Its easy to get along with someone when you have half a galaxy between you.”

She walked over to the main cannon and to the console connected to it. “When we were together, it was the standard sibling stuff I guess. It was pretty normal until we got older, and mom started getting ideas about what to do with us. Sometimes I feel like she hated having a daughter born first. Pegasi mares are given a choice of joining the military. I wasn’t.”

Firestorm’s mane began to shimmer slightly, as her mood began to smolder. She prodded at the console, making adjustments to the weapon systems. Watching her work, I immediately took back what I said about her not seeming like a tech type. What she lacked in computer savvy, she made up for in weapon optimization. I watched the diagnostics over her shoulder, and knowing the math, estimated she had improved the weapons efficiency by at least twenty percent, while still raving on about her mother.

“I didn’t want to be a soldier. I wanted to help others, those unable to help themselves. Considering the peace we’ve been in since the Contact wars, there wasn't really much to do. Thats why I joined C-Sec after I quit the military.”

“But you quit C-Sec too.”

She stopped her work to look at me. Her temper had slowly waned, but the fiery look in her eyes warned me that she was still very volatile.

“Well, it turns out that even your dream job can suck. I didn’t hate it at first, but when I started to see the flaws in the system, it was hard to feel much passion for it anymore. Having to answer to your father didn’t make it any easier.”

“I imagine your dad was an authoritarian as well.”

She shook her head with a smile, dismissing my statement with a wave of her hoof. “Oh no, don’t get me wrong. I love my dad. He was the good parent. He stood up for me and Sparky when mom went on her tirades. He always tried to take our side, but being the head of C-Sec can only afford you so much power over the Storm-General of the entire Pegasus Military.”

“Oh,” I added meekly. “I guess that would be ha-WHAT?!”

My brain started to crash again, my mind reeling at that little tidbit of information.

“Your mother is...is...” No matter how I tried to get the name out of my mouth, I just kept tripping over it.

“Yep.” She nodded, bringing more worry to my head with such a small affirming gesture. “My mother is Storm-General Solar Flare, the biggest, nastiest, meanest, and probably only mare to head the Pegasus Military in over a millenium.”

The way Firestorm briefly mentioned her mother before, I thought she was just a high ranking officer. But the leader of the entire Pegasus Fleet? Now I really hoped she never found out that Firestorm had left C-Sec, because I really didn’t want an armada of Pegasus warships chasing me around the galaxy.

“Yeah...” she added bleakly. “That’s the standard reaction I get when I tell ponies. I normally just keep it to myself, just to avoid either the fear of her wrath at my disapproval, or the flank kissing to get in her good graces.”

“I can...I can see the merit of that, yeah.”

Firestorm was silent for a while, idly prodding at the console, her previous fervor having faded away. Eventually, she glanced my way. “But enough about me, was there something you needed? Or are you just checking up on me and my crazy family?”

Oh right, there was something I came for here wasn’t there?

“I wanted to call a team debriefing, so I can tell everypony what the relic vision showed me, among other things so we can make a plan on where to go next.”

She tilted her head. “The relic...showed you something?”

“Oh right, you weren’t there when I activated the one on Equestria Prime. The relics Artemis are after are some kind of memory units, but I’m not sure what he’s looking for. So far it’s been a bunch of useless information.”

“Right...” She looked like she was understanding, at least most of it. “Dexter mentioned something about that after I was the only one wondering what happened to you back in that library.”

She stepped away from the main terminal, giving it a final glance before walking over to me. “I guess my calibrations can wait until later. Let’s go.”

“You mean you aren’t done? The work you did in seconds would have taken me an hour at least.”

She walked past me out the door, but still replied to the shocked look I gave her with a little smirk. “Well, the Normanedy’s weapons are based on Pegasi designs. They aren’t known for being simple, especially to Earth Ponies. If not, anypony could use the designs the against us.”

I trotted alongside her down the long corridor back into the main area of the crew deck. It appeared to be lunch time, as several of the ships staff were seated around the tables eating. Some of them were grouped together enjoying loud conversations, while some enjoyed being alone. Firestorm and I walked past them towards the stairs to the next floor.

“So,” she continued. “What else is there that you need to bring up?”

“Well, that Unicorn was awake for a bit. I got some information out of her before she fell back to sleep.”

“Oh, so did you get anything out of the infamous Lady Midnight?”

Not wanting to have to repeat the whole story again multiple times, I merely offered her a simple deferral. “I’ll get to that once everypony is together. Dexter is getting South now, so we’ll meet them in the Comm room.”

“Do you have any idea where Artemis is going to next?”

I didn’t want to give her nothing as an answer, but it was all I had. “No, not yet. Maybe after we think together on what we have so far, we might get something. What about you?”

She had a distant look in her eyes. “Well, now that you mention it, there might be something. I’m not too sure about it though, it can wait until we get together.”

“Well, thats better than what I got.”

“Heh, like I said, we’ll see.”

We made our way into the command center. Westward was sitting with some of his assistants, but without a course laid in, I doubt he was doing anything vitally important. He glanced my way, giving me a polite nod. I saw his eyes trace over Firestorm, who was focused on the Comm room door. I glared at him, prompting another, hurried nod before he returned to his work. Showing disapproval of Firestorm in private was one thing, but doing right in front of me when she was right there was something I hoped he was better than.

“Looks like they are already here, Shepard.”

I turned back to Firestorm, who had stepped into the Communications room. Dexter and South were both there, looking our way as we entered the room and let the door shut behind us. South was staring at me the entire time, looking me up and down as I walked in.

“So, whut’s this about?” she drawled.

“I’m just fine, South. Thanks for asking.” I replied, rolling my eyes.

“Shoot,’ she guffawed. “Iffin’t ya wern’t alright, Ah wouldn’t be talkin’ tuh ya know would Ah? No sense wastin’ our time.”

“Fine, fine.” I waved my hoof dismissively. A set of chairs had been placed in the room sometime since I was last here, and everypony took a seat quietly.

“South is right for us to make this quick. I suppose I’ll start with what the relic showed me this time.”

I recounted the vision again, Dexter adding anything that I may have forgotten from what I told him. The results between the others was mixed. Firestorm stared at me with wide eyed wonder, and didn’t speak once out of turn as I explained what I knew. South, on the other hoof, sat cross legged, an increasing frown developing on her face as I told the story.

“So, “she interrupted for like the fifth time. “Ya still can’t hear whut the relics are sayin?”

“No,” I continued, shaking my head. “The words are muffled. I’m not much of a lip reader, but I have a feeling that they are speaking a similar language to us.”

“Or,” Firestorm added. “Maybe the relic is trying to self translate, but it isn’t working properly. That might explain the muffled noise.”

“That makes sense,” Dexter agreed. “The Alicorn’s technology might be equipped to at least attempt to decipher its knowledge to anypony who might try to use it.”

“Well, unless somepony’s got an Alicorn tuh Galactic Common dictionary layin’ about, Ah don’t rightly think we’re gunna git far.”

Dexter pondered a moment, rubbing his chin. “Maybe repeated exposures to the relics would help. Have you at least noticed increased clarity between the two visions?”

I considered the idea, replaying the visions in my head and comparing the two. There were certain parts that seemed...different, maybe clearer, but there was hardly enough to prove that theory.

“Not really. The quality of what I see seems to be wholly dependent on what the pony that programmed the relics want’s me to see.” I paused, recalling one thing fact that seemed to be consistent between the visions. “Except at the end. When the vision reaches its end, its like my perspective is being torn away from the hosts. Everything kind of...blurs together at that point, except what the host is focusing on.”

Focusing on the memories was starting to make my head hurt. I rubbed my head slowly, letting out a few grunts of discomfort as I winced in pain.

“Maybe we should move on to the other thing...”

I looked up at Dexter, who had a worried, but understanding look on his face as he considered my stress. Considering what he had to go through for his own powers, I took it as a sign that he genuinely knew and understood what I was going through.

“Whut other thing?” South looked stared at me blankly, before her eyes lit up. “Are ya talkin’ about that Unicorn?”

The headache slowly petered off, and I replied to South with a little nod. “Yea, she was awake for a while. She shed some light on a few things, but I’m still not too sure about her.”

Explaining Emerald Midnight and her involvement took longer than expected, mostly because both Firestorm and South kept asking questions. They weren't completely off topic, but many of them came down to the same subject.

“Can we trust her?”

A glance towards Dexter revealed that he felt the same way. His eyes matched the others, and they all looked at me expectantly.

“Chalkdust seems to have an idea of her nature. To me, she just seems like a lost, frightened mare who’s been on the wrong side of this whole thing. She’s scared, nervous, and the last thing we need is to make it worse.” I glanced silently at South. She grunted and looked away, knowing full well what I meant.

“She knows some things, and she might be able to help us. I’m not saying I’m giving her full access to the ship or anything, but I don't see any reason to antagonize her until we know more about her. Chalkdust will keep an eye on her, and she’ll let me know if anything important happens.”

Firestorm crossed her hooves, frowning with dissatisfaction.“I’m just not too sure about having a Unicorn that can toss that many boulders at once on this ship.”

I smirked. “I’m pretty sure Chalkdust has a handle on that too. She was pretty quick to stop her from casting her magic the second she woke up and looked at me. One swat at the horn and poof! No magic.”

“Shoot, is it really that simple?” South looked genuinely amazed.

“Stronger Unicorns tend to train themselves out of that little weakness,” Dexter explained. “But yes, it will work on some of them. If you can get that close to one that is.”

He shuddered a bit. “My magic training was done by Unicorns. They were...intimidating. They rarely spoke, only when they were teaching. When they didn’t, they just...watched us.” There was a distant look in his eyes as he recounted his past. He exhaled deeply, adding an air of finality to his past. “It was creepy.”

“Well I ain’t about tuh let no hocus pocus Unicorn slow this mare down!” South bellowed, accompanying her defiant shout with a stomp.

Dexter smiled at South’s lack of fear, bringing him from his melancholy past. “The question is then; where do we go next?”

Silence wafted in, as we sat quietly, pondering on our next move. I could have claimed that Artemis had a clearly defined plan, but I’d be lying. Emerald had told us nothing important, neither what Artemis was planning, or where he was going next. There was no denying the obvious; I had nothing. We had nothing.

“I might have something.”

We all stared at Firestorm. She poked her head into her saddle bag, producing a small object from within. She tossed it unceremoniously to the ground, and the metal object clanked against the floor. I stared at the strange emblem, that bore an uncanny resemblance to a crimson claw mark.

“I took this from that Manticore. It’s the insignia of the Blood Claws.”

There was a look of knowing in Firestorms eye. “You mentioned them back on the asteroid, what are they?”

“A gang,” she added bluntly. “A big one. They have some of the meanest, nastiest, blood-thirstiest mercenaries this side of the Everfree Systems. You name it, they got it. Manticores, Mutts, even Gryphons.”

“Gryphons?” I exclaimed.

She nodded solemnly. “Yep. You eat meat, you got a potential place in the Blood Claws. They value strength above a lot of things, only below getting paid. And they get paid well. They freelance themselves out all over the Galaxy, like the one who carried this.”

She gestures to the blood colored medal emblem. “I spent the first half of my career in C-Sec working to kick their ‘recruiters’ out of the Corral. This guy was a high ranking member, from the shape of the emblem, so he didn’t come cheap. I have a feeling that if we go have a chat with his employer, we might get an idea who contracted him out here in the first place.”

I exchanged a glance with Dexter, who nodded as well as I. It was a good idea, and probably the best one we had.

“Where do the Blood Claws usually hang out?”

“Sigma.”

“Sigma?!”

South nearly fell out of her seat. Her eyes were wide open as she stared straight at Firestorm. I wondered what had prompted her to shout so, when it hit me.

“Didn’t you say you had a sister working on Sigma, South?”

Firestorm raised an eyebrow, directing it at the excited soldier. “Is that so? Well it will be good to know that we might have somepony who knows the planet, I can’t say I’ve ever been to Sigma.”

“It ain’t the happiest place from what my lil’ sis tells me, but she says it has its charms. Some of the stuff she finds in the salvage yards is incredible.”

A rarity in itself, South was smiling, rather happily at the prospect of paying her sibling a visit. She was beaming, despite Firestorm having suggested it in the first place. Dexter, as well as the Pegasus both shared a positive outlook at the potential behind the idea.

“Well, unless anypony has any better ideas, I’d say we set course for Sigma. Pipsqueak!”

The radio buzzed to life. “Yeah, Shepard?”

“Set a course for Sigma, we have a gang to question.”

He was silent for a while. “Do I want to know what brought this on?”

“Ya ain’t scared are ya, Pip?” South teased.

“Hmph, I’m not scared of Sigma. I’d just rather avoid getting the Normanedy all rusty.”

“Oh can it, flypony. Jus git’ us there lickety split!”

“Yes, Sir.” Pip groaned sarcastically. “Your wish is my command. Oh, and Shepard?”

“Yes?”

“We got a message from the Council, they’d like a report on your progress.”

“We’ve barely been gone two days!” Firestorm exclaimed. “Talk about impatient.”

“They aren’t too thrilled about Artemis being a traitor.” I remarked. “I imagine they’d want him dealt with as soon as possible. Put them through Pip.”

The holographic display on the far side of the room began to glow and glimmer to life. Rays of light cut through the air, tracing out three distinct shapes. As the images constructed themselves, I slowly made out the three Councillors standing together, albeit holographically, in front of us. Knowing nothing else of manners in terms of all of the different races and cultures, I simply bowed my head.

The Unicorn Councillor bowed in kind. “Sleipnir Shepard, so good to see that you are well. I imagine your search through the Meridian Cluster proved fruitful?”

I nodded. “Yes it did, Councillor.”

“That is excellent news,” the Gemini Councillor lauded. “Have you made any progress into locating Artemis then?”

I turned back to the sound of shuffling hooves behind me. The others were quietly leaving the room, giving me some privacy with the Councillors. Dexter was the last to leave, and gave me an assuring nod before the door shut behind him. Part of me wished they had stayed, but the Council might have preferred only I speak directly to them.

“Yes and no.”

“What do you mean by that, Shepard?” I turned to the Pegasus Councilor, who did not look at all pleased by my answer. “Did you find Artemis or not?”

Somehow I managed to keep a straight face, if only to prevent myself from lashing out against the rude politician. His contempt of me was obvious, and the fact that the other two allowed it so plainly was just salting the wound.

“We found that Artemis had forced an evacuation of a Granite operation on Trawlis through falsified information. He used the employees fear as leverage to get materials to mine into a nearby asteroid.”

“And the significance of this asteroid?” The Unicorn asked.

“It held an Alicorn library at its center, as well as another relic.”

The Gemini perked up. “A library you say? How fascinating. And another relic, too?”

I waved a hoof dismissively. “I should clarify. The library is primitive by our current standards. Paper books and tomes. They might be translatable, but who knows what good they may be.”

She seemed a little off put by my dissuasion, but still held an expression of intrigue. “Paper or not, those books could prove useful to the scientific community.”

I nodded. “My crew managed to take some books aboard when the relic incapacitated me, but many are still on the asteroid that now orbits one of Trawlis’ moons. I trust you will know how best to use that information.”

“Indeed.” The Gemini’s stance shifted, her eyes no longer sparking with interest, now glowering with a deep concern. “You say the relic, incapacitated you? In what way?”

I only briefly remembered that I had kept quiet about the relic to the Council before at Quartermane’s insistence. Even if the visions were to be believed, there wasn't anything about them to use in the trial. But now, I doubted them knowing would matter much.

“The relics in question are what Artemis seems to be looking for. They don’t appear to be data caches like the one the Earth Pony’s found forty years ago. They hold what appears to be memories from the pony who programmed it, memories that the relic projected within my mind.”

“What kind of memories?” The Unicorn pressed.

“This relic showed a rather primitive iteration of the Alicorn’s past. From what I could tell, it was moment of their history where they began their first steps into extra-spatial travel. The host of the memories seems to be a leading scientist of their empire, and was discussing something with what I assume was a monarch.”

“Discussing ‘something’?” The Pegasus Councilor grunted. “Surely they spoke of something worth detail.”

“I’m afraid not, Councilor. The visions are damaged, or at least not perfect. While I can distinguish most sounds of the memories, the sound of speech is not one of them.”

“Memories?” The Gemini asked. “You mean there was more than one?”

I nodded again. “Yes, the relic on Equestria Prime did the same thing. Fom what I can piece together, I would guess that it showed what was the beginning of the end, of the Alicorn Empire, whereas this one showed its beginning.”

The Council exchanged glances between themselves. Some of them were of worry, or concern, even dread.

“What reason do you think Artemis seeks these relics, Shepard?”

I shrugged. “My guess is that he looking for a specific event, one that details something of value. The development of an ancient Alicorn weapon or spacecraft perhaps. I can't be certain. Or if any of it ties in with the Purifiers that he’s mentioned before.”

The Gemini had a stony expression on her face. “Yes, the Purifiers. We have been looking through what we do know of the Alicorns, and have found nothing about these beings. I cannot say for certain that we should worry of them, however. Artemis is cunning, and would not be above lies and deceit to further his goals, as he has done so far.

“The threat of an all powerful entity, even imaginary, can have powerful effects on those he seeks compliance from. He has done so before to great effect. It is perhaps even the cause of the Geld’s sudden interest in aiding him.”

She gave me a passive glance. “I would warn you not to dwell too much on these Purifiers he portends. It would serve you better to focus on stopping him, and not getting caught in his web of lies.”

“I will, Councilor.”

“Was there anything else worth noting, Shepard?” The Unicorn questioned.

“Actually,” I responded. “There is. We rescued a Unicorn hacker that Artemis had been coercing to work for him. She is a bit traumatized from the ordeal, but I think in time she can give us some valuable information.”

“Was she the one from the recording?”

“No. She claims to be the daughter of the one who is.”

“Do you have her name?” The Pegasus asked bluntly.

I was about to give it to them, when I remembered what Emerald had told be of her mother's reputation, as well as the Countess’ hesitation to giving me her name to begin with. I did not wish to cause Emmy any more stress, nor lose the Countess as an ally. So that left one option.

“No,” I lied. “She has not given her name, and her omni-tool is well protected. Any personal information she has is hers to give. All I can do is wait.”

“You could force it out of her.”

My mouth tried to fall the the floor at what I had just heard, but I fought the urge. A wiser pony would not go against their employer, but I hardly considered myself all that wise. “Are you suggesting I coerce her, Councilor?”

He nodded with a straight face. “You are a Sleipnir, Shepard. You are allowed to take whatever precautions necessary to achieve your goals. So long as they do not violate our mandate.”

“And become like Artemis in the process.” I glared at the Pegasus Councilor. “Perhaps its the lack of rules you place on your operatives that led to this betrayal in the first place. Artemis may have enjoyed the freedoms of being a monster with nopony to answer to, but I won’t walk that path. Regardless if you allow it or not.”

The Pegasus grunted, feigning the conversation back to his fellow Councilors. They both regarded him with a cautionary glance, but hid any need to speak of it, at least while still in conference with me.

“What is your next move, Shepard?” The Unicorn asked.

“One of the mercenaries we encountered within the asteroid was a high ranking member of the Blood Claws, as pointed out by Officer Firestorm. We are heading to Sigma to see if we can get any information about who hired him out here in the first place, and perhaps where to find them. I believe it will be a valid use of our time, at least until the Unicorn is ready to speak.

“Hmm,” The Gemini pondered. “Sigma is a dangerous place, Shepard, and well out of our influence. You will be hard pressed to find any friends of the Corral there.”

“I appreciate your concern, but we’ll be fine. My team has proven more than capable of dealing with these kind of problems.”

The Councilors went quiet, once again glancing between themselves and nodding quietly, before looking back at me.

“If that is all, Shepard, then we will leave you to your tasks. We shall expect a similar report in due time. Good luck.”

The holograms began to shimmer, before flashing brightly and vanishing. Now alone in the darkened room, I only could stand and stare at the place where they once stood, thinking on everything that had been discussed.

“Well, that could have gone better,” a sarcastic voice chimed.

“Pipsqueak!” I exclaimed. “Were you listening the whole time?”

“Well duh. I’m the one who relays the communications to you, of course I can listen in.”

I sighed. Of course Pipsqueak was going to be like that. “Just keep it to yourself.”

“Yeah, Yeah. Next time though, if you want I can hang up on them if the Pegasus Councilor starts acting like a jerk again.”

I stared up at the source of his needling voice, and found it incredibly hard not to smile.

“You know, I might hold you to that one day.”

Codex Entry Added: Emerald Midnight

Codex Entry Added: Doctor Chalkdust

Codex Entry Added: Firestorm

Codex Entry Added :Storm-General Solar Flare

Holier than Thou: Paragon Points Earned.

Chapter 12: Rust Bucket

Chapter 12: Rust Bucket

“Sigma has it all. Whatever your mortal heart desires, if you’re desperate enough.”

The ship had become increasingly active since the announcement of our docking in Sigma. Word traveled fast on a ship as small as the Normanedy, and the responses were mixed. Nopony seemed too keen on traveling to a place known to be a dwelling for gangs, cartels, and other undesirables of the galaxy. I myself was a little wary about going somewhere where the dominant power was a mercenary group comprised of carnivores. Emphasis on the plural. One Manticore was bad enough, but Mutts and even Gryphons too? Things were starting to get a bit out of hoof. Perhaps the reason the crew was so busy was the rush to strap down everything we owned, for obvious reasons.

But I didn't have time to worry. Our evidence leading to the Blood Claws was tenuous best, but I trusted Firestorm’s judgement. Our main obstacle would be the sheer size of Sigma, which would make a difficult task of finding the right Manticore, Mutt, or whatever to talk to. We had a possible solution to that problem, but it relied on what South’s sister knew of the planet.

South had been, so far, very tight-lipped about her family. I had managed to get her to open up occasionally, usually from persistence on my part . Whenever it happened, the look of fondness in her eyes when she told me of her siblings was undeniable. Whatever reason she kept her life to herself, I had a feeling it was from something far more than a family quarrel. With not much to do until we arrived on Sigma, I decided to try my luck at getting some more answers.

After the impromptu meeting with the Council, I resigned myself to ensure everything was in order before we landed. Performing my commander’s duties was easy enough, even with an ulterior motive. While I made sure the ship was in perfect working order, I took every opportunity to find South, but she was being surprisingly elusive. After an almost an hour of dealing with status reports and general schmoozing from the crew, I finally ended up back in the cargo bay.

For once, Depot was not lounging at his desk. From the elevator, I saw him pacing around the boxes, while a holographic display followed around his head. Every so often, he would pause and closely examine the crate and make a note on his roster. I stepped out of the lift and walked towards him. He turned at the sound of my hoofsteps on the metal, stopping his task to salute.

“Shepard!” he said swiftly. “What can I do for you?”

I returned the salute, while glancing around the room. “I’m looking for South; have you seen her?”

He nodded. “Yeah, she’s down here somewhere. Probably checking out those charges Granite left us.”

“Oh, ok. I’ll just to look for-” I stopped, glancing nervously at Depot. “What charges?”

“Y’know, the T-Sixes. They never ended up being used on the asteroid, and Granite didn’t want to lug them around, so we kept em’. South was actually pretty pleased about it. That mare sure loves explosives.”

“She likes explosions,” I corrected. “A bit more than I’d like, but so far her skills have been helpful.”

Depot shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about it- uh, Sir. Her qualifications are rather impressive.” He waved his omni-tool, and the holographic screen floated over to me. A picture of South’s dossier was displayed, as well as a rather long list of commendations. I knew she was a good soldier, but I felt a little ashamed that I never took the time to look into her career on my own. It was one of the perks of being Commander after all.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she could make an explosive out of a toaster if she had the time,” he continued.

“That would be something to see.” I turned away from Depot into the room. “I’m gonna go see if I can find her. As you were, Depot.”

He saluted again. “Of course, Sir.”

I left him to his duties, trekking deeper into the stacks of crates and supplies that lined the walls of the Normanedy. I peered intently around the boxes, but still found no trace of South. Frustration nearly took over as I contemplating giving up, when I heard a voice. It was not one I was familiar with, and it came from behind one of the work benches along the far side of the room. As I got nearer to the source, I could make out some of the words, coming from a deep, thickly accented voice.

“...now yew be good to your sisters, y’hear?” It said. “And Ah’ll see ya back at home.”

I glanced around the bench, catching a glimpse of a white cowpony hat poking over the top. South was sitting on the floor, leaning against it as she was talking to...somepony. I heard her mutter something under her breath, but I couldn't pick it up as the other voice continued.

“Ya make me proud, mah little prairie princess. Don’t ever forget that.”

I stopped moving, just as the voice stopped. South was quiet, sitting motionless on the cold metal floor, until I announced my presence.

“South?”

Her head popped over the table. She stared at me with a weak smile. “Uh, hey Shepard. Somethin’ wrong?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I was just looking for you. Are you ok?”

She shakily got up to her hooves, yawning in the process. “Yeah. I was just gettin’ some quiet from all the ruckus upstairs before we got tuh Sigma.”

“I heard you talking to somepony though.”

She looked away. Her eyes quivered, before she looked back. “Ah, jus sendin’ word back tuh the homestead bout me goin’ tuh see East on Sigma. It’s been awhile since Ah seen her last. It’ll be quite the surprise.”

“You haven’t told her already?” I questioned.

She waved a hoof at me. “Aw, shoot, no sense spoilin’ the surprise. Ah can’t wait tuh see the look on her face when we show up.” She chuckled, as an impish grin made its way onto her face.

“Are things ok back home? You seem a bit...well, different.”

She glared at me. “Ah’m fine. Jus’ been a while since I called home, is all.”

I stepped back at her sudden anger. The angry look in her eyes made it apparent that she didn’t want to dwell on it any further. Not wanting to deal with an angry South in close quarters, I had to think fast of something to diffuse her sudden temper.

“I can see why you don’t like ponies calling you princess.”

Her face flared in confusion. “Whut in the hay are you talkin’ about?”

“Remember back on the Corral? You broke that stallion’s arm? Before Razor shot him.”

She stared out into space, scratching her chin, until realisation dawned. “Oh right, him. Ah don’t see what ya mean by that though.”

“Well, that voice I heard called you princess. ‘Prairie princess’ actually. Was that your dad?”

Color flooded her face, and her deep brown coat began to turn red. “Ah heh,” she managed weakly. “Yeah, that... wuz mah pa alright.”

“Are you...actually displaying an emotion other than anger South?” I teased. “I might have to record this for the history books.”

She shot me a look, one that didn’t dissuade me in the least. I kept chuckling to myself while she bored through me with a caustic glare.

“It’s nice to know that somepony in this galaxy can get through your prickly personality, South. Heavens know I’ve been having a hard enough time.”

“Ah don’t...” she started. She lifted her hoof and pointed it at me accusingly, as if trying to retort what I had said. She paused, and slowly a befuddled look overtook her. Her head tilted side to side, increasing the sheer focus on her face as if she were actually trying to prove me wrong.

“Well, Ah’m not that bad.” She looked at me with a defeated grimace. “Ah’m ah?”

I gave her a playful punch to the shoulder, then tugged at her to follow me. “You could be worse. You could be the Ambassador.”

She burst out laughing, almost falling over in our slow trot towards the elevator. “Ah guess yer right Shepard. Ah don’t think Ah’ve seen a pony that rude since, well, trainin’ Ah guess.”

“Don’t remind me,” I groused. We enjoyed a few bits of random conversation as we crossed the room. It was mostly idle banter, I guess, not focusing on anything particular. One thing, though, crept up in my mind. Something I felt I had to ask.

“...I think if you just talked about yourself a bit more, everypony would at least see that you aren’t just walking gun.”

“Eh...” she mumbled. “A gal’s gotta have her secrets don’t she? Ah ain't one fer that girly ‘lure nonsense, but Ah got’s tuh keep somethings tuh mahself. Or else, where’s the mystery?”

I stared blankly at her. “That’s a scary level of deep, coming from you South.”

She grinned slyly. “There’s a lot more where that came from.”

She trotted ahead towards the elevator, tapping on the call button. I stared incredulously at her for a while, as the lift slowly made its way down to us. Depot was humming to himself as he continued his task, whatever it was, but I swear I caught him glancing over at us.

South and I entered the elevator in silence. When the doors shut again, and we began to rise, another question came to mind. “I’d like to hear more about your dad. It sounds like you care about him alot.”

“Ah do. North wuz only a few years older that Ah wuz, so when he was old e’nuff to learn the work on the farm, Ah ended up followin’ ‘em around. Pa wuz real happy tuh see his little filly want tuh learn the work of th’ farm.”

“Happy enough to let you drive a Titan?”

“Heh. It wern’t like he wasn’t watching or nothin’. He was always right there beside me. Once Ma found out she put a stop tuh that real quick.”

The doors opened again, and we stepped out into the command center. Westward was idle nearby, interacting with one of his consoles. He lifted his head to the sound of the elevator, glancing at me.

“Ah Commander,” he said. “We’ll be arriving on Sigma in just a few minutes. I believe we’re at the end of the jump now.”

The Normanedy groaned quietly, as the hull gave a gentle wobble. A loud whirring noise pulsed through the cabin briefly, and the galaxy map began pulsing brightly. Westward turned to the map, smiling.

“Ah,” he observed in satisfaction. “Right on time.”

He turned his attention to South. “Miss South, I believe it was you who knew somepony on the surface?”

South nodded, and Westward continued.

“Would you know the best place to dock then?” He pointed out the map, which had shifted into the image of a dark looking planet. The surface was a dull rocky grey, but as the image slowly rotated, I saw a glimmer of light crest on the planets horizon. On the far face of the moon, glittering lights began to swarm the entire eastern face of the world. Even from a spatial view, nearly half of the planet was covered in an enormous cityscape.

“That’s Sigma?” I asked, shocked.

“Eeyup,” South replied. “Nearly half the planet is one big city. The rest is just desert and rock.”

She moved over to the map, and regarded the image with a piercing stare. “We’re lookin’ fer a place called Specs Salvage. It’s one of the bigger salvage yards on Sigma.”

She typed something into the computer, and a series of lights began flashing on the surface. The lights were grouped around a small portion of the city, which the computer quickly centered to. Westward stepped up to the computer.

“It seems these are the closest ports to our destination, which one do you think we should attempt to dock with, Shepard?”

I looked at the three flashing lights, which were scattered around what looked like an industrial sector. I wasn’t too thrilled about landing a ship as expensive as the Normanedy in such a place, but we had to land somewhere. I pointed at one of the ports near to the edge of the city limits.

“Lets land there. The edge of the city will give us the best chance of being unnoticed by anypony who doesn’t care for the Corral, or Stable or that matter.”

Westward nodded. “Very well, Commander.” He walked over to his station and his assistants, and descended into his work quickly and quietly.

South continued staring at the map after Westward walked away. I nudged her, and she shook her head out of her stupor and glanced at me.

“Well, now whut?”

I shrugged. “I dunno. We could go pester Pipsqueak while we wait.”

“Sounds like a plan.” She grinned.

We walked away from the galaxy map and towards the pilot nest. The doors slid open, and we stepped into the darkened room. One of these days I was going to have to do something about Pipsqueak and his grim lighting. The pony in question was in his usual place, idly tapping on the consoles in front of him. He turned to us when the door shut. He did not look all that pleased to see us.

“I’m not saying I’m expecting trouble or anything,” he commented dryly. “But if anypony I don’t know gets too close to the Normanedy, I'm siccing the autocannons on them.”

“Sheesh,” South grunted. “It’s not like the Normanedy’s yer little baby.”

Pip scrunched his nose at South. “She’s not a baby. She’s an incredibly expensive piece of military hardware, and I’m the one who gets to pilot her. I don’t need some backwater junk trawler scoping her out for parts.”

South smirked. “Like Ah said, not yer baby.”

Pip didn’t respond, instead turning to me. “How long exactly do we plan on staying here?”

“Why’re you asking me? Firestorm’s the one who came up with this idea. Why don’t you ask her?”

He crossed his hooves, not happy at all with my reply. “Like I said: Autocannons.”

I rolled my eyes and glanced past him out the window. I could see the dark planet approaching in the distance. It looked even more depressing when not displayed as a hologram, despite the glittering lights that flickered on the surface.

“We’re landing near the city edge, so we shouldn’t get too much trouble as far as the ship’s concerned.”

“I’ll believe that after we leave.”

The console behind him began to beep, and he spun in his chair to address it. A few taps on his controls, and the Normanedy began to tilt towards the edge of the giant city. Another button press, and the crackling noise of a radio channel began to hum in the small cabin.

“Attention, Sigma port A-Forty Seven. This is SEV Normanedy requesting permission to dock.”

After a while, a gravely voice replied. “What is your purpose on Sigma, Normanedy?”

Pip pressed down on something, then looked back at me. “What should I tell him? I think saying we’re on Council business might not bode well for us.”

Before I could come up with a suitable lie, a voice from behind me answered instead. “Tell him trade and resupply.”

Firestorm entered the room, with Dexter just behind her. She had a determined look in her eyes, and even Dexter had a stern expression of his own to match. Pipsqueak shrugged and parroted Firestorms response to the radio.

“We’re looking to trade and resupply. Standard twenty-four-hour turnaround.”

The channel was silent for a while. We all exchanged glances of varying worry. I for one was considering the chance that they were lining up their anti-air guns at this very moment, when finally, after a stagnant pause, the voice replied.

“Very well. Dock in hangar seventeen.”

I sighed in relief, but, everypony else was busy staring out the window at the slowly approaching cityscape in the distance. Towering buildings rose up on the horizon, and clusters of small ships swarmed around the sky. From the surface, it appeared to be approaching evening, at least on this side of the planet. The bright neon lights of the city core were even brighter from ground level, and led me to wonder exactly how bright this dark, depressing colony of scum was actually going to be.

The Normanedy banked up over the outer shell of districts, and slowed to a lateral hover over a series of open-topped hangars. She glided lazily in the air, before coming to a stop overtop the one labeled seventeen. Pipsqueak spun the ship round, as we slowly descended into the hangar. The sound of metal rattled from outside as we entered the vaulted space. A series of metallic arms and pistons climbed out of the surrounding walls, and began the noisy procedure of clamping down on the Normanedy’s hull.

When they finished their task, Pipsqueak hesitantly reached over to another set of controls. His hoof hovered over a single command, quivering slightly a moment before finally pressing down. With that, the engines began to quiet down, and the humming of the EX core began to dwindle into silence. With the engines stopped, the pilot slowly turned around to face the rest of us.

“I’m really hoping we can keep to the twenty-four hours. I feel dirty just sitting here.”

“Well, nopony’s forcing you to sit there while we go about our business,” Dexter commented wryly.

“Uh-uh,” Pip retorted. “I’m not setting one hoof outside this ship while we’re here.”

I walked past Firestorm out of the room, and turned towards the airlock. The others followed, and stepped into the next room after the door slid open. I caught Pipsqueak staring in my direction, waiting. “Try not to get killed down there.”

“No promises.” I smiled, and followed my friends out of the ship.

It didn’t take long to realise why exactly Pipsqueak was so against coming to Sigma. No sooner had we left the hangar, I was assaulted with the powerful odor of sulfur and scored metal. Heavy industrial sounds poured into the streets from all directions, bringing with them smoke and choking gas. I fought against the urge to wheeze, the others didn't seem affected by it at all. They trotted along easily, not hindered by the thick, depressing atmosphere the city limits were exuding, making me shudder to think how much worse it would be deeper in the city.

Part of me wanted to believe this place reminded of me of my foalhood, that this place was just another slum-sprawled backwater, another pile of refuse and debris littered with subjugated citizens, lawless cartels and orphans aplenty. But something about this place made the life I lived on Earth seem so much better in comparison, something I couldn’t put my hoof on. All I felt was an overwhelming sense of dread and chaos permeating this city, and I just wanted to get out as soon as possible.

“Ain’t this place great?” South exclaimed.

She was leading the group with a bright expression on her face. She took in the modest sights around us, somehow enjoying the endless views of foundries and workshops that littered the metal lined streets. Dexter also shared a similar sentiment, regarding our surroundings with a nostalgic look.

“This place reminds me of Andravida Station,” he commented. “I spent five years there; wasn’t too much different than this.”

“That’s the place that’s pretty much a bunch of salvage ships welded together, right?” Firestorm asked.

He nodded. “Yeah, it was a bit dicey there too, but the ponies there took care of each other.” He smirked. “You couldn’t really get a gang started there, not with rumors of a Magitech floating around anyways.”

“You were stationed on Andravida?” South added. “I spent a year there mahself, b’fore I ended up on Prime.”

“Heh, small galaxy.”

South then turned to me. “Whut about you Shepard? Did’ja serve anywhere special ‘fore all this?”

I remember thinking up a suitable answer, but before I could respond, I ran into something. A sharp pain shot through my side, as I toppled over and hit the ground hard. My head shot up after my landing to see what I had ran into, only to find out that it was a who. An angry-looking equine scowled at me with a burning look in his eyes. He had a mottled brown coat, buried under thick plated armor that looked like it had been welded piece meal together. He had large, drooping ears, one of which looked like it had been chewed on by something far larger than himself, and they were bent in such a way that enforced his angry glare.

“Watch where yur goin’, pony,” he growled, before he turned and walked away.

South dashed beside me, shaking a hoof angrily after my aggressor. “Ya better watch yurself ya gol’derned mule!”

She helped me up, muttering under her breath. “Damn Donkeys, haven’t met a polite one yet.”

“Don’t take it personally, South.” Firestorm cautioned. “They have it out for all ponies. For some reason they pick on Earth ponies the most, but they seem to hate us all just as much.”

“Probably cuz they ain’t exactly th’ prettiest things tuh look at. An’ Ah thought Manticore’s wuz ugly.”

“I’d rather not go about insulting a dominant power while we’re still in the Everfree Systems,” Dexter warned. “Maybe we should just get moving.”

I glanced in the direction that the Donkey had traveled down, but he had disappeared into the crowd. A crowd that comprised of many other Donkeys, as well as other ponies, Mutts and the occasional Manticore. Aside from the ponies, it seemed the the malcontents of the galaxy were the dominant power here, making Dexter the one to be listening to.

“I’m with Dexter,” I said, looking to South. “Do you know which way we need to be going?”

South began looking around, hoof to her chin as she thought quietly to herself. “Ah think it’s this way.”

She pointed down a less populated alleyway. I didn't notice it at first, but some of the milling crowds seemed to be actively avoiding that particular area. Some passer by would wander by, before stopping suddenly to take note of where they were, and quickly turned around. I eyed this area critically, before looking uncertainly at South.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Ayep, that’s whut th’ map said. Don’t look like anypony will get in our way too much that way anyhow. Should be a short trip.”

Of course South didn’t see the deserted alleyway the same way I did. I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about going that way, but we did have guns and armor. Whatever this planet could throw at us, I doubt much of it couldn’t be dealt with a well placed shot.

“Well, no sense waiting around. Let’s get going.”

We walked down the quiet street, ignoring the cautionary glances from onlookers. It was hard not to feel out of place with everything staring at us, but the others didn’t appear bothered by it. We managed to keep a strong stride through the darkening city, only I lingered behind as I kept a careful eye on the shadows around us. If anything, the indifference of our group alone seemed to be enough to keep any gawkers at bay, for now. I doubt it would be long before we ran into a group of gang members, maybe even the Blood Claws themselves, and have them challenge us for no other reason than to assert their dominance.

But, we didn’t find any. I considered a stroke of luck that we managed to keep going without being jumped, but that still wasn't enough for me to lower my guard. We did run into the occasional civilian, but they were incredibly jumpy, and took off the second they noticed us. Any one of them could be alerting their far more dangerous friends of our presence, either to rob us or just kill us for encroaching on their territory, but no retribution came. For now, we were in the clear.

As we entered a new area, South stopped suddenly. She was staring at a very large plated door on the far side of a wide street. It was flanked on both sides by an proportionally large wall that circled what appeared to be a very large, sealed compound. A crude sign was hung above the door, with neon lighting affixed to it that read: ‘Speccs Salvage.’

“Looks like we’re here.” South drawled.

“Doesn’t look like anypony is home.” Firestorm quipped.

“Won’t hurt none to check.” South moved to the door, and knocked loudly. And she continued knocking for almost a minute before something finally replied. A small metal latch slid across the door, almost half the height of a pony. I leaned down to peer through, meeting a pair of bespectacled eyes on the other side.

“Who are you?” It blurted quickly. “Blood Claws not allowed!” The latch shut agian before any of us could utter a reply.

South banged on the door again. “We ain’t with th’ Blood Claws ya fool! We’re with Stable!”

“South!” Dexter hissed. “We’re supposed to keep that quiet around here, remember?”

Before South could say anything, the latch slid open again. “Stable? You mean the Earth-Clan military?”

“Y-yes,” I replied. “We aren’t here to cause any trouble, we’re just looking for somepony.”

The latch slid shut again. I groaned in frustration at the runaround the voice from the wall was giving us, when the door began to grind open. It slowly slid aside, opening the inner yard of the salvage pile to us, and the stout Mole that was guarding its door. He was wearing a leather apron, and a heavy set welding helmet on his head. His nose twitched quickly, as he stared at us through his thick glasses.

“You are Earth-Clan!” he exclaimed. “No stinking Blood Claws here. Come. Come! Please step inside. Welcome to my humble salvage yard.” He gestured at us to enter, and we complied appreciatively. He was quick to shut the gate behind us, but his hurried stance to show us in told me that we was very pleased to be in the presence of non-violent company.

“So, yer Speccs?” South asked him.

“You may call me Speccy if you wish. It is a tad childish, if you ask me, but I must say it has grown on me.”

We followed Speccy as he guided us through the piles of junk and metal. Inside was a stark contrast to the outside areas, the place filled with a hoofful of busy, diligent workers. Many of them were busy cutting through stacks of metal, or just moving it around with heavy machinery. A lot of them were either Moles or Earth Ponies, and they all were working together rather well.

“So you say you were looking for someone? Why would you be looking here? Is one of my employees in trouble?”

“Oh no,” I remarked. “We’re looking for some information on the planet, and we happen to know somepony who works here that might be able to help us.”

“Yeah,” South cut in. “We’re looking for a gal named-Oof!”

South was cut off when a pony covered in grease and tattered overalls tackled her to the ground. There was a bout of cursing and shouting as South and her attacker rolled around on the ground trading blows. Occasionally, her attacker reared up for another strike, allowing me to catch a glimpse of her face. It was covered in black smudges of engine refuse that stained her golden coat. She wore a blue bandanna, but it didn't do a very good job of tying back her blonde mane that tangled in the air with South’s.

We watched in bewilderment as South wrestled against the mystery mare, too shocked to intervene or even ask if she needed help. Suddenly, the blonde mare lost her grip on South, allowing the soldier to issue a powerful reversal. She had swiftly and precisely pinned her attacker to the ground. Her victory assured, she placed a hoof on the head of the pony underneath her and...

Gave her a noogie.

The subjugated mare began to giggle and shriek with laughter, as she pounded the ground. “No!” she shouted. “South! Stop! Ah give, Ah give!”

South was chuckling. “Maybe that’ll teach ya to try an’ git th’ jump on yer big sister, huh?”

Satisfied with her victory, South stood back up, helping the other up as well. They hugged quickly, before the both of them turned to us.

“Guys, this is my little sister East.”

‘East’ giggled. “Shucks, ya still doin’ that silly compass thing, South?” She approached me first, extending a hoof. “Name’s Tinker. Nice tuh meetcha.”

“Shepard,” I replied, returning her hoofshake. I then pointed out the others with a quick wave. “And this is Dexter and Firestorm.”

Tinker tilted her head at me, one of her eyebrows raised. “So yer this Shepard Ah’ve been hearin’ about on the Stable news.” She turned to give South a mischievous grin. “An’ mah sister didn’t think tuh tell me that she wuz workin’ with ya.”

South shrugged. “Y’all woulda found out sooner or later, Tink. No sense gettin’ all fussy ‘bout it.”

The blond mare grimaced at her sister, sticking out her tongue for good measure, then looked back to the rest of us. Her eyes fell on Firestorm, who was observing the siblings with quiet amusement. It took awhile for her to notice that the mare was staring at her, shaking her head when she eventually did.

“Ya don’t see many Pegasi down here on the rock,” she commented. Tinker stepped around Firestorm, glancing critically at her from every angle.

She frowned when she finished her circling, stopping in front of the confused Pegasus.

“That armor don’t look too easy tuh move in. How can ya fly with all that padding?”

Firestorm chuckled. “It’s lighter than it looks kid, don’t worry. But yeah, it is a pain in the flank to move around sometimes, but when you get shot, its nice to know it works.”

Tinker seemed to be as curious as South was belligerent. She frequently accosted either Firestorm or Dexter with questions about their equipment, while South and I just watched. The mole that had escorted us had long since disappeared into the junk piles, leaving us alone with our little family reunion. I caught South staring fondly at the scene before us. I looked away, if only to let her continue enjoying whatever happy thoughts that might have been going through her head. Who knew how long she had gone without a moment of happiness?

I wondered though, how Tinker, who was related to South, had no aversion to Firestorms presence. When South met her, it was hostility from minute one, but for Tinker, it was like a puzzle for her to solve. Her inquisitive questions almost rivaled mine when I was her age, and it was a pleasant reminder at that. It was only when Firestorm pumped her wings to get airborne did Tinker finally believe her claims.

“So,” she started again, now aiming her questions at me and South. “Whut’re y’all doin’ here anyways? Not that Ah don't appreciate the visit, South, but Ah didn't think Stable had much business out here in the outskirts.”

“We’re looking for something here on Sigma.” I replied. “South thought you might be able to help us navigate around the planet a bit.”

“Well...” she chimed. “Ah do know most of the industrial sectors round these parts. Mr. Speccy sends us out tuh pick up salvage from all over the place, an’ Ah think I know most of th’ best spots. Whut exactly were ya lookin’ for?”

“We’re looking for the Blood Claws.” Firestorm added.

Tinkers cheeks ballooned, and her face contorted in an angry scowl. “Ah don't like much talk about them varmint’s round here,” she said darkly. “Those no-good teeth gnashers ha’been no end o’ trouble for this place, even before Ah got here.”

Tinker glanced up to the walls of the compound, pointing at the towers that separated the enclosure at uneven intervals. “It wasn’t till Ah helped Mr. Speccy set up those guns when they stopped tryin’ as hard to git in here.”

“What would the Blood Claws want with a salvage yard?” Dexter asked.

Tinker huffed. “They claim it’s their territory, jus’ like half the damned planet. Plus it ain’t no secret that Mr. Speccy’s got the best salvage around.”

“I guess that explains why the alleys outside were so deserted,” I mentioned.

She nodded. “Ayup. Folks round here know that the Blood Claws spend half their time tryin’ to pound their way in here. Can’t use ships tuh climb over the walls unless them Mutts and ‘Cores suddenly learn tuh fly. And Gryphons might be the kind to throw their lot in with the Claws, but they ain’t nearly as stupid as Mutts and Manticores. If them guns keep a dropship down, their armor ain’t gonna do much either.”

“That’s mah little sis,” South lauded.

Tinker grinned at her sisters praise, before shifting back to confusion. “But ya’ll’re lookin’ for the Claws? Shoot, just keep trottin’ down the road, you’ll run into one of ‘em eventually.”

“Well,” I intoned. “We’re looking for specific ones, leaders mostly.”

Tinker’s eyes went wide. She gasped, and slowly released a calm, but seething breath before continuing. “Now, Ah can understand looking to wrangle up some of the little fish, but y’all want tuh take on the whole lot o’ them? That’s ten different kinds o’ crazy.”

“Oh hush now, Tink.” South chided. “How bad can a bunch o’ blood barks be? Certainly nothin’ yer big sis’ can’t handle.”

Tinker shook her head sharply. “Ah doubt even North would want to deal with them, South. Yew know what Ah mean by that.”

South stared stony-eyed at her little sister, who seemed to be trying really hard to make her point. I wasn't about to step in and interfere with a sisterly quarrel, but knowing what I did about South, I knew she wasn’t going to back down easily.

“Now,” she continued cooly. “Ah don’t reckon there is much that North wouldn’t handle on his own, but Ah ain’t about to run tail ‘tween my legs cuz o’ some gang of misfits and scoundrels. Ah aint callin’ you a liar, Tink, but ya gotta trust me and mah friends that we can handle this.”

Tinker took a second, and far more critical glance at us. “Ah don’t know, South. Ya ain’t seen what the worst o’ them do tuh some o’ th’ ponies down here. Some of em are mah friends, an’ every day Ah worry that some of ‘em won’t be comin’ by anymore.” Tinkers mood had dropped far below the initial glee of seeing her sister again, and the whole scene was becoming far too depressing for me.

“Look, Tinker. “ I stated calmly. “If you don't want to see us get hurt, I understand that, but this is something we have to get done. There’s a lot riding on this, but if you don’t feel comfortable helping, then we’ll find another way.”

There was a weak look in her eyes as she stared straight through me. Part of me felt that I had only made her shame of not wanting to help us worse, and grimly considered what South would do to me for it. She opened her mouth to say something, but the sound of the gate opening and closing from far away interrupted her. We looked in the direction of the entrance, and saw a grey Earth Pony stallion running up to us.

He was covered in a comparable amount of engine grease and drab mechanic-ware as Tinker, but the worry and dread on his face was something new. He galloped hard, screeching to a halt only feet from us, panting heavily, trying to speak through haggard breaths.

“Tink...it’s......its not good...I...”

“Spit it out, Ratchet!” Tinker shouted. “Whut’s wrong now?”

“It’s....Melody!”

No other words were necessary at this point. Tinkers face went through a stages of fear, panic, worry, dread, and countless others in the span of seconds. Her eyes were wide in terror, and her lips were quivering. After another second, she took off in a cloud of dust, racing towards the place that her coworker had come from.

Not wanting to be left out of whatever was going on, we chased after her, hoping that what whatever it was, it was something we could handle.

The center of the yard housed a small, warehouse like structure. It was the color of rust, which matched beautifully with its surroundings. Tinker had a considerable distance ahead of the rest of us as she galloped towards this building, not so much as an explanation or a hello to any of her coworkers as she dashed pass them.

She almost crashed into the door as it struggled to open with her presence, slipping between the narrow opening. My mind was racing frantically as to what possibly could have happened to illicit such a worried response in what initially was a sweet and polite native Prairieland territories. The rest of us waited for the door to open properly, and followed the sound of loud and worried shouting.

We navigated the warehouse, coming to a small office. Speccy was already here, as well as Tinker and a few other of the workers. They surrounded a section of bedding against the wall, and were tending to a pale Unicorn mare that was lying on it. As we got closer, I could see why everypony was so worried. The Unicorn was covered in blotches of blood all over her white coat, some of which was probably hers. She was covered in bruises and cuts, and her face was streaked with the evidence of recent tears from her sapphire eyes. Her charcoal mane was tattered, and hung scattered over her face. Speccy was in the process of applying bandages to the injured mare, while Tinker tried to ask questions in the middle of ranting sentences.

“Whut happened? Who did this? Are ya gunna be ok?”

The Unicorn pressed a hoof to Tinkers blathering mouth. “It’s fine Tink.” She croaked. “I’ve been through worse.”

Tinker swatted the Unicorns hoof away. “Worse nothin!” she barked. “Those damned bottom feeders ain’t got no right tuh to this!”

And I thought I was scared of South’s anger. Seeing the filly that was a head shorter than her elder sisters size was screaming loud enough to carry through the entire compound, while the mare of her focus was just playing it off as a regular occurrence. She just sat and waited patiently, while the the shouting continued.

“Ah’m gunna kill em,” she growled darkly. “Ah’m gonna take mah supplies and blow them into a crater so big they’ll need tuh dig through the planet tuh git out!”

Now I was starting to notice the family resemblance, with frightening detail. With her declaration, the golden mare turned to the exit, only to run into her big sister blocking the exit. South was staring sternly down at her younger sister.

“Now,” she said calmly. “Ah think some explainin’ is in order b’fore we go blowin’ anythin’ up.”

The Unicorn looked at South warmly. “Am I to assume you are the notorious big sister that I’ve heard so much about?”

South nodded at her. “Ah am, and y’all would be...?”

“Melody. I run a small club in the city.” She looked away sadly. “Or at least I used to.”

“What do you mean, used to?” I asked.

“The Blood Claws don’t take kindly to ponies, especially ones who say ‘no’.”

Tinker walked back over to Melody. “They’ve been harassing her for years. We’ve always done whut we can tuh help her.” She looked at her friend. “Whut happened Mel?”

Melody sighed. “The Blood Claws were smart enough to stay away from my place after the workers out here on the rim started offering their support. At least during business hours. I only have so many employees to keep the place in order, so I have to close down for awhile at some point. And thats when they came.

“They muscled their way in, spouting the same nonsense they always do. I said no, again, like I always have, but they weren’t going to take that answer any more. Dozens of them poured into the streets and overwhelmed my guards, I barely made it out of the club alive. Some of them followed me, and you see how that turned out.”

She grazed a hoof against one of her wounds, wincing in pain.

Dexter stepped forward. “Is there any other reason other than territory that they would do this?”

Melody managed a weak smile. “Probably the fact that my club is twice as popular as any of theirs. I don't much care for the kind of business they deal in at their ‘establishments’, but my kind of venue attracts it like moths to a flame. I just let my bouncers deal with it.”

“If you don’t like what your work brings in, why do you keep doing it?”

She looked solemnly at us. “Music is the rhythm in which I live my life. It speaks to me on a level beyond what words can. In such a place as this, it is the catalyst for sparking the independent spirit, and the Blood Claws know that. My patrons know of my refusal to kneel to those monsters, and have done everything they can to help fight back.

“Sigma has not known real leadership in millenia, but it does not mean we aren’t subjugated. If it isn’t by the Blood Claws, its some other gang, or just the presence of fear itself. Sigma is a mire of unhappiness and chaos only veiled behind the sheen of the nightlife, and the Blood Claws thrive on it. And thats why my presence was a threat.”

“So whut now?” South asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Firestorm remarked, her voice filled with fiery fervor. “We help them take back the planet. We’re here for the Claws anyways, there’s no reason why we can’t kill two storms with a single gust.”

“Iffin’ it means helpin’ mah lil’ sis and her friends, then Ah’m in,” South agreed.

“We are supposed to be doing the right thing after all,” Dexter said, nodding. “What about you, Shepard?”

The threat of Artemis getting further away from us was a strong presence in my mind, but solving not one, but two major problems on this beleaguered planet was too much to pass up, even if it was a borderworld. While I imagined taking out the gang entirely other than just pressing them information would take a bit more...finesse than we planned initially, but I doubted it would take that much more time.

“I wouldn’t be much of an engineer if I didn’t like efficiency.” I looked at Tinker and Melody, who stared at us with anticipation. “The crew of the Normanedy are here to help. Where do we start?”

Melody exhaled a sigh of relief, while Speccs gave us a very concerned look. The Unicorn chuckled softly at the Mole’s wariness, then returned her attention back to us.. “I do hope you are up to the challenge. The Blood Claws might seem like a pack of wild animals, but they control this planet for a reason.”

“We’ll see how good their numbers last against one of mah zap apple grenades!” Tinker piped up.

“Aheh,” South chuckled. “That reminds me, Ah need some more o’ those, if ya can spare the supplies Tink. Ah’m runnin’ a bit low.”

“Sure thing sis, Ah got more in mah storage shed.”

Tinker led South from the room, leaving us behind with Melody and Speccy. The Unicorns mood had brightened considerably since we first saw her, despite her injuries, while the Mole merely observed silently, although he appeared to have difficulty in restraining his excitement.

“This is quite the exciting day, isn’t it, miss Melody?” he said airily. “I never imagined we would ever take such direct action against the Blood-Clan.”

Melody nodded softly with a smile. “I suppose you are right, Mr. Speccs.”

Her gaze fell on us. “So, Shepard was it? What do you propose we do?”

I looked at the spot where South and Tinker used to be. The thought of those two collaborating their explosive skills together was a terrifying concept, but it might have its advantages. “Well I imagine South and her sister have the ‘what?’ already worked out. We just need a ‘how’ and a ‘where’.”

“I might be able to help with the ‘where’. Considering how much they wanted to remove me from my club, I have a feeling they might try to make a big show of it, or simply take it over as I assumed was their original intention. They may be still there.”

“Ok, thats a start.”

She held up a hoof, concern on her face. “But I must warn you. If this is your first time on Sigma, you must be on your guard within the city core. The influence of the Blood Claw is stronger there, as well as the level of ambient danger. There might be plenty of lights and noise to distract you, but I assure you it is there only to hide the darkness that slips between the cracks. There is filth everywhere, whether you can see it or not.”

“Noted. So how do we get there?”

Melody slowly lifted up from her resting place, and walked towards us, limping every few steps. Speccy tried to reseat her, but she brushed him away gently. She waved her hoof at mine, revealing her own omni-tool, as it exchanged data with mine.

“You may use the vehicle I used to get here, if you wish. Though it does not have auto piloting, and the city center can be...labyrinthine, to say the least. If Tinker’s sister would allow it, she would be able to take you there easily.” She smiled fondly. “I can tell Miss South cares a great deal for her family, as well as Tinker. She has been a dear friend to me, and I would hate to see her hurt.”

“The Belle mares seem to have a knack for getting themselves into and out of trouble pretty easily.” I chuckled. “And I bet South would sooner take a bullet herself then let anypony she cares about get hurt.”

“Well I certainly hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Miss Melody?” Dexter asked. “What do you know about the Blood Claw’s leadership?”

“Considering how long they have been harassing me and my patrons, I’m nearly on a first name basis with most of their lieutenants. But I’ve never met any of their core leaders before, nor their Praetor.”

“Their what?” I asked.

“Praetor,” Firestorm interrupted. “Every Blood Clan segment has a Praetor, which is basically their toughest warrior. And since Sigma is their base of power, they would have their scariest Praetors here. Any one of them might be a problem if we have to fight them.”

Melody nodded in agreement. “Praetors are involved in nearly every possible excursion of the Blood Claws. The fact that I have never seen one of this planet is...worrying.”

“And I doubt we will have another plasma drill just lying around to deal with him.” I mused. “Hopefully South packs a few extra explosives with her.”

“Was that Manticore we killed back near Trawlis a Praetor?” Dexter asked.

“Oh hell no,” Firestorm scoffed. “You can’t buy Praetors, not even with Sleipnir funds. They fight for the strength of the clan, not its glory. You only see Praetors defending the clans interests or killing off their personal enemies.”

“So basically, we’re just inviting one to try and kill us then?” The Lieutenant chuckled with an air of sarcasm, earning a similar response from Firestorm.

“Let’s just hope we can get this done quickly. The less time we spend in one place, the better chance we have of not running into any of them.”

I heard voices speaking loudly from outside the warehouse. It sounded like South and Tinker we already on their way back.

“We should probably get going. Hopefully South is ok with Tinker driving us where we need to go.”

“You could just order her, you are her commander after all.” Firestorms expression suggested that she was being serious.

I shrugged. “I could, but I’m still hoping it won’t come to that. I’d rather she do it to be a friend than be forced by my rank.”

“Eh.” She shrugged. “Suit yourself, Shepard. Far be from me to tell you to assert yourself a little.”

I turned to leave the office. “Honey and vinegar, Storm. Honey and vinegar.”

As I walked down the hall towards the exit, I heard Firestorm ask Dexter something that made me smile.

“What does that mean?”

I heard Dexter laugh too.

South gave a sharp whistle at the impressive looking vehicle hovering in front of us. It was a sleek little air-car, with plenty of room for all of us. It had its share of battle scars though, some of them even looked recent. The hull was covered in blaster marks and holes. The only part of the vessel that wasn't noticeably damaged was the front, indicated that most of the damage was done while escaping.

“Well ain’t that purdy,” South exclaimed.

“Yeah, Ah had tuh make somethin’ fast fer Mel tuh git around the city.”

South glanced at her sister in amazement. “Ya made this yurself? With all this junk?”

“It ain’t junk!” Tinker huffed. “It just ain’t as pretty as some of the stuff you Stable soldiers git.”

“Well it certainly looks fast enough,” Firestorm observed. “No weapons though. That seems like a liability here on Sigma.”

Tinker shook her head. “Ah thought about it, considerin’ whut Melody has tuh go through. But somethin’ like that would just draw more attention tuh her. Better tuh make it faster so she can git away safe.”

South directed her attention at me. “So where we headed with this thing anyways?”

“Melody said the best place to start was her club. We might find some Blood Claws there.”

“Alright.” She nodded. “So whos drivin’?”

“Ah am.” Tinker announced.

South glared at her. “Like hell you are!” she barked. “No sister o’ mine is drivin’ into a gang war while Ah’m around.”

“An Ah suppose y’all know how tuh git there, South? I couldn’t find no auto pilot to install in this here air-car, an’ Melody ain’t goin’ nowhere till she rests. So that leaves ya with me.”

“This ain’t up fer discussion, little filly. Ya git your flank back tuh yer work, let the real soldiers figure out whut tuh do.”

“South,” I intoned. “I don’t like it any more than you do, but we can’t waste time wandering around a planet we aren’t familiar with.”

She tore her angered glare from her sister, only to direct it at me. “Are you suggesting we take her with us? Are you crazy Shepard? This is mah little sister!”

“Ah ain’t little! Ah can handle mahself thank ya very much.” The two siblings faced each other, scowling. As much as I didn’t want to do this to a friend, it was one thing I knew all too well from training that I had to act: duty calls. I would have to admit to Firestorm that she was right later, but for now, we needed to get moving.

“South, we don’t have time to argue about it.” I moved to separate the two sisters, who were forehead to forehead. South tried to speak, but I lifted my hoof to silence her. Tinker looked ready to celebrate, but I was quick to quell that as well. “Now before you get all excited for getting your way, Tinker, let me be very clear. I don’t want you getting hurt any more than South does. You are to take us to Melody’s club, and come straight back. You are not getting involved in this fight.

She looked dismayed. “But ah—”

“No buts,” I interrupted. “You will come straight here. You will not get involved. Am I making myself clear?”

Her gaze smoldered a while, before it slowly faltered. Her eyes fell to the ground. “Yes, Sir...” she mumbled.

“Good.” I smiled, looking back to South. She was a bit shocked at the whole exchange, regarding me with a curious look. “Does that work for you, South?”

“Ah suppose, so long as she drops us off a few blocks away, just tuh be safe.”

“Alright then, perhaps we should get moving then, I think we’ve wasted enough time bickering.”

We all climbed into the lofty vehicle, and Tinker took her place at the controls. She prodded at the console with a level of skill and grace that could rival Pipsqueaks. The vehicle hummed loudly as its engine began to awaken, and we slowly lifted from the courtyard. Out the window, I could see Melody and Speccy standing in the doorway of the warehouse waving at us, just before Tinker put us into gear and we sped off towards the city.

“So Tinker,” Dexter pressed. “What is the city core like?”

“It’s like the worst part of every big city back on Earth, mashed tuhgether like one big mess. Th’ nightlife is the middle o’ everything. Clubs, bars, yew name it, Sigma’s got it.”

I watched the many slummy districts of the outer city fly beneath us as we approached the denser city center. Towering buildings began to rise over the horizon, many of them glittering with bright neon lights. Tinker indicated the buildings with a wave of her hoof.

“Them big businesses don’t help much either. Bunch of ‘em sell weapons and stuff tuh the gangs, jus’ so they can keep ‘em killin’ each other. They say it’s tuh keep them in line, but Ah know its just so they can keep making bigger guns for each side of the war.”

“I can see why this place is outside of Council space.” Firestorm remarked. “The Pegasi would have bombed this place from orbit if they could be bothered to do so.”

It wasn’t long before we joined the flow of air traffic moving to and from the city. Tinker managed to weave us into the flow with little effort, joining the trails of similar vehicles dashing above the surface. The heavily tinted windows of the aircar was helpful in keeping us hidden, but it wasn’t enough to dull the blindingly bright lights that littered the city below. Melody wasn’t kidding about the city attempting to hide its less desirables. Even in the dead of night, I doubted finding my own shadow would be easy in the glamor below.

Earth wasn’t this bad, as least as I remembered it. As few times as I ventured into larger cities, the skyscrapers did an awfully good job of hiding the sun. Down in the gutters, the warmth of the sun was one of the few things that gave ponies hope. Hope that tomorrow would be better. Unfortunately, that hope rarely came, only twisted fates by twisted thugs, and somehow, this place just felt worse.

I could only imagine what life would be like here. I wondered how it compared to the slums back on Earth, if it was anywhere as bad as what I had to go through. What kind of things the inhabitants of Sigma had to deal with on a nightly basis just to survive? Certainly the red-light venues had their appeal, but that hardly seemed like a way of life that lasted long. Eventually you make a bad choice, and it ends up costing either your life, or worse, your soul. Thinking back on what some of the criminals I was forced to work for would do, I’d probably still choose death over the alternatives.

Up close, I could see the city was far larger than I expected, even by Earth’s standards. Most of the larger buildings seemed wholly independent from any others nearby, built on separate levels, and even separate platforms altogether. Entire neighborhoods were cordoned off with walls or maze-like walkways, cutting off each district into easily controllable bottlenecks. The largest of them all was the center of the city, which appeared to be one isolated platform, built around the towering skyscrapers. It was all I could do to look down from the aircar at the indecipherable pattern that this city was build in, only coming to the conclusion that chaos begets more chaos. I wondered if that was Sigma’s primary motto.

It was quite an experience to watch Tinker slide our tiny vehicle between various funnels of traffic, each one bringing us closer to the ground. It was a little harrowing to watch how she darted in between shuttles far larger than ours without incident, and made me realise that letting her drive was far more than just a good idea. I had enough trouble navigating cities like this on the ground, but in the air, that was something else entirely. I could see Pipsqueak having some trouble navigating down here, if he weren’t too much of a worrywart to leave the ship.

We seemed to finally close on a single section of the city, as Tinker began to steadily slow down. We glided over a straightened path cut between a cluster of similarly shaped buildings, where flood lights cut through the murky sky, almost as if they were dancing in the air. Even from the ship, I could hear the sound of loud music pumping into the streets. Crowds gathered below, forming long lines near the entrances of these buildings. The groups of ponies and others jittered around excitedly to the loud bass, waiting patiently to enter the various venues all over the street. All except one.

One club stood out from the others, in a far darker tone. The front of the building was not lit as the others were, casting a dark gloom over its small corner of the street. Large shapes lumbered outside, and any nearby crowds were quick to change their direction when approaching the desolate structure.

“That’s Melody’s club isn’t it?” I asked.

Tinker responded by turning hard to the left, bringing us over the alleyways that webbed out in all directions behind the brightly lit streets. We descended slowly into the dark recesses of the city, but thankfully, it seemed like nopony, or no one, was around. The street was empty, only the noise of music pouring from the nearby clubs reminding me that it was not as devoid of life as it seemed.

We stopped just a few feet from the ground, and the doors swung open. The Tinker turned to us, giving me a slow nod.

“Yeah, that wuz her club alright. First time Ah’ve ever seen it closed, an’ it’s one of th’ most popular one’s ‘round these parts. Melody must be torn up real bad tuh’ve left it tuh those monsters.”

“Any idea how we can get in unnoticed?” Firestorm asked.

“Ya’ll can stick to th’ alleys. There’s a back door. Ah don’t reckon the Claws would leave it unguarded, but Ah figure y’all would cause of a panic with all those civvies out there if ya went the front way.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Dexter agreed. “No sense getting anypony hurt if we can avoid it.”

“Cept them Claws,” South spat bitterly. We c’n hurt ‘em all we want.”

South clambered out of the car first, and the others followed after her one at a time, leaving me till last. As I stepped out, I turned back to Tinker, who sat silently in her seat looking at me somberly. I had a feeling I knew what she was thinking, but I had made up my mind, and I wasn’t about to go back on it now. It was less of a promise for her than for South.

“I trust you remember our agreement?” I reminded her.

She nodded glumly. “Well, since Ah doubt Ah’ll change yer mind, Ah might as well give ya this.”

She plucked a small data card from on of her many pockets, and tossed it my way. I caught it in my hoof and my omni-tool glowed at its touch. The small chip shimmered in my hoof, as my tool absorbed the storage device. I looked uncertainly at Tinker.

“Its a map of th’ street. Should help y’all git around a bit. It’s real easy tuh git lost down here, but that there map should lead ya right tuh Mel’s place.”

“That’s helpful; thanks, Tinker.”

She shrugged. “Might as well do something ‘sides jus’ drivin’ ya here, since ya won’t take me with ya.”

“You’ve helped more than you think. But South is right; this can get dangerous, and none of us want to see you get hurt, South most of all."

Her face brightened slightly at my words, finally coming to understand where I was coming from. Her task here complete, she proceeded to reseal the cabin. As the hatch closed, I heard her utter one last thing before it clicked shut.

“Good luck; y’all’re gunna need it.”

A gust of air rushed from the aircar as it began to take off again. The roar of the engines drowned out the club music as it lifted into the air, and once it cleared the buildings, vanished from sight in a burst of speed. We all sat quietly for a while, watching her leave. The loud music flooded back into the dim alleys around us, which we quietly listened to before South cleared her throat.

“No sense wastin’ time, right?”

“I’ve always wanted to crash a party,” Firestorm joked. “Looking forward to it.”

“I doubt the Blood Claws will be looking to do much dancing, Storm,” Dexter replied sarcastically.

“Ah’m sure they’ll learn quickly with me callin’ out the steps.” South withdrew a thermal clip and loaded it into her gun. Her gun whirred to life, and she began to smile wickedly.

“Now that’s something to look forward to.”

“Well then,” I added. “Let’s not keep them waiting.”

I opened the map Tinker had given me, projecting it in the air for the others. It was an impressive chart, detailing many levels and sections of the nearby district. The map showed our position only slightly off the dead center of the entire area, and what an area it was. The scale of the map suggested it was an hours walk in any direction if we wanted to even attempt to leave this district on hoof, and that was if we managed to find a straight line.

South tilted her head around the map, mumbling quietly to herself, before she started pointing at spots on the map.

“So we’re here,” she commented to nopony in particular while tracing her hof through the air. “An’ th’ club is this way. If we stick to th’ alleys.”

She turned her head down the darkened street. Sure it was lit, but the crude red neon lighting hardly made it a desirable place to be, even for me.

“Doesn't that look cozy,” she said dryly.

“I don’t even think the Warrens on the Corral were this bad.” Firestorm remarked.

“Everypony just keep an eye out,” I said quickly. “We don’t want to get caught by anypony who might not like Stable here.”

Dexter gripped his rifle in his magic and floated it in front of him. “I really hope nopony is dumb enough to try and mess with a fully armed group like us, Stable or otherwise.”

“No sense wasting bullets.”

“Uh, Shepard?” South drawled. “Our guns don’t use bullets.”

I facehoofed. “You know what I mean, South. Let’s just get going.”

I swore South giggled, but she quickly took up the front of the group to hide her face from me. I just shook my head and followed behind her and we began our trek towards Melody’s club. It would have been nice to be able to hear whether or not somepony was nearby, but the loud music pounding out of the nearby clubs was making it impossible. We could have a platoon of raving maniacs following us and we’d never know. Not to mention the headache the music was giving me as well.

We did run into the occasional civilian back here, but whenever we did, they didn't pay us much concern. Most of them lazily observed us, as they lounged against a wall or balcony, probably waiting for something exciting to happen. We got some foul looks from those not of the pony variety, but one look at our equipment was enough to put the tinge of fear, or at least caution in their eyes. Suffice it to say, we managed to move through without bother, for now.
Melody’s club was conviently the last one on the strip. The music slowly quieted the further we got from the other venues, as well as the chatter of the crowd on the other side of the buildings. The lighting, too, was getting worse the closer we got to our destination. Dexter had switched on his gun-mounted flashlight to combat the gloom surrounding us, but it made little difference. The gloom of Sigma surrounded us from every direction, and I hoped we would get out of here as soon as possible.

“Shh!” South suddenly whispered. She poked her head around a corner, leaving the rest of us patiently waiting. She turned back and gave us a stern nod.

“We’re here.”

We all took turns carefully peering around the corner. On the far side of the alley, there was a small group of Mutts huddled together around a darkened doorway. They were armed, the largest of them had a crude looking shotgun, but past experience told me it wouldn’t be hard for him to close the distance.

“Mutt’s and their scattergun's.” Firestorm commented bitterly.

“Think you can take him out before he becomes a problem?” I asked.

“I thought we were trying to be quiet.”

“Doesn’t hurt to be prepared.”

Firestorm took a moment to observe our surroundings, casting short glances in every direction. Her eyes stopped on a small building directly beside Melody’s place. She stretched out her wings and gave them a little flutter.

“I can probably get some good shots from up there, and keep any reinforcements from getting too close if things get hairy.” She looked down back towards us. “Think you guys will be ok in there without me?”

South stopped the ground, unfolding her weapon around her leg. She grinned fiercely at her rival as she inspected her equipment. “Ah reckon we’ll be fine. Can’t say a flyer will do any good in such a small building.”

Firestorm smirked. “I’ll take that as a comment of concern on my part. I didn’t think you cared, South.”

South snorted at the Pegasi’s needling, when the group of Mutts laughed suddenly. We all peered out again, taking stock of the changing situation. Some of the Mutts had disappeared into the building, leaving only two behind. Those that remained stood outside the door, which looked like it was stuck open. I could see the circuitry of the door fizzling nearby, with a metal pole jutting out of the console. The dogs were muttering quietly amongst themselves, but they were too far to hear.

“Well, that made things a bit easier.” Firestorm begun to beat her wings and lifted to a hover over the ground.

“I’ll get a vantage point over these two, just send a signal when you need me.”

She pumped her wings and quietly rose into the air. We watched her disappear into the shadows, but I managed to follow her silhouette as she glided over the rooftops. South was the first to step out into the street.

“So, how do we deal with these jokers?”

I turned to the sound of creaking metal behind me. Dexter had his head in a metal bin, and looked like he was rummaging through garbage. He withdrew a small metal canister, and tossed it on the ground. There wasn’t anything interesting about it, but knowing Dexter, he already had an idea. A faint blue glow wrapped around the cylinder, and it began to roll along the ground on its own.

“I wonder if dogs are just as curious as cats,” he mused slyly.

With a burst of magic, he sent the can skating across the ground down the alley, towards the two guard dogs. I saw one of the dogs ears twitch as the projectile raced towards them, eventually crashing into a pile of refuse nearby. It collided with a tremendous clatter, and the two dogs were quick to leave their posts to investigate. They lumbered towards us, guns drawn.

“Stick to the shadows. See how close they get.”

We stayed still as they approached slowly, aiming their guns in our direction. Since they weren’t running or shooting at us, I guess they hadn’t seen us yet. I assumed being canines they would have stronger senses for tracking, but living in this polluted city, I doubted their noses would be much use. The Mutts split up as they got closer, taking different sides of the alley. South crept up to a corner and crouched behind it, waiting for the dog that was unwittingly wandering towards her hiding spot.

South gritted her teeth, as she perked her ears to the corner, waiting patiently. She looked down, and spotted a similar canister near her hooves. She smiled wickedly as she gently stuck a leg out and tapped the can into the light. The nearby Mutt noticed the can skitter across the ground immediately, and took slow, deliberate steps towards it. He bent down to inspect the metal object curiously, completely unaware of South leaning over top of him.

With brutal speed, South clamped her forelegs around the unsuspecting Mutt, grasping at his mouth and neck and hurling him into the alley. His eyes were wide with panic as he thrashed and wriggled in a vain attempt to free himself, but South easily overpowered him. His muffled screams didn't travel far as he slowly lost consciousness. Not wanting to watch South drain the life out of something, I instead joined Dexter in keeping an eye on the other Mutt, who still hadn't noticed his partner was missing.

Dexter, moving into the light of the alley, already seemed to have a plan of his own. His steps were quiet as he slowly walked up to the other Mutt, who was in the middle of searching through a garbage disposal. His gun was still floating near him, but he had sent it farther in the air than I would expected of him. It dangled in the air a good ten feet above his head, as he nonchalantly stepped behind the dog and tapped on his shoulder.

The Mutt tensed suddenly, and whirled around, pointing his gun at Dexter. I almost went to intervene, when I noticed the perplexed look in the dogs eyes, mirroring my own. The sheer audacity of a pony walking up to him had stunned him, if only for a moment. A moment Dexter used with great efficiency. He only lifted his hoof, pointing at his gun in the air. The Mutt looked confused, and slowly turned his gaze upwards, until he noticed the floating weapon, moments before it came flying down like a bullet and smashed into his face.

He let out a weak gurgling noise as he collapsed to the ground. Dexter delivered a quick kick to ensure his work wasn’t for nothing, then turned back to us. “Should be clear now.”

“That was pretty smooth, Dex,” Firestorm whispered over the radio. “You guys be careful in there, there’s no telling how many of them there are. Don’t count on it only being Mutts either. There’s bound to be a Manticore or two at least nearby.”

“Got it, Storm. Just let us know if anything tries to get the jump on us.”

“Ready to crash a club, guys?” I asked, anticipation taking hold of my voice.

“Let’s show these carnivores how we party, Earth style!” South said, ferocity in her eyes. It was strange, but seeing South raring for battle was almost intoxicating, and her own fervor for fighting seemed to take hold over me as well. Dexter too, seemed to be uncharacteristically enthused about this, his magic glowing brighter than I had ever seen before. I might have only had an omni-tool and a pistol, but for me, that was all I needed. I took the first step into the unguarded club, ready for the next encounter.

Codex Entry Added: Tinker Belle

Codex Entry Added: Melody

Codex Entry Added: Sigma

Codex Entry Added: Blood Claws

Family Comes First: Paragon Points Earned

Author's Note

Big thanks to theBSDude for his assistance in editing this, and future chapters. Welcome to our little family of insanity.

Chapter 13: Living the Nightlife

Chapter 13: Living The Nightlife

“They don’t want to party. These ponies want to PAR-TAY!”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I’m not a nightlife kind of pony. Life back on Earth had its abundance of nightclubs and similar venues, even in the kind of places I lived in. The bright lights and loud sounds were hypnotizing to a beleaguered foal living in a hostile environment, only to harshly reveal its true intentions once you tread to closely.

It was obvious that gangs thrived in these environments. Before my forced ‘employment’, I avoided these places as much as I could, fighting the veil of safety the brightly colored structures emitted. The tools of my craft had it’s share of bright lights and sounds, and I could appreciate the aesthetic of neon lighting and loud, electronic noises, but always from a distance. I knew that if I got caught up in that kind of lifestyle, I would fall into the depravity I tried to stay away from and be lost to it.

Sigma encompassed everything that I avoided back then, but on a far larger scale. I'd only been here for a few hours, and everything I remembered from home pricked at my mind, filling me with a feeling of tainted nostalgia that I did not care for. I was a grown pony now, and I shouldn’t be afraid of, or even worried by places like this, but the kind of creatures that frequented it would always be a worrisome subject, and now I was here of my own volition, hunting the very things I had spent my foalhood avoiding.

Melody’s place was far nicer on the inside than it was on the outside. Even the service entrance was lit by calming blue neon lights, which was much easier on the eyes than the red coloring on every other club in the district. Of course, these strips of light were the only things lighting the way. Above us, the ceiling lamps had either short circuited, or been blown out by weapon fire. The narrow halls of the club were scarred with blaster marks and explosion damage, making Melody’s story of her escape seem far worse than she led us to believe.

The remains of her employees were everywhere. The further into the club we went, the more fallen bouncers we came across. Their bodies were laid together in large groups at every door towards the exits, faithful to their duty until the end. If it weren’t for the devotion of her staff, Melody would have shared a similar fate.

We found ourselves in what looked like a storage room, with stacks of overturned boxes scattered everywhere. A pile of the crates were used to barricade the room, but the bodies were enough to tell me that it didn’t work for long. The others stepped around them carefully, South taking the time to examine the bodies. She turned one over with a shove of her leg, scowling at what she saw.

“Ugh,” she grunted. “These Blood Claws wern’t messing around.”

“Yeah,” Dexter agreed quietly. “They must’ve really wanted Melody out of here.”

My radio hummed in my ear. “Hey guys, you find anything yet?”

“No, Firestorm,” I replied. “Just bodies of Melody’s guards. How about you? See anything outside?”

There was a pause before she answered. “Not really. They have a Manticore watching the front with some Mutts. The street is pretty quiet just outside. Nopony from the other clubs seems to have noticed anything wrong.”

“Is there any way into the building from the roof?”

There was another pause. “Maybe. I’ll take a look.”

“Hey, Shepard,” Dexter said, waving me over.

I walked over to him and the hastily built barricade. He was pressed against the overturned boxes, his ear against the wall.

“Do you hear that?” he asked.

I listened carefully, drowning out the sound of South’s movement. It was faint, but I could barely hear the sound of muffled conversation.

“It’s coming from the other room. I have a feeling someone is still here.”

I examined the barricade critically. The door it surrounded hung open, detached from its paneling in the wall. I peeked around the corner, looking into a curving hallway that twisted around into another room. The voices were slightly clearer, as if they were definitely coming from the next room, but they were speaking quietly, too quiet to make anything out.

“We don’t want to just barge in there,” I cautioned. “We need a plan.”

“Ah could always flush ‘em out.” South grinned, bouncing one of her rainbow colored grenades in her hoof.

I shook my head at her. “And kill who we need to question. Maybe after we know exactly what the situation is in there, but not till then.”

She rolled her eyes and returned the explosive to her bags. “Well, sittin’ here ain't doin’ us any good.”

I climbed over the boxes, motioning silently to the others to keep quiet. We approached the corner quietly, listening for the voices to become understandable, but the murmuring only grew quieter as we moved along. We stopped at the edge of the wall, just as a loud crashing noise came from inside. I peeked carefully into the room to see what was going on.

There was a trio of Mutts standing in a large circular room. The middle of the room had a large island of counters and shelves, many of them glistening in the dull light. Rows of bottles and glasses lined the entire length of the bar. Many of them also lay scattered all over the counters and floor, broken and leaking their contents everywhere. Chairs and tables traced the edge of the room, the sleekly colored metals reflecting the bright colors of the dancing flood lamps.

The dogs didn’t seem all that interested in the damage, more focused on a large, cumbersome looking crate that they were huddled around. They were panting loudly and wiping sweat from their foreheads. The crate itself was a bland metal color, with no markings, or even an obvious way to open it.

“Oof! Dis thing is heavy!” one of them complained.

“Wonder wut’s inside.” One of them pawed at the crate, when the largest of the group swatted his arm away.

“Hands off!” he barked. “Boss sed not to mess with the boxes.”

The leader placed one of his massive paws on the box, eyeing his insubordinate angrily. “It’s probly jus’ stuff we’re takin’ from the dumb Unicorn,” he cackled. “S’not like shes gonna need it anymore!”

The other Mutts laughed with him, and went back to their efforts to lift the crate. I moved away from the corner and met back with the others. Neither of them looked very pleased at what they heard, and I joined them in sharing the sentiment.

“So, what should we do?” I said quietly. We don’t want to alert the entire building.”

“There’s only three of them. We should be able to deal with them before they call for help.”

“Where’s th’ door tuh th’ next room?” South asked. I looked back into the room briefly. On the far side of the room, past the Mutts was a wide passage leading into another hallway. Seeing no other way out, I moved back, giving South her answer.

“Hrmm,” she muttered. “Iffin’t that’s th’ only way out, Ah don’t see it bein’ too hard tuh keep ‘em from runnin’.”

“Unless they have radios of their own.” Dexter pointed out.

It was hard not to smile at the idea that suddenly entered my mind as Dexter pointed that little issue out. I brought out my omni-tool, bringing up a saved file that I had carried with me since Equestria Prime, just in case.

“That would be a problem,” I said amusedly. “If not for this little jamming signal I got from the Geld.”

Dexter looked at me warily. “Won’t that affect our radios too?”

I nodded. “Probably, but we can always just turn them off for a bit. I’m pretty sure I can limit it to a small radius around me, so it shouldn’t travel farther than this room.”

“Works fer me,” South said quickly.

“Alright...” Dexter said hesitantly. “Let’s just make it quick.”

“Ok.” I nodded. “Let me warn Firestorm first. Firestorm?”

“Yeah,” she replied quietly.

“We’re turning off our radios for a few minutes, so don’t be surprised over a bit of radio silence.”

“Can I ask why?” she questioned.

“I’m going to try and cut off the Blood Claws radios with a jamming signal.”

She was silent for a while. “Okay...” she replied apprehensively. “But if I don’t hear from you in five minutes, I’m coming in.”

“Ok, five minutes.” I confirmed. “I’ll message back as soon as possible.”

We switched off our radios, and crept up to the corner, preparing to jump into the room. A quick glance into the room a third time showed the dogs creeping closer to our hiding place. This was as good a time as any. I activated the program, and was met with immediate results. The crate crashed to the ground with a loud Thud, as the Mutts howled in pain at the ringing in their ears. Two of them clutched at their heads, the other preferring instead to nurse his swelling foot after the crate landed on it.

We charged into the room at our moment of opportunity. South quickly outpaced me and Dexter, and chose to tackle the largest of the helpless Mutts to the ground. It was hard to tell whether or not he knew what was happening, but I didn’t see him try to fight back at all. It didn’t take much effort for the prairie mare to pin the dog to the ground, aiming her rifle at his head for good measure.

Dexter chose his target next, going for one hobbling around on a single paw. The whimpering hound bounced around, conflicted between clutching his throbbing foot, or his ringing ears. Dexter lifted his rifle into the air with his magic, and sent it at the Mutt, sweeping him off his remaining leg. Dexter’s tactic was efficient, but what came after was just added bonus, as his trip sent the Mutt toppling over into the large crate. His head made a sickening CRACK as it crashed into the corner of the box, and the dog slumped over onto the ground.

That, of course, left me with the remaining goon. This one seemed to have a better grasp at what was going on, as he ripped the offending device from his ear and cast it to the ground. Fighting the effects of my sabotage, he weakly grabbed at his holstered weapon, but not nearly fast enough. I was already on top of him, and I knew that while these things were fast, I knew they weren’t particularly resilient, especially to a few thousands volts. Before he could lift his gun, my hoof collided with his head, and my omni-tool sending a very unhealthy amount of electricity through his skull.

His body went rigid, and I watched his eyes roll back into his head as he toppled over. I couldn’t help but feel the rush of adrenaline at taking him down, but it quickly wore off, revealing a throbbing pain in my limb. My hoof was killing me, and felt incredibly hot. My strategy, effective as it was, definitely had its drawbacks. I nursed my aching leg as I limped over to South and her captive.

He was still writhing around in pain from the jamming signal, and any attempts to remove his earpiece failed with South standing on his arms. My trick had played its part, and he had suffered enough, for now, so I turned off the jammer. It took awhile for the Mutt to regain his lucidity, but when he did, it didn’t long for him to realize what was going on. He struggled against the mare on top of him, as she quickly spun a length of rope around his arms and legs.

“Can y’all stop with the wigglin’?” she warned. “Ah ain’t got no reason tuh keep yew awake, seein’ as yur about as smart as a pile o’ rocks.”

“Grrr,” the Mutt growled, struggling against his bonds. “You ponies are far from home. Doesn’t matter what you do to me. Bosslady will skin you alive.”

“Who’s your bosslady?” I asked. “I’m interested to know who you Mutts bother listening to.”

“Hah, you’ll find her soon enough, ponies.”

“What exactly are you doing here?”

“Why should I tell you? I ain’t scared of you, or any pony.”

South ground her weapon hoof into his arms. He grunted in pain, but still kept his mouth shut. She then grabbed my arm, lifting my omni-tool above his head. “Ah c’n turn on the noise again, if yew want.”

He sneered at South, still resisting. I didn’t want to resort to South’s level of brutality, normally I would let her do her own thing without my involvement. Hopefully he would give in before South actually touched the button. I shuffled through the programs again, just to play along while hoping he would give in. He just kept glaring at us. South lifted her hoof slowly to the button, keeping a close eye on his reaction, until she was less than an inch from the prompt.

“Wait!”

His eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks. His ragged ears bent back against his head, and his voice carried along a very canine whine with it as he gave me a pleading look.

“Well?” I said slowly, dangerously. “I’m waiting.”

“The boss! She’s here! In the main room!”

“Anything else? Surely you can give me more than that.” I looked at the ominous looking crate the dogs had been moving. “What’s in the box?”

“I don’t know!” he cried. “We’ve been moving them around all day, but the boss won’t say what’s in them!”

I trotted over to the flimsy looking container. I found a interface on its side, but any command that opened it was locked with a rather impressive lock. I brought up my hacking interface, intent of seeing what the Blood Claws had to hide.

“This lock is a bit more than I expected from you,” I noted. “Looks like the Blood Claws actually have some brains in their gang.”

“Watch who you mock, pony,” the Mutt growled. “You don’t need to be smart to have power.”

I gave him an incredulous look, turning my attention back to the crate. The lock encryption really was impressive. It reminded me of the code that Emmy used on Trawlis, but thankfully it was a lot less complicated than that. I managed to crack the lock quickly, and a metal panel slid open on the side.

“Whoa nelly.”

Souths comment was all I needed to determine exactly how serious the contents were. Inside the crate, stacked to the brim was several cases of high explosives, the silence of impending doom adding a heap of unnecessary tension to the situation.

I glared at the Mutt in Souths grasp. “Bombs?” I snapped. “Seriously? Your plan is blow the club up?”

“You think I make da plans, pony?” he snickered. “I jus’ do da lifting.”

I groaned, gesturing at South. “Shut him up please, South. I think his usefulness has run out.”

South grinned evilly as she lifted her leg and bashed the Mutt into unconsciousness. After she was done, she came over to me and examined the explosives herself. Hopefully she would know something, anything on how to deal with these.

“Any ideas, South?” I asked.

She reached a hoof into the crate slowly, tracing it along one of the bombs. “Well,” she said slowly. “Ah don’t often take bombs apart once Ah build ‘em. That’s Tink’s speciality more than mine.” She pointed at the receiver, and the tiny blinking light that accompanied it. “But if ya kin block this part here, yew can stop them from bein’ armed remotely

I scanned the bomb carefully with my tool. South’s suggestion had merit, the only thing to do was figure out how to jam the arming signal without accidentally detonating the bombs.

“Here, Shepard. Try this.”

South reached into the Mutt’s ear, took out his earpiece, and hoofed it to me. I examined the tiny disc, recoiling a bit in disgust at how unclean it was, glad that I was holding it through my armor. It was a crudely design item, just like the rest of their equipment, but it was just complex enough to serve my purpose.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “This can work, South. Great idea.”

I uploaded the jamming program into the memory of the small device, taking care to reduce its range so it wouldn't interfere with our radios.

“This shouldn’t mess with our radios. Let’s turn them back on, Firestorm’s gonna want to hear back from us.”

I turned on my radio, immediately calling out for Firestorm.”

“You guys sure love dramatic timing,” she groused. “Five minutes on the nose.”

“Sorry about that, the Mutts were more stubborn than we’d liked.”
She was silent for a bit. “Oh, ok, as long as you’re alright. Did you find anything?”

“Well, one of the Mutts said one of their leaders might be here, in the main room. We’ll be heading there now.”

“Alright, I’m still looking for a way in from the roof just in case, and—wait a sec. Somethings happening out here.”

“Firestorm? What is it?”

“A really big truck just pulled up in front of the club. Looks like they are loading crates into the building.”

I sighed. Great, more bombs. It seemed like the Blood Claws really wanted to make a show of removing this place from the map.

“Oh yeah, we’ve already found one of those crates in here. It looks like they are going to blow up the club.”

“Awesome. Like we need more to deal with.”

“I can stop them from arming them with some time, we just need to not give them a reason to set them off while we’re still here.”

“Ok. I’ll keep an eye on the truck, maybe count how many they are bringing in.”

“Good idea. Contact us if something changes.”

“Got it. Firestorm out.”

With Firestorm back in the loop, and these bombs dealt with, there wasn’t much left to do in this room. I went back to the crate, only to seal it shut again with the jammer inside. I also broke the lock for good measure, just to make sure nopony else could get inside. Dexter was still keeping an eye on the unconscious dogs, and South had trotted away to...raid the bar. I facehoofed as I watched her rummage around the shelves that still had intact bottles sitting on them.

“South, is now really the time to be doing that?”

“Ah wuz just lookin’,” she remarked. “Melody’s got some pretty fancy stuff here. Stuff ya can’t even find on Earth.”

“Well, just don’t take any of it,” I warned. “We’re here to help Melody, not rob her. Try explaining that to your sister.”

“Yeah, yeah,” she groused. “Let’s git goin’ then. Don’t wanna keep them Blood Claws waitin’.”

“Think the leader they have here is a Praetor?” Dexter wondered.

“It would be pretty excitin’ if it wuz.”

“I’d rather not fight a gang leader, South,” I cautioned. “I’ve been around enough of them to know that they’ll do anything to anypony who gets in their way.”

South raised an eyebrow, followed by a smug grin. “Ah’d like tuh seem ‘em try.”

My eyes fell to the exit. As far as I could tell, it was just another long corridor leading to the front of the club. There was no telling if there was going to be anything lying in wait for us, but since nothing was barging in on us in here, it was a safe bet that our presence was still unknown. Hopefully my signal jammer would continue working in keeping us incognito, because I was enjoying the lapse between gunfights.

“Well, lets get going then.”

We made our way towards the hallway, leaving the potential powder keg and the unconscious dogs behind. I hoped we weren’t going to be here long enough for any of that to be a problem. Sigma was already proving to be way more complicated of a trip than I had hoped, but really, none of this mission had proven easy so far. I could only imagine how much further Artemis was getting from us while we spent our time here. That thought alone was motivation enough to hurry this along. I picked up my pace, and I hoped the others would do the same. This day was hardly over yet.

“Be careful with that you idiots!”

We froze as the shrill voice carried through the air. We were almost to the end of the hall, and I could see the evidence of light in the next room. A chorus of grunting noises echoed around the corner, and loud crashing noises just like from earlier. They were moving more bombs, and it sounded like a lot more. We carefully moved to the edge of the wall, and peered into the room.

According the Tinker’s map, this had to be the main room. There was a huge emplacement in the middle of the room, that had enormous speakers and flashing lights of every color flooding the room. It seemed that the displays were on some kind of automatic setting, as they moved through the motions of their routines, even without the sound of music that was probably supposed to accompany them.

Between the speakers, I saw the stage where several instruments lay in a heap. Some of them looked rather modern, sleekly designed and brightly colored. One of them, however, stood out from the others in the pile. It was dully colored compared to the others, but it had a flair of modern improvements nonetheless. It was rigged with electronic devices to allow its sound to carry with any other instrument today, and even with my lack of interest in music, it was hard not to recognise a double bass when I saw one.

Despite the string instruments simple design, I could tell there was something special about it, and perhaps its owner. It just seemed to me the kind of instrument Melody would play, and it was shame to see it in its current state. Hopefully, I could recover it for her, if we kept the collateral damage to a minimum.

The continued noises broke my attention from the stage, and I began looking for its source. Several packs of Mutts were standing in the middle of the club’s main room, huddled around a series of crates they were moving into the room. They all had worried looks on their faces, as if they were afraid of something. A something that made itself loudly obvious.

“If you idiots drop one more of those, I’ll be tossing you from the truck on our way back!”

“Sorry, boss,” one of the Mutts apologised to the bodiless voice. “But dis stuff is really heavy.”

“And that’s exactly your job, isn’t it? You useless dogs do all the heavy lifting, while the rest of us do the important work. Like using our brains.”

“But the bat brains can lift stuff too.”

There was a moment of silence as all of the dogs nodded in unanimous agreement, when a sudden gunshot stuck very near to the speaking Mutt. The group of them yelped in surprise, backing away from the crates and whoever had fired at them. I heard precise clanking move across the floor, almost like heavy metal pins striking against rock.

Someone stepped into view, a gun in one of its claws which was pointed directly at the whimpering dogs. It was covered in white feathers, tinged with red at the tips along its beaked head. Its eyes were shadowed in a bright, bloody red, giving her eyes a look of frightening intensity. Her feline body was covered in black armor, save for her dark brown wings, and it was emblazoned with a familiar symbol etched in red along her backside. She stopped just in front of the crates, but kept her eyes squarely on the others.

“Oh no,” she scoffed. “The Mant’s are here to kill anything that try to get in our way, because that’s what they are good at. You idiots are lucky enough to carry boxes around. If it were up to me, you flea bitten mongrels would be left to rot in the dregs. The Claws have no need for whimpering dogs.”

The Gryphon lifted her gun, aiming it into the group. The Mutt she was shouting at fell to his knees, his paws in the air. “Please, mistress! Forgive me!” He sounded pathetic, his voice pleading.

The Gryphon had a twisted look in her eyes, as if she were actually considering killing one of her own. She smiled, even laughed at the quivering heap of what I used to think was a credible danger to us. If she was actually going to do it, however, I wouldn’t find out. I heard a faint beep emit from her armor, and she lowered her weapon begrudgingly. She pressed a claw to her ear to silence the noise.

“Yes?” she said, irritated.

Whoever she was talking to, it was someone even she was subservient to. It might have been one of the leaders, or at least someone who could lead us to one. WhIchever it was,I had to know for certain. I backed into the hallway, and accessed my omni-tool. It was no challenge to hack into communicators, especially those that belonged to a gang that’s claim to fame was sheer brutality. Their hacking protection was laughable, and I easily found myself listening in on their conversation within seconds.

“Did you get everything I sent?” A deep voice asked. It was a cold sounding voice, rumbling with the sound of gravel and stone.

“Yeah,” the Gryphon replied. “What is it, anyways? The Mutt’s say its heavy.”

“Just some parting gifts. I’ll deal with it once I get down there. Just keep anyone out, including that wench, Melody, if she tries anything.”

“Hah, I’d like to see her try. We killed all of her guards, and I’m pretty sure I put a few holes in her myself. I doubt she’ll try anything against us.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Banshee. She still has those damn junk haulers on the rim backing her.”

“Don’t worry, boss,” Banshee said reassuringly. “We’ll deal with those stupid Earth Ponies eventually. Now that this place is shut down, it’s only a matter of time.”

“Just don’t screw anything up. I’ll be there soon.”

The signal went dead, as the Gryphon lowered her claw and returned her attention to the cowering Mutts. “You idiots better hurry, the boss is on his way, and you don’t want to make him mad, now do you?”

“Great,” Dexter said flatly. “This one’s not even the leader we want. And more of them are coming. What should we do?”

“We could always shoot ‘em, an’ wait fer the others tuh show up,” South offered. “That Gryphon don’t look too tough.”

“I’m not willing to take that chance, South,” I cautioned. “Considering how frightened those Mutts are of her, I doubt she’s a pushover.”

“S’not like it takes much to scare them stupid dogs.”

I shook my head. “I’m not saying that isn’t a good point, but we can’t just run and gun everything we see, we need a plan.”

“Ok then, whut d’ya have in mind?”

Right now I had nothing, but so far in this journey I had proven that it didn’t take much to get a plan going. I glanced back into the room. Banshee was still pacing around the Mutts as they moved the bomb laden crates around, waving her gun around menacingly. I was surprised the Mutts didn’t use their numbers and revolt at the way she was treating them. Maybe she had something that even numbers couldn’t win against. Fighting her head on definitely became less desirable.

I brought out my omni-tool, scanning the room for anything that was broadcasting a signal. The radio the Gryphon had was something, maybe, if I wanted to try the same trick as earlier, but something told me a Gryphon named Banshee has little aversion to loud noises. I got no readings from the dogs, so as a distraction they were useless too. The only thing left in the room that was still working was the stereo equipment. I shrugged. That was better than nothing.

The seeds of madness planted, I hacked into the unprotected powergrid of the building, accessing the stage controls. The first thing I wanted to do was to turn off those irritating lights. The room dimmed suddenly, and I heard a chorus of confused chattering. I looked back into the room, viewing an amusing scene. With the lights gone, the Gryphon had become noticeably angry. Well, angrier than she had been.

“Who’s screwing with the lights!?” she shouted. The dogs, still holding the boxes, only managed to respond with a strained shrug. Banshee walked over to the stage, her head tilting in confusion at the non-functioning stage lights. I restrained a small chuckled at the scenario that had presented itself to me, and it was far too hard to pass up. With quick flick of my tool, I turned the lights back on.

Banshee shrieked in pain, clutching at her eyes at the wave of intense light that suddenly appeared. She hobbled away from the stage, nearly falling off of the edge. Even the Mutts cackled quietly at their leaders misfortune. When she regained her senses, she glared at them furiously, and they promptly shut up.

“The first one who laughs is getting perforated!” she barked. “And whoever is fucking with this junk is going in the gutters!”

South and Dexter were also having their own trouble stifling their laughter. One bit of sabotage done, I quickly moved on to another. The music systems were also on the same network, and I searched through its database for a song with the the most obnoxious name possible, hoping its music would reflect its namesake. None of them seemed all that interesting though, so I just went ahead and picked one at random, cranking the volume as loud as possible.

The blaring music thundered from the giant speakers, and even I jumped at its intensity. The Mutts did not approve, letting the crates fall to the ground to cover their ears. The Gryphons reaction was the funniest though. Her entire body, plumage and all had gone completely rigid, puffing up around her head. She clamped her claws around her head, all the while thrashing at the nearby equipment. She looked like she was shouting something, but I couldn’t hear over the music.

The others broke out laughing at the chaos I was causing in the next room. I never would have guess it was fun to fight a group of armed thugs without actually firing a weapon. My omni-tool was proving to be far more valuable than any pistol. Watching the agitated Banshee swipe and slash at the stereo's was no end of entertainment, until her razor sharp claws cut through a large cluster of cables. The music suddenly popped and crackled with loud, violent static, before going quiet. It wouldn’t have been much of a problem, if South wasn’t still laughing.

I ducked back into the hall before the Gryphon looked our way. I watched South clamp her hooves over her mouth the instant she realised her mistake, but I feared it was too late. We remained still in stark silence, hoping that no one in there had heard us.

“Who’s there?”

Damnit. I glared at South, who upon the expectation that we would soon be discovered, quickly brought her gun to bare. It was only a matter of time now before the Gryphon or one of the Mutts came over here and discovered us, so now was the time to get ready. I looked at the others, hoping they had some ideas of their own. Dexter shrugged, his only move gripping his weapon in his magical glow. South did the same, her gun unfolding around her hoof. Her other hoof, though, reached into her bag, withdrawing one of her grenades, which she promptly hoofed over to me.

“It’s as much a plan as any,” she whispered. “Better we scatter ‘em now, b’fore they box us in here.”

I focused my senses back to the room. It was still quiet, but there was a noticeable shuffling of feet.

“You two, check out that noise!” Banshee shouted.

A pair of footsteps started nearing the hallway, and towards us and our hiding place. I looked at the grenade in my hooves, and found myself actually considering using it, until I remember why we were here in the place. Destroying Melody’s club was the Blood Claws plan, not ours. The place was already a wreck, but making it any worse than it already was was not something I wanted. If we did, II would probably near no end of it from her,or Tinker in the aftermath of it all. I resigned that plan to something along last resorts, and returned the grenade to South, shaking my head.

“And wreck the place we’re intending to retake in the process,” I whispered back sternly. “There has to be a better way.”

“There might,” Dexter offered, reaching for his ear. “Firestorm, we need some help.”

“Are you guys ok?” Firestorms voice replied. I noted a tone of worry, but Dexter was quick to dissuade it.

“We’re ok for now, but we’re a bit outnumbered in here and could use a distraction.”

I heard footsteps approaching closer to the hallway, giving us maybe fifteen seconds before they found us.
“How big of a distraction?” I heard a great deal of concern in Firestorms voice, tempered by a faint sense of intrigue.

“The bigger the better. We need a good enough reason to clear some of these Mutts out so we can ’talk’ with their leader.”

“Got it. One big distraction, coming up.”

I listened to each step from beyond the corner. It was quietly accompanied by the sound of a sniffing nose. Eventually they would sniff us out, but that was only second in my list of things to be worried about at the moment. My mind was more focused on what exactly Firestorm had available for a distraction so quickly, and how big it would have to be to draw enough of these hounds away.

“Well, you idiots?” Banshee barked. “Did you find anything?”

The investigating Mutts didn’t respond immediately. Instead, I heard them stop, only a few feet from the corner, sniffing loudly. Suddenly, there was a low growling noise, and then another, quietly rising in tempo. I pressed myself against the cold steel wall, if only to steady myself from shaking in fear at our impending discovery.

“Smells like pon—”

BOOOOOOM!!!

The explosion roared through the building, rumbling the hard metal beneath me. Fixtures and light objects rattled and tumbled in a clatter in the next room as tables and glass crashed to the ground at the quaking structure. I found myself suddenly peering round the corner, watching the two dogs who had nearly found us fleeing back into the main room. The rest of them were in a panic, scattering the crates and crashing into each other in the chaos.

“Was that big enough?” Firestorm chimed in our ears.

“What the hell did you do?” I hissed.

“The Blood Claws shouldn’t pack so many explosives in one crate. That truck won’t be going anywhere anytime soon,” she said sarcastically.

“Does it look like any of them saw you?”

“Nah. I got one of the Manticores, and the other one is looking around on the ground. Good thing those wings are just for show. Did it help any?”

Banshee leapt into the center of the room and swung a claw into a group of the swarming Mutts.

“Will you get it together?” she screamed. She pointed another claw at one of the marginally calmer groups.
“You lot, get outside and see what the hell is going on. The rest of you, get back to moving those boxes!”

It was nearly a stampede of fur and claw as nearly half the Mutts vacated the room towards the exit in a hurried panic. Those that remained quickly went back to their previous task under the threatening glare of their leader. Banshee moved about the room, her eyes following the crates as they were carefully repositioned by her underlings, eventually stopping near the center. She stood with her back turned towards us, towering over her cronies like an overseer.

I ducked back around the corner, pressing my hoof back to my ear. “You got a couple dozen Mutts heading outside, Firestorm. We should be able to deal with the ones left in here.”

“Alright. I could use some target practice. I’ll keep them busy out here while you guys get the info we need. Just ring me if you need anything else.”

“Alright.” My radio went silent again, and I turned back to Dexter and South. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner we get that Gryphon talking the sooner we can get out of here.”

They both gave me an affirming nod, standing up to prepare our charge into the room. I also took the time to ready my omni-tool and any of its combat useable functions just in case. I took a deep breath to calm my mind in preparation for combat. Sure, I was getting used to fighting. Hell, I was actually starting to show improvement, even as a trained support role. Maybe the others were starting to rub off on me, and I was actually learning how to be a proper soldier. Whatever it was, I was glad that I could, in time, hold my own in battle.

My confidence bolstered, I swung my omni-tool in front of me. It glowed with an incandescent light as it began to charge its systems. Hopefully it would be enough to deal with that Gryphon and what was left of her pack. I stepped away from the wall, and poked my head around the corner one last time to survey a plan of attack—

And was face to face with an angry looking Gryphon.

She smiled sinisterly at me, her eyes prickling with intense heat. “I thought I heard ponies clopping around in here,” she sneered.

I was too shocked at her sudden appearance at the corner to react as she seized me by the throat. She pumped her wings and leapt back into the center of the room, with me in tow. I tried to get a glimpse of where she stopped, but my head was propped upwards by her tightening grasp, and she was slowly squeezing harder around my throat.

“I wonder what kind of sound ponies make when their heads go pop.”

Her grip strengthening, I found it increasingly harder to breath. I wheezed out a few desperate breaths, before something crashed into Banshee’s head. She screamed in fury as I watched the floating rifle bashed her head, eventually dropping me from her grasp to deal with the floating weapon. I fell rather far, finding out the hard way that she had me suspended over the edge of the stage before she let me go. I landed on the hard metal floor below, meeting eyes with the pack of Mutts that remained.

We stared at each other in quiet awe. The last few moments had passed in a hazy blur, and even I was having a hard time keeping up with the pace of things. Banshee thrashed above me at the floating assault rifle, the dogs were eyeing me hungrily, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

Something clattered to the ground near my head, and I saw Dexter’s gun crash to the ground. I looked back up at the fuming Gryphon, who glared in the direction of my friends. South had her gun trained on Banshee, and was slowly advancing into the room, her eyes darting between the raging Gryphon and the pack of bewildered dogs.

Dexter refocused his magic, picking up his discarded weapon from the ground and returning it to his side. He spun it around, examining it quickly, before copying Souths stance and entered the room at his own pace. Banshee was breathing furiously, her anger seeping from her in sharp, seething breaths.

“Get them!” She bellowed, reaching for her sidearm and aiming it at my friends.

Gunfire rang out from both sides of the room, flying over my head in a curtain of metal and slag. I remained low to the ground and scrambled across the floor towards my friends, or cover, whichever I ran into first. I ended up finding the latter first, diving behind some stereo equipment that looked like it had been set aside. Now that I had something to protect my flank from getting shot off, I leaned out and added a few shots to the fray for good measure.

Banshee had vanished from the stage, and was now near the back of the room behind her underlings who were firing at us with their crude scatter guns. Dexter and South were still standing in the middle of the hallway, and were actually advancing towards the lot of them. I wondered why they weren’t in cover, until I noticed a faint blue aura shimmering in the air. Dexters face was set in great concentration, while South had her weapon aimed straight at the Mutts and their feathery leader.

Each time a shot from the Mutts of Banshee struck the barrier, it began to ripple and waver, absorbing the force of the heated rounds. The projectiles dropped harmlessly to the ground after being robbed of their velocity from Dexters shield, while Souths shots passed through unhindered.

The soldier and magitech duo continued their advance, mowing down droves of the Mutts that stood in their way. I doubted any of my shots hit anything, but in light of the efficiency of my friends, I doubted it mattered. Banshee had an impressive shield of Mutts to hide behind as she fired her weapons at us relentlessly, but her reduced forces were beginning to take its toll. It wasn’t long before a notable swathe had been cut through her forces as Dexter and South approached the higher ground of the stage.

Banshee roared, slashing angrily at her goons. “Can’t you useless lot take on two measly ponies!?” she screamed. “Do I have to do everything!?”

She tossed her pistol aside, snatching the nearest scattergun from one of her Mutts. She charged towards Dexter and South firing the shotgun wildly. As she got closer, the weapon’s effectiveness against Dexter’s barrier rose sharply, to which it began to stutter and fading rapidly at the increased strain, but he held on. With each shot against his shield, he poured more magic into it, until the furious Gryphon was directly in front of it.

South wasted no time in firing a few times at the maddened predator, but the Gryphon did not slow down. She stopped in front of the barrier, ignoring any of South’s attempts to stop her. Banshee held her gun high, aiming it an inch from Dexter’s shield. She pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. Her face twisted into a scowl, as she tried over and over to fire her weapon, only returning a series of clicks. I could see the air around the weapon bend and warp as blistering heat poured from the weapon. Knowing that her weapon was useless, Banshee instead bashed the weapon against the glowing blue force field in front of her.

I heard South chuckling at the Gryphon’s feeble attempts to break her way through their protection. “Is that all yew got, bird brain?”

Banshee’s eye’s twitched in anger, before her mouth bent into a twisted, frightening grin. “So, your fancy magic doesn’t block sound. Heh.”

What did that matter? I had a hard time thinking of anything that this Gryphon could do that didn’t involve bullets, especially without getting through the shield. Dexter seemed to share the sentiment of confusion as his eyes furrowed in worry. South aimed her weapon point blank at the Gryphon to end her incessant prattling, but before she had a chance, Banshee took a step back from the shield began taking in a deep breath. Her chest began to bulge with the massive intake of air, drawing in more and more in a single, enormous breath.

When she finished, I noticed a tinge of dark color surround her. Much like Dexter’s magic, a crimson glow began to surround the Blood Claw warrior, pulsing and coalescing in the air all around us. She set her legs firmly against the ground, as the magic reached the peak of its luminescence. The coils of red swirled in front of her, collecting in front of her sharpened beak. Dexter’s worry quickly switched to panic as his eyes widened considerably at the display of magic the Gryphon was performing.

“Get down!” he shouted, ducking to the ground and redoubling his efforts into his shield. South tilted her head in confusion at Dexters warning, clearly not understanding what was going on at all. I was having a hard time figuring it out either, but knowing Dexter, he knew a dangerous magic user when he saw one, and I promptly ducked back behind my cover.

Banshee released her breath, and the orb of blood red magic in front of her exploded, sending out a massive shockwave from its depths. Red coils echoed from the explosion, carrying a ear splitting scream through the air. I could feel my skull vibrating at the intensity of the wailing shout. The neon lights shattered into dust all around me, and the metal floors began to vibrate at a painful frequency, even through my armor.

I stumbled out of my cover. My sight was beginning to blur, as if my senses were beginning to melt together. Dexter and South were on the ground, their fore legs pinned to their ears, their rear legs kicking. Their mouths were open, but I could not hear the screams of pain they had to have been yelling. If I felt the way I did being to the side of her outburst, I could only imagine how painful it had to be being in the middle of it.

I swayed on my hooves, trying desperately to keep my balance as my head swam in agony. I lifted my omni-tool, pointing at the screaming Banshee. I fumbled with the device, unable to see clearly enough to read the commands, or even find anything from memory. My friends were in danger, and I was being beyond useless, so I resorted to something I really never wanted to do, and started mashing buttons at random.

I saw a few lights blink on my hoof in a haze, but I wasn’t sure what, if anything, I was accomplishing. I squinted my eyes, clearing only a portion of my vision. It was barely enough to see what I was doing, but I managed to hack into something electronic that was very close to that damn Gryphon. Not content with and half measures, I conceded to surge the damn thing into oblivion in the hopes that it would break her concentration.

A crackling bang filled the air as Banshee’s shrill voice petered out into a painful shriek. My vision cleared enough that I saw her clutching her head, glaring at me, as a few sparks danced around her claw. Blood was dripping from the side of her head, in rather large quantities as she hobbled away. Whatever Mutts that were still alive at this point were nullified by her sonic scream, lying unconscious, or worse, on the ground.

“You’re gonna pay for that, pony.” She growled.

“I don’t think you’re in the position to do anything right now,” I shot back, still pointing my omni-tool at her.

“There’s a lot more of us outside. It’s only a matter of time until they come back. You’ve got nowhere to run.”

I smirked. “That would be a problem, if we were planning on running. Right now, we’re exactly where we want to be.”

She looked confused at what I was saying. Her eyes darted to my friends, who were slowly recovering from her sonic scream. They groaned quietly as they shakily got to their hooves, and they were breathing heavily. Banshee’s face was full of intrigue as she stared at them, before looking back to me, her eyes wide in shock.

“Your armor...” she said slowly, understanding slowly building in her voice. “It’s military grade. You’re Earth Pony soldiers!”

I nodded, her shock growing as I did. “What the hell are you doing on our turf, Stable? The Blood Claws have no fight with you!”

“We need information on some of your mercenaries, and who’s been hiring you.”

“Hah!” she snapped. “Like I’d give you our contracts. You’d just round them all up and cut off our income. I’d sooner die than betray the clan!”

“Ah c’n oblige ya on that...”

South had gotten back to her hooves, and managed to shakily lift her gun. She was aiming directly at Banshee, who was still standing on the stage only a few feet away. Everything went still as time seemed to slow down. Gryphon and Pony were locked in a death glare. Souths hoof quivered as she struggled to hold it upright. Banshee’s body swayed and bobbed, her breaths low and raspy, still clutching the side of her head with a claw to stymie the flow of blood.

The stampeding sounds of feet trundled into the room, as a fresh pack of Mutts burst into the room. The Gryphon leapt back with a pump of her wings, diving towards her reinforcements. She wobbled on her legs as she landed, earning a worried response from one of the dogs.

“Bozz, whut’s—”

His eyes, as well as those of the other Mutts slowly took in the scene, eventually noticing the presence of me and the others. They were quick to bring out their guns, or hunch over menacingly. Banshee grabbed the nearest hound by the neck and lifted him so they were eye to eye. “Give me your medi-gel!” she barked. “And your radio! The rest of you!” She pointed a talon at us. “Kill them!”

I ducked back into cover just before the storm of bullets flew in my direction. South grabbed the still dazed Dexter and dragged him beneath the lip of the stage wall and vanished from my sight.

“Whatever reason you’re here for the Claws,” Banshee continued. “The boss will deal with you once he gets here. I hope you enjoyed your trip to Sigma, ponies. It’s gonna be your last!”

I heard her muttering quietly all of a sudden over the gunshots, when I remembered her asking for a radio. I must have overloaded her earpiece earlier, and she urgently wanted to speak to someone. The signal from earlier was still loaded into my tool, and I quickly accessed the channel. Banshee was speaking in an irritated hiss, to who I assumed to be the same person as before.

“...going on, Banshee?” the voice growled. “There’s smoke coming from the street, and I’m getting reports of gunfire.”

“I don’t know!” Banshee responded. “These Earth Ponies showed up and started shooting up the place! And there was an explosion outside that I haven’t even looked at yet.”

“Earth Ponies? From the yards?”

“No, that’s the weird thing! They’re from Stable!”

“What?” The voice sounded very surprised. “Are you sure?”

“Their armor is military grade, and they have a trained Magitech with them. They want information on our contracts.”

“Why would they want that?”

“You tell me! This shit is falling apart everywhere.”

There was a sudden silence on the channel, only dulled by the ringing of shots bouncing over the room. I tried to find where South and Dexter had gotten to. I noticed that some of the Mutts were firing at a section on the other side of the room. I hoped that if it was them, they were doing alright. My ear twitched as the voice returned, his tone completely neutral.

“It seems that we are going to have to have a change of plans, Banshee.”

“What does that mean?” Banshee snapped.

“We’ll be moving on to plan B, just to ensure that Stable’s interference stops here.”

“What’s plan B?” Banshee sounded completely confused, and even a little bit worried.

“Plan B is just like plan A...”

A chorus of beeping sounded from the center of the room, and all eyes fell on the pile of crates that lay scattered in the room. The lids had popped open automatically, revealing the singing choir of explosives inside. Their lights blinked madly and the beeping quickly picked up in tempo as it went on.

“...only sooner.”

I caught sight of Banshee, just as her face paled in shock. Her eyes went wide, glued to the lit powder keg sitting in the middle of the room. She shook her head briskly as the brunt of reality came over her.

“Fall back!” she shouted. The Mutts did not need to be told twice as they immediately lowered their weapons and started charging to the exit. I charged towards the bombs, hoping that I had some time, maybe enough time to disarm them.

“Oh crap...” I muttered.

There were no timers, or anything aside from blinking lights to tell me how much time the bombs had before going off. I backed away from the crates, holding my omni-tool towards them. I scanned the devices for something, anything to stop them, or at least slow the invisible timers. Even if I could disarm one of them, there would be a dozens more. The sequence had started, and whoever had created these things knew how to make it unstoppable. My tool gave me nothing, save for a guess of how long we had. However it came to its conclusion, I could’ve cared less at this point; it was enough time to get out.

“South...”I called out weakly. “Dexter!”

“We’re here,” I heard the Lieutenant call out.

I spun around. The two of them were climbing out of their hiding place, and were walking calmly towards me. South was looking at me curiously, as her head twisted around searchingly.

“Whut’s that noise?”

“No time!” I shouted. We have to go. NOW!”

I ran to the exit, while my tool kept screaming its estimates at me.

Ten seconds...

I looked back, seeing South and Dexter following right on my tail. They shared a worried expression, but I hoped I didn’t need to spell it out for them.

Eight seconds...

I made it to the hallway that led to the outside, screeching around the corner. I shouted in my radio as I ran.

“Firestorm!”

Five seconds...

“What’s wrong, Shepard?” she asked nonchalantly. Time for facehoofing later, Shepard!

“Get off the roof!”

“Uh Shepard, I’m kind of being shot at right now.”

Three seconds...

“I don’t care! Just get off the roof! Now!”

One second...

I couldn’t remember if she uttered a reply, or just acknowledged my command silently. I rounded another corner, the sound of a trio of hooves echoing in my head. I could see the outside through a blown out door. A load roar of fire and brimstone erupted from the room behind us, and all of my senses melted into white...

Codex Entry Added: Gryphon

Engineer Skill Unlocked: Dampening

Author's Note

Sorry for the delayed chapter. The holidays were crazy this year so I felt it best to push the chapter back a bit. Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.

Now we can get back to your regular scheduled pony.

Chapter 14: The Wrench in the Machine

Chapter 14: The Wrench in the Machine

“Lefty loosey, righty tighty.”

Sometimes, I find it hard not to call myself easily motivated. Sure, when I was working on a project, I was active, driven even. It did not take long for me to become engaged in a task, no matter how trivial or grand it might be, so long as it was in someway related to my craft. Of course, my line of work is prone to long hours, endless nights, and whatever stimulants you can get your hooves on to keep trudging through until the job is done. Although I was one of the few that was self powered by motivation, and did not need any of those enhancements, I still appreciated the value of a good nights sleep afterwards. If anything, the promise of sleep was a good enough motivator to get me to finish early, rather than late.

Of course, this left the undeniable problem of getting up in the following morning. Military grade bedding was by far the worst I had ever experienced, and this was from somepony who lived in a metal box most of the time. It was probably my greatest weakness of all; getting out of bed. Whether it was waking up from a tiring nights work, or shaking what remained of your senses into order after getting tossed by an explosion, getting the will to get up and move was just not one of my strong points. Unless you’re being shot at, that’s always a good motivator.

My mind was in shambles. Whichever of my senses were still working only spun endlessly in my brain, making my body feel thoroughly wrung out. Those that weren’t, well...only served to make the former problem even worse. There was one part of my body that worked just fine, to my immediate chagrin, making me wish I was still sleeping back on the Normanedy.

Pain.

The one thing that got through the turbulence of my mind and it had to be the pain. I felt like the outer layer of a gyroscope that had been strained through a minefield and sucked through a black hole for good measure. Ugh. I winced at my even attempting to compare my current state with bad science similes. Maybe I was suffering from delirium too.

A sharp pressure lanced up my sides as I felt something heavy lifting off of me. A groan escaped my mouth as I gauged my new freedom of movement. My legs were still moving, although groggily, so walking was still a possibility in my future. I tried to lift my head, but my neck was in-between states of working and not. All that was left was getting my eyes to work through the haze of dizziness and confusion.

There was something in front of me, maybe. It was hard to tell through blurry vision, while also adjusting to a painfully loud ringing in my ears and the powerful smell of smoke. Bit by bit, my senses came back online. I saw a shape moving around in front of me, moving slowly in my direction. It was a dull reddish brown, with a spot of white. As far as I could tell, those colors seemed familiar, but at the moment, I was more concerned with the aftermath of that explosion.

The reality of the situation hit me like a freighter. The explosion! I had to find the others. I had to see if they were alright.I sprang to my hooves at the thought of anypony being injured, only foiled by another shock of pain racing through my body at trying to stand. I pulled myself forwards bit by bit, hoping to find my friends.

“South,” I groaned weakly. “Dexter, are you guys alright?”

No response. I just kept moving forward, calling out her name in the hopes that she was in a better state than I was. The ground rumbled underneath me, and the shape I drifted towards had also begun to move. Whatever it was stepped towards me, swaying in tune with the ringing that plagued my hearing. My head was being pummeled with dozens of ambient sound. Screaming, gunfire, and more explosions seemed to be echoing in my brain, all drowned out by the lingering shock of the Blood Claws’ bomb.

The blob of brown slowly started to blend into a solid shape. A very familiar shape. It didn’t seem that far away, and so I attempted to call out again.

“South? Is that you?”

A loud, rumbling laugh barked out in front of me, sending off explosions in my head with each, gravelly chortle.

“Nope.”

My eyes widened as a pang of panic shot through me at the harsh voice. I weakly retreated from the approaching blob, but it continued to close in on me far faster than I was moving away. My vision decided now was the opportune time to clear, revealing the approaching shape of a Manticore rapidly lumbering towards me. His dark brown armor was streaked with white stripes, stained by blood that may or may not have been his.

He towered above me, holding his massive paw above me head. I tried to scramble away, but I backed into something that cut off my escape. He flashed a sadistic grin through his fanged teeth as he slowly lifted his paw. It flexed menacingly, revealing his massive claws My mind raced for anything that would help me get away. I tried firing my gun, but it only whirred uselessly. I tried to activate my omni-tool, but nothing happened. My equipment useless, all I could do was to make myself as small a target as possible, and hopefully get out of the way.

A loud bang blasted from above, followed by a loud thud as the Manticore suddenly toppled over. His eyes rolled back in his head as his massive form crashed to the ground. I stared at the still form of the defeated beast, my heart racing. I was not enjoying being so close to death, and now it was becoming a staple of my day to day life. It was not a pleasant thing to think about, but with the evidence continuously surrounding me, it was hard to keep my mind from dwelling in it.

“Shepard!”

My mind jolted out of its tailspin at the yelling in my ear. I slowly lifted my hoof to my ear, forcibly slowing my panicked breathing before I could speak.

“F–firestorm...?” I breathed. “What’s–”

“No time!” she snapped. “You need to get out of the street! You’ve got Blood Claws all around you!”

“Where are the others?” I pressed, ignoring her worry.

“I don’t know,” she continued impatiently. “You’re the first one I’ve spotted.”

“Well, keep looking then.”

“Have you looked around, Shepard?” she added sardonically.

It was about then that I realised that I hadn’t. I finally felt clear-headed enough to see, and took a quick stock of my surroundings. I was pressed up against a large slab of metal of unknown origins, twisting into a lengthy heap of rubble along the road. The slag spun in several directions, enclosing me on almost all sides. There was a small opening in front of me, where the Manticore had approached me from, but it was a hazardous route at best. I heard voices all around me, and none of them seemed particularly happy.

“It’s a madhouse down there. I’m lucky to have gotten off the roof. Thanks for the warning by the way.”

“No problem. Where are you now?”

“Still above you. I flew a few buildings down just before the bomb went off.”

“How bad is it? I can’t really see from here.”

“It’s...pretty bad,” she said hesitantly. “I figured a building like that could withstand an explosion a bit better, but those bombs...”

I heard a huge crash from the other side of my hiding place. The familiar groan of metal toppled over, accompanied by a loud, tremulous rumble. The metal around me shifted and twisted, almost threatening to fall over on top of me, before everything went quiet again.

“...Melody’s not going to be too happy about this.”

I groaned quietly as I got up to my hooves, and slowly started towards the alcove. “We’ll have to worry about that later, as much as I hate to admit. We need to get out of this right now. Do you see any way for me to get out of here?”

“Well, it looks like the only way out of that rubble is the way you’re heading now. Be careful though, you’ve got Blood Claws all around you.”

“Awesome,” I said flatly.

“I need to move to a better spot to give you cover. I can’t really look for the others really very well here anyways, so you’re on your own for a bit.”

“That’s fine, just make it quick.”

Firestorm went silent, leaving me on my own in the desolation. I found my way out of the junk enclosure, trying to move as quietly as I could. I stopped often when I was surrounded by the gravelly voices of disgruntled Blood Claws, and ducked behind one of the abundant piles of wreckage. I still couldn't assess the full extent of the damage, but I appreciated the hiding places it provided. I did not want to get caught by the armed thugs on my own, while my equipment was still on the fritz, and while I was still injured without medi-gel.

As I continued through the wreckage, I began to notice some similarities of the destruction form South’s little rampage back on Trawlis. I certainly hoped she and Dexter were alright, wherever they were. I hadn’t heard anything from them yet, and if Firestorm hadn’t seen them from the roof yet–well– the chances were steadily dwindling.

I found my way out, emerging into an open section of street that had escaped the blast. There was no one around, at least not that I could see. The nearby clubs that had lit up the night with their brights lights and filled the air with loud music had gone quiet, their patrons long gone in the aftermath of the Blood Claw’s bomb. I hoped that no civilians got hurt, but considering the blast, that seemed unlikely.

I walked around the pile back to the other side of the street where Melody’s was. I still hadn’t gotten a good look of it overtop of this mess, but once I rounded the bend, I quickly regretted wanting to. Utterly obliterated. There was no other way to describe it. The supports, the foundation, everything. Not one part of the structure had escaped severe damage, and most of the building had been violently displaced from where it was once secured to random places all over the boulevard. My mind reeled at the kind of explosive power the Blood Claws had available to them to do something like this. I hadn’t wanted to believe Firestorm’s assessment of the damage, but now that I was staring it in the face, I wished I had sooner.

I’d never really failed at much in my life. Most of the accomplishments in my life were met with adulations and praise. Ever since I stepped hoof on the Normanedy though, things kept falling apart around me. Nimbus, the relics, Artemis, now this. Failures left and right, and I felt worse for each and every one. I stared at the remains of Melody’s club, the thing I promised to reclaim for her, now a burnt wreckage in the chaos of Sigma. How had I even survived the explosion? Or end up where I had?

Gunfire erupted a little ways down the street. I broke my gaze from Melody’s down the scarred road, catching glimpses of lights flickering in the distance. I hurried along towards the sounds, my hopes switching from melancholy to something far more desirable. My ear hummed static at me as a fiery voice shouted through the radio.

“Shepard! I’ve found the others!”

“Are they ok?” I asked, still running towards the source of the action.

“I think so. They look like they’re pinned down by some Manticores and a Gryphon.”

Anger shot through me at the mention of the word Gryphon. “Does the Gryphon have red eye shadow?”

“Uh...yeah. It doesn’t make her look much happier.”

“Maybe you can tell me about it back on the Normanedy.” I said hotly. “Can you guide me to the others? I can’t see anything with all this junk in the way.”

“Hang on, I see you. Just keep going straight, you should come up on them any second and– Damnit!”

I skidded to a stop just before a corner. There was a significant amount of gunfire coming from the other side, but I wasn’t sure where it was coming from, or if it was a friendly source.

“Firestorm, what’s wrong?”

“You guys got a bunch more Manticores coming in from all sides. You better find the others fast, Shepard. I’ll try and slow them down.”

Loud bangs echoed from the buildings above me as Firestorm began her assault on the incoming reinforcements. With her preoccupied, it left me on my own to deal with the problem at hoof. I peeked out into the open to get my bearings of the situation. The rounds bounced off the walls, some even coming close to my corner.

My eyes narrowed at the sight of Banshee, along with a few Manticores hiding behind low cover. The street appeared to have its share of benches and oddly enough, planters. As a decoration, I suppose they helped alleviate the dreariness of the rust colored buildings that encircled the outer edge of the city, and the looming skyscrapers that hung ominously over the inner city. Anypony, and maybe even some of the disgruntled races that called this place home might appreciate the little things to brighten their otherwise grim existence.

And these psychopaths were using them for cover.

Banshee and her heavy hitters were firing relentlessly at something hiding behind the wall I was pressed against. I knew that if I moved to get a better view of what it was, I’d be putting myself in the open, and wouldn’t be far from a hail of slag aimed in my direction. The only hope that I had was that if Banshee was shooting at it, it was a friend of mine.

I heard return fire, but I had no idea if both of my friends were shooting. Firestorm hadn’t specified if they were both ok, only that they were together. I brought up my omni-tool, seeing if my equipment had recovered.

“Dexter. South. Can you hear me?”

No response, only the continued blare of gunfire. I muttered to myself, contemplating my dwindling options. I wasn’t in the mood to get shot at to rejoin my friends, but I didn’t want to sit here and wait for a charging Manticore or pack of rabid Mutts to overrun me. I could hear the powerful rifle of Firestorm lessening that potential outcome, but the quiet rumble in the distance warned that there were far more coming.

My ear flicked at a noise in the chaos, a familiar voice, just barely distinguishable over the battle.

“South! What are you doing?!”

I peeked back into the fray, catching sight of something small and round flying across the space inbetween the two groups. The tiny object glinted in the dull lights of the district, reflecting the prismatic colors of the rainbow. I ducked back against the wall and covered my ears, knowing full well what was coming. It was nice to know that at least one source of explosions in my life could be seen from a mile away, and prepared for it accordingly.

The ground rumbled as a brilliant flash of rainbow light lit up the area brighter than it had probably been in years. I watched as more junk danced across the air past my cover, skidding and scraping across the metal ground. After I was satisfied that shrapnel wasn’t ripping across the boulevard anymore, I stepped out to survey the damage.

The cover that Banshee had been using was now a smoking pile of rubble, and she and her Manticores were nowhere to be seen. There was a lull in the gunfire, even from above, as my radio began flaring in my ear.

“Shepard! What happened?”

I chuckled, moving into the alley. “Just South being South, Firestorm. What do you see?”

“I see a rapid growth of smoking craters on Sigma, and a lot more reasons for this place to not like Corral involvement.”

“How much time do we have before those reinforcements are on top of us?”

“Well before that explosion, I would have said a few minutes. Now? I have no idea. The Mant’s and Mutts are scattering all over the place, and– Wait a sec. We got a Gryphon on the move.”

“Banshee survived that?!” I shouted. “Where is she going?”

“I intend to find out.”

“What are you talking abou–”

I looked up, and noticed a blue shape leap from the rooftops above. A pair of powerful white wings flared in the darkness, and spun down into a powerful dive. I’d seen Firestorm flying before, even joined her once, but there was something lethargic about watching a Pegasus fly, before I realised what she was doing.

“Firestorm!” I shouted sternly. “Don’t do anything stupid! We’ll be right behind you!”

“Don’t worry about it, Shepard. Who do you think I am, South?”

“Ah heard that.”

I looked down, seeing Dexter and South climbing out of their cover and walking towards me. Their armor was stained with dirt, and maybe some blood, but they were alive and walking. That was all I could ask for. South face was twisted in a frown after hearing Firestorms comment, and Dexter seemed to be equally annoyed.

“You guys ok?” I asked.

“Could’ve been worse.” Dexter replied flatly. “If it wasn’t for that shield I tossed up, me and South would have been dust.”

“Ah coulda done without the bouncin’ around like a pinball though,” she groused.
I gave Dexter a confused look.

He nodded. “Yeah. It was kind of a bubble, but you were too far ahead of me when the bomb went off. Me and South pretty much rode with it from the force and sailed through the wreckage.”

“I guess that’s why we ended up getting separated.”

“Uh, yeah, about that.” He added, chuckling weakly. “We may have run you over during the blast, which is why you landed in the middle of that scrap heap.”

“So where’s Firestorm headin’?”

I looked up to the sky, but Firestorm was long gone. “She went after Banshee. She high tailed it out of here after your grenade went off. How many of those things do you still have?”

She glanced in her saddlebag idly, then looked back at me. “Couple more, then Ah got tuh make more from whut Tink gave me.”

“Where do you think Banshee’s headed, Shepard?” Dexter asked.

“With any luck, back to her superiors. Which means we’re gonna need a ride.”

The three of us looked around, but there was only devastation. The truck the Blood Claws were using had been torn to pieces, the only thing recognisable was the smoking chassi of the undercarriage. If anything was a vehicle nearby, it had been buried or destroyed by the explosion. I brought up my omni-tool, confirming my worry; Firestorm was getting a powerful lead, and we had no way of following her.

“Ah don’t see anythin’ tuh follow her with.” South started down the street, towards a less damaged area.
“An’ hoofin’ it ain’t gunna do much fer time if she keeps goin’ without us.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Dexter and I followed her, keeping an eye out for something, anything that could get us in the air.

South stopped suddenly, looking into the sky. I saw her ear twitching, as her head turned left and right. She turned back and gave us a thoughtful look. “Do y’all hear that?”

I perked my ears up, straining my senses to figure out what was South was talking about. There was a low sound of rushing air, and rapidly getting louder. I turned around, spotting a bright light flying towards us between the low buildings. The roar of wind filled the desolate street as a dark blue aircar banked sideways in front of us, coasting to a reckless stop only feet from us. The car lowered to a level hover, as its doors popped open. We backed away from the mysterious vehicle, when a familiar golden face leaned back from the pilots seat.

“Git in,” she said icily.

“Tinker?!” South exclaimed angrily. “Whut the hell are yew doin’ here? Ah told yew tuh stay–”

“An’ Ah told yew,” Tinker snapped,” that y’all wouldn’t be able to take the Claws on. Not without mah help.”

Tinkers face was set in stony anger. South tipped over her own rising temper at her sister’s tone, only able to stare on at the golden filly piloting the aircar.

“So unless y’all got any other ideas, y’all can git yer flanks in this car so we c’n git’ goin’!”

Time was against us, so I at least understood the value of getting a move on. I climbed into Tinker’s car, with Dexter right behind me. I took the spot next to Tinker, if only to ensure a separation between the two warring sisters. South was still standing outside the ship once we got settled, prompting me to sigh loudly.

“South, get in. We’re wasting time here.”

She shot me a look that rivaled the one she had given her sister before begrudgingly climbing into the ship. Tinker wasted no time in lifting up into the air and speed up.

“Which way wuz was yer Pegasus friend headin’?”

I brought up my omni-tool again, looking for Firestorm’s signal. The blinking lights had gotten even further away that I thought possible. I’d known Firestorm was fast, but this was ridiculous. In only a few minutes, she had a considerable lead, but thankfully we knew where she was going.

“She’s heading north. I’ve got a lock on her, so we can follow her and the Gryphon.”

The engines began to hum loudly as the cab of the small vehicle shook violently. The ground below vanished in a hazy blur as we raced deeper into the city. Tinker gave me an ice cold glare, glancing idly at the flashing lights on my tool’s displays.

“Ah intend tuh catch them!”

The feeling of claustrophobia was hard to push away as the towering skyscrapers whizzed by in a blurry haze. Nostalgia rushed to the forefront of my mind, and not the happy kind, filling me with unease as well as other unhappy emotions at the recklessness of Tinker’s driving. While the trip to Melody’s was a hair raising adventure of its own, there was no sense of urgency then, no panic, no furor. Now, everything was different. The air of the tiny cabin was tense as I clung to my seat to keep from bouncing around, as Tinker raced our small aircar through the inner city of Sigma.

The others were quiet, more so than I expected in light of what had happened so far today. I looked back at them; Dexter was still, his eyes closed. I could barely hear his steady breathing over the sound of the engine. There was a faint glow around his head, his implants throbbing a gentle blue. There was no note of pain or anguish in his face. There was only calm, serenity, focus.

South was a different story. Her eyes were fixed to the seat in front of her, set in smoldering anger. I could almost see her attempting to bore through the chair with her anger alone, and set its occupant alight. The only thing that would stop her was that its occupant was driving, and harming her would be counter productive. Whatever South was thinking, I could tell that her happy family dynamic was way more complicated that I’d realised.

Watching the other vehicles whizz by was the most harrowing part of Tinkers driving. Her aircar weaved and banked in the flows of traffic, rocking me back and forth from the violent swaying. I couldn’t be sure how fast we were going, but with the sounds of the other cars zipping past almost instantly gave me a good estimate. I couldn’t bring myself to look away from where we were going, especially when Tinker started darting us in between opposite sides of the skyway and dodging oncoming traffic.

We came up to a large skyscraper that housed a large tunnel in the center of it to accommodate the flow of traffic. My eyes traced the tower as we approached, as I wondered what purpose a building like this served. When I looked down towards the tunnel, my eyes widened at the sight of blinking lights within. Once inside the depths of the building, I saw that the pathways split into two different directions. It seemed like a rather dangerous way to separate traffic, especially when there was a group of emergency vehicles hovering around the center of the skyway.

In the middle of the intersection, surrounded by large crane vehicles were two enormous cargo trucks twisted together. The trucks had swerved into the walls and blocked a considerable portion of the tunnel. The cranes were buzzing around the wedged vehicles, tugging at the trucks with magnetic clasps. Seeing the stalled traffic was interesting, considering the overall pace of the entire planet. I heard a lot of angry sounds coming from the droves of cars that echoed along the narrow walls.I groaned quietly to myself at this delay, at least until I noticed that we weren’t slowing down.

We were still cruising along at the same speed towards the obstruction. I finally broke my attention from the window at Tinker. Her face was set in anger, unfazed by he significantly narrowed path in front of us.

“Uh, Tinker?” I asked concernedly. “There’s a truck there.”

“Ah see it.” she said flatly.

We still didn’t slow down. Looking at the others, I saw that they had equally worried expressions. The we got closer, and I think we were actually going faster.

“Tinker!” I shouted. “Truck!”

“Ah see it!”

We dropped several feet, flying underneath the stalled traffic. Their angry beeping blurred into incoherence as we shot passed them. Tinker shifted the vehicle slowly as we got closer. From down here, I could see that what she was planning. On the bottom of the tunnel, there was a small opening between the two jackknifed trucks. As much as I hated to admit it, there did look like there was enough room for us to fit, but I wasn’t any mood to test it.

I clamped my hooves on the dash of the car, and shut my eyes tight. I felt my teeth grinding together as I tried desperately to distance myself from my own senses. My brain was on autopilot, bringing up unpleasant facts of small vehicle stability, velocity and force, and a whole bunch of other unhelpful things that made me wish I wasn’t so damned smart. One clipped edge at this speed spelled disaster.

“Tinker!” South shouted. “Whut the hell are yew tryin’ tuh—”

She was cut off by a sudden silence. Even under my closed eyes, I saw a change of light that lasted a second. The ship shrugged sharply, rocking to the side, but kept going. I slowly opened my eyes, peering out. We were still alive, still moving. I relaxed slightly, opening my eyes all the way. We exited the tunnel, into a much different city sector. The air was far emptier than the city center, but we were still flanked by towering buildings on all sides. We still had a long way to go.

Tinker’s expression remained constant throughout her break-neck driving. Her placid state of fervor was mystifying, really. I had just met her, but the image I had painted in my mind of the kind and curious mechanic was swiftly being replaced by...something else, something worse, something I expected only from South. That little display of reckless driving was not something I wanted to go through again, but at least we survived, and were still on course, for now.

While I stared at her, in light of the lessening panic, I noticed she was no longer wearing her mechanic’s outfit. I had dismissed it at first in the dim light of the cabin, but now it was hard to miss the full body armor. It wasn’t Stable quality, but it was well made nonetheless.

“Tinker, where did you get that armor?”

“Ah made it.” Her tone was neutral, bored even.

“An’ why in tarnation d’ya have such a thing lyin’ around, Tink?” South inquired acidly.

“Whut other reason is there? Ah may not be a big military pony like all’o y’all, but Ah ain’t one tuh back down from a fight.”

South tone dipped even deeper. “Even it its a fight that kin git yerself killed? Whut do ya think th’ family would say, of you pickin’ fights like this?”

Tinker swerved the vehicle wide, breaking from the flow of traffic and bringing the aircar to a sudden halt in the sky. She spun around at South, her breaths bordering on seething. Her face was pained, tears were welling up in her eyes as she tried to maintain the angry glare trained on her sister, who just stared back, unfazed. Dexter looked my way, his face full of concern. I shrugged, having no idea on how to diffuse the quarreling sisters.

“An’ whut would they say if I backed off when mah friends needed me? Tuh jus’ run with mah tail tween mah legs and let them git beat on?”

Tinker wiped the beads of sadness from her eyes, not giving them a chance to fall before continuing. “Ah know Ah lied tuh y’all, but this ain’t something Ah c’n sit idly by an’ watch y’all git killed. That ain’t the Belle way.”

South’s glare narrowed on her little sister while she watched her fight back the last of her tears. Her gaze wandered over to me, but all I could do was to return an empty expression. It wasn’t my place to tread on family territory, and as much as I didn’t want an untrained civilian in the battlefield, I wasn't about to kick our only ride to the curb. Tinker’s knowledge of the planet was invaluable in a place like this, and she looked like she was well equipped to deal with whatever would come our way; but would it be enough?

“Tinker,” I began, “I’m sorry about Melody’s.”

“Don’t,” she replied curtly, holding up a hoof to me. “Ah knew somethin’ bad wuz gonna happen. Even this. Ah jus’ wish Ah coulda done more fer her. Ah might not’ve been able tuh save her place, but I’ll be damned to the pits of Tartarus if Ah don’t step up ‘n help now, whether y’all like it or not!”

“Tinker—” South growled.

Tinker rounded on her sister. “Especially you, South! Ah ain’t a baby. Ah’m still the third oldest, an’ Ah’ve been round this sorta thing all th’ time since Ah left home. Ya don’t gots’tuh worry ‘bout me.”

As much as I hoped this conversation would lead to a breakthrough at some point, I didn’t feel it had to take place at several thousand feet off the ground. Or when one of our friends was charging headlong into gang territory without backup. I glanced at my map again. Firestorm still had a considerable lead on us, and us sitting here was only making it larger.

“Look, we don’t have time for this. If you want, we can schedule a family sit down after all of this is over to get those issues out of the way, but right now we need to get after Firestorm before she gets herself killed.”

South turned her smoldering gaze on me. “But Shepard, ya can’t actually mean tuh–”

I raised my hoof to silence her. “I can, and I will. We have wasted too much time on this planet, and I plan to get off of it with us alive. We don’t have the time to drop Tinker off anywhere, not that I would in this place anyways. I highly doubt this or any neighborhood on Sigma would take kindly to an Earth Pony dressed in full armor. So as long as we don’t leave her alone, she’ll be safe. If you really care about her safety, South, then she’ll stay with you.”

“But why would we keep her with us when she don’t even got a gun?”

“Ah don’t need one,” Tinker added with a smile. “Look in the back.”

She waved a hoof towards the rear of the aircar, and South turned in her seat rummage through the supplies. She pulled out a set of plated saddlebags, hanging it in front of us to see. Tinker reached for bag and popped them open, to reveal a mechanics tool kit on one side, and Det-Charges in the other.

“Ah ain’t found a gun yet that can graze these bags, so this’ll keep me from gettin’ shot up too bad.”

“And the explosives?” I inquired.

She pointed at the skyscrapers outside. “The Claws ain’t the kind tuh set up shop in a big building like these. They like industrial buildin’s better, which is where yer friend is leadin’ us t’wards. A couple o’ these babies in the right places would make a pretty nice hole. Depends on whut kind o’ buildin’ though.”

Now I had two mares–no, two sisters– with explosive tendencies to deal with. As experienced as the two were in blowing things up, I had a feeling that I would be nursing many more headaches and ringing ears in the near future.

“We’ll keep that as a possibility, but for now, lets just get back on track. We still need to find this place first.”

Tinker nodded and turned back to the controls, and our aircar lurched forward. Now that we were on the move again, I decided to check on Firestorm again. The indicator of her location had been moving ahead of us at a amazing speed, but as I looked for her signal a third time, I saw that it had stopped. It was still a fair distance away, maybe a few more minutes of travel by Tinkers driving, but Firestorm had finally stopped.

“Ah don’t the look of that.”

Tinker was looking at the map as well, but her face was not amused.

I raised an eyebrow. “What’s wrong?”

“Ah ain’t never seen where the Praetors hang out, but Ah’ve always guessed it’d be ‘round there.”

I felt us speed up, even faster that I expected from Tinker. She focused all her attention on the controls, weaving in and out around the flocks of other vehicles that buzzed all around us.

“That’s th’ foundry district. The Claws have stake in all of it. Iffin’ they know y’all are here, they’d be pretty quick tuh shoot on sight if they saw a Pegasus wanderin’ around.”

I knew Firestorm could handle herself but the thought her alone in a very hostile territory was not a pleasant one. We had been shot at, screamed at, and tried to be blown up. Firestorm was smart. While I wasn’t enthusiastic about her leaving on her own on this planet, if she hadn’t, we might have lost all our leads to finding what we needed from the Blood Claws. I didn’t expect her to get into a gunfight unless it was necessary, and she knew how to stay invisible. None of that stopped from from worrying though.

“Does this thing go any faster?”

As much as Sigma reminded me of the less glamorous parts of my foalhood, the sleek, refined structures of a heavy industry sector was something an engineer like myself could appreciate. The air above Sigma’s so-called industrial sector was empty. It had been less than a minute ago that we were surrounded by an armada of flying cars, trucks and other things that, if not for Tinker’s driving experience, would have ended our trip rather quickly. The golden mare was quick to lower our altitude in the vacant sky, bringing us level with the structures that spread out in every direction. I lost count of how many buildings were spewing generous amounts of smoke and fumes into the atmosphere, which we would probably be breathing it in if we weren’t so close to the ground.

All eyes were out the windows, scanning the dark compounds for signs of life. Our tiny vessel weaved around the buildings, the quiet hum of the engines vibrating off the narrow walls. Hopefully we could get through without being seen. Tinker’s ship was fast, but without weapons and having already sustained damage earlier today, an air assault would end quicker than intended.

I was focused on finding Firestorm. I had not heard from her since she left us back in the club district. Now that we had slowed down into a much quieter area, it was easier to keep an eye out, but it was also easier to get noticed ourselves. I had kept a close eye on my omni-tool and her signal. It had finally stopped, and was very close. I searched the nearby buildings for anywhere that Firestorm might had hidden to wait for us.

Tinker grunted as she suddenly swerved the car to a stop. Her eyes were fixed on a large facility only a block away. At a glance, it looked like a refinery of some kind, but it was surrounded by massive walls that made the ones back at Speccy’s seem like fences. Above those were hovering ships much larger than ours, that patrolled lazily around the perimeter of the complex. They were colored a bloody red, and were definitely armed.

“Ah don’t like floatin’ up here like ducks,” South groused. She tapped on the window, indicating the buildings below us. “Take us down over there.”

Tinker complied silently, bringing us closer to the taller structures that surrounded the refinery. A nearby rooftop proved to be the best place to land the small vehicle. It was a snug fit, but it was unlikely anypony would stumble along and find it while we were busy storming the Blood Claw base.

We all climbed out onto the roof. Tinker was the last to get out, taking her cumbersome saddlebags with her. I caught South shoot an disapproving look, but her sister didn’t seem to notice, and walked up to join us on the edge of the building. It was a terrific view of the refinery. If there was a definition for gang-fortress, this place fit the bill pretty well. The Blood Claws were bunked in, and the fortifications looked resilient enough to hold off anything short of an orbital assault.

“Anypony want to explain what the appeal of a refinery as a base of operations is?” Dexter inquired. “Cause I saw dozens of other buildings that would work better.”

“That’d require th’ Blood Claws tuh be smart.” Tinker replied brusquely. Her eyes scanned the compound as she scratched her head. “Th’ way Ah see it, most refineries and the like on Sigma are built tuh last. Speccy’s place goes through about a hundred tons of slag in a few weeks, and we’re just a metal yard. Whutever can’t get recycled comes tuh places like this.” She swept a hoof indicating the entire area, pointing out not only the building in front of us, but all the adjoining ones.

“All that useless metal, melted down around the clock. A place that big could prob’ly handle a couple kilotons of raw metal a month, so anypony that owned it wouldn’t want it breakin’ down all the time. Places like these? More fortified th’n military fortresses.”

A loud whoosh came to a sudden halt in the air above us, followed by the steady rhythm of wingbeats. “Took you guys long enough.”

There was a sudden thud behind us, and I spun around immediately. The others quickly followed, bringing out their weapons. What we saw was welcome; standing on Tinker’s ship, with wings aloft and smiling slyly, was Firestorm. She hopped down from her vantage, fluttering her wings to gracefully bring her to the ground. She had a critical look in her eyes, regarding our raised weapons with an arched eyebrow.

“You guys look a little tense,” she teased with a grin.

“Well you went off on your own,” I countered. “Kinda hard to rest easy when one of your own is on her own in a place like this.”

“Yeah,” South added. “If yew git’ killed, who’s gunna buy my drinks when Ah win our bet?”

Firestorm chuckled. “We’ll see.” She walked up to the edge, staring out over the focus of our attention. “I only just got here. Banshee’s pretty fast, but not fast enough to lose me. I don’t think she realised I was following her.”

She tapped her visor and cast her gaze down near the bottom of the wall. On the ground level, there was an some sort of security blockade at the base of the wall. The fortified structure towered over the vacant street below us. A huge, steel blast door was the key feature of the entrance, and was just as imposing as the rest of the place, but I figured Firestorm’s visor showed her a lot more. “There she is, see?” She tapped her visor, and my omni-tool chirped as it activated. A window display popped up, showing me a live feed of her scope.

Looking through the zoomed view of her visor, I could clearly see what we were up against at the fortified entrance. It was surrounded by Mutts and Manticores, all heavily armored. Something was approaching them, limping slightly but otherwise moving with determination, despite the stains of red that dripped from her black armor.

“I’ll give Banshee this. She doesn’t know when to give up.”

“Gryphons tend to be more resilient and stubborn than Pegasi,” Firestorm added. “If she’s just a Lieutenant, I’m more worried about what a Praetor’s like?”

“You really think we’ll run into one?”

“We’re in the middle of their territory, I’d be more surprised if we run into just one.”

“Well, hopefully we can handle it.” I looked back at Banshee. She was still at the gate, talking to the guards. Her arms were flailing around, as the Manticore’s she was talking to just stood still and listened. She pointed her claws at the Mutts occasionally, but I couldn’t see any reactions in their faces. The lithe creatures began to surround her as she continued her tirade.

Firestorm smirked.“She doesn’t look very happy.”

“Well, her boss did try to kill her,” I stated. Everypony gave began giving me odd looks, and I quickly began to explain. “I overheard her conversations with him when I hacked her radio. He knowingly set off the bombs when he realised we were in the building with them. The blast was meant for us and the club, but he had to have known she might have been caught in it too.”

“I guess that’s why she’s so angry. All she’s doing is shouting at the guards, and—”

Firestorms eyes went wide. I swung my head back to the gate, just in time to see one of the hounds draw a weapon and point it at Banshee’s back. She didn’t notice as she kept yelling, but one of the Manticores shrugged his head towards the Mutt. Though the visor, his face turned from stony boredom to ferocious anger in the span of a second. A bloodcurdling roar blasted from the street, loud enough even for us to hear, as the Manticore pointed his own massive gun at the hostile Mutt. There was a bright flash, and a thunderous explosion quickly followed.

As the light subsided, there was a chorus of shots that continued in the chaos. Smaller flashes flickered in the dim city street, lighting up the towering walls as bright as day. From above, there were more explosions from the sky as the ships that once lazily floated around began to fire on each other.

“What the hell?”

Firestorm brushed her lengthy mane aside to get a clear view of what was unfolding before us, her face filled with the same confusion that washed over the rest of us. It was unbelievable; with a single shot, the entire compound had descended into madness. Looking back down,after the dust had settled, Banshee was still standing with the Manticores, but not a single Mutt was left standing. She walked slowly over their remains, taking the time to kick one of the bodies, before she waved her claws in the air at her brutish guardians. They nodded slowly, one of them moving to the gate and pressing one of his paws to the controls.

The massive gate began to open slowly, allowing them entrance into the warzone that they had created. The echoes of fighting came from all over the refinery, punctuated by the buzzing ships above us bursting into flame and falling out of the sky. The three of them disappeared behind the wall, leaving us with little else to watch aside from the insanity that spread all over the area.

“Anypony got any danged idea whut th’ hell jus’ happened?” South asked harshly.

“I think you were right, Shepard,” Dexter replied. “I have a feeling Banshee is out for blood.”

“But the entire compound?” Firestorm questioned exasperatedly. “I expected a small scale fire, not a Zephyr-blasted inferno!”

While the others argued over that, I kept my eyes on the entrance. After Banshee had departed, I noticed that the doors had remained open, and no Mutt or Manticore had come along in the intervening time to continue the watch or even reseal the gate. Everything was engulfed in chaos, with fire and fury rushing across the entire landscape. Which gave me an idea.

“I think this will work in our favor.”

The others gave me a look, bordering on dumbfounded stares. “Whut do yew mean, Shepard?”

I pointed down to the unattended gate. “They look like they have a lot on their hooves at the moment. They haven’t even shut the gate. If we were still looking for a way in, I’d say that’s a pretty good one right there.”

“Shepard’s right,” Firestorm confirmed. “There’s no one there. This might be our best chance to get in without getting shot at.”

“Looks like there’s plenty o’ shootin’ goin’ on right now,” Tinker said flatly.

“Yeah, but they’re busy shooting at each other. So they won’t waste time shooting at us, as long as we don’t give them a reason to.”

“It’s as good an opportunity as any,” Dexter agreed. “And Banshee might lead us to her boss and the answers we want.”

Everything about the plan seemed to fit. The only real trouble was dealing with the havoc of the apparent coup that was going on, but hopefully Firestorm was right about them being too busy to worry about us, at least until we got past the walls.

“Alright, then let’s get down there. The faster we start the sooner we can get out of here.”

“Heh, ‘bout time ya started actin’ like a leader, Shepard,” South said sarcastically.

I took one last glance at the refinery before leaving the edge of the roof to look for the way down to the street. This plan was ten different kinds of crazy, just like all my other ones. So far they worked, so at least I had a positive record, for now. I caught South smirking at me after her little comment, which I returned. A little positivity went a long way, at least for calming my frenzied mind in the face of battle.

“One step at a time, South.”

Author's Note

Sorry for the sudden revision of this chapter, but I strongly feel that the final scene fits better here than it did as the beginning of the next chapter. Opinions are welcome

Chapter 15: Breaking Point

Chapter 15: Breaking Point

“Even savages can appreciate a diamond’s beauty.”

Throughout my five-year enlistment in Stable, I had taken part in many different exercises, both practice and practical. While I had spent most of that time in regulated environments, I had also spent a lot of time visiting colonies within systems and clusters the Earth Ponies had claimed. It had been an amazing experience, visiting various locales, planets and ecosystems, all with their own different things to offer. More often than not, I had ended up working in some sort of military-contracted facility, whether it was a mine, a factory, or anything along those lines, and most of my jobs entailed maintaining the facilities and their equipment.

It hadn’t been glamorous, or even all that exciting, but it had exposed me many different practical aspects of the Earth Pony expansion efforts. I learned much about my role in the military, and in traveling through our known galaxy, I had built the experience that helped me become one of the most skilled engineers in Stable.

Coworkers would often deride my planet-hopping as foalhood field-tripping, and though I gained plenty of practical experience, I did appreciate the raw novelty. Having grown up in what could charitably be described as a junkheap, I always enjoyed places with an abundance of flora and fauna, the bright colors of nature was a welcome change from the cold steel and metals of Earth’s underbelly. Of course, eventually I would have to get back to work, and usually my workstation didn’t have much of a view.

It was times like these that made me miss all those excursions, no matter how dull they might have been. Any one of them would have been preferable than being caught in the middle of a warzone on a criminal infested border planet. The explosions in the sky and loud noises made a valiant effort to make things exciting, but it just wasn’t working for me. It was all I could do to not get flattened from falling debris as we crossed the narrow streets into the Blood Claw base.

The street outside the gate was a mess by the time we got there. The fighting in the sky had made a rather large disaster of the place. The smoking wrecks of cars littered the street, some even managed to get wedged into the wall itself, or the buildings beyond. I hadn't taken the time to actually count how many ships there were, and Firestorm never mentioned a number if her visor had done it for her. All I knew was every time I glanced into the sky, their numbers hadn’t seemed much smaller from what they were earlier. I imagined there would be slag falling from the sky for some time, even while we were still inside, which made getting off the road all the more important. Of course, then, it would all be moot as we would have to deal with all the feuding Blood Claws on the inside too, but as I said, one step at a time.

We easily made our way through the barricade, stepping past the smoking bodies of Mutts and through the open gate into the outer yard of the foundry. Up close, the scale of the complex really sank in once we stood at the foot of it. From the sky, this one structure encompassed an entire city sector, but from down here it seemed like a city in of itself.

“Hopefully we don’t get lost in there,” Dexter commented. “Foundries aren’t known for their great layouts, and I doubt the ones on Sigma are any better.”

Firestorm glanced around, gun floating around with a twist of her wings. A smile formed on her muzzle, and she pointed at something down the side of the building. “There’s one thing I’ve come to understand from the Blood Claws,” she said airily, “when in doubt, follow the explosions.”

She was pointing at a smoking hole in the side of the building. At a glance, there was what used to be a large door frame, two large slabs of metal laying flat on the ground in front of it. At a closer look, they were charred black, and glowing red. I could feel the heat radiating from the steel, giving me plenty of reasons not to get much closer to it.

We arrived at the door together. South took up the rear, with Tinker right beside her. Everypony was glancing around, each explosion or roar from above prompting worried looks in their eyes as they scanned the sky.

“Let’s get inside.” I ordered. “Less chance of something falling on our head in there.”

We filed into the building. Firestorm gave me a cautionary glance as she strode past me. “If that racket keeps up, it won’t be long until we’ll have to dig ourselves out.”

“Ah’d be more worried iffin’ Ah find the main reactor,” Tinker said bluntly. “Place this size, an’ the reactor you’d need tuh run it, these charges would make a dandy sized hole after it went up.”

She patted her saddlebags affectionately. South place her hoof on her sister and gave her a stern look. “One step at a time, Sis. Let’s find the varmints runnin’ the show b’fore we make a spectacle of it.”

Tinker huffed a loud snort, sounding almost exactly like South’s. “Whutever, let’s just git goin’.”

South and Firestorm approached the door first. Dexter, Tinker and I followed closely behind them, watching their movements carefully. They walked slowly, guns on swivels in every direction. They crossed the threshold of the door, and each of them peered intently down opposite sides.

“Nothing this way,” Firestorm reported.

“Ah see a lot o’ smoke comin’ this way,” South observed.

I walked past them, looking down Souths side. Thick black smoke billowed out of the end of the hallway, and obscured my sight of what might lay beyond. I thought of Firestorm’s suggestion of following the damage, but walking into a black cloud with no idea of what was behind it in such a volatile situation was definitely not an idea I thought of entertaining.

“Banshee might have gone that way,” I pointed out, “but following through that smoke is a bad idea. Let’s try another way.”

“That will take longer!” South groaned impatiently. “We ain’t got th’ time to lollygag around, Shepard.”

I glared at her. “I’m not in any hurry to get shot, South.” I broke my gaze from her and looked at Tinker beside her. Going through a veil of smoke would only increase the chances of her getting hurt, even with that armor she made, although it seemed to have one flaw. “Plus, it doesn’t look like your sister’s armor has a helmet. So unless you plan on sharing your oxygen, we’ll go this way. The fighting doesn’t look like its reached down here anyways. Chances are, the Blood Claws have scattered elsewhere to deal with all this insanity.”

South’s mouth twisted around as she mulled over my suggestion. “Ah guess. But we ain’t got time to waste once this place starts burnin’ down around us.”

“We won’t be here long enough for that, South. Let’s get a move on.”

My decision led us down a winding hall that seemed to run the entire course of the facility. We passed several doors, but many of them were barred shut with no obvious way to open them. Tinker’s description of Sigma quality foundries went much further than I thought, and I was throwing off my expectations of what we should be encountering. In a Stable facility, we would have at least found a processing room of some kind, or at least one of the actual smelting rooms.

We galloped at a steady pace, keeping ahead of the infighting all around us. The sounds of battle raged on, and was quickly spreading through the entire building. While our quieter route seemed safer at first, the longer we lingered, the closer the chaos would be on our tail.

Firestorm skidded to a sudden halt. “Stop!” she hissed quietly. She looked around, her ears twitching. “You guys hear that?”

A faint sound carried through the nearby walls, followed by loud bangs. Firestorm had stopped at a corner, and slowly looked around it, her gun following her gaze.

“There they are!” a gruff voice bellowed, followed by more gunshots.

Firestorm ducked away from the corner. After the shots quieted, she gave us a confused look, shrugging her wings. “They weren’t shooting at me.”

More shots rang out, followed by a smaller, but equally angry voice. “Kill ‘em all! Kill the felines!”

The room beside us erupted in a torrent of small explosions, rattling the heavy set walls we pressed ourselves against. I broke away from the wall to move up to Firestorm so I could see what the hell was going on. Firestorm uttered a quiet warning, and I crouched down to see past the corner.

Just on the other side was an open doorway into a large room. The sound of hissing reached my ears, and the rattling of metal clattered from the series of pipes and tanks that were scattered about the room. My eyes jumped to the far wall, where a heightened catwalk created an upper level to the room, and was filled with, well,cats.

A pack of Manticores was camped on the balcony, firing into an unseen corner of the room. I saw the streaks of grey fly around the room from both sides. I decided to take a risk and poke my head into the room, just to see if I could get a better view of who the Manticores were shooting at. All I saw was more pumping equipment, which seemed to be serving as cover . Many of the pipes were hissing violently, gushing steam and water all over the floor.

I heard splashing from behind one of the larger tanks. Something was moving rather quickly through the puddles that were forming in the room. A large shape darted out from behind the corner, zipping across the room. The water danced into the air with every step the racing Mutt made, ending with a massive geyser as he leaped from the ground towards the Manticores.

The massive weapons of the burly felines were far too slow to catch the Mutt descending on them. He landed on top of one of Manticores, who bucked and reared in an effort to get the dog off. His tail lashed through the air, but the Mutt spun and weaved on his back, avoiding the barbed limb easily. The Mutt bore his claws, and tore into the Manticore. He roared in pain as the dog slashed and gouged through his armor.

His fellows were quick to retaliate against the incursion, firing at the two of them, but the Mutt was still too fast. Just as fast as they had fired, the Mutt somersaulted in the air, landing on the railing of the suspended walkway. His victim had taken the majority of the shots, and his massive body crumpled with a ringing thud. The remaining Manticores didn’t show any remorse for their fallen comrade, swinging their guns to follow their daring attacker, but he was already gone again.

With a menacing cackle, the Mutt bounded again from the railing, back down towards the ground floor. Before he landed, I heard a series of loud clangs. I followed the sounds back to the Manticores, whose faces now had a shred of concern in them. They were looking down at the catwalk, but I couldn’t see what had earned their attention.

Suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the room. The sound of tearing metal and howls of agony roared over the din of hissing pipes, as the entire catwalk came crashing apart and crumpled to the ground out from under the remaining Manticores. The weight of the metal scaffolding shook the ground, and sent a surge of the leaking water into the hallways. The rushing liquid shaped around our hooves, carrying with it a faint trace of red. I backed away from the foul color, but escaping the torrent of water proved impossible.

More laughing came from the room. The acrobatic Mutt stepped back into view, flanked by two smaller ones. They surrounded the twisted wreckage with deranged glee in their faces.

“Stupid cats blow up good,” the larger one said in a raspy voice. After a pause, the tree of them started laughing.

I watched in disgust at the scene. This sort of thing was all too familiar to me. I had lost count at how many times I had watched gang members fight between each other, and the reminder wasn’t something I appreciated. My revulsion was interrupted by a hoof on my shoulder. Tinker had grabbed me, and was pulling me away from the door. Her eyes were burning with anger, but her mouth was bent in the same sinister smile as the hounds. The sight of her smiling was unsettling. What on earth was she planning?

She produced a small sphere in her other hoof. My body jerked away from the object, when I realised it was colored a steely blue, not the prismatic sheen of a rainbow. She bounced the innocuous object in her hoof, before she hurled it into the room. It bounced loudly off of the metal piping, filling the room with ricochet's of metal.

The Mutts were quick to notice the new sound, and spun on the spot towards it. They spotted us immediately, and hunched down, ready to pounce on us next. Before they could though, Tinker’s grenade finally came to a stop, splashing very close to the Mutts. It almost vanished in the inch or so of water that covered the room, but as soon as it had stopped, it began to glow. The Mutt’s broke their snarling gaze from us to the shimmering light in the water. Their eyes widened, and they took off running in the opposite direction, but it was too late.

Another flash of light filled the room, and a barrage of blue sparks exploded in the narrow space. Arcs of electricity bounced around the metal room, and coursed into the flowing water. The electrified floor took its hold over the Mutts. They spasmed and twitched, and, with the momentum of their failed retreat, crashed into a nearby wall. Their bodies made loud splashes as they fell to the water, just as the glowing sphere fizzled out, and the water went dark.

There was a lull of silence before what remained of the pressurized piped continued their incessant hissing. Tinker was the first to move, stepping into the room towards the twitching dogs. South followed her sister silently, passing in front of me. I tried to catch sight of her reaction, but her head was fixed on the back of Tinkers’.

“I’m starting to wonder which is the scarier one now,” Firestorm observed with a frown. The rest of us followed the Belle sisters. I glanced at the twisted heap of metal that the Mutt had caused, before my gaze fell on the dogs themselves. They had piled on top of each other in their attempt to escape from the blast, and were lying on top of each other near an open door I hadn’t noticed before. They were still, aside from the ebbing of water that rocked their bodies.

Tinker was standing overtop of them, examining her results first hoof. South stood right next to her, and was whispering something into her ear.

“They ain’t dead,” she stated bluntly. “The ‘nade might’ve looked flashy, but it wern’t enough volts tuh kill a puppy, let alone a fully grown Mutt.”

She kicked one of the dogs, which groaned quietly in response. She turned her head to South, meeting her worried stare with a stern look. “Th’ water jus’ helped it along, is all.”

“Think we can wake one of them up?”

We all turned to look at Firestorm. She stared at the largest of the Mutts with narrowed eyes. “I’d personally like to know exactly why this place is falling apart.” She moved towards the dogpile, wrenching the larger one from the others with a mighty tug. She grunted as she pulled him free, and sat his body against the wall.

“Besides, he might be able to tell us where his boss is.”

Considering what this Mutt was capable of, waking him up didn’t seem like a great idea. We did need the information though, and a Mutt capable of taking out three Manticores on his own must have had some kind of standing in the Blood Claws. He had to have known something useful.

“Go ahead, just be ready in case he tries something.”

A blue glow settled around him, forming into bright blue rings that wrapped around his arms. I turned to see Dexter’s eyes closed in focus, adding his own method to maintaining the Mutts’ compliance. Firestorm nodded, and kneeled down. She brought out her omni-tool, which was glowing blue. She reached her hoof towards the Mutt, and I expected the medi-gel to work any second now to wake—

Firestorms hoof shot across the Mutts face. A small jolt jumped from her tool, eliciting a loud yelp from the Mutt. His eyes shot open, darting wildly. He lifted his claws, but Firestorm brought back her hoof, swatting the limb down. South edged towards the Mutt, covering his other side.

The dog thoroughly restrained, I stepped up in between the others to come eye to eye with the frenzied beast. He struggled against his many ties, but he made no progress in freeing himself. His eyes met mine, but all he showed was anger.

“I don’t suppose you would be willing to answer a few questions,” I asked him.

He growled at me, continuing his struggle. I shook my head and heaved a weary sigh. “We’re not in the business of killing to get what we want, like you are. We just want a few answers, and we might give you the time you need to escape this madhouse before it falls apart around you.”

He growled again, but this time it petered off slowly as his eyes shot upwards. More explosions rang out in the distance. They were getting closer, and it wouldn’t be long until they reached us. We were running out of time to find what we needed, and the worried look on his face suggested he felt the same way. He slowly brought his gaze back to mine, his anger smoldering to a quiet, but angry glare.

“What you want to know?” he asked venomously.

“Why are you fighting each other would be a good start.”

He shrugged. “Big boss said shouty bird causing problems. Said to deal with her.”

“You mean Banshee?”

He nodded. “Banshee screwed up job. Easy job. So boss teach her lesson. Now she crazy, turned her stupid cats against us.”

Firestorm sighed wearily. “Why does it always come down to cats and dogs?”

I ignored her comment, moving on to my next question.

“I guess Banshee is on her way to deal with your boss then. Where is he?”

“He was supposed to oversee job himself. Then he comes back early, says Earth Pony soldiers messing with Claws.” His eyes traced my armor, then glanced between South and the others. “Guess that’s you.”

I nodded, motioning him to continue. “After he came back, warned us Banshee would come back, if she lived. Said to keep her away from main foundry.”

“And where is the main foundry?”

He opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off by a piercing wail that cried out in the distance. I felt my body quiver at that familiar sound. The Mutt’s ears twisted and twitched, as he struggled harder against his bonds. As the sound subsided, his painful grunts melded into harsh cackling.

“Jus’ follow the screaming witch. Sounds like she’s pretty close already.”

Firestorm waded through the water towards the door. It opened at her presence, revealing another hallway. A wave of heat ushered out of the door, washing over us. The broiling air quickly turned steamy, only adding to the discomfort. Firestorm placed a hoof on her visor, scanning the way forward.

“If she keeps screaming like that, I should be able to lead us to her, no problem.”

“Then we better get going.” I stood and joined her at the door.

“Whut about him?”

I turned back. South, Tinker and Dexter were still close to the Mutt, holding him restrained. His grey coat was stained with blood and burns, and his eyes darted drearily around between us.

“Let him go. He won’t be give us any trouble.” I shot him an inquisitive glare. “Right?”

He grunted. “Not like I have much choice. Take what chances I can get.”

“Are you sure, Shepard?” The uncertainty in South’s voice was off putting, coming from her. If it was coming from Dexter or Firestorm, it would be understandable.

“I don’t expect much of this to be left standing when we leave here South. He’s going to have too much time running for his life to worry about double crossing us.”

“Especially if there are still any Manticores alive on the way out,” Firestorm mused slyly.

South eyed the Mutt dangerously. He met her stare with a level gaze, his ears still twitching at the distance sounds of fighting. Dexters glow has faded from the Mutt, who relished his newfound freedom with a shrug of his shoulder. Tinker stepped back beside Dexter, leaving South the only one standing close to the dog.

South eventually, reluctantly, stepped aside. Her eyes never left the Mutts’, who slowly picked himself off of the ground. He wavered as he made his way to his feet, and he managed to stand, although crookedly. He clutched at his sides with a lanky paw, covering the stain of red that permeated his grey coat. South cleared her throat, gaining his attention again.

“Yew hear ‘em, hound.” she said dangerously. “Start runnin’. Ah won’t wait fer long.”

The Mutt moved forward shakily. He panted slow, raspy breaths, wincing in pain with each one as he hobbled forward. We watched him carefully as he left our reach, picking up his pace as he neared the way we came in, despite his wounds. He made it to the door, placing a claw on the open arch to steady himself as he stopped, turning back to us.

“Not sure why Ponies want to fight Blood Claws. Praetor not happy, won’t make it easy for you, or shouty bird.” Then he stepped through the door and disappeared into the hall.

With him gone, we could get back to the task at hoof. The sound of battle around us was quick to remind me that getting a move on was probably a good idea, and we still had an unknown distance to travel to find what we needed here.

Another shriek shattered the lulls of silence between the bloody roars of the Manticores and Mutts clawing at each others throats. I gestured at the door to Firestorm. She nodded and stepped through, her visor flashing over her face. Dexter moved through after her, while tinker went to move after him. South, however, grabbed her sister quickly. Tinker gave her a confused look, while she looked at me with concern.

“Ah hope yew know whut yer doin’, Shepard. Ah didn’t come here expectin’ mercy from these varmints, not after whut they did tuh Tink and her friends. So Ah don’t see th’ reason to show any tuh them.”

South was right. I really had no reason to let the Mutt live. I was, much to my reluctance, trained to kill, and as far as Stable was concerned, I was expected to kill; so long as I felt my life or anypony elses was in danger. It didn’t make it any more right, nor did it make me feel any better about it, but those were the cards I was dealt.

“I might be a Commander, South,” I lamented. “I never wanted to be the one who has the make the call between who lives or dies, and that’s what Stable put on me. If there is a chance to save someone, pony or not, it’s my responsibility to do it. If they don’t like it, then they can find another. What would it say about our race if we just slaughter everything that we didn’t like? Chances are, we’d still be at war with the Pegasi.”

South lowered her head. I caught her eyes glance to the door, before they fell back on me. It didn’t take much of a guess what she bothered to look at, or what caused the sudden look of shame in her eyes.

“I don’t like the rank Stable gave me, South, but I’ll be damned if I don’t use it to set an example for others.”

The golden filly nodded quietly.. It was nice to know that the atmosphere of chaos and vileness of Sigma wasn’t completely inescapable, even if it changed your sight of things time to time. Still, what we were doing here would echo far beyond a simple gang war, provided we succeeded of course.

I smiled at the two sisters. “It’s probably best we get going. I bet you’re dying to see Banshee again.”

South’s eyes flashed angrily. She lowered her hoof from Tinker and gave me an affirming nod. She ushered past her little sister through the door with a not so gentle shove, ignoring the complaints coming from her sibling. We weren’t done yet, but with South in the lead, I doubted we would take much longer.

The sound of heavy panting was the cadence which the group followed, mine seeming like the loudest. Any complaints were kept quiet, but that did little to keep me from seeing them. South and Tinker plodded along together, holding each other up through the miasma of heat that permeated the inner confines of the refinery. It was interesting to see South, a mare I’d known to be incredibly stubborn and self reliant to be relying on anypony else to keep herself going, even it was her own sister. Tinker offered no resistance, if only to accept the help South returned to keep going in this maze. How the Blood Claws managed it, I had no idea. There was such a thing as acclimation, but this was ridiculous.

Dexter seemed only slightly less off put by the ordeal. His gait wasn’t weakened by the boiling air, his face focused. His body was covered in a faint sapphire glow, flickering slightly with each step he took. I could only assume it was sheer force of will brought on by the training needed to control his magic that allowed him to move along with little impediment. If we were here much longer though, I was uncertain how long his resolve, and was fearful of what might happen to him should it break.

What I couldn’t understand was Firestorm. Her armor was beyond impractically bulky, even with its supposed weightlessness. How she managed to fly in such restricting armor wa something I had given up on trying to understand, but the fact that she managed to lead the group, without a bead of sweat or errant grunt of discomfort to show for it. She even had the vitality to beat her wings lightly as she walked, parting some of the choking air for the rest of us.

“How are you doing that?” I wheezed.

Firestorm stopped to look at me. She tilted her head, looking over the rest of us with confusion. “What do you mean?”

“How can you stand this heat? Does that armor have air conditioning or something?”

She chuckled. “My name is Firestorm, do you really think a little heat will bother me?”

I stared dumbly at her. “It can’t be a simple is that. It’s just a name. You don’t see me herding a flock of sheep around, do you?”

She grinned as she glanced again between us. “You certainly have a knack for acquiring interesting company, sheep or not.”

As much as I wanted to refute her claim, it was pretty close, if not dead on to the reason I had gotten my name. At that point, I figured the heat was in the process of melting my brain and was making me more irritable than usual.

My frustrations tempered off at the sound of a loud metallic crash rumbling through the tiny hall. It echoed from every direction, but the ground shaking explosion that followed flowed from a single, easily discernable source. Firestorm snapped her head down the hall, pulling her gun from its harness.

“That sounded a lot closer than I’d like.”

“Sounds like Banshee found her boss,” Dexter breathed. “Guess we’re in the right place.”

Firestorm darted a few steps forward, breaking into a full gallop down the hall. “Then let’s hurry, we need at least one of them alive if we want any answers.”

We chased after her, not an easy thing considering the state we were in. The explosions grew louder and more profound as we escaped the narrow halls into a large chamber. There was a noticeable drop in the temperature upon leaving the service tunnels, though it was still far from bearable.

There was a large clump of welded panels that had been crudely attached to an opened doorway into the next room. I supposed it was an addition to the Blood Claws unique sense of insurance and protection. Its functionality could be debated though, considering the large amount of bodies lying nearby. Fallen Manticores and Mutts lay scattered in heaps all over the room. The door in question had been torn open, and what remained of its frame was only a smoking wreckage.

“Looks like we jus’ missed the party,” South observed.

Shouting emanated from the next room. I heard one voice, easily recognizable.

I moved towards the door, trying to better hear what was being said. “Sounds like it’s still going.”

Approaching the door, scraps of the conversation gained clarity. It was definitely Banshee’s voice doing the shouting.

“—tried to kill me!” she screamed. “You knew I was in the building, and you still set the bomb off!”

A far more reserved voice overlapped the lulls in Banshee’ silence. I recognised it as the one she had talked to with her radio, but I could detect a great deal more frustration.

“Maybe if you didn’t make a huge mess of everything, I would have given you the time to get out.”

I made it to the door and peered inside. The room was a mess of elevated platforms raised over rivers of molten metals flowing underneath. Stairways and catwalks were the only stable surface that I could see, surrounded by scaffolds supporting large cauldrons and melting pots in every corner. Movement caught my eye to the lower platform. Banshee’s brown wings were extended, fluttering angrily as she moved in a circular motion.

“How was I supposed to expect Stable of all things to show up and interfere!?” she barked. “Not even you would have anticipated that, and you’re supposed to be the smart one!”

Loud clangs rung from the metal walkways, but they did not synch up with Banshees movements. Something else was up there with her, and it sounded a lot larger than his soft voice led me to believe.

“I’m the ‘smart one’, because I don’t make stupid choices, something you never seem to understand, Banshee. Your reckless behavior was getting valuable assets destroyed or killed.”

Banshees voice roared with shock and accusation. “So you tried to kill me on purpose!?”

There was a loud crunch, followed by even louder chewing. “You sound surprised. I thought you were smarter than that, Banshee.” He laughed. “Maybe I should have tried sooner, if I’d known you were this clueless.”

Banshee reached back and stomped loudly on the metal grating. “How dare you! After all I’ve done for the Claws! After everything I’ve done for you, Diamondback!”

“What you’ve done? Like how you’ve turned the Manticores and Mutts against each other? How you destroyed half of this building for revenge. Everything we have has is being torn to pieces as we speak, and it won’t be long until the other Praetors hear what’s happened and come rushing in to pick of the pieces of your mess!”

There was another crash, and Banshee jumped back. A huge shape lumbered across the walkway towards her, shaking the platform with each step. It walked on a pair of tremendous paws, and walked with a hunched back. Two massive arms hung lazily at his side swaying slightly to the force of his powerful gait. He stopped just in front of Banshee, who held her ground as he smiled sinisterly.

“So, what will it be Banshee? Do you want to die here, and be remembered as the failure you are? Or would you prefer to run, and die alone and forgotten in the gutters? I assure you you won’t have trouble finding one suitable for you here on Sigma.”

Banshee widened her stance slowly. Her fur tipped tail flipped and lashed around, much like a Manticore. She remained silent, staring into the eyes of the largest Mutt I had ever seen.

“I won’t die at all!” she screamed, bringing out her gun and firing it into his chest. He blinked, but was otherwise unphased. His smile widened, as he lifted one of his massive arms, claws bared.

“I guess your choice is made then.”

He lashed his paw into Banshee, who made no effort to get out of the way. She flew into the air, soaring over the platforms and crashing into the wall. A small ledge saved her from falling into the molten material below, but her body laid dangerously close to falling in, and was no longer moving.

Diamondback laughed heartily at his victory, but his glee was short lived when his gaze glanced downwards towards us. His eyebrow arched intensely, and he heaved a great sigh.

“And she was dumb enough to lead Ponies here.” He walked towards the edge of his raised platform, holding his arms out to address us.

“I suppose you are the Stable soldiers interfering with our contracts?”

“We might be,” I challenged. “What’s it to you?”

“Be careful, Shepard.” Firestorm hissed under her breath. “He isn’t a Mutt.”

I turned to face her. “What?”

“He’s a Highbreed Gemini, not a Mutt. You know, the smart ones?”

Diamondback laughed. “You flighty friend is right, Shepard. You won’t find me as dimwitted as my feral brethren.”

Firestorm and I shot him a worried look. He flicked his drooping ears, smiling slightly as he did so.

“I’ve heard your name before, Pony. I have great interest in what happens in Corral space, even out here. I like to know who my potential threats are. But I never expected the first Earth Pony Sleipnir to come all the way out here to die.”

He withdrew something from his vest-like armor. It was a black stone of some kind, which he popped into his mouth and chewed loudly as if it were some kind of delicious candy.

“I’ve spent a long time of my life building the Claws into something more than a bunch of savages. While the changes my intelligence have brought have been met with restraint, you cannot dispute the results it yields.” He glanced over to Banshee’s still body, still hanging precariously over the edge. “So long as you deal with problems like these before they get out of hand.”

“You’re pretty quick to kill your own,” I shot back. He only looked more amused.

“It would be boorish of me to blame it on the standard of canines versus felines, but sometimes even intelligence cannot defeat instinct all the time. The Manticores and Mutts are all useful on their own levels, so long as you know how to motivate and control them.”

Firestorm scowled. “Looks like you have a pretty good scam going on then.”

He scoffed. “Of course the Pegasus, with her values of honor and militarism, would see wrong where I see right. Perhaps that’s why your race is only good for war, and little else. Isn’t there some poor, newly developing race you can oppress, or are you merely content with playing the pretentious self proclaimed bulwark of the galaxy?”

Her wings flared open, and began beating furiously. “Why you...” she snapped. Her gun swiveled down into her grasp, as she swiftly aimed the weapon straight at the taunting dog. Before I could stop her, she fired.

When I looked back up to Diamondback, he was still standing. His paw was raised, and glowed with a strange, sparkling sheen. His limb had suddenly been covered in a shell of crystal, which moved and twisted along with his own skin, as he twitched the digits in turn. A small blemish had dug itself into the palm of the appendage, glowing red and smoking in the crest of the gemstone. He plucked out the impurity with his other paw, holding the burning hunk of metal between his claws.

“Temper, temper,” he chuckled, flicking the bullet into the molten steel below him. “You aren’t disproving anything with an attitude like that.”

He ignored Firestorm’s look of shock, turning his attention back to me. “I cannot express how happy I am to see you here, Shepard. Your name has become rather valuable in our line of work, and you would be surprised how much money is attached to you head, Shepard, after only being a Sleipnir for a few days. I am very interested to know what you have done to earn such a bounty.”

I hadn't really done much to earn any kind of bounty on my head in my week of being a Sleipnir, and I certainly hadn’t done much official work against any gangs until now. I could think of only one pony in the galaxy that would want me dead so soon. I felt a surge of elation at the fact that we really hadn’t come all this way for nothing.

“It was Artemis, wasn’t it?” I asked him. “He’s the one who paid you.”

A sinister grin spread across Diamondbacks mouth. “It isn’t often a Council Sleipnir seeks out mercenary help. His name is legendary among the Blood Claws. I was honored to accept his request.”

“What did he want from you?”

He laughed. “Surprisingly little. A few of my best to maintain order for his endeavors. Two different tasks, on opposite sides of the galaxy. Only with one commonality.”

He gripped the railing of his elevated platform. In a swift motion, he leapt over the edge and landed on the ground only a few meters away from us. He stood to his full height, and even at the distance he was from us, he towered over us by a good few feet. The glowing sheen returned, and coalesced around his body. My eyes widened as I watched his matted coat shift and harden, changing from a blackish grey to a transparent blue. His coat hardened and turned to the texture of glass, reflecting light from every direction. He shimmered with effervescent light from the dull glow of the molten pool of steel behind him. His gleeful smile took on a crystalline quality, and his eyes glazed over like agates. The claws were the scariest, taking on the appearance of razor sharp blades with the hardness of diamonds. He started walking towards us, claws fully extended, the ground rumbling with each step.

“You have no idea how happy I am to see you here, Shepard. I would have earned so much money at no expense if you had arrived sooner. I mean, how often are you paid to kill someone , and then they come to you?” He laughed again, but with far more frenzy in his voice this time.

“It’s like a dream come true. Now be a good little pony, and sit still. I’ll make this quick, as thanks for making this so easy.”

His pace quickened and he broke into a hasty stride towards us. Superheated metal collided with Diamondbacks crystal armor as we opened fire, but it only ended up bouncing off harmlessly. He charged, closing the small gap between us frighteningly fast. Firestorm was the closest, and was firing her rifle madly at the rushing dog. Her gun was powerful, but it wasn’t getting through diamond. If it was doing anything at all, it was slowing him down, although slightly, from the force alone.

Diamondback lashed at her, but she beat her wings and took to the air. The Gemini skidded to a halt as he passed underneath the Pegasus. He crouched down, and leapt towards Firestorm. He was on top of Firestorm in less than a second as she frantically tried to change course. With one swing, he crashed his massive diamond coated arm into her. A loud crunch followed, and Firestorm came sailing back down to earth at my hooves.

Her eyes were spinning, but she was still conscious. I rushed to her side to help her up, freezing at the crashing sound that landed right beside me. I looked up, my ears flattening against my head at the sight of Diamondback standing over me, regarding me with a look of satisfaction. My mind stalled, unable to come up with any action to save either myself or my dazed companion.

A bolt of blue flashed from behind me, crashing into Diamondbacks face. He recoiled from the force, sliding back several feet on his paws. His sharp claws dug into the ground, gouging long streaks in the rust colored metal. His diamond coat shimmered a dark blue, and his face twisted into a snarl, his eyes focused on something behind me.

“Shepard!” Dexter shouted. “Get Firestorm up, I’ll hold him back!”

I didn’t need to be told twice. I went back to Firestorm, ushering her to her hooves. She was mostly responsive, so I could leave gauging her her well being until later. It didn't help that her weapon as barely hanging on its harness and swinging into me. I grabbed the damaged weapon and snapped it from her back and tossed it aside. It wasn’t like she needed it right now.

“On your hooves, soldier!” I shouted, rousing some motion from her sluggishness. She lifted her head, meeting eyes with me. She had an annoyed look on her face, masking faint winces underneath.

“Shepard, if you start talking like my mother, I might have to slug you.”

There was a lack of seriousness in her voice, and after her head went limp again against my attempts to move her, I chalked it up to a concussion. Just one more thing for me to deal with once we got back to the Normanedy. If we got back.

As I dragged Firestorm to the doorway, Dexter continued to blast the advancing dog with magic. Diamondback lifted his massive arms in an effort to lash out at the Lieutenant, only to be continuously pelted with shockwaves of force. Each effort the lumbering dog made to close the distance with the Magitech was met with an powerful explosion of blue sending him skidding across the metal ground. The crystal shimmer around his face made it hard to tell his expression, but it was easy to read the anger in his voice.

“Earth Pony magic,” he hissed. “So primitive. All you can do is turn your will into force, hardly an efficient way to focus such an ability.”

Dexter smirked. “You would be surprised at what I can do.”

The tan lieutenant gritted his teeth, his brow furrowing in concentration. Tendrils of blue coalesced around him, writhing and whipping around as they slowly took shape. His power radiated, and I could feel a harsh breeze spin through the room that dampened the harsh temperature of the molten metals all around us. In an instant, when it appeared to be at the peak of its power, his eyes snapped open. They were glowing the same color of his magic.

He screamed, sending the ribbons of his magic flying towards Diamondback. The Gemini stepped back from the oncoming torrent of energy, but it was already surrounding his escape. He managed to lift his arms up, just as the tidal wave of blue crashed into him, sending him flying through the air and crashing into a metal beam. The force alone was enough to split the support in half, bringing down a stock of cauldrons down on top of him with a tremendous crash.

South and Tinker began laughing with relief, and even Firestorm managed to gain enough cohesion to utter a few praises. Dexter was wobbling on his hooves, panting loudly. Sweat streamed down his face, his eyes locked on the mess he had created. A frail smile worked its way to his face, and he began to stagger his way over to the rest of us.

A loud, metallic grunt silenced the elated sisters, and my head spun towards the pile of metal. The steel laden cauldrons shifted, groaning and grinding as they collapsed over each other. The beam that had fallen over was tossed out of the heap, revealing a diamond paw clawing its way from the depths of metal.

“Whut in the hell is that dog made of?!” South cursed.

A loud cackled erupted from the pile, echoing from the dark recesses of the twisted steel and glowing metals. “I thought Earth Ponies knew geology.” Diamondbacks voice bellowed. “If you are honestly asking that question, then what use are you dirt dwellers good for? At least Moles have the decency to praise their betters.”

The protruding claw thrashed about, clearing out more metal and knocking over more of the filled cauldrons. The giant dog burst out from the metal confines, still covered in the layer of diamond skin from head to paw, and a coat of liquid steel to boot. It dripped off him, the glowing slag adding a infernal look to his crystalline sheen. His eyes were fixed on Dexter, who was frozen mid step. His eyes were wide, and his head was still bobbing in between his loud breathing.

Diamondback sneered. “If that’s all you have to offer, Pony, I am still thoroughly unimpressed.” He started towards Dexter again, laughing madly as he pursed his claws anticipatingly. Dexter backed away, almost tripping on his own hooves. He was exhausted, and was not going to last long against this thing.

“Tinker, get over here and keep an eye on Firestorm” I snapped at the golden filly. She complied immediately, South sticking with her. I glanced to her as her sister took over tending the dazed Pegasus. “South, let’s go.”

She nodded, stomping her hoof. Her gun unfolded neatly, and the two of us dashed towards Dexter. Diamondback halted his advance at the sight of us placing ourselves between him and his prey. He regarded me with curiosity through his yellow eyes.

“Such devotion to each other. Pathetic. I will kill you all soon enough, no matter how hard you struggle.”

I drew my plasma blade, holding it towards the bemused hound. “If you want me, you better come get me.”

“Uh, Shepard?” South inquired. “Whut are you doin’?”

“I hadn’t thought that far ahead.” I whispered to her. “I was hoping one of you might have a plan.”

“I got one,” Dexter breathed. Me and South glanced at him expectantly as he continued to recover. he slowly managed to voice his words, stuttering each one with a deep breath.

“We’re...going...to...RUN!!”

Dexter spun around and took off, running deeper into the foundry. It was only a few seconds later when I realised that me and South were following him at full speed. An avalanche of molten steel, gemstones and ferocity followed us in pursuit, accompanied by a vicious cackling sound. Dexter led the way, flying up a series of stairs into the catwalks. Our hooves clattered on the metal walkways, drowning out the laughter.

The catwalks were narrow, barely enough room for three ponies to maneuver easily. They also didn’t look very stable either, the metal beneath my hooves vibrating loudly with each step. The thought of a diamond coated Gemini that was nearly as large as a Manticore chasing us around up here was not a plan I could have come up with, but seeing as our weapons were currently useless, time was the best thing we could get, while I frantically thought of something.

A loud grunt prompted me to quickly look back. Diamondback was airborne, and flying right towards us. Instinct took over, and I pushed South aside before screeching to a halt myself. She stumbled a few steps from my sudden shove, running into the railing. Her head spun, eyes trained on me in anger, but as her mouth opened to scream at me, her eyes darted upwards, widening in horror.

It was about then that Diamondback landed just in front of me, facing away. His landing rocked the catwalk, causing the still running Dexter fall on his face. The behemoth dog turned his head slowly to face me, the smile of glee still plastered on his face.

“Is running all you Earth Ponies are good for when you have nothing left? Pity.”

“Ah got these!”

He turned back just in time to catch South’s rear hooves bucking him in the face. He recoiled from the strike, howling loudly. He staggered away from the source of his pain, as South landed hard on the metal beneath her.

When I looked back to Diamondback, I almost lost what little I had eaten in the past few days. After he had regained his posture, he was still painfully clutching his face, what was left of it anyways. The left side of his cheek had been torn off. Blood oozed from under his crystal paw, which barely hid the massive wound. His eyes were fixed onto South in maddened rage.

“HOW?!” he bellowed. “How can an measly Earth Pony break through diamond?!”

South grinned smugly, tapping her hooves loudly. “These hooves were made fer buckin’, bucko.”

I blinked. Then felt the corners of my mouth threatening to fall off my face. South’s horseshoes! Her diamond coated horseshoes. I almost broke into laughter at the sheer simplicity of it, watching the pompous Gemini try to piece it together. His eyes darted between our faces, picking out the evident mirth, and growing equally angrier as a result.

“Shame all yer skin turns tuh diamond. Now that half yer face is missin’, you ain’t much tuh look at.” She shot him a sideways glance. “Not that yew were much tuh look at in th’ first place.”

His magical glow reconstituted around his head, resealing the opened wound in a fresh layer of diamond. The newly formed gemstone didn’t make the hole in his face much better to look at, but as his stance relaxed, I assumed that it at least dulled the pain.

“N–no matter,” he said through clenched teeth. “I will just kill you first.” He lumbered towards South, holding his arms out wide. The catwalk gave South little room to escape, and his lengthy arms would catch her if she tried to run. She backed away, hitting the railing. She turned her head and looked down, her face paling.

Diamondback swiped at South with his right claw, which she managed to duck from. The force of the swing was enough to knock her hat from her head, and it sailed into the air. South let out a strangled noise as she thrashed out for the hat with her teeth. She just barely grabbed it, but her panicked flailing sent her right into Diamondback’s claws.

He grabbed at South with an outstretched paw, and picked her up off the ground. He dangled her over the edge of the railing, as she fidgeted and squirmed to break free of his grasp. A glint of light flashed from the bottom of her hooves, catching his eye. He examined the bottom of the hoof in his possession, frowning slightly. “So this is the reason. Such an inane use of such a powerful substance.”

I blasted my omni-tool at him, firing everything I could think of at him. Thousands of volts, beams of searing plasma, but nothing managed to pierce his protective shell. I rushed him, but he swatted me aside with his free arm. He laughed as I tumbled to the ground, and I brought my head back up to witness a sudden change in his visage. His smile widened, as well as the look of horror in South’s eyes, just before he dropped her.

“South!” I screamed, scrambling to the edge of the railing. It was too late. She was already out of my grasp, falling into the molten steel below. Her scream carried out throughout the room, masked by the victorious cackle of Diamond back. When her scream suddenly stopped, I had imagined the worst. I fought against my better judgment, prying my eyes open.

I looked back down, sighing in relief. Tangled in a hanging mess of chain and hooks, swaying back and forth and uttering a thousand cursed a second, was South. She was thoroughly tied to metal a good few meters above the molten steel below. Her precious hat that had nearly gotten her killed was wrapped in her tail, and was otherwise alright.

It took a few moments for me to fully process what was going on. Looking up, I saw that Diamondback was no longer smiling. In fact, he looked very annoyed. A loud snarl rumbled from his mouth as he cast his eyes down the catwalk. I peered around him, seeing Dexter standing at a small console attached to a metal beam. I followed the beam up to a series of rails that covered the ceiling of the room. Following those, I noticed that each individual track had a lengthy chain attached to a wheel mounted crane; and the one closest to us was glowing blue.

The walkway suddenly shook as Diamondback’s legs stomped loudly on the ground beneath him. “Why won’t you Ponies just die already!?”

Diamondback rounded on me at the end of his tirade. The dog leaned forward on all fours, his back arching and bobbing with each furious breath. I stepped away slowly, my ears folding back. I knew exactly what he was going to do, and I definitely didn’t plan on standing here when he did it.

I spun around and took off running. I weaved down every turn I could, hoping that the bends would slow him down, not that I was keen on turning back to confirm. The path rattled harder as he began to close in on me, making it harder to keep steady. His massive size coupled with that damned diamond skin was just too much for this place. Too much longer, and we’d all end up taking a molten steel bath.

Molten steel bath. That gave me an idea. I looked up at the supports that held the raised platforms above the lake of metal. Much of it was held up from the ceiling, with thick metal beams spaced out around the room. I was running towards one of these beams, and my idea began to take shape, I just needed to get some distance first.

He hunched over again, panting loudly. He squatted down, claws fully extended. I backed away, knowing that was coming next. I looked around, seeing that I was running out of platform. He had me here, and Dexter was still a while behind. My fatigue was starting to catch up with me, my heavy breathing almost matching his. He smiled, knowing that I was wearing out. With little reason to prolong it any further, he leaped into the air.

It was too easy.

I watched his massive form catapult through the air, careening towards me. I briefly calculated where he would land, and I had managed to stop exactly where I wanted, right beside a support beam. I swung my omni-tool out, plasma cutter fully extended, and sunk it into the walkway in front of me. I cut a huge swathe in the metal, tearing it apart.

I watched Diamondback’s expression dissolve instantly. His face of ferocity and anger had melted into panic, his arms flailing madly in mid air, desperately trying to change his trajectory, but it was too late. He landed with a crash right in front of me,and the predictable happened. The path barely rocked as the two sides of the platform I had cut split instantly, dropping out from underneath him. He vanished in a blur, only managing to let out a choking gasp.

I tumbled backwards onto my rear from the shock of it all, listening to the sound of groaning metal collapse underneath me. Several yards of the platform had given way under the Gemini’s weight, taking a large portion of it with him into the molten depths. As everything slow came to a quiet end, I finally took a moment to breathe. I even managed to find the power to laugh, chuckling quietly to myself. It was probably the adrenaline talking, considering that had I been wrong in my estimations I’d’ve been dead. I’ll take a win when I can get one.

“Shepard!”

I looked down to see Dexter standing across the great hole I had caused. I waved at him with a beaming smile.

“Hey, Dex,” I said smugly. “I think I’m going to need some help getting out of here.”

He wasn’t smiling. Actually, he looked rather panicked, and was staring directly underneath me. I glanced down at the edge of the platform that was left, and felt my blood go cold. There, just barely gripping the edge was a diamond claw. Then a second and eventually, a diamond coated head slowly raised up over the edge, its eyes glaring.

His massive shape raised over me onto the platform, while I watched frozen in terror. I couldn’t move, I could barely think. I could only watch as this damned thing just kept coming back, no matter what I tried. Now I was cut off from my friends, with nowhere left to run and a very pissed off Gemini.

“You are starting to be more trouble than you are worth, Shepard,” he growled.

“I hear that a lot,” I replied weakly, trying to back away.

He advanced on me, holding his claws out wide, ready to grab me.

“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone. Now, you die, and I’ll take my reward from your bones.”

I wondered if all Gemini had a flair for the dramatic. I mean, I knew he was a dog, but that seemed a bit over the top, even for someone of his intelligence. I eventually ran out of platform, and he stopped just within reach. He flexed his claws, cracking his knuckles sickeningly.

“Any last words, Shepard? I have a feeling Artemis will pay extra to know that you groveled.”

I stared vacantly at him, when I caught sight of a fiery glimmer off of his crystal hide. Part of me wanted to break out laughing at the thought of repeating it a second time in the course of a few weeks. Considering the circumstances, though, it was too appropriate to pass up.

“Yeah,” I said calmly. “Duck.”

He was taken aback at that. He glanced around, but by then it was too late to avoid the blazing hoof colliding into his chest. He croaked loudly as his crystal coat cracked from the impact. He toppled backwards over the railing, falling headfirst over the edge. He let out a scream, but it was soon silenced by the writhing of molten metals churning beneath us.

I looked up, watching Firestorm’s shape slowly return from the mass of cinders that enveloped her. She slowly descended onto the platform beside me, a confident smile on her face.

I just stood gaping at her. Not a second ago, she was surrounded in flames, and she just brushed it off like nothing.

“Firestorm, what was that!?” I exclaimed.

Her smile faded into confusion. “What do you mean?”

I pointed around her at the shimmering embers that were still floating around her frame. She casually brushed them away with a smirk.

“What, you’ve never seen Pegasus magic before?”

You think you know somepony. All this time, I’d been travelling with two magitechs, and I didn’t even realise it. I would have pressed her on it more right there, but she quickly turned her attention over the railing as if nothing was wrong. The bubbling steel churned sickeningly, before easing into its original undisturbed state.

“He might be covered in diamond, but I doubt he can breathe down there for very long.”

She showed me the undersides of her hooves, which shimmered slightly. “Plus, borrowing Tinker’s horseshoes helped a bit too.”

I stared incredulously at the shoes, then I shrugged sagely. I guess growing up with shoes like those leaves you with little reason to wear anything else. The Belle mares were an interesting lot, I gotta hoof it to them.

“Oi, are y’all done playin’ with the little doggie?”

Speaking of Belle mares. I turned to see South and Tinker had joined Dexter on the other side of the gap. She had something with her, well, some-Gryphon. Banshee was still unconscious, draped on South’s back.

“She’s still alive, Shepard.” She glanced down into the steel below. “Ah don’t reckon that feller will tell us much now, so we might as well take her as a close second.”

“Where are we gonna take her?” Tinker inquired. “It still ain’t very safe here.”

“We’ll take her back to Speccy’s,” I suggested.

“What? Yew can’t be serious, Shepard.”

“I doubt we’ll have much trouble handling one lone Gryphon cut off from her pack. Plus we know what she’s capable of and how to deal with it if she get’s out of hoof.”

I perked my ears for the sounds that had been plaguing us all day. They were faint, but I could still hear the chaos from outside had not ended.

“And this place doesn’t seem that it will get any quieter soon. We’ll go out the way we came.”

“Then let’s get going,” Firestorm said briskly. She beat her wings to get airborne, and hovered above me. She wrapped her hooves around me and carried me into the air with her across the gap back to the other side, and on our way out of this hell hole. For once, the thought of visiting a junk yard was like music to my ears.

Codex Entry Updated: Gemini

Get a Move On, Little Doggie: Paragon Points Earned.

Your Pegasus Tempest has become more adept: Firestorm’s Spitfire Unlocked.

Your Earth Pony Kinetic has become more adept: Poindexter’s Fissure Unlocked.

Preface: The M.A.N.E Effect

Harmony Lost

Harmony.

Once thought to be a power, nay a foundation of order that could stand resolute in the face of anything that would challenge it. Even against the endless power of Time. Through trials and tribulations the powers of Harmony were called to action against their foes. Again and again they were wielded by those sworn to protect the lands that held the values of Harmony dearly in their hearts. But Time will not abide anything to last forever.

Not even Harmony.

Civilizations rose and fell over the ages, friendships were forged and broken, life was given and taken, and Time proved its absolute power. With each tick of the clock, each ripple across the endless eons of time and space, the powers of Harmony dwindled, becoming forgotten, becoming lost. Those that once shared their homes and lives with others through love, tolerance and friendship, gave into petty hatreds, disharmony and chaos. It was then, when the races of Equestria, the one land that valued Harmony above all else, simply vanished into the forgotten vestiges of oblivion, to forge their own paths...

Alone.

But even Time can grow bored with chaos. Time, much like chaos itself, is a fickle and complex being. Sometimes one such as Time must seek out a change of pace to sate the pains of its endless existence, for even Harmony has its entertainments. But when such great time has passed, when once powerful civilizations and races have risen and fallen long after the end of Harmony, how can any believe in its power? Sometimes, when all hope is lost to the endless throes of Time, it takes more than a mere spark to relight the flames of Harmony and of Friendship. Sometimes you need nothing less than the brightest Star to light the path before you.

And a Shepard to guide the way...

Preface

The M.A.N.E Effect

“I must say Worthy, this is your best work yet,” I mused quietly to myself. Getting into a court hearing as a reporter was no small feat, and getting into a military court martial hearing was even greater a feat. A simple drab uniform and dull colors, as well a few magical alterations was the perfect disguise as a common secretary. These Earth Pony’s needed to work on their color schemes, such dark and dismal colors.

Fashion tips would have to wait however. The court room was steadily running out of seats and I’d rather not have to stand throughout the entire proceeding. Luckily I found an empty section near the back and made myself comfortable on the tiny bleacher arrangement. The room was thick with hushed conversations, but that came as no surprise to me. Today was a day long awaited for ponies like me. Days like this built careers that turned into legend and I had seats on the first show.

I gave a little jump as my earpiece began to beep noisily. I tapped the tiny device silent and opened my omni-tool discretely to see what was the matter. The holographic screen flashed into existence, a single message displayed on the screen.

You have one new message.

One attached file.

New mail? At this hour? I accessed the file dubiously, wondering who in the Galaxy had my private contact information.

Opening Message...

To: NWorthy

From: Booky

Re: info you wanted.

Worthy,

This is the best article on Earth Pony history I could dig up on such short notice, but I think it will suit you just fine

Enjoy the read,

-Booky.

PS. You Owe me big time.

Booky. I should have known. That slimy worm had his hooves in things even I wouldn't dare touch. The mere thought of working anywhere near him made my skin crawl, but I had to admit that there was little that did not skirt past his ears unnoticed. I wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble to hire him if I didn’t think he could get me exactly what I needed. I glanced at the time, seeing that there was till several minutes before the trial would begin. I downloaded the file, intent of giving it a light read while I had the time.

Downloading File.......

Download complete. Read now?

Opening File.......

Entry: Earth Pony

Earth Ponies, from the planet Earth, are the newest addition to recognised Corral Space. They have been quickly noticed by many of the current Corral races, mostly due to their large and continuously expanding population, scientific development, and extensive colonisation. Their new-found growth, like other Corral races, was brought upon by their recent discovery of ancient Alicorn technology. According to Earth Pony scientist’s claims, the discovery launched their race centuries forward in terms of weapons, science, medicine and inter-spatial travel. The current reigning government of the Earth Ponies , the Stable Alliance, dubbed this surge of Earth Pony power the M.A.N.E Effect.

No...it couldn’t be. I had seen this type of database before, but only in damaged files and stolen materials. I knew Booky was likely privy to such knowledge, but to actually have a proper copy of it and send it to me no less. I glanced at the top of the entry, confirming my suspicions and my worry.

Council.

Organised.

Data.

Entry.

Xerox.

It was what I feared. A Corral Council Codex file. That slimy, sneaky, flank stabbing little thief actually managed to get his hooves on a Codex entry. Only the highest of security clearance and importance in Corral Space had access to this information and none of them were ever allowed to share it with anypony. Even worse, he sent it to directly me, through an unsecured network to my own personal account. If that foolish cretin failed to hide his tracks adequately enough, I would be the one facing the consequences as well as him. The thoughts of potential future incarceration plagued my mind, only to be silenced by another sequence of incessant beeping from my Omni-Tool

Alert!

Incoming Message from: Username [Bookworm]

Accept?

Now he was sending messages to me? While I was sitting in the middle of an Earth Pony Tribunal? Was this fool trying to get me arrested on purpose. I glanced around, noticed that I was still relatively alone on my side of the room. I slid carefully away from anypony that was near and allowed the connection to continue, intent on giving that little worm a piece of my mind.

Connecting to Intranet Chat-Room.......

[Bookworm]: Hey worthy, did you get the file i sent you?

How could he be so casual? I wasn’t even supposed to be in this room, especially with an active omni tool connection. My only saving grace was the fact that Earth Ponies were never too particular about the simple forms of illusion magic, or else I wouldn’t even gotten past the door. But this communication was pushing it too far.

[Nworthy]: How in the hay did you get your hooves on it? Council Codex entries are not available to the public.

[Bookworm]: Lets just say i know a pony who knows a pony.

Will it help you?

[Nworthy]: I don’t know. It’s unlikely that I will be able to write an adequate report from a JAIL CELL!!! What in the Galaxy were you thinking!? Sending this to me in the middle of an Earth Pony Courtroom of all places?!

His response was delayed. Seconds crawled past as I awaited his response, no doubt trying to save his own neck, or worse yet, alert the authorities himself to apprehend me and make a clean escape of his own.

[Bookworm]: Relax Worthy. I didn’t get to where I am without knowing how to cover my tracks. You paid for security, you got security. I don’t mess around with that sort of thing when money’s involved.

Blast. I wished his reasons for caution were more altruistic, but he had a valid point. I did not skimp out on ensuring this sort of pony was adequately paid for his work. It did not do much to alleviate my frustrations towards him and his snide comments, but it did reduce my worry enough that I was not on the verge of fainting.

[Nworthy] You could have at least picked a better time to send it. The trial is about to begin and I know the Earth Pony government will wish to keep the media out of this as long as possible.

[Bookworm]: Trial? what trial? Where exactly are you?

[Nworthy]: Who else's trial would I be going to for all this trouble for?

[Bookworm]: Wait... You’re at THAT trial?

[Nworthy]: Indeed ;)

It seems that there are things that even an information broker can’t fathom. Then again, his kind aren’t usually welcome in the light of such affairs, including those of law and order. His kind would prefer to scurry around in the dark, which made the fact that I had something over him all the sweeter to enjoy.

[Bookworm]: How in the wide wide Equestrian Galaxy did you get into a military court

marshal hearing?

[Nworthy]: Let’s say I, as you put it, know a pony who knows a pony.

Now I am terribly sorry, but I have to let you go, the proceedings are about to begin. Taa taa!

[CONNECTION TERMINATED]

Any secrets of mine, my dear Bookworm, will have to wait until later. For now, I have history to write. To be safe rather than sorry, I disconnected my connection to the intranet on my omni-tool, at least until the trial was over. I did not need further interruptions hindering me now, especially when everything was about to begin. The hushed conversations quickly silenced, and a broad uniformed stallion took to the podium in the center of the room. I turned on my tool’s voice recording instruments, hoping they would be strong enough to hear everything.

“Silence please,” the Arbiter began. “These Court Martial proceedings are now in session. Fleet Admiral Packard of the First Fleet presiding. Atten-tion!”

All of those that were uniformed snapped to a hasty attention, which was rather impressive. I suppose that the Earth Ponies had a well functioning military after all. An aged stallion approached the head of the dais. He was grey in color, further reinforcing the idle fact that Earth Ponies seemed to be cruely cursed to earth tones, pun intended of course. His blue tunic was adorned with badges and symbols of many colors, showing years if not decades of lengthy and dedicated service. I had heard some things about Admiral Packard from others, but those rumors did not prepare me for the intensity that his face displayed.

He reached the dais, mimicking the attentive stance of his subordinates. “At ease.” His voice was deep and resonant, carrying through the room with little effort. The attendees complied, and a quick snap of hooves filled the air before the room returned to silence once more. Packard took his seat at the podium, leaning forward to examine the notes on the holographic display.

“Bring in the defendant.”

The chamber doors slid open, the metal panels echoing through the tense silence of the room. A chestnut stallion entered first, flanked by two other soldiers. The lead stallion looked as gruff and stern as Packard, and had a similarly dressed tunic to match. The two escorts behind him looked as commonplace as any other Earth pony soldier I’d seen so far. But between them, was the focus of my attention. Guided by the two soldiers, wearing a dully colored tunic and an appropriate scowl was the pony I had been most anxious to see all day.

The lead pony broke off from the envoy, taking a place near the front of the room, while the two escorts brought the pony between them to the central podium, facing opposite of Packard. The defendant sat at the chair provided, while the others remained in close proximity. I looked back to the Admiral, noticing that his eyes had followed the defendant unwaveringly since the doors had opened. He leaned back in his seat slightly, clearing his throat.

“These proceedings have been called into session to evaluate and determine the appropriate punishments for the actions taken by one Commander Shepard. Will the defendant please say their name and rank for the record.”

The defendant glared at the pony lording over the room with a defiant twitch of their head, before speaking into the microphone.

“Specialist Shepard, Engineer First Class, of the Third Expeditionary Fleet.”

Hushed murmurs broke out around the room like a plague at the response given. Even the fellow officers seated beside Packard seemed taken aback at what was said. Packard wait a moment for the din of the room to quiet down before continuing.

“Records dictate that you were awarded the rank of Commander nearly three years to the day, Shepard. There have been no notes of demotion since, but there have been many recommendations for it. Why do you choose to use a rank that you no longer are?”

Shepard’s icy glare did not change. “I prefer the use the rank I feel that I actually deserved, Sir. Not the one that was thrust on me because I happened to be in the right place at the wrong time. My actions alone should show that I was not prepared for the responsibilities of the rank I was given.”

I’d never heard such insincerity towards a superior officer in my life, and from a Commander no less. What on earth is Shepard doing, goading Packard into anger like that? It doesn’t even seem to be working.

“Yes, you have certainly garnered an impressive list of offenses,” Packard continued, unhindered by Shepard’s insubordination. “Some of which would have been grounds for immediate termination of rank. And yet, here you are, three years running and just now facing the consequences. For the record, I will now read your charges”

“Commander Shepard, you have been found guilty of the following on several counts each: Dereliction of duty, destruction of military property, disrupting the stability of standing peace treaties, disobeying direct orders, assault and battery of military personnel and civilian, aiding and abetting known convicted criminals, willing cooperation with terrorist organisations, unauthorised tactics involving excessive ordinance, willful endangerment of your subordinates...”

Oh my. I knew the Commander had done many terrible things, but that list was far greater than I had imagined. Even Packard looked like he was about to falter in disgust at the atrocities that Shepard has done. He paused in his reading, lifting his head to peer scornfully at the accused and releasing a weary sigh.

“Have I left anything out Shepard? This list is beyond acceptable, and not even including the convictions that brought you into military service to begin with.”

Shepard’s scowl deepened. “You forgot trying to save your sorry flanks from your own ignorance.”

Does that pony not care at all? The rest of Shepard’s life is on the line and I am sitting here watching it be thrown away. How can the Commander be so indignant towards a superior? Unless willingly going to jail is the only goal in mind.

“Yes, we’ve all heard your insistence at the existence of beings that lie beyond the galaxy waiting to descend on us all. The Corral Council has dismissed your claims, and due to your recent obsessive behavior and unacceptable practices as of late, This court has no reason to believe you either, and will hear nothing more on the subject. How do you plead to your actual charges?”

Shepard leant back in the chair, giving Packard a dismissive gesture. “Guilty, if you care that much.”

Theory confirmed, Shepard is purposely sabotaging this trial. I do believe the Commander actually wants to go to prison. But why?

Packard sighed again, a saddened look forming on his face. “That is...disappointing. You were a hero once Shepard, a paragon of all that this military stands for, somepony we could be proud of and count on to show what the Earth Ponies could do. Now you are nothing but a criminal, a renegade with your own agenda; spitting in the face of all that you have accomplished.”

The aging admiral leaned forward, asking what I believed to be the most important question of the trial. “What happened to you Shepard?”

Shepard was silent, before leaning forward as well, giving Packard a determined glare. “That depends, how long do we plan on being here?”

Why is Shepard smiling? Just before the executioners axe is about to fall, what could possibly be worth smiling about?

“As long as necessary, Shepard. Why?”

“Then you better get comfortable, it’s one hell of a story.”

Oh now this, this is good. Insight behind the actions of the galaxies greatest hero. The scandal, the intrigue! This exclusive will launch me to the pantheon of reporters! Transcription program, don’t fail me now!

Chapter 9: Miscommunication

Chapter 9: Miscommunication

“Time to get to the bottom of things!”

There was a nostalgic joy in my limbs as I soared through the air, remaining fixed to solid ground for only seconds before taking off again. If I had to climb, I shimmied up a leaning girder with practiced ease. If I had to jump, I could pinpoint a route instantaneously . The littered landscape around me was something far more than a simple junk pile. Where one would see a dangling precipice, I would see another jumping point. Where another would see a razor sharp skewer of death, I would see a jutting scaffold to hang from while searching for another. Somehow, even here, I felt like I was home on Earth, and I was having the time of my life. Much to the frustration of a certain grumpy mare.

“How in tarnation are ya doin’ that?”

I stopped to look back at my pursuers. Across a wide gap, was South, glaring at me with indignation. Dexter was beside her, regarding me with more of a look of puzzlement. Firestorm was the only one who didn’t show any noteworthy emotion, as she hovered placidly above the twisted metal, casting quick glances between us, and where we were heading.

She turned to South quickly, a smirk on her lips. “If you didn’t want to climb over a mountain of metal, South, you shouldn’t have caused such a mess.”

South turned up her snout at the heckling pegasus above her. “It was a good plan at th’ time. How was Ah supposed t’ know that the way down was this way?”

I scanned the amount of distance we had travelled so far, and how much more we had to go. We had made good time, at least, much more than we would have if we had gone around the giant mess South had caused. While her ‘plan’ did away with all the pesky security drones that were attacking us, it made me wonder exactly what would happen if I left South alone again around dangerous equipment. We took a moment to look at the map that I had found in the office, which led us to our current situation.

The central section of platforms were not all connected to each other in the same way, as evidenced by the map I had spent quite some time studying in the aftermath. The top two layers were connected by the catwalks we had used to get down here, as well as some service elevators for the heavy lifting. The lower levels however, were only accessible by smaller elevators. The layers themselves were identified as ‘processing’ on the layer directly below us, and ‘Geothermal’ beneath that one.

The problem was, that these particular elevators were in the middle of the section we were currently in, and that area unfortunately took the brunt of South’s dozer spree. It was also on the other side of the giant pile of mangled metal we had went around to rejoin with her, so in the interest of saving time, we opted to climb over it.

Firestorm fluttered lazily over the divide between me and the others, the beating of her wings jostling at a steady rhythm. Her eyes continued to scan in various directions, her head turning as well, taking a quick survey of the area. An unsettling calm drifted over the empty station, as an errant wind flowed between the hanging metal platforms that held us above the endless chasm below us. The vigilant Pegasus landed beside me with a thunk, moving past me and towards the sloping terrain deeper into the facility.

“Ah don’t need no fancy magic tuh get me across, Dex.”

My head snapped around back to the others still standing on the other side of the gap. Dexter was giving South an uncertain look, as the shimmer of his magic was fading away. South was also glowing blue, although it was slowly fading away as Dexters concentration faded.

“Are you sure, South? It’s quite the jump.”

South faced towards me with a narrow stare. “If Shepard can make this jump, then so can Ah!”

Dexter followed her gaze to me, his eyes filled with apprehension. “Something tells me Shepard’s done this before South.”

South backed away from the edge slowly. Perhaps Dexter had managed to talk some sense into her after all. She paced back and forth, her eyes tracing her side of the jump and mine through slitted eyes and furrowed brows. I thought that maybe, for once, South was actually weighing the pro’s and con’s of a dangerous decision, until she began to paw at the ground with her hoof.

Damnit. Her scratching at the ground kicked up all sorts of dust and dirt into the air, which she quelled with an angry snort. Her mouth curled into a sneer, teeth bared and clenched. Dexter reared his head back, stepping away from South with an worried look on his face. If he was going to try and stop her, he didn't show any signs of it.

He lost any chance as South sprang into a full gallop, charging towards the edge full tilt. The clattering of hooves on metal rang out over the divide, each step singing an increasingly resonant song. Souths head bobbed to the motions of her furious charge, her eyes wide in focus in her insanity as she came closer to the edge. Her front hooves rose into the air as she reached the edge, flying upwards into a powerful leap. Her back legs remained planted on the metal a moment longer, before she leaned into the narrow surface and kicked off with a massive pump of her legs.

South soared over the gap, the sheer force of her kick propelling her across with surprising speed. Her focused sneer shifted into a elated smile as she reached the peak of her arc. She filled the air with an excited shout, before she slowly began to descent towards the other side. Given her achieved height and speed, my brain seemed to shift automatically to calculate her odds of success. Her chances of landing safely were high, but it was the force of that landing which was more worrying.

She cleared the edge by almost a meter, landing beside me with a loud clang. The sound reverberated across the metal surrounding us, echoing in every direction before slowly going silent. South spun on her hooves back to face Dexter, grinning.

“Hah!” she shouted. “No more than a hop, skip n’ a jump!”

Her chuckling died suddenly to a loud groaning noise beneath our hooves. The chunk of metal we were standing on shifted slightly and began to lean inwards toward the crevice. The steel and iron below us scraped across the slab as it began to twist and buck downwards. I scrambled on my hooves to keep my balance as the sheet slid out from underneath me. South wasn’t having any easier of a time, her face had traces of fear on it and her were eyes wide and panicked.

I think Dexter shouted something, but it was hard to hear over the increasingly loud rumble of metal on metal grinding. I watched him dash to the edge, his eyes beginning to glow an incandescent blue that quickly surrounded his entire body. His aura multiplied in size dramatically, rushing towards us and engulfing the unsteady ground beneath us.

The beam hesitated, slowing its descent and struggling against the pull of gravity. South and I wobbled at the pull of the two warring forces exerting themselves on the ground. The shaking steadied enough for me to keep my balance, but I had yet to risk moving in any direction, lest I unbalance the entire thing and hasten its fall. South didn’t move either, still focused on the ground beneath her hooves.

I looked back to Dexter. He was leaning down on one of his knees. His teeth were clenched together in a strenuous focus. “I... can’t keep... this thing... up forever...”, he wheezed.

My legs, at least, got the hint, and began moving slowly up the slanted ledge towards a safer surface. South, however, did not move at all. She was still silently staring at the ground, wobbling with the rhythm of the teetering slab. A gust of wind rushed past my head, as Firestorm zipped through the air and stopped above the frozen South. “Sweet thundering zephyrs, will you MOVE IT?!” she shouted.

South shook her head, and realization creeped over her features as the Pegasus’s screaming managed to break her out of her stupor. She started moving slowly, but surely, towards me. Her gaze never left the edge as she backed slowly in my direction. Not wanting Dexter to strain himself into another headache, I reached out to South once she was in range and yanked her to safety. She stumbled slightly as she tripped and fell down onto the opposite side of the landing, but was no worse for wear.

Dexter sighed with relief and released his grip on the beam. Under the throes of gravity once more, it landed with a terrible crash, and began sliding into the crevasse once again. Any bits of debris that tried to slow it down only crumpled underneath it as it washed over them like a wave. Then, it broke free of the pile that it once called home and fell into the open maw of metal below. Its landing caused a terribly loud rumble, shaking the remains of the ruined structure. As it settled, the air became suddenly silent, aside from the sound of Firestorms wings beating softly.

She landed beside me, peering down with me into the pit we had narrowly avoided falling into. The beam had slid a fair distance, managing to wedge itself between both sides of the divide. If it wasn’t so far down, it would have made an acceptable bridge in hindsight, but now only served as a grim reminder of where an unfortunate date with gravity could have ended. I looked up at Dexter. His eyes were downcast, but alert. I could hear his heavy breathing faintly from where I was standing. I wasn’t sure if he should have been able to stand at this point, but he still was, so it was something.

“Hey, Dex.” I called out. “You gonna be ok?”

He heaved an excessive breath, lifting his head to look at me. “Not as bad as I could be. It wasn’t as heavy as I expected.”

He turned his head to the mare beside me. “Hey Firestorm, I don’t suppose a lift over this is out of the question?”

The pegasus grinned, her wings lifting her into the air once more. She moved over the gap swiftly with a single motion of her feathery limbs. There was a short pause as Firestorm hovered over Dexter,and scooped him up in her hooves. She fumbled awkwardly as she attempted to hold Dexter in her grip as she carefully made her way back over the gap. She took care in letting him go to the ground, dropping him in front of me. His demeanor had improved a slight bit in his short trip, his breathing reduced and his focus less errant. He looked past me, speaking through weak breaths.

“Hey South, are we gonna have to start taking a tally on...”

He trailed off, his eyes widening, focused on something behind me. I turned, realizing immediately what had given him pause.

South was on the move already. After she recovered from her landing, she moved to the opposite side of the plateau and down a sloping ramp.

“South Where are you going?”

She didn’t answer, prompting us to follow her. The three of us moved towards the slope down the side of the wreckage. The first thing to catch my eye was the single standing structure only a few meters in the distance. Well, mostly standing. A sizable portion of its front wall was missing, as well as the metal plating that once was its front door. Trails of debris led directly towards this building, shoved aside in a familiar pattern.

South continued moving towards a flattened building that appeared to be one of the very first to fall to her earlier rampage. She stopped in front of a rather large, innocuous piece of metal across the ground and without a word of explanation, she began to move it. She did not bother ask me, or the others for help as we surrounded her. She grunted as she shifted the slab of steel an inch at a time with her shoulder, much to our confusion. A glimmer of light caught my eye from underneath the panel. I took a few more steps forwards, noticing that the piece that South was moving was covering a hole, a large one at that.

“South,” I asked. “What are you doing?”

She gave one final heave, sending the obstruction the final few feet necessary to open the hole into a widened crevice. She released a loud breath of relief from her strenuous effort, then turned to us with an impatient grimace. “Ah recognized this place from earlier.”

“Where exactly is here?” Dexter questioned.

“Come see fer yerself!” South stomped the ground excitedly, punctuating her joy at what she had accomplished, whatever it was. We all stepped slowly towards the hole she had uncovered. I noticed a series of still working lights, as well as a framework of intact metal beams. Built squarely, the girders descended downwards through a long, narrow shaft and out of sight into darkness, only dimly lit by a series of dull security lights. A single platform rested just beyond the threshold of the hole, held in place by what appeared to be a series of rolling tracks.

“Ah found our way down!”

The elevator began to slow as we came into a processing plant of some kind in the center of the floor. Much of the automated machinery in this shipping depot continued to whirr and go about their pre-programmed tasks blissfully, their rhythmic clattering only adding to my nerves. The absence of life did little to detract from the fact that the machinery seemed perfectly able to work on its own. If the digging operations were automated as well, the sudden disappearance of the entire staff could easily have gone unnoticed.

Firestorm took point, gliding into the room and coming to a sudden halt in front of us. Her head craned in many directions to check behind the many corners of boxes and keeping a careful eye on our surroundings. South huffed and trotted obstinately past her, glancing down to the rows of machinery grinding below us.

“This looks like a final processing area for the ore, b’fore they prepare it for shippin’.”

“We can see that,” Firestorm commented dryly.

South made no indication that she had heard Firestorms comment and continued.“Don’t look too different from the equipment back on mah family’s farm. Only problem is its runnin’ dry.”

She pointed down at the series of conveyors that ,I assumed, would be bringing in processed materials to be sealed into crates by the automated systems. If they weren't completely empty. The mechanical arms repeated motions that looked like picking up large boxes, before moving the empty crates over to the storage area.

South moved down the walkway towards a computer terminal connected to the largest section of the automated system. Accessing it, she hurried through bits of information, skimming through technological readouts and other jargon that would be relevant to a miner or forepony. It was an impressive machine, but it was no EX Hyperdrive core.

“Aha!” South exclaimed, stopping on a file that listed the machines specifications.

“This model should be able to pack away fifty crates an hour, so long as it’s fed ore constantly.” South had a smug look about her, as she skipped through the next set of readouts.

“Sez here that today’s crate count started packing at nine this mornin’. Whut time is in now?”

I glanced at the clock on my omni-tool. Ignoring the decreasing time limit of the impending asteroid collision, I remarked the planets local time.

“Almost one o’clock, planetside.”

“Alright,” she continued. “Says here that only a hundred or so crates were filled before the ore stopped comin’ in.”

“What are you getting at, South?” Firestorm questioned.

South gave her a sharp look. “Ah’m gettin’ to it, just hold yer horses!”

She stepped away from the machine, and towards the side of the room where an uneven amount of boxes was stacked against a wall. The imposing selection of crates loomed over the room, as they waited patiently to be shipped off world.

“Iffin they were diggin’ today, they woulda been working to feed ore into this thing all day and keep it working constantly. But since it stopped only a few hours ago, th’n that means...”

“Then that mean whatever happened here didn’t happen all that long ago!” I blurted.

South shot me a hurt look, upset that I had stepped in and took her thunder, but she quickly nodded, looking at the others.

“Whutever happened here, happened quick, but Ah don’t reckon anypony was hurt. T’aint no way to clean up a scuffle that big in less than an hour.”

“Then where the hell is everypony?” Firestorm asked sharply. “There aren’t exactly a lot of places to store dozens, let alone hundreds of miners and civilians down here.”

“Ah guess we’ll find out out there.” South motioned her head towards the exit to the shipping plant. “Didn’t the map say there wuz a security hub down here?”

“Yes”, I replied, bringing up the map. “It’s near the elevator to the next level.”

I took a closer look at the layout of the processing plant. It appeared to be a large and irritatingly windy section of corridors and large chambers that were most likely similar or identical to this one. We probably weren't going to need to waste too much time exploring this area, but it was still going to be a long walk to get any progress regardless. So much for a speedy rescue. But at least South’s mind for her native industry gave us a glimmer of hope at this so far bleak excursion.

“Whut are the chances that virus you mentioned spread t’ here?”

I shook my head. “I sealed it in the network back up there, and since we haven’t run into security mechs yet, I doubt it got down here.”

“Then that’s where we should go next.” Firestorm added, moving towards the exit. “If it’s the central security station, then maybe there are some undamaged cameras to give us an idea what really happened down here.”

“Lets just take it slow this time.” Dexter cautioned. “I’d rather not have to deal with any more of those things anyway, virus or not. We could just as easily piss them off on our own.”

Dexter glanced at South, and I found my gaze following his. We stared at her for a moment in silence, before she noticed. She gave us crooked stare right back. “Whut are ya lookin’ at me fer? Ah ain’t th’ only one who’s caused a ruckus down here. Ah heard that concussive round o’ Firestorm’s from across the mine.”

I broke my gaze and trotted away towards Firestorm and the exit. “Yea, but lets just try to tone it down. I don’t want to have this mine come crumbling down on us while we’re still down here.”

South grumbled something inaudible behind me as I walked past Firestorm and stepped out into the hallways of the processing plant. The next room was similar to the previous one, the only difference being the large smelting furnace on one side. From the layout, this room looked like it was used to dispose of the unsatisfactory ores into a large smelting furnace that took up the far side of the room.

The rest of my friends followed behind me quickly, matching my pace past the machinery. This processing plant was an impressive undertaking. Even South was awestruck by it all. Her eyes peered around wildly, filled with wonderment and awe at the equipment. I guessed that she would have loved to send some of it home to help her family’s business. Maybe we could work out a deal when we saved an entire facilities worth of employees. If we saved them.

I picked up the pace, moving ahead through the halls until we finally left the central core of the processing plant. The rooms became more spacious, but had little in the way of different . Piles of discarded crates and drilling equipment were lain around the room, near a giant blast door on the farthest side.

“That has to be the way out of the plant.”

“Looks like it,” Firestorm responded hesitantly. “Seems too easy though.”

South chuckled, moving towards the terminal beside the door. “Lighten up Storm. Even if somethin’ happens, we can deal with it.”

She tapped on the console, but nothing happened. She tried again, holding the button down down, but still the door refused to open. The room groaned with the strain of hydraulic pistons, but nothing apparent changed in the room as the sound continued for a short while and suddenly died.

“Is it locked?” Dexter inquired.

“Don’t ya think Ah could tell iffin’ the blasted thing wuz locked? It don’t say it is, so it isn’t!”

“Then why isn’t it opening?” Firestorm quipped sarcastically.

I walked over to the door during their little spat, noticing a very familiar pattern bored into the seam of the door. The metal had warped over it, sealing the door shut completely. I touched it with my hooves, feeling the remnants of warmth.

South grunted as she tried more buttons. “Maybe it broken, or the hydraulics are-”

“Its welded shut,” I interrupted.

Dexter walked beside me “Looks like somepony doesn’t want us getting through here.” He gave me an expectant glance. “Think you can get through this, Shepard?”

I smirked back at him, bringing up my omni tool. I looked for an older function that would serve my purpose just fine. Activating the device, my tool began emitting a bright yellow glow as the plasma cutter came to life. I tested it against the metal with a errant swipe, slicing through the metal like butter.

“Yea, I think I can do this just fine.” I replied glibly.

I sunk the heated blade into the metal, tearing apart the door. The others paced around the room, doing soldier things I imagined as I focused on my task. I enjoyed the simplicity of my work, at least. It was nice to be able to do something without somepony shooting at you for a change.

I heard something fall over behind me. I stopped briefly to turn around, seeing South standing in front of an overturned box. She looked back at me, shrugging. “Wasn’t me,” she drawled. I shrugged in reply, returning to the door.

“Hey guys, look at this.” Firestorm called out. I ignored the interruption this time, letting them deal with it. Whatever it was, I was certain they could manage without me. I heard the trotting hooves of the other two moving towards where Firestorm was.

“What is it?” Dexter asked.

“It is, was, a security mech, I think.”

“It’s been sliced into t’ pieces though!” South exclaimed.

“I’m more worried about the fact that we didn’t do this.”

An eerie quiet descended on the room, as the truth of the matter slowly began to sink in. I felt the need to stop what I was doing to glance worriedly around the room.

“We’re not alone in here.”

I heard the the charging of their weapons as they moved into defensive positions around the door. I looked back behind me. They had split up, and were scanning the room slowly. They searched the darkened corners carefully, but did not seem to be finding anything dangerous. With them on point, I felt safe enough to at least return to opening the door, as long as I continued to listen to the four pairs of hoofsteps pacing around the room.

Wait, four? I perked up an ear, listening carefully to the echoes of the room. Somewhere very near by, was a fourth source of hoofsteps. I turned to my left, only seeing Dexter, peering around a set of narrow corners extending into dimly lit sides of the room. Behind me I saw Firestorm who had jumped onto a tall crate, looking around from a high perch, while South patrolled quietly beneath her. There was nothing else. Relieved, I turned back to cutting through the metal.

And was face to face with a robotic eye.

I reared back from the door in fright. I tried to shout something, but the immediate presence of a potential hostile robbed me of that ability. The ‘head’ of the creature in front of me was bent at an unnatural angle, as its eye shifted at me curiously. The rest of its slender and twisted body was somehow attached to the door itself, above the section where I had been cutting. It bent its head at me in a strange manner, before it began to emit a familiar sound.

Its eye began to glow a bright red, and an ear splitting hum filled the air. I tried to back away, but the machine detached one of its limbs from the wall and grabbed my leg. I had no time to move, no time to ready my weapon. The only thing I had available to me was...my plasma cutter. At this realization, my foreleg reacted involuntarily, swiping up at the droid holding me down. I screamed as I plunged the molten hot cutter directly into its head, severing it in half.

The Geld released a rain of sparks and loud digital screams. One by one its limbs lost grip on the wall and its limp body slid slowly to the ground. It clattered to the ground in front of me, unmoving.The others ran up to me, all stopping close enough to observe the thing that just tried to kill me.

“Stalkers!” Firestorm hissed.

I turned around to look at her, hoping she would explain exactly what a ‘stalker’ was, when I noticed a series of similar lights blinking into existence like stars on the canvas of night. Whenever one light appeared, two more accompanied it almost immediately. My eyes widened at the spawning spots in the dark, prompting worried looks from my friends before turning around to see what I did. I heard one of them curse under their breath as the lights steadily filled the room. They backed slowly towards me, weapons ready as they formed a perimeter around me.

“So...” South said quietly. “Whut’s the plan?”

“Well,” Dexter said, shrugging. “I’ll get the half dozen down the middle, if you two can get the dozen on the left and right.”

“Good enough for me.” Firestorm replied fiercely. “Hey South?”

“Yea?”

Firestorm swiveled her rifle upwards. A single shot fired, sailing through the air towards the closest Geld, piercing the small synthetic right through its head. The projectile ripped through the tiny ‘skull’ of the creature, tearing out a sizable amount of circuitry and scattering it in all directions. She laughed at her kill as the fragile machine fell over, before exchanging a glance with South, who just stared on in confusion.

“That’s one,” she said through an impish grin.

South’s eyes widened further, before the statement clicked something in her mind. I could see the gears of her competitive mind linking together, returning the grin back to her rival.

“Oh it is on!” She shouted, before opening fire at the lights looming in front of her.

The two mares opened fire into the shadows, at the glowing optics of the now leaping stalkers, who jumped from surface to surface, narrowly avoiding the torrent of weapon fire trained on them. Dexter stepped back, his head following the rapid movements of the Geld drones within his section of the room.

He grabbed his rifle wordlessly in his magic, floating it in front of him. With a flick of his hoof, the weapon began to spin in steadily hastening revolutions, making several spins in the matter of seconds. I stared at the spinning weapon as it became nothing more than a whirling blur in front of me, as Dexter continued increasing his focus.

The stalkers before him left the safety of the shadows, moving steadily towards him, oblivious or unconcerned with the revolving assault rifle hovering mere feet away from the motionless Lieutenant. The closer they approached, the faster the weapon seemed to spin, whistling in mid air as its rotations increased. Once the stalkers were close enough, their eyes began to glow , as their own weapons preparing to fire.

But before a single one of them could react, Dexter made his move. His gun, in the fraction of a second, flew towards the group of Geld. The rifle bashed into the first stalker, caving in its armored head. Its neck bent over with a sickening snap. It blurted a garbled digital noise as the lights on its shell went dark and its entire body went limp. The telekinetic fury did not end there as Dexter sent his flying weapon into another stalker and then another, before he smashed each of them into crumpled bits.

“Just get that door open, we’ll be fine.” He grinned at me before he turned his head to a loud crash from the other side of the room.

A crate on the far side fell over, inviting a whole new set of geld into the room, as Dexter charged forward with his rifle astride him, firing wildly into the mess of synthetics. South and Firestorm were still engrossed in their own combat, shouting back head counts between them. I doubted that I would be able to add anything to the fight, so I obliged Dexters suggestion, and returned to opening the blasted blast door.

Even with the gunfire surrounding me, it was getting noticeably easier to work under pressure. The work itself wasn’t particularly difficult, considering the amount I managed to get done before being interrupted in the first place. I hadn’t found a metal yet that didn’t yield to hot plasma, and I managed to get through quickly.

I turned away from the door over to the console, glancing at the fight developing without me. South and Firestorm had racked up an impressive amount of Geld bodies between them, as well as Dexter. But the stalkers seemed to be endless as they continuously entered the room from every possible entrance they could find. Even with the rate the others were felling them, they would overtake us soon in this small room. I needed to get that door open.

I swatted the console, hoping that my effort was not futile. The door groaned slightly, still somewhat sticky from the previous welding, but the powerful hydraulics managed to tear the door open. Everypony glanced at the sound, but continued their assault against our attackers. They started to slowly back towards the exit and with their focus elsewhere, I decided to take the initiative to go through first, at least to ensure where we were going was at least marginally safer.

The hallways outside were empty, thankfully, but looked like they would only be a temporary solution to our problem. Being boxed in a small storage room was not conducive to our survival however, and an empty hallway could at least turn into an advantageous choke point if we somehow manage to work in in our favor.. I turned back to the rest of my friends, who still had yet to break off from their defensive line.

“Guys, it might be a good time to run.”

Dexter glanced back at me, then gave an appraising look at our situation. “Shepard’s right, we need to get out of here.”

South stomped the ground suddenly. Her rifle looked like it was folding back into its holstered position, but instead reconfigured into something with a much larger barrel. There was a gleeful look in her eyes as she took aim near the center of the room, and fired. A round orb shot from the weapon, bouncing along the ground towards the gaggle of approaching Geld. The rainbow colored sphere spun in place, going unnoticed by the stalkers who merely trod past it.
South was the first to dash from the room past me. She turned back to us with an impatient look. “Well are we goin’ or stayin’ fer the fireworks?”

Dexter was next to follow her, leaving Firestorm to pace out of the room with a smaller sense of urgency. Once she crossed the doorway, I mashed the door console, closing it as fast as I could, before joining my friends in their mad dash away from the impending explosion.

“What’s the matter?” Firestorm questioned. “Its just a grenade.”

A loud, thundering explosion rattled the ground beneath us. Smoke began to billow from the cracks and holes that had been melted along the doorframe that was no longer securely fastened to the wall. Firestorm stumbled from the immense shock from being so close to the point of origin, almost tripping and landing on her face. She turned back to the door, then back to us with a horrified look on her face.

South smiled, tossing her head in a victorious motion. Her scarlet mane danced about her face as she shot Firestorm the smuggest look I had ever seen in my life. “So, how many was that?”

We lost the stalkers on the far side of the complex. It was a long run, and they were almost on our tails the entire time. The little bastards were fast, capable of jumping from wall to wall easily to keep up with us around every corner. The narrow hallways helped us a bit in that regard, allowing us to slip out of their sight long enough to elude them. Now we were hunkered down in a small control station that maintained the automated systems of the processing plant.

The others stayed close to the entrance of the small office to recuperate from our hard gallop. I busied myself with the map trying to figure out where to go from here. We weren’t too far off course, but with those things out there it was going to make getting where we needed to go much harder. I sighed wearily at the increasing complications of the day, wondering what else was going to come along.

“Where to next, Shepard?”

I looked over to the others. Firestorm was the least fatigued, mostly because she flew behind us giving us covering fire while we ran. She stood up away from the doorway to come over to me and look at the map herself. I shifted the image to point out where we were exactly, and where we needed to go to get to the security station, and hopefully, our answers.

“The security office doesn’t look that far from here. Think we should make a break for it?”

“Maybe,” Dexter commented. “But lets let things calm down a bit. If they don’t know where we are then we can take a minute to breathe. I’d rather not run into more stalkers along the way.”

“T’aint like those things are hard t’ kill,” South panted.

“There are more of them out there than there is of us, South. And we’re exhausted. We
need to catch our breath South, even you.”

South shrugged, and went back to looking out into the hallway. Dexter was the next to walk over to me and observe the map. “Does it look like theres a route with cover so we can get there without getting shot at anymore?”

“Maybe,” I replied. The map showed a host of similar hallways that made up the majority of the processing facility. Only a few of them led from where we were to where we wanted to go, and most of them would have been right along the route that the Geld were chasing us. Only one seemed marginally safe, but
I doubted they would stay that way for long.

“We can cut through this section of the factory here.” I pointed to a narrow section of the platform running along the edge of the floor. It was out of the way, and we could use it to go straight towards the security station and the elevator down, but another narrow room could be the death of us if any of these Geld managed to catch us there.

“Its not far, maybe a few minutes at a fast pace. And if we don’t get caught on the way, the security hub looks fortified. Might even have some weapons we can use against them there.”

He shook his head in apprehension. “If its the best we got, then we should take the chance now while they don’t know where we are.”

“Then let’s do it now.” Firestorm moved back to the door, opening it slowly. It was quiet outside, but I could hear in the distance the clattering of metal hooves. The stalkers were around, but not near enough to cause us worry. For now.

I got up and walked over towards the door with Dexter. South poked her head out, looking down the hallway in both directions. She motioned towards the right with her hoof, looking at me. “Its thata way right?” I nodded.

“Then let’s go. Try an’ keep up.”

She slipped out of the door quickly, darting to the right and straddling the wall slowly. I followed behind her, letting Dexter and Firestorm form up behind me. At least in the middle, I wasn’t immediately responsible for watching our flanks for ambushes, not that I didn’t keep an eye out anyways. Following behind South also seemed like a safer alternative, unless something were to provoke her. Then I would most likely end up being roped into keeping her safe from whatever trouble she got herself into.

We kept our single file line short, moving in bursts around corners and keeping a steady pace. Every corner we advanced, the sound of Geld moved further away, sometimes completely silent. Although the stalkers had avoided detection at first, they seemed to be fully intent on scouring for us now, and might not bother with keeping quiet anymore. Hopefully.

The narrow section we moved through had seen little use recently. The rooms were almost stripped bare of any useable materials of equipment. The walls were rough with hewn scorch marks and welding scars, as well as the large scratches carved into the sides. Vacant spots on the ground glimmered dully in the dim light, showing that something once had occupied that space, but was now moved elsewhere, revealing the clean, unexposed surface beneath.

The emptiness made it easy to move through unhindered, and we finally made it to our first useable destination. The security office was indeed a heavily fortified structure. Large plated walls covered the exterior, allowing for a single door on its front side. It had windows, but they were lined with metal bars for reinforcement. If there were any weapons in there, we might actually make it out of this alive.

“Well, that looks cozy,” Firestorm remarked.

“Any port n’ a storm.” South replied snarkily.

I moved to the front of the group and across the empty distance between us and the station. “As long as we can get some answers about what happened here.”

“Wait,” Dexter hissed. “Do you hear that?”

I stopped about halfway across, perking up my ears to take in the sounds. Far away, there was a chorus of marching hooves. The distinct noises reached far across the facility, echoing of metal. It seems that there were even more Geld down here than we thought, and they were getting closer.

“Let’s get inside.” I dashed over to the door, beckoning the rest of them to follow quickly. I darted inside, coming into a antechamber of sorts. It appeared to be a lobby, with a small cubicled desk on the far side enclosed by glass. The only other door was shut, and after walking over to it, I found out that it was also very tightly locked. Cubicle desk it is then.

The others made their way into the room as I accessed the computer. They shut the door behind them, but it did not muffle the sound of approaching Geld as much as I would have liked. This office had access to many monitors at once, but as I opened each one, I discovered that they were all showing nothing but static.

“Dammit!” I slammed my hoof on the desk in anger.

“What is it, Shepard?” Dexter left South and Firestorm to guard the door, coming over to me.

“The cameras are broken. Either the feeds are broken or someone broke the cameras, but either way, we got nothing.”

Dexter examined the screens as I had been. “What about the saved footage? Maybe something got missed.”

I discarded the useless monitors, and salvaged through the days backlog, hoping something had been left alone from the virus that had ruined our day so thoroughly. Some files had survived, but whether or not they were useful, had yet to be seen. I brought up the earliest timestamp, labeled sometime earlier this morning.

A full set of active monitors came to life, showing me a full range of sight throughout the entire facility. The screens all showed a lively and active factory operation, with dozens of working ponies milling about their business as usual. Nothing seemed out of place, but this recording was from much earlier than South’s estimation, so it was unlikely that anything interesting would happen.

“What is she doing?”
Dexter was staring intently at one particular monitor. A quick scan of the room it was showing reminded me of the office we had been in on the second floor. It was practically the way we had left it, save for the mysterious mare that was sitting at the desk. Her white clothing did not seem to match any of the other employees of the facility from the other pictures, but she could just as easily have been a civilian or other staff. She was doing something on the computer, looking every so often at the door with sharp, panicky glances.

“I think we found out who planted that virus, Shepard.”

“Probably.” The mare quickly finished whatever it was that she was doing on the computer, shutting it down and head towards the exit. Just before she left however, she turned back into the room, staring directly at the camera. At this angle, we could see that this mare was a Unicorn. She shook her head, a look of sadness in her eyes, before she exited the room and vanished.

“Was that who I think it was?”

“The mysterious Lady Midnight? Maybe.”

“Does she show up anywhere else?”

I skipped through the sections of footage, jumping ahead minutes at a time. As the timestamp climbed, sections of feeds began winking out. One by one less and less of the facility became visible through the security hub, until only the core system cameras were left. At the final set of footage, only a hooffull of cameras were still working, albeit fuzzy and unclear. The functioning cameras seemed to be all focused on the same area from different angles. A large group was standing in an enclosed area that I was not familiar with with loud sirens playing in the background. Many, if not all the employees were standing together, squaring off against a smaller group of armed soldiers.

A large furry mass lumbered into the frame, flanked on both sides by two equally large Geld destroyers. The Manticore was saying something, but the cameras did not pick anything up over the wailing alarms. From the group of miners, a lone mare stepped forward out of the crowd and walked over beside the Manticore. It was the same Unicorn from before, but her head was hung down low as she walked over dejectedly. The forepony was shouting at her, but she continued until she left the view of the cameras.

The Manticore turned and left as well, signaling his subordinates to do something with a flick of his barbed tail. The destroyers began to advance on the unarmed civilians, but did not fire on them. Instead they continued trudging ponderously towards them, until the frightened mine workers began to back away in fright away from their pursuers and out of sight.

It was about then that the remainder of the saved footage failed, completing the display of static and haze over the entire network. Dexter said nothing as he got up and walked back to the door.

“Dexter?”

“That footage was from the next floor down, and it was from less than an hour ago before the security system failed completely. We need to go. Now.” He made an attempt to leave the room, but Firestorm stopped him.

“Are you sure that is wise, Lieutenant? We have no idea what’s out there, or if they are still alive.”
“If they wanted the civilians dead, the destroyers would have fired on them. They let them go.”

Firestorm’s hold on Dexter faltered. “I suppose that is something. But there’s still no need to rush in head long without a plan.”

“Hey.” South added, but to deaf ears.

“Time is something we or they don’t have. The elevator down isn’t far, and the floor below won’t be much bigger than this one. If we hurry then maybe...”

“Guys...”

“I understand your desire to save them, I want to get out there too. But Artemis definitely has his hooves in this, and he won’t make this easy. We need a plan that doesn't involve us getting killed for nothing, and-”

“Landsakes, will you two SHUT IT?!” South hissed. “Listen!”

I rushed over to the door, joining in listening for whatever South had noticed. In the distance, rapidly approaching was the sound of charging hooves. The three of traded worried looks, then looked at me. The decision was obvious, although I wished I wasn’t the one making it.

“We’re going. Now. I don’t want to be around when those stalkers get here.”

No pony bothered offer a counter argument. So we bolted for the nearby elevator, hoping it would offer us a better sanctuary than here.

The temperature took a noticeable upturn as we waded into the fourth floor of the complex. The geothermal power plant wasn’t so much a marvel to behold as it was an enormous pain in the flank to trot through with the exhausting waves of heat emitted by the large steel pipes that lined the walls. Even with my armored suit, the intense heat pierced through it effortlessly, drenching me in sweat and sapping what little stamina was left in me.

We had not slowed down from the elevator, fearing that the Geld were still in hot pursuit, and the constant running was taking its toll on me even faster in this hazardous environment. I was trailing the group, with the others slowly gaining distance ahead of me. None of them seemed as affected by the heat as I was. Dexter in particular moved with zealous fervor as he plowed ahead of the group, dashing around corners recklessly. One particular corner, though, forced him to a stop. We all caught up to him, waiting for him to explain his sudden halt.

It was just another hallway, lined with pipes and other slabs of steel holding the various machinery of the plant together, although it did seem familiar.

“This is the hallway from the security vid.”

I looked down the hallway critically, trying to piece it together in my mind and view it from different angles. Dexter was right. There was no mistaking this stretch of hallway from earlier, and if that was the case, then...

“The civilians were routed this way then. C’mon.” Dexter was off again, and with no other say in the matter we continued chasing after him. Being in the back, I was at least trying to keep an ear out if anything was following us. Aside from the sound of hissing steam and the rumble of the pressurized pipes, I didn’t hear anything threatening.

The pipes embedded in the walls seemed to be winding together, all converging towards the same place, a place we appeared to be running towards. I glanced at my map as I ran along, showing that we were heading towards what looked like the heart of the power station. The display hinted that the room was a large portion of the level, even extending down below the platform into the shaft underneath us.

“Whoa!” Dexter shouted.

My attention returned as Dexter nearly screeched to a halt as he turned a corner, only to leap back behind it. He tried to mask his heavy breathing as he peered cautiously around the corner.

“I found the destroyers.” He said dryly.

The rest of us took turns looking around the corner. Standing in a pair on the far end of a long and winding hall was indeed the two destroyers from earlier. They stood ominously beside a heavy blast door, which I assumed was the entrance to the central power station. Why they were guarding it though, was mostly obvious at this point. I hoped.

“Bits to bite’s the civies are in there.” South remarked.

“Yea, but it seems too easy...” Firestorm cautioned.

“Who said two destroyers would be easy?” Dexter added. “We could barely handle one on Equestria Prime.”

“Ah might have another grenade in here somewheres.” South began poking her head into her saddle bag, but I stopped her sharply. “I think one of those is enough for today South. We need something that won’t blow this place to pieces around us.”

“I doubt you could hack one of them to attack the other?” Firestorm asked me.

I shook my head. “If I could do that, we wouldn’t have been running from the stalkers. There’s something about their coding that makes it difficult to hack them. I barely managed to overtake those drone things for more than a few seconds.”

“Well, then all we got are guns. So it seems like an obvious plan.” South reared up, preparing her weapon for combat. The others, seeing that Souths' course of thought was the only option we had, readied theirs as well. I grudgingly prepped my pistol as well , not looking forward to a head own fight with these things. If my friends were ready for a fight, then I had to be too, and at least I could play a support role if I had to.

South took Dexters place on the wall, pressing herself against it. She inched her out around the edge, taking a personal stock of the situation. She turned back, her eyes darting and narrowing as the insanity of her mind pieced together what I hoped was at least a survivable plan. Whether she was ready or not, she leapt out into the hall and began firing, with us following right behind her.

The destroyers were slow to respond from the initial onslaught, but slowly began to make their way towards us. The massive cannons attached to their sides began to glow brightly as they fired massive bolts of plasma in our directions with little accuracy. Their lack of aim was a shallow tradeoff with ours though, as out shots managed to hit more than a few times, but had little effect on the lumbering synthetics as they trotted unflinchingly towards us.

It was a battle of unmatched equals as our various weapons sent their projectiles back and forth along the room, neither side making any headway. Suddenly, a stray shot struck very near to South, who only barely managed to dodge it directly. She heaved sideways with a grunt, sliding across the slick metal ground to safety as the plasma ate the spot where she was moments ago. Her stance widened, head lowered as she stared down the metal monstrosity that so very nearly ended her life, as a faint blue aura crackled and died around her.

“Darn it!” she cursed. “Mah shields are gone!”

If a shot at that proximity took out her shields, I did not want to see one without them. Dodging the destroyers was getting increasingly difficult the closer we got to them, and South was our front runner in leading their shots away from the rest of us. I had managed to get pretty far without worrying about dodging a hit, so my shields we doing just fine. Fine enough, maybe, to let somepony else use them.

While I contemplated my stupid, stupid idea, I brought up my shield interface, pointing my omni tool directly at South. Ignoring the self preservation part of my brain, I sent a surge of energy to replenish the damaged shield of my friend, and then some. A field of solid blue surrounded South, who began looking around in confusion. When her eyes met mine, she knew what I had done. A smile flashed across her muzzle.

“Thanks Shepard!” she shouted, and continued charging with renewed gusto.

One problem averted, I took another look at the unfolding fight, Dexter and Firestorm had taken their positions, and both traded shooting and moving to avoid getting hit themselves. The pegasus laid out an entire volley of shots from her powerful rifle, but none of had any effect on the Geld. She angrily retracted her weapon, dodging another bolt of ordinance.

“Their armor is too thick!” she grated. “I can’t get a clean shot!”

I looked at the destroyers again. Their armoring was very imposing on them, and was probably the main reason why they moved so slowly. Dexter had managed to knock one over before, but I had no intention in letting him get too close to a pair of them, or dealing with the strain to his powers again should he overexert himself. I needed something better. As it stood now, all our shots ricocheted off harmlessly, flying into the nearby walls.

As I inched forward, something drifted past my nose. It was a strong smell, that reeked of sulfur and unprocessed fuels. Looking at the pipes, I noticed that some of them weren’t solely for moving steam and molten earth to power the plant. Some of them had to have been carrying magnesium to stabilize the unsafe chemicals in the processing plant. And one of our stay shots had punctured a valve. Another insane plan found its way into my head, one that would have made even South proud. I strafed away from the wall, as too get a clear shot, knowing that I was putting myself as a much more hittable target.

“South!” I shouted. “Get back!”

She looked back to me angrily. “Ah’m kinda busy here!” She dodged another close range shot, retaliating with a few rounds from her gun.

“Just do it. And get ready to cover your eyes. All of you!”

I didn’t give any of them a chance to question what I was doing, only allowing a few seconds for South to get moving. When I thought she was far enough away, I powered up my plasma cutter and fired the blade directly into the pipe strewn wall. The heated edge sunk into the metal, the silicon film quickly dissolving as the molten instrument cut through the steel piping. A silvery liquid began spraying out of the rupture, arching nearly across the hall in a shimmering glow. Seeing the fruits of my labor, there was only one remaining step.

“Firestorm, light it up!”

I covered my eyes and ears as a single shot whizzed through the air, striking the broken pipes. The resulting spark did exactly as I wanted, filling the hallway with a blindingly bright surge of light and sound. A wave of heat rippled outwards, washing over us as the force of the explosion nearly knocked me to the ground.

As I skidded away from the impact zone, I steadily uncovered my eyes, taking in the new scene with amusement. The source of the explosion had sealed itself from the sheer heat of the ignited chemicals, crudely bending and warping the metals together into a single mass. The ground had been charred black and silver as the paint and treatments done to it had been scorched away. None of these results were nearly as interesting though, as what happened to the destroyers.

There were still standing, surprisingly. While they still seemed to be functional, they also appeared to be in the middle of melting. Their outer plating of armor had turned to the consistency of butter, and was flowing off them just as quickly, running off their frail shells onto the ground. Their hooves had fused to the floor, and tried in vain to lift or move in any way. Thirty one thousand degrees can do a lot of interesting things; namely make all that fancy armor plating as useful as paper.

I tried to gauge the reactions of my friends, though the results were mixed. South being closest seemed more focused in clearing the effects of the explosion from her ears and eyes. Dexter and Firestorm though, seemed to reflect confusion and uncertainty.

I trotted towards the disabled Geld, observing my work up close. Their outer layer was fusing together due to the intense heat, and once it cooled would solidify into a single mass of metal, rendering them harmless. Their eyes seemed to be the only thing still working, as the lens swiveled around its head at me. It made a few digital noises, but if they tried to convey anything intelligent to me, it went unheard. The others slowly approached, taking tentative steps towards the hulking soldiers.

“I don’t they will be hurting anypony else anytime soon.” I walked past the frozen destroyers and headed for the door they were guarding. “Let’s hope they were guarding what we thought they were.”

I waved my omni-tool at the console connected to the door, breaking through the simple lock easily. The door hissed as its locks disengaged and slid open. We all stood moved in front of the opening door, hopeful that we had made at least one positive step in this day. Well, mostly hopeful. South still had her gun readied, and Firestorm was hunched over, ready to pounce.

The room was dark, reeking of warmth and fear. As the door went silent, the sound of whispers and hushed conversation carried through the air to our ears. The faint light from the hallway cast itself into the room reflecting off of the eyes of dozens of silhouettes. The dark figures moved away from the door as we approached to the threshold.

A single shadowed shape stepped away from the darkness of the room. As it entered the light from behind us, we saw that it was an Earth Pony. He was a grizzled individual, with downcast eyes. His coat was matted with sweat, and breaths were shallow. We walked slowly towards us, an uncertain expression on his face.

“It’s ok,” I said. “You’re safe now.”

His expression went unchanged. “So the asteroid is gone?”

I exchanged looks with my friends, who were as confused as I was. “You knew about the asteroid?”

He nodded slowly. “Of course. That Sleipnir warned us about it. Artemis I think it was.”

My skin crawled at hearing that name, as well as worry at the possibility that we were too late. “Artemis was here? Did he get the relic?”

He looked confused. “What relic? He didn’t mention anything about a relic, only the asteroid.”

“And Artemis...warned you about it?” My voice trailed out slowly, disbelief tripping over my words.

“Yea. He came to us a few days ago, claiming that we were in danger. He asked us for our most skilled miners to assist him in dealing with it, while the rest of us evacuate.” He turned back to the others hiding in the shadows behind him. “The most of us left already, but some of us stayed to supply the diggers with materials if they needed it.”

He looked out into the hall behind us, straight at the two Geld standing in the hall. “Then these...pirates show up, disable our security and...” His eyes went wide suddenly. “They took Emmy!”

“Who?"

“Emmy, our staff doctor. The kindest Unicorn you would ever meet, and they took her!”

My mind reeled at the conflicting stories and intentions being explained to me. There was way too many inconsistencies to deal with, and with the possible threat of Geld stalkers finding us, dealing with it here was not the best idea. I turned on my radio, signaling the Normanedy.

“Pipsqueak, do you read?”

His voice replied immediately. “Yea, Shepard. What’s up?”

“We need a lift, there’s been a change of plans.”

Engineer Skills unlocked: Plasma Bolt