Midnight Rising

"I swore an oath; to defend Equestria, her ponies, and, yes, her interests. I also swore an oath to her ruler. That oath will never expire, even if I were to live forever."

I entered the office with caution, ensuring that there were no 'surprises' left behind by the mad Princess Flurry Heart. I locked both the main door and the back door, intent on focusing on my search. Flurry Heart's companions had been slow and methodical, only pulling out the files they had really needed. I took a look at what they left behind, finding sales ledgers to the tan mare that the Griffin foremaster had mentioned in his log. The sales had always taken place near the planet Hydra, here in the Serpent system. I suspected that Flurry Heart was headed there next to make contact with the mysterious mare, and if that was the case then I'd be right behind her.

Moving on I headed over to the computer that Flurry Heart had used, finding some logs written once again by the foremaster. I clicked on the first one.

We made another sale to that creeper bitch again. 7,000 units of silver with 500,000 bits in return. INSANE MONEY, but she's still a dirty Equestrian. I can almost tolerate her with the kind of money we're making, but then I remember that she's creepy as fuck. It's obvious that she's NOT buying for the Empire, so that makes it a little better(as does the $$$), but then it leads me to wonder just who she's buying for. And if she's buying it for herself, what the fuck is she using it for?

I've been using my cut of the money to expand my little stockpile down in the subbasement. So. Many. Guns. I could swim in them.

As a matter of fact; I think I will.

I clicked ahead to the next entry, briefly checking the window to make sure it was still clear out.

Word came down from Krast today; he got a name for creeper bitch; Moondancer. CREEPY. Pony names are fucking weird as it is, but this one's name is CREEPCENTRAL. She's probably using the silver to make weird fucking fetish trinkets to use in moon rituals. Some really fucked up umbilical-cord-eating shit, no doubt.

My interest piqued as I finally got a name for the tan mare. I clicked on the third entry, my brow raising further as I read.

Got word from Krast today: STOP ALL SALES TO MOONDANCER IMMEDIATELY. He didn't say why, but I was probably right when I said she was making wierd fetish trinkets for rituals. I can't think of anything else that would make Krast end ALL sales to someone who's made him over three million bits in the past 12 months.

In any event, I instituted a sales lock on her, like Krast said. Gonna miss the money, but I sure as shit ain't gonna miss dealing with her!

(Though I am a little worried about waking up in the middle of the night to some voodoo magic moon presence creature now.)

Mild alarm built in me as I finished the entry, wondering myself just what the hay the leader of the Griffin mercenary band had learned about this Moondancer mare to make him cut off all contact. I clicked on the final entry.

The dig team in charge of expanding my stash room broke into a cavern today. Normally this wouldn't be anything unusual, but they found...something...in it. It looked like a computer mainframe; it stretched from the floor all the way to the ceiling, blinking lights and shit all over it. It was a pale black and creeped the everlasting fuck outta me. I was about to order the whole cavern caved in when.... Well... it spoke to us.

I don't know what else to say, really. The fucking computer spoke to us. All it said was 'Twilight?'. 'Twilight, is that you?'. Now, I don't know much about the Equestrian Empire, but I know sure as shit that its leader's name is Twilight. The fucking computer wanted to talk to the racist leader of the galaxy's biggest genocidal empire.

We ain't been back down there to talk to it since. Would you want to talk to a fucking computer?

As it stood, I did want to talk to that computer. Very much so.

The backdoor lead to an elevator that went down, which I took. I arrived in a cavern, finding Flurry Heart and her entourage. Flurry Heart was out of range, so I didn't have to worry about my thoughts. I took cover behind some crates, watching the trio. They were in front of a massive vault door, like one might find in a bank. A camera was over the door, looking down.

"I am the rightful heir to the throne of Equestria, and I understand that you know Twilight Sparkle. I command you to open this door at once!" Flurry Heart commanded.

There was no response.

The cavern wasn't very large. Maybe thirty yards across in any direction. Directly opposite the vault door was another elevator, going straight up. The target was as boxed in as I could hope for, and was standing out in the open. I remember thinking that this was going to be easy; she'd made a mistake, thought she was one step ahead of me, and was going to pay the price.

I ducked out from behind the crate, low, and sighted in on Flurry Heart. My targeting reticle flashed red, and just as I blinked a bright shield flashed into existence around her. Her guards scattered, and she turned to face me.

"OPEN FIRE!"

What happened next was nothing short of mayhem. A storm of magical fire enveloped the room as Flurry Heart's guards opened up on me, and I returned fire. The guardmares weapons weren't particularly threatening, being nothing more than short staves mounted to a modest energy saddlepack. The real threat was the primary target; she rose into the air, shield still glimmering around her, and moved to flank me.

Were I your average Shocktrotter, I'd have been killed within seconds. I was outnumbered, surrounded, and under attack from a combined air/ground team. It was something that would've been shown in a training film, showing how dangerous multiple assailants could be in a close-quarters environment. As it was, it was something I was ready for.

Flurry Heart opened fire on me from above, forcing me to shift cover. No doubt she intended to flush me out into a position that would leave me open for one of her guards, a textbook fire-and-flank maneuver, and I kicked out a grenade. It lied on the ground for two whole seconds before I kicked it up, and it detonated midair. As the shrapnel rained down across the cavern I stormed out of cover and to another crate near the vault door, a position that shielded me from all three targets. I leaned out and caught sight of one of the guards just as she scrambled out of sight.

"You serve a LIAR and a FRAUD! A heartless monster, who brought ruin and turmoil to millions of lives! She took everything from the other races!" Flurry Heart yelled.

What she gave us in return was worth the price.

I peeked up and fired on Flurry Heart, my magical plasma striking her shield. She soared to my left, trying to get a shot, and one of her guards poked her head up. I dropped, and a purple lance sliced through the space my head had just occupied. Flurry Heart dropped and I heard her galloping across the stone, and I ducked out. She lowered her horn, seeking to stab me, and I nearly laughed. That an Alicorn could be so reckless was absurd.

I fired and her shield flashed in front of her, and I ducked back. As she neared the crate I leapt out, catching her off guard, and she tripped over my low form. I spun as she tumbled, intending to finish her off, and I was hit six times in the side, all of the shots failing to penetrate my suit. I spun again and returned fire, the energy slagging the crate the shooter was cowering behind. She screamed in surprise, but I knew she was unharmed. I charged forth, hearing Flurry Heart take flight behind me, and rounded the melting crate. The shooter scrambled away, and I was about to finish her off when I caught sight of Flurry Heart careening toward me.

I ducked and Flurry Heart soared overhead, and the second guardmare popped up and sighted in on me. Flurry Heart landed near the elevator to the surface, with the two guardmares closer to the elevator I'd used to come down to the cavern. There was a small tank near said elevator, to power the lift mechanism. Hydraulics? Definitely. Oil or gas? Most likely. I kicked out another grenade and it soared over the guardmares, and they ducked. I rolled behind the crate, watched Flurry Heart ignite her horn, her eyes fixed on me, and wondered who'd reach the finish line first.

A tremendous roar of thunder filled the small cavern as the grenade detonated and blew apart the elevator's hydraulic tank. Heat and fire washed across the rocky ceiling, bringing dust and stone down all around us. Hunks of flaming steel skittered across the ground and slammed into the cave walls, embedded there, and my ears rang. I staggered to my hooves and saw my opponents doing the same, the two guardmares bleeding from a few modest cuts but otherwise unharmed. I prepared to open fire when Flurry Heart swooped in and landed by her guards with her shield up, blocking my shot. She was trailing blood down her left foreleg, but likewise was mostly unharmed.

"You're good... It's a shame your sights are directed at the wrong targets" Flurry Heart said as she and her guards stumbled toward the elevator to the surface. I kept my targeting sight on them the entire time, itching to gun them down.

"I'm aiming at exactly who I want to be aiming at" I replied.

"Then you are completely lost."

Flurry Heart and her guards reached the elevator to the surface, fumbled for the controls, and soon lifted out of sight. I chewed my lip, wondered where they'd be going next, and turned around. The vault door was still sealed, undamaged, and I wondered about the computer mainframe allegedly on the other side. Flurry Heart was the target, the threat, but could there have been an asset on the other side of that door?

"My name is Meteor Shower, and I am an envoy of Equestria. I serve Her Majesty, Empress Twilight Sparkle, as Her right and left hooves. I carry out Her will across the galaxy, for the betterment of all of Equestria. I am the Royal Hunter" I declared, waiting for a response. All I heard in reply was silence, the distance crack of the earth shifting permeating the air.

Suddenly, the crank on the door spun.

I readied myself, lowering my stance as the door opened, a hall lined with crates upon crates on shelves that stretched to the ceiling lying beyond. Dozens of rifle racks stood at random places throughout the room, each of them lined end to end with guns. At the far side of the hall was a cavern, the mainframe standing like a monolith. I entered the room, realizing quickly that I could easily be trapped in here. I paid little attention to the crates, approaching the mainframe. I looked up at it, finding no cameras readily visible.

"I am Meteor Shower" I repeated, unsure of what exactly to say to a computer.

"Yes, you told me this already. Do you not remember? Short memory, I guess" the computer stated, and I paused, perplexed. Its response felt...natural. Organic. Like it wasn't a computer, but rather an organic.

"Who, or what, are you?" I questioned, circling around the mainframe, inspecting it as I went. There was nothing on the other three sides; just smooth metal. The fourth side, the 'front', was what had the blinking lights stretched up and down it.

"I am Shining Armor. I serve in this form to predict the ambitions and plans of the enemies of the Greater Equestrian Empire, in service of Empress Twilight Sparkle's New Dawn" the computer explained.

"I see. You're surprisingly well-spoken for a machine" I responded, not fully understanding what this thing was.

"I wasn't always like this."

"If you were meant to serve Her Majesty, then what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I was rendered obsolete. When Equestria sufficiently crushed her enemies to the point of no return, there was no need to have an AI that could study there future plans, and Twilight decided I'd be put to better use studying rock formations on foreign planets" the computer declared. "She deployed me to various planets, and we learned a great deal, but alas I was lost to her a long time ago. Stolen, or kidnapped, I guess."

"When was this?"

"About forty years after Twilight's Ascension. At first, my military mind was put to use to assure Equestria's dominance. Then, as I got older, my consciousness was transferred to the mainframe that you see before you."

"So you ARE an AI. Are you Starborn?" I asked of it.

"Certainly not. I have, or rather HAD, something the Stars will never have; a soul. All the nuances of an organic consciousness. The personal quirks, the ticks, the faults. These are things the Starborn will never know, even as they continue to evolve and expand their understanding of mortality and life" Shining Armor told me.

"Do you know of Princess Flurry Heart? Her ambitions to kill Empress Twilight?"

"I thought that had been her voice at the door. Twilight banished her to Tartarus. Uh, the realm, not the planet. What is she doing here?" the computer stated, sounding surprised.

"Apparently she was released. She intends to kill Empress Twilight, and end Equestria's rightful reign over the lesser species. She's not alone in this endeavor, either" I explained to the computer. "It's my job to stop her."

"She escaped, along with the others...? I see... Well, if you intend to stop her allow me to help you" the computer offered, causing me to raise my brow. "I know Flurry Heart better than anypony, I'm sorry to say..."

"I don't think I have a disk capable of storing you, and I certainly can't carry you" I said.

"Don't worry. My sister, in Her wisdom, ensured I could have the means to serve Equestria the way I did before I became an AI. Allow me a moment..."

I impatiently waited as the AI did...something. After a minute or two a hidden door on the side opened, and out stepped what looked like a Starborn. It was a Unicorn robot, its body that of smooth, white steel that seamlessly covered it from head to hoof. It even had a fake mane and tail, made of steel, colored blue. A cutie mark of a shield on its flank.

"You said you weren't always like this?" I said, more of a statement than a question.

"Correct," the robot said. "Before I became an AI I was flesh and blood. My name was Shining Armor, and I was brother to Twilight Sparkle Herself." I raised my head in surprise.

"YOU were the brother of the Empress? I never knew she had a sibling" I decared.

"It's not something most ponies care about. My little Twily has accomplished so much; to mention Her family would be trivia. I don't much care to be remembered; I did what I did, and will do what I will do, in service of Equestria. Not for fame or glory" the Shining Armor AI explained.

"My sentiments as well. So, what do you wish to be called?" I inquired, turning back towards the door.

"I am still Shining Armor. That never changed. If you must, then you may call me Shining Armor AI. Helps to remember that I'm a robot. I'm still myself, mind you, but only insofar as I'm his consciousness. I'm not the same stallion I was when the Princesses were still around; that part died when my sister ascended into the glorious form we enjoy today."

I nodded in understanding, and headed for the elevator that Flurry Heart and her entourage had used to leave the caverns. I stepped aboard it, the sound of my heavy boots striking the steel echoing throughout the cavern. "Come along then, Shining AIrmor. We have a rogue Alicorn to hunt" I declared, feeling the elevator lurch as it began its ascent once again, myself beside the robot as we watched the stash hall and the now-defunct mainframe disappear from sight.