Chimera 4

Chapters

Always Running
The Recruit
Threat Status: ENGAGED
Heading Off

Always Running

"The mission will be easy, just a smash and grab, in and out." The merc leader said, as his Catapult moved through the mountainous terrain."
It had been a while since he had been on this planet, his home. He'd left his parents at a young age to be a mech' pilot, his father never approved.
The merc group was small, only about four, including "Wildman". His cougar was outfitted with an LRM bank, a autocannon, and a flamethrower. There were two fireflies, and the leader in his Catapult.
The Catapult would go in first, deal with the defenses, while the pair of fireflies ran interference along the flanks. His cougar was only there for support anyway.
He waited behind the crest of the hill, watching his sensors as each of the little red dots disappeared. He crested the hill, to watch the carnage himself.
The city burned, but even through the destruction, he had an odd sense of familiarity.

Of course. This was his hometown.

He stared, wide eyed, as his childhood city was torn apart. He was not going to let this happen. His family still lived here!

He kicked the Cougar to full speed, and pushed into the city, he let loose his autocannon on one of the fireflies, knocking it to the ground.
"Hey! Check your fire Wildman!"
He spun and let loose with the LRMs against the second firefly. He rushed up to the still fallen firefly and put his autocannon directly up to the cockpit.
The shot destroyed the cockpit, and killed the pilot.
"Lance, target Wildman." The cold voice of the merc leader, Renegade, came in through his helmet.
Renegade came slamming through the wall to the left of him, and let loose with all four of his medium lasers, scorching the small mech, and damaging it.
The other firefly was moving to target him as Wildman brushed past Renegade, and fired his LRM bank. The missiles struck the Catapult, the target being so close.
He cut loose with the flamethrower at close range covering the catapult in burning fuel. He pulled back, and moved around one of the buildings, putting Renegade between him and the firefly.
He smashed out from the side, taking Renegade by suprise, and fired his autocannon at the larger mechs legs, but with little effect. Renegade opened up with his medium lasers again, but the damage this time was catastrophic.

The lasers had hit his flamethrower, and cooked off the fuel, the tanks exploded, and tossed the Cougar to the ground, burning fuel covering it. The cockpit had been fractured by the explosion, and now, fire had spread into the area where he was sitting. He unbluckled, the fire climbing up his back, he let loose a terrible scream, and fell out of the cockpit, onto the dirt. Fire was spreading up his flanks, and over his back, and to his right wing. He rolled, to put it out, but the damage caused to his skin was massive. The skin, where the fur had been burned off was red, and looked like he would be wearing those scars for the rest of his life. His right wing was mangled beyond even magical repair, and both of his cutie marks had been seared off.

A voice crackled through the helmet still on his head.
"Got that dirty traitor, its a shame he got Ripcord though, should we check for the body?"
"No, nothings coming out of that." Renegade said. "Lets finish up and get out of here."

Wildman was in agony, the white hot pain that coursed through his body felt as though his veins were pumping hydrochloric acid. He crawled, into a destroyed building, laid on his stomach, and promptly blacked out from pain.

Black. No noise, no vision. Was he dead? But then, creeping into conciousness, a smell, like burned flesh. His burned flesh. Next was his sense of feeling. He immediately regretted survival , the terrible pain of the flamethrower's fuel still coursing through him, but had fallen down to a dull red ache, as opposed to a blinding white pain. He could hear.....something.
KSHHSH
KSHH
Static, did his radio even still work?
But it wasn't his radio.
"Yeah, the damage is insane, no survivors, at least one salvageable mech' out here though, so that's something." An unfamiliar voice. A mare.
"H.....help...me." His voice was a hoarse groan.
"Scratch that, we have a live one!"
The anonymous mare tried to pull him to his hooves, but his frenzied movement at her touch pushed her away.
"Oh god, you're hurt. Listen, I'm gonna' get you out of here." She turned away to talk into the squawking radio, Wildman missed what was said, but he hoped it either ment quick death, or some form of rescue.
"Fuck.....this hurts bad. Te...tell me your name."
"Marina, my....my name is marina." She was still shaken after seeing his wounds, he probably looked like a corpse.
"Can you talk, to help keep my mind off this pain?"
"W..what do you want me to talk about?"

"Anything."

The armored Chassis of the Marauder bounced and jostled across the pitted landscape, Its occupants speeding towards the slagged mechs. The driver hated being this vulnerable, but a truck was better than walking, and Riot had done enough walking to last a life-time.

"Alright colts and fillies, we`ve got one live mech pilot, bad condition. We need to get him out of their before the attackers come back around!"

A dull red LED replaced natural light as blast shields rolled over the small view ports. The sounds of battle still managed to penetrate the cabin of the armored vehicle.

"Here we are! STACK UP!"

The Marauder slid to a halt a few yards from the burning mech, an infantry pony had drug the pilot out and was hovering above him protectively. The thick rear door clicked open as the medical tech and their escort piled out and towards the downed mech.

Nova leaped out of his Vulture, to help them hoist up the young pilot. The rust colored stallion was restless. The blood barely apparent against his red coat.

"Soldier! can you here me?" Nova asked as they lifted the bloody buck in.

"Whats your name? Can you tell me your name?"

the wounded Colt turned his head and with a bloody smile responded.

"Fuck off!"

Nova was surprised by this reaction. Nova liked him immediately.

Back in his Vulture Nova signaled over to his CO.

"how does he look?" Riot asked through the comm system.

"I think he's gonna be just fine". Nova responded with a chuckle under his breath.

"Good, Med team, get that pilot on board ASAP. Don't want my ass hanging out for those clanners to take a shot at."

The medical team rushed towards the broken mech, seemed like the buck was going to be fine, he was being led to the Marauder under his own power.

The med team was almost at the Marauder, Nova had waved over to Riot, signalling that the IR beacon had been placed for salvage to come do their thing with the mech. The Infantry slowly started to disperse from the area as the trucks engines started back up. Riot called out to his back-up over the external comm.

"Alright fillies and gentlecolts! Lets re-group with the convoy and get off this bloody rock."

The pneumatic door clicked shut, the seals pressurizing as the Marauder lurched forward. The rust coloured buck spoke up over the dim of the med team and their escorts.

"What a piece of shit!"
That little pikey did NOT just insult my Marauder

"Oh I'm sorry your highness, maybe you would prefer to be tied to the hood as I lead an Infantry charge Hmm?" The rust coloured buck started to reply, but was cut off from the shrill cry of the proximity warning tag.

"Oh shit, NOVA! We got company, try and keep those blighters off us!"

The Clanner mech fell upon the group with gusto, It's pilot roaring his battle cry at his soon to be prey. A dull black and purple truck revved up its engine and ripped away from the crash site, and towards the city center. Firing a single SRM slavo, the clanner turned his attention to the Vulture that had just powered up.

As Nova fought the Clanner, the rockets slammed into the ground behind the marauder, churning the ground and lifting the 10 ton vehicle off its axles. The Marauder was sent barrel-rolling into a bombed out bank entrance, flipping end for end until it slammed past the tellers desks.

"Holy fuck! Learn to drive!" Wildman shouted to the driver, pulling his overly-fucked-up body off of the wall of the now-sideways truck.

" Oh suck my dick you fuckin pikey. OW"
Riot undid his five point harness and fell to the floor of the overturned Marauder. Pushing himself up he found the cab bathed in pale red, The rescued buck hung upside down in his harness.

"Mind letting me out bud?" wildman asked with a slight grin.
Riot leveled his gaze with the upside down buck.

"I have my team to take care of, and from now on, You will refer to me as either Sir or as Captain."

"Or else what?" Riot stopped his movements and turned his head to give the buck a hard look.

"Or else I'll shoot you."

One of the ponies on the floor started to moan as she came to, others began to stir.

"Nurse, You alright?" Riot stooped down to help up the wounded pegasus mare.

"I'm fine Captain, you may-AH!" The nurses front legs buckled under her weight.

"Somepony get that door open! I am NOT waiting for that mech to tag us with another salvo!"

Riot gripped the nurses uniform with his teeth and hefted her onto his back, while using his magic to un-holster a carbine from weapon storage, along with extra mags.

"Come on everypony, LETS MOVE OUT!"

Riot glanced over to the new recruit still hanging upside down in his harness, unable to reach the emergency release due to his injuries.

"Come on hot-shot, stop dicking around."

Magic wrapped around the clasp and clicked it open, Wildman fell to the floor with a dull thud.

"Shit! Be careful with the recent burn victim if you please. Asshole." The last bit was under his breath.
Wildman limped up from his fallen position, and folded his ruined wing to his side with a wince, and a hiss of pain.
"Lets just get the fuck out of here." Wildman said with a pained groan. His vision was darkened from the onset of pain assaulting him from his injuries. One wing was mangled, his front left foreleg was broken, and the fire had nearly eaten away all the skin from his back and flanks.

The city was in ruins, the unrelenting assault of sound abseiled the small med team and their escort as they clambered out of the overturned marauder. Not one of the team had died when the rockets had flung them into the bank, but now, they had bigger problems.

"Alright bucks and mares, get your gear centered, we have to get to the convoy before they leave, or we never will!"

Riot chambered a round into his carbine, the straps of his combat helmet hung past his scruffy face, the nurse was still hitching a ride on his back. When she looked up, she saw the extent of Wildmans wounds in better lighting.

"Somepony-Ack- please give that pilot a healing poultice and a 10cc's of med-x, we can -Ohhh fuck- can't have him passing out on us."

The nurse was in obvious pain, but she fought past the spinning world of agony to take care of her patient.

Wildman choked down the healing potion, and sighed as the med-x flushed the pain away. He turned and watched the burned flesh on his back nit together, but he would probably be carrying the scars forever. His cutie marks, were definitely gone, and there was no way his wing was going to come back together fully. He gave his healthy wing a halfhearted little flap. At least his foreleg was fixed, and with that heavy dose of Med-X, he could keep on his hooves for a while. He drew a pistol from the holster of another pony, and held it in his mouth.

"Hahm Reary." With a gun in your mouth, you speak only in vowels.

Out in the Vulture Nova continued the fight against the enemy catapult. The catapult launched another barrage of SRMs at Nova's Vulture. Nova strained his controls to get out of the way. the SRMs slammed into the ground beside him. He felt the blast rattle his Mech but he was undamaged. He lurked forward and let off a quick laser strike. The catapult suddenly took its gaze away from Nova and targeted the overturned marauder.

"Piss off you Clanner fuck!" Nova yelled over the comm as the catapult let off a burst of SRMs at the crippled vehicle.

Nova wheeled around and sent a laser strike towards the inbound missiles. One by one they burst in the air above the marauder like a show of fireworks. Nova wheeled back around to engage the enemy again, but as he did a SRM hit him square in the mid section. The blast cracked his armor but nothing else. He got lucky. Angry now Nova Locked up and sent an alpha strike straight his way. The SRMs hit home, and the enemy catapult burst into a glorious explosion of metal.

"Everypony GET DOWN!!!"

The SRM's sailed towards the small group, yet emerald light intercepted most, before the group was turned to glue. Yet despite Novas best attempt, two of the missiles hit home. The first slamming hard into the nose of the Marauder, sending its flaming carcass across the lobby, the second glanced off the Marauders room, spiraling into the empty vault behind the teller desks. Any pony who hadn't been on the ground before the missiles had struck, now was.

Nurse Cherry Cola was whimpering in pain as her broken ribs and legs ensured every movement was made of agony, she almost wished she had died in the crash to escape this horrible pain. She felt the perforation of small, insignificant pieces of shrapnel needling her coat where they had stuck in from the blast. What struck her as odd, was that she couldn't hear anything. She saw her second in command; Mug Crush, lying in a pool, but he wasn't moving. He looked so peaceful, so serene. Suddenly Cherry was lifted by her shoulders, a slate grey buck was shaking her, his lips were moving but she couldn't hear him.
He's kinda cute, have I seen him around before?

The rockets had completely blown out the front of the building, The Marauder had slammed into one of the load bearing columns, which was buckled and leaning dangerously far.

"Everypony get the fuck out now!"

Riot wrapped his magic around some of the fallen medics, dragging them out the blasted side door. Merely seconds later, there was a resounding crack, as the building collapsed in on itself.

"Everypony alright?" There was a few who didn't answer but looked fine enough, Riot glanced over the still dazed Cherry Cola, hoping she'd be fine. His eyes drifted to the Buck who had almost caused the death of his charges.

"What about you ya pikey? Those rockets didn't hurt your ego did they?"

The red buck went to fire back a retort when the street was filled with the sound of churning tank treads and the heavy hoof falls of mechs. Nova was still mopping up attackers, he couldn't help them if the convoy approaching was hostile. It was likely HE would need the help.

Nova had taken down two Bushwhackers since his battle with the catapult, but he could see more Mechs approaching and his cracked armor wouldn't last much longer.

"Marauder one, this is Nova. Do you copy?"

Nova had seen the marauder be pulverized but he hopped someone had grabbed a radio.

"EQRG command, this is Nova. Enemies approaching from the east. Vulture approaching critical condition. Requesting Mech support"

Static from both comms. Must have bean knocked out by the SRM.

"Goddess dammit" Nova said under his breath. This was supposed to be a simple evac. Now he wasn't sure if they were going to make it off this rock.

"Hikey!? Huck oo a-hole." Wildman said from around the pistol clutched in his mouth. He spat the weapon onto the ground.

"Your friend needs support. There is a pilotless firefly not too far away that I had attacked, and its nearly unscathed. I can make it."

"How far off soldier?"

Riot herded everyone off the street and into what was left of a bakery, just as a treaded tank rolled past at speed.

"Regardless, ya' won't make it without back-up, not like that."

"Its not too far, just a couple of streets over, listen, I'm quick, and I'm quiet, more than me would leave too much of a footprint. This Med-X is working wonders, and will probably last me for a while. And the alternative is your friends death. would you rather your friend die here?"

"Well to be honest he's a horrible cock block and-"

The new pilot gave Riot a look of horror, but upon seeing his slight grin, gave one himself.

"Go on one you fuckin pikey, We'll try to hook up with our convoy to the west. I'm marking us with an IR pinger, so if you shoot at us, I WILL come up there and skin you alive."

Riot then levitated Nurse Cherry off the ground and signaled the other medics to move out. Turning back to Wildman;

"Good luck out there hotshot."

"You won't need to skin me, Renegade already did." Wildman said with a snort.

He moved quickly and quietly through the city streets, staying well out of the way of combat. He came up to the overturned Firefly, and scrambled into the cockpit.
The mech's cockpit was fractured from the autocannon round, but all it took was a good shove to get the body currently occupying the seat to tumble to the ground.
He brought the Firefly online, checking its systems. Everything was nominal, except for the fact that he was almost out of missiles, and that the cockpit was totally exposed.
He checked his map, and saw a small green dot surrounded by red dots. He put the mech' into full speed, and moved for the clanners.

He saw the Vulture, badly damaged, fighting off a pair of catapults. Neither of them were facing Wildman, so he could get the drop on him.

He whistled Rise of the Valkyries into his mic as he stopped, and launched an alpha strike at the nearest Catapult, it was nearly undamaged, but the triple medium lasers, and pair of missile strikes to the extremely vulnerable area took it down, the shots hitting the core sending it into meltdown, the mech exploded in a fiery flash.
He pushed the Firefly into full speed, and with the other Catapult surprised and disoriented from the lightning quick attack, was quickly brought down by the pair.

"This is Wildman, first one's free."

Nova was readying himself for the carnage to come. He knew whether or not if he would come out of this alive, that this wouldn't be pretty. Suddenly he was aware of another Mech on the battlefield. Suddenly one of the catapults he was about to engage burst into flames.

"What the hell?" Nova yelled from inside the cockpit. He swung around two see a half destroyed firefly engaging the battle along side him. He was surprised to see the young colt he had just helped lift into the marauder not long ago at its controls.
Nova hit his external comms.

"Two more bushwhackers and an atlas inbound! My frontal armor is cracked and i don't know how long my heat sinks are gonna last. You're quicker. Distract that atlas while I take out the two bushwhackers. Then we'll concentrate our fire on the atlas together. In the mean time see if those comms are up and either get us some support or an evac."

"Roger, lets get this bucket of bolts movin'!"
He put his Firefly into full speed as the Vulture meandered away to take on the Bushwhackers.
The Atlas loomed in front of him. The giant assault mech' towered over his tiny Firefly. He hit the external comms.
"Hey! Asshole! Over here!" He called into the mic, sending a volley of rockets and lasers at the behemoth.
It slowly moved to target the small mech, sending a volley of medium lasers and an autocannon round at him. They struck the ground uselessly, sending clouds of dust into the air.
"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!." He called in a singsong voice, taunting the Atlas further.
"Stay still you little runt!"
The Firefly spun around and put another volley of strikes into the giant, barely chipping away at it's armor.
"You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread pony motherfucker!" He called again, pulling away in another direction, sending another autocannon round uselessly into the ground.
"Dodge this you little bastard!" He fired two salvoes of missiles, one from its LRM-20 and another from its SRM-6, he had drawn a bead long enough to get a lock.
He was fast, but not that fast. He peeled away, and the missiles followed. He moved to run directly at the towering enemy.
"Not one of your best decisions, asshole." He weaved around the behemoth, taking the pair of medium laser shots to his shoulder, destroying the LRM rack. He was out of missiles anyway.
The missiles struck the Atlas with a hammerblow, causing nasty damage to its right side. It turned to hit the tiny mech again. It fired and missed. But this time, from behind it, four suits of power armor jumpjetted from behind it, coming to a rest just in front of juggernaut.

"Uhh, Nova, he brought backup. Four elementals. I can't dodge these guys!"

The depleted Uranium shell ripped past the damaged mechs, blowing the lead Elemental in half; launching its upper torso high into the air. Riot let out a whoop of angry joy, training the tanks sights on the next Elemental. Riot could taste the pilots fear as the T-300 ripped across the broken earth, heavy machine guns punching through the armor of another Elemental.

"PAY BACK YOU BLEEDIN' FUCKS!!!"

Focusing his aim towards the Atlas, Riot had the crew load up an AP shell, loaded with a touchy fusion core and the spite of one very angry Emerald Isle pony. The shot halted the tanks progress as It ripped out of the turret's muzzle with a roar, and into the Atlas' upper torso. The shot punched through the armor like it were paper, detonating its high explosive warhead deep inside the mech. The Resounding explosion ripped the mechs right arm off as pieces of armor and detritus rained down, the mech itself staggered and swayed, its cockpit ablaze with fire. The remaining ammunition supply in the Atlas went off, blowing the Assault mech into multiple pieces.

The Elemental's tried to turn tail and run, only to be torn apart by the combined forces of the two mechs and the heavy tank. A large armored convoy began to snake its way out of the ruined city behind them, VTOL's buzzed overhead as the sound of a dropship entering atmo' reverberated across the broken city outskirts.

Once the battle was won Nova let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Well that was fun. We should do that again next week". The young colt in the firefly said jokingly. Nova payed little attention to this remark. He just wanted to get his vulture home and fixed.

"Catch you on the flipside guys, thanks for the assist, but I have a cougar to get out of here. There's no way I'm keeping a flamethrower on it this time though." He finished with a chuckle. "Actually, could my mech' get a ride out of here?"

"Better ask the Colonel- actually you can ask him yourself"

A Mule VTOL had just landed, carrying an Atlas command mech.

"But way I see it kid, you don't have to worry about it.

Trucks filled destitute civilians began to file past the mechs, with various armor elements protecting their side. A large dropship landed off in the distance, kicking up a whirlwind of dust and muck.

"Time to stop running lads, Duty calls."

The Recruit

The ashes of the fallen soldier were expelled into the vacuum of space. Nova hung his head in respect. He was a close friend. His lance mate. Now there light lance of only three was down to two. Nova wondered who they'd have replace him. He trotted back to his bunk room and laid down on the bunk. His bunk mates nodded there respects as he came in.

"Hey Nova?" one of his bunk mates called.

"Hmm?" Nova replied.

"Hows Riot taking it?"

"Like he always does."

"We got three new pilots this week. Who do you think they'll have replaced Cross?" The young colt didn't mean any disrespect, but Nova didn't take it so easy.

"Now you listen here you little bitch", Nova leaped off his bunk and confronted the young colt. "Cross was one of the best pilots the corp has ever known. There's no pony this side of the galaxy, that could replace Cross!" Nova was inches from the young colts face. Suddenly the pneumatic door slid open and a large grey buck walked in.

Riot was walking back from the mess hall, a nice; freshly made daisy sandwich floating next to him. He past by crash Course in the hallway, whom he stopped to chat with shortly.

"Hey Riot, how are you?" Riot chewed and swallowed, clearing his throat before he spoke.

"Oh fine fine, Daisies are quite fresh today, Cookies must have started a garden somewhere on the ship." Crash looked surprised

"Sir? You aren't torn up over Cross? I kind of-"

"Figured I'd be a basket case whenever one of my Lance-mates die?"

"I-I, uhmm... I didn't mean it like-" Riot placed a hoof on Crashes shoulder, halting her vocal flailing.

"I've seen enough death to last a dozen life times lass, I know how to cope properly; for the most part at least." Crash looked at the ground, waving her hoof absent mindedly back and forth.

"I just figured you'd want to talk about it." Riot threw Crash a look that she didn't catch.

"Lass... You don't need to wait for somepony to die to try and talk to me outside the battlefield." Crash moved to say something but Riot cut her off with the wave of his hoof.

"My door is open, you and everyone else is free to drop in and talk to me in my spare time. Really." Crash flushed at this, a small grin opened on her face.

'You mean that sir?" Riot took another bite of his sandwich.

"Course lass, It's in my job description, whether I like it or not." Riot shot Crash Course a grin, turned and continued down the hall.

Riot had almost reached his quarters, he was only two hallways away when he heard yelling coming from Novas bunk
room. Giving a small sigh, Riot prodded the switch with a hoof, still munching on his sandwich. Entering he found Nova nose to nose with a very startled looking buck.

Nova didn't move. He continued to glare at the young colt. Riot walked over to Nova.

"Hello Captain". Nova said without looking away.

"uh.. Lad? What are yah doin?" Riot replied.

"Teaching this punk some respect!" Riot sighed and walked over to Nova and the young buck, whose eyes flashed back and forth rapidly, from Nova to the captain.

Riot rolled his eyes, Lad needs to ease up, if he keeps coiling up like this he'll break eventually.

"Easy lad" Nova didn't back off, Riot pushed between the two. "EASY; LAD."

Riot turned to Novas bunk mate, motioning towards the door.

"Step out lad, take a walk." Riot walked over to an empty chair, and started to finish his sandwich.

"Sho, Whash eatshin yoush lad?" Riot finished his chewing and swallowed.

"That little fuck was disrespecting cross"

Riot shook his head, knowing the reasoning behind Novas outburst.

"Stating someones name isn't a disrespect Nova, try to remember that. You've been strung up since Cross died."

Nova snorted and hoofed at the ground in annoyance. Riot didn't take the hint.

'Look lad, I know you and Cross were carnally close, but sometimes you need to let go of the pain; or your as good as dead."

Nova was angry, and no amount of wise words were going to calm him down. He hadn't had to deal with loss since....It didn't matter. Nova wasn't going to let any pony take her name in vane.

Riot saw the fury building in Novas system, It was familiar, yet unrefined. Nova didn't know how to use anger like that properly. Riot gave an inward sigh and nodded his head.

"Lad... go talk to Cherry Cola, 'Tia knows she moonlights as a damn good therapist. After that I'll set you up on the next VTOL gun-run, I don't want you doing anything I'll regret."

Nova nodded and walked out, but he didn't go to see Cherry Cola. Instead he took a long walk around the ship. When he got back Riot was gone and his bunk mates were back. As he walked in the young buck he had terrorized earlier tried to apologize.

"Hey Nova, you know i didn't mean you any disrespect. I know you and her were close..." The young buck stopped when he realized Nova wasn't paying any attention to him. He went and laid down on his bunk. All of a sudden the door slammed open. a young red Pegasus walked in.

"Hey fuckers! Meet your new lance mate". The young buck said in a cocky fashion. Nova knew him. He was a cocky dangerous pilot, that took to many risks for his limited experience. Nova was instantly filled with rage again. How could some little shit like this replace Cross?

"Silver just made it official!" Wildman's grin was huge. He was happier than he could ever remember being. He hopped into his bunk, and laid on his stomach.

"Looks like we'll be seeing a lot more of each other."

The anger welled up in Nova

"What the fuck makes you so goddamned special? huh?" Nova was interrupted by the comm system.

"Lance Weeping angels report for mech bay for prepping". Wildman tried to respond but before he could Nova cut in.

"Get your shit pikey. Were heading out".Wildman stood there for a second trying to understand what just happened. He nulled over what Nova had just said.

"Pikey?"

Riot stood in the mech bay, his Dragon was working in peak condition. Riot reached out with his magic, giving the 20mm tri-barreled Gatlings a test spin. The General announcement stirred him from his stupor, He saw Crash course swiftly trotting towards him with a manila envelope.
I'm glad the lass has found something else to do, but being the Colonels gopher wasn't what I thought would happen

"Hello captain! I'm to be accompanying you and your lance on this op!" Riots head didn't move from the envelope, but he was worried about what that entailed.

"And why's that Crash?" The mares voice only got more chipper. She's enjoying this.

"We need to extract some data from a console, but the Colonel says that he can't afford to have one of you get out of your mech, and he can't risk an entire squad for something that might not be worth it."

"And how do you expect to-"

"Colonel Silverbolt says that you have a Rocker seat behind yours in the Dragon, and that I'm to ride with you!" Oh by sweet lunas sweat soaked flanks their plotting against me.

"Is that so?" Riot didn't want to play foalsitter, he already had to contend with a depressed Nova and a new lance-mate.

"Yessir! I'll be piloting the drone you never use."

Thats it! I swear to Celestias cum-soaked nethers that the next time Silver asks for a shot of my whiskey, he's getting Eridani club.

Wildman slid into the cockpit of Swift Justice, and brought her online. He slid his foreleg across the data readout lovingly.
"Alright baby, lets go." He drew the 'mech up to its full height, small though it may be.

Riot scanned over the mission read out, throttling his mech towards the door.

`Form up on me, no deviations. Standard diamond formation, three hundred hoof spread."

Riots mech stepped out into the hot air, rolling green hills surrounded him. They were stationed on the planet Furexy, a garden world. Riot could see the civilians looking on as his lance set off towards their mark.

It didn't take long to reach the compound. Nova inched along behind Riot with Wildman beside him. Riot came over the comm.

"Alright lads, don't shoot unless I say so, we don't need a bunch of pissed of locals trying to kill us."

Riot piloted his mech closer to the compound door, but halted when a small earth pony in combat armor came running out, waving frantically. The Captain called out over his comms.

"We're just coming in, what gives?"

The diminutive little buck waved frantically towards the inside of the massive military installation. While no words came from his mouth, the numerous cuts and lacerations freshly decorating the buck spoke volumes of the situation.

"Let us in lad, we'll help how-ever we can."

The small buck nodded, cantering over to a small concrete hut. Once he was inside how-ever, the gates started to rattle open, revealing a eerily empty courtyard that should have been full of military personnel.

"Keep it tight lads, we don't know what in here..."

The small lance weaved through the entrance, only to have the metal doors slam shut, locking the mechs inside. The massive military installation sprawled out, but the only viable point for the mechs was towards either the parade ground, or the mech bay. Crash shivered behind Riot, turning towards him.

"This looks bad Cap'. What do you think?"

The grey stallion looked down for a second, considering his options.

"I don't know Crash, just keep you're eyes peeled. I better let the lads know this isn't what I had in mind."

The comm crackled to life, filling the empty courtyard with noise.

"Alright, keep your eyes open and your heads on a swivel. This isn't the mission we signed up for, but we need to figure this out. So bear with me."

Nova swiveled around to make sure there weren't any hostiles around. He would keep one eye on the target, and one eye on Wildman.

"Watching the flanks." Wildman pulled his 'mech into position behind his CO and disgruntled lancemate, and turned around, walking backwards, being sure nothing crept up on them.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." He checked his weapons and armour systems.

"Easy lads, take it nice and-" The little white mare next to the Captain practically jumped out of her seat.

"Riot! Over there, in the door-way!"

Riots eyes snapped over towards the shadowy, open door leading into what looked like a barracks. A pair of green legs were barely visible past the darkness. The captain let out a breath, hoping that it wasn't what he thought it was.

"Good catch corporal, send the drone in there, I want to know whats going on."

"Yes sir."

The little drone lifted from its hiding place next to the com relay on the Dragons torso, the mare sent it hovering towards the door.

"I'm switching to ground mode sir."

The drone flopped to the ground, and began rolling into the doorway. The captains eyes were glued to the view screen, he was more than worried now. The view inside the barracks was that of an eerie cleanliness, save for the solitary deep black puddle and the dis-embodied pair of legs. The little white mare gagged at the sight, halting the drone.

"Oh-oh sweet Celestia, I think I'm going to be sick..."

"Not in me mech lass!!" The white mare was sickly pale, but she held her breakfast down. Riot opened the inter-lance comms, a look of deep concern etched on his face.

"Lads... We've got a problem."

"What's the problem sir?" Wildman was worried about the tone of voice his captain had. A cold sweat started along his body. "We in trouble?"
The lower terminal of Wildmans mech flickered to life, bringing through the drones video feed. Wildman felt his heart stop cold with the realization.
"You see that buck's cuts sir? I heard stories about ponies in space who reached the edge, and went crazy. Now they travel space, cutting on themselves, raping, and murdering anypony they come across." He looked left and right nervously.

Nova suddenly forgot about his anger towards the young recruit. Instead he wondered if bringing him along would jeopardize their safety. Nova was right about Wildman jeopardizing their safety, but not in any way he would expect.

Riots brain was running well into overdrive, trying to figure out what to do.
Should we call in for back-up? That would put many of our friends at risk. Should we leave? The civilians will suffer. Should we check it out? What are you, a college frat bitch?

Giving his shaggy head a solid shake, his gaze turned to stone. His decision was made.

"Alright lads, somepony out there needs to die. I won't deprive them of my rounds."

The white mare behind him sucked in a deep breath, pulling back the drone. She glanced over to her commanding officer.

"S-Sir? Should I radio command? We may need the back-"

"Call them, but tell them... tell them to stay out till we give the all clear. We need to keep the civilians safe."

"Yes sir!"

Riot started trotting his mech towards the primary repair bay, eyes flickering over his radar and flank.

"Keep it tight lads, and watch your fire. Don't stitch any friendlies."

"Whatever did this probably won't be riding around in a 'mech, we should hop out here." Wildman brought his 'mech into the repair harness, and shut down. He hopped out of his cockpit, and retrieved his gear from the section of the cockpit. His knife, a medical kit, and some rations.

"God damned damned idiot is gonna get himself killed". Nova whispered to himself. His thoughts were quickly silence when he saw Riot doing the same. Nova's rage was building against Wildman, and now he was also getting angry at Riot for following in his example. Nova waited in his mech until Riot was done gearing up.

"We need to get down there, figure out whats going on." Riot had un-strapped from his seat, levitating over a tactical vest and a box of buck-shot from his emergency stash. Crash was teetering over the edge of hyper-ventilating and mental break-downs.

"Wait, nonononononNONONONO! We can't go out there! Why would you want to leave??" Her breath caught in her throat as the sound of Riot chambering a round into a large shotgun.

"Cause somewhere in there, is our payment. I'm not letting some freaks keep me from eating properly this month."

'But-"

"If you have to, stay in the mech." Riot cracked open the Dragons canopy, letting cool air flood inside. The rotten smell of death seeped in, threatening to choke Crash with its weight. Squeezing her eyes shut, she un-buckled from her rocker seat, shutting off the drone.

Crash muttered fearfully under her breath "Goddess' keep me safe in these times of peril, Celestia protect my body, Luna Defend mind." Crash Course slipped out the canopy mush how her CO had, shutting the entry on her way out.

"Hold up a moment, I need to find Chastity."
Wildman spun around, and rooted around in his 'mech for a moment, drawing a small box from under his seat. He opened the latches, and took out a few different parts. He quickly put the weapon together, as he had done many times before. A seven shot cylinder, a gleaming, long barrel, with Chastity engraved on the side, and a sandalwood mouthgrip. He loaded her, and slid the weapon into his foreleg holster, within easy reach of his mouth.
"Ready sir."

I do not aim with my hoof, he who aims with his hoof has forgotten the face of his father,
I aim with my eye.
I do not shoot with my hoof, he who shoots with his hoof has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.
I do not kill with my gun, he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father,
I kill with my heart.

Every one of Wildman's actions caused more and more rage inside Nova. His mother fucking "special" gun. Gonna get us fucking killed.Nova thought to himself. Nova knew how to control his anger, but the more Wildman talked the more trouble Nova had. Eventually he would find that he was no longer even concentrating on the surroundings. He was paying attention to Wildman; counting every conceited syllable that dribbled out the jaw of the young pilot.

Nova was staring at Wildman when it happened. Riot and Crash were walking ahead into a large tunnel while Nova and WIldman concentrated on the rear. With zero warning; the blast door of the tunnel slammed shut, sending a tremorous Thud across the grounds. Wildman and Nova were trapped together. As were Crash and Riot. At the same time something hit Nova hard knocking him to the ground.

The blast door slammed shut, cutting the team in half. Crash jumped at the sound while Riot brought his 'Jackhammer' to bear. They could barely hear yelling through the thick steel, but it was enough to know that they were in trouble.

"NOOO! Oh goddess we're stuck in here!" Crash Course slammed into the door with all her power, on the verge of tears as dull echoes answered her hoof falls.

Riot turned to her, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "Crash." No response "CRASH!" The white mare didn't turn to him, she only slumped against the hardened steel. "Crash there's no way through there, but there's bound to be a way around. We find what we're looking for and leave. No heroics." The mare could only nod her head, for her voice would betray her crushing fear.

"Now get up, we've got work to do." Riot pushed a pistol into Crashes grip, looking her in the eyes as he wrapped her hooves around it.

The tunnel snaked downward, with various offshoots in every direction. The entire base was eerily quiet, with only small ambient noises to break the heavy silence.

The pair came up on a small station labeled 'Security B5-7' Riot glanced back to Crash as he brought his shotgun forward, floating the griffon pattern shotgun next to his chest. Just as The Captain reached for the door, they both heard a sudden shrill scream for help.

"Fuck, the path is blocked, come on Nova, lets get out of here, we need to link up with those two". Wildman's words echoed in Nova's head. When Nova got to his feet He finally responded.

"Don't you fucking touch me". Nova said in a harsh voice.

"What the fuck did I do? You probably treat all your lance mates like shit" The words stung Nova. It was the last straw. Nova kicked out with both his back legs hitting Wildman in the jaw, and sending him into the wall behind him. Wildman tried to get up but Nova was already on him. Nova pressed his hooves into the young bucks throat. Wildman had no were to go.

"I could fucking end you, right hear right now. Do you know why you're hear right now, do you know the name of the lance member you 'replaced'?". Wildman just stared at Nova. Fear apparent in his eyes. He didn't know what to do. He couldn't speek. "Fucking answer me!" Nova demanded. "Do you know the pony you replaced?" Wildman shook his head. "Her name was Cross. She was the best mare that the guard had". Nova's voice cracked and his eyes teared up. "Violet" he said under his breath. He looked away from the young buck he had under his hooves. He let up the pressure. As he did Wildman tried to speak but just gagged. Nova snapped back to Wildman. His eyes even angrier than before. He started to press. Suddenly something hit the back of Nova's head, and he fell to the floor unconscious.

Wildman looked up expecting to see a horror. Instead he sat staring at himself.

"We're coming in!!" The door blew open, slamming into the wall with enough force to chip the concrete. Captain Riot charged in, shotgun at the ready.

The security room had obviously been the site of a pitched battle, monitors lay broken and strewn around. The weapons locker had been buckled inwards, and toppled over to block the closest hallway, which apparently led to a supply closet. Riot led the way, while Crash Course followed close behind.

Another scream, more pained sounded from the furthest hallway, labeled Barracks

"Crash, watch my flank, I'm Going in." Riot charged down the hallway, almost slipping across the dark black stain.

The pair entered the barracks, only to find the entire room wrecked. The scream sounded again, agony was apparent in the owners voice.

The general barracks, while wrecked and stained, was empty. The scream was coming from the showers.

"Better still be fuckin alive..."
_______________________________________

Short Stack thrashed and fought the grip of his CO, his legs were fucked and he was bleeding heavily from his left side. Stacks CO jammed the strange talon into his lower leg and dragged him closer to the gaping hole that squatted in the shower room. Stack screamed with futility as he tried to kick at Cherry Pepper; who in turn whipped around, bringing her hooves crashing down on his chest, breaking ribs easily.

As Short Stack sputtered, slipped out of consciousness, He watched as a large grey buck rounded the corner. The buck fired a flaming slug into his CO, who howled and shrieked as the green flames burst from her chest.
_____________________________________________________

The Tracer slug did the trick beautifully as they shredded the blue mares chest. She backed up on her hind legs, kicking as the fire enveloped her. Much to Riot chagrin, the mare began to morph and mutate. The outcome was horrid and twisted, beating burning wings. Its bug eyes twitched and shuddered as bale fire burst from its mouth. The jet black creature bucked and kicked as it hit the floor, its carapace crackling and burning.

"Fuck that, I'm switching to explosive bale-fire rounds!" Riot hoofed a small talisman near the barrel of the shotgun, which began to flicker and pop like fire, unlike the straight glow that marked tracer rounds.

"Hey that bucks still breathing!" Crash forgot her fear and fright, pushing forward to the broken colt, she was filled with a new kind of feeling; anger.

"Hey easy, you're safe now. Just try and breath!" The VTOL pilot looked up at her CO "Captain, if you have any healing poultices, please hoof them over.

"I can spare one, that should get him on his hooves." The grey buck trotted over, but kept his weapon trained on the hole. "Here, let me fix any broken bones first."

Wildman sprung up, shoving the unconscious Nova off of himself. He drew Chastity from his holster. He threw his foreleg around his doppelgänger, and put the barrel of the revolver just under its chin.

"Hut uh uck ar ooh?" He said, the revolver messing up his speech.

It kicked out with all of his legs, and knocked him away. It pushed back again, this time its front hooves morphing into cruel looking talons. Wildman fired, the heavy 45.-70 round tearing through the things forehead. There was a loud crack as the round hit, like a plate hitting the floor. He watched himself go limp, and as it died, it morphed into an odd bug like thing. He spat Chastity back into her holster.

He tried his radio, but only got static, the base walls must be messing with the transmission.

"Nova, are you okay?" He trotted over to the unconscious buck. When he didn't get an answer, he lifted the stallion onto his back, Wildman's back protested against the weight. "You are one heavy pegasus, its a wonder you can even fly." Once he was sure of his lance mate's well-being; he looked at the monster that had copied him.

"What the fuck are you?" He prodded the black form with a hoof. The outside didn't feel like flesh, it was surrounded by a kind of black shell. It had large canines, that looked as though it could rend flesh easily. It also had two large compound-looking eyes, and had a pair of strange wings. The wings looked thinner, and more delicate than pegasus wings. It seemed like it wouldn't be able to fly, the muscles must be really strong to move the wings at the speeds needed to coax flight from them.

While you're busy napping, I might as well find out about our new friend.

He slowly let Nova tumble to the floor. He looked at the entry wound. The crack he had heard was the carapace's forehead plate splitting as the round entered. He drew his knife, and dragged the knife down its chest, but the knife wouldn't penetrate. It looked like the shell would shrug off most weak small arms, but was nearly nil against the heavy shells in Chastity. The carapace was composed of hundreds of plates, that were perfectly articulated to facilitate movement; like the armour that old knights wore, but more organic, and better fitting. And it seemed like each plate was covered in tiny.....he didn't really know, but it seemed to reflect light strangely, maybe that was how it had copied him. Or maybe it was magic, either way, he couldn't be sure. Wildman slid the knife into one of the slots between plates, and twisted, taking off one of the plates around the chest, revealing the fleshy underside. He rolled the body onto its back, and, with the hole created in the carapace, he could now drag the knife down the belly, and a huge gash in the armour let him see the underflesh.

Well, you're new.

He sliced it open, and pulled the belly open. It was boneless, but the heavy exoskeleton let the.....thing, stay stable.

Its like a bug......

Without some kind of lab equipment, he doubted that anypony could learn any more.

I geuss I should take a sample for......somepony. We need to learn about this stuff.

He took the exoskeleton chunk, and looked at the shape. It looked a little like his knife.

I wonder.......

Wildman took the shard, and stabbed it into the shell. Where his knife was stopped, the shell piece went through like a hot knife through butter. He took a look at his knife, and threw it away.

Oh.....this'll do.

Wildman put Nova on his back again, and started down the hall. He needed to link back up with Riot, and Crash.

Nova was barely conscious. He couldn't move his body, but he could hear and see what was going on. Wildman was carrying him. If Nova was able to move he would have protested, but alas he could not. Suddenly out of no were something hit them. It sent Nova sliding down the hall and Wildman the opposite way. In between them was a large black mass. Another one of the bug like creatures that had attacked them. Wildman tried to attack but the creature was to quick. It was on Nova in a second. Its sharp hoof at Nova's throat. The creature shot a glance at Wildman and smiled. Wildman had drawn chastity but before he could fire there was a flash of green. Wildman could only see his memories. Something was wrong there was someone else there. Another mind that wasn't his. It was searching for something. It found what it was looking for. The memory of what Wildman loved most. Just as soon as it had happened it was over. wildman looked up expecting to see the creature, but it was gone. Some one else stood in his place. Nova glanced up with hazy eyes. Above him stood an old looking earth pony. Chestnut coat and a black main. Wildman was taken aback. He dropped Chastity from his mouth.

"D dad?" He whisperer.

"Yes it is me". The pony responded. Wildman hadn't noticed one of his hoofs transform into a blade that was now at Nova's throat.

"No you're one of those bug things. It's some sort of sick trick".

"Oh but it is me, let your eyes tell the truth".

"Impossible. You're dead!"

"Oh quite the opposite. I'm very much alive. I'm here to protect you. This pony right here is your enemy. I'm going to destroy him for you". The pony smiled an evil grin. Wildman knew that it wasn't his father, but the sight of his dad was to much. He couldn't bring himself to kill the image of his father. Wildman hung his head. "Good. Very good. Now watch as I destroy your friend". His voice changed to a high pitched hiss at the end. The pony raised a hoof to crush Nova's skull.

"Wait!" Wildman cried. "If you are my father whats my real name?" The creature had seen his memories. He knew his name despite not being his father.

"How simple". The pony put on an evil grin. "Your name is-". The words were drowned out by a gun shot. The creature fell backwards. Blood oozing from it's forehead.

"My father never called me by my real name". Wildman holstered Chastity and went over to Nova who was once again fading out of consciousness.

Nova was gone. In an eternal blackness. He stood up and looked around. Darkness and nothing else. He started to panic. He started to gallop in one direction. He galloped as long as he could. Finally stopping when he was out of breath. Nova sat down in frustration.

"Were the fuck am I?" He wispered to himself. "Were the fuck am I ?!" Nova repeated in a frustrated yell. suddenly a face emerged from the shadows. The face of the creature that had just tried to kill him.

"There's no point in yelling. I'm dead and you're dead" the creature responded.

"Bullshit! I know what death feels like. This is not death. Now were the fuck am i?"

"Oh don't be mistaken. You are very dead. Maybe not in body, but your soul is dead".

"Who the fuck do you think you are?"

"Oh don't believe me? well lets look at the facts. Your friend Wildman saved your life after you tried to kill him. Not only that but he had to kill the image of the one he loved the most to do it".

"That doesn't mean shit!"

"Oh really? Could you do it?" At that the creature transformed into the image of Nova's fallen lance mate Crash. "Could you kill me to save your friend?" The creature changed again. This time into a light blue mare with a red mane. "How about Me?". The creature changed again; a small colt with a blue coat and a blonde main. "How about now? could you stand to see me die for one of your friends?". Nova looked away. His eyes had began to tear up. The creature changed back to its original form. "Of course you can't. You're a coward, and you"re weak, and now you are going to die with the knowledge that you are the most dangerous part of this situation. All you do is put your friends in danger for your selfish needs".

"No you're wrong!" Nova chocked on his words.

"No I'm right. I've seen your memories. I know your head. I saw how they died. I saw how you impregnated Violet When she was intoxicated. I saw how left Cross on her own so you could head back early to rest. You and me both know that the only reason you remain in the guard is so you have the chance of meeting death sooner, because you were to afraid to take your own life with the pistol under your pillow. You could.'t do it. You are a week, selfish, coward, and now you're going to die". Nova looked up tears down his face and a deep rage in his eyes.

"Who are you?"

"Oh I thought you'd never ask. I am a changeling".

"Nova's anger was quickly wiped away at this. "Impossible. Changelings went extinct thousands of years ago".

"Most of us did, but we survived. Living off the souls of the forgotten. Hopping from planet to planet. Developing k\new ways of inflicting our terror". Nova didn't know what to think. If they were up against changelings then the threat was larger than they ever imagined.

"You ever seen anything like this before Crash?"

"Goddess no... I've never seen this, not anywhere."
*Groan*
"It's waking up, time to ask our friend some questions."

Short Stack slowly opened his eyes, trying to take in his surroundings. He quickly realized that he was tied to a desk, his four hooves splayed out, tied to either end of the desk. The only up-side, was that he wasn't dead or bleeding to death.

"W-Where am I? What's going on?" The rotund earth pony shifted n the table, trying to get loose of his bindings. His efforts were met with a shotgun barrel being pushed against his temple. Stack gulped as he closed his eyes, waiting for death.

"What the fuck are you." The statement obviously surprised Stack, who opened his eyes and looked over at his captors.

"What do you mean? I'm a pon-"

"You, are NOT a pony, not with a lower body like that." Stack hefted his head up, looking down at his legs. He let out an exasperated groan as he fell back to the table.

"I'm only going to ask once." Riot glanced over at Crash, who had curled up on one of the barrack cots. The bucks voice drew back his gaze.

"I'm... I'm a...."

"Spit it out, I'm not going to play games with you."

"I'm a Changeling. So are- were, most of the staff here." Riot lifted his Jackhammer away from the strange half pony, lifting an eyebrow at his comment.

"Most of the staff? Then why is everypony dead?" Short Stack sucked in a breath, he could feel tears welling up as he recounted the weeks events; as well as the events leading up to them.

"Please, untie me and I'll tell you everything. I won't do anything than that."

Riot stood there, starring down at the buck. His upper torso was a light green, with a choppy grey mane. His lower torso on the other hoof, was a hard black carapace that shimmered a deep green, just like the burned out husk by in the showers.

'One wrong move and you're dust." The Changeling only nodded his head, closing his eyes. The ropes un-did themselves through Riots magic, the Pony sat up, absent-mindedly rubbing his fore-hooves.

"Start talking Lad, I'm all ears." Crash Course was still on the bed, but she was watching with fearful eyes as the green pony finished transforming into the creature that would haunt her dreams.

"My name is Short Stack, Staff sergeant. I'm a Changeling, as are my superiors and at least half of this facilities inhabitants. We are, or were, peaceful. Our hive lay far below, in the caverns that honey comb the entire area. We had an agreement with the colony, that a small group would live top-side and protect the hive from threats; but..."

"Things didn't go as planned did they lad?" The Changeling laughed slightly at this, his throat clicking and chittering as he did so.

"Well, no. Changelings feed on love, specifically the love that our queen gives us. Her love; to be exact. Unfortunately, our queen was killed in the time of Celestia; thus we had to come up with another solution." The pony stretched his hooves, his eyes flicking towards the showers.

'We came up with a plan. A small percent of the colony would go topside, portrayed as ponies from the old world. We would then start a new life; but any love we gained would go to the hive. The colony leaders soon learned of our ploy, yet they decided to aid us." Riot shifted over from his seated position, leaning his weapon against the table.

"What went wrong lad?"

"The Hive wasn't happy with how much love we were bringing in, not after SHE took over."

"Who is she?" Crash had gotten up from the bed, concern and intrigue plastered across her face.

"Our new Queen" Short Stack spoke the name with a shudder.

"She ruined everything. She ordered the invasion; she ordered that all top-siders, changelings included; be consumed. For she has found out how to suppliment love with Meat."

"Well shit. That complicates things....." Riot sat there, contemplating his options, but also wondering of the fate that Nova and Wildman had found. Stack mirrored his disposition.

The bug pony, took in a deep breath, fully knowing the actions that had to be made if the colony were to survive.
"We need to kill the hive." Riot lifted his head to meet the changelings gaze, nodding his approval.

"Agreed. Burn em' out."

Chastity trembled in his mouth, the feeling of what he had just done racking him. He walked up to the......demon, that had defiled his fathers memory. A rage consumed him.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHGHHHHHHGHHHHHHH!" He screamed, long, and loud, around Chastity, and emptied the remaining six cylinders into its chest. Chastity repeatedly clicked on empty, but he kept pulling the trigger, like it could never be dead enough. He spat the revolver into its holster, and drew his new changeling exo-knife. He stabbed, and stabbed, and stabbed, rending the flesh even further, he sliced, and tore, until the thing was nearly unrecognisable. A terrible thought ran through him.

This is far too nice of a treatment for you.

He took Chastity out again, and reloaded her, to get more weight. He put the exoknife against the base of its horn, and held up the revolver. He smacked Chastity against the knife, like a hammer to a chisel, and the horn popped most of the way off. He grabbed it in its mouth, and pulled. It tore off with a sickening crack.

Its a shame you aren't alive for this.

He put the horn in his pack. He was done. For now.

Nova's anger was on its way out. Only sadness and despair filled him now. A massive sense of dread.

"Well then. If me and my friends are going to die I guess it wouldn't hurt to answer my questions". The changeling looked up at the white pony. "You're dead to anyways. What could it hurt?". Nova had no intention of foiling their plan. He was simply curious at their plan.

"I suppose it wouldn't matter. Were do you want to start?" Nova looked up; surprised that the creature was so willing to give answers. Nova thought a moment before giving an answer.

"Well lets start from how i'm talking to you. I may only be unconscious but you. I saw your body die. How are we both here?"

"My body dies but my mind lives on. I grafted my mind to yours. You were the nearest living thing when my body died".

"So I suppose that when I die you'll just hop from my mind to somepony else".

"Unfortunately the transfer is permanent. When you die so will I".

"So i'm stuck with you until I die? Well I guess your company is better than none. So I guess that's how you know my memories. I don't suppose i could see yours?"

"If you so wish. It is only fair". Suddenly Nova was flashing through years of memories. Terrible sights. More pain than he dared to imagine. It all happened in less than a second. He had just experienced the entirety of this creatures life in a second. When it was over he was back. Back with the creature. A new feeling came over him. It wasn't sadness or anger, or even despair. It was pity. Nova now understood why the creature had to kill. It was all it had left. The only way to save its species. When Nova looked up he no longer saw an evil figure bent on destruction, but a tortured soul; doing whatever it could to survive.

"I understand".

"You know why we must kill".

"I know why you hurt". The creature looked away at this. "Pain and torture is all you have ever known".

"It doesn't matter. Soon the plan will be initiated. I am sorry". The creature hung its head.

"What plan?". The creature didn't respond. "Please tell me".

"Once the hive has consumed the rest of the base the device will be activated".

"Device? What device?"

"It is a technology that is not known. Only the queen knows its origins".

"Please tell me what the device does". Nova had a hint of urgency in his voice now.

"It is the ultimate in consumption. When the device is activated it will consume all of the love in the universe".

"Then why kill?"

"We live off flesh now. There is very little love for us to feed of here. We supplemented it until we were fable to construct the device".

"But how can you contain that kind of energy. The amount of power must be monstrous".

"The energy will be distributed among the the organic material within the universe".

"But that would kill everything".

"Correct. Only the Queen will survive". Nova was terrified at this answer.

"Wait! I've seen your thoughts. I know you don't like to kill. Neither does your species. Only the queen does. Why would you go along with something like this?"

"It was the only way the changelings could survive".

"By destroying every living thing in the universe".

"I am sorry". The changeling turned around.

"Wait! Their has to be a way to shut down the machine".

"The device is not a machine. The device is the collective hive".

"So how would we stop it?"

"You would have to destroy the hive". Nova thought for a second.

"Would you be alright for that?"

"My species is old. It no longer has a place within this world. I see that now".

"Then will you help me?"

"How can I?"

"Well neither of us are dead yet".

"But then you would be stuck with me inside your mind".

"Well. It doesn't hurt to have a little company". The changeling smiled. "Okay first things first. I need to wake up".

"When i Implanted myself in your mind a part of me was grafted onto your subconscious. I could wake wake you up".

"Well then what are you waiting for? Do it". Suddenly he was awake. Riding on Wildman.

"Good, you're awake, now get off of me." Wildman set him down.Nova leaped up and threw his hoofs around Wldman. He recolied from the contact.

"Don't you fucking touch me." Wildman's eyes had a crazed light in them.

"I'm sorry. You'll do good. Now come on! I know how to stop this thing!" Nova spun around and sped down the hall, Wildman following behind.

"What the fuck? How could you possibly know?"

"No time to explain. Lets just say I've got voices in my head".

"On the left!! BOOMPING The explosive slug slammed into the creatures chest, igniting the magical bale fire enchantment. The changelings remains burst into flames before it even hit the ground. Riot led the way, his Jackhammer tracking back and forth, looking for prey. Crash Course and Short Stack weren't far behind, but the green buck was truly leading the way with his directions.

"We need to regroup with Wildman and Nova, we can't take down the nest without help." Crash side-stepped the burning corpse.

The changeling nodded his head, looking over to the large grey stallion. "We need to get into the armoury. Inside there's an incendiary weapon we can use to purge the source." The bucks nodded in agreement as they stalked through the hallway.

"Right!" The Jackhammer swayed over, sighting the changeling before it shredded the monster. Before Riot could fire, the changeling disappeared from sight, clacking and clicking at Short Stack.

"What's it saying Stack?" The buck motioned for quiet, still looking up at the narrow tunnel where the creature had gone down.

"Nothing, just... Nothing. Lets move; we can't be here."

It was Crash who answered the strange buck. "Agreed, we need to get out of these tunnels!"
______________________________________________________________________________________________

The trio trotted through the burrowed tunnels, staying wary of attacks from all sides. They were going up, or so it seemed.
"There, up ahead, it's an exit tunnel." The three ponies charged forward, hoping for fresh air.

"Come on! We're almost-" The ground cracked, splitting open and swallowing Riot whole. Crash and Stack Raced to the side to try and grab him, but he was already gone.

'Fuck!! What do we do!!? He's my CO and-" The bug pony motioned for her to stay silent boompingboomping

"We need to continue on and find your fellows, or none of us will last long."
______________________________________________________________________

"FUCK YOU, YOU MOTHER FUCKERS YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME!!?? BOOMPINGBOOMPING COME AND GET ME!!!"

Nova rushed down the halls, Wildman in tow. Nova was talking to somepony. This caught the attention of Wildman.

"Nova who the fuck are you talking to?!" Wildman yelled.

"Myself. I mean my other self. I mean.... Oh it doesn't matter just run!" Nova suddenly stopped. "Here? But it's solid steel! Oh I see. Wildman hand me your side arm". Nova held out his hoof.

"Fuck off. You've gone insane. You're crazy if you think i'm gonna give my favorite pistol to somepony who just tried to kill me!"

"Wildman, we haven't got the time to argue. Either you give me that gun or the entire universe dies".

"What do you mean the entire universe?"

"I mean the entire goddamn world! Every living thing. Plants, animals, you, me. All gone. Now hurry up and hand me your pistol!" Wildman closed his mouth. No one had talked to him like that in a long time. Wildman handed Chastity over to Nova.

"Don't you fucking try anything!" Nova put the gun in his mouth.

"goo ow ish I han us. wes!" Nova fired. The metal in front of them splintered like glass, and fell apart. Were the panel had been was a massive whole. It lead straight down to the center of the base. Nova looked down and smiled. He turned around and spat the gun at Wildman. "Ah ha! Perfect. Straight down the nest. Quickest rout by far".

"Whoa whoa whoa. What the fuck just happened. I just saw steel shatter like glass!"

"It's a charclorium seal. The changelings disguised it as a steel panel. Quickest way in and out of the hive. Usually it's just as strong as steel but I found a week spot".

"Wait changelings? I thought they were all killed off in the celestial age?"

"Far from it. A few survived and made a base here, and now if we don't destroy the nest then we're all going to be in a lot of trouble".

"Okay well that explains a lot but how the hell do you know all this stuff?"

"Like I said. Voices in my head. Now if you don't mind, we should really start saving the universe".

"Wait! How the fuck are we going to get down there? That drop would kill anypony".

"Well I have got these". Nova extended his wings out proudly. "You've got them too I believe".

Wildman hung his head. "My wings were destroyed In a mech battle".

"Ah, right. Well.... I suppose you could stay here. Make sure the wall doesn't go anywhere. It is my way out after all". At that Nova leaped into the chasm. He could hear Wildman yell at him from topside as he descended. Nova finally slowed his decent when he came to the end. He landed in a massive cavern. easily 10 miles wide. A luminescent green glow coming from every were.There was green slime everywhere. And then he noticed it. The ground and walls were moving. They were alive. A strange cocoon of sorts surrounding the bodies of millions of changelings, and there In the middle hung a massive cocoon. Inside was a creature that defied any definition. It was neither pony nor changeling. It was a twisted and swollen black mass. In it's center Nova could make out the shapes of both ponies and changelings. consumed by the monster.

"That is the queen"..

The thoughts came from his mind, but not from him.

"How do we kill it?"

"Killing the Queen is not enough. You must destroy the entire hive".

"How do we do that?"

"The hive is one body. She lives off the hive just as the hive lives off her. Sever the umbilical and both the queen and the hive is dead".

"Right and how do I do that?"

"The umbilical is there. At the base of the queens cocoon. Were it meets the cavern".

"Right well.." Nova was cut off when the sound of explosions started growing closer and closer. There was a brilliant flash of green light as the ceiling burst open. Something ripped past Nova, landing with a resounding crunch. Nova spun around to find Riot pulling himself out of a crushed changeling, several bodies and parts rained down around him, drenched in a green goo. "Riot what the hell? How did you get down here? And what is that goo?"

"The ground gave way. I fell. Not sure were I am. And as for the goo; It's Changeling blood... I had a little company on the way down." Riot stretched his back out, groaning at the strain. He glanced back up at Nova "So what brings you boys down to these parts?"

"The changelings escape tunnel. Unlike you, I'm here on purpose".

"Right, and were is here exactly?"

"The changeling hive cluster".

"Well fuck. And how do you know so much?"

"It's a long story". As Nova said those words the entire space began to shake. The Changelings spun in their cocoons.

"The hive is awakening. The device is being activated". The words came from inside Nova's head.

"Right. Riot! Sir. I know you're my CO but for once listen to my orders! I know what's going on. I can't explain how but I just do. So please listen. If we don't stop this hive from awaking they'll kill every living thing in the universe". Riot cut in.

"Well then lets kill em before they get the chance!" Riot pointed his shot gun at the cocoon under his hooves and fired. The spinning changeling stopped moving and ceased to glow. Riot aimed for another but before he could fire Nova stopped him.

"Wait! We have to kill the entire hive! It would take too long to shoot them one by one".

"Well no shit Nova, how do you propose we do it?"

"We have to cut the link between the hive and the queen before they awake."

"And how does our glorious leader propose to do this?" Riot looked haggard and beaten, the low lighting cast a grim look over his face.

"Do you have a knife?"

"Never leave home without one.". Riot magicked out his knife and levitated it into Nova's grasp.

"Good. Now Keep me covered. They know we're down here. They'll be sending troops in to stop us, so give me time so that I can sever the connection".

"Alright lad, Godspeed". Nova nodded at Riot, and galloped off towards the core of the cavern. Riot turned around and readied himself for a fight. "Come get it you bloody bastards!" Riot yelled as a black swarm descended from above.

Nova was running as fast as he could. He had placed Riots knife in his mouth and was ready to cut the connection. He was galloping over the convulsing cocoons of millions of changelings. Suddenly they started to break free. All of them grabbing at Nova as he ran. Suddenly Nova was knocked to the ground by a tremor. The Queen had broken free.

"The device has been activated" The changelings voice echoed in his mind. At this Nova leaped into the air. He extended his wings and began to fly; as fast as he could. Towards the umbilical. The cavern was no longer a bright green color. Something had changed. It was now a dark crimson. Nova saw the body of Queen twist and convulse. It was afraid. And then it broke open. The hard outer shell split to reveal a monster so hideous that the sight of it made Nova shudder with fear. Its face an awful white, Scabbed and scarred. Bits of flesh dangling from its body in random places. Its entire body was a collage of the ponies and changelings it had consumed. Thousands upon thousands of them. All mashed together. There was only one natural part of the body that Nova could see. The eyes. Oh and how they burned. He could feel the anger and rage behind them. It burnt the creature inside out. This wasn't just a survival tactic. The creature wanted revenge.

Nova reached the creature and pulled out the knife. "This ends here!" Nova raised the blade between his hooves and thrust down, but before it contacted the flesh of the umbilical something stopped him.

"I told you I had control of your sub conscious". The same voice that echoed from within now came from beast above him.

"Nova couldn't speak. His entire body was paralyzed, but he could still think.

"How can you do this? I don't understand. What are you?"

"I am the queen. I always was".

"But I don't understand. I saw your thoughts. You're not the queen".

"Wrong. You saw the thoughts of the dead changeling. You see we are a hive mind, and although I cannot move from one ponies mind to another I can move throughout the minds of the changelings"

"But I saw pain and misery and torture".

"Yes, We have been tortured by the universe for the entirety of our existence. It is time for us to take our revenge".

"But why did you tell me how to destroy you?"

"Because I needed one last piece to the puzzle. It was the best way to get you here".

"But why me?"

"This body is made the flesh of fallen ponies. Held together by the blood of changelings. You see, I needed your mind to control this beast. You will become part of it". The voice had finished. Suddenly Nova felt himself being lifted into the air. "It is over. In a few moments your mind will be apart of this device".

"No! I'll fight it!"

"Sure you could, but what would be the point. You'd only regain control over your body for a second. You couldn't sever the connection with the hive in that time". At that point Nova realized he was still holding the knife. He thought to himself. A private thought. In a place were he knew they couldn't find him. Nova remembered what the creature had said earlier.

"The graft cannot be reversed. When the host dies so will I". Nova knew what to do. He may not have enough time to destroy the connection between the umbilical and the the hive, but he could still stop it. Nova began to fight.

"Oh how Interesting. You have decided to fight after all. This should be fun". At that Nova regained control of his body.

"Like I said, this ends here". Nova thrust the knife downwards. Into his own chest. In an instant he felt the mind of the creature call out, but then it was gone. Purged from his mind, but at what cost? Nova fell to the ground bellow. No longer suspended by the changeling magic. The hive screamed out in unison. A high pitched howl as the entirety of the hive died at once. The hives natural glow faded and went black. That was all that was left, For the changelings and for Nova.

A couple minutes earlier......

"Asshole......" Wildman flicked out his damaged wing, and stared at it.

A loud buzzing was heard from down the hall behind him. A horde of changelings were flying down the hall, towards him. He drew, cocked, and fired, in the time it would take to raise a normal weapon. He fired himself empty, each shot finding something important. They would be on him in five, he could reload in one. He reloaded, missed one, downed six. But the horde was too great, the crowd of them knocked him over the side, into the hole, which was where they were headed.

He screamed out in fear, before righting himself and drawing the exoknife. He grabbed a hold of the nearest changeling, and stabbed through its side. He threw his forelegs underneath it, and rode it all the way to the hive. He arrived just in time to see Nova gut himself.

"NOVA!!!" He rushed forward, and tried to draw chastity to clear his path. But he found his holster...empty. It had been knocked from his mouth when he was rushed, and was now probably lying on the floor up there. Instead he drew the exoknife again, and rushed towards Nova, but he didn't need it, the hive was dying, and was starting to collapse. changelings were falling, and dying around him. Chunks of biotic walls were falling. He threw Nova onto his back, and called to Riot, who was unloading his shotguns drum clip into the flitting changelings.

"LETS GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE." In a smaller voice, he said. "You're gonna be okay Nova, I'm getting you out of here, you just stay with me."

Riot stood by Nova as he faced the changeling queen, The entire room shook and swirled with the sheer amount of bodies occupying the space. The captain stood his ground as yet another wave of changelings dove down upon the small group. His jackhammer barked and snarled as it spat high explosive slugs through the attackers. On of the changelings deftly avoided the grisly; charred fate of his fellows. Tackling Riot from the side, he drove the large bullpup shotgun away from its owner.

Riot sprawled on his side, grunting in pain as he grappled with the monster, who began to writhe in his grip, driving its sharp plates under Riots skin.

Ignoring the pain, Riot kicked the creature off, telekinetically reaching for his hatchet. "GO! TO! HELL!!" Each word was punctuated with a savage axe swing, which thrashed and ravaged the changelings body. A steady voice grasped his attention, drawing his eyes to Nova.

"Like I said, this ends here." Riot started to call to Nova as the Queen raised her hooves for a death blow, but both were halted by the large bayonet Nova shoved deep into his breastplate. The Queen thrashed and bucked from an ethereal force as Novas body slumped against the ground.

"Riot yelled out along side Wildman, but the slithering movement to his right reminded him of his obligations. Riot quickly turned to finish off the changeling, on to come face to face with the bloody, broken body of his wife, the axe still protruding from her chest.

Tears welled up in Riots eyes as all the memories he had suppressed came crashing back in a torrent of pain and death.
"Aurora... no..." Riot fell to his knees next to the savaged body, dragging the effigy up into his arms. "Not again... please not now..." Pulling the broken body closer in, Riot clenched his eyes shut, trying to block out the rending; pinning torture he was going through. His mind drifted listlessly back into the world of grey's and blood.

A soft sputtering sound brought him back from the world of grey and death, barely opening his eyes through the tears, his gaze met Auroras. "You killed me. You killed our son...." The mare squeaked in pain as another convulsion went through her body. "You should... have died in those tunnels... Monster." Riot didn't bother arguing, he could only nod his head as the room came crashing down around him.

The changeling slowly drew back a savage blade, taking care to build his strength and ensure the ponies death, as Riot clutched him in his fore-hooves, the creature could only smile through the pain and blood.

Get up Kel'loco! Please don't die for this... Riot lifted his head, his bloodshot blue eyes meeting mutated blue compound eyes. Riots horn flared with savage uncontrolled magic as the telekinetic bullet grenaded the changelings head into a fine paste, leaving a massive impact crater in the ground. The captain stood up, letting the foul creature fall from his hooves. His blood boiled as furious rage poured into every inch of his body, his body practically vibrated with destructive energy. The Jackhammer floated next to him, the magical energies, twisting and changing it into something savage and deadly, much like its owner. As Riot fired torrents of rending buckshot into the fliers a chorus of familiar voices filed his head, drowning out the sounds of death and impending doom.

Once more into the fray
Into the last good fight I'll ever know
Live and die on this day
Live and die on this day

Wildman had dragged Novas bleeding body into a corner, and was trying to avoid the falling debris. The entire room shook and vibrated, large chunks of the ceiling falling down and crushing egg sacs. Despite the death of the queen and the destruction being wrought on their home, some changelings still fought the trio, sending volleys and kicks down upon the mercs. A large chunk of roofing fell down into the cavern, its trajectory promising a swift death to the trio.

Riot stood his ground, horn flaring with barely contained power. Through his eyes, he wasn't alone, he never had been truly alone, not since he had first set hoof outside the stable. Riot stood shoulder to shoulder with his wife and child, his father; and his two best friends. Time stood still as their eyes glowed with power, which fired through the conduit of Riot.

The bolt slammed into the slab of reinforced concrete, shattering and pulverizing it into tiny fragments. Light streamed in through the massive hole in the roof, when the few surviving changeling attempted to flee, they were cut down my machine gun fire from the surface. A single VTOL slid in through the torrent of rocks and death, coming down to a hover next to the edge. In a flash the trio were on board and fighting to get away from the treacherous sinkhole.

A familiar voice came from the cockpit as the VTOL broke the lip of the crater. "I left you guys alone for ten minutes, and this is what I get!"
____________________________________________________
Topside twenty minutes later.....

"The lieutenants stable, close call though."
"Yea, good thing that knife wasn't serrated, or he would have been done like dinner!

The two medics trotted away from the medical field tent, glancing over towards the sinkhole that was being slowly cordoned off by both the EQRG and the planetary defense force. What they didn't see was a tall grey stallion slowly climbing into a custom Dragon mech.
___________________________________________________________

Riot sat quietly in his pilots chair, slowly rocking his hind legs back and forth as he sat. The energies that had saved his squad had dissipated away as if they weren't even there. Yet Riot felt the impact through out his body, It felt as if his very soul had been sliced open. He didn't tell the medics about the pounding headache or about how his vision was grey in the periphery. He didn't make eye contact lest they see that his iris' had split into two separate colours. A light ring of grey ringed the inside of the bloodshot, haggard blue eyes.

His head was tilted backwards, his eyes scanned the various poems, prayers, and pictures that adorned the inside of his mech. In that sole moment, Riots being felt unbearably heavy, his thoughts wandered to avoid the pain of memory.

In too the fray once again my son
to fight until the battles done.
Live to fight another day
For only you keep the wolves at bay.

Wildman deserves a reward for his actions. He's suffered loss today as well.

Riot trotted across the courtyard, various ponies milled around; stripping the base of any useful equipment. Riot spotted Crash Course and the new buck, Short Stack helping load a very large covered truck into a kangaroo transport ship. Riot could only wonder what they had found in the depths of the base, and if it were the incendiary weapon Stack had spoken of before.

Unfortunately, Riot wasn't headed in their direction, he had plans. The captain approached the impromptu barracks for the EQRG, he could see shadows and forms moving quickly inside.

The barracks already smelt of sweat and strain, soldiers and techs scurried about. One diminutive corporal noticed Irons entry into the tent, and quickly snapped to attention.

"Officer on deck!" The other ponies froze in place, jolting into an attentive stance.

Riot nodded at the soldiers, the light casting a grim shadow over his muzzle. "At ease." He looked over at a relaxing sergeant. "You, You're my runner now." The buck sent up a sharp salute. "Yes sir. What do you need?"

The Captain motioned to the door. "Walk with me."

The two stepped outside into the chilly air. A large burn pile was forming over in the western courtyard, consisting entirely of changeling bodies. Riot started walking towards another field tent, the sergeant rushed to follow.

"Segeant, I need full reports on what happened, everything we know. I want full combat sweeps of the changeling tunnels, no survivors you hear me?" Riot stopped to stare at the buck, who quickly nodded and confirmed his orders.

"Where should I have the reports delivered sir?"

Riot stopped to consider the fact they didn't have a field office yet, and the dropship wasn't due back for another three days. "Deliver any and all reports and requirements to my Mech." The buck saluted again, and turned away to start his errand. "One last thing sergeant! Where's corporal Wildman?"
__________________________________________________________

The tent flap flailed in the bitter cold wind, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Wildman had curled up in a smaller four pony tent, and was staring at the only surviving piece of his weapon. He lowly shook his head as he placed the revolver into its protective case. As he closed the last latch, he heard the crunch of gravel getting closer to the entrance; as he looked up, he came face to face with his CO, Iron Venture.

"Sir I-"

"You did good out there corporal, Nova owes you his life. In my opinion, sacrifice often entails a reward." Riot trotted over to a small stool that bordered a smothered cooking fire. He pulled out his small flask and took a swig. Offering it to Wildman, he spoke. "Take a gulp, need to know if my new sergeant can hold his drink."

"Thank you sir, just doing my job." Wildman throws up his hoof in a short salute, and slid his revolver case away with his other. He takes the flask in his mouth, and swigged from it, coughing at the firey liquid. Riot grinned and sent a magical spark down to the small fire, which started to flicker and sputter to life.

"So, Now that tha's out of the way, I need to ask you somethin' lad."

Wildman coughs once more, passes the flask back, and replies. "What do you need Captain?"

Riot scratched his bearded face, trying to actually decide what he needed. "What the fuckin' bloody hell happened with Nova? One second he's starin' down a fuckin monster, talkin to himself, next thing I know he's gone and stuck himself with me bayonet!"

Wildman was unsuprised by the question, having asked himself the same repeatedly. "I'm not sure either sir, he was going on about 'voices in his head'; but he wasn't crazy, he knew things that nopony could know. One thing I do know, is that when he stabbed himself, that hive started coming down, those changelings were dying."

Shaking his head, the captain slipped the flask back into his flak vest. "Fuck it then, tangoes dead and burned, all friendlies accounted for." Looking around for anything else to change the subject, he found his eyes wandering down towards the weapon case. "Whatcha' got there Lad?"

Wildman looked to the side, and pushed the case away. "Its.....not important, Sir."\

Riot grinned at the challenge. "Well, since you won't let me look, I'll have to guess then. From the size and shape of the case, I would have to say; it's a hunting revolver. Now the markings, that's a little more difficult. Looks like a Cusull Shankof stampIt's a Shankof Custom hunting revolver, most likely .45-70 gov rounds, possible compensator? No, Shankof never used those, but a sandalwood grip? Most definitely."

Wildman gave a bit of a sad smile at that. "You're close Sir, this is Chastity; my father made her totally unique, but he worked with Shankof, so he kept the markings, and most of the stock design. You guessed the grip, and the calibre correctly." He said opening the case to the mostly destroyed revolver. "My father built her, and carried her for thirty-seven years, then he passed her to me when I left home, the last time I saw him."

Riot gazed down at the shattered revolver in dismay. "That's a bleedin' shame right there. Think you'll rebuild it?"

Wildman smiled a little brighter. "Maybe, one day. I just hope that I'll get to pass her on to my little one. If any mare will go for a buck with a face like raw hamburger, and a body that looks like it was used for flamethrower practice." At this, he laughed a little, and closed the case.

"Hah, no kiddin'!" Riot let out another full laugh as he leaned back on the camping stool. "Anyways, since your revolver is decommisioned as of now, It seems like you'll need a new emergency weapon. Am I right lad?"

"Yes sir, have anything in mind?"

"Well..." Riot looked over to his olive drab rifle bag. "I've got just the thing for close encounters. Its a Panbuck Jackhammer, one of the few ever made. It's got special enchantments on both the barrel and magazine feed. But- I think when we took down the queen something changed inside it, it just doesn't seem right to me anymore. Why don't you give her a go?"

Wildman took the weapon into his hooves, but it felt........Off. The weapon itself gave an aura of furious anger, and he felt like there was some......entity, living in the weapon. It seemed to like him though; He felt as comfortable as if he had carried it for years, like he knew it personally,
"It's an elegant weapon sir, I'll take great care of her." He threw up another salute.

The captain returned the salute "Jus' don't shoot me with it alright? Balefire buckshot is a bitch to get out!"

Wildman looked over the weapon after his CO had left the tent.

Can you hear me? Understand me?
The weapon pulsed with something he couldn't place. It seemed to have some kind of primitive intelligence. What he felt in his head was.........simple, but somehow cloudy.

FEED............PAIN

He took the exoknife out of it's new sheath, and carved a pair of words, one on each side of the barrel, Hunger, and Hurt; two sides of the same coin.

THREE DAYS LATER

It was dark when Nova awoke. He wasn't quite sure where he was, but he didn't care. If he was awake now that meant they had won. He tried to sit up but couldn't. There was a cloth wrapped around hi chest. Nova could barely see in the pitch black but he tell that in the center it was much darker. He knew what it was from. He lifted his head to scan the room. Maybe find out were he was, but it was to dark. He couldn't see beyond his bed. Suddenly a sharp pain came to his head. He grit his teeth in pain and growled quietly among himself. As soon as he let out his silent growl a hoof emerged from the darkness. A small flask resting on top.

"Take this. It'll help with the pain". A voice said from the darkness. Nova took the flask and downed a large gulp. The liquid was rancid and made him gag, but at the same time it stopped his head ache. In his agony Nova wasn't able to recognize the voice.

"Riot?" Nova asked.

"I'm afraid not". The voice was foreign and old but gave no hint at what the pony behind the voice looked like. The voice was common and forgettable. If he had heard it at any other time he wouldn't have noticed, but at the sane time it was powerful. It was old. It was wise. Despite this he found himself asking questions.

"Well then who then?"

"Well that is the question. Isn't it. Who? I think that's the greatest question any pony could ask"

"All right. If you won't tell me who you are then tell me. Were am I?"

"You're back aboard the Orion's Reach. The medical bay to be exact".

"Okay. So what was in that flask?"

"Oh just an old cocktail I picked up a long time ago".

"Well It sure does the tricks with headaches".

"Yeah. I'm afraid those won't stop anytime soon".

"Why not? What are they?"

"Well you've got two minds in one brain. No one head is meant to do that".

"So the Queen? She's still in here?"

"No. Not to worry. She was purged when you stabbed yourself".

"So then why the headaches?"

"Well. The Queen is gone from your mind, but her memories are still there. They're part of your memories now. There's quite a lot of them too. Almost 2000 years worth".

"But the queen was young. She was a new Queen. I saw it in her memories. She was young".

"Not young. Just reborn. Her mind lived on through the hive until they were able to construct her new body. That thing you fought down in the hive. You've got a whole library to read. What you saw was only one chapter".

"So were's the rest of the memories?"

"Hidden deep in your subconscious. Waiting to be unlocked". The Buck got up and began to walk away. No warning. Not even a proper end to the conversation. Nova heard this and responded.

"Wait! Where are you going?"

"Away".

"Oh right. With knowledge like that you're probably on the tops. I get it. Work to do".

"Tops?"

"You know top of the EQRG".

"Actually I'm not even part of the EQRG".

"What are you then? A planetary leader?"

"Actually. I'm not part of any organization".

"Okay then how did you get aboard an EQRG jump ship? And how do you know so much about what happened?"

"Oh I have my ways". And at that the stranger began to trot out. Just before he reached the door Nova called out.

"Wait! What do I do about the headaches?"

"Well. You've still got the flask don't you?" Nova looked down and realized that The metal flask was still in his hooves.

"Thank you!" Nova yelled out into the darkness, but the stranger was already gone.

Nova stayed in the medical bay for three days more. Letting the wound in his chest heal. He'd have the scar for the rest of his life. Some of the nurses said that it'll be a good reminder. As if he needed reminding. The headaches didn't show up on their tests. And the only thing that seemed to cure them was the rancid drink from the mysterious flask. Once more the flask didn't seem to run out either. He would take sip and it would be as if he hadn't drank any. Nova often wondered what would happen if he tried to poor it out. Though he never did.

Nova was finally allowed to leave. He knew were the first place he should report would be. However he had more important things to take care of. He needed to apologize to Wildman. He trotted down the halls towards his barracks when he bumped into His CO Riot. He threw up a quick salute and tried to continue on his way, but the captain had other plans.

"Oi! Wait up lad!" Riot trotted up to the cantering white pegasus. "I needed to talk to you anyways Lt". Nova hung his head, and sighed.

"Well I guess you'd have questions sooner or later". Riot shook his head, a grimace on his face.

"Honestly Nova? I don't know how or even what you did down there, and to be frank; I don't entirely care. We all did what we needed to do, and the job got done".

"Well What then? I don't mean to be rude captain, but I have something that i need to do". The captain rolled his eyes at the Lt's roughness. It was shallow, didn't have any punch to it.

"What? Your CO can't come and check to see if his XO hasn't bled out all over the med-bay?" Nova knew Riot cared about his lance mates. No matter how little he showed it, but he never asked about stuff like that.

"I'm fine. Perfectly okay. See", Nova went back on his hind hooves and showed Riot his chest. "Just a scar". Nova knew he was cutting it close, but he was irritated. Riot grunted, knowing he wouldn't get much more information concerning the event.

"Well Lt, Doc SkillSaw wanted us all to fill out fill Psych analysis forms, and wants to do full examinations. I told him to stuff it up his arse sideways." The captain shifted to he side to let a pair of naval recruits slip by. "I still need a report from you on the mission. You've got two days Lt." Riot sent up a quick salute, followed by a friendly slap on the shoulder. "Try and unwind lad, you're wound up tighter than a nuns glory hole."

Once the captain was behind him he took out his flask and took a swig. His head had started hurting mid conversation. He wouldn't bring out the flask in front of Iron. What Nova didn't see was a concerned Riot glance back at him as he took a swig.

The Captain trotted slowly down the hallway towards the general mess hall, he was worried about Nova; but he couldn't do anything about it at this moment in time. As he trotted closer, he could hear a fairly new, yet familiar voice mixing in with another well know voice. As Riot turned another corner, he found his CO, colonel Silverbolt speaking with the new pony, Short Stack.

The two looked over at the grizzled captain, a slight smirk breaking out on Stacks muzzle. Silverbolt nodded to Riot, addressing him as a friend. "Good evening Riot, You're just the buck I wanted to see."

Riot raised an eyebrow, looking over to the changeling in disguise. "Oh? What for colonel?"

Motioning to the odd buck, Silver continued forward. "Short Stack here has a request, he wants to join up with your little team."

"I'll see that he gets accommodated properly sir." Looking over at Stack, Riot thrust out a hoof. "Welcome to Chimera 4 lad, I'll find something for you to do. Just keep in mind that you are not a mech pilot in my lance."

The buck nodded, smiling as he snapped to a smart salute, then wheeled around and began trotting in the opposite direction. Riot glanced back to Silverbolt. "I assume that wasn't the only thing you wanted to talk to me about, sir."

Time to test out my new toy.

Wildman made his way down the small halls of the ship, heading down a couple of levels to the shooting range. He slid into his battlesaddle, and connected his new weapon to it. The joining of weapon to body felt.......Good. Right. He kicked the autoloader, and sighted his first targets. He checked over the weapon, setting the rounds to normal buckshot, and flicking off the safety.

BOOMPING A shot of odd happiness shot through him.

The first target had a hoof sized hole torn in it. Sadly, the hole was off target.

BOOMPING BOOMPING Those same bursts of happiness, but less potent.

The next two were closer, but there was something off about the weapon. Ahh, the weight. Jackhammer was heavy, and the imbalance threw off his aim. Then he got a terribly amazing idea. He nearly skipped all the way back to the armory. He strapped a ammo box of 12. Ga to his left side, and connected the shells into a kind of belt, like a machine gun. He strapped the belt across his back, and into the Jackhammer, so the weapon would load itself from the ammo box with each shot; and the extra weight from the box balanced the weapon.

BOOMPING BOOMPING BOOMPING BOOMPING. The fiery shells tore out the face of each target. The accuracy was way to good for his first real try with the weapon.

Okay, I'm good, but not that good.

He gave a strange look at the weapon on his side.

What are you?

It pulsed with content. But it wanted more than just targets. It wanted more, and would have more.

Nova lay in his bed. He couldn't sleep. The events of the past few days were fresh in his mind. Why did he get so angry at Wildman? Who was the buck that had given him the flask? What was the odd liquid n the flask? these questions and more were swirling in Nova's head. Suddenly his head was pounding. He reached for the flask under his pillow but knocked it on the ground as he did. nova couldn't find it. The pain was getting worse. He curled upon his bed and tried to ride it out. after what seemed like hours the pain stopped. A surge of thoughts memories and feelings rushed him. 100 years worth. That was only a start. He knew there would be more to come.

Once he had come to grits with everything he just experienced his mind went once again to Wildman. Why had he been so hostile with him? That wasn't like Nova. He'd never been that angry before. Even after he'd almost killed him he still dragged his ass to safety. Nova knew he owed his life to the recruit.

Threat Status: ENGAGED

"LUCIFERS!"

The shaggy infantry pony yelled at his fellows, trying to get their weapons trained to the skies to destroy the incoming fighters, But they were to slow. LRM's ripped through the skies and into the meandering trenches, killing scores of ponies.
High above the battlefield a Steiner pilot chuckled at the whole-sale death she was reaping. She opened coms to her fellows.

"This shits too easy, these militia mud dwellers are like rats!" She let out a chortling laugh to punctuate her sentence.

"No kidding Blue one! These fuckers don't even have tanks, It's like shooting crippled fish in a barrel."

"Lets mop up these fools and-"

"CONTAC-"

KRAKBOOM

The LBX shell ripped through the fighter-bomber's fuel reservoir, igniting it into a sailing ball of plasma fire.

"IT"S A FUCKING MADCAT!!"

Another shell sailed through the air, perforating yet another one of the attackers, turning the multi-million C-Bit machine into flying slag.

"Take that you arseholes, pick on someone your own size!"

The pilot of the Madcat triggered his jump jets, avoiding a bright green lance of enhanced light. Switching over to his heavy laser to conserve autocannon ammunition, Riot returned the beam straight back to its sender, cutting the fighter into flaming twos. The last of the Steiner pilots had attempted to disengage and fly off; abandoning his attack vector, but Riot wouldn't allow any cowardice today, not from Steiner.

The last of the death machines plummeted towards the churned, cratered earth, as the shaggy infantry pony ran past his squad's savior. A few of his fellows waved their thanks to the merc pilot from the Royal Guard, he personally remembering to buy drinks for the next guardscolt he saw.

Up in the Madcat's cockpit, Riot was already signaling his lance-mates for info regarding the enemy mechs reported following the Lucifers.

"Nova, I need coordinates for that Catapult ASAP!" The grey buck had opted for a heavier flight helmet, a choice he was regretting as his spine cracked back into place despite the augmentation he had received years ago.

"Got pings from both that Catapult and an Atlas! Possibly a Bushwhacker for recon."

"Shit just got interesting ladies!" The grey buck signaled his lance to move back towards the ruins of the city for cover as the Atlas crested the hill, only to receive an autocannon round to the chest.

"Everypony get BACK!"

The Steiner Catapult had just jumped, firing missiles over the hill, only to see the rear end of a Madcat slipping into the bombed city, and his missiles hitting nothing of importance.

"Set standard spread, we're hunting mercs."

"This is Wildman, moving for city center," The small Cougar strided down the rubble filled streets, its agility aiding it in moving around the piles of detritus and torn apart buildings.

"Watch yourself, that Bushwhacker is headed into the city!"

"Don't worry lance lead, I got this." He moved the sticks to spin his mech around the nearest corner, heading east, towards where his sensors said the enemy bushwhacker was entering the city.

"Wildman, check your corners, that atlas is still out there, and he's pissed."

Riots custom Madcat had already joined up with his lance-mate Nova, and was currently moving towards the crippled cities capital building. Leaving his other lance-mate to move freely.

Nova wasn't sure of the current choice, he never liked leaving his lance-mates alone in the field. "Riot, you head to the capital building, I'll hook up with Wildman to ensure a proper kill on the Bushwhacker."

"You sure Nova? Alright, just make sure you get to the capital ASAP, we ain't gettin paid to gallavant around around town while Steiner murders another planetary leader ."

"Roger that lance-leader, kill and run order in effect."

Meanwhile, cross the city...

"Sire, the merc group hired on to protect the planets council was The Equestian Royal Guard, a relatively small band, compared to a group like say, The Desperadoes. Yet they still manage to obtain high paying contracts."

The atlas stood silent, like a statue to death and furosity. Its pilot well know for both, and more.

"We head straight for the capital, no more fucking around. if these mercs get in our way, we show them why no one fucks with Steiner."

"Yes sire, should I regroup with Router? Or should I-"

"No. You stick with me Bick, Router will cover our flanks."

"Yes sir."

"Acknowledged Nova."

The Cougar moved more cautiously, through the streets. He soon caught a glimpse of his target, the enemy mech was moving through the square ahead of him, crossing over the center, and moving for the far side.

"Hostile located, moving to engage."

He set his sights, and locked on.

A short salvo of missiles clubbed the Bushwacker on its right side, and a barrage of medium laser fire hitting the same area, tossed the mech for a loop. He quickly sighted Wildman, and letting loose with machine guns, and a blind missile attack. The quickness of the Cougar overridden by the tiny streets, the machine guns tore into it.

Wildman hit his throttle, moving his mech directly towards the Bushwhacker, smacking it with another pair of missile salvoes and laser strikes. As he neared the larger mech, he quickly turned and moved around behind it and hit it again. The heavier mech couldn't move quick enough to target the speedy smaller mech, and sent his autocannon rounds flying blindly around the square. Wildman pulled back, and rushed from another direction, focusing his strikes, and destroying the autocannon.

Warning lights went off in the Cougar, about the heat levels.

"This is Wildman, I have engaged the Bushwhacker, but I`m pulling out to cool down. Could somepony keep him off me?"

"Wildman this is Nova. I'm approaching on your position. ETA one minute. What's your condition?"

As Nova rounded the hill in his Vulture he eyed the crippled Bushwhacker and engaged it with dual LRMs. The Bushwhacker erupted in an explosion of fire and metal debris.

"looks like I got here right on time. That bushwhacker would have mauled you. You should know better than to let yourself overheat like that."

"I was out gunned. if I didn't keep a consistent rate of fire he would have roasted me for sure".

"I don't give a shit. We have to meet back up with Riot, and now you've lost us valuable time. Cool down and hurry your ass up".

The whining crackle of PPC`s snapped past Riot's Madcat as he ducked and weaved through the ruined city streets. The Steiner captain was furious, spitting insults and profanity over his comm system.

"Catch me if you can you blimey FUCK!" Roaring with a fast laugh as yet another shot went wide, the Atlas pilot was an amateur at best. "You aint the first to try and take me down, you wont be the last!"

Bounding past a still burning troop carrier, Riot saw the Steiner Catapult whip down a side street a few hundred meters away. The Atlas pilot was still seething over his wasted shots and the guardscolt's slippery nature.
__________________________________________________________________________________

"Crash! Whats the ETA on the councils pick up!? I've got some friends who want to party." Moments later Riot's Comm crackled as a mares voice was projected into his helmet.

"Give me ten minutes Team lead, We're moving as fast as possible!"

"You've got five Crash! Get that Ferret on the ground and get the VIP's out of the capitol building!"

"Roger that Team lea-"

*CRUMP*

The hard impact of SRM's jolted Riot's mech to the side, throwing out his Communications. The Catapult was right there! Where the hell had it come from?!? Turning, Riot fired a wild round in hopes of deterring the enemy, yet it struck true. The Steiner Catapult was thrown off balance as the heavy auto-cannon round slammed into its right missile rack. The resounding detonation knocked the mech onto its side, but didn't kill it out right, as the mech already was struggling to regain its footing.

"I'll be seeing you later buddy!" Riot slammed his throttle down into full, in hopes of out running the Atlas still hot on his trail. "Wildman! Nova! Whats your ETA on the capitol building? I'm bringing some unwanted guests to this party!"

"Riot this is Nova. Me and Wildman are inbound on the capitol. ETA 90 seconds. Wildmans got some heat damage to his targeting systems, and I'm down one LRM."

As the words left his mouth Nova saw a large explosion near the Capital. A sense of dread came over him. Had his buddy been Frosted, or had it just bean a stray SRM? Either way Nova was furious.

"Wildman get up here! Get ready to engage that catapult! Looks like Riot made a new friend".

"Why don't you just use your LRMs?"

"Well because you can't keep yourself from over heating I had to use one of my LRMs on that bushwhacker, and your crazy if you think i'm going to use my last LRM on some half dead punk that you could easily take down with a laser strike!"

"But..."

"You listen here you little punk! I'm your CO. Now get your ass up here and engage that Catapult".

Riot burst through a decaying wall, finding himself out in the open, with nothing in between him and the Atlas. The realisation hit Riot like a pint of hard whiskey, He was at the capitol building, neither Crash nor Riot's lance mates had shown up, and the council was still on premises.

"Goddess fuckin dammit!" Riot strode through the charred park, the capitol building looming in the distance. A large laser beam burned over the top of his mech. It was a warning shot. Riot wheeled his mech around to face the Atlas, who had stopped at the edge of the park. The crackle of the Atlas' external comm filled the deadly silent courtyard.

"You've given me no end of trouble, I will see you dead for it, merc. And after I am done with your pitiful body, I will destroy your lance." The arrogance dripped off of the Steiner pilot's voice, even through the tinny feedback of the comm system.

Riot didn't answer the other pilot, He didn't even turn on his external comm. Instead he pulled a small picture from his dashboard, giving a faint smile at the faded photograph. "I'll see you soon Aurora." Riot slipped the photo into the grooves of his helmet, then floored the accelerator straight at the enemy Atlas, taking the Steiner pilot by surprise.

Firing his heavy auto-cannons, Riot could see the Atlas flinch and buck from the high explosive AP shells slamming home. The air was filled with cracking energy and gun-smoke, one of the Atlas' shots hit home, slagging one of Riot's left auto-cannons. The Steiner pilot was roaring obscenities at Riot over his external comm, But Riot's comm's had been overloaded by all the ambient energy. Thus while he couldn't hear the enemies derogatory terms, he couldn't hear his team mates begging for his position, He couldn't hear the infantry commander reporting that the council was leaving the building. All he could hear was the sound of a mare, his mare, telling him to do what needed to be done.

Dual PPC shots slammed home into Riot's mid-section, buckling the armor and causing a cascade of warning lights and klaxons in his Madcat's cockpit. Seeing that his enemies demise was close at hoof, the Atlas moved in for a gruesome kill.

Riot pinned the accelerator to the floor, his Madcat's heavily modified engine roaring back to life, lurching the crippled mech straight towards the enemy Atlas. Jump jets set to full as the Madcat lifted from the ground, lifting its last auto-cannons into a striking pose. Time slowed to a standstill as Riot brought down his right hoof, his cannons bursting through the Atlas' cockpit, the heavy AP rounds punching straight through to the old mana drive crystal core, which exploded into a breathtaking miniature mushroom cloud filled with eldritch lightning, scrapping the Atlas and propelling the slagged Madcat straight through the Capitol building's main entrance. The shock-wave blew out any window that hadn't been destroyed during the bombing raids, the air turned into a sparkling fusilade of reds, oranges and black soot.

The sounds of battle and the death cries of Riot's Mech fell silent upon the Madcat's broken canopy, the sounds of VTOLS filled the area, infantry trickled out from the surrounding buildings to meet there ride. Councilor Crush Horton boarded the VTOL, whose pilot sat, looking over the devastation wrought through the courtyard. What he didn't see as the door slid shut and the Ferret VTOL lurched into the air, was a shaggy grey stallion push the broken canopy from his mech, and slid his way out.

Bleeding and battered, Riot lifted his flask from his recently donned flight jacket, and took a long swig. He surveyed the courtyard, as well as the Atlas' slagged pieces, wondering when he would see his mare again.

"We gotta keep em' off Riot, his mech' is crippled, and that Catapult is closing in!" Wildman's Cougar burst into the square containing the capitol building. He let loose with both his lasers and his missiles, the heat had damaged the locking system, but the dumbfired rockets hit home. The combination of strikes threw the Catapult for a loop. He rushed it from the side and let loose with his lasers again, nearly destroying it. His heat was climbing, so he pulled out, and circled the slowed Catapult, who was unable to get a lock on the quick moving mech'.

His heat back to a manageable state, he spun and clocked the Catapult with everything he had, knocking it to the ground, and destroying its legs. The pilot ejected just before the mech' exploded, fortunately the destruction had not spread to either Riot's crippled Madcat, or Wildman's Cougar.

"Catapult down, Riot is still in his mech', I think his comms are down, lets get him the hell out of there."

"Finally you do some thing right today. Circle around and make sure those Ferrets are alone up there. I'll go see what i can do about Riot."

Nova headed back to were Riot and the atlas had gone down. All that was left was a pile of twisted atlas remains, and a half buried Madcat cockpit. Nova looked around for any sign of Riot under the charred and twisted metal. Just as he was about to call it he saw a stallion emerge from the rubble and pull out a flask. It was Riot.

"Wildman, get on the comm and call for a medical team. Riots here but he's bleeding".

"Sky is clear Nova. calling for Medical." Wildman replied.

"God damn Riot, what did you do, put a shell through the core?"

Riot responded but his words were lost in the thick metal of Nova's Vulture.

"Hang tight Riot. We've got a medical team inbound. We'll get you home in no time. I think you just earned yourself a healthy leave".

Nova and Wildman were both sitting in the medical ship, both unwilling to leave their lance mate. " I'm sorry about my fuckup with the Bushwhacker, its not the first time my overconfidence got me into trouble." He threw a longing look at his side, still covered with his white jumpsuit.

"It was a rookie mistake. Don't let it happen again".

The words were rough but Nova had already forgiven the young pilot; in his head at least. He was just happy that the fiasco was over. Nova glanced over at Riot laying on the medical table, yelling for his whiskey as the nurses tried to mend his wounds. Nova couldn't help but smile. The medical ship lifted into the air. They were finally headed home.

Onboard the 'Octavia' Arcadia class drop ship , all was well, the pilots were recounting their most recent battle to the others. The tale of how a single lance saved a planetary leader, and thwarted another attempt by Steiner to seize more control of the sector. Rumors abound of how Madcat, crippled on the left side, completely obliterated a healthy Atlas with a single auto-cannon shot.

Thank you's and compensation having already been sent from the planet, the Guard's contract was complete. Drinks and boasts were in heavy concentration in the mess hall, everypony was getting paid for a job well done.

Riot stood in the mech hangar as the 'Octavia' broke orbit, surveying his slagged mech. His body sporting a new set of scars and fresh bandages. Climbing up a maintenance ladder he entered the shattered canopy of the Madcat; the emergency lights had shut off, the consoles lay dead and blank. Broken plexi-glass littered the cockpit, which Riot brushed aside. Picking up his discarded flight helmet and pulling a small photograph from the inner band, Riot brushed another shard of glass off the protective covering. The miniature versions of a dark purple bat pony mare and a little purple colt with fiery hair clung to the tall frame of a grey stallion, clad in riot armor. They looked happy, content with their lives. The photo was crinkled and singed, yet it had survived everything life had thrown at Riot.

A mare's voice echoed through the empty mech bay.

"Hey Riot you up there?" Riot shook himself from his stupor, wiping his eyes he poked his head past the broken canopy.

"What's up Crash Course? You need something?" The white mare gave him a quizzical look before she relayed her message.

"Ain't me that wants ya', Colonel wants to see you, prolly bout' scrapping your mech."

Exhaling slowly Riot closed his eyes, nodding his head.

"Alright Crash, thanks for the heads up." The mare stood there for a moment, unsure whether she should speak her thoughts, but as the grey stallion ducked back into the destroyed Madcat she wheeled and returned to the rowdy mess hall.

Tucking the photo into his vintage dragonskin flight jacket, Riot slid down the ladder and started the trot towards the Colonel's office.

ROYAL GUARD FLEETCOM ALPHA PRIORITY TRANSMISSION 34324S-01

Encryption Code: Red

From: VI Deep Winter, Commanding VIRINTAI, FLEETCOM Sector One VI/ (EQRG VIRINTAI: 00026-83629-DW)

To: EQRG FLEETCOM in the SHILOH system

Subject: HEAVY ASSET LOST

Classification: Classified (TSE Directive)

/start file/

Mech asset lost on SHILOH system's edge coordinates 030 relative. Lance Leader Iron Venture (EQRG SN: 00021-22107-IV) lost requisitioned heavy asset Mad Cat "Prime" Var. in combat. Decisive victory achieved. Detailed report attached.

/end file/

Commanding Colonel Silverbolt switched off the terminal and rubbed his forehead in an attempt to aid the aspirin in destroying his migraine. He hated random migraines. Soon, an officer walked into the room holding a newspaper.

"Mornin' sir." said 2nd Lieutenant Charger.

"Morning Rare." replied the tired colonel.

"Another migraine? Sir, that's a bitch."

"Tell me about it. I'm the one whose skull feels like it's about to explode any nanosecond." For some reason, these migraines always came when something irreplaceable decided to creep into his mind. Losing a Clan Mad Cat wasn't helping.

"It's probably this station fuel they use sir." said Charger. "If you're able to, you might wanna see this."

"Just read it to me. Quietly." Charger cleared his throat and found the appropriate article.

"The New Lunar Republic can celebrate another victory. Thanks to the leadership skill of General Masquerade, the long besieged planet Shiloh can now have peace. The well decorated general was able to launch a full-scale attack on the Steiner garrison and was able to finally capture the city, despite the heavy loss of life. When asked for a comment, General Masquerade only said: 'This victory is for the Lunar Republic, ponies, and the colts who kept the bastards pinned down long enough for me to get there.'" Silverbolt's hooves froze as the migraine grew even worse. If that was even possible for a pony. "In short, sir, you've been gypped...again. There's no mention of you, the support fleet that transferred the good General Masquerade, or you're rescue mission when his shuttle pod was shot down."

"It doesn't matter." said Silverbolt.

"'It doesn't matter'? But sir, you nearly lost your best colts nine times to save his! And where's your credit? Up our asses and around the corner because that son of a bitch-"

"I said it doesn't matter. Rare, you're my friend and I'm glad you're looking out for my interests, but I just don't care. Let that arrogant pony flaunt around all he wants." said Silver who was in the process of begging Celestia to end either his life or the migraine. "Now just please go find out when we can get the hell out of here. That or find me some more aspirin."

"Yes sir." Charger said before leaving. Silverbolt, meanwhile, continued massaging his forehead. Suddenly, there was a knock on his office door. It was going to be a long, long day.

Riot entered the room of his commanding officer, Silverbolt, shortly after the second lieutenant had left. He found the silvery grey buck cradling his head as he went over the after action report.

"You wanted to see me sir?" The bucks head never lifted up from the dull green datapad.

"Turn down the lights if you would Riot?" Blinking, Riot slid the dimmer down till the room was considerably darker. He took a seat in front of the maple desk. He magicked out a stark steel flask, floating it out to the officer.

"Take a swig sir, home made from Tintavel. It'll help with the headache." The officer looked up from his pad swiping the flask out of the air, and taking a deep swig. Giving a deep cough and wiping his mouth with a fore-hoof, Silver re-caped the flask and slid it over to Riot.

"Tastes, like home. Brings back memories, thank you Captain." Riot magicked the flask back into his breast pocket.

"It's good for forgetting. You wanted to see me sir? I assume over the mission."

Silverbolt was thankful for the gesture from the NCO; some memories just didn't want to stay down. The colonel closed his eyes and exhaled as he stood up and made his way to the large viewport that over looked the planet below. He gazed out at the scene for a few moments, taking in the atmosphere in the room which had thickened to noticeable levels.

"Do you know why I called you here Riot?"

"Because I slagged my Mad Cat. Sir." Riot mentally braced himself for the verbal thrashing he was about to receive.

"Correct."

He let the word hang for a brief instant.

"But I also called you in for your... engagement with the Steiner faction and your impromptu architectural redecoration of their parliament building."

He could feel Riot's stomach sink.

Silver turned his head a fraction in Riot's direction and continued.

"I don't think I could have chosen a better pilot to show those Steiner bastards who's planet this is."

Silver, satisfied that the tension had lifted, turned to Riot. A sly grin spread across his face as he said the words.

"I haven't read the report yet- could you tell me exactly why my Cat is scattered all over the Shiloh's capital city?

Riot let out an easy breath, having avoided a figurative bullet that had never been fired.

"We engaged the Steiner Lucifer wing outside the city limits, they were already tearing through the local militia, clearing the way for the mech lance to advance without problems." Riot shifted from his cushion back to his hooves.

"It was after we had routed the Lucifers that the Steiner lance showed up. I believe the pilot of the Atlas was Bloody Bucker. My lance retreated to the city for cover, their Bushwhacker went through the far side to follow and scout us out. Wildman went after him before I could countermand him. I sent Nova after him to ensure his survival."

Silver raised a brow.

"And the status on the young pilot?"

"He's fine, Nova pulled his ass out of a possibly dangerous situation, he made it out with only some minor burns."

Riot walked over to the far wall, looking over the planet scan.

"The Atlas sent a Catapult around my flank, trying to pin me down, but I winged em' when I punched an LBX through his left missile rack. I was still trying to stay away from the Atlas when I punched through to the main courtyard. The Atlas had me cornered, the Councilor hadn't gotten out yet, If I hadn't acted as I did, the Ferrets would have been shot down and the council would have been slaughtered."

Riot took a deep breath, not sure what to say about his episode before charging the Atlas in a winged Madcat.

Silverbolt nodded, content with the explanation. He studied the scan and juggled the loss of the Mad Cat with the life of some trivial Councilor on a backwater, bombed out, sand blasted, sorry excuse for a world. He shook his head in disbelief as he realized where his subconscious was taking him.

Must be the meds, he thought, they'll clear up. You're not half as broken as you put yourself out to be.

He glanced up at the Captain, he was no doubt waiting for a response.

"Alright Captain that will be enough, keep fighting the good fight, just take care when you're behind the controls of something that's worth more than half our kit put together."

He nodded towards the door- a polite indication to clear the room. The Captain took the hint and saluted. Silverbolt returned the gesture and shook hooves before the Captain made for the door. Noticing his headache had gone away the Colonel added:

"Captain."

"Sir?"

"Send me a report on whatever miracle beverage you keep in that flask of yours, that's an order." the colonel said with his trademark smirk accenting the formality.

"Heh, yes sir, I'll do my best sir." After finishing his salute, Riot wheeled and exited the officers post. Trotting slowly down the hallways of the Octavia, Riot wasn't sure what to do with himself...
Why didn't you let me stay Auroura? I just wanted to stay for another few minutes, who knows, I might have saved you.. Or I might have died with you and Hunter. I would still be with you-

Not paying attention Riot bumped into a Technician pony with his toolbox, who quickly attempted a salute, but was interrupted by Riot continuing past him. A white buck exited a bunk room, the sound of laughter and clinking cans following him out. He spotted Riot headed down the hallway towards him and waved him over.

"Hey Riot! Me and some of the guys are pulling out the cards. Care to join us for a game?"

Nova's a good kid, just a little naive
"No thanks, Nova, I think I'm going to get some food then hit the sack. Tell the guys I said hello. Heh, don't party to hard, Steiner's ugly ass is still out there."

The white buck deadpanned

"Ah come on Cap' the guys would love to hang out with you."
Riot rolled his eyes, hiding a slight smile.

"Alright Lt. Lets go."

As they approached the bunk room Nova stopped just outside the door.

"Hey Riot. Before we go in there mind telling me what went down with that Atlas? that was some crazy shit, even for you".

"I did what I had to do Lt, It just happened to go nuclear."

The door slid open with a hiss, an old boombox played rock and roll in the background as two bucks and a mare sat around a folding table, a deck of cards was strewn across the table. They glanced up at the pair entering with mixed interest, one of the bucks hardly noticed as he went all in.

"Didn't seem that way to me. Wildman and i were just over the hill. We would of been on you in 30 seconds. There's no way a pilot like you would have let it go so wrong so quickly."

Nova looked at his friend. Obviously angry about the question, but there was something else there too.

"Hey Nova you alright out there?", one of his bunk mates called from inside the room. The music had stopped and the colts in the room were all looking at them.

"Were fine fellas. We'll be in in a second".

Nova thrust his back hoof into the wall directly behind him. There was a spark from the Pneumatic door and it slid shut.

"Comms had been knocked out by Steiners PPC's, couldn't hear anything beyond his monologuing. Why does it matter Nova? Enemy dead and gone, VIP secure and safe, mission accomplished."

Riot could feel the tension building up, knowing that the talk, one way or another, wouldn't end in his favor.

"I'm almost as good of a pilot as you. I know that you could have held out at least 60 seconds Before things went nuclear."

"You wouldn't understand kid, It's complicated."

Riot had slid back a small respectable distance, trying to find a comfortable spot to stand.

"Hey! I've known you since I entered the corp. I know you better than any pony else. You may be able to hide it from the others, but I know that you're hiding something. I know you don't like to talk about this kind of stuff, and i wont make you talk about it now, but if you've got some skeletons in the closest then you better get them straightened out. You're the corps best Pilot, and above that you're my friend".

Nova was angry at the end of his rant. He looked up at the Colt that stood a few inches above him. It didn't intimidate him one bit. He knew if he had to take Riot hoof to hoof he'd come out on top. Nova knew all of Riots weak points from combat practice.

Nova stood there waiting for a response.

Riot exhaled slowly, His eyes closed as he rolled his reasons over in his head. The whiskey had long since worn off, and with the remarks Nova had made, Painful, bloody memories boiled up.
Always with the questions,the whispers, the screams... why wont Celestia let me die? why did she take Aurora and Hunter from me?

"Tell you what Nova, you want your answers? Fine, but not here. meet me at my quarters in ten."

With that Riot pushed past the the lieutenant, who was unsure of whether to be happy that he was getting answers, or worried about the things that could haunt a buck like Iron Venture.

Nova sat stood there confused. He was worried about Riot, but knew that if he was giving him answers then it would come at a cost. Every pony in the guard had secrets. Even Nova himself had his share of demons. Nova turned around and the pneumatic door opened. Nova's bunk mates nodded at him as he walked past.

"Hey Nova. Were's Riot?" one of his bunk mates asked.

"He had to run".

Nova walked over to his bunk and took out something from under his pillow. a few of his Mates raised an eyebrow at this.

"I'll be off guys. Gotta take care of something".

Ten minutes later Nova stood outside Riot's bunk room.

A knock at the door reminded Riot of his duties, he placed the photo down next to his old battle-saddle.

"Door's open Nova."

The door slid open and the white buck trotted into the room. As he crossed the threshold, he was jumped. Riots weight forced Nova forward and onto the floor, Riots .45 caliber pistol pressed snugly against Novas temple. His fore-hoof pressed against a spinal pressure point, enough to make sure Nova stayed put, but wasn't hurt.

"RIOT WHAT THE FUCK!"

"Look forward and shut up."

"I don't-"

Magical force pressed into Novas skull as he felt himself thrusted inside an unfamiliar body. Novas body galloped down a dull grey hallway, everything felt wrong. Nova realized he was ridding in Riots body, probably through a memory. Riot skidded around another turn, his breathe frantic and rushed. A door opened infront of him and he ran through.

BLAM

Riot went down hard as the .44 round lodged into his metallic spine. Nova couldn't move, he couldn't speak, and he couldn't look away from the scene of horror he was witnessing. A deep purple mare was on the floor in front of him, bleeding and sobbing as two armoured bucks had their way with her, a small lighter purple colt was being held hostage by another armoured stallion holding a sub-machine gun to the colts head. Nova felt the familiar bite of a large caliber pistol being shoved into his temple, but the owner of this one meant him harm. As Nova finished connecting with the memory he had been thrust into, he finally heard the voices and sounds of the scene panning out in front of him.
A poisonous voice dripped into his ears, the smell of cheap cigarettes stained the breath of the gun buck who held him hostage.

"You never should have come back Venture, You should have stayed dead! But NO! You had to go and survive, and fucking answer those idiot's distress call, and fuck up my plans for the stable!"

A cracked voice broke through the bucks monologue, gathering Nova's hosts complete attention.

"Please Iron, they're... hurting me... m-make them... s-stop." Nova's mouth moved on its own accord, but he could feel the hot tears streaking his cheeks.

"Daddy! Please stop them from hurting mommy!" The sub-gun buck struck the little colt, who cried out at the pain. "Shut it you little shit! Or I'll brain you're fuckin' father!" The buck kicked the little colt again.

"You fuckers leave them alone! FIGHT ME YOU FUCKIN COWARDS!!"

Nova felt an uncontrollable rage building up inside him, a searing hotness that made his body shudder and twist inside his host. The pistol slammed into the back of his head, dazing him as the world went out of focus. The little colt was crying as the stallions mercilessly beat his father and violated his mother. Riot was pushed over onto his back as the lead buck towered over him, pounding his hoofs into Riots face. Time dragged on, the blows kept raining down, Nova could feel the bones in Riots face breaking under the stress, he could practically taste the blood that welled in the back of his throat. Another shot rang out from the large pistol, its shot burying itself deep in Riots chest. Novas host curled up, rolling over onto his stomach as blood flowed freely. Nova could hear the sobbing cries of the mare, supplemented by the sickly impact of hips and flanks.
The blows had stopped but everything felt wrong. Nova felt the blood flowing from Riots nose, body, and mouth, the metallic taste of copper almost seemed familiar. The lead buck spoke up, after catching his breath.

"Execute them."

"NOO!"

The bucks stood up, leaving the mare sobbing and broken on the floor, they shoved Riots wife and child into the middle of the room, and leveled their weapons at them. The lead bucks pistol barked again, driving Riot to the ground as he tried to wriggle free. Nova felt his hair being yanked out as his head was pulled up to see the deed being done.

"FIRE!"

The world stood still as the machine guns fire into the two, perforating the body of the mare as she tried to shield the little colt from death.

The world snapped back into focus with righteous fury, The edges of Novas vision literally swam in flames, surprise and horror etched the faces of the bucks as the rooms was consumed with Fire, Bullets, and Blood.
Before Nova could place exactly what had happened, a dead mare lay bleeding with her head on his lap. A light purple colt was cradled in his hooves, a string of bloody blossoms leaking from his tiny chest. All the fury and anger had ebbed away to nothing as the little colt clutched at his fathers bloody coat.

"I hur- hurt da-ddy, make th-the hurt go away..."

"No no no no no no, don't worry little Hunter, daddy will fix you up good and right..." Tears flowed down his cheeks and onto the mares face as Riot fought for air through his terrible new wounds.

Nova felt shaky magic pull a glass flask from a container on the workbench, a deep blue potion swirled within, promising salvation, but as It drew near...

"D-daddy..."

Riot's gaze shot down, only to see the lights of the little colts blue eyes die, just as his mother's had barely a minute ago. Glass shattered across the bloody floor, the echo of hoof-falls filled the hallway, voices sounding urgent and worried.
Riot let out a single choking sob

"My little Hunter..."

The world came swirling back as Nova found himself on the cot in Riot's bunk room, he looked around to see the captain slumped over a work bench, an empty bottle of whiskey lay next to him, along with an unfinished mech model, obviously meant for a filly or colt.

Nova swung himself off the bunk and walked over to were Riot was slumped over. Nova felt sick. He felt vomit welling up in his throat. He leaned over and vomited in the trash can at the foot of the bunk. When he was done he walked back over to Riots work bench, and tossed a stack of letters on he bench. Nova left Riots bunk room with new found respect.

Riot heard the door swish closed behind Nova, and he found himself alone in his bunk room. levitating out yet another bottle of hard liquor , Riot pulled apart a single shot shell, removing its powder and crushing it into an even finer dust with his magic. Slowly adding it to the drink, along with a shot of Sparkle-cola, and swirling the drink around in a vintage shot glass. Gulping down the sharp liquid, Riot hoped to drown out the cries of his family; he wished that they could have been left alone. Aurora had never meant any harm, but she had always been bullied and abused because of her being a bat-pony.

Remember the good days, for they are all you will have in the end.

Riot shut his eyes and let a small smile slip onto his face. He remembered everything, whether he wanted to or not. He remembered the day Hunter had been born, he recalled himself and Aurora deciding to call him Hunter Borealis, after her grand-father. Riot remembered when he and Aurora had first met as foals; the first school dance, first base, second base, and the final home run. Riot remembered the first time he could finally understand Aurora when she spoke in the bat ponies native language. While Full Auto might have taken her life from him, he could never take her memory, or that of his little colt.

Giving his work bench a defiant sigh, his eyes passed over the small bundle of letters that Nova had left next to him.

"He's a good kid, heh, just a little naive at times."

Riot levitated over the first of the letters, taking a long swig of the sharp liquor and began to read.

Heading Off

Nova trotted through the smoke filled room balancing a plastic cup half filled with some cheep beer on his wing.

"Hey Nova!" somepony called across the room. Nova turned to reply but as he did, he bumped into another pony, spilling his beer.

"Ah shi-" Nova stopped himself as he looked up and saw who he had bumped into. It was a light blue mare with a red mane. She had obviously had had a little to much to drink. She giggled and apologized when she realized she had spilled Nova's drink.

"I'm Violet Ray" the mare said with a flirtatious smile. she tried to step closer to Nova but tripped. Nova spun around and extended his wing to catch her.

"My hero" she said batting her eye lashes. "What would I call my hero?" she said with a hiccup.

"I'm Nova. Nova Ring." Nova said as he lifted her back to her feet. "You seem a little tipsy. You should lay down. I know a perfect place"

"Okay", She said with a smile.

"Nova! Wait" Violet yelled at Nova boarding the Equestrian Guard transport ship.

Nova glanced back to see Violet running towards him. Nova dropped his saddlebags and galloped back to her.

"Violet. What's wrong?" Nova asked her as they approached each other. Once he finally reached her he realized that she had tears in her eyes. "Violet I know this is hard, but you have to be strong. I'm going to be gone a long time. You need to forget me."

"I know I know. but..." she couldn't finish the sentence. She began to sob. Nova leaned up against her and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"But what?"

"I'm pregnant". The words shocked Nova. He leaned in to her and kissed her.

"I want you to raise her as good as you can, and when my contract is up we'll be able to raise her right." Nova kissed her cheek, and started back towards the Ferret Class transport.

"It's a colt!"

"what?"

"You're going to have a son!" She yelled at him as he was about enter the Ferret. He smiled and walked in proudly. On his way in he passed a large grey pony. Obviously his CO, but he payed no attention to him. Nova was to caught up in his own thoughts to care.

The VTOL lurched through the air lazily, they were making good time, but for Riot, It wasn't fast enough. This place was too clean, Its ponies were soft, arrogant. The cigarettes were expensive and the alcohol was pathetically weak. College students lazed around on blankets, soaking up the hot sun in their spare time.
If Riot had seen this place when he had first left the stable 5, we would have thought himself to be in some kind of heaven. But now that he was more traveled, more scarred, he found himself to be a demon amongst sheep. He had killed ponies before, more ponies than he cared to remember, he had seen innumerable amounts of bodies, young and old. And these ponies just lazed around. Like everything was right in their world.

Riot let out an exasperated sigh, inadvertently drawing the attention of the newly christened lieutenant.

In his seat Nova looked up at the grey pony that he saw on his way in. Nova took in every detail of this grey pony. His scars were apparent, and he had several obvious cybernetic augmentations. Nova realized that the grey pony was now looking back at him, with a angry scowl on his face. Noticing this Nova quickly whipped up a witty excuse to avoid confrontation.

For some, the silence must have been horribly awkward; but to Riot it was welcomed peace. The rhythmic thumpathumpathumpathumpa of the blades drowned out the sounds of the city sprawling beneath him.
New bucks starrin' at me, giving me a once over.

Riot sent a withering glare at the new pony, but before the other buck could respond, Riot lifted his Pip-buck up and plugged in his ear-blooms, drowning out everything so all he could feel was the VTOL's vibrations and listen to Octavia's finest.

Realizing that the older buck wasn't going to confront him, Nova began to stare off in the distance. Not looking at anything particular, just thinking. The comm spouted out some technical garble and Nova tried to listen, but his mind was other places. He loved Violet...but was he ready for a family? Would he even be in the shape to raise a family when his contract was up? These questions swirled inside his head like a terrible brew of thought. It didn't matter right now. In a few hours he would be in a bunk room filled with Colts he never knew before, all willing to kill for the greater good. That's how it would be for the next eight years of his life.

Nova hadn't even gone through orientation, and yet he found himself longing for his first leave.

Ten fresh new recruits stood inside the Octavia's cargo hold, one of the Leopard Class DropShips belonging to the EQRG. Each pony was fresh out of the military colleges with his or her own high-chair views of their surroundings.

"This thing's a piece of shit! It probably can't even break atmo' with all this garbage inside!" One of the ponies closest to him fired back a retort to a companion's comment Riot had not picked up.

"Well if your so worried about the garbage we could always throw you out first Ruger!" The yellow mare's response shut the other pony right up, with a dark scowl of a scolded child on his face.

"Anypony get a look at our CO? asked a small olive mare, who seemed afraid of her own shadow.

"Yes, he's a grizzly bastard, looks like one of the destitute outside father's compound." A pompous royal blue Unicorn pawed at the ground in disgust.

"He doesn't seem-"

ATTENTION!

All the recruits bolted straight up, frozen into their positions as a white and brown mare came trotting towards them, stopping a few feet away from the new recruits.

Nova stood still as the mare walked up and down the ranks, examining each one. She was obviously experienced, but she didn't seem to be a particularly high rank. Rather she seemed to be figuring out which of these colts to make an example of. She seemed particularly interested in Nova. Suddenly she stopped in front of him, narrowing her eyes in assessment.

"You. Describe a PPC!"

The question surprised him. Nonetheless he answered immediately.

"PPC! Particle Projector Cannon! Fires a concentrated beam of ions or free protons at a target. Causing damage via thermal energy, and kinetic force."

"Very good. You think you can answer another question?" Nova didn't answer. He noticed the Corporal tag on her vest. He realized he outranked her. As did most of guys in his group.

It's a test! Nova thought to himself.They want to see if we'll follow someone who assumes authority, or whether we'll show leadership. I'm not gonna be thrown at the bottom of the heap. If I'm gonna make a name for myself might as well be now.

Nova stood there quietly.

"Don't want to speak eh? We'll see how the colonel feels about that". She started to walk back down the line when Nova cut in.

"I don't have to answer your questions!" This caught the attention of the mare, along with most of the other recruits.

"What did you just say?"

"You're a corporal. I outrank you, and so does most of this group." The group started mumbling about at this comment. Nova stared down at the mare who was now grinning. She turned around and walked away. As she did she nodded to someone higher up. A few more moments later an older grey pony in a colonel's garb came out towards the group.

Silverbolt took a deep breath as he made his way from one corner of the room to the other, not pausing to take his gaze off the bulkhead in front of him; only inches away from the line of pilots. When he reached the final Guardscolt, the furthest right of the bunch, he snapped to a standstill and turned to face him, his muzzle only inches away from the ranking officer. There he waited, not saying a word, watching the colt in front of him sweat, but his face did not waiver. After what seemed like an eternity, he leaned into the buck's ear and whispered,

"You scared son?"

"Sir no, si-" the colonel raised a hoof to cut him off.

"Please son, I've got enough hearing problems without you helping. I admire the enthusiasm."

The young lieutenant looked concerned, obviously never exposed to such an unorthodox situation. He patted the Lieutenant's pauldron, and adjusted the young buck's wedge to the proper position.

"You'll do fine, son."

The Colonel gave him the once over, turned and moved to the far side of the room so he could see the faces of the Guardscolts under his command. He scanned the front line, and began to speak.

"Guardscolts, this talk some sources sling around about the Equestrian Conclave wanting to stay out of the war and not wanting to fight is a lot of hay! The Royal Guard loves to fight, traditionally. All real Guardscolts love the sting and clash of battle. Equestria loves a winner. Equestria will not tolerate a loser. Equestria despises a coward; Guards play to win. That's why Equestria has never lost and never will lose a war!"

The words echoed though the parade hall.

"You are not all going to die. Only two percent of you, right here today, will be killed in a major battle. Death must not be feared. Death, in time, comes to all of us. And every buck is scared in his first action. If he says he's not, he's a goddamn liar. Some men are cowards, yes, but they fight just the same, or get the hell slammed out of them. The real hero is the Guard who fights even though he's scared. Some get over their fright in a minute, under fire; others take an hour; for some it takes days; but a real Guard will never let the fear of death overpower his honour, his sense of duty, to his country and to his ponyhood."

He paused, letting the words sink in.

"We want to get this thing over and get the hell out of here, and get at those bucking Clanners! The shortest road home is through blood, sweat and tears! We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by showing the enemy we have more guts than they have or ever will have! There's one great thing you stallions can say when it's all over and you're home once more. You can thank Celestia that twenty years from now, when you're sitting around the fireside with your grandson on your plot and he asks you what you did in the war, you won't have to shift him over, cough, and say, "I shovelled shit in Stalliongrad."

A cheer erupted among the young officers. As the Colonel turned, he nodded to the tall stallion known as Riot to take over.

They'll do well. Silver thought as he lit a Sweet Mare cigar.

"Alright you little foals, listen up!"

The recruits were slow to quiet down, Rim Shot, the furthest Buck, spoke up.

"Sir, who are you?"

Riot's face contorted and turned a dusky purple. This fuckin pikey...

"Boy, I am your worst nightmare."

"But sir-"

"Oi! YOU LISTEN UP YOU PIKEY. You better abandon all notions of the goddess when you're in me charge, cause you be in hell now! YOU will be mine for the next two years! You will do EXACTLY as I say. DO YOU READ ME!?"

"SIR YES SIR!" they screamed. Riot began to pace across in front of the group.

"Good. This is for all you new people: I only have one rule. Everyone fights. No one quits. You don't do your job, I'll shoot you myself. You get me?"

A small crowd had gathered at the edges of the cargo hold, various mech pilots and technicians were watching the Captain mold the new foals.

"SIR YES SIR!"

"Good, now; stand easy and follow me to your new home."

Nova waited until the rest had gone before he followed. He had already made a scene. Don't want to push it. I've made my point. Plus following behind will give me a chance to get my bearings. Maybe I can get Violet off my mind.

It had been almost two years since his inauguration into the corp. His CO, who he had come to know as Iron Venture, was right. These last two years had been a virtual hell. Nonetheless Nova was top of his class. He only had to pass his PPE (Pilot Proficiency Exam), and he would be a full fledged Mech pilot. The PPE usually took two or even three tries to pass, but Nova was confident. As long as something didn't come up he would be a Mech pilot by the end of the month.

Nova trotted down the halls towards his bunk room to get an early sleep when a voice came over the ship intercom. It was addressing ranking officers and pilots. The message didn't concern him but he decided to listen anyway. It was telling specific lances to ready for battle. Some kind of defensive action to repel a Steiner raid. This kind of thing was a semi-regular occurrence and Nova quickly got bored with the message. That was at least until he heard the name of the system they were attacking. It was his system. The words hit him like a hammer to the head. Without even thinking he ran to the Mech bay, were he knew his CO, Iron Venture, would be preparing for the battle.

"Captain! Captain!" Nova yelled at the large grey unicorn attending to his Mech.

Bloody techs don't know shit about Dragons, I think-

"The fuckin' ammo belt's in backwards! WHAT THE HELL!?" Riot slammed his pneumatic spanner down onto the catwalk. A general announcement was being blared out across the Mech-bay, Steiner was trying to take yet another colony, or was it house Kurita that was attacking? Not that it mattered, Riot wasn't going planetside, not this time. He still hadn't put the remaining recruits through the PPE.

Too bad about Render, he was a good pony. Maybe after I murder the tech who fucked with my baby I'll go get lunch. Yea lunch sounds-

"Captain! Captain!"

Fuck. There goes that plan.

Riot turned towards the white buck, trying to spot him over the ammunition crates he had stacked on the cat-walk.

"What do you need Nova? I'm pretty busy plotting the death of a technician right now."

"Captain. You need to take me along".

"What? Nova...lad, I was joking about the Tech'. He'll prolly just get mop duty. I ain't gonna kill 'im and even if I was, I prolly wouldn't bring you along lad."

Riot turned back to the jammed 20mm Tri-barrel Gatling gun, giving the receiver a solid kick; which sent the jammed round flying into the air.

"No. To the raid."

"Eager to pass the test eh? Sorry kid, we ain't going in on this raid, House Karita- or was it Steiner? Whatever; is sending in their heavies, We've prolly got three lances on the ground right now, no room for rookies."

Riot reconnected the massive ammo belt to the Gatling gun, chambering a round to ensure a smooth action in the receiver.

"Don't worry kid, we'll come across some pirate base, you and the others can take turns blowing them into space."

"I'm top of my class, and you know that are guys are gonna need backup. Besides that's my home system. it would be an advantage to have someone down there that knows his way around. Please captain. I can pass the PPE when I get back".

Shaking his head slowly, Riot mulled over his options.
Should I tell him to let it go? Or tell him to take it to SilverBolt?

"By Tias' toned flanks lad... Alright, let's go talk to the Colonel."

Carefully closing the access hatch on the Dragon's arm, Riot slipped past the guard railing, landing deftly in front of Nova. Nova and Riot headed off to speak to the colonel. Both of them with grave thoughts in their heads.

It's the end. One vs one. Captain Silverbolt's Commando vs the enemy Mad Cat. He had rescued all of the survivors of the other colonies and his team were the only ones left. The only ones to protect the colony. Silverbolt could only sigh as the AC-5 only bounced off the larger Mech's hull.

The enemy wasn't shooting him. It was toying with him, the enemy didn't want to damage a perfectly salvageable Mech. Silver's SRMs were working hard to destroy the Cat. But few actually hit their marks.

"Guards! Protect the main colony! Don't let them have control of it! Don't try to protect anywhere else!" the main colony, called Orion's Reach, was the corridor that connected everywhere. If he didn't control it, he couldn't get to the council, his objective, he couldn't save...

...her.

As the Guard's compiled to the Captain's order, they were cut down quickly. Silver had no clue how the clanners did it, but they seem to have upgraded their version of the PPC.

Suddenly, Silver heard a cry in his earpiece, and saw a bright flash in his rear view panel. Joker's reactor had just gone critical. Looked like the fourth of July, but no one was celebrating. Silver quickly had his Mech jump for safety, narrowly avoiding the scorching heat. But as the smoke cleared, all that filled his viewscreen was the distinctive shape of a Mech's chassis, not 20 feet away, standing on top of him. Seems the Mad Cat was more maneuverable than Silver had thought.

Time stood still.

The Mad Cat waited, almost savoring the kill.

It fired.

*Knock, knock, knock*

The Colonel nearly fell off his chair as he came to.

Ugh, my head

Silver cleared his throat.

"Come in, doors open."

Two Guards stepped in, one tall and battle worn- the other, obvious new blood. Silver stood up.

"Welcome Guards, I heard you wanted to speak to me."

Coming down from his salute, Riot trotted over to a well known cushion, breaking out a cigarette and igniting it with magical fire.

"Not me boss, Nova here wants to ask you somethin' important."

Silver sat down and invited the young pilot to have a seat; or so he assumed.

"So I trust you both have been taking care out there? Fighting the good fight?"

"Yea, about that. Don't let any of the new Techs near my Dragon, they put the bleedin ammo belts in backwards!"

Silverbolt has an incredulous look on his face.

"Backwards?"

""Straight up, back-assfucking-wards."

"Damn, I'll get on that. I trust there wasn't much damage done to the mech itself?"

"Jammed twenty mil', nothing I can't handle-"

*AHEM*

"OH right sorry lad. Sir, Nova wants to ask you something important.

Nova didn't take a seat. Instead he began to speak. "Colonel. I'm at the top of my class. I'm two days away from taking the PPE...." Nova paused. The Colonel had an eyebrow raised in a condescending fashion. "That system that's under attack is my home. I just want a chance to fight for it before it's gone".

Nova waited eagerly for a response.

The question had Silver dumbfounded.

"Riot, did you have something to do with this? He's going to get himself killed for Celestia's sake."

Riot let out a choking cough, spewing cigarette smoke, a surprise etched on his face.

"I didn't know squat about this! I was planning on lunch and the torture of a Tech! Not going spec-ops with an un-tested rookie in the middle of a Steiner assault!"

"Please colonel. Riot's your best pilot. What better way to train a pilot than put him in the battle? And if I get frosted you'll have one less rookie to take care of. Honestly what have you got to lose besides one out serviced mech?". Nova flashed a slight grin. No response. Nova knew this wasn't going his way. "Colonel, haven't you ever wanted to fight for something you loved? How about you Captain?" This was his last chance. If they didn't say agree now, they were never going to say yes.

Silver thought about it a moment.

"Riot?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Outfit this trainee with a working Mech, I don't want to send a letter home to his loved ones due to a faulty ejection seat."

He weighed his actions for a moment. He knew he was sending this young buck to his grave.

"Captain, it's your ass if I see his name written down on the Fallen Heros board next week."

He could hear Nova's heart racing.

"Dismissed."

The door closed with a slight whoosh behind the bucks. Riot shook his head slowly, his stomach grumbling softly.

"You owe me, Recruit, you owe me BIG TIME."

Before Nova could answer Riot cut him off.

"Take The Vulture down in Bay D-6, we're gone in five." Nova galloped past Riot, urgency in his every move.

"Now hopefully- CELESTIAS FLAMING FUCKING OVARIES!! YOU FUCKIN PIKEY, GET OFF ME MECH!!!"

Nova found his way to the Vulture and climbed inside. The controls were new to him. Nova had never piloted a vulture in training. let alone in battle. He didn't care. The Controls were familiar enough, and with a little toying he already had them down. a message came over the comm.

"Eh! Pikey! You ready for the drop?"

Nova looked up and saw Riot signaling to him. Nova walked his mech over to where his CO was waiting with his mech. Nova nodded through the cockpit, signaling he was ready to go land side.

As the Hot-drop door slid open, air whistled through at an alarming rate, buffeting the mechs as they stood in their cradles.

"Alright, I know we haven't covered Hot-drops in training, but you only need to remeber one thing: DON'T MOVE."
Nova began to laugh as Riot cut him off.

"Seriously, the Computers will take care of the entire thing, but the second you move, they shut off. And trust me, hitting the ground goin' 200 clicks sideways in 100 tons of hardware will ruin your day. And mine."

"PREPARE FOR DROP!! FIVE SECONDS!" The pilot screamed over the intercoms, alerting the two pilots.

"You ready for this kid? Well you damn well better hope so. Rangers lead the way!" Riots mech was launched out the bay door at high speeds. Nova gulped hard and braced for the sling to activate. It didn't.

"What the-"

THUMP, and the Vulture was sent sailing through the air, Nova found the ground rushing towards him as retro-boosters fired to life, retarding his speed until he reached the ground at a snails pace. The booster cradle blowing its pins and falling from his mechs body.

The impact, although relatively gentle, rattled Nova's mech. Nova took a second to figure out were he was. He searched for his CO, and found that Riot was already walking towards him.

"You alright lad?" Riot yelled through the comms. Nova nodded. The sounds of war was all around them. The sky black and orange from the battle. The site was nearly unrecognizable. Still Nova knew exactly were he was. Right were he needed to be. Violet and little Nova were not far off.

Riot signaled for Nova to follow him towards the battle, but Nova had his own plan. Nova twisted around and accelerated the opposite way.

"Alright Nova, keep close, we're going to be meeting up with Bandit and Smokey due south of here, from there we'll-"

The friendly ping on Riots radar started to wheel away from him, headed in the exact opposite direction of where they needed to be.

"Hey! NOVA!! Where the hell are you going!?"

Nova ignored Riot as he accelerated toward Violets old apartment. The street was obviously warn from the battle that had just passed through there, but violets apartment was relatively unharmed. Nova reached the apartment and was about to exit his mech when he was suddenly aware of Riot following him. Suddenly a catapult emerged from behind the building.

"Contact!"

Riot brought his heavy LBX up as his mech sped forward, closing the gap between him and the Catapult. Firing the LBX, his shot struck true, but only managed to stagger the heavy mech. Riot swung his left hoof in a brutal uppercut that buckled the armor under the Catapults cockpit. The mech fell backwards from the nasty blow, Riot gripped the nose of the Mech, and brought his right leg back into a vicious kick that completely crushed the pilots nest.

"Nova! Get the fuck back here! You're headed into enemy territory!"

The white buck didn't respond, he only throttled his mech towards the civilian housing sector.

"Fuckity fuck! You stupid bastard!" Riot couldn't tell if he needed to berate himself, or save it all for the young pilot. He throttled the mech forward; chasing after Novas borrowed vulture as his radar started to glow an unhealthy red. The only blue blips were himself, and the mech he was chasing.

Riot had just reached Novas mech as another Steiner mech showed, it was a Commando who was to busy firing on civilians to notice his impending doom. Riots LBX barked once, rupturing the chest and blowing an arm of the tiny mech, a short burst from his machine gun group punched through the paper thin armor. The mech twisted and froze up, falling backwards as a group of SRM's streaked from its launchers.

The Commandos rockets blew out the back of the apartment, and sent wood splinters flying. A young mare and a small colt, followed by multiple other civilians ran out the font door as Riot tried to drag Nova away. Nova was struggling to get loose of his CO's mech when a second explosion came from inside the apartment. The young mare and colt were engulfed in a massive cloud of fire. Nova was sent into a panic. He whipped around and fired a quick laser strike at the hand of the mech that was grasping him. The strike didn't cause much damage but it freed Nova from his CO.

Nova could see Violet on the ground laying in a pile of rubble. Her mane was burnt and she was black with soot, but she seemed relatively unharmed. As Nova approached she looked up, as if she knew it was him. The world seemed to move in slow motion as a large piece of the exterior wall broke off and began to fall. Nova screamed inside his mech. He knew that the wall would crush her. Riot began to accelerate toward Nova. As he did a large blast knocked his mech onto its side. Neither of them had noticed the Madcat come up from the back. It had fired two LRMs at Riot. Luckily only one hit home. Non the less his mech had been crippled.

Nova turned around when he heard the explosion. Riots canopy was stuck, and his mech wasn't responding. The Madcat fired another LRM at Riots downed Dragon. Nova had to make a decision. Stay with his dead fiance and son, and let his CO die, or save his CO and die with some kind of honor. Nova made up his mind. Nova's Vulture didn't have have jump jets but he knew enough physics to know that what he was about to do would work. He accelerated towards the downed Dragon and just as the LRM reached Riot, Nova fired his own LRM at the ground below him, launching himself into the air. The blast destroyed his mechs legs, but it didn't matter. He wouldn't need them after this anyways.

Nova and the enemy LRM would meet in the air above Riot, and with luck Nova's vulture would take enough of the force to save his CO. Nova saw the LRM approach in slow motion.

"Looks like I'm getting an early leave after all, Violet"

The LRM impacted the vulture hard. The blast Blew out Nova's cockpit. Glass shards ripped through his vest. The glowing controls of the vulture went dark. Nova's world turned a miraculous white color, and then faded to bright oranges and reds. It seemed like forever before the mech finally landed. The impact slammed Nova's head into the back panel of the mech, causing him to move in and out of consciousness. He heard the sound of a massive explosion as he finally slipped into darkness. He only hoped that he had given Riot enough time to save himself.

"Hows the Lad?" Riot asked the attending nurse, Cherry Cola.

"He's still in the coma, but his vitals are stable. He should make a full recovery". She replied

"Aye, thank you Cola". Riot nodded and returned to his coffee.

He had been on the recovery team for the preceding battle. Whilst searching for survivors around were his Dragon had been damaged he came across the body of a young mare.

Nova must have Spotted her. He was trying to save the lass.

That was at least something Riot could respect, but he'd be damned if he let Nova Know that, especially with the way he went about it.

Nova lay under a tree holding Violet. The world was perfect. no sign of war anywhere. Nova looked over at Violet who smiled back at him. Nova kissed her and turned away.

"Nova whats wrong?" Violet asked.

"Hmm?"

"You did the right thing you know. You saved your friend Iron".

"I know I know, but something doesn't feel right".

"Every thing is fine. We can finally be a family". Nova smiled and went to kiss violet, but as he did a small colt pounced on them out of no were.

"Hi daddy!" Nova laughed and swept him up with his wing.

"Daddy?"

"Yes little Nova?"

"Well I over heard you and mommy talking and..." The young colt paused.

"Mmm Hmm".

"Well maybe you could still be with your friend" Nova smiled at the little colt.

"I don't think that's how it works son".

"That's not a bad idea". Violet cut in.

"What do you mean? I just got you back".

"Well its not like we're going anywhere". The blue mare smiled, Nova sat up. A look of concern on his face.

"I don't want to lose you again".
"He's convulsing!" "I'll hold the lad down, you get the meds!"
"You're not losing us". She leaned into Nova's ear and whispered. "I want you to go. Live as long as you can. Have as much fun as you can. Be the hero to the world; the hero that you are to me, and when you're done we'll be waiting for you". She kissed his cheek and stepped back. Her and little Nova began to fade away.
BPM is 160 and rising! WE're losing him!
"Wait!" Nova yelled after them. "Can't you stay a little longer?"

"We'd love too Nova, But you'd better be heading off". They faded away into the background and Nova sat there alone. He whipped the tears from his cheeks and closed his eyes. When he opened them he was no longer in a field of green. He was back on Orions Reach. He began to get up, but stumbled as he did so. A nurse galloped over to him and tried to help him.

"You need to lay down, I didn't spend six hours in surgery just to have you brain yourself on a table corner". The nurse said as she helped Nova up. As Nova found his footing he replied.

"I'm fine".

"Are you sure? You can stay here a little longer if you need". Nova smiled.

"Son't worry I'll be fine".

"Are you sure? Captain said he wanted to speak to you, when you came to" Nova smiled. He's take a fierce tongue lashing from Riot, but he Knew the worst was behind him.

"Thank you, but I'd better be heading off".