Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset discharged a single burst from her BR55HB into the head of an Antlion Soldier. Her little crew of soldiers had been fighting their way through the tunnels for hours, now. Their first stop was to get to the Insurrection camp closest to the station, which is likely where the hostages were being kept.

Nikki climbed onto the back of an antlion worker, pulled out both of his curve blades, and placed them into an X formation, cleanly slicing the head off. He climbed down and stared down at the yellow blood and brownish gore splattered onto his blades.

"Interesting..." he whispered. He flicked the blood off of his blade, and clicked the two curveblades to his katana. Sunset slumped down against the tunnel wall, wincing hard as the adrenaline in her body finally began wearing off.

"Dammit..." She whispered to herself. She clenched her hands around her BR55HB's handle and growled. The pain was beginning to intensify. She needed real medical attention, and fast. She'd be dying within a few hours without it.

Sunset stood up and shouldered her Battle Rifle. She started a slow limp down the tunnel, when Saffron stopped her.

"We're approaching the first Insurrection camp. Nikki and I are going to advance. Flash is gonna stay back with you and cover you. Alright?" Sunset grumbled and nodded. She did not like this. Not. One. Bit.

Nikki advanced forward, his M392 DMR drawn.

The duo began their advance down the hallway. Nikki ducked down behind a crate as a patrol of Insurrectionists passed by. They wore the standard marine BDUs, with red-colored shoulder-pads and helmets.

"... You ever wonder why we're here?" one of the patrolling soldiers asked the other. His armor-patterns were a shade of maroon, whilst his partner was in orange.

"It’s one of life’s great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don’t know, man, but it keeps me up at night." The orange one answered. The two stopped and stared at each other in silence.

"W-What? No, I meant why the hell are we in this mine."

"Oh, uh... yeah." the orange one awkwardly scuffed his boot against the floor.

"What was all that stuff about God?" The maroon one quizzed, letting his rifle lower to the floor, out of his other hand.

"Hm? Nothing." the orange one answered, scratching the back of his neck.

"You wanna talk about it?" the maroon one got back to walking as they spoke.

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously, though... Why are we—" he was cut off, as the local VDF Black Ops soldier thrusted his fist into the visor of the maroon Innie, knocking him unconscious and sending him to the floor.

The other one jumped. He fell on his back and scrambled away. He, in his rush, left his rifle back there. Saffron approached him, and pumped her M90. He, in return, grabbed a cone and held it in front of him.

"Protect me, cone!" Saffron raised her M90, and was about to fire, but Nikki placed his hand on the barrel and pushed it to the floor.

"Let him go. Let him alert his friends. They'll all be dead by the end of the night, anyway..." Nikki simply let go and walked down the tunnel. Saffron gave the Insurrectionist a threatening look, then followed behind Nikki. The Insurrectionists were out of range by the time Nikki began going over their plan.

"Alright. Now that we've got some silence... When we reach the Insurrectionist outpost, we're going to strategically place charges around the support columns, then, once out of range, blow them to kingdom come, hopefully with any friendly forces saved. Flash and Sunset should already be moving—"

"Wait, I thought Sergeant Shimmer and Major Sentry were staying behind." Saffron frowned behind her helmet.

"No. They'll be moving into the ventilation or sewage system and make their way to the POWs, and hopefully get them out while we make a distraction." Saffron thought it over.

"Wait, what about the antlions?" she asked, gesturing to a few grubs in a little break area beside them.

"By the time they get to us, we'll have already gotten our—" Nikki took a step forward, and the ground beneath him gave.

"Nikki—!" Saffron met the same fate, the ground under them giving away. The two began falling. Saffron grabbed at the walls, to no avail. They were slick.

Nikki grabbed Saffron by the shoulders and activated his thrusters, Saffron doing the same. They slowed down to a degree, then crashed into the ground. Unconsciousness engulfed Saffron, the last thing she saw, was Nikki dragging her off...

Sunset discharged three quick bursts from her BR55HB. She dropped down behind cover as a torrent of gunfire zoomed past her helmeted head. She swore silently and poked her head out, firing a few bursts.

Splat! Sunset saw the blood splatter, ducked back and heard the body crumple to the floor.

"That's another one down!" she yelled over the din of gunfire. Flash nodded. He primed a fragmentation grenade, waited a few seconds, then lobbed it.

Boom.

Sunset stood up and fired several more bursts from her BR55HB. A few rounds struck her energy shields before she ducked behind cover.

"That distraction Nikki promised would be much appreciated right about now..." Sunset grumbled. Flash poked his head out and fired from his MA5C, taking down a few hostiles.

"Wait a minute, you hear that?" Sunset listened... The gunfire halted, and was replaced by a loud rumbling.

"Ah, shit! Lions!" the insurrectionists began retreating, when the floor beneath them gave away, and they fell, screaming.

"Cave-in." Sunset stood up. She activated her BR's flashlight and swept over the area, moving forward slowly. She saw no hostiles, and lowered her BR55HB, when the animalistic screams of the antlions began climbing it's way up the hole in the floor.

"Goddammit." Sunset muttered, quickly backtracking. The six-legged beasts began climbing up out of the entry-point, charging toward Sunset and her ally. She slung her BR55HB, getting a good look at the creature. A machete—albeit rusted—was sticking out of the antlion soldier's front leg, giving it something of a limp as it rushed forth. Sunset waited until it was almost right upon her, then slid under the beast. She quickly dislodged the age-old tool from it's leg, and hacked at it's neck. Yellow blood splattered across her armor as the antlion collapsed atop her, bits of brown, gory mush splattering to the ground and onto her armor.

Sunset growled and violently threw the body off. She grabbed her BR55HB and began discharging antlions. She felt something splatter against her shoulder, and saw a pale, green glowing acid settling into the titanium composite armor. Steam and electrical sparks rose up as the robotic arm underneath shorted out.

Don't get hit by the acid. The one thing you couldn't do... Sunset scolded herself as she began firing once again, killing the Antlion Worker responsible for melting her arm.

"Flash! I'm hit!" Sunset ducked behind cover as another splash of acid impacted her cover. She hurdled the cover, her M6G sidearm drawn. She moved forward, discharging round after round, killing a good amount of antlions before reaching the hole. She removed a fragmentation grenade from her waist, primed it, then let it drop into the hole.

It whistled as it dropped, before exploding, somewhere in the rock tube, collapsing the wall around. The ground beneath Sunset began crumbling. She spun on her heel and hauled ass, running toward the metal pipe she and Flash had entered in, only to find the ground breaking apart faster than she could run. She took a wrong step, and stepped on a rock as it collapsed, and was sent flying downrange.

"Sunset!" Flash ran over to the end of the pipe. He wasn't going to let her die, but what to do, what to do...

"Oh, fucking Christ..." he took a few steps back, then ran forward and swan dived into the pit, only to fall unconscious from hitting the wall.

Nikki propped Saffron up against a stalagmite, weapon at the ready.

The cavern they'd fallen into was dark, lit up by the glowing bodies of the antlion grubs, and by natural light that reflected off of the many glistening surfaces round the cavern. He saw, a good twenty meters ahead, several metal support beams, and the wreckage of an old mining tram.

Gotta get her outta here... Get the extract for Sunset... Get out, or get ready to go feet-first. Nikki lifted Saffron up over his shoulder and into a fireman's carry. He used his free hand to grab an M6S from his waist. He moved toward the tunnel, using his VISR and augmented vision to scan the area around him.

Antlion Workers and Soldiers were all around, hidden behind thin rock walls, along with a single Antlion Guard, and a Guardian. Nikki saw a window open in the corner of his visor, and the holographic display colored midnight-blue appeared. It was of a soldier in a digital-camouflage uniform, with gloves, boots, along with an M17A2 Gas Mask over his face, along with an ODST BDU helmet, the visor ripped off so that the mask could stick out.

"I would not recommend killing the Guardian. The item we are going to retrieve from that hive, apparently, requires the Guardian to sustain itself. I'm getting more information as you listen." The voice of Nikki's AI stated. He was a prototype AI, and if he was deemed successful when pulled from Nikki's helmet, would likely enter service within multiple Black Ops and Spec Ops units.

Nikki growled, looking around. The antlions began stirring, digging at the walls that kept them from him. He placed Saffron on the floor, and planted a hand on the tram car's hull, letting a small swarm of his nanobots to enter the systems and begin repair. He flipped it upright and slid it onto the track, then carefully placed Saffron inside.

"Not letting you die here..." he said quietly, before turning to see an Antlion Soldier rush at him. The Black Ops soldier wasted no time, and threw several knives at the antlion. No effect. He growled, and fired a single round at it from his M6S. It dropped to the ground. Nikki retrieved his knives from the corpse, and went back to the tram.

The nanobots finished, then swam over, up Nikki's arm, down his back, and into the cylindrical canister at his waist, alongside the many different weapons he carried.

The Antlion Workers soon followed behind their brethren, climbing out of tunnels, rushing forward. Nikki pushed the acceleration button on the tram, and stood his ground, watching Saffron disappear down the dark tunnel.

That may not have been a good idea... he thought to himself, then groaned at his mistake. He dropped a primed fragmentation grenade, then sprinted after the tram, M6S finding it's way back into the holster on Nikki's back.

He eventually caught up, and climbed in. Nikki slung his M392 DMR and activated the mounted flashlight, ready for whatever the antlions threw at him.

Sunset groaned, her eyes fluttering open. She stared up at the sky above her, through a large hole, dust and small rocks occasionally falling in.

"Oh, shit." she looked around, trying to find Flash, when her hand brushed against something.

His helmet. She quickly grabbed it, to find it's wielder missing. The visor was cracked, and blood was splattered on the inside.

"Dammit." Sunset whispered. She downloaded the camera footage to her own helmet, then lobbed it out of the hole. Sunset looked around, and found herself in a better situation than she first believed.

The rubble below was half sunken in an underground lake, an ever-expanding tunnel in every direction. The situation was still shitty, but not as bad as she first believed.

Probably gonna die... ah, fuck it. Sunset found her BR55HB missing. She shouldered her MA5C instead, and climbed down the mountain of rubble, into the stained water beneath. She waded through the knee-high water, then climbed onto solid ground, huffing.

She found herself moving northward, toward a man-made tunnel, lined with metal supports, a few abandoned carts scattered around. Sunset walked over and found an emergency supply crate tightly secured to the carts by thick, leather binds. Sunset unsheathed her combat knife, and swiftly tore away the binds. She picked the crate up and weighed it. The crate was barely a dozen pounds, sadly, meaning there likely wasn't much for her inside. She tore open the box, and found a small cache of 7.62x51mm NATO rounds, a few fragmentation grenade in a foam case, and a loaded flare gun.

Not much, but enough. I can live with this. Sunset pulled her rucksack off her back, and stuffed the loot inside. She slung the sack onto her back, clipping the magnetic pieces to her armor, and clicking the multiple clips and buckles to the slots in her armor for said parts. Her radio remained silent.

Still out of radio range... Sunset sighed. Since leaving Fort Galileo, she was met with minimal radio chatter, static, or total silence. It was discouraging, sure, but she knew she could live without it.

"Gotta find Flash, then regroup, make it to that damned Innie compound, and get out of here alive..." Sunset monologues as she walks.

Sunset passed into the tunnel, headlamps and weapon flashlight activated. The walls were lined with rusted metal supports. There wasn't much sign that people had been there for God knows how long. The lower sections likely got abandoned. Sunset used her suit's systems to open up a window in the corner of her visor, going over the intelligence she had gathered on these mines.

Victory Mines. Established shortly after colonization of Harmony. Abandoned 2410, VDF reestablish working force 2459, promptly shut down again from 2460-2549, when the VDF claim Harmony and establish the Mothership-Class Venator Romeo & Juliet permanently over the Vudrenia Wastelands.

Sunset snapped out of it as the ground around her began rumbling. She looked behind her, and saw the subtle glow of an Antlion Worker, along with a glowing Antlion Guard—A Guardian. Sunset took a hard left and began hauling ass, MA5C now on her back. No point in fighting this thing, when it's armor was tough enough to withstand the 7.62x51mm NATO rounds that her weapon fired.

Sunset stopped in her tracks as an Antlion Guard slammed into the wall in front of her, turning left to face her. She cursed her luck—and her God—then promptly drew her MA5C and M6G.

"If you motherfuckers think I'm gonna go quietly, you've got another damned thing coming." Sunset roared and charged the Guard, knowing she had at least a sliver of a chance at the very least wounding it.

Nikki cursed his God as the mining tram began slowing down, the fuel now empty. During their tram ride, Saffron had awoken, and Nikki was able to give her something of a medical check-up.

She was wounded, and would need proper medical attention in the future if she wanted to survive, but for the moment, she'd live. The likeliness, was that her body would begin healing up her wounds on it's own, and there was a chance that'd be enough... but she had wounds that her body may not be able to heal on it's own.

"N-Nikki, where are we?" Saffron whispered, getting onto her feet. She used her M90 as a crutch, leaning into the weapon's stock for support.

"Deeper into this hellhole than I'd prefer." he vaguely answered, climbing down from the tram. Saffron carefully let herself down, finding enough strength to use her shotgun properly, carrying it in a loose, weak grip.

Bang! Bang, Bang! ROOOOAAAAR.

Nikki turned north, and saw gunfire from the tunnel. He shouldered his M392, and started up a light jog. There was a scream. Sunset's voice in it. Nikki ducked down into a sprint, his body curled up, the rifle underneath him as he ran, tightly held within his titanic grip.

The two-meter tall VDF-Equivalent of a SPARTAN slammed into cover, peeking out to see what he was up against.

Aww, shit. The Guardian was throwing Sunset around like a ragdoll, while it's followers lie dead on the ground around them, alongside an Antlion Guard, it's head ripped off.

"Holy shit..." Saffron muttered as she took cover beside Nikki.

"What's the plan, Chief—" Nikki rolled over the cover and charged. Saffron sighed. That works too.

Sunset was launched into Nikki by a headbutt, and the two were sent toppling to the ground. Saffron hurdled her cover and pumped the M90. She whistled, and the Guardian turned to her.

"Yeah, you! C'mon, you ugly sumbitch! Come get some!" Saffron fired a shell at the beast, staggering it, as well her. She continuously fired, until the Guardian began leaking blood.

"Don't kill it! We can't harvest the extract if it's dead!" Nikki yelled, picking Sunset up in a Fireman's carry. You've got to be fucking kidding me... Saffron groaned and started running toward the Guardian. It roared, and charged. The VDF Marine slid underneath it, and over to her two comrades.

"Let's go." Nikki nodded, and started up a light jog down the tunnel. Sunset was unconscious for the time being. Not good. Saffron turned back, and saw the Guardian hurriedly burrowing through one of the tunnel supports, opening up a new rocky cavern. The entire corridor shook, and a large chunk of earth collapsed behind them, much more following.

"Don't say it!" Saffron yelled, and started sprinting. The tunnel collapsed behind them at an alarming rate, and there was no light at the end of their tunnel... metaphorically, of course. The support beams collapsed into the tunnel, causing more of the ceiling to cave in as they ran. Acid spit flew at them, as well, making it all the more difficult to avoid injury.

Nikki grunted as a splash of acid impacted his leg, melting through the titanium-composite armor on his calf. Blood spurted from the wound, he ignoring the pain, keeping his speed. Saffron looked down, and saw they were going uphill, and spiraling. Their path was no longer collapsing behind them, but a large pipe shattered, and the tunnel began flooding.

"Never a dull moment, aye, Nikki?" Icarus quipped, plotting a course to the Insurrection Compound, whilst tracking Major Flash Sentry's location.

Nikki winced at his calf as bio-medical-foam sealed it. He took a hard left, and onto a concrete platform. There were open, or broken lockers scattered around. An industrial-sized ladder rested at the end of the hall. Nikki ran over and started climbing, Saffron close behind. Alarms began sounding, and the subtle bootsteps of Insurrection soldiers filled the soldiers' ears.

"There they are!" Nikki's helmet poked out, and he pulled himself up. The Lieutenant drew his M6S and quickly discharged each of the Insurrectionists inside. He looked back, and saw Saffron quickly jump onto solid ground, as a hatch slammed through the ladder, sealing off the room as water began leaking into the room below.

"That... That was... Close." Nikki looked to his left, and walked over to the pressure hatch blocking off a tunnel. He slid his AI chip into the slot under the keypad beside the door, and it winked green. He removed it and placed it back into his helmet. The seals on the door groaned and the door slid open.

A loud screech filled their ears as an Antlion Worker stuck it's head through. Saffron quickly blew it's head off with a blast from her shotgun.

"I've located the Hive, sir. Plotting waypoint now." Icarus said aloud, and a marker appeared on the HUDs of the VDF personnel.

"Goddammit." Saffron muttered, and climbed over the Antlion Worker's corpse.

Flash.

Flash spat blood and took cover behind a wall, shouldering his MA5C.

"Get 'im!" Flash growled at the voice of the Insurrectionist Captain. He poked out, quickly pulling back as a blast of many different types of bullets flew past. He primed a fragmentation grenade, threw it to the floor, and rolled away, sliding across the wall. The insurrectionists turned the corner, and were blown into many different pieces, blood splashing across any surface in range.

Flash knelt down, and suppressed any Insurrection soldiers that advanced on his position. He eventually reached the end of their local numbers, and weakly got to his feet.

Flash's armor was practically gone at this point. The shoulders, abdomen, shin and calf armor were missing, while his forearm armor was practically shattered. He had internal bleeding, broken arm, and a few bruised ribs. Nothing he couldn't compensate for.

Flash shouldered his MA5C, and began walking down the not-so-abandoned tunnel. There were clusters of glowing green mud-like material splashed across the floor, Antlion grubs scattered around them. Flash grimaced at the sight of one of the grubs chewing on a human skull, and walked past. The subtle beeping in the TAC-PAD on his lesser damaged forearm became more rapid, meaning he was closing into the objective. He turned a corner, and quickly took a step back, almost slipping on the slimy, cold cavern floor.

The mine tunnel was missing, and in it's place, was a large, open cavern, with a massive stone pedestal in the middle, above a large surplus of water. Large, gray bee-hive like structures encrusted the walls, with a giant cluster of them on the pedestal.

"Jesus H. Christ..." Flash muttered. He carefully walked onto the ledge. The was a small outcropping on the wall, meaning if he was careful, he could make his way across, if not, into the—likely— acidic, poisoned water below. Flash growled and began very slowly making his way over the outcropping.

"He went this way!" More Insurrectionists. Flash didn't hurry himself, keeping at the slow pace. Almost... there... A few bullets whizzed past, and he almost lost his footing. Screw it.

Flash jumped, rolling onto the bridge that linked to the pedestal, and the mining tunnel across from it. Flash rolled onto his back and fired wildly, killing each of the Insurrectionists, their bodies dropping to the ground below. There were screams, and their bodies began getting viciously ripped apart by some sort of piranha-like creatures, leaving nothing behind. Flash readied his assault rifle and looked down the tunnel.

"Flash!" Sunset yelled, limping over. She gave him a tight hug.

"You scared us..." she said to him, before breaking from the embrace, shaking her head.

"Agh, what are these 'emotions' I'm feeling?" she muttered, half-joking, then walked over to the hive creation.

"This... This is it, right?" Nikki nodded, climbing up the structure carefully. He pulled out a small drone from his waist pouch, dropping it in.

Vvvvvvvvvvrrrrmmmmmm... the few glowing lights in the hive intensified, soon replaced by several glowing blue tunnels of light. Nikki climbed over, dropping a drone in each one. They were small enough to fit in his—albeit large—palm. Each one came back out, a vial of glowing slime contained on their underbelly-areas. Nikki took the vials, placed them in slots on his belt, and let the drones decompose, the nanobots making up their bodies slithering across and into the tube on his waist.

"Alright. Part one of our mission is done. Now, all we gotta do is destroy those Insurrection compounds..." a collective groan in response, followed by a large explosion, as the cavern's ceiling fell, splashing into the infested waters below.'

"... Maybe at a lesser degree." Nikki set a waypoint for the first Insurrectionist camp, and began running.

"Saffron will meet us there, she's dealing—" a loud hiss filled the air, and a pipe exploded above them, sending the three to the ground.

"Shit!" Sunset crawled over to Flash, who now had burn wounds running up his face. Nikki walked over and picked him up in a bridal carry.

"We don't have long." Nikki started the uphill jog, passing several antlion corpses, before he stopped and turned around. The Guardian charged forward, ramming through Nikki, who promptly tossed Flash to the ground as he was slammed through several gates and boxes. The Guardian reeled back, when Sunset climbed onto it's back, driving her knife through it's head, over, and over, and over, until Nikki began assaulting it with gunfire from Flash's policed assault rifle, until the magazine ran dry, then began filling the Guardian full of 12.7x40mm M225 SAP/HE cartridges from his M6S.

The Guardian roared one last time, before crumpling to the ground. Nikki got up with a groan. His armor's chest plate was shattered, along with the arm guards. He let them hang from his armor, put his cloak on, and picked Flash up.

The trio heard gunfire, and saw Saffron running downrange, firing an M7S wildly in the direction of the initial gunfire.

"The Antlions appear to be angry that we killed their guardian, and basically stole their eggs. They started charging into the Insurrection compounds... There were no survivors of the inner mines, but I've been picking up radio chatter for a good few minutes now. Our hostage friends are on their way back now. We should follow their example." Saffron yelled, discharging a few Insurrectionists. Their bodies rolled down, blood streaking behind them.

Sunset started running uphill, tripping when she reached the end. She watched Saffron move ahead of her, snickering, while Nikki waited for Sunset to get up.

Just... a bit further... Then I can rest... Sunset forced herself onto her feet, shouldering her MA5C. She heard a scream, and turned to her left, watching a group of Antlion Soldiers attack a squad of Innies.

Sunset saw a few making their way over to Saffron, rather slowly, and discharged her rifle, ending their lives. She walked over, and watched Saffron pick up a girl in a bridal carry. She was in her early twenties, with a purple color palette. Flash had woken up, apparently, and walked over.

"Saffron, we gotta go!" The antlions, and Insurrection forces were clashing, but it appeared the human side were winning, some turning their attention to Sunset and her posse.

Sunset began sprinting, the five reaching the end of the hallway, when the gunfire caught up with them. Nikki handed the small dog to the girl, and stopped in his tracks.

"Nikki, look out!" Sunset yelled, turning to the soldier she could consider a "friend." He ducked behind a crate, shouldering his M392 DMR.

"Nikki, what're you doing?!" Sunset all but screamed, stopping in her tracks.

"Covering your asses... now get moving. You've not got long, before this all goes to shit... Good luck." Nikki choked out the last few words. He detonated the charges, and earth began blocking the path.

No, no, no, no... Sunset went to go grab him, when Flash picked her up, holding her tightly.

"NO!" she struggled, trying to get out of Flash's grip to no avail.

The next few hours were a total blur. All Sunset could remember, was the medic giving her a shot of that slime they got from the hive. Goddamn it felt good. It turned her blood cold, but... she could feel her bones realign, her wounds healing at an extraordinary rate, then she was out cold for a few minutes, then awoke in an off-duty uniform.

Sunset groaned, pulling on her leather jacket. She had been informed that the girl was awake. She knew her somewhere, where though, she could not remember...

Sunset walked into the barracks, and immediately, she recognized her.

It was that purple horse from the portal-world. Sunset contained herself, and pulled a chair up, sitting on it backwards, arms resting on the back.

She waited a few minutes, when the girl began stirring.

"Ah, you're awake..." she said, loud and proud. The girl's expression became enraged, and she went to sit upright. Sunset instead gently pushed her back down.

"Stay down, Christ... You're gonna open up your wounds." The girl looked down, and saw blood beginning to show it's face through the bandaging and padding. She seemed to be at a loss for words.

"B-But, C-Celestia said you were-" Wait... what? General Celestia went missing, according to the radio chatter she began picking up... hmm.

"General Celestia?" Sunset gave the girl a weary look, keeping a hand at the knife in the concealed sheathe at her thigh.

"No, princess Celestia!" the girl responded. Sunset squinted, looking over her features, listening to all the signs... she wasn't lying. Sunset got a hearty laugh out of that, only to find the wound at her side starting to ache.

"Gah, fuck..." she muttered.

The girl went on to ask Sunset about her sketching journal, and her dog. Sunset answered hesitantly, before telling the girl to rest. She got up out of her chair, then walked out, hoping to catch Flash...

Nikki spat blood as the leg of a Cyclops tried squishing him. He used his superior strength to hold it off, before he felt his strength beginning to wane. The Black Ops Lieutenant sent out a splash of nanobots. They began crawling up to the joint, ripping at the armor and cables, until the leg gave, and Nikki was able to finally shove the Cyclops off.

He raised his fists, several Insurrectionists wearing ODST BDUs, wielding shotguns appearing... when they stopped moving. Everything did. A blood droplet froze in mid-air. The blast of one of the shotguns freezing. Nikki could see each individual pellet.

"Hmm... Interesting. I'd think with all that's been thrown at you, that you should've broken by now." Nikki spun around, and saw a UNSC marine, except... different.

For one, his body looked nothing like a human's. He had a horse-like head, with two mismatched horns atop his head, two mismatched legs, arms and wings, with his body ending in a dragon tail. He had a paw, and a chicken-like arm. He had a hoof on one leg, and a dragon claw on the other. A modified form of UNSC Marine armor rested over-top.

His eyes were red, with yellow sclera. Around his neck, was an amulet. It was made of silver, with rubies, sapphires and emeralds in intricate patterns surrounding it.

"Well, then you've never met me..." Nikki replied, circling the creature, whilst it moved in a similar movement.

"Actually, Nikkolai Serrov, I've been following you for a while, now. Your skills, and... abilities, appeared to have caught the eye of some very powerful ponies." Nikki frowned.

"What is it that you want from me?" he asked, drawing a throwing knife, twirling it around as he circled.

"Oh, nothing much. Just your soul!" the creature replied happily... He then laughed at Nikki's angered, annoyed, and confused expression.

"Twas only a joke, my friend. I have been monitoring you for quite some time, and I believe there is something you can help me with..." Nikki raised an eyebrow.

"And what, mayhaps, would that be?" Nikki inquired, retrieving two more knives, hiding them within a fist.

"I would like you to help me. You see, a friend of mine is very sick, and the only cure, is one of those neat little vials of that blue nectar at your belt... Also, it appears that you're in a bit of a predicament." the creature responded, smirking.

"And why in the absolute hell, would I help you?" Nikki retaliated angrily.

"Because, if you were to help me, perhaps I could, say... pull a few strings," the creature snapped his paws(?) and the shotgun-wielding Insurrectionists' throats suddenly had large slits in them, Nikki's knives now having blood splashed upon the blades. "... and I could say, get you back to your friends. How does that sound?" the creature had a smug grin upon his face, like he knew he'd already won the Black Ops Lieutenant over.

"No." Nikki sheathed each of the knives, smirking as the creature showed signs of agitation.

"Oh? No? Why ever would you not want to see your friends again?" he smirked. Nikki repeated the gesture.

"My soul has already been guaranteed a spot in Valhalla. My sacrifices will save lives... I'll help you, but if I feel you're setting my off of my path even in the slightest, I will shatter each of the vials and your friend will die." Nikki watched the creature carefully. He appeared to be thinking it over.

"Deal." Nikki nodded, and held his hand out to be shook. The creature hesitantly took his hand, and gave it a shake.

Author's Note

This story makes a lot of references.

A/N: Nikki noooooo.

Also, for those who didn't figure it out:

This guy

Sunset counted the bodies, and frowned when she noticed one of them was gone. When she got a look at him, first glance, she swore she saw his eyes glowing red... Doesn't matter now.

is Discord.

Next chapter will begin the adventure, into the wild, wild world of Harmony.