Author's Note

I would've posted just one, but not only I realized that I still had a chapter left, this was also 8,100 words in Gdocs. Considering that this is far away from the usual 4-6k I put out, I decided to split this here. Preparations is pt 1 of Shattered Crystaline.

Chapter 11:Preparations

*Crystal Empire outskirts 12:30 PM 12/23/1596*
*Horde encampment*

"So now all of that's out of the way," Shining Armor said, eyeing each and every individual in the tent. Celestia was slightly nervous, but looked determined to send the caribou to extinction. Luna looked all too happy, a battleaxe the size of myself laying at her side. While I couldn't determine what Ben felt about this, I did note that his broom was held in somewhat of a mix between a shotgun and spear being held in a relaxed position. "I believe it's time we hear the battle strategy your warmind has deemed fit to use. Though with the exponentially diverse troops, I hardly believe that the caribou hold a chance."

"You forget Shining Armor." Celestia quickly interjected. "The battle must be won with brutal efficiency. Each and every equestrian infected is to be reversed after this battle, not laying dead before a caribou."

Shining Armor flinched at the realization. "I did not forget this princess. It's just... we all had lost something important to us. I just want to get rid of them as soon as possible."

"We all do, of this I'm certain." I sympathized with Shining Armor, even though I felt nothing. "Regardless of our losses however, we cannot let the enemy see weakness. The world must fear inviting the wrath of Equestria once more, or your country will be attacked by those who thought Dainn's rule was the best there was."

"Aaron speaks the truth Shining Armor." Luna said, despite a thirst for vengeance being evident in her voice. "While we may have lost Cadence, the surrounding countries will feel brave enough to swoop down and strike us." She then turned to me. "Unless we end this with a brutal victory."

I nodded, calling forth Rasputin to lay down the battle plan, as I slipped out of control. Everyone in the room watched as the armor changed color, from the usual black of Old Guard I wore, to the white and red shader that Skorri and I called Incarnadine that Rasputin always took so that nobody confuses who's talking. "The battle strategy is to be followed to the last phase of attack: Cystanals will bypass the walls, and invade the plaza to cause chaos within. Tarrapnues will fly around the walls, preventing any potential escapees. Hanaeulks will break down the gates, allowing the minor level infected to storm the city. Parazits will then proceed to lead the charge from there on out, GIs providing cover fire. Shining Armor's horde will take the north gate, while I take the south. Equestrian forces will take the side gates with beast infected, infiltrating the defenses to take down any ranged threats as they will be necessary to reduce casualties. With the ranged threats being occupied, the horde will burst through the defenses, leaving the caribou nowhere to run. Equestrian forces will decide what to do with the remaining infected caribou, but all Equestrians infected with the exception of Shining Armor and a few other specific Equestrians will be cured upon victory. If anyone has any objections, they are to be said now." He finished, turning the armor back to normal and giving me control.

What the fuck did you just do Rasputin?!

Now is the time to let them know. Refusing to let them know about Shining Armor's condition could damage future relations with the Equestrians.

Rasputin is right Aaron. If we did this to the city, they'd be pissed beyond imagining. All this infecting we've done... you and I both know this is worse than murder. Letting them know before we finish the fight will leave them conflicted, with a possibility that they'll forgive us and not think we're planting virus bombs for when we need an army again. Not letting them know when we leave would cause questions to rise, and as a result the world will be broadcasting a kill-switch on us after they find out about the permanent infected. Trust me and Rasputin, we're better than the mortal fools at the consensus.

Celestia was first to speak during our internal debate. "If I may ask, exactly why can't Shining Armor turn back Aaron?"

Ben nodded. "Yes boy, I'd like to hope that this SIVA stuff you got on us ain't staying forever. I'd like to have hair one day y'know?"

I turned to address Ben."Well starting with Ben here, he'll never be reversed no matter what. I'm sorry to say this, but no matter how much programming goes into it, you'll never be rid of it Ben."

Ben made a robotic sigh, looking down at the floor as if to show his disappointment. "Oh well, I guess a ball of spiders will do. Makes a fluffy looking afro y'know?" Ben then suddenly stood up. "However, this doesn't explain the lady's question. Those people were alive weren't they?"

I bit my lip, quickly scrounging my mind for the proper answer as the three looked at me, Shining Armor only looking at me in sympathy. He learned about the light, and the reason why I can't hand it to the equestrians "Horde leaders control a large majority of infected. The larger the horde, the stronger, and more in-tune the infected leader become with the nanites. To a point where they may not even be organic. As a result, such consequences can make so that..." I trailed off, letting the words hang in the air. The sisters seemed to widen their eyes in understanding, while Ben simply stared at me, a green light on his face.

"So what you're saying is that they're no longer themselves?" Luna asked, bewildered at the thought of machines taking an actual consciousness.

I nodded, slowly becoming increasingly anxious. The Equestrians had nice people in them, two of them I knew for sure were Celestia and Luna, despite what both of them had done in the past. I couldn't blame them, knowing that being a immortal you're bound to eventually do a really bad thing one way or another.

"In a sense yes. They'd still live on, but since their brain mostly consists of nanites, you can practically say that they'd be dead, since the very thing they'd need to make their own decisions is severely broken. Since it's stuck with the brain tissue, taking the nanites off would cause a great deal of irreparable mental damage. Kind of like a tumor if you think about it, except it's consuming the brain rather than growing in it."

Celestia narrowed her eyes. "And why didn't you tell us about this before-hand?"

I sighed, preparing myself for the half lie. "Too much stress on my mind. If I were to simply hold the entire army on my own, in consequence I'd grow weaker myself, and never be able to come back from it. If I shared the excess infected among others, I could keep my strength, and as long as it didn't overwhelm their capabilities they'd never suffer any damage of their own. They'd never able to come back to being organic, however, but still retain their consciousness and ability to function on their own. To put it simply Celestia and Luna... permanence is something nobody likes, especially if it's a downgrade. You wouldn't force that onto somebody would you?"

Celestia simply looked away deep in thought.

"So this is the power of your kind's technology?" Luna asked in slight fear. "Truly disturbing work of yours. I hope our kind never develop a technology like this."

I held up a hand as if to interject. "You will never be able to prevent that technology from appearing Luna. The least you can hope to do is to slow or contain it. My kind won't ever recover from the nanites, and I sincerely hope you don't use the horde leaders as a vantage point towards nanotechnology. It's one of the most dangerous ones, perhaps more dangerous than our strongest bombs."

Luna nodded. "We shall have to contain them then, much to their displeasure. Shining Armor would be the exception, since he's more than capable of preventing himself from being captured, and has proven time and time again to be of pure heart. We cannot allow ponykind to come under the enslavement of something that holds no mercy."

"That would be best Luna." I then laid my elbows on the table. "The bigger question is, how should we deal with Twilight?"

Celestia's eyes then shot back to me, her focus snapped to me. "Leave Twilight out of this," she said flatly.

I shook my head in disappointment. "You know that the moment this war is over, she'll go to meet up with Shining Armor. What do you think will happen? Will she finally break, and go insane upon realizing that this war had taken everything from her? Will she call for rebellion and cause nanotechnology to be set in development? There's too many variables and too much at stake to leave her out of this Celestia. We have to do something, seal her, take away her alicorn magic and make her a unicorn, anything that doesn't threaten the future of Equestria, but above all else? We need a way to bring her back from the devastation. Fairy tail endings won't happen all the time Celestia. You, and Shining Armor know of this."

This was true on all accounts. During the changeling invasion, roughly 4% of the equestrian population had died. When Tirek came, 2% of the population fell at his hands alone, and the world barely survived the first few hours of eternal night. When the Storm King came, 3% died during the king's power mad rampage, and 5% died during the caribou invasion, despite best attempts on both ends to not die. Considering the numbers, this left Equestria with more than a bloody nose. All these events left it with bruises all over and missing teeth. One of these days, Equestria will have a large majority of the population die out, because she once again failed to pull the trigger.

She had a mentality of heroism, one that wouldn't survive in reality. It's only because she rules Equestria that this has never been held against her, until now. I had her cornered, and even though she'd be slaying a few caribou, she'd didn't know that I had Ben take care of the escaping caribou. So she'll have finally joined in the thing she dreaded doing. I stared at her, waiting for her next input.

"...Have you really become so heartless?" she said softly. "That a heroine of Equestria would turn on us just like that?"

"I'm not heartless Celestia. I'm just logical, as I have always been." I then stood up from my chair, walking next to the entrance. "I see that my words won't have an impact on Twilight's fate, so I will leave this up to you four then. Just promise me you won't start a civil war after this, alright? If I ever tire of exploring the multiverse, I would want to come back to a thriving nation. Not one left in shambles after I've fixed it." I looked back at the four. "Now, let's get moving. We need to send the caribou back into the abyss they came from. Every second we spend here, is another second the equestrian citizens trapped inside the Empire get abused." I then proceeded to walk out the tent, not bothering to look back.

So how did I do?

The Twilight matter should keep their attention off of SIVA for a while, and if they follow through on containing the horde leaders, we still can have a chance at taking ourselves a army. That is if we need it of course.

I still am having trouble discovering the reason why we shouldn't keep our infected. We will need them if exponentially large groups of hostiles attack us.

Skorri then caused me to chuckle. Ah, I can't wait for the lovely moments we'll have. Once we figure out how to get all of Aaron's emotions back of course.

What, you think we'll be some sort of comedy routine?

A smirk formed on my face. Maybe.

*Crystal Empire horde encampment 10:30 AM 12/25/1956*
*2 miles away from the Empire's south gate*

I looked off to the Crystal Empire, the infected horde behind me standing in wait as they shrieked at the caribou standing on the walls, as I took in where the primary threats were and labeling them as targets for the flying infected to pick off before beginning their patrol. The SIVA enhanced eyes allowed me to see every caribou on the walls with ease, some already had drawn their bows, while others waited for the signal to fire. They were desperate, as I had initially expected.

After I had successfully downloaded the image into the flying units, I pulled out the sword that the huntsman gave to me, staring at it for a bit.

We never gave a name to that did we?

The object's name is of no concern.

For you it is. Hey pup, how about Circuit Breaker? You know, to keep with the whole mechanical names we have?

I hummed in thoughtfulness. Sounds neat. Though that goes against the initial analysis of the weapon remember?

Oh yeah I forgot about that! ...What was it again?

Weapon consists of the huntsman's solar energy, contains traces of Hive light, and is infected with SIVA. Weapon shows an ability to absorb pure unaltered Hive energies, able to absorb a whole Hive's worth of magic.

Not as if that'll ever happen though. So how about it?

That'll be the name. I casually agreed with Skorri as I checked the ammo counter.

Steel Medula:36/288

Ether Nova:5/15

Circuit Breaker:76

May I ask exactly why you aren't using Sleeper this time around?

Not expecting the caribou to have pulled something nasty enough to need it. Besides, it'd be good to put that training to use right?

Fair point. But I think the caribou would go running in overwhelming fear if they saw that laser.

They'd also be scared of the fact they're going to be sliced into ribbons.

Smart, but remember that they're desperate. Sending them into overwhelming fear might cause them to swarm you.

Yeah, like a bunch of desperate little shits would overwhelm me. I then zoomed back in. Now let's go back to marking.