Defanged

Everything seemed to form around him, it felt so surreal? It was like a thousand pounds weighed on his shoulders but he could move freely and weigh nothing at all. Everything felt so strange. Suddenly out of the blue, his environment shifted to the burning wreck of the Draconis, but he was standing on the air above it. His mission. He was currently watching his "mission", his objective numero uno burning before his very eyes. For the first time in a very long time Viper felt rage and shock. The emotions came crashing down onto the normally calm, collected, and professional mercenary. Viper took a step back raising his arms in caution, as he began to realize where he was. Was this hell? Was watching your greatest failure burn in a heap hell?

No. No it wasn't because like glass the world broke around him and he fell, before hitting the ground hard... Viper was stunned but pumped himself with his last stim reserves shoving himself to his feet. What the fuck was happening? He looked around not recognizing where he was... or did he? Upon further inspection of the environment around him he realized that he was standing on planet Typhon, somehere on Typhon anyways....

"Thou has caught our-"

In less than three seconds the mercenary pulled his wingman and fired a shot at the source of the noise. Whatever it was never had contact with the bullets and slipped into a dark glittery vapor reforming into a solid shape, Viper kept his gun trained on the thing, his finger began to get heavy... and there it was. Standing at about two heads shorter than him was a unicorn covered in dark navy blue fur, and a mane that swung in a breeze that the Apex Predator couldn't feel. It shone like the night sky, very pretty, but Vipers gun was still trained on whatever the hell it was.

"As We were saying..." the creature said, with a frustrated undertone. Viper could conclude this unicorn... wait it had wings too... This hybrid creature was a female, and of a very regal background. She began to continue her sentence. "Thou has caught our attention, I am Princess Luna of Equestria, and thou is...?"

The horse waited for an answer patiently. The merc shifted, tensing his grip.

"Why should I tell you?"

"Because thou needs us if thee wants to survive thee's time in Equestria. My patience runs thin as does your time here." The so called Luna proclaimed. Viper couldn't be too sure if she could be trusted, but if she were telling the truth, and she was a princess of whatever this land was...

"Viper." The pilot said, lowering his gun, but not putting it away. The hybrid horse smiled closing her eyes taking a sharp breath before opening them and speaking.

"We are Princess Luna of Equestria." She said, "And we are an Alicorn, thou is a... human? We could sense thee's confusion." Luna said, watching Vipers gun intently. Viper made no move except responding by nodding, before asking,

"Where are we?"

Luna chuckled.

"Isn't it obvious to thou? Thou art in the dreamscape!" The royal Alicorn shouted, flaring out her wings to indicate the shifting environment. It was stunning but Viper had no interest in it.

"The dreamscape? Am I asleep?" The human asked finally turning his head to look at the environment. Images of different places were scattered on the deep bluish shattered glass looking shards floating around. He grabbed one looking at it waiting for an answer.

"Indeed, however your time here dwindles. We hope to see thy soon, human."

Suddenly much to Vipers inward panic his body began to break into a million pieces and sudden when it seemed like it would disperse it was dark.

With no words Viper jolted awake, grabbing the safety railing on the inside of his Titan. The cockpit was dark aside from a few green and red lights shining above certain switches and indicators. His breathing was low and controlled, his legs clenched as if he were flying. Viper was silently, finally letting go of the railing. His visuals to his front were simply of the shittily padded hatch, and a few small switches above it.

"Welcome back Pilot." The Titan OS voice boomed inside the cockpit worsening the headache he didn't even know he had.

Viper grumbled in annoyance, removing his helmet, and scratching the itchy mesh head piece pilots were required to wear since most couldn't afford proper padding inside the helmets themselves due to their price, his helmet however did have padding, but the mesh had become some sort of unspoken, annoying, and itchy rule that no pilot liked. Viper moved his shoulders around sitting straight up and placing his helmet back on.

"Where are we?" He asked his Titan, the bumping of the giants walk cycle stopped as he felt the cockpit move around, like the Northstar just scanned the environment. Then it began movement once more.

"A swamp located just south of our initial arrival location, clearly untouched by the snowstorm only a few miles back." The Titan OS responded as it continued on its way. Viper pondered this for a considerable amount of time, before speaking up.

"Where are we going?"

"I'm not sure Pilot."

Those words stabbed Viper like a rusty Data-Knife, if he didn't know what to do, his Titan did, but neither of them knew what to do. He was silent, but remained calm, thinking for a long time.

Hours passed before any other form of communication was had, that was until the Titan spoke up.

"Settlement detected 756 ft away. Should we investigate pilot?" The War Mech commented, interrupting the pilots thinking. Viper pondered this for a minute before nodding.

"Yes, we should, night will be falling again soon..." Viper said, suddenly realizing they had been traveling for almost an entire day. Wherever they were, they had been there for almost 24 hours... Viper shook his head. The steady thud of the Northstar run cycle began to slow into a walk as the pair got closer to the settlement, as to not alert the inhabitants to their presence just yet. "Where is the closest IMC controlled planet"

The walking stopped abruptly, and the silence seemed to last forever before the Titan replied.

"Pilot we may not be in the same universe that we once resided. ARES Division had been looking into inter-dimensional travel with the early models of simulacrum "Phase-Shift" pilots. They could travel to alternate spaces of reality for short periods of time, pocket dimensions or universes. This answer is currently 98.6% probable, as it appears I cannot pick up any IMC controlled planet in my 117,572,507,463,672.154617 Mile or 20 lightyear radius."

Viper snarled angrily, before taking a deep breath regaining his composure as the Titan began walking again.

Vipers best hope was this settlement, and if it couldn't help him, than sans else would...