Neo-Equestria Evangelion

Neo-Equestria Evangelion

Chapter Five:

'Sins of Yesterday'

"Of course they abandoned us! After what we did they couldn't do anything else!"

"Target in the center... pull the switch..." Whisper repeated quietly to herself as she sat in the entry plug; her fur and mane floated away from her skin in the thick, breathable fluid. She curled her fetlock around the paddle and the heavy multi-barreled auto-cannon sprung to life.

She felt the recoil as if the cannon was sitting on her own back as the string of tracers shot towards the target and impacted. The targeting computer had compensated for her inexperience and the target fell over as the first rounds of the burst struck the metal plate.

"Very good, you're getting the hang of this!" Vinyl congratulated over a video link. "Remember, just point your head at the target, and line up the crosshairs, the targeting computers will take care of the rest, the gun will follow your line of sight."

Whisper nodded at the window and reset the heads-up display as her target stood back up. She rolled her shoulders unconsciously as the weight continued to press down on her back through the sympathetic nerve connection to the eva. She pulled the switch a second time as the target came into her reticule. The flash from the muzzle reflected off her eyes as another target fell.

~~

"She's taking to this rather well don't you think?" Vinyl asked as she turned to look at Dash, "Sync is up to seventy already and she's doing pretty good in the shooting drills."

"I guess..." Dash answered half halfheartedly as she watched another target fall over. She rubbed her forehead with her forehoof and leaned against a control panel. She shook her head and stared at the floor.

"Something bothering you, Dash?" Vinyl probed. The ex-DJ put a hoof on the pegasus's shoulder in a slightly awkward comforting gesture.

"It feels like she's just doing what she's asked, with no personal feelings about it... it makes me a little uncomfortable," Dash admitted as she met the white mare's eyes.

"Remind ya a little a somepony else a few years back though don't it?" a new, accented, voice cut in.

Rainbow Dash looked up and saw that Applejack had walked onto the observation deck. "'Shy was never quite... that bad. I guess I can see your point though. We need to get Whisper to open up."

"Bit of an understatement, 'Shy had all of us but... Whisper's the only one her age here 'cept for Sunset and that filly is..." Applejack trailed off, leaving the implication unspoken.

"Yeah, she is that. Kite should be here in a few months, maybe they'll hit it off?" Vinyl offered.

"I'm not sure, he's pretty... intense. I don't know how she'd react to that." Dash explained as she settled back down onto her hooves.

"Sounds like somepony else I used to know!" Applejack joked and prodded the pegasus with her hoof, "But you and 'Shy got on just fine. She'll be fine, I'm sure of it."

A target exploded in the testing chamber and Vinyl turned around. The Eva's cannon was smoking, down range the target was burning slowly. "Well, maybe she's not the one you need to worry about," the white mare joked. She looked again at the burning target and facehoofed, "...and would whoever decided to put incendiary in the rotary cannon please speak up? You're on waste pump duty for a month."

The unicorn stared at the fire for a few more moments before she turned to a pony standing off to the side, "Mirage... make sure there's no more to this than a simple mistake. If somepony planned for an 'accident'..." she trailed off, letting the implication hang.

"Understood, Ma'am," the cream colored pony answered and trotted briskly through a side passage.

Vinyl stared after the mare for a moment before turning back to the technicians, "And would somepony get that fire put out?"

~~

"She did rather well." Luna commented as the previous week's battle played back on the bright cathode ray tube. The screen froze on the purple behemoth in mid air. "I wouldn't have thought she'd have that kind of fire in her."

"You would be surprised what you're capable of when you're pressed," Spike commented offhand as he resumed the playback, "you of all ponies should know that."

Luna shot the dragon a glare, "You would do well to leave old wounds closed, commander."

Spike smirked and shut off the display, "On occasion... I would remind you why I was the one left in charge, less some ponies might forget."

"There may yet come a day when that changes... For now, though," The alicorn started, turning her glare away from the dragon, "we should take action to ensure that future... conflicts are not left to chance. She can't do it alone. Not forever."

"We have Sunset and we have the other," the dragon offered in dismissal of Luna's concerns.

"You mean my niece's child. I don't approve... though that makes me a hypocrite at this point, doesn't it?" she commented dryly. 'What would you think of me now, sister?'

"You know as well as I do why it had to be him. Why it has to be Whisper, why it had to be Sunset. The bearers can no longer command the power needed, not since that day, not the bearers who lived..." he trailed off, a tear formed in the corner of his eye, a rare show of emotion.

Luna snorted, "Yes, Sunset. You're a fool if you think I don't know exactly what she is, and why she exists."

Spike turned and glared daggers at the alicorn, "And knowing that, do you think I would send her out to fight if there was another choice?!"

She met his glare with one of her own, she stepped towards, him, put her hoof on his shoulder. Her gaze softened. "No... No I imagine you wouldn't have," she said softly, "Well, we should prepare. The council will want an update and the next..." she trailed off, searching for a suitable euphemism, "event is due soon."

"Well, let's go prostrate ourselves in front of the 'Elders' then," the dragon said with a humorless smirk.

~~

Mirage ducked behind a support beam, her target was perhaps thirty paces ahead in the poorly lit under-level. The target was a male gryphon, a new transfer from HERD-04 in the gryphon highlands, he was not authorized to be in the under-level.

He also wasn't authorized to manipulate the ammunition load-outs, but that hadn't stopped him. Mirage ducked out from behind the beam and sprinted silently through the darkness to another beam, a mere ten paces behind the gryphon.

"Yes... Yes... I've retrieved the data... Yes I know. Bye," he hissed before closing the vox device in his left claw. He caught movement in the corner of his eye as Mirage struck. He dropped the vox and grabbed her by the forehoof, swung the earth pony into a support beam and let her drop to the ground.

"An earth pony? That's what they sent? The Elder council over-estimated you," he spat as he smirked evilly at the mare. "Well, no witnesses, I guess I'll eat well tonight."

Mirage grunted and pushed herself back onto her hooves, her eyes flashed and she laughed darkly, "No... I imagine an earth pony wouldn't be much of a match for you. However..." she grinned, her mouth almost impossibly wide.

The world flashed green for a moment and in the mare's place stood a black equiform creature, coat hard and shiny, as far removed from a pony's fur as could be, horn sharp and jagged, wings almost insectoid in nature.

The gryphon paled; Mirage laughed. She advanced on him, a sickly green glow emanated from her horn, "A changeling might be a little too much for you to handle, don't you think? So... let's have a nice long talk, and you can tell me everything I want to know."