Ad Victoriam

BDCS #04309: The RoboCo Securitron is a common sight on the Las Pegasus strip. They are a prototype security robot produced by RoboCo per the specifications of House. Partially due to this exclusivity deal between House and RoboCo, it is suspected that Las Pegasus is being used as a testing ground for various technologies.

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Las Pegasus. This city was a large hive of neon lights and interesting architecture. It was a city split into two halves, the casinos and entertainment districts consisting of the ground-level, rising out of the desert, and a region of cloudy high-rises sat in the sky above it, Pegasus architecture at its finest.

Thanks to my vague knowledge of the show, I knew of this city’s existence, and I had seen maps with Las Pegasus as a marked point of interest, but I knew nothing about the city other than it being somewhat akin to Las Vegas.

After a quick recon of the city, I determined that there was no Royal Guard in the city, but the sheer amount of security robots ensured that my foray into the city would need to be cautious.

I traded out my beaten, sand-blasted armor for my old hunter’s coat, trying again to blend in as best I can.

Act like you’re supposed to be there and things will go smoother. Or at least, that’s what Lion always said.

Lion...

Best not to go down that train of thought for now. Shrugging it off, I step onto one of the roads leading to the city. Occasionally a bus or truck would pass by, hauling people and goods into or out of the city.

Passing by a brightly-colored neon sign proclaiming “Welcome to Fabulous Las Pegasus!”, I finally enter the city limits. Unlike many cities, there wasn’t much of a transition between the suburban and more dense urban areas, with only a couple of blocks between the skyscraper core of the city and myself.

A couple hundred paces into the city, I encountered the first Securitron up close. It was similar to the Securitrons I already knew of, but was only my height. It had light strips mounted all over it, making it look almost like a slot machine, and the image on the screen was of a smiling cartoon pony wearing a police cap.

“Warning: Unidentified species are required to fill out an information form before continuing into the city. Failure to perform this task will be met with arrest and trial. Warning: Unidentified robots are required to be registered with the nearest Securition. Failure to perform this task will be met with arrest and trial” With that, a piece of paper was ejected from a small port, which the Securitron handed to me. “If you do not have a writing utensil, one shall be provided.”

Grumbling, I get to work filling out the form. I’ll just put false answers in. The machine won’t know any better.

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“Have a lovely day, tourist!” A cheery voice blared from the speakers, and the machine leaned forward slightly as if to nod its head. Nodding at it, I continue onwards.

There was a rack containing free maps at the next intersection from the robot, and I could see a couple Securitrons on patrol nearby. Picking up a map, I look through the business listings on the back. There, advertised was a sky-taxi company. Sky-taxis were pegasus-pulled taxis, capable of reaching anywhere faster than most ground taxis, but tended to cost a bit more. I could hail down a taxi, like normal, or head to the nearby depot to try to catch one starting his night.

I decided to go wait outside the depot. It was a large, warehouse-like building with a two-story office built on top of it. Yellow neon signs proclaimed it as the “Slingshot Transport Services Company”.

After about half an hour’s wait, the door of the garage opened and a pegasus pulling one of the taxi carts emerged. I called out to him, trying to catch his attention.

“Hey, you! I got something I need a taxi’s help with. I’ll pay a whole night’s worth of fares if you help me out.” His interest peaked, he folds his wings to his sides and approaches.

“Yeah, what issit yous want?” The pure-olive pegasus spoke in a gravelly voice.

“I need transportation to Cloudsdale. It’s a little bit of an emergency. Name a reasonable price and I’ll pay. Train I was supposed to take there got wrecked, as you probably heard about. I’ve got very little time to spare.” He seemed to deliberate my words for a moment.

“Hozabot… 200 bits. Bit more than I make on mos’ nights. Up front.” Nodding, I dig around in my pouch, pulling out a small handful of 10-bit coins.

“This should be enough. If you could drop me just outside Cloudsdale’s boundaries, that’d be great.” I hop into the cart, assist my robot companion on board, and brace myself for a flight and a half.

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“Alright, alright ya losers, shuddup and lemme talk.

“We’re going on a mission to check the status of the old Gryphus bunker.

“We don’t know jack shit about the place, and our records have lost the exact location, but we know it’s somewhere near the mountain Gryphus sits on. Good idea to check the forest and all the hilly spots around there.

“We’ll be flying near population centers, so it’ll be the airborne power armor for now.. Us Shock Lancers are better in the air on our wings, anyway. Not like the wusses that normally run under Captain Prop Spin.

“Gryphus had a lot of important gizmos and thingamajigs, as it was one of the Big Three. Good to collect intel on some local elements while we’re there, so we’ll be meeting up with a couple Bards that got sent there a while back.

“Another important thing is something I wasn’t supposed to tell y’all, but screw leaving the squad in the dark. We’re going to be making contact with a member of the Lion Clan that had managed to open a comms channel with the command center.

“Yeah. Those Lions. If we make friends with them, when the Elder gets here he’ll probably be happy. High Sentinel Lion was his closest friend back in the days of the Old Brotherhood, and from what I’ve heard the Lion Clan still sticks to the same values he practiced. I mean, they still carry his fuckin’ name. It’d be improper not to honor the traditions he started.

“But back to the mission, we’re departing at this time, 24 hours from now. Make sure you gotcha armor all nice and polished and your guns are all cleared out. And Steely, make sure to go kiss Tree goodbye. We all see how you two look at each other, so suck it up.

“You’ve got the rest of the day off, as long as you’re all ready. Rust Squadron, prepare yourselves for a grueling month. Ad Victoriam!”

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BDCS #04913: The Lion Clan are descendants of Sentinel Lion, the right-hand Griffon to High Elder Maxson. They operate multiple companies within Griffon lands, and are a very powerful noble clan.

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Equestria from up high was largely as I remembered, though there were signs of society’s progression. Power lines dotted the landscape, small towns and villages popped up in the vast lands between ancient cities. A few solar power plants were present in the desert outside of Las Pegasus. The desert slowly faded to plains, then forests, then rolling green hills. I could see Cloudsdale looming in the sky ahead, and in the far distance I could see a bright light sitting upon the Canterhorn.

Canterlot.

The very thought of Canterlot gave me dread. That city is where the most powerful opponents of the Brotherhood would likely be found. I would definitely want to give that city a wide berth as long as we’re not entirely at peace with the Princesses.

Cloudsdale would probably be my final foray into civilization, unless I wanted to stop through Ponyville. Seeing as Ponyville’s inhabitants are of importance to Equestria and these same inhabitants have a direct line of communication to Celestia via Dragonfire, it would not be in my best interests at the moment, especially with how dusty and dirty I look after a long walk through the wilderness.

An important detail I had forgotten until this flight was the status of my High Scribe. Mundane Arcane was perhaps the most brilliant mind I met in pre-uprising Equestria. Her ghoulification shortly before the end was, both, horrible and beneficial. She may be entrapped as something that looks like a zombie, but she is likely still alive to this day. This brought up further questions, as well.

Did the Brotherhood heed my final command? Is there anyone waiting out there for my return? What of Lion’s descendants? What of the ZAX mainframe hidden beneath the rock Canterlot is built upon?

Out of all of these, the ZAX was the most concerning. The Canterhorn had massive crystal caves, and these served as a buffer between the surface and the bunker the ZAX was hidden in. If they had dug deep enough, they may have already cracked the machine. The implications of our secrets being potentially compromised does not bode well for the survival of the Brotherhood.

Once we are in such a position, we must ascertain this asset is not lost to us. Perhaps reform the old Bard order to infiltrate the city?

Whatever the case be, this cannot be put off for too long.

I felt a slight lurch as the cart began to lower.

“‘ight pal, here’s your stop. If y’ever need services like this again, y’know where to find me.” The cart rocked and thudded as he set it down on a patch of flat land atop a hill.

Final stop, a couple day’s walk, and then I’ll be home. For better or for worse.

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“Spike, could you please get me my ink and quill? I urgently need to copy down some notes.” Twilight Sparkle called out from behind the weighty book before her. The book, one “Ancient Tales of the Uprising and the Aetatis Suae Belli“, was a collection of historical recounts and stories that made up the most detailed glimpse at the days of Nightmare Moon and the years following her banishment. It is regarded as the most in-depth book on this subject, but due to history being a niche subject among most Ponies had fallen into obscurity.

Twilight had found this book after her most recent foray into the Royal Archives and was now studying it in earnest.

“Sure thing Twilight. I’ll be back in a sec.” Twilight’s Number One Assistant, Spike, stepped out of the room on his small claws. She nodded, not checking to see if he had received her acknowledgement.

She was currently reading a segment on a bandit clan that arose during this period known as the Sky Raiders. They were suddenly wiped out by an unknown force, a fate that oddly befell many of the bandit clans.

Twilight Sparkle, as all intelligent Ponies did, began to draw lines and discover a pattern.

Most of these defeats were in a long triangle of land between the Everfree, Canterhorn, and Griffith. Several mentioned sightings of “Iron Ponies”, what appeared to be some kind of golem or magical automata in the appearance of an armor-clad pony, or “Metal Dragons”, large flying machines of unknown origin. Whatever force utilized these struck in ambushes designed to cut the head off of the serpent, as it were, and the opposing faction of these unusual combatants would not survive the sudden lack of leadership.

She recalled witnessing reports of similar flying machines while studying under Princess Celestia, and reading of similar reports or sightings going back around ten years in the Royal Archives.

From this she began to draw forth some conclusions.

Their previous area of operation had only narrowed, but sightings were still most frequent in an area around the Everfree, particularly on the further side of the Everfree from the Caste of the Twin Sisters.

This group seemed to be still active, but there was a large stretch of time in between their actions in the post-uprising Equestria and modern-day.

This group had been silently waiting for a long period of time.

Flipping through the book to a later chapter, she found the final piece of the puzzle.

“Chapter 45: The Mysterious Brotherhood.” A chapter speculating about the disappearance of many intellectuals and warriors shortly before and during the Uprising.

A group of some of the most intelligent ponies of that generation combined with warriors of exceptional strength. Seemingly build up in anticipation of the Uprising itself. Armed with weapons and technology unheard of even to modern Equestria.

Either they had survived this stretch of time and reawoke for similar reasons to their creation preceding the Uprising, or the descendants of this organization finally have begun their ancestor’s plans again.

This was distressing. She was now aware that there was likely a powerful and dangerous group with technology the modern day had so-far failed to create within a day’s walk of Ponyville.

Spike set down the quill and ink at the table in front of her, but Twilight was too busy to acknowledge this. She began writing notes and theories about this group in earnest, and on another sheet of parchment also began constructing a checklist of preparations to conduct a survey of the Everfree.

She was Princess Celestia’s personal student, Bearer of the Element of Magic, and she’d be damned if she couldn't uncover at least some of the secrets of this so-called Brotherhood.

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PERK OF THE DAY: MONOCYTE BREEDER
You’ve been implanted with a potent device that allows your body to repair nearly any damage over time. Be warned, the PHOENIX Monocyte Breeder is a fantastic tool, but it’s not particularly fast at regenerating damaged tissue!
“Any problem can be solved with enough hope. Or enough duct tape.”

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BDCS #0005: Before becoming High Elder of the Brotherhood, Joseph Maxson spent nearly a century exploring Equestria and learning. These experiences shaped him into the hardened man known to the Brotherhood.