The Sins Of The Celestial Empire

by Erol carstein

Chapters

Prologue
Deployment
Dreams
Opposition
Amethyst
Casualties
Touchdown

Prologue

++ BEGIN AUDIO LOG++

++CURRENT MILLENIAL DATE: M832/465++

++ENTRY NUMBER: 3287++

ENTRANT NAME: BLAZE++

++MOTTO FOR THE DAY: WE TRAVEL TOWARDS A BRIGHTER FUTURE++

++ALL DATA TO BE FORWARDED TO IMPERIAL HIGH COMMAND++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Welcome to the future, the current millennial date is M832 ADW. For over eight hundred thousand years the species of equine kind has expanded across the stars, conquering all before them. It has been over a million generations since we first realised our destiny as a species lay with the stars, and since we took our first steps into the gaping maw of intergalactic space. From our home world of Equine prime we spread to the stars, moving from system to system. Where we met acceptance we assimilated, drawing dozens of alien species into our doctrine and creed.

With expansion there came incredible leaps in technology, we were capable of things our ancestors could only dream of. Cryo-stasis allowed us to rest in peace and silence as the colonisation arks of our race drifted from star to star. When Cryo-stasis proved too slow for a race of such insatiable curiosity as ours we developed phase jumping, and where suddenly able to jump from system to system in mere hours.

Just like that the sheer urge to expand and prosper as a species had pushed our understanding of science centuries ahead. But the advances aren't just limited to expansion. The military, the economy, medical science and biological adaptation, all these and more benefitted.

A computer the size of car was capable of processing the entire data economy of a star system without slowing. The creation of synthetic stem-cells allowed the growing of new limbs for the crippled. We could prevent motor neurone disease, cancer, cystic fibrosis and muscular dystrophy. we eradicated disease entirely, and the average life span of an imperial citizen stretched to a century, its highest ever.

But it didn't stop there, not by a long shot.

Cross sub-species alteration was now possible, we had reached the threshold of godhood. Unicorns and pegausi were capable of switching species, of giving up their horns and wings and switching positions, even earth ponies could become a different sub-species of pony.

We even created the first synthetic Alicorns, the penultimate stage of our species evolutionary path, and from their ranks were formed our ruling elite, politicians, generals, spiritual leaders and chief scientists.

We created nanotrites, nanoscopic machines that could live in our blood and keep the pony body in perfect physical shape, allowing us to stay awake of days, and perform athletic feats beyond that of our predecessors.

But it was in military application our knowledge reached its full potential, and transformed us from colonial settlers and explores into a fully fledged military force to be reckoned with. We built warships that ranged from simple war frigates and assault cruisers, to capital ships the size of moons, with the destructive capacity to level entire cities in one apocalyptic salvo. We built space stations of titanic proportions, that hung over our worlds and protected us from the evil that lay beyond our borders.

Defensive optical arrays were created, powered by fusion reactors hundreds of meters across that had the potential to disrupt the fusion reactions within the hearts of living stars and cause them to die eons before their set time. joining them were plasma cannons capable of melting a cruiser in a single burst of superheated energy.

Where we met resistance to our advance we crushed it, with the might of our fleets and navies and the strength of our armies. We bombarded them into submission. We destroyed their homes. Crushed their cities. Annihilated their worlds.

After almost ten thousand years of war and expansion we reached the edge of our galaxy, and when that happened not even our need to explore could break us through the wall that was intergalactic space, where the vistas of time and space conspired to isolate us to the tiny island of our galaxy in the unimaginably huge ocean of the universe.

But that wasn't the end to the wars; peace would still have to wait. Whilst our attentions had been turned to the threats without, who stood in the darkness waiting for the perfect moment to strike at our empire, we lost sight of the enemy within.

It was an ancient, nameless horror that lay within the heart of every imperial citizen. an enemy made manifest by our very existence.

But to understand that there's something else you need to know.

Magic.

Magic is an integral part of our species, an almost inexplicable energy that permeates our very bodies and souls. Though magic is generated by all ponies, through our innate connection to each other and the concept of harmony, only unicorns have the means capable to harness this semi-psychic energy, using their horns as conduits for this power. It is a gift that has allowed us to push beyond the physical boundaries of our own bodies.

But it was this very gift, our greatest asset, that was our worst enemy.

Our understanding of magic was already deep, and coupled with our new advances in science and genetics, specifically the ability to perform cross sub-species augmentation; we reached new levels of power on a new biological and genetic scale.

To put it simply, Equine kind stood on the brink of an evolutionary jump that had been millennia in the making, and had been ushered into living history by our own understanding of technology.

Our finest scientists predicted that once the jump was complete anypony would be capable of manipulating magic, unicorn or not. It was a magnificent concept to behold, a race of magic wielders that had the will and means to conquer not just the galaxy, but given time the universe.

It was almost too good to be true.

To celebrate the dawning of this new age, the empresses Celestia and Luna ordered the construction of an astropathic beacon, a magical light that would shine out into the spaces between this world and the realm of magic in order to connect those with the gift to the great choir, a gathering of unicorns a million strong, whose spells would burn day and night to fuel the fires of magic that burned in our hearts.

It was an edifice like no other, and upon completion it stood as the greatest building ever, rivalling even the imperial palace in sheer majesty and beauty.

Trillions came from all over the galaxy to witness its unveiling, and as the choir began to sing and the beacon sent out its ethereal glow, all knew that our empire was truly the greatest in all of eternity.

But as the beacon reached full strength something went wrong.

We're not sure what, and to this day the answer still eludes us, but somehow the beacon came into contact with … something else, and brought it forth into our world.

With the cackle of unnatural laughter that sent an incomprehendable fear into the minds of the seven trillion onlookers, a gaping wound in the fabric of reality that separated us from the realm of magic opened up, and from it stepped forth Chrysalis.

She was our inner darkness given form.

As the crowds watched on in awe, Chrysalis smiled, revealing ivory fangs, and then threw her head back, giving off a psychic scream that caused trillions of unicorns across the length of the galaxy to simultaneously shriek in pain and claw at their own eyes as they beheld the might of this new entity before the scream tore away at their sanity.

What were left behind were nothing more then broken creatures devoid of their souls.

Across the length and breadth of the empire, on a million worlds, portals tore open holes in the fabric of reality and from them came the changelings. They where a demonic race of shape shifters that could take the form of any living creature, be they pony or alien and they descended on us with mad blood lust in their eyes.

Hundreds of worlds fell before them, mowed down like wheat before a scythe.

For millennia the changelings had watched us from beyond the barrier of reality. For millennia they had longed to consume our souls.

When they came forth, they wasted no time in collecting their harvest.

Those who where unicorns and those who bore the potential of the gift in their genes where the changelings prey of choice, and they were taken kicking and screaming into the realm of magic, the home of the changelings, where there would be no escape. None knew what lay inside the portals for certain, only that beyond their shimmering, mirror like surface the realm of magic was in constant turmoil, as the raw energy of magic generated by our emotions caused the world to remain on constant flux, nothing ever remaining fixed or stable.

On Equine prime, Chrysalis had butchered the whole population, seven trillion souls, and had trapped Celestia and Luna within a pocket universe, an inescapable prison formed of pure magic that could only be accessed from the outside.

Chrysalis was slowly draining the sisters of their magic, using their immortal souls to fuel a spell so powerful it would tear down the barrier of reality and plunge the whole galaxy, maybe even the whole universe, into the realm of magic, and drown us all in a tide of insanity and blood.

However, though the changelings where a deadly foe and they struck fear into the heart of even the most powerful of our race, we were not a species to simply accept the rule of this new threat. We fought back with fire and fury, rage fuelling us on as we fought for our wives, our children and our homes. Across millions of worlds heroes rose to take the fight to the changelings, great stallions and mares such as Blaze, Nightshade, Titus and Silvershield.

With all the strength we could muster we fought the demons tooth and hoof, giving no quarter and asking for none. Though we were weary from the wars we had already fought, and the changelings where creatures of unnatural strength and speed, we slowly but surely took back our worlds.

We were finally strong enough to take the fight to Chrysalis, all that was needed was a hero to lead us, a pony of true purity and strength at heart who would be able to defeat Chrysalis and cast her and her infernal children back into the realm of magic.

From the backwater world of Terra, an agri world on the fringes of society, there came our hero. He was a great pegausi stallion, with a coat of snow white, a mane and tail of flame, and emerald eyes that burned with righteous fury.

His name was Nova, and he was the hero we received in our hour of need.

From Terra, Nova travelled the stars, moving from system to system, crushing the changeling swarms and calling for the hero of each world to join him in his crusade for vengeance. With his simple hammer of steel, Nova liberated hundreds of worlds, and from those worlds there came unnumbered followers, each willing to follow Nova into the fires of hell to rid our galaxy of this unnatural terror.

When he reach Equine prime, Nova discovered a world that had changed beyond all recognition. It was here that the great astropathic beacon was located, and it was here that the energies that seeped from the realm of magic were strongest.

It was once said that Discord was the true master of insanity and chaos, but looking down upon the living hellscape that was our home world, Nova knew that no creature of this universe could ever feasibly imagine this kind of chaos.

Descending alone from his orbiting capital ship 'The Blade Of Salvation' Nova plunged down on the living hell below him, screaming through the skies in a drop pod like a comet of fire to come slamming down in the imperial palace, crashing through the roof of the main audience chamber in front of the imperial throne.

Chrysalis lay reclined on its marble seat, around the base of the throne were the viciously dismembered bodies of her latest victims, their blood still hot and fresh on her muzzle. As she watched the pods doors opened and Nova stepped forth, armoured in emerald green ceramite and wielding a hammer of adamantium, a weapon so strong it could smash its way through ferocrete.

Though the audience chamber had become like a chamber of hell, with the bodies of still living ponies fused into the walls and the floor slick with the blood and entrails of Chrysalis's victims, Nova didn't hesitate and he leapt at Chrysalis with reckless abandon, uncaring for his own fate so long as he took Chrysalis to hell with him.

For three days and nights they battled, trading blows with the strength of gods.

Nova fought bravely, his hammer smashing down many a time to deliver a furious blow that could shatter stone and crush bone, but he was out matched by Chrysalis.

The hell spawn queen was everywhere at once, striking at Nova from all angles and giving him no means to defend himself. But though he bled from over a hundred wounds Nova never once yielded until finally Chrysalis struck him a deadly blow to his heart, stabbing deep with a dagger made of bone. As Nova fell to his knees Chrysalis revealed her fangs, and with an unnatural laugh that tore at the mind, prepared to feed on the blood of her opponent in a vampiric fashion. However, as her fangs bit deep into the flesh of his neck Nova knew this wasn't the end.

Within his heart a new fire began to burn, raging with the force of a star, and with a roar of defiance Nova pushed Chrysalis back, chunks of flesh ripping from his neck where her fangs had pierced his body, before a blinding light filled his eyes.

With a gurgle and the snapping of bone an Alicorns horn thrust its way through his skull, without a moment of hesitation Nova Leapt from his knees and drove his horn deep into Chrysalis' chest, piercing through her chitinous armour and iron-hard bone to stab her black heart and undo the spell that held Luna and Celestia captive.

A single moment later the combatants died together, falling to the floor with nothing more than a soft thumping noise. Chrysalis' body disintegrated into ash, the powerful magic that bound her to the mortal plain unravelling. As her soul left the mortal world, so too did those of her children, the changelings, and in an instant the galaxy was free from the vice like grip of insanity.

Of Novas body there was no sign, and though the whole of the palace was searched from top to bottom he could not be found.

It was like he had simply vanished.

In the aftermath of the invasion, a more dictatorial form of government control was instigated in order to ensure that our gifts as a species would never again lead us into the jaws of the changelings. All unicorns where forced to undergo strict compliance testing to ensure that they had control of their abilities, any who failed where deported to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, to massive prison colonies where they wouldn't risk becoming living conduits for the insanity of Chrysalis. All those who had the gift in a hereditary form where chipped, tagged and kept under twenty four hours surveillance.

During the war there where many cults formed, who worshipped Chrysalis as the ultimate power of the universe, with the changelings gone we hunted down these depraved cults and exterminated them, any caught praying to Chrysalis faced incineration, for only the purifying strength of fire can truly banish such horror from a ponies soul.

Once we had the cults crushed and our psychic gifts brought to heel the twin sisters declared that we had to return to the stars, and secure our worlds before the xeno threat without sensed our weakness. And so where launched the reclamation crusades, a time when thousands of armies where sent forth to reclaim the worlds of the empire, and bring our race back into dominance.

Once satisfied that all resistance to their rule had been crushed, and that we where the sole rulers of the galaxy, the twin rulers of our empire, empress Celestia and empress Luna, decreed that we had reached a prophesised age of plenty, and that a living utopia amongst the stars had been born through the efforts of our armies and heroes.

With nowhere else to explore, and nowhere new to go, our drive to improve as a species turned from expansion to civic life.

We divided the galaxy into two segments, segmentum Solaris occupied the galactic north and west, and segmentum Lunara occupied the galactic south and east, with the entirety of our 'Celestial Empire' being ruled from our ancient home world of Equine prime, a massive civic world covered in continent spanning cities and gravity defying spires.

Inter-system trading flourished, and within a decade it became possible for a farmer way out on the outpost world of Aldaen in the far north of the galaxy to spice his food with fire root from the desert world of Enkiaera in the deep south.

Even religion changed, altering its fundamental fabric of monotheism to incorporate the millions of worlds capable of supporting life.

Where as previously we believed that our home world alone was our haven and only refuge in the whirling maelstrom of chaos, and that Celestia and Luna were living gods who controlled the universe, trillions upon trillions now hailed the new eternal entity of the Goddess, who gave us life and the desire to expand and conquer in her name.

Pilgrims would flock in their billions to our home world to give praise to the six beautiful saints of our race, who in their own lives had witnessed the first tentative steps of our species into the emptiness beyond our atmosphere, led the first expeditions in the void to discover worlds far from our own and wielded the elements of harmony, a feat none have accomplished since.

Twilight Sparkle, whose knowledge of the stars had allowed her to serve as the navigator of the first fleets.

Rarity, whose beauty and poise had seduced whole worlds to our cause.

Pinkie Pie, whose fearlessness of the unknown had strengthened our hearts in the face of fear.

Applejack, whose boundless strength at heart had held us firm when we were lost and alone.

Fluttershy, whose affinity with the creatures of the galaxy had leant her control over the ecosystems of entire worlds.

Rainbow Dash, whose unwavering loyalty to the cause had formed the bulwark of our expansion, a pillar of strength that held us firm against those who would have destroyed us.

Though each an every one of them fell in defence of the cause and gave their lives as the ultimate sacrifice for what they believed in, their sacrifices were certainly not in vain.

Upon our home world, built over the supposed location of ponyville, where the saints where alleged to have lived, we erected a cathedral in their honour, an edifice so large it could be seen from space. we named it 'Cathedral Terra' and within its miles long halls, under a roof that is two miles above the ground, billions pray every day for their blessing, so that our empire may continue to prosper and grow.

However, along with the new found knowledge and piety our expansion gave us, we also gained excessive decadence and corruption. Beneath the veneer of perfection and social understanding the empire was a bloated tumour of hedonism that sprawled across the galaxy, draining planets of their resources and leaving entire species to starve and die.

From the imperial palace in the great capital city of Canterlot there where tales of great feasts that lasted for weeks. Orgies of excess where the aristocracy of the empire would revel in flesh, food and drink, and lose themselves in the smoke of a thousand different narcotics. It was said that even the empress Celestia knew of these depraved activities

Some even dared to whisper that she actively took part.

This stain on our society didn't go unnoticed however, and after ten thousand years of keeping her silence as her empire became nothing but a malignant tumour that stained the galaxy, Empress Luna called a great conclave, summoning the imperial governors of the millions of planets of the empire to the imperial palace for something nopony could have ever dreamed of.

The alteration of the imperial doctrine.

From the millions of worlds they came, governors and governess' from the far north. The barony family of the Lightmarks, who'd, held sway over the midnight worlds of the east since the completion of the reclamation crusades. From the south there came the caliphs of the desert worlds and from the west there came delegates from the farming cooperatives of the agri-worlds that kept us fed.

Under the roof of the imperial palace, in the vast audience hall Luna welcomed them, and then she did the unthinkable.

She accused Celestia of corruption in the reigning of the empire and of excessive hedonism in her personal life, in front of billions she decried her sister and called from the reigns of galactic government to be given to her, an Alicorn of pure heart and nature.

Celestia in turn, infuriated by her sisters actions, accused Luna of attempting a coup and that she was simply trying to take control of the empire for her own selfish gain.

As the sisters fought a vicious battle of accusations and partially veiled insults, long buried grudges and resentments began to bubble up amongst the delegates.

Seeing an opportunity to destroy the power of the Lightmarks, long the political enemies of his family, Governor Steelmane of the northern systems declared his support for princess Celestia, and accused Luna of high treason. The farming cooperatives sided with Celestia also, stating that they would not see the bountiful produce of their worlds being fed to traitors and turn cloaks.

In turn the Lightmarks and caliphs of the east and south staked their support for Luna, declaring that the Celestial Empire had become decadent and sinful, and that new purity was needed to lead the empire back to the path of righteousness. In the space of a day, the galaxy had been split in two, war was imminent.

Ironically the allegiances of the imperial governors meant that it was segmentum Solaris versus Segmentum Lunara.

Luna left the imperial palace with her supporters and travelled to the midnight planet of Aurelia, deep within the heart of segmentum Lunara.

The planet itself was an ancient civic fortress world, its surface covered in defence installations thousands of years old. Surface to orbit cannons with the power to cripple capital ships and long range redeemer launches that could fire upon ships over a thousand miles away, all of them towering over the massive cities below, rising so high that their barrels pierced through the atmosphere and into space.

From the imperial governors' stronghold at the heart of the planet, Luna and her supporters drew up a new doctrine of imperial governance, and began to broadcast their message.

On every planet in every system across the length and breadth of the segmentum Lunara, imperial governors received orders to muster their troops and to prepare to go to war. Though it had been over one hundred and fifty thousand years since the empire had ever called for military action, the standing army was constantly training, and within the space of a few months segmentum Lunara was mobilized for war.

Only one message ever reached Equine prime, a short range frequency vox message from an untraceable source that simply stated "your worlds are corrupt and your ponies depraved, you are not fit to rule the stars. We are the new leadership that this empire needs. All hail the New Lunar Republic"

Celestia responded in kind to this new threat, and began mobilizing the military forces of segmentum Solaris, calling everypony from special forces units to simple planetary defence militia to her banners. She also called upon the faith, saying that Lunas new government meant to wipe away worship of the goddess and her six saints and replace it with worship of the darkness and the night. The ploy worked and Celestia gained the full support of the Adeptus militant, a warrior order of war priests who spent their whole lives defending the faith.

Within Cathedral Terra, under the eyes of the holy six and the Goddess herself, Celestia stood in front of a congregation of billions and stated that Luna was a traitor, and that her new Luna republic was nothing but a speck of dirt to be wiped away beneath the hooves of the rightful government. "we shall go to their worlds and drive them into the darkness of space that they love so much. No longer are we the Celestial Empire, now we are the Solar Empire, and we shall destroy the rebels with fire and fury"

After over seven hundred thousand years of peace and prosperity, of love and tolerance between all ponies of all worlds, the galaxy was now divided, with brother fighting brother and fathers fighting sons.

Along the frontier between the two segmentums the construction began of deep-space orbital facilities, ion cannons, nuclear launching facilities, mine fields and gauss weapons, the opposing factions spared no expense in the defence of their territory. High over our home world Celestia ordered the construction of a new type of weapon.

A planet killer.

Though it would take hundreds of years to complete, the weapon, which Celestia named 'the world devastator' would be capable of firing a nuclear payload of several million megatons across the border of the segmentums and bombard Aurelia into submission without risk of a revenge strike.

All of this happened over a thousand years ago, and we've been at war ever since.

I can't tell you how many worlds have died because of this conflict, I can't tell you how many fathers and sons have died fighting for rulers they've never seen, I can't tell you how many families have been crushed under the uncaring iron-shod hooves of the two factions, or how many have starved, or died of disease.

There's trillions of ponies in the galaxy, too many to count, the death of billions can easily go unnoticed.

I was only fifteen when they conscripted me, three years too young. My father tried to stop them from taking me, saying the Celestia would never put a teenager into a war zone, and they shot him for dissidence.

I should know, they made me pull the trigger.

I've fought in my fair share of war zones during my career, from the unending deserts of Talharn to the vast fields of the agri-world of new Eden. I've fought in more than a dozen boarding actions in deep space, I was even there when we captured 'Luna's grace' the capital ship of the eastern Lunara fleet. I've killed more ponies then I can count in the name of a ruler I've never seen, it sickens me.

After two years fighting in the Ghost-space conflicts on the north rim high command pulled me out, they sent me home. Of course it was only as I was boarding the transport that the news reached my station.

My home planet of Rylelia, an industrial world out in the far north, had been sacked and burned by the new Luna republic.

They'd bombarded the planet continuously for a week before launching an orbital strike. They killed everyone they found, destroyed the factories and left nothing behind but ash. Once they were done they'd withdrawn and used cyclonic torpedoes to eradicate the surface of everything still standing, by the time the local defence fleet had arrived there was nothing left of my home, just an dead rock floating in space.

It was a brutal reminder of the ferocity of the new Lunar republic.

Now what the hell was I supposed to do? I'd been dumped by the military, my home was gone, and I had no other family to take me in. I was eighteen and alone in the galaxy, just another of the billions of orphans who'd lost everything to the war. With nowhere to go I signed up with a mercenary company ironically called "the orphaned sons" and served another two years on the front lines, my rage and thirst for revenge pushing me on.

I took part in the siege of Varaks, following heroes like Commander Requiem deep into the fray, plunging from orbit in screaming drop pods and we came crashing down through the flak curtain straight into the heart of the enemy. I fought side by side with the penal legions on Detrona, where the New Luna Republic continuously shelled us from orbit for five months before the western Solaris fleet came to our aid.

All the while the only thing running through my head was what the new Lunar republic had taken from me, and that if it cost me my life, I make would every single one of those treacherous bastards pay. When I turned twenty my contract with the mercenaries terminated, and once again I was alone in the middle of an active war zone.

But what came next was a shock.

Whilst searching for a ship to the inner systems on board a space port orbiting the fortress world of Kriegar I was approached by a group of military police and placed into custody on charges of war crimes and breach of pony rights. Whilst in a holding cell, waiting for the inevitable transfer to one of the multiple prison colonies, a beautiful mare who was pure white with bright green eyes entered my cell.

She gave me a choice, I could either get transferred and spend the rest of my life without ever seeing the light of day again as I slaved in the labour mines, or I could go with her and take my revenge.

The choice seemed so clear at the time, I came with her without a moments hesitation.

I was placed into a medical coma, and transported to a world that's very location was known only to the imperial high command. A, bleak windswept place that was continuously covered in snow and ice,

I lived in a facility under ground, where the walls where a blinding white and I never met another soul, save for the white mare, who would glide along the corridors like a silent ghost, always by my side. I was fed and watered on a regular basis, I didn't suffer, but the eeriness of it still got to me, and made me wonder what they were going to do to me.

It was within those white walls they … changed me, and turned me into something more then I could ever have dreamed of.

My body underwent severe biological augmentation surgery, and they changed me from the inside out. They reached into my genetics and changed my root code, the strings of base elements that lay in the heart of every one of my cells. I became stronger, smarter, and faster.

I could pick up and throw objects to heavy for a team of trained soldiers to move. I could gallop faster than the legendary desert warriors of Caldien, and in time my knowledge of the sciences and arts came on par with the scholars of the imperial archives.

They altered my metabolism so that I could go for days on a thimble of water and a crust of bread, and they changed the construction sequencing in my DNA, altering my aging process so that I would no longer age, leaving me frozen in my own life line.

Extensive physical augmentation followed. They stripped off my skin and replaced my very bones with the purest adamantium and ceramite, they took out my organs and replaced them with machinery, with a compact fusion core replacing my heart and fuelling my body with boundless strength.

They replaced my brain with a biocomputer, which maintained the machinery inside my body and allowed me to think and process intelligence faster than I could ever have with my original mind.

Within my mind was now an AI that took the form of the white mare, she was my constant companion, giving me information, processing each situation I found myself in and mapping out a plan, she even talked to me, her voice filling my head and her psycho-projection interacting with me just like a normal pony would.

My eyes were removed and instead in their place I received synthetic ones, tiny computers that fed information to my brain about me environment. They allowed me to replay events I had previously seen, trace fingerprints, see the world through a red haze of thermal imaging, and had a constant uplink with the imperial high command, allowing me to access records and intelligence.

Even my ears where changed, becoming super-sensitive to the slightest sounds.

The pain I went through was endless, and only the goddess and the holy six know how loudly I screamed or how much blood I lost.

But I never told them to stop.

What they were giving me was a chance for revenge, and no matter what I had to go through I would seize that chance and hold onto it with my very life.

I had been born an earth pony, just like my brothers and sisters and my father and mother, and all those before me, but when the mare was done with me I wasn't an earth pony anymore.

I had been transformed into a synthetic Alicorn, the ultimate personification of equine evolution, one of only a few hundred in existence.

Having wings was new to me, and it took months to learn how to control them properly, let alone fly, but I gritted my teeth and tried all the same.

Magic was even more difficult to learn, and I inadvertently killed at least a dozen of my trainers as I tried to master my new abilities. Every day I would go through hours of exercise, pushing my new body to the limits of its mechanical endurance.

After five years of continuous training the mare came to me again, and told me I was ready.

She told me it was time for vengeance, and I took it readily.

My name was deleted from imperial records, along with my date of birth, my iris recognition file and any records that I'd even existed. Just like that I left the old me behind, and took a new name.

I became Blaze, after a warrior hero of our race who had fought by Novas side against the changeling, and I wore my new identity with pride.

I left the nameless world and its silent white walled facility behind, and returned to the war as a new being. The war hadn't been idle whilst they'd altered me, and many of the worlds I'd fought on had now been destroyed, wiped clean of all life, just like my home world.

The galaxy had become a different place, with new technologies and weaponry.

High in orbit above Equine prime the world devastator cannon had been completed, and I was there to witness its first firing. Watching as a payload of several thousand megatons that had been fired halfway across the galaxy came smashing down on the civic world of Theedrae, creating an explosion so big it punched straight through the planet, hollowing it out like an apple core and killing a trillion souls instantaneously.

However, that was only time the weapon would be used. seeing the pure destructive potential of the world devastator, Celestia ordered its immediate decommission, declaring that no-pony, whether mortal or immortal, would ever have the right to condemn an entire world.

I've taken part in dozens of planetary assaults since I left the facility; I've seen things that would sicken those who hadn't seen them before. Through it all there's only one thing driving me onwards.

In my pocket I keep a photograph, worn and faded. In the picture there's a family, happy and whole. Whenever I look at that picture of my family I know that I will never stop in my thirst for justice.

I will fight on and on and keep killing until I see Luna dead for what she's done, and that's a promise I will keep even if it takes me to my grave.

++ALL DATA TO BE FORWARDED TO IMPERIAL HIGH COMMAND UNDER ORDER 87, SECTION EV78J9++

++ALL HAIL THE SOLAR EMPIRE++

++END AUDIO LOG++

Deployment

++ENGAGING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++UPDATING MISSION PARAMETERS++

++MISSION STATUS: INCOMPLETE++

++CURRENT MISSION PROGRESS TIME: TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE YEARS. NINE MONTHS. SIXTEEN DAYS. ONE HOUR. FORTY NINE MINUTES. SIX SECONDS++

++MISSION PARAMETERS UPDATED. NEW OBJECTIVES RECEIVED++

++NEW OBJECTIVE: LOCATE PRINCESS GENERAL CADENCE OF THE NEW LUNAR REPUBLIC++

++ RECEIVING IMAGE FILE++

++OPENING AND DISPLAYING IMAGE FILE++

++PERSONAL DISGRESSION IS ADVISED. TARGET IS NATURAL BORN ALICORN. THREAT LEVEL: HIGH++

++NEW OBJECTIVE: BRING PRINCESS GENERAL CADENCE OF THE NEW LUNAR REPUBLIC TO JUSTICE++

++TARGET MUST BE TAKEN ALIVE++

++MOTTO FOR THE DAY: WE FIGHT WITH FIRE AND FURY++

++ALL HAIL THE SOLAR EMPIRE++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

"All hands, we will be exiting phase space in one hour, prepare all weapons systems and divert all power to shields and weapons, engage battle support sensors, as of this point we are in code red" a female voice crackled over the intercom, its electronic fuzziness filling Blazes small cabin.

He lay on his single bunk staring at the metal bulk-head of the roof, his mind watching as holographic fighters and bombers circled through the air, strafing across each other and occasionally exploding into showers of glittering cyan shards.

"Weapon systems checked, primed and online" the voice said "all crew to battle positions, all marines to the launch bays, battle support sensors online" with that Blaze switched off his retinal projection display and the fighters and bombers evaporated like early morning mist before the rising sun.

He sat up and spun round to sit on the edge of his small bunk, rubbing his head as he yawned, scratching at the input port that lay at the base of his neck. Before long he stood up and stretched his body and wings, working out the cricks and aches that had wormed their way in between his bones. He sighed and ran a hoof through his mane, the combined hues of the reds, yellows, and oranges giving the cascade of neck long hair a flaming aspect.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" asked the white mare, who'd appeared from nowhere and was sitting on the bed, her face plain and her golden eyes shining through locks of her white mane. The mares name was Angel, and she was nothing more then a holographic psycho projection.

During his synthesis into an Alicorn, Blazes brain had been partially removed, with major neural cortex's instead being replaced with machinery. Angel was part of this machinery, a sentient artificial intelligence that had been by his side from the first moment he had awoken as an Alicorn.

She acted as both a situational awareness module and a close companion, giving Blaze reliable combat data on the battlefield and a friend to open up to when off duty. "Your brain activity shows you haven't been getting enough sleep, your blood flow is also abnormally acidic" Blaze ignored her and went to one of the shelves, rifling through the stacks of papers that covered its surface, looking for his beloved photograph. "Blaze, we're about to go into a war zone, just tell me what's wrong and get it off your chest" Blaze found the faded photo and gave it a long look before sighing.

There was nothing particularly special about the image, nothing that would make you stop and look twice. It showed a family of seven, a mother and father, two colts and three fillies. standing at the back of the image, a medium sized red earth pony with an ash-blonde mane and tail smiled warmly. On his back was a small orange filly, her cherry red mane done up with a small bow of purple silk. Blaze sighed again and placed the photo back on the shelves.

"You're already in my head, Angel, you know what's wrong, so don't bother to ask" he said in an irritated voice, it was at times like this he wished he could turn off Angels psycho-projection. "Besides, it's nothing"

"You've been having the dream again, haven't you?" Angel went very silent and her projection flickered momentarily. Inside his head Blaze felt Angel digging through files of information, searching for something. "You turned off the chemical inhibitor again" she said in a plainly irritated voice "Blaze, I told you not to do that. It's bad for you"

"Memories aren't bad for me, Angel" Blaze said, restacking the papers neatly on the shelf before he went to the thick bulk-head that was his door. Just like every other door on the ship it was covered in yellow and black hazard stripes, he began entering the access code into the terminal by its side, the buttons making beeping noises as he typed out the code. There was a final deep beep as the machine accepted the code, and with a deep clanking and the grinding of pistons and gears, the door slid open. Blaze slipped through it and out into the metallic corridor beyond, leaving Angel behind, still on his bed.

Or so he wished.

"These are dreams Blaze, not memories" Angel said, standing in the middle of the corridor, waiting for him, Blaze couldn't help but sigh in exasperation "see?" a graph appeared in his vision, it glowed a light blue and two lines, one red and the other yellow, snaked across the graph, mirroring each other, except for a sharp spike in the red line. "this is a comparison graph of the pheromones you release when your dreaming" the yellow lines flashed "this is when you actively recall the memory whilst your conscious" the red line flashed "and this is when you relive it in your dreams" the graph disappeared and instead his vision was replaced by Angels face, her brow furrowed in annoyance

"as you can see, the dream causes you to release a distress pheromone, which causes your natural blood acidity to rise and your pulse to elevate" Blaze shook his head and walked straight through her, Angels body flickering as the projectors in his eyes altered the image to keep it in focus.

"In a language I can understand this time" he said with blatant annoyance. Along the left side of the corridor where more bulkheads, each painted with hazard stripes and with a small input terminal at hoof height, behind each was a cabin just like his own, each reserved for high ranking officers of the marines and the ship's crew. Along the right was a single window that ran the length of the corridor, through it poured swirling light.

The ship was currently in phase space, moving through space at incredible speed. In order to achieve this kind of velocity without damaging the ship a phase field had to be generated in order to protect the hull from meteors and other bits of space detritus that the ship was likely to run into as it moved.

The phase field was stretched out along the ship, and it caused a bright blue light to pour through the windows, a light that shifted and sent existing shadows dancing like they were cast by a flame, but the light itself didn't cast a shadow, giving it an ethereal quality.

Blaze paused for a moment to watch the light dance as the ship punched through space, Angel came to stand at his side. For a few moments they simply stood watching the ethereal glow of the phase shields as they danced wildly.

The ship they where aboard was Celestias grace of the northern solar war fleets, and it was heading straight into a war zone. With the recent broadcast on the intercom fresh in the minds of the crew the atmosphere aboard would quickly become tense and up-tight. So for this reason the synthetic Alicorn and his AI took a moment to enjoy the serene peace of passing space before they had to face the task at hoof.

"You're not remembering it right Blaze, and it's causing you an immense amount of distress. If you keep on like this I'll shut you down and delete the memory engram entirely" Blaze flicked his tail in irritation, its long length whipping out at the projection, causing it to flicker again. "Stop doing that!" Angel exclaimed, moving a little further away "messing with the projection like that makes my programming feel weird" Blaze couldn't help but smile at that.

"We both know you don't know what weird is Angel, now let's go get ready" he started again down the corridor, Angel trotting by his side.

"You know you shouldn't be hanging on like this, right? The family in the photo isn't yours Blaze, it's the family of Red Earth-hoof, he died years ago" she huffed, and a strand of her white mane fell in front of her eyes. "I don't get you ponies, what's the point in emotion or memories anyway?" they'd reached the end of the metal corridor, and Blaze began to enter the code for another bulk-head.

"Of course you don't get it!" he said as he entered the code "You're a machine, just a projection of part of my internal AI programming" the door opened and they stepped through, the door closed behind them with a grinding sound "If you want to know what emotion is then just look up the files"

They were in a long, wide corridor with a high roof that was supported by girders. Ponies where running to a fro, most were crew members heading for their stations before the ship left phase space, but poking up from the press was the occasional helmet or rifle butt as soldiers and marines made their way to the launching bays. As Blaze entered however all activity came to a halt as all eyes turned to him. "ALICORN ON DECK!" somepony shouted, their voice swiftly drowned out by the sounds of dozens of hooves snapping to attention. Silence descended on the corridor, Blaze looked around to see that everypony had stopped what they where doing and were facing him, standing to attention with one of their hooves raised to their foreheads.

As Blaze had predicted, the atmosphere was tense. There was something in the air, a sort of tingly sensation that made the heart pick up its pace and adrenaline begin to seep into the blood stream. The odds of the invasion being a success where stacked up quite favourably for the empire, but no war was won without casualties.

The fear of death could set even the bravest soldier on edge, it was a primal thing.

For the crew of Celestias grace the danger was minimal. Their target destination was a republican civic world of Threnor prime, and preliminary scouting expeditions and scans of the planet had revealed only a dozen or so facilities capable of threatening a capital ship, and none of them were effectively concentrated together to warrant the ships out-right destruction.

Blaze took a second to give each of the ponies a glance over before sighing. One of the benefits of his rank was that were ever he went he was to be saluted, but the novelty had worn off about two hundred and forty years ago.

"Continue with your duties" Blaze said in the most commanding voice he could muster, its deep bass tone rolling out to fill the whole corridor. Instantly everyone returned to what they where doing.

If Celestias grace where to be likened to an organism, these corridors where its veins, the elevator shafts its capillaries. Running up and down the whole five mile length of the ship, the trans-links where its arteries. Whilst its brain was up on the bridge and its great heart the enormous fusion reactor in the centre of the vessel.

But no matter how well made the body, it would not survive without its blood, for the life of any creature was in its blood. But the blood of Celestias grace wasn't the usual cocktail of plasma, red blood cells and oxyhaemoglobin, it was the mares and stallions of the imperial solar navy. The crew of Celestias grace had been working day and night for the past week preparing for this engagement, working with an unreal fanaticism to ensure that regardless of what the NLR threw at them, Celestias grace would emerge from the ashes unscathed.

Blaze continued on his way down the corridor, once again felt something going through his head, and in the top right corner of his vision there appeared streams of hexadecimal data, streaming past faster than he even his machine mind could comprehend. Angel suddenly reappeared beside him, a look of quizzical curiosity on her face as she walked.

"The coding indicates that emotion is the release of chemicals into your brain and blood stream" she said, her brow furrowing once again "But the sequencing is incredibly complex, I don't think I could compress it correctly without damaging the code" Blaze smiled yet again, Angels attempts to rationalize the pony mind always made him smile, few things did these days.

"So you're not going to have any emotions yet? Aww, that's too bad, I was looking forward to it" the sarcasm in his voice was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Angel huffed again and brushed the lock of hair from her eyes.

"For your information I'm programmed to synchronise with your brains chemical output three trillion times a second" more coding ran through the top right corner of his vision, occasionally the coding would pause and a small section would flash "I'm perfectly capable of emotion, I'm just not able to support the filing independently is all" Blaze smirked.

"Yeah, sure" they'd reached the end of this corridor, and had entered a large circular room that had more bulkheads around the edges. It to was filled with ponies who saluted as he entered, but Blaze dismissed them with a curt nod of his head. Above the five bulkheads that where the farthest from them where small numbers that glowed green, holographic projections. Blaze went to the one on the far right and pressed a button on the right of the door, before stepping back as he waited for the elevator. "Is there anything I have to do before the drop begins?" he asked Angel, who nodded, flickering again.

"There's a message from the armoury, your battle armour needs fitting and your nanotrites need a programming upgrade and a top up. You also need to see dispatcher Lyra in the control room and establish your uplink to the ships servers so contact can be maintained" Angel paused and sighed with exasperation "there's also a private message from … " she shuddered " … Lotus … she wants you to meet her soon"

"Lotus huh, what does the message say?" he asked, glancing up to check on the lift. It was still fifty three floors beneath them. Angel shuddered once again, a look of annoyance and disgust on her face.

"I'm not reading this, here, you read it" the stream of code in the top right of his eyesight expanded until it covered his entire field of vision, the code flashed and the symbols and numbers began to flip from one to the other, changing one by one so that they spelled out the words of the message. He read through it quickly, scanning over it.

++Blaze, the drop's coming very soon, and me and my unit are being deployed to the far side of the planet, meet me in the back of armoury sixteen before you go. Love Lotus. XXX ;)++

"Oh come on Angel, what's wrong about this?" he asked, giving her a sly sideways glance "if I didn't know any better I would say you didn't like Lotus. Now why would you do that? She's a nice mare" Blaze smiled inwardly, he knew full well that Angel absolutely detested Lotus with every chip of her synthetic brain.

"Her pheromones are off the charts, it's like she's constantly in heat, and besides, I've been over her records, she's been around with half the imperial army" Angel said, spitting the words out as if they tasted disgusting in her mouth, but of course she'd need a sense of taste for that. "And the last time you brought her back to your cabin I had to watch you two rut for two hours non-stop!" Blaze blushed at the memory, smiling at the same time.

"Well we don't have any time for any diversions, let's go see Lyra first and get the uplink configured" the elevator finally arrived with a bing and the doors slid silently open. Inside the elevator was pure white, and the interior seemed to glow in the wash of the bright electric lights that where set into the roof. Two identical grey earth ponies clad in identical battle armour where chuckling to themselves inside, but quickly saluted as the door opened, from the look of them Blaze could only guess they where twins.

Blaze moved to step inside but his left foreleg came into contact with something small and soft. He looked down to see a small colt wearing a courier's uniform of white and green saluting him, his eyes green eyes wide with either awe or terror.

Either option was viable.

when he saw the towering Alicorn looking down on him he gave a squeak and shivered slightly, the twins chuckled. Blaze gave the colt a look over before nodding to the colt. The foal practically jumped out of his skin, disappearing past Blaze by going through his long legs, galloping down the corridor as fast as his small body could take him. "He was a bit young wasn't he?" Blaze asked as he stepped inside the lift, ignoring the still-at-attention soldiers, turning his head back to watch the colt disappear into the thick press. Angel, by his side as always, shook her head.

"The minimum age to sign up for the navy was lowered from fourteen to twelve several months ago. More and more of the navy crew members old enough for the draft have joined the army, so to prevent a shortage of crew members high command lowered the age necessary for ponies to sign up for low end jobs, like couriers and ammo loaders" Angel said as the doors slid shut.

"Kids that young should be out enjoying their foalhood" Blaze said grimly, his demeanour changing "And this is a capital warship heading straight into an active warzone, that colt shouldn't be here" a female voice filled the elevator.

"Please enter your desired deck"

"Deck number five seven zero" Blaze said, and instantly the lift began to swiftly rise, smoothly gliding upwards on its magnetic guide rails. "So tell me more about where we're going, I prefer to know a bit more about the planet I may possibly die on before I get deployed" Angel rolled her eyes. Blaze was only joking after all, they both knew he was far too well trained and far too modified to succumb to a normal gun round.

"The planet is called Threnor prime; it's the governing civic world of the Threnor system. Population: three trillion. Annual Imperial tithe: four billion soldiers. The planet has three moons and has been under the control of the New Lunar Republic for the five hundred years" she said in a matter of fact tone, as if she was a teacher reciting class work to a thick headed student.

"Anything special, myths or such?"

"The populace have a wide spread belief that one of the six saints spent a month on the planet during the expansion crusades. The information is unclear but many believe that it was Applejack, the bearer of honesty"

"That's interesting. Where's the capital city?"

"the capital city is named 'New Trottingham' and it's located to the far east of the western continent, that's where high command has designated the primary drop zone" the lift finally reached their floor, the doors opening with a binging sound.

Before he stepped out Blaze glanced behind him at the twins, who where still saluting despite the looks of humiliation on their faces. "If I ever see you two laughing at that colt again, I'll deal with you myself. Understood?"

The twins grey coat blanched at the idea. "Yes sir!" they both said hurriedly. Blaze gave them a final glare before he and Angel stepped out into another circular room. This one however was filled to bursting point with ponies, who saluted him before his tail was even out of the elevator. With a nod from the Alicorn he set them all back to their tasks, but Blaze still had to elbow his way through the crush in order to make his way across the room, Angel simply walking straight through them.

They emerged from the room into a corridor identical to the one they had just been in, this one equally packed with ponies, all of them wearing the white and orange uniforms of the communications corps. Once again they where saluted, once again a nod relieved them.

Even here the atmosphere radiated tension, as if the wall themselves exuded the emotion. Ponies where everywhere, pushing their way through the crush as they made their way to their stations. Blaze wasn't really surprised at the tension. Communications, along with supplies and fire support, was one of the most important services Celestias grace had to provide for the deployed soldiers in the field. Any failure in communications, even the slightest error, could render any sort of cohesive assault against the NLR garrison useless and cause wide spread chaos amongst the empires forces.

"Excuse me…excuse me" Blaze said as he made his way through the thick press of bodies, inadvertently trotting on several hooves. Normally ponies would tend to give him a wide berth wherever he went, but in the crush there was little chance of that happening.

At the far end of the corridor they emerged onto a balcony over a cavernous, white, circular room. The room, or hall, Blaze wasn't sure which, was a huge place, at least a kilometre across with the walls gleaming white in the bright light and filled with the chatter of ponies. On the far wall was a single, massive screen that glowed green, along its surface where streams of code and info feeds from all parts of the ship. In the centre of the screen was a massive image of a planet that was slowly revolving in space.

"So that's Threnor prime?" Blaze asked as he gazed upon the massive image. The planet was covered in blue oceans that wrapped around it like a massive snake, tiny chains of islands designated the major land masses and there was only one area truly large enough to be designated as a continent in the west. To the right of the image was an info-feed that showed images of the worlds cities and major urban centres. Like most major civic worlds the cities where massive spires of white metal that shone in the sun light, around the spires great metropolis's had grown, glittering in the images. "Hey Angel, can you upload those images into my retinal display?" Angel nodded and within a few short moments the same images that where on the screen where in his vision, each one crystal clear.

"We should really ask about where Lyra is" Angel said, looking about her. "My files say that she's on the far side of the room, in section Gemini, that's just down by that control console" Blaze looked down from the balcony and saw that the floor beneath them was divided up into hexagons like a honey comb. The dividers themselves where large white worktops with screens on them, all along their edges sat ponies in white and orange uniforms, their hooves flashing out and moving pieces of information or images around on the screens as they talked into the microphones of their headsets.

Within each hexagonal divider there was another hexagon and another after that and another after that, dividing each divider into concentric hexagons. At the nexus points of the dividers where they met were small circular landing pads, occasionally a wide, white levitating desk would touch down on one of the pads, and a pony carrying papers or info-files would hurriedly step off and gallop to one of the ponies at the desks, handing them glass tubes filled with computer files that glowed all the colours of the rainbow, in turn the ponies at the desks would lay the tubes standing on the desks and the tubes would sink like they were in water and disappear beneath the surface, with new images and files appearing on the screens.

There was less tension in the air here, but it was an undercurrent rather then an inexorable tide. Here there was a way for the tension to be vented in a useful way, with each and ever y pony bent to the task at hand with all their will. Blaze found that if he didn't focus on specific things in the room, but rather use his peripherals, the swarm of activity was something akin to bee hive or an ants nest.

One of the floating disks, this one devoid of any passages save for one hovered up to meet them, Blaze noted that underneath the disk was a set of spinning concentric circles with a blue lens at the centre, the disks where held up by gravity cancellers.

"Can I help you?" asked the rather short unicorn stallion who stood on the disk, not bothering to look at them but instead focus on the holo-projections in front of him.

He was a light brown, with a brown mane and tail that where streaked with lines of grey and silver. He wore a white and orange uniform; the same as all the other ponies, but on his shoulder was a small orange badge with a yellow line that zigzagged across its surface, marking him out as a supervisor. The disk floated down so it was on eye level with them, and Blaze noticed he wore a small headset that ran around the back of his head. At the ends of the headset by his ears where a pair of holo-projectors that projected a large blue screen in front of his eyes, along its surface where the same images as the ones on the main screen, and Blaze noticed he moved the images with his eyes. Beside him magically levitated a touch pad screen, on it where a set of commands that he couldn't make out from this angle "it's just that we're rather busy here, entering an active war zone and all"

"I'm looking for Lyra, she's in sector Gemini. I'm here for a system uplink" Blaze said.

The stallion looked up at them, his eyes going wide as he realised he was being addressed by an Alicorn.

"Yes sir! Of course sir!" he said, making a fumbled salute before focusing on the projections in front of him "Let me see. Lyra, Lyra" the supervisor began flipping through images and data streams, they flashed across his projection screen. Eventually the images paused on a picture of Blaze, the stallion blinked and a small data file appeared to the left of the image, he gave it a cursory scan "you must be Blaze, sir, from the specialists unit?" he asked, he gave Blaze a glance and then his eye flicked over to Angel. "And this must be your AI?" he said. Blaze realised that the stallions' projector set allowed him to see Blazes own psycho-projections, he nodded. "Of course i can help you sir. Step on board sir" the stallion said in a hurried manner, aware of the first impression he may have made on his superior.

A small white boarding ramp emerged from the side of the disk and it docked with the edge of the balcony, the railing sinking down into the balconies surface as it connected "come on board, I'll take you to Lyra and we'll get you sorted. Blaze made his way up the ramp, angel right behind him. The disk bobbed slightly as they stepped on board, and Angel squeaked. "Right then…" the stallion levitated the screen in front of him and scanned its surface "Gemini…Gemini…where is it? Ahh, here we go" he pressed one of the commands on the screen and the disk brought in its ramp and began to float across the room.

Blaze glanced over the edges of the disk, watching as the ponies beneath went on with their work oblivious to the disk overhead, going about their jobs like bees in a hive, which when coupled with their hexagonal surroundings, reinforced his earlier analogy of the communications centre. He noticed that all the members of staff where unicorns "seems like you've got a lot going on here" Blaze said, trying to make idle conversation as the disk drifted slowly to its destination.

"Pardon sir?" the unicorn asked, looking away from his display. He blinked twice in rapid succession and his projection screen blinked off, the lights on the sides of his headset dying down to a dull blue glow. "oh yes sir, from here we're going to manage every single communication that takes place during the operation" he pointed over to the back left of the room, just under the balcony.

"that's section Alpha, sir, image processing. Every image we have of the planet and every image that will be taken during the operation will be transferred into that machine. He pointed to a thick glass tube that rose from the inner most hexagon of the section, filled with machinery that glowed green, and around its base where wide nozzles. Occasionally one of the glass tubes he had seen earlier would emerge from one of the nozzles, and when it did it was swiftly picked up by a courier, who would take it to one of the docking pads and wait for another disk to land before stepping on board and taking the tube to wherever it wanted to go.

The stallion then turned to the right section of the large roof, sweeping his hoof out on several of the hexagons "that's section Delta, sir. Central communications are over there, very important stuff. From there we manage all communications between the squads during the mission and ensure we can maintain a broadcasting frequency that allows them to stay in touch with us" In the centre of the section of hexagons was a large dome structure, the projection engine Blaze assumed. Around its base where clustered ponies in bright orange jumpsuits wearing hard hats, they seemed to be deep in debate about something.

"Why do you have engineers up here this close to the start of the invasion?" Blaze asked, feeling an uncomfortable sensation in his stomach as he pointed to the orange suited ponies. The supervisor looked to where Blaze was pointing, his smile faltering.

"Well sir" he began, before clearing his throat slightly. "We're experiencing ... difficulties getting the projection engine to work properly. Blaze felt the sensation in his stomach worsen and he gave the pony a whithering stare. "B-but not that that's any issue, sir" the supervisor stammered "The engines always been a bit temperamental, no need to worry, sir"

He swallowed the lump in his throat and gave Blaze a quick, uncertain smile "But that's not for specialists like you though, sir. For that we have Gemini" he now gestured to a single hexagon right by the base of the screen "Section Gemini, sir, special forces communications. Each team of specialists gets a personal handler; they're there to ensure you keep in touch and up to date with the latest Intel. If you need anything at all, sir, just drop them a line and they'll get you whatever you need. Weapon drops, heavy armour support, food, drink, you name it sir, we can get it to you" he smiled smugly to himself. Blaze felt the sensation in his stomach lighten slightly, but still felt worried about the implications this would have for the rest of the invasion.

"Why are all the staff unicorns?" he asked, trying to clear the air with a new subject "I mean, surely pegausi would be more useful for carrying messages" Blaze didn't particularly care, but he'd thought about possible reasons earlier and wanted to get the itch to ask the question out of his head.

"well, we did have pegausi once, sir. But after a while we began to have…problems, getting them to work attentively, you know how those lot are, sir, always have their heads up in the clouds, and don't even get me started on the earth ponies. No, unicorns are smarter and more attentive when it comes to administrative things such as this"

Blaze decided to ignore the slight the stallion had made to earth ponies "Are they all natural?" he asked, keeping his tone neutral and even.

"not, at least three quarters of the staff are synthetic unicorns, sir, myself included" the stallion pulled back his hair and Blaze saw faint scarring around the base of his horn "we've never had any problems with them though, sir, except for the occasional magical outburst. Oh, here we are, sir, this is your stop, let me show you to Lyras work station, sir"

the disk landed with a small whuffing noise and they stepped off, Blaze noticed that Angel seemed more than happy to be off the disk, he suppressed his laughter. Surprisingly no-one stood up to salute him, they all remained hunched over their work stations, absorbed in the data in front of them.

Another Alicorn might have been offended, but Blaze found it a relief, that for once he didn't have to hold everything up just because he'd walked into the room. he wondered about why he hadn't been saluted and could only reason that so many Alicorns passed through this part of communications that it was common place to see one walking around.

The stallion led them through row upon row of hexagonal work stations, the ponies didn't look at them twice. They skirted around the inner most hexagon and made their way to the outer most hexagon, to a work station that was right up by the wall "here's Lyra, sir" stallion said, gesturing to a blue unicorn mare who had her back hunched over her work screen "if you'll excuse me, sir, I have to get over to section Delta, we seem to be having some more processing difficulties with the projection engine. Good day, sir, and good luck" and with that the stallion turned about and left them behind as he returned to his disk.

Blaze walked up to the unicorn mare and gently tapped her on the shoulder. She jolted and turned to face him, her eyes wide and her chest heaving from the shock. " I didn't do anything!" she said without thinking, the words simply falling out of her mouth. "Blame the engineers! they told me it was all fixed up, I didn't do anything wrong!" Blaze, though taken aback by her out burst, quickly gathered himself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, are you Lyra?" Blaze asked.

"Oh … it's no bother. Yes I'm Lyra" she gave him a look up and down "and you're a synthetic Alicorn, so you must be Blaze" he nodded "excellent, take a seat" a block rose out of the floor and Blaze sat down next to Lyra, staring at the data streamed as they rolled down the screen. "Sorry about my ...outburst, I'm just a little stressed out is all" she gave him an apologetic look "We're employing some new tech that I haven't used before and I'm a little worried that there may be some bugs in the system"

"That's what you're worried about? We're about to launch an invasion and you're worried about software?"

"Well ... yeah, that too. But this is more important" she patted the work surface "This piece of tech's what's gonna be keeping you in contact with me. It's gonna be keeping you alive just as much as your armour, so I've gotta make sure it's all checked out and working without any bugs" The light blue pony returned to her work "But if something does go wrong, blame the engineers" There was a few moments of tapping as Lyra worked her computer.

"right, let me just got the synchronous program running" Lyras hooves flash out over the screen, bringing up a series of boxes filled with processing data. "and there we go, let's get you hook up"

A small hole opened up beside the screen where Blaze was sitting and a large input jack emerged from it, its surface covered in tiny silicon fibres that gave it a furry appearance. "Turn around" Lyra said, and Blaze scooted around on the block so his back was to the desk. Lyra lifted up the back of his mane and revealed the large input port that lay at the bottom of his neck, she gave it a blow and Blaze tensed as he felt ice cold air touch against the top of his spinal column

"now this may nip just a little bit" Lyra stated, and before Blaze could ask what she meant he felt the input jack enter the input port with a faint click and the hum of electricity. Within the input port where thousands of microscopic docking ports that hooked were hooked up to the nerves in his spinal column. When the input jack was docked into the port, the tiny silicon fibres that covered its surface connected with the internal docking ports and began to transmit data. This allowed Lyra to transmit data into the artificial elements of his brain by using his spinal column as an organic cable for a direct hook up.

He gasped and instantly his projection screen filled up with yet more data streams, the numbers and symbols rolling down the screen at an immense pace. Within his head a voice was talking in monotone, reading out a series of words as they appeared in his HUD display.

++SYNCHRONISING BRAIN WAVE EMISSIONS++

++SECURING NANOTRITE FEEDS++

++ENGAGING UPLINK++

++PATCHING THROUGH TO SERVER++

++SYNCHRONOUS COMPLETE++

This wasn't the first time Blaze had been hooked up to a machine in this manner, but he found it uncomfortable regardless. The sensation of having an ice colt object enter his body and send chills up and down his spine made his fur stand up on end and his coat crawl as if it was covered in ants.

He was vaguely aware of Lyra telling him something, but the world sounded as if he where submerged in a deep pool of water, and then he gasped again as the input jack was removed, sending a trendil of ice running down his back and making the hole in the back of his neck all the more obvious. He stood up and rolled his neck, trying to get the sensation out of his spine. "And that's you sorted" Lyra said with a smile, she raised a hoof to her right ear "testing, testing, can you hear me?"

Blaze stared at with puzzlement and then suddenly Lyras words echoed in his head, loud and clear, he nodded. "EXCELLENT!" Lyra exclaimed "I'm gonna honest with you" she blushed, as if she was about to say something embarrassing. "this was my first cerebro-synchronous link. But it looks like everything worked" she patted her work station affectionately "I'll be right here if you need anything, just send the word and I'll be on it" Lyra raised her hoof to her ear again "uh huh" she said, and Blaze realised she was communicating with somepony else "yeah he's here…now? Yeah sure, I'll send him right down" Lyra put her hoof down.

"That was from the armoury, they need you down there pronto" she gave him another smile "Good luck, Blaze. Good hunting ... or whatever it is you Alicorns say to each other" and with that she returned to her work, her back hunching over again as she became engrossed in the data before her eyes.

Blaze thanked Lyra and he and Angel made their way back through the hexagonal maze to the landing pad, where the self same supervisor was waiting for them with a smile on his face. "Everything sorted for you, sir?" he asked as they came back on board, Angel once again squeaking every time the disk bobbed up and down.

"Yeah, no problems so far. But there's one thing I want to ask" Blaze rubbed the back of his neck, scratching at the area of skin around the import. "This…cerebro linking thing…is it new by any chance?" the stallion raised a hoof to him. He was flipping through the commands on the floating console, Blaze waited patiently until he was finished, and then he asked the question again.

"Well…it's relatively new in a sense. We've had the technology for about ten years now, sir, so it's not new in that sense. But ensuring that we can maintain an active server to host all the input feed from the soldiers in the field is tricky business. This is only the second time high command has deemed it necessary for the cerebro-synchronous connection uplink to be deployed in the field, so it's definitely new in that regard, sir" The stallion looked rather uncomfortable as he told Blaze this information.

"And when was the last time this system was used?" Blaze asked. A bad feeling began to roil in his stomach.

"The…erm…the battle of Goliath nine, sir" the stallions said, shifting from hoof to hoof, Blaze shook his head. The battle of goliath nine had been three years ago, and it had been one of the bloodiest and most humiliating defeats of the solar empire. Barely fifteen minutes after a drop zone had been established the central communications hub on the commanding capital ship had failed and caused a massive communications black out for the entirety of the operation, cutting of the companies and battalions below from the fleet. Preventing them from requesting and supplies, ammunition, vehicles, even orbital support.

Within a month three quarters of the strike force where dead and dying, and those still alive where so badly wounded they wouldn't last until they reach proper medical attention. In the end high command had ordered the planet be subject to an exterminatus, and the fleet willingly complied, bombarding the planet's surface with cyclonic torpedoes and viral dispersion bombs to kill any kill anything that was still alive. High command had withdrawn the fleet and the officer in charge of communications was give a court martial under the charges of facilitating the failure of an imperial military operation.

"for the love of all that is good tell me you've fixed the kinks by now" he said, looking the stallion in the eye, his own deep blue filled with unspoken menace "it may be safe for you lot up here in space but I'm the one who's actually going planet side, I don't want to get there and then I turns out I can't phone home" the stallion raised his hooves defensively.

"I wasn't part of the original team that developed the system ok, sir? And besides, we've had three years to fix the bugs!"

"He's telling the truth Blaze" said Lyras voice in his ears. He scratched at his right ear.

"Lyra?" he asked, wondering what she was doing now "how can you hear him?"

"I've got a cerebral link to your brain remember? I can hear everything you hear" Lyra sounded awfully smug. "just calm down and let the guys get on with their job, besides, I had the engineers give your link a double check, just to make sure everything was running smoothly"

"Well that was kind of you"

"Don't mention it. If you pull this next mission off it's a nice fat pay rise for me, maybe even a promotion if I'm lucky. How does 'Lyra, head of communications' sound?'"

"It suits you rather well actually"

"Sweet! Now get going, Bull's getting pissed, he's waiting for you. And remember, if something, anything, goes wrong. Blame the engineers!" there was suddenly a dull whuffing noise and the disk came to a halt, Blaze realised they had reached the balcony again. Giving his thanks to the supervisor him and Angel stepped off and went back into the tightly packed corridor, which was just as busy as the communications centre. For what felt like the hundredth time today everyone saluted him, and he once again dismissed them with a nod.

"So where's the armoury?" Blaze asked Angel as he pushed his way back to the elevators. He stepped on someponies hoof and a mare yelped loudly "sorry!" he shouted back over his shoulder.

"The armouries on this deck, at the fore of the ship, by the plasma beam projection array, about four miles away" Angel informed him "we'll have to take a translink monorail to get there" Blaze nodded in understanding. They were back in the circular room, and Blaze made his way to one of the doors on his immediate left, rather than the lifts at the back of the room, and pressed the large green button by the door, it binged. "Why did you want those pictures anyway?" Angel asked.

"I just wanted to see what this world looks like before we fuck it up" he told her. In his mind he visualised the images, and they appeared in his field projection screen, moving from one to the next like a slide show. Most of the images where of the central spire at the heart of what he presumed to be the capital city, but there where images of the vast urban sprawl of glittering metal that sat at the base of the spire, the slums, factories, and docking ports. Running straight through the centre of the city was a gleaming river, bisecting the metropolis into three parts.

Threnor prime obviously hadn't been idle whilst in the possession of the new Lunar republic. Mechs where teeming in the streets, massive war constructs made of heavy duty mechanisms. They ranged in size from bipedial scout walkers to massive six-legged mobile battle fortresses. Dotted all around the city where quad-barreled flak cannons, each on of them pointed skywars. "I'm seeing a lot of flak batteries as well, the drop pods are going to be swatted down like flies" the terminal made a beeping noise and the doors to the translink silently opened to reveal a small, rectangular, windowless compartment big enough for four ponies with seats running along the edges. Thankfully it was empty, so Blaze got a brief respite from the salutes. Blaze and Angel stepped inside and sat down before Angel answered him.

"Before launching the pods the fleet have been commanded to bombard the planet with EMP's to cut off the power for the majority of the defences. However, estimates show that some of the flak cannons are powered by old plasma reactor technology, and will not be deactivated by the initial bombardment" plasma technology was nowhere near as efficient as fusion technology, but plasma reactors where powered by immense heat, so they couldn't simply be switched on and off with the flick of a button. "initial casualties are still acceptably low, roughly at five thousand" it sounded like a horrendous number, but Blaze knew that things could go terribly wrong during a drop, losing only five thousand wasn't too bad. The doors slid shut and a female voice asked them.

"Please select your destination"

To which blaze replied "armoury seventeen" and the translink was off like a bullet, inertia cancellers keeping the occupant, or occupants depending on if you counted Angel, from slamming against the wall. "So Angel, what does your probability programming say about the chances of success?"

"The mission will succeed, we have four times the soldiers, a veteran war fleet, and enough fire power to destroy this world into dust if we wanted to" Angel said, staying calm despite the fact she was talking about the death of trillions "however…there's something that's troubling me"

"And that is?"

"I've been going over the mission parameters and…well…there's a high chance that you could die during the operation" Blaze raised a eyebrow "you're going after an immortal Alicorn who's been charged with over three hundred times for the breaching of pony rights and is responsible for the deaths of fifteen trillion souls. She was alive during the time of the six saints Blaze; she was with the first exploratory fleets"

"I know its dangerous Angel, but this has to be done"

"But what makes you think that Princess General Cadence will even be here? Why would you join up with the fleet just to hunt this one pony?" Angel asked him. There was a hint of fear in her artificial voice and her holographic eyes where wide, her golden iris' shining and her pupils dilated.

"Because Cadence was the one who ordered the strike on Rylelia" Blazes wings tensed against his back as he remembered the image of his dead home floating in black space. "I've spent months on this Angel, years. It seemed like she was impossible to find. But then I got a vox message from the white mare, who told me she was here. The planned seizure of this planet was a nice coincidence, that's why I joined the fleet. It would be easier to kill her during a planetary assault rather than having to hunter her down on my own" he gritted his teeth as the image of Princess General Cadence appeared in his vision projector, her perfect face smiling at him with white teeth

"I'm going to find Cadence, and I'm going to make her pay for what she's done. Not just for Rylelia, but for all the ponies she's tortured and killed, for all the orphans she's left homeless. I'll kill the whole of the new Lunar republic before she gets away from me" a beeping noise filled his head, and the graph Angel had shown him outside of his cabin reappeared. This time it was the yellow line that had spiked, shooting up and down across the graph like a mountain chain.

"Calm down Blaze, you're getting stressed again; try not to think about it"

Blaze sighed and sagged back into his chair, the tension leaving his body. "I guess you're right Angel, let's just get the job done and I can finally lay my family to rest" the translink suddenly came to a halt and the voice spoke again.

"Armoury seventeen"

Blaze and Angel left the translink and stepped out into a packed armoury, filled with shouts, the clicking and clanking of weapons being knocked together and the pulsing booms of power weapons being tested. Blaze pushed his way through the hodgepodge of weapon maintenance staff, ammo colts, soldiers, marines, and techno-savants.

A saluted as he passed, Blaze nodding to each in turn.

Sweet Twilight, he was getting sick of salutes.

He trotted through aisle upon aisle of weapon racks, filled with plasma rifles, EMP shotguns, long range pulse rifles, rail rifles, plasma carbines, heavy duty machine guns and simple side arms to a large room at the back of the armoury. Inside the room was lit up with the orange and red glow of machinery and the air was thick with the clanking and grinding of gears, cogs, and pistons. In the centre of the room was a raised podium large enough for him to stand on, attached to the roof over it where several mechanical limbs, each one pointed in drills, magnets, and needles.

Over to the right was a large, blue, earth pony stallion that was entering commands into a large console built into the wall. Around his head was a projection set, and it was filled with schematics and cross sections of weapons, it also meant he could see Angel. He paused as he heard Blaze enter, his hooves clanking on the grated floor, and his brow furrowed in annoyance. "You're late, do you know that. We're leaving phase space in twenty minutes and you don't even have your armour on" he stated in a gruff tone, no hint of a salute anywhere about him. He nodded by way of greeting to Angel.

"Nice to see you too Bull" Blaze said, a grin on his face. Blaze and Bull went a long way back. They'd fought side by side across the surfaces of three planets. On the death world of ianose after taking a shotgun round to the chest Bull had carried Blazes recumbent form over twenty miles to the nearest medical centre, saving his life. On Frakelra Blaze had paid him back by saving Bulls from being crushed under the hooves of a massive, bipedal war machine know as a devastator, using his force hammer to smash the machines legs to pieces.

The two had become firm friends since then, but Bull had been forced to leave active service after a plasma grenade had almost taken his legs out from under him. Not one to leave a fight Bull had instead signed up for maintenance work on the war fleets, and his natural aptitude for weapons had led to his swift rise to head armourer of the capital ship Celestias grace upon which they were conveniently now travelling. "Shall we get started?"

"You still talk funny, you know that?" Bull said, turning back to the console "like you're from some sorta posh place" the console bleeped and its screen flashed "step on" he said, absently gesturing to the podium, Blaze complied. "Right, first things first, let's get your armour on" Bull pressed a button on the console and the podium rose higher into the air. Around its base the grated floor slid downwards and out of sight, from the holes that it left there rose sections of dark blue armour, shoulder pads, chest pieces and wing guards. The pieces floated in the air, held suspended by a magnetic field.

Bull pressed another button on the console and the mechanical limbs on the roof jerked into life and extended downwards, descending on Blaze. Instead they reach past him and picked up section of the armour. "Hold still" Bull said, as another pair of limbs lowered from the roof. They were carrying a piece of metal framework that was little more than a few pieces of lightweight ceramite, however on the chest piece glowed a bright blue, compact fusion reactor, held onto the frame work within a circular chest piece.

Blaze reared on his back legs and spread out his wings and front hooves, the limbs lowered the framework around him and then came together, sealing his body within the frame work. There was a light whirring sound as the pieces where connected together, and then the two limbs returned to the ceiling, the other limbs now rising to circle around Blaze, section of armour held in their grasp. With more whirring the limbs began to attach the armour sections to the framework, making deep clanking and grinding noises as each section was bolted on.

First was the chest piece, with a small circle of bullet proof glass at the centre that would go over the fusion reactor. As it was being firmly attached the other limbs moved simultaneously, raising up the shoulder pads. The chest piece was only just on when the shoulder pads where attached, once they were on the limbs that had fixed them on began adding more sections of armour to his front hooves, covering them in ceramite armouring. On his hooves where attached adamantium studs, adamantium was heavier then ceramite and the studs would lend extra strength to his bucks and punches. They joined on with a clank, sealing his top half in the armour. The same process was repeated on his lower half, sealing his body in air tight armour.

More limbs lowered from the roof and slid two metal sections along the rims of his wings, when the limbs retracted there was a clicking sound and Blaze stumbled forward slightly as two plasma shields glowing a light cyan shot out from the sections and encased his wings. An input jack that looked like a nozzle with orange liquid dripping from the end that was attached to a see through pipe emerged from the roof and was lowered down towards the back of his neck, it moved like a snake, and it paused for a moment in mid air before shooting forward, plugging into the port in the back of his neck. After a second orange liquid filled the tube and the nozzle began pumping a fresh batch of nanotrites into Blazes blood stream, after a few short seconds the flow came to a halt and with a gurgling noise the nozzle detached from the port and returned back up to the roof.

Whilst the nanotrites where being injected a limb unfurled from the ceiling and began spraying his tail with an aerosol that glittered like diamonds and it floated through the air, the substance stuck to his tail, coating each hair in a fine case of nanoscopic conducting particles. There was a zapping noise as Blaze flicked his tail, sending electricity racing down it and causing it to crackle and flicker with energy. The last piece to be attached was his helmet, the same deep blue as the rest of the armour and with a large see through visor that showed most of his face, it also had a hole in the top for his horn. It slid down his horns length and nestled gently on his head, crushing his long mane down onto his head.

There was a clicking noise and segments of plate rose up his neck from the chest piece to cover his neck and connect with the helmet. The grinding and clanking came to a halt and the limbs returned to their positions on the roof as the podium was lowered back down to the floor, Blaze stepped off, now encased head to hoof in deep blue combat armour, with only his horn exposed. He gave the armour an inspection, nodding in approval. "Nice work Bull, but did you have to give it a fresh coat of paint? It looked way more badass with all the scratches on it"

Bull smiled and picked something up from the console, holding it delicately in his large hooves. "Here's a little something I made 'specially for you" he said. He stepped forward and pulled Blazes head down, placing the piece of armour over his horn and down its length. When it came into contact with the helmet there was a whirring sound and the armour was now complete. Blaze reached up with a hoof and ran it down the length of the horn guard, feeling metal teeth bite at his skin.

"What is it?"

"It's a chain guard, you know. Like a normal horn guard, but it's got a small chainsaw on it. I also refilled your body's supply of nanotrites and gave them all the latest programming upgrades, as far as the rule book is concerned, you're the best armoured and destructive thing anypony could be without being designated as a small tank"

"Sweet…so how does this thing turn on?" Blaze pointed to the chain guard.

"I designed the piece so that it has several magical neurone receptors in it, just focus some of your magic and it'll turn on" Blaze nodded and closed his eyes, taking deep breaths. Then he opened his eyes again, and focussed his mind. In his mind's eye he saw he chain guard rev into life, and he focussed on this image. As he did so his horn began to glow underneath the armour, and with a fierce grinding noise and the revving of a small but powerful motor, the chain guard roared into life, its metal teeth biting through the air. Blaze laughed and swung his head from side to side, listening to the teeth of the chain guard slice through the air. He lowered his head and scraped it along the grate flooring, sparks flying as he sliced through the metal with ease. Once he was done messing around he discarded the image of the chain guard from his mind, and the engine idled down, the metal teeth coming to a halt. Blaze was grinning.

"That's awesome, cheers Bull" he said, his cheeks flushed.

"I also made this for Angel" Bull picked up a metallic sphere about the size of a tennis ball from the console, he gently tapped it and four metallic legs slowly unfolded from the spheres smooth surface and it picked itself up, crawling around the surface of Bulls hoof like a spider. "it's a mobile storage core" he said, he stepped up to Blaze and placed the sore on his back, it stood still for a second before crawling along his back, down one of his legs, and then across his chest, where it disgorged a small plug and connected with the armour.

"oh!" Angel said, her projection flickering as the core synchronised with Blazes internal systems "it's like a walking hard-drive"

"in essence, with this you can go walking about and crawl through and spaces too small for Blaze to squeeze through, it's also got its own self defence laser, in case you run into any trouble" the core disconnected from the armour and crawled back up onto Blazes back, it made its way into the small space between his wings and settled itself in a small semi-spherical depression, a click and beep signalling it was now connected with the armour.

"Thanks Bull, for everything. Don't know what me and Angel would do without you" Blaze said "pity you couldn't come with us"

"Don't mention it, and honestly it ain't to bad working in the armoury. Now get down to the launch bays, you've got five minutes before we leave phase space" Bull slapped him on the shoulder and returned to the console "and try not to scratch the paint!" he shouted over his shoulder as Blaze and Angel left. They made their way back through the armoury, their passage much easier this time as ponies stepped out of the path of the heavily armour synthetic Alicorn.

"Shouldn't you pick up some weapons?" Angel asked, looking at the rows of weapon racks as they walked past "I think they might be necessary where we're going" Blaze smiled and nodded in agreement. About half way through the armoury to the translink he made a right down a small aisle. The aisle was filled with racks and racks of pulse weapons, Blazes armament of choice, and he scanned the rows carefully with a professional eye.

Eventually he picked up a heavy, snub nosed pulse jezzaile, designed for taking out enemy armour and long range engagements. He gently spun it round, taking in the weapons profile. A weapon like this would be useful in a war zone, allowing him to take out both tanks and mechs, as well as the heavily armoured bodyguards Cadence was likely to keep about her at all times.

He placed the weapon against his side and it stuck tight, a powerful magnetic attraction from the armour keeping it in place. He then left the aisle and went to another about five rows from the translink terminal, and from it he plucked an automatic rail gun, a weapon designed to fire highly magnetic payloads to rapid succession that was effective at close and long range. Satisfied with his chosen armaments he left the aisle and proceeded to the terminal. When they reached the translink Blaze pressed the button and they waited for the monorail to show up. Blaze looked Angel up and down.

"You're not seriously going into a war zone like that are you?" he asked incredulously. Angel gave him a quizzical look, her appearance the same brilliant white as always.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, we are just about to seize a planet from the grasp of the new lunar republic and kill General Cadence. Don't you think you should wear something a bit more…you know" he gestured up and down Angels body "war like?" Angel stared at him in disbelief and then rolled her eyes as her projection began to flicker. She disappeared entirely, and for a brief moment Blaze was left by himself, before she flicked back on. She was wearing armour exactly identical to Blazes, except she lacked a helmet, and her armour was a light cherry pink.

"How's this for you?" she asked with an annoyed voice, her left eyebrow raised. Blaze pondered her armour for a second and then nodded in approval.

"I might have gone a different way with the paint scheme, but apart from that it's alright" he said, as the doors to the translink opened and three soldiers stepped out, ignoring Blaze and walking straight through Angel.

"This armour is completely unnecessary" Angel told him as the boarded the translink "I'm only a psycho-projection of your internal AI, I'm not real, I don't need to wear this" the doors closed behind them.

"Please select your destination"

"Launch bay number four" and with that they were off "so, are you ready?" he asked Angel.

"Of course I'm ready, are you?"

"Obviously" they sat in silence as the translink took them to the launch bay, and when it arrived they exited with the clanking of armour following behind them. the launch bay was one of twenty aboard Celestias grace and each one of them was a massive, cavernous hall, with a large window on its right side and filled with hundreds of orbital drop pods designed to be launched from high orbit onto any world below.

The pods that currently lay within the launch docks where the orbital assault variants, primarily designed to literally drop squads into the thick of the fighting, but there were also variant models designed for boarding actions between ships and even models large enough to deliver tanks and war mechs into battle. The launch bay was filled with marines, soldiers specially trained for orbital drops, as well as many specialist personnel such Blaze himself, but no other Alicorns.

Due to the urgency of the situation no-pony made any effort to acknowledge Blaze. Thank the six for small mercies.

Blaze made his way through the mass of ponies to one of the sergeants, who was bellowing at the marines to get a move on. "SERGEANT!" he shouted over the din "I'M BLAZE FROM SPECIALIST BATTALION, SERIAL NUMBER ONE HUNDRED-NINETEEN!" the blue earth pony wearing a green military uniform with a cap on his head saluted quickly and then pointed over to the far right side of the launch bay, by the huge window.

"SPECIALISTS ARE OVER THERE SIR!" he shouted back "GOOD LUCK. RIGHT, NOW GET A FUCKING MOVE ON YOU LOT!" he said, turning his attention back to the milling marines. Blaze pushed his way through the crowd and after two minutes of pushing and shoving reached the pods by the window, all of them bathed in the blue light of phase space. His team were waiting for him.

"OI, BLAZE, OVER HERE!" he heard a familiar voice call to him, and he looked down the line of pods to see three synthetic Alicorns and their AI's standing by one of the pods, he trotted over to meet them, Angel right behind him. "it's good to see you again Blaze" said the one who had called out to him. He was a relatively small Alicorn, with creamy coloured skin, deep golden eyes, and a mane and tail that was filled with varying hues of red. He wore the same armour as Blaze, except his was a bright green, and beside him stood his AI, an earth mare who was just as white as Angel with pink eyes.

"Jester" he said, smiling "Ivy" he nodded to the AI.

"Don't forget about us" said the second of the three synthetic Alicorns, a thick set stallion with an electric blue coat. He had bright orange eyes and a blue mane and tail streaked with white. Again he wore the same armour as Blaze, but his was a brown colour, like fresh bread. Behind him hid his AI, a shy program with the same orange eyes with a white coat, mane and tail.

"Wonder bread, how could I forget?" he said "and I see Buttercup is as shy as ever" at the mention of her name the AI squeaked and pressed herself against wonder bread. "And last but not least, Sugarcane" Blaze said, winking at the third Alicorn. She was a mare, with bright brown eyes, dusty colour coat, and a light brown mane and tail. By her side stood her AI, a tall stallion named Strike who was winking at Angel with his own brown eyes, just as with the other AI's he was pure white. "You lot ready for the drop?"

"I was born ready" said Sugarcane in her strong, confident voice "how about you? I heard that you where meant to be meeting Lotus in the armoury by now" she winked at him "word travels fast amongst us mares" she punched him on the shoulder with an armoured hoof "and you shouldn't have left her hung up like you did, the girl doesn't know what she's missing" Angel rolled her eyes and Strike chuckled. Blaze made a move to change the subject before Angel got angry.

"Have you checked all the load outs and mission parameters?" he asked Jester, his tone serious "we're going after a notorious mass murderer, I don't want any slip ups" Jester nodded, and beside him Ivy nodded in perfect synchronous.

"Yep, we went through it all" he affectionately patted Ivy on her holographic shoulder "Ivy here sent the data files to command with the requests, we've got everything we need. Commands given us a priority over-ride, anything from orbital strikes to drop-offs, you name it, it's ours"

"And everypony knows what the mission is?" Blaze asked, looking at each member of his team in turn, all of the nodded.

"We go in, we capture Princess General Cadence, we get out, we get paid" Sugarcane said "it's simple, nothing's going to stop us" she patted Blaze on the shoulder "we'll get her Blaze, don't you worry" Blaze nodded his understanding. He went over to one of the pods and began entering codes into the terminal by its ramp, the console bleeped, and then a schematic appeared on the screen, showing their designated drop pods.

"Right, come on everypony, it's almost time for launch" he said, and then the grated floor beneath them began to rumble.

"All hands" the female voice said over the intercom, echoing loudly in the launch bay "we are exiting phase space, prime all weapons and raise shield output to maximum" Blaze looked out the huge window and watched as the blue rippling waves of the phase shields suddenly dissipated, their blue light vanishing. Beyond the phase shield was black space, and then with a sound that sounded like a god punching a mountain, the capital ship exited phase space with an enormous boom that caused the floors to shake and bits of loose equipment to fall over with a deafening clatter.

≤ΘΘΘ≥

++THE SOLAR CAPITAL SHIP CELESTIAS GRACE ARRIVES IN ORBIT OVER THRENOR PRIME. FLANKED BY A KODIAK ASSAULT CRUISER++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

In the void of space there hung a blue planet, floating silently in space, as of yet unaware of the imminent threat that had just arrived in orbit. Massive storm clouds were covering the planet surface, and occasionally one of the clouds would flash as an immense bolt of lightning would smash into the ground below it. As Blaze watched more ships appeared in space, suddenly appearing out of nowhere as they exited phase space, within a few moment the whole fleet had rematerialised, and they cast a shadow on the world below. Loud clangers and alarm bells began to ring, and the lights over head switched from a bright white to a dull red, bathing them in blood.

The alarms where going up all over the ship, and beyond the window space began to shimmer, like it was being seen through a thick desert haze, as the shields came online "All marines prepare for drop. Firing EMP's" the voice said, and the floor beneath them began to rumble as energy was directed towards the forward cannons. After another few seconds the deck shook as the four huge plasma cannons at the prow of the ship fired their payloads, launching bright blue balls of light out into space and towards the planet. The assault had officially begun.

"All marines into your drop pods" the voice said, and instantly the doors to the large, cylindrical pods slid downwards, revealing the single seats within. Blaze made his way to his pod and sat in the cushioned seat, shifting to get himself comfortable, Angel sat beside him, part of her body overlapping his since there wasn't enough room in the pod. Thick metal wires emerged from the walls around him and began plugging themselves into tiny ports along the surface of his armour, locking themselves in and holding him tight against the chair.

An input jack emerged from behind the seat and plugged into his cerebral input port, and when it entered Blazes image filled with a cross sectioned picture of his body and several graphs filled with his vitals information. He looked across at Sugarcane, who was in the pod opposite his, and she winked at him. Then there was a hissing noise and the pods doors slid closed, blocking off his view and cloaking him in darkness. He sat in the dark for a few seconds, and then a dull red light turned on over head, painting him in monotones of blood red.

"Checking vitals" said the female voice on the pods intercom "Heart rate: normal. Blood pressure: normal. Engaging Nanotrite feed. Activating inertia canceller…Pod is now ready for launch" through the thick armoured walls of the pod he could still hear the alarm bells ringing, he sighed and settled down in the chair, waiting.

"Blaze? It's Lyra" the unicorns' voice filled his ears "good luck down there ok, I'm right here if you need anything alright"

"Gotcha Lyra, I'll see you when this is over" Blaze said back, beside him Angel was fidgeting.

"I'm nervous, oh goddess I'm nervous" she said, her eyes where wide "drops always do this to me"

"Hey, don't worry. We're going to get through this in one piece, ok?" Blaze told her. Angel was hardwired into his own psyche, so if she was nervous, it meant he was too.

"I've just got a bad feeling about this Blaze. What if we don't make it? What if we mess it up? She'll get away again" Angel was staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

"She's not going to get Away Angel, not this time" Blaze said, tensing up at the mention of Cadence. Just then the intercom came back to life. "Pods four hundred through five hundred, prepare for launch" the pod began to rumble as the booster engines fixed to the roof roared to life, causing the pod to shake. However the mooring clamps held firm, and they stayed fixed in position. Outside he heard the screaming of RAM jets as one by one the pods in his row where released and rocketed out into space.

"Pod four eight seven prepare for launch" the voice said. Blaze gritted his teeth and tensed

"hang on"

The pod filled with a high pitch screaming as the engines reached terminal velocity. The pod shook violently, and then there was a metallic clang as the mooring clamps deactivated and Angel screamed as the pod shot downwards like a stone, its jets powering it onwards. When they passed through the shields they entered the vacuum of space, and the pod became silent as it flew through space. There was a clanking noise, and then two metal sheets in front of the door slid to the sides, revealing a window into space. Below them the world gleamed, the light of its sun causing the oceans to sparkle where it wasn't covered with clouds. Blaze could see hundreds of other pods in front of his, and knew hundreds more were following behind. 'I'm coming for you Cadence' he thought, his lips pulling back as a feral growl came up from his throat 'and I'm going to make you pay for what you've done'.

Dreams

++CONTACT WITH SERVER ABOARD CELESTIAS GRACE LOST. RUNNING SYSTEMS DIAGNOSTICS++

++CONDITION OF SUBJECT BLAZE: UNKNOWN. RUNNING VITALS SCAN. RUNNING SYNTHETIC BODY ELEMENTS SCAN++

++MOTTO FOR THE DAY: EVEN A PONY WHO HAS NOTHING MAY OFFER HIS LIFE IN SERVICE TO OUR EMPRESS++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Far from the raging warzone of Threnor Prime, trillions of light-years across the galaxy, a colt made his way home from school. Pepper-pot trotted along the sidewalk of the road, humming to himself happily as he and his mother made their way back to their home. Miles away in front of them, towering into the sky like a mountain of ferrocrete, adamantium, and stained glass, was Cathedral Terra.

It was a titanic edifice, a building so large that it was impossible to take in its full exterior without turning your head. Emerging from its side, gothic style flying buttresses supported the incredible weight of the structure with almost arrogant ease, as they had done for countless millennia. In-between the buttress, stained glass windows a thousand meters tall and six hundred meters across displayed the holy saints of the goddess in all their glory.

Rising above everything was the cathedrals holy spire, a tower of delicately forged glass and expertly wrought metal that stretched three miles into the heavens, topped with six golden statues, each a depiction of the holy six. In the silver light of the moon, filtering through the clouds like liquid silk, the saints shone, a beacon of hope to the populace of Equine Prime.

Pepper-pot leapt over a stone bollard that stood at the side of the road, before quickly glancing down at his flank expectantly. His mother sighed as his face fell with disappointment. “Looks like show jumping isn’t my special talent either, momma” he said. Pepper-pot was part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders movement, an organisation funded by the Silver spoon-Tiara Corporation. The movement stretched back to the dawning days of the ancient Celestial Empire, and was even rumoured to have been started by the trinity of saints: Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo.

“No, honey, looks like it isn’t” his mother said, a fond smile on her face. She ruffled her sons salt-and-pepper mane affectionately, before leaning down and nuzzling him. “Don’t worry, you’ll get it one day, there’s no need to rush” the mare reached up with a hoof and gently massaged her right temple, with a faint beeping and a dull whining, the holographic projector augment she’d had implant flared into life. In the air in front of her a data file appeared, glowing a light cyan blue.

The mare winked with her left eye and the data file expanded to reveal what appeared to be a time table, she scanned it for a few moments before blinking twice in rapid succession. With another beep and an even duller whine the holographic projector augment deactivated and the data file disappeared into thin air. “However, there is a reason to rush now” she said, looking down at her son “The Canterlot public announcement board says that the next Trans-link home leaves in fifteen minutes”

For another five minutes they walked, following the main road to the Trans-link terminal. Pepper-pot resumed leaping over the bollards, betting against the odds that his special talent might have something to do with show jumping at the least. The pair maintained their fast pace, passing by closing shops and other establishments. However, with the Trans-link Terminal in sight, Pepper-pot suddenly stopped in front of s shop window, staring at the contents within. “Look, momma, look!” he said excitedly, turning to look at his mother “It’s a special news report!”

Despite knowing that if they missed this Trans-link it would take them another hour to get home, Pepper-pots mother couldn’t help but join her son by the window. Standing within the properties exterior display case was the newest model of High-Definition Holographic Projection Entertainment Centre (Or HD-EC, as it was shortened), its millimetre thin Quartzrazine display panel shining brightly. Despite the fact the store was closed, the proprietor seemed to have forgotten that he had left his merchandise on, and currently the HD-EC was tuned into the Canterlot Public Information Broadcast Channel. The channels logo, two microphones silhouetted over a horse shoe, flashed across the screen, a small voice drifting from the HD-EC’s speaker stands.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you this special war correspondence report, presented to you by news host Broadcast” A handsome, well built unicorn stallion appeared, smiling warmly at the camera. His coat was a thick creamy colour, his mane a well maintained cascade of gold that framed his face and his sapphire blue eyes excellently. At the sight of him the mare sighed, an indulgent smile on her face.

Pepper-pot pressed his muzzle against the glass eagerly, waiting to hear what the anchor-stallion had to say. Broadcast gave his mane a quick flick, causing his golden locks to move in a flow of liquid honey that caused mares across the city, regardless of relationship status and even sexuality, to swoon in the most cliché manner. Once his mane came to a standstill Broadcast smiled against and leaned forward on his desk, his hooves steepled.

"Good evening Canterlot, I'm your host Broadcast” the stallion winked at the camera and flashed a bright smile with his perfect white teeth, the mare watching felt herself get lightheaded. “In today's news: the Solar empire successfully launched their assault of the world of Threnor prime in the galactic north east, taking the dim witted NLR forces by total surprise” in the top right corner a large video feed appeared, showing a terra class planet hanging in the black backdrop of space like a sapphire and emerald jewel.

“We already have confirmed reports straight from our war correspondents in the field that tell us our glorious empire has made no less then sixteen successful deployments all across the sub continents of Antisia major and minor, with many of the lesser urban centres already within the empires control" the video feed changed to a clip of several burly stallions clad in heavy armour with the symbol of the solar empire on their flanks trading fire with a group of hidden NLR soldiers who where garrisoned within a civilian building. Bright balls of plasma ricocheted back and forth before one of the solar troops threw a grenade into one of the structures windows. There was a fierce explosion and flames billowed out of the buildings windows along with pieces of rumble and several limbs, the structure managed to stand for a few seconds before it collapsed in on itself.

"There are also reports of heavy fighting within the world's capital of New Trottingham, with empire troops descending in comets of fire to strike terror into the hearts of our foe” the video feed now switched to an orbital image of the planet, a mass of fiery contrails marking the flight paths of said drop pods.

“Our glorious leader, Empress Celestia. Ruler of the Solar Empire and Empress of the Celestial Empire, baroness of the northern systems, head chancellor of the western cooperatives and queen of the griffin realms, was unavailable for comment; however we have had a message from the state secretariat telling us that our empress is overjoyed with this news” the entire screen was taken up of an image of the regal empress Celestia, resplendent in her white coat, the sun rising in the background behind her.

“The invasion of Threnor Prime has been under planning for a decade, it was released today. But was only given official authorization for execution after it was uncovered by covert intelligence operatives on the planet that princess Cadence, reviled traitor, murderer of fifteen trillion solar citizens, known breacher of equine rights, and general of the New Lunar Republic, had recently taken command of the planets garrison” an image of princess Cadence appeared in the video feed, her pink, purple, and cream mane whipping out behind her in a crosswind, her light purple eyes twinkling.

“It has also been announced by the state secretariat that our glorious leader, Empress Celestia. Ruler of the Solar Empire and Empress of the Celestial Empire, baroness of the northern systems, head chancellor of the western cooperatives and queen of the griffin realms, has deemed that princess Cadences capture is to take highest priority” Cadences image was replaced with that of an Alicorn. A tall creature with a snow-white coat, ultramarine blue eyes, and a mane and tail made with varying shades of reds, yellows and oranges that lent itself a flaming appearance.

“In response to this, the department of military co-ordination, in conjunction with the ministers from imperial high command, has assigned the synthetic Alicorn Blaze and Delta squad from the synthetic corps to the mission. Unfortunately Blaze was unavailable for comment, as he was deployed with his team in the opening minutes of the invasion. However, imperial high command has assured us that Delta squad have an out-standing record of service for the empire, and that Blaze himself is known amongst high command for his uncompromising ability to get the job done”

“We also have estimates from the war office telling us that the planet will be under the empires control within a fortnight at the most; once again our glorious leader has brought us victory over the new Lunar republic. May the six bless us with their wisdom and continue to guide us in our righteous crusade against the traitorous false empress Luna, all hail the Solar Empire. Goodnight Canterlot, this is your host Broadcast, signing off" With that Broadcast gave the audience a final wink and a quick smile before he was replaced with a re-run of last night’s episode of ‘Warriors’, a dramatised version of the early years of the war.

“Wow...” Pepper-pot said, staring in awe at the HD-EC. For a few moments he gazed star-struck into blank space before giving his head a quick shake. “Did you see that Alicorn, momma? Did ya?” he asked excitedly, looking up at his mother. The mare smiled at her son and nodded, enjoying the excited look on his face that only a foal could have. “He was so big! Will I ever get that big, momma?” his mother giggled and ruffled his mane.

“Maybe one day, my little Pepper-pot. But right now we missed the Trans-link, so we’re gonna have to wait another thirty minutes for the next” Pepper-pot nodded and together the mother and son made their way to the terminal, Pepper-pot looked up to his mother.

“One day I’ll be a big strong Alicorn, momma, I’ll be just like that Blaze pony on the HD-EC” his mother smiled at her son and giggled.

“I’m sure you will, my little pepper-pot, i’m sure you will”

≤ΘΘΘ≥

++SUBJECT STATUS: UNCONSCIOUS. VITAL SCANS: ACTIVE. HEART RATE=THIRTY BEATS PER MINUTE: AVERAGE. BLOOD ACIDITY: 5.5 PH++

++SYNTHETIC BODY ELEMENTS SCANS: ACTIVE. AI PROGRAMMING, STATUS: NOMINAL. SYNTHETIC HEART, STATUS: NOMINAL. SYNTHETIC LUNGS, STATUS: NOMINAL. SYNTHETIC NEURAL CORTEX'S, STATUS: NOMINAL++

++SUBJECT'S REALITY PERCEPTION PROGRAMMING IS CURRENTLY WITHIN DEEP LAYER DREAM SPACE. ACTIVATING SYNTHETIC HORMONE DISPENSERS. NOW ATTEMPTING TO ARTIFICIALLY AWAKEN SUBJECT++

++SYNTHETIC HORMONE DISPENSERS ONLINE, INJECTION CYCLE PROGRAMMING: INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++INJECTION CYCLE PROGRAMMING: ONLINE. ENTERING CORE FUNCTION MODE. PREPARING TO ARTIFICIALLY AWAKEN SUBJECT++

++ENTERING DREAM SPACE++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

"Come on Red, I wanna go play!" the small filly whined, an earth pony just shy of her tenth birthday "mummy said you would play with me!" Red smiled and closed his book, a thick textbook about the reclamation crusades, before placing it on the metal table before his seat. It was a gorgeous day outside, and the soft light of the blue sun flowed through the open window along with a gentle summer breeze, bringing with it the smells of earth and flowers.

"Sally, I've just finished my chores, can't you give your big brother some time to relax?" he asked her, his smile broad. The little filly huffed, and then she gave him her cutie eyes, the eyes he could never say no to.

"But mummy said you would, she promised you would! Please Red, please?" her rosy eyes were so wide, imploring him to get off the couch. "We can play catch or something boyish like that if you want, we could go fishing or something" her bottom lip began to tremble "please Red, pleaseeeee?" Red rolled his eyes, his smile widening.

"Fine, but after that I'm going to go read and you have to stop bothering me, got it?" the fillies sad expression slipped away in an instant and she cried out with joy, jumping in the air.

"YAY, WE'RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH FUN!" she shouted in an excited squeal before dashing out the room in a blur of orange, Red sighed and rolled his eyes again before standing up from his seat, the old leather armchair creaked loudly as he did so. On the way out of the room he stopped by the kitchen to find his mother hard at work cooking, chopping at a carrot with the precision of a machine, the air was thick with the smells of vegetable soup, his favourite. When he entered his mother looked up from the chopping board and gave him a sly grin, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Couldn't let me have five minutes, could you?" Red asked, walking up to the counter and leaning on it, giving his mother a raised eyebrow. Mother picked up the chopping board and slid the pieces of diced carrot into a large stone bowl before she took another carrot and began chopping.

"I don't have a clue what you're on about" she said sweetly, all innocence, Red knew better then to buy into it.
"I've got exams coming up you know? I need to study if I'm going to make it into the academy" the orbital navigators' academy high above the world of Rylelia was the most prestigious academy within the system, maybe even the whole sector. Rylelia had given the academy some of its brightest minds over the generations, giving rise to such heroes such as Windfree and Skyrunner and countless others, who became the pride of the regional fleet.

"Maybe you study just a bit too much" his mother said, looking up from the half chopped carrot "the exams aren't for another year, you should take it easy" his mother resumed massacring the carrot "besides, Sally has no one else to play with, all her friends are away"

"She's got two sisters and another brother, can't she play with them?" Red said, picking up a slice of carrot and popping it into his mouth, it gave a satisfying crunch as he bit down on it. "And I just finished my chores, I need to some time off before I go play"

"Playing is time off" his mother stated in an irritated tone.

"For sally maybe, but I'm fifteen mother, I don't need to play" Red stated in a half whining tone "I have to study besides"

"Oh Red, you and your studying" his mother put down the knife and stepped round the counter to look her son in the eye, her own where a deep blue and sad, she had her usual green apron on. "You're getting to worked up over this, with the way you're going you won't need to study to get into the academy, you'll be writing the papers!" she ruffled her sons ash blonde mane "I worry about you sometimes, you need to take a break and just relax, ok?" she pulled him into a hug, wrapping her hooves tightly around him "I know my babies growing up. But can you stop, just for today?" she patted his back, Red felt his resolve break away.

"Fine…but just for today, and I'll have to catch up on growing tomorrow" he told her in a joking tone.

"That's my foal" his mother looked across to see Sally standing in the kitchen door beaming, her saddle bag on and Reds flank pack in her mouth. "Now get going, before dinners ready" and with that she broke the hug and pushed Red on his rump, propelling him towards the door. Red turned to give her another raised eyebrow, a smile on his face, before he turned to his sister and took up his flank pack, slinging it over his shoulders and adjusting the strap to make it comfortable.

"Come on Red, let's go!" his little sister shouted before bolting down the hallway towards the backdoor, shouting out a "bye mummy" behind her before the door opened with a click "come on Red!"

"Don't let her fall in the creek this time!" his mother called after him as he left the kitchen and started towards the backdoor "or you'll have to do the washing!" Red smiled yet again as he opened the door and stepped out into the grassy yard, closing it behind him. Their backyard wasn't really so much a yard as a huge field, they lived on the very edge of the city, and beyond the boundary of the fence open grassland stretched out a far as the eye could see, the tall grass blowing freely in the soft breeze. Though the land was technically owned by a farmer, he lived several miles away beyond the sight of the city, so he never had to know if a pair of young ponies decided to trespass. Sally was already at the fence, struggling to climb over due to her height, being as small as she was.

"Having some trouble there?" Red asked in a half mocking voice as he approached, Sally shot him a look.
"We can't all be as tall as y-WOAH!" she yelped as Red took the strap of her saddle bag in his mouth and lifted her over the fence with ease, gently lowering her into the grass on the other side "thanks Red"

"Don't mention it" Red told her as he vaulted over in a single jump, landing with practised ease. "A big brother's gotta help his little sister" he said, ruffling her cherry red mane. Sally shook her head and smiled at him; her eyes irresistibly cute, Red picked her up again by her saddle bag and lifted her onto his back before he started off to the right, following the fence. There was no obvious path to the creek; save for a small dirt track you could only find if you knew where it was. After five minutes of walking he turned at a seemingly random spot to check he had his bearing straight before spinning round to face the open fields "do you remember the song?" he asked his sister, who sat comfortably on his back.

"Of course!"

"Well then would you sing it for me?"

"How else are we gonna find the path?" Sally said, rolling her eyes, before she broke out into song. "Two steps forward, one step back. Have you got everything, what's in your pack? Three to the right and one to your left, ten paces forward and you know the rest" as she sang Red followed her instruction, and when the song was done they stood at the top of a gentle rise, a narrow dirt track running before them, cleverly concealed within the grass to hide it from prying eyes.

"Nice work Sally, I don't know how you do it each time" he said, but of course he knew, he'd written the song for her.

Sally beamed with pride and they started off, following the track as it wound like a snake through gentle rolling hills and small bumps. As they walked Sally tested Red on his navigation skills.

"So how do you get the thingy going?" she asked, Red found her naivety so endearing.

"The Auspex scanner?"

"Yeah, that's the one"

"You select it on the input terminal and enter the activation code"

"And how do you tell another ship if yours is coming the same way?"

"You have to activate the astropathic warning beacon for the unicorn navigator to sense with their horn"

"How come navigators have to be unicorns? Is it because they're smart? You're smarter than a unicorn" Sally asked him, Red couldn't help but chuckle.

"Not all navigators are unicorns Sally, but most of them are. You see, each ship has an astropathic beacon to warn other ships where it is, so that things like collisions in phase space can be avoided. Unicorns are important because they can use their horns to sense where the beacon is and make sure that things like crashes don't happen, all ponies can be part of the navigation corps, but each ship has to have at least five unicorn navigators to make sure there are no accidents"

"Are you going to be a navigator pony, Red? Mummy says you are, daddy to"

"I would like to be one Sally, that way I can get off this planet and see the rest of the galaxy"

"What's wrong with this planet?"

"Nothing's wrong with it Sally, but…for me it's boring being stuck here. I do like Rylelia, of course I do, but I want to go see the stars" he pointed a hoof up into the sky, where even in the middle of the day the enormous gas giant, Rygial nine, stood out above the world, towering over it. "There's another world beyond that ball of gas, and another, and another, and another, there's hundreds of them, and I'm going to see them all" he sighed as he imagined them all, what they would look like, their suns and their moons. "I'm going to see a green star, the rarest kind. And I'll see the Candean gate where the moons are made of pure diamond, and there'll be black holes and nebula and comets, hundreds and thousands of them"

Sally was silent as she mulled this over "you'll still come back for new hearths eve though, right?" Red chuckled again before he ruffled his little sisters' mane.

"I'll come back every holiday Sally, just for you" Sally smiled and then yawned; the warm light of the sun had made her drowsy. She curled herself up into a tight ball and flicked her tail around her, covering herself in the red hair to keep her warm.

Red kissed her on the forehead and kept on going, the city slowly fell away behind them.

Maybe it was the right decision to come out with his sister after all, the blue sun was high in the sky, the warm breeze was flowing through his tail just the way he liked it, and all was at peace in the world, nothing could ever ruin this moment for him.

≤ΘΘΘ≥

++SYNTHETIC HORMONES FAILING. SUBJECT IS SINKING DEEPER INTO DREAM SPACE++

++ INITIATING PROGRAMMING OVER-RIDE. DEACTIVATING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++ACTIVATING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE "ANGEL"++

++INITIALISING "ANGEL"++

++INITIALISING++

++"ANGEL" NOW ONLINE++

++STUPID CORE FUNCTIONS. THERE'S NO WAY THAT BLAZE WILL GET UP IF YOU ONLY PUMP HIM WITH SOME CHEMICALS. HIS BLOOD STREAM IS SWIMMING IN THE STUFF FOR CELESTIAS SAKE++

++NOW ATTEMPTING TO ENTER PERCEIVABLE DREAM SPACE AND AWAKEN BLAZE FROM WITHIN++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

"Blaze, are you ok?...Blaze!" a voice suddenly shouted out of nowhere, crying out from all around him. Red stopped and turned his head from side to side, searching for the origin of the voice.

"Hello…is someone there?" he called out, his voice carrying over the grass before the breeze swept it away. The breeze was beginning to pick up, blowing hard against his side, grabbing and tugging at his mane and tail, the voice cried out again.

"Blaze, you have to wake up, we need to get moving!"

"Where are you?" Red began to spin around, searching for the elusive speaker. "Are you in trouble? Who's Blaze?" there was silence, save for the wind, which was now screaming. It sounded like…engines, and underneath there was the hard, earth shaking pound of heavy guns firing. "Hey, Sally, do you hear that?" he turned to look at his sister, but she was gone. "Sally? SALLY? WHERE ARE YOU?" where could she have gone? She couldn't be hiding; the grass was too short for the young filly to disappear into.

"DAMNIT BLAZE!" the voice shouted, as loud as the crying wind. "Activating electro-revival systems" a high pitched whining noise filled the air, growing higher and higher in pitch and volume until it drowned out the wind. Overhead the sky had gone grey, storm clouds had appeared from out of nowhere and hung dark and foreboding, lightening lashing within them, waiting to be released. It began to rain, a downpour of ice cold water that soon drenched Red and froze him to the core.

He raised his hooves to his ears, trying to block out the whine, but it wormed its way through them and stabbed into his mind, causing his vision to fill with spots. "Administering electro-revival charge" the voice stated, and a great force punched Red in his stomach, winding him and sending him flying from the path to land hard in the grass.

He rolled onto his side, gasping for air and screaming in turn as an electrical fire under his skin burnt at his heart. "SALLY? WHERE ARE YOU?" he screamed, but the storm snapped the words from his mouth and flung them back in his face.

The whine began to build again.

"Administering electro-revival charge" once again something punched Red in the chest, reaching down into his heart and boiling his blood, sending a fire running through his veins and arteries to fill him with flames. Instead of flying into the air he was forced into the ground, the earth began to crack and small chunks fell away, revealing a hollow blackness beneath it.
The darkness was hungry, Red could feel it, it wanted to reach up and consume him.

"SALLY! RUN, RUN AND HIDE!" he managed between gasps, if anything happened to his sister he would never forgive himself. Once more the deadly whine began to build, filling the air with a deadly charge that seemed to crackle along his skin and make his hairs stand on end. Overhead the lighting began to lash out with renewed ferocity, struggling to break free of the clouds and come slamming down into the earth.

"Administering electro-revival charge" the voice said, calm and placid, the clouds rumbled and all at once a bolt of lightning ripped free from the sea of grey and struck downwards, smashing into his chest. The earth cracked and gave way, the darkness reached up to claim its prize. As Red fell a single word escaped his lips before the endless black depths swallowed him whole.

≤ΘΘΘ≥

++WELL. HE'S AWAKE. BUT I DON'T THINK HE'S GOING TO BE IN A VERY GOOD MOOD++

++INITIATING PROGRAMMING OVER-RIDE. DEACTIVATING "ANGEL"++

++ACTIVATING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++INITIALISING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++INITIALISING++

++CORE FUNCTIONS NOW ONLINE++

++SUBJECT BLAZE NOW RETURNED TO CONCIOUSNESS++

++RELAYING RECORDED DATA FROM DREAM SPACE TO CELESTIAS GRACE. REQUESTING PSYCHOSOMATIC ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE SUBJECT BLAZES MENTAL STABILITY IN RELATION TO HIS HIGHER AND BASE FUNCTIONS++

++RETURNING SUBJECT TO FULL CONCIOUSNESS++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

"SALLY!" Blaze screamed and he emerged from the dream, his chest heaving and his coat soaked with sweat. He gasped for breath, and when he exhaled his vision fogged up, the warm air from his lungs condensing on the visor of his helmet.

Behind his eyes he could still see the brilliant flash of white and blue as the lightning struck him, his body felt hot, still filled with boiling blood. In his ears all he could hear was the screaming of the wind and the voice that had called out to him. He tried to shake his head, but something held it firm. All around him was pitch black darkness, occasionally illuminated by a fit of red flickering from source he couldn't see, in front of him was a tiny square of light, so small he wouldn't be able to get his head through it, let alone the rest of his body. It took him a few moments to work out he was within a drop pod, his drop pod.

"I survived…" he whispered to himself, not sure whether or not to believe what his eyes where telling him was true or false. He said the words out loud "I survived" the dull patter of rain began to reach his ears; a drop flew through the window and impacted on his visor.

He could scarcely believe it "I survived…oh dear goddess I survived!" he threw his head back as far as it could go and cackled with laughter "I SURVIVED, THANK TWILIGHT I SURVIVED!" he began to laugh again, for an instant the burning in his heart was replaced overwhelming joy, then a thought hit him. "Angel…Angel are you there?" for a few moments nothing happened, save for the occasional drop of rain, and then with a gentle hum and a flicker of light, Angel appeared before his eyes, he'd never been so happy to see her. "Angel! We made it, we actually made it!" Angel gave him a look which showed she didn't quite share his enthusiasm.

"Yes we did, and I'm glad, but right now we need to rendezvous with the rest of the squad and request immediate extraction from high command. It's a massacre out there Blaze, Intel says that barely a million soldiers and marines from the first wave made planet fall and my short range scanners are showing increased activity from the spire, they're getting ready to hunt the survivors down. We need to get out of here now!" her tone was serious, and Blaze instantly knew better then to disagree with her on anything for the time being. Angel had access to all the technology and programming the white mare had implanted into her body, and until further notice she was the best early warning system he had.

"right, let me get out of these cables" he began tugging at the thick metal cables that where keeping him in place, with the power supply on they wouldn't have moved an inch, but with the pods power systems presumably in the crash there wasn't any energy being supplied to them, and Blaze slowly began to pull them loose one by one "what's happening with the invasion so far?" he asked Angel as he worked, pulling out one plug with an audible pop and a spray of orange nanotrite fluid. Angel flickered for a moment as she hooked up to the data frequency of the orbiting fleet and then solidified again, a troubled look on her otherwise unmarred face.

"The New Trottingham deployment has been abandoned, high command has put it down to too many initial losses on descent, tactics have been revised and now the fleet are going to try deploying battalions and armour out in the rural areas and bombard the cities into submission. Estimated losses of the initial assault have averaged out at roughly seven hundred and fifty thousand dead, with a margin of error of about three thousand on each side. So far there have been sixteen successful deployments across the planet and three landing zones are still under contestment. The city of Blackreach has fallen and the regional capital of Coltsvale on the continent of Antisia is under empire control" Blaze had his right arm free and was half way through his left.

"But the soldiers deployed in New Trottingham have been left to fend for themselves?" over two million where to be deployed during the first assault on the city, but if the estimates where correct and high command really was pulling out, that left roughly a million loyal souls abandoned in the face of the NLR armies retribution strike. He gave one last jerk of his left shoulder and his left arm came free, leaving only his legs still strapped to the pod, which meant he now had to hang in the air until he could pull himself loose. "Wait…is the pod upside down?"

"Yes, it's also indented into the side of a building, and command is only cancelling the orbital assault, and only for three days, the fleet has successfully captured a number of defence outposts on the outskirts of the city and are using them as staging areas for a later assault over land" the holo-projectors in his eyes flicked on and an image of a gruff pegausi with a purple coat, yellow eyes and a matted green mane stared at him. His chin was covered in thick stubble and from the left side of his mouth poked a cigar

"Colonel Antilles of the Denagios ninety second orbital division is forming a rally point for all survivors about five miles from here, heat signatures suggest he has about two hundred and seventy five thousand survivors are with him and thousands more are moving towards his position" Blaze grunted and pulled his right leg free, the cables hung from the roof like vines of metal. "However further thermal readings show that a number of defence ships from the spire are converging on their position, though communication signatures suggest that Antilles has called in orbital support" with another grunt of exertion and the harsh clang of metal on metal Blaze pulled his left leg free and fell to the floor, or more rather the roof, to form a pile of metal.

"Where are the others, did the rest of the squad survive?" he asked as he picked himself up, stretching his rear legs, nothing seemed to be broken … yet.

"Sugarcane and Jester survived planet fall unscathed, their pods managed to enter through a blank in the curtain, their current location in ten miles south and moving in our direction. Wonder bread though…" she paused "Wonder bread has currently been moved to the M.I.A. list until further notice, his pod was destroyed within entry of the flak curtain"

A video feed replaced the image of the pegausi colonel "this is the last few seconds of footage captured by a on-board external camera before a direct flak round destroyed the pod. In the video Blaze saw the familiar cityscape stretching out in all directions, the spire towering over everything. At its base where the flak batteries and plasma cannons, firing with abandon at the helpless soldiers overhead. suddenly a sheet of metal flew past the camera and for a brief instant the outline of an Alicorn in full battle armour stood out with its wings open, silhouetted by a flash from a flak muzzle, and then it was gone, seconds later the camera footage filled with white and then the feed became filled with grey lines of static.

"This is the last known footage of him, it's three hours old"

"Three hours…I've been cold for three hours? They could think I'm dead by now Angel!"

"There's no need to get hysterical, Lyra has already updated the commanding officer in charge of troop deployment that you're still in one piece" suddenly the ground shook and the pod wobbled violently, the screaming of metal on stone ringing within the confined interior. "We'd better get moving, our location isn't very structurally sound, and the H.K's will be looking for any survivors, we can't stay here any longer"

"Got it…" Blaze stood there for a moment "where's my weapons?"

"The pods phase-out storage has them, but to get them back we'll have to get the power back online, and the crystalic fusion cells where breached in the crash" Blaze tried to scratch his chin through the visor, but to no avail.

"Hmmm…we'll reroute the pods power functions through my fusion core, that should be just enough to deactivate the phase fields" he said, and for an afterthought "and retract this helmet for me, it's getting stuffy" Angel nodded and there was a light beeping noise as the helmet began to retract from atop his head. First went the glass visor, almost invisible lines marking out divisions in the glass divided it up into eight rectangular pieces, four on each side, and they silently slid out of his vision.

The top of his helmet began to divide into tiny rectangular sections that slid down the back of his neck to settle in a ring around the bottom of his neck, finally the neck plates that ran under his chin began to slide down like scales to reveal most of his saw line. Blaze shook his head, letting the cool air work its way through his crushed mane and cool him off, before he slowly edged his way to the remains of the viewing port.

It was a tiny thing, only a foot by a foot at the most, far too small for him to simply slip through. He inspected it for a moment, considering his means of escape, before he simply shrugged and drew his right hoof back. Inside his armour neurone response recorders detected the movement, and energy from the fusion core which replaced his heart was diverted along the feltrite wiring into his hoof, giving the blow extra strength.

A whining filled the air, rising in pitch, and once it reached its crescendo Blaze lashed out as hard as he could, his hoof connecting with the metal with a loud bang and an explosion of blue energy. The door crumpled under the attack and flew off its mechanical hinges, flying through the air to land on the concrete road below with a loud clattering. He wormed his way through the broadened opening and surveyed his surroundings.

He'd crashed into what appeared to be one of the more dilapidated areas of the city, too well built to be a true slum, but too run down and shoddy to house any pony with self respect, mostly likely this was a xeno community, a haven for aliens and outcasts. The buildings where tall, as was expected in the densely populated suburbs, each one rising at least nine or ten storeys above him, blocking out the peripherals of the sky and leaving only the three moons above, one made of blood red stone, another a planet in its own right, covered in the green and blue of land and ocean and the last a faint sliver of silver, dull in comparison to its brothers.

The road was an old thing, made of black tar and concrete, with pavements on either side, the whole place was covered in litter and was filled with a rank stink of decomposing waste that not even the lashing rain could get rid of. His pod had ploughed a gaping hole through the side of a large, ten storey building on the direct opposite of the street. Through the hole he could see what appeared to be tiny living quarters, each filled with bunk beds, a kitchen counter, and little else. "The ghetto, brilliant" Blaze remarked sarcastically.

Though xeno segregation was illegal under the universal acceptance act of M354, it happened on a daily occurrence on almost every planet across the galaxy. Xenos where officially kept apart from ponies in order to "maintain their independence and sense of culture and community within the empire" or in other words, to ensure the general populace didn't have to go around each day seeing alien species inferior to their own.

As a result xenos where kept in closed communities with each other, usually in the less desirable areas of the cities and towns. Crime, drug abuse and racism on an interspecies level where common, and tensions where always high within the ghettos. Though the areas where meant to be patrolled by enforcer units on a daily basis, law enforcement often neglected their duties, and it was always alien communities that tallied up the greatest number of murders and rapes.

At times the seething hatred that most of the oppressed alien population harboured for their despotic rulers would boil over and riots would erupt, resulting in serious damage to property and brutal crackdowns by the enforcers. In the end no xeno could ever hope for something good within life's boundaries, aliens where banned from the best schools, jobs, and public services, many could only aspire to a menial position on the war fleets.

It was the griffins that had secured the best deal, at the founding of the empire they had secured several colonies in the galactic north and declared themselves independent, banning intersystem trade and travel and keeping themselves isolated within their domain. Empress Celestia ruled them, but only by a technicality, she was queen of the griffins in title alone, and was forbidden from setting hoof upon any of the griffin worlds upon pain of death.

"Nice place" Blaze muttered to himself and he looked over the edge of the doorway, the ground was three storeys below him. "Angel, activate the magnetic clamps, I'm going to the power supply" all drop pods where powered by compact fusion generators and several tanks of Taliethaline, a highly combustible substance that once lit would burn until there was nothing left.

In order to reach the fusion reactor Blaze would have to get to the roof of the pod, but since the pod was upside down, he would have to climb down to reach it. He would have flown, but he wouldn't be able to focus on flying and re-wiring a reactor at the same time, he wasn't that good with his synthetic wings, not yet at the least. There was a dull hum and he placed his right arm on the metal of the pods exterior, and though the metal was slick with rain, his hoof held fast. He leaned across and placed his left arm on the metal, one small step and he would be out into empty space.

Blaze took a deep breath, counted to three, and then stepped out. The magnets held firm, and he swiftly began lowering himself down to the roof, if that made any sense. Each time he lowered his hooves back down to the metal they stuck with a clang, and Blaze couldn't help but freeze, knowing that if he was found by NLR forces now then there would be no easy escape. Nothing appeared however, the six where merciful, and he swiftly reached the bottom of the pod. "Alright Angel, you know what to do" he said, stopping before the base of one of the RAM jets, a turbine with most of the fans now missing.

Angel disappeared and then there was the faint clicking sound of needles on metal, Blaze watched as Angels mobile storage core appeared on his shoulder and began to make its way up his left arm, moving like a bulbous metal spider. With gentle clicking it swiftly made its way up his arm and then up to the sheet of metal, making the transition from his armour to the pods exterior with no trouble. "So, do you reckon the invasion will be successful? Or are we all going to be dead by the end of the month?"

The tiny storage core paid him no mind, but instead, a tiny tentacle like appendage emerged from one of its seamless sides and snaked its way forward, a tiny red light glowing on its tip. For a few moments it moved back and forth, casting its dull glow on the metal plating, but then with a soft click the light turned off, to be replaced with a bright blue glow as a beam of energy lanced out to begin slicing at the plating.

With slow and steady precision Angel cut through the metal in a perfect square, a foot in diameter. It came away with a gentle nudge and fell towards the street below, crashing loudly as it impacted with the concrete of the street below. Within the portal Angel had created was a pair of Glass tubes, hooked together at the bottom and the top by large bundles of wires, the tubes where filled with a azure blue liquid that glowed brightly, even when highly damaged, the fusion core was still giving off energy. Angel crawled inside and disappeared from sight, the only way to follow her was to listen to the clanking of her legs on the metal.

There was more clicking, a brief flash of red, and then with a high pitched whine, the pods systems came back online, the two tubes of fluid beginning to glow brightly. The core reappeared and climbed back down his arm to nestle in its port, a few seconds later Angel reappeared, floating in the air on a pair of white wings, which her programming allowed her to use when necessary. "Statistics indicate we could be dead in fourteen-point-six days, as for the whole of the orbital strike force, forty-two-point-three" she stated in a blunt tone, Blaze rolled his eyes.

"Very pessimistic, aren't you?" he asked her. He pulled his right arm loose and hung on with his left, the powerful magnets holding him in place. He reached down and tapped his chest plate on his right side, there was a low beep and a panel of the armour sunk inwards and slid upwards out of sight, revealing a selection of wires and plug-in jacks.

One wire, a thick green and yellow striped snake, slid outwards and began to reach upwards, moving like a worm through wet earth as it sought the surface. It paused at the open panel, and almost seemed to tilt quizzically as it studied the masses of wires and computer chips, before it shot forwards into a bundle of wires and beeped. Blazes vision filled with schematics of the pod, images taken by the on board external cameras, and data streams filled with endless statistics that streamed across like shoals of fish, all of them glowing a faint gold.

"Angel, access the core energy distribution programming" Angel nodded and flickered, in his vision a column of one of the data streams expanded to fill his sight. "Access input signals" a square section of coding highlighted itself in bright yellow. "Engage external over-ride" the Streams came to a halt and flickered, dying down to a deep grey before becoming bright again, this time a light blue. "Reroute power to the phase-out storage units" there code flashed a deep blue and a cough escaped from the twin tubes as they began to glow even brighter, they began to rumble, and the whole pod started to shake slightly, a brick dislodged itself from the wall to his left and tumbled down to the street to join the plate of metal.

"Phase-out systems online, calibrating contained atoms for reintegration" Angel said, her projection flickering in and out as she integrated with the pods programming systems. "Removing ionised materials, readjusting electron-proton ratio, initiating phase-in process" a bright white flash erupted from the metal mouth of the pod overhead, followed shortly after by a clattering as the weapons inside dropped to the floor.

Blaze couldn't help but wince at the sound; he could hear it loudly over the rain. He took a breath and retracted the plug, the data streams fading from his vision as connection was lost, and then he reattached his right hoof and began to lift himself upwards to the pods door and his weapons within. He heaved himself up and over the lip of the access hatch and immediately picked up his rail rifle, checking it over before concluding there was no major damage done.

Phase-out storage broke apart the bonds holding the atoms of the weapon together and then suspended them in a magnetic field, meaning that the atoms held their shape and the bonds could be reformed without anything being out of place. Of course, the molecules could have been scattered when the pod crashed, so double checking his weapons for any new defects was only common sense.

His jezzaile was in working order as well, and he placed both of them on his back, underneath his wings. A powerful magnetic field held them in place, and then small rings of armour came out of the armour and locked them in place. He was now fully armed and armoured, his rifle on his left and his jezzaile on his right.

At the open door he once again paused to take in his surroundings; the broken street, the dilapidated buildings, the hopes and dreams of their occupants gone, the sound of guns booming and the patter of rain. "Jester and Sugarcane are ten miles south, we should move to rendezvous with them" Angel said, behind him "Are you ready to go catch Cadence?"

That made Blaze come up short, the sudden realisation that he could be on the threshold of vengeance making him pause. He remembered his dream, and Sally, warm and soft on his back, as she looked up at him with her adorable eyes. He tensed and gritted his teeth as he recalled yet again the debt owed to him. "Yeah" he said, before leaping from the pod and opening his wings, gliding down to alight silently in the middle of the road "I'm ready" and with that he started off.

At the end of the street they came to a large boulevard, wide and robust and with strips of shiny black metal like rails sunk into the surface to support maglev vehicles. Though the road was grand, it was still shabby compared to what he would find toward the centre of the city. Store fronts lined the road, everything from grocery stores to clothing to electronics, and all were boarded up and abandoned, left behind by their owners as they fled the invasion. Every seventy meters or so a street much like the one had had crashed in would branch off from the main road, in the rain it was difficult to see how long the roads where or were they went.

Blaze moved in close to the shadows cast by a building at the corner and looked up and down the length of the road, searching for possible enemies. The street lamps had gone out, and that combined with the downpour meant his range of vision had been brought up short, he could see a hundred meters in front of him at the most. Overhead the orbital assault had long since come to an end and only the sounds now where the faint pattering of rain and the cry of the wind as it whistled through the abandoned buildings.

"I can't see a thing in this damn rain" he muttered to himself "Angel, deploy helmet" the AI nodded and flickered, before a faint whirring filled the air as the armour extended upwards and his helmet came together around his head, the visor crystal clear. The rain had gotten through his mane and had soaked it through, leaving it plastered against his neck.

Red had been born with a sandy blonde mane and red coat, but Blaze was snow white and his mane a mixture of yellows, reds, and oranges, giving it a flaming appearance.

The chemicals the white mare who synthesised him had used to alter him had caused his coat to bleach as his original skin cells died, and the introduction of magic into his body had literally caused his mane to flare up and burn, leaving it like it was now once the fires had died down.

Now, with the rain soaking him through to the bone and his mane plastered to his neck, the flames seemed a lot dimmer, as if the downpour was causing their fires to flicker and die.

With his body now fully armoured Blaze glanced down the street again, "Angel, activate thermal imaging" there was a click and then a high pitched whine and the world painted itself in deep tones of blue, nothing out there was emitting heat for him to detect. It was the same when he glanced up the street, nothing living or warm was out and about. 'But that doesn't mean they aren't there' Blaze thought to himself 'It just means that I can't see them'

He blinked twice in rapid succession and the thermal imaging shifted over to his left eye, leaving his right with normal rain filled vision. The silence of the rain compared to the screaming and booming that had until just a few hours ago been his world seemed to give the cityscape an ethereal quality. "Heads up" Angel said "I'm getting a large thermal reading, roughly a mile north of our position heading east towards the city centre, from my guess it's a war mech or a gunship"

"Friendly?" It was a stupid question, the likelihood of any heavy armour being planet-side was minimal after the recent massacre, but Blaze wouldn't have minded if a few tanks of mechs had been deployed.

"Not likely, high command didn't order any mechs to be deployed with the first assault. More like it's an NLR vehicle being recalled from the field, a scout probably" that sent a shiver racing down his spine, a thrill of fear and adrenalin, they could only be a few minutes away from action.

"Is it following us?"

"No…wait a second…" Angel flickered yet again, the rain falling straight through her to hit the concrete road beneath her hooves "Contact has just altered course and is gaining speed, new directional heading is…" Angels pale skin somehow managed to turn a shade whiter. "It's coming this way, contact in twenty seconds!" It was all Blaze could do to simply curse and search for cover. "Fifteen seconds remaining"

Blaze backed into the shadows of the street corner and searched for a door into the building, there was no other place to look for cover. "Ten seconds"

"What the fuck moves this fast!" Blaze shouted in exasperation, glancing up and down the wall of brick in front of him, no door was in sight "Dammit!" he shouted, punching at the wall and causing the bricks underneath his blow to turn to powder.
"Five seconds" the screaming of RAM jets filled the air yet again, a high pitched wail that went on and on and on, driving into his mind. From the top of the street two dots of orange appeared, some distance away, but closing the gap quickly.

"Right, that does it" Blaze stepped away from the shadows and into the centre of the road before turning to face the orange dots, which were rapidly growing larger.

"Contact with enemy made" Angel said, appearing at his side. From the mists the orange dots grew wider and suddenly without any warning a gunship emerged from the rain.

It was a large VTOL jet, roughly about ten or twelve meters long. Slung underneath its wings where racks of missiles, their heads painted a dull red which in the dark rain turned them black. At the centre of each wing was a large rotor moving at incredible speed, and on the wing tips was a row of small rocket thrusters used for steering and guidance.

Underneath the cockpit were two large mini guns, their barrels painted black, and through the canopy of the cockpit itself he could see the pilot highlighted in the sharp glow of the onboard guidance computers. The pilot was a handsome stallion with a red mane and brown coat, he gave Blaze an evil smile, and then he tensed. "Enemy engaged" Angel whispered.

A high pitched whine filled the air, loud over the pattering of the rain, the barrels of the two mini guns began to spool as they prepared to fire. "SHIELDS UP!" Blaze shouted, spinning to the right and kneeling to bring his right wing up to protect himself, the blue glow of the plasma shields bathing his face in its gentle of illumination.

Oddly, Blaze couldn't help but notice that the colour seemed more vibrant then before.

With a deafening roar the gunship opened fire and the mini guns spat out a tongue of fire as bolts of orange shot out from their barrels to punch at Blazes wing shields like hammer blows. Blaze grunted as the bullets impacted with the shields, every time a bullet hit the field of plasma it would bounce off an a small ripple would spread out through the shield like it was made of water. The force of the bullets slowly pushed him back, his hooves sliding on wet ground beneath him as he skidded backwards.

"Blaze, we can't keep the shields up forever!" Angel called to him over the loud bark of the guns. An image of his wings filled his vision, the left glowed a light blue, the right was flashing a deep red, in the top corner red words that spelled 'WARNING' flashed in time with the wing. "Power supplies are down to forty percent, if we take anymore punishment like this we could lose power to the right shield within twenty seconds!"

"IT'LL HOLD!" Blaze shouted. His right wing was beginning to throb, a dull pain that made him ache.

"Blaze, the shield could collapse at any mome-"

"IT'LL HOLD!" Blaze gritted his teeth and ground his hooves into the concrete, trying to stop him from sliding further down the road. "COME ON YOU SON OF A BITCH! IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?" he roared over the din of the guns, he doubted the pilot could hear him, but he cursed the pony anyway.

As if to answer him the guns fell silent, the final sounds they made was the tinkling noise of bullet casings falling to the floor and the deepening whir as the guns slowed to a halt. Blaze lowered his wing and stood back up; turning to face the gunship, within the cockpit the pilot was frowning in annoyance.

The stallion reached up to his overhead console and flipped a few switches. Barely audible over the pouring rain, there came a whirring noise as a boarding ramp at the rear of the gunship opened up. With the clanking of battle armour several stallions dropped from the boarding ramp at the rear of the ship, making the two storey jump without a moments hesitation. they landed hard on the tarmac of the road, so hard in fact that it fractured underneath their weight.

One amongst them, a burly pegausi stallion clad in a deep green flak vest, began shouting orders, but his words where drowned out from the pouring rain and the roar of the VTOLs turbines.

The soldiers around him however immediately moved into action, rushing forwards towards Blaze with looks of aggressive determination on their faces.

There were about ten of them in total, all of them earth ponies save for the pegasus, who Blaze correctly assumed was the sergeant. They encircled him, each pointing their weapons at him and yelling in unison to drop his weapons and surrender. All the while Blaze didn’t move a muscle, standing stock still and watching silently.

“GIVE UP!” the pegausi sergeant shouted, a heavy duty shotgun held in his hooves “WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED. SURRENDER NOW AND COME QUIETLY OR THINGS CAN GET MESSY VERY QUICKLY!” Blaze gave the pegasus an even look, taking note of his strengths and weakness.

Beside him Angel flickered as she performed an instant area scan, taking into attention every detail of their situation. “There’s ten of them” she said in a calm voice, nonchalant of their current predicament. “They’re all wearing mark twelve flak vests, standard issue amongst the republics forces” she turned to look up at the VTOL, which hung menacingly overhead.

“The VTOL is equipped with dual devastator class mini-guns, as well as a payload of forty interceptor missiles” Her projection flickered again as she scanned the gunships systems “There’s a mechanical fault on the right missile rack, i would suggest placing an incendiary explosive between the missiles” Blaze nodded in understanding.

“DON’T FUCK WITH US, ALICORN!” the sergeant yelled, slightly unnerved by Blazes lack of attention to the situation. “DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW OR WE WILL FIRE!” Blaze gave the pony another look, this time bored by the cliché predicament he was in.

“Loud mouth, isn’t he?” Angel remarked before giving an exasperated sigh.

“How long do you reckon it will take me to kill them all?” Blaze asked her. All around him the soldier bristled at his tone. Since they were unable to see Angels psycho-projection they assumed he was talking to himself, as if he was mad or something. They shifted, the already tense atmosphere thickening as the brevity of the situation hit them.

They were about to face down an Alicorn for the six’s sake! It didn’t help he could also be insane ...

Their fears were well grounded. There were many cases of Alicorns from the specialist and synthetic corps going mad, driven over the edge by the violence and bloodshed that became their day to day lives. Blaze himself had a history with skirting the edges of the abyss, his troubled past and military career warping his morality.

“I would guess about three minutes tops” Angel said, tossing her snow white mane “Shall i start a timer”

“Yeah, sure. Why not?” Blaze said, he looked towards the pegasus and smiled warmly, as if he was greeting an old friend “Start on my mark”

“I MEAN IT, ALICORN!” the sergeant shouted, becoming increasingly aggressive as Blazes casual demeanour filled him with agitation and paranoia “DROP YOUR WEAPONS NOW”

“On my mark, Angel” Blaze said, unfurling his wings. The blue light of the shields began to glow even brighter as he funnelled extra energy into the emitters, strengthening the array.

“I SAID DROP THEM!”

“Three”

“RIGHT NOW!”

“Two” Blaze rolled his shoulders, limbering them up for the violence about to come he gave his hind legs a kick each.
“Engaging combat drug dispensers, placing priority on adrenaline and penicillin” Angel said. Blaze shivered slightly as he felt hundred of tiny needles on the interior of his armour penetrate his coat, pumping in the combat drugs to aid in the efficiency of the coming slaughter.

“one”

“SQUAD, READY WEAPONS!” the sergeant shouted at the top of his voice. All around Blaze there came the clicking of weapons as the soldier deactivated the safety catches on their weapons.

For a few brief moments the world slowed. Blaze took a deep breath, feeling the cold sear against what was left of his organic lungs. The rain and the roar of the gunships turbines dimmed, leaving them in silence. Blaze felt the combat drugs in his system flare into life. His heart rate picked up, his muscles tensed. His pupils dilated, taking in every final detail of the world.

It was the calm before the storm, a brief instance of false peace.

In the blink of an eye the storm broke and the peace shattered.

“FIRE!” the pegasus shouted, and the weapons of his squad flared into life, spitting balls of plasma at the synthetic Alicorn.

But by then Blaze was already moving.

As the words left the pegasus’s he charged forward, the battle cry of the solar empire on his lips. With a roar of animalistic rage Blaze slammed a hoof into the pegasus’s chest, nanofibres in his armour channelling energy from the fusion core in his heart to his hoof, lending the blow extra strength.

As the hoof made contact there was a deep boom and an intense flash of cyan light. The pegausi flew backward ten feet from the force of the attack, the energy involved so strong that his bones shattered and as he hit the tarmac of the road his body collapsed into a pile of meat, its natural support structure destroyed.

The last words the pegasus ever heard where “FIRE AND FURY!”

With a cry of wordless dismay the moral of the NLR soldiers shattered like the bones of their sergeant. Blaze spun around to the nearest soldier and charged towards him, a scream of bestial fury coming up from his throat. Before the pony even had time to react Blaze was on him, coming down like a tide of metal.

Punching the pony in the face, Blaze disorientated his target before grabbing him by the throat, spinning him round, and wrapping his hoof around his neck in a choke hold. Using his free hoof he reached to a pistol holstered around the ponies flank and pulled it free, pulling the now struggling earth pony tight against him.

Using his captive as a meat shield, Blaze drew a bead on the nearest pony with the pistol and shot him through the skull. Unprotected by any armour, the ponies face became a ruined crater as the bullet crushed the bridge of his muzzle and ploughed straight his head, punching through the centre of his brain and exiting through the back of his head in a gory shower of bone and grey matter.

The pony fell with the clattering of his flak vest and little else.

Blaze shot another opponent in the same manner before the rest of his opponents had registered the sudden change in the tide of the battle. Over head the gunship was swivelling to drew a bead on blaze with its mini-guns, but in the tight confines of the streets he didn’t have enough clearance to get his shot.

The rest of the opposing squad opened fire, and Blazes shield screamed as plasma scorched his fur and burned through his flak vest, causing it to melt and fuse with his coat. Blaze shot another pony through the head before dropping the pistol and pulling a knife from the flank of his shield.

Without a second thought his grip tightened around the neck of his captive pony and crushed his vertebrae with a disgusting snap. Dropping his shield he barrelled forwards to the next victim, another earth pony.

His targets eye went wide and Blaze favoured him with a savage smile before lashing out with the knife, burying it under his chin to pierce up through his skull and into the centre of his brain. With a spasm the pony died and Blaze pulled on the grip of the knife, using it as a handle to spin the pony round and throw him like a brick at the next opponent, who yelped in fear as the body of his now dead squad mate bowled him over.

Blaze ran at the downed pony and leapt over the body of the dead soldier, his hooves slamming down to crush the skull of the pony who was trapped underneath. Blood, bone, and brain went flying, some of the grey brain matter sticking to the hooves of Blazes armour.

With a cry of dismay the remaining three ponies began to fall back, their moral sapped and their spirits crushed under the onslaught of this blood-frenzied Alicorn they had picked a fight with.

Blaze laughed manically and leapt forward at the closest pony, using his wings to give him a burst of additional speed. Landing heavily on the stallions back, blazes immense weight drove the stallion into the ground, crushing his spine and killing him instantly.

Blaze pulled another knife from the ponies flank and threw it at the second last of his opponents. The blade spun head over hilt and buried itself between the ponies eyes.

He dropped dead without a sound.

The last of his assailants was now out of range for Blaze to kill with his own two hooves, so he had to resort to more mundane fire arms. With a set of faint clicks the rings that held the jezzaile to his flank came loose and he reached back to pull it out, he held it in his arms, rearing back on his legs to take aim down the snub nosed barrel, taking the fleeing pony in his sights.

Whilst many species had evolved with appendages such as fingers, griffins and dragons and such, the wide open plains of equine prime had led the pony species to develop simple hooves, broad, flat and ideal for galloping over great distances. As a result of this the trigger on the jezzaile was more rather a pressure plate, Blaze punched down hard on it.

There was a split second where the gun emitted a high pitch whine as the synthetic elements within where ionised and magnetised, followed by a tremendous boom as the weapon fired its deadly payload of highly ionised feltrite.

The kick back was incredible, the stock slammed into Blazes shoulder with the force of a thousand bucks, however at the shoulder joint tiny bundles of nanofibres seized together and held the armour in one piece, preventing it from shattering under the force.

At the snubbed nose of the barrel there was a pulse that went out in a wide circle like ripples in a calm pool, and the feltrite round, scarcely larger then a marble, shot out and impacted with the back of the fleeing ponies head.

With a heavy smacking noise the bullet went straight through the ponies head. As it passed through it discharged its stored kinetic energy into the ponies skull, causing his head to explode messily. There were no chunks of bone or brain this time, the ponies head simply burst apart in a shower of red goo, each globule leaving trails of fine red mist in their wake.

The ponies headless body collapsed to the ground and skidded along the tarmac as the momentum of the pony carried it onwards, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

Without even pausing to consider the carnage he had just reeked, Blaze opened his wings and leapt into the air. He flew straight past he glass cockpit of the gunship and smiled in deadly rapture as he saw the shocked look on the pilots face.

As he passed by the missile rack Blaze raised his right hoof, and from a small hole in his armour at his wrist, a tiny ball of plasma that glowed red was fired at one of the missiles, set on a deadly collision course with the deadly ordanence which was its target.

Without loosing any of his momentum Blaze banked sharply and swooped down to land of the tarmac road directly in front of the VTOL, smiling as he prepared to watch some spectacular fireworks

For a moment the world seemed to slow down, and Blaze watched as the first missile turned into a bloom of fire. The trendils of flame spread out and slithered across the other rockets like snakes, wrapping their fiery arms around them and consuming them in sheets of gold.

One by one, with faint poofing noises, the rest of the ordnance detonated. Blaze couldn't help but marvel at it, and then time seemed to speed up and with a grating roar the rack exploded and punched a hole through the wing above it, the flames so hot that they melted their way through the metal and rushed through the hole to meet the open sky, where the lashing rain drowned them all.

Within the cockpit the pilot barely had time to register that Blaze had taken his shot before the cabin was filled with red warning lights and the VTOL began to tilt ominously to the right.

The VTOL lurched like a drunk and the pilot grabbed at the controls, trying to steady his craft out, but to no avail. With a fit of coughing the engines on the right wing gave in and the engines of the left wing overcame them, causing the gunship to flip over as it crashed into a building in the side of the street. Bricks and metal went everywhere, flying out across the road to skin along the concrete, where the metal touched the ground it gave off sparks
.

A thick cloud of dust settled over the wreck of the craft, concealing the twisted pile of metal that it had become. Blaze placed the still warm jezzaile against his flank and the armour reached out to lock it tight against him, tiny tubes emerging to pump coolant fluids into the internal systems, preventing the ionisation chamber within from melting. Beside him Angel watched on passively as the dust began to settle. "Guess that's why the Solar Empire is winning" she said in a matter-of-fact voice, Blaze grinned.

"How long did I take?" he asked in an eager manner, as he'd won a competition at the fair and was waiting for his reward. Ordinarily Blaze had a sour disposition to killing, only doing it out of necessity, But the thrill of combat was fresh in his mind and the synthetic combat drugs within his blood stream had yet to decay.

If you where to measure Blazes entire personality by his current disposition, the only conclusion you could come to was a blood crazed psychopath.

"Two minutes and thirty six seconds" Angel said emotionlessly, watching smoke rise up from the burnt wreck of the gunship "A new record, I'll log it in the memory core" Blaze smiled.

"Let's see if the bugger's still alive and kicking, maybe we can get some Intel out of him" Angel nodded in agreement, and Blaze began to approach the downed aircraft.

He had to pick his way through the minor avalanche of rubble the crash had caused and then climb up a pile of bricks to the second floor to reach the rear access hatch of the VTOL. The tail of the craft pointed straight up into the air, at its peak a small guidance engine still sputtered and coughed, releasing small clouds of oily black smoke.

Underneath the tail was a small square sheet of metal, heavily dented and scratched, in one corner it had come loose and through the hole Blaze could see the flickering orange glow of fire. He reached up, grabbed at the loose section of the hatch, and wrenched hard.

There was a scream of protest as the hydraulics holding the hatch in place resisted him, and then with a slight popping noise and a stream of oil it came free, Blaze chucked it over his shoulder. As the metal came clanging down onto the street below Blaze opened his wings and leapt upwards, through the hatch and into the orange lit interior of the ship.

The metal plating's had been ripped and dented, wires hung in bundles from the ceiling like vines and sent showers of sparks flying everywhere. The cockpit itself was just as wrecked. The guidance computers had been trashed, their screens shattered and veined with cracks, the overhead consoles had been torn open and Blaze could see more wires within, coiling about like worms. The canopy had been smashed on impact, and shards of broken glass littered the floor, crunching whenever Blaze stepped on one with an armoured hoof.

The pilot was slumped in his seat; he wasn't moving, not even so much as twitching. Angel flickered and a second later Blazes tail flashed and began to glow blue as energy from his fusion core coursed through the nano-conducting tubes that coated it. He flicked it and it lashed put like a whip, connecting with the side of the ship and causing a storm of sparks. "Give yourself up kid" Blaze stated, his voice flat "there's no reason for you to get hurt" Blaze chuckled darkly "unless you give me one". The pilot didn't respond, he simply sat in his seat, back to Blaze.

"Hey kid" Blaze strode forward and grabbed the stallion by his shoulder "I sai-". With a pain and rage fuelled scream the stallion suddenly spun around on his seat and leapt over the back of it to come crashing down on Blaze, who shouted in Surprise.

"YOU BLOODY BASTARD!" the stallion yelled and they tumbled to the floor with a heavy clattering, Blazes armour causing him to dent the metal plating underneath him, the stallion, being unrestrained as he had no armour, swiftly climbed on top of him, pinning him down.

"THIS IS FOR MY GIRL" he said, raising a hoof and then slamming it down on Blazes visor so hard that it chipped. The stallions roared wordlessly and raised his hoof again. As it came slamming down Blaze twisted his head to the right, dodging the blow which instead of hammering into his helmet, crashed down hard on the steel of the floor.

Before his opponent had time to recover Blazes tail lashed out from under him and whipped against the stallions flank. There was a flash of blue light, the stench of burning meat, and a howling scream as energy flowed through the pony's blood, causing it to boil. With his enemy distracted Blaze brought his right hoof up and cracked the stallion in the side of his muzzles, causing a sickening crunch as the bone and cartilage underneath the skin collapsed.

The stallions head snapped sideways and blood flew from his mouth, Blaze lashed out with his tail again and punched with his left hoof, sending the stallion flying backwards to crash into the back of the pilots' chair, where he slumped to the floor, barely conscious.

Blaze picked himself up from the floor, by the door Angel stood with a passive look on her face. "Retract helmet" Blaze said as he swilled some spit around his mouth, as soon as the visor was off his face he spat a thick glob of phlegm "son of a bitch jumped me" he muttered.

Once he was back on his hooves again he approached the recumbent form of the stallion, much more cautious after his last run in. he prodded the pony with a hoof, the stallion gave off a dull groan of pain and began to come to. "Right then" Blaze grabbed the pony with his arm and heaved him into the air "tell me where Cadence is" he asked, scowling at his captive.

"Wh…what?" the stallion managed, his voice a slur.

"Tell me where Cadence is"

"Fuck you" the pony murmured. Blaze grinned and punched him in the gut with an armour hoof, causing the stallion to yelp in pain.

"TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!" Blaze roared in the ponies face, before lowering his voice to a menacing whisper "I'm running out of patience"

"Piece of Solar scum" the stallion spat some blood and a broken tooth into Blazes face.

"Right, that's it" Blaze punched the pony in the gut again and then dragged him to the access hatch, holding him over the edge of the ledge with a hoof gripped firmly around his throat. The stallion pawed weakly at the iron grip around his wind pipe, but to no avail. "Where is Cadence?"

"I…I don't know…please…I'm just a pilot…" the stallion managed to gasp. Blaze felt anger begin to rise in his chest. He spun round and flung the stallion back against the seat with a sickening crunch, where he once again slumped to the floor, this time he would never get back up.

"Come on Angel" Blaze said, spitting over the side of the ledge. He leapt out into the air and opened his wings, soaring into the sky, Angel following close behind "let's go find the others"

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Waiting, they were always waiting, and watching, forever watching. Atop a black throne made of bone and blood the dark entity watched and waited, biding her time as the pieces of the plan slowly came together. Before her, in the great hall made of shadows, the children swarmed.

She loved her children, and the children loved her; it was love that sustained them, held them together. At the mere thought of the emotion the creatures felt its stomach groan and she snarled, baring fangs that glistened with saliva. There was loved between her and the children, but not the love she craved, that she needed to survive.

The entity longed to feed on the emotions of the mortals, to sink her fangs into warm flesh and feast on the life and heat underneath.

Once they had all feasted upon the mortals of the world beyond theirs. Once she had gorged herself on the emotions of royalty. Anger, rage, hate, sorrow, misery, she had consumed them all.

But it was love she hungered after the most, the sweet honeydew taste of love.

By her feet one of the children was mewling pitifully as its brother viciously attacked it, ripping at its skin and burying fangs deep into its flesh. The child looked to its mother with eyes filled with pain and fear, begging for assistance. 'But why should I give it reprieve?' she thought as the older sibling tore open its younger brothers chest and began to gorge on the spoilt meat of the rotten heart within. Within the realm of magic only the strong survived, and the creature upon the throne was the strongest of them all.

"My queen, I have returned" one of her children knelt at the base of the throne, materialising from a sudden cloud of black smoke; she acknowledged its presence with an imperceptible nod "Cadence will do as you will, mother. She attempted to resist, but in the end she bent to your will, like so many others will"

She smiled; this was pleasing to her, all the pieces of the game where falling into place, now it was only a matter of time before all her plans came to fruition.

"Good, my child" she rose from the throne, smiling to reveal wickedly sharp fangs. "Everything is occurring as I predicted, soon the mortals will once again know true fear in their hearts" and with that Chrysalis threw back her head and laughed, filling the throne room with the sound of insanity.

Opposition

++ RECEIVING DATA-FILE FROM CELESTIAS GRACE++

++DOWNLOADING++

++DATA-FILE DOWNLOADED. PSYCHOSOMATIC REPORT ON SUBJECT++

++DATA-FILE ENCRYPTED. "ANGEL" AI PROGRAMME COMPATIBLE++

++INITIALISING "ANGEL"++

++INITIALISING++

++"ANGEL" NOW ONLINE++

++OK, LET'S SEE WHAT WE'VE GOT++

++SUBJECT BLAZE APPEARS TO BE SUFFERING A DEEP SEATED PERSONALITY BOUNDARY RELAPSE++

++OH DEAR. THAT'S NOT GOOD++

++SUBJECT BLAZE HAS OPENING SIGNS OF SPLIT PERSONALITY DISORDER. CONDITION HAS BEEN BROUGHT ON BY SUPPRESSION OF MEMORIES FROM THE PAST++

++BLAZE. YOU IDIOT. I TOLD YOU TO TELL ME WHAT WAS WRONG++

++THOUGH MEMORIES APPEAR TO BE PEACEFUL IN APPEARANCE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SUBJECT BLAZES PHEROMONE AND HORMONE LEVELS INDICATE THAT YEARS OF ACTIVE SERVICE IN HIGHLY VIOLENT WAR ZONES HAVE CAUSED DEEP SCARS WITHIN THE SUBJECTS PSYCHOSIS++

++OH BLAZE. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU++

++SUBJECT BLAZE IS CURRENTLY SHOWING THE BEGINNINGS OF TWO INDEPENDENT PERSONALITIES. THE FIRST IS BLAZE HIMSELF. WHO HAS MANIFESTED AS HE IS NOW++

++THE SECOND IS AN EARTH PONY WHO GOES BY THE NAME RED EARTH-HOOF. NO RECORDS SUGGEST ANY CONTACT BETWEEN THE TWO. HOWEVER IT HAS BEEN TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION THAT RED IS THE PONY THAT BLAZE WAS BEFORE HIS SYNTHESIS AND HAS SINCE BEEN REPRESSED BY THE NOW DOMINANT ALICORN PERSONALITY++

++YOU REALLY CAN'T LET GO. CAN YOU BLAZE++

++FROM NOW ON ALL MENTAL RESPONSES TO ANY EXTERNAL STIMULI ARE TO BE MONITORED. I NEED TO CONTROL BLAZES SUPRESSED SECONDARY PERSONALITY BEFORE IT JEOPARDIZES THE MISSION OR DRIVES HIM INSANE++

++INITIATING PROGRAMMING OVER-RIDE. DEACTIVATING "ANGEL"++

++ACTIVATING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++INITIALISING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++INITIALISING++

++CORE FUNCTIONS NOW ONLINE++

++BEGINNING SUPPRESSION OF SECONDARY PSYCHOSIS++

++ACTIVATING SYNTHETIC HORMONE DISPENSERS++

++SYNTHETIC HORMONE DISPENSERS ONLINE, INJECTION CYCLE PROGRAMMING: INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++INJECTION CYCLE PROGRAMMING ONLINE++

++BEGINNING SUPPRESSION ++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

"Reports from sectors four through nine-"

"We have nine thousand confirmed deaths-"

"Specialist unit Beta-Luna are reporting communications difficulties-"

All across central communications, numbers where coming in. It was like this in the wake of every assault, there was always that moment where you where stuck in the calm of the storm, watching the waves coming towards you before they crashed over you and drowned you.

Lyra always felt sick at moments like this, she couldn't help it.

All around her ponies where reading out statistics and logistics, shouting out how many where dead, dying, or missing. 'How can they do it?' she wondered, as the pony next to her calmly read out that the entire of the Elysian fourth company had perished in the assault, talking about their deaths as if it where nothing more than an article in the newspapers.

Fortunately for Lyra she was spared having to read aloud information like that, she had only one thing to worry about and that was the safety of Blaze and his team. Lyra sat at her workstation, her back bent over, as she dug through files and files of logistics and sensory readings, searching for some sign of Blaze.

"come on Blaze, come on" she muttered to herself through gritted teeth "don't die on me, not now" for almost five years Lyra had been in the special communications corps, and she had never lost a single one of her charges, she wasn't prepared to break that record now.

"Where are you…?" she kept asking herself. On the screen beneath her was a live orbital feed of New Trottingham, within the image the city was ablaze. Great plumes of black smoke where billowing out into the sky, rising columns of ash that towered into the air, amongst the smoke the silhouettes of fires raged on, undeterred by the choking ash that fell from sky.

Occasionally a cyclonic torpedo launched from one of the frigates would pierce through the cloud layer to ravage yet another city block. "Come on Blaze, give me a sign" she stared intently at the video feed for a few moments longer, and then she sighed at rested her head in her hooves.

Four hours into the operation, and already everything was starting to come apart.

The NLR had taken them by surprise with their defences, utilising plasma technology to negate the advantage of the empires EMP bombardment, and as a result millions had died. The city of New Trottingham was at least two hundred or so miles across, a vast warren of run down streets and tall concrete buildings. Right now roughly ten thousand or so survivors of the orbital assault where bitterly trying to cling to life and form some sort of cohesive fighting unit.

However, it was safe to assume they were failing.

Thermal scanners had been detecting increased heat releases from the NLR centre of operations at the base of the spire, which had led command to assume that the republic where preparing to hunt down the last of the survivors. Already there where many mares amongst the corps who where silently weeping for their husbands and sons, the ponies they loved that they would never see again.

No one let their grief get the better of them, however. And though at least half of the ponies in this room had lost someone to the shrapnel of the NLR's flak batteries, everyone stayed at their posts and carried on as best they could. Lyra sighed again and raised her head from her hooves, her eyes felt heavy and puffy. She had been awake for at least sixteen hours straight now; she'd been up early ensuring everything was calibrated correctly and that the margin of error had been minimised as much as possible.

She rested her head against the cool glass of the work screen and closed her eyes, hoping to rest for just a few minutes at the least. Amidst the commotion of the communications centre she highly doubted that anypony would pause to wonder if she was asleep. She sighed and felt her body sag, turning to lead as she succumbed to the urge to sleep. But just as she was about drift off a voice, a dull whine like a fly, echoed in her head.

"Lyra…Lyra, are you there?" it asked. The voice was that of a stallion, slightly deep and hinting that the owner was still young. For a brief moment she thought that the supervisor had turned up and was telling her to wake up, but then the voice came again, this time more urgent. "Lyra, this is Blaze, can you read me?" Lyras eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright, scarcely believing what her mind was telling her.

"Blaze…Lyra here" she said, she raised a hoof to her ear and pressed down on the small metal implant that nestle there, causing it to beep. On the screen in front of her a box appeared, filled with glowing green text that read "initiating lock". Lyra waited another few moments, her heart beating fretfully in her chest, hoping that she wasn't actually dreaming this.

"Lyra, what the hell's going on?" the stallion asked in her ear, Lyra felt a grin of happiness crawl across her face. He was alive; her record hadn't been broken yet.

"The NLR surprised us with plasma powered flak batteries" she told him.

"I know, I was in the drop, remember?" there was a pause "how are the casualties mounting up?" he asked in a sombre voice, Lyra felt her heart sink.

"We have…we have confirmed reports of over a seven-hundred-thousand dead" she told him "roughly two-hundred-thousand are M.I.A." on the other end of the line Blaze fell silent.

"May the six give them rest" he finally said "what's the current location of the survivors?"

"Thermal readings indicate they're gathering in a park on the west side of the city. What's your current location?" there was a pause. Lyra glanced to her screen to find that the search had come up negative; Blaze was nowhere to be found. "The scanners can't find any trace of your locater beacon"

"Must have been damaged during the crash" Blaze replied "as for my location…I'm standing across the street from a bakery, if that helps" he commented sarcastically, Lyra rolled her eyes. Over the intercom Lyra suddenly heard a droning noise that began to pick up volume

"Blaze, what is that?" the droning became a high pitched scream, on the other end of the line Blaze cursed.

"SHIT! DROPSHIP INBOUND!" there was the deep boom of autocannons firing "LYRA, I'M GOING DARK!" suddenly the line became blank.

"Blaze? BLAZE!" Lyra shouted into the head piece, there was no response "DAMMIT!" she shouted. The unicorn spun in her seat and saw a courier making his way through the press of communications staff, easily distinguishable by the green shoulder pads of his uniform.

"YOU; GET ME THE HEAD OF STAFF!" she shouted at him. The courier froze like a rabbit in the headlights "NOW!" Lyra practically screamed at him. The pony nodded and immediately bolted off through the crowd, causing cries of alarm and anger. Lyra turned back to her work screen and initiating a thermal sweep for any NLR dropships over the city 'come on Blaze' she thought as the screen flashed and segments of coding began to rush down the screen 'don't you die on me, you bastard'

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Blaze gritted his teeth and ground his hooves into the concrete of the road as he bolted for cover, his breathing heavy and sweat trickling down his brow.

There was the deep thunk of heavy duty auto shells as they fell from the cannons down to the concrete, followed by a mechanical grating noise as the dropship overhead reloaded. Blaze ran across the road towards the front window of a large bakery, through the glass he could make out the counter where the baked goods would have been displayed, and behind them a small doorway through which he could spy a large oven.

At one point the establishment must have been pretty, and from its ovens must have come the enchanting smell of fresh bread and other confectionaries. Right now however Blaze was running for his life, and with a grunt of effort he leapt into the air and smashed through the window shoulder first.

With the crashing and tinkling of glass Blaze hit the tiled floor of the bakery hard, causing the ceramic tiles to crack. He skidded across the floor and hit the counter, the bulk of his armour causing him to dent the metalwork. Outside a deep droning began to fill the air. "SHIT!" Blaze shouted, scrambling up to his hooves. Despite the weight of his armour he leapt up and easily vaulted the counter, though his weight once again caused the tiles beneath him to crack when he landed.

There was a deep booming sound as Blaze launched himself through the doorway into the back of the bakery where the actual baking was done. As he ran through he turned his head to see an autocannon shell the size of his hoof come hurtling down from the sky, shoot through the bakery window and hit the ground at such a sharp angle it actually bounced upwards.

As it hit the roof it turned into a bloom of fire, sending fingers of bright red flame racing out to turn the roof of the bakery into a raging inferno. Less than a second later there came the shockwave, slamming hard into Blazes rump.

The force of the blast knocked him off his hooves and caught under his wings, sending him flying through the air like a chucked ragdoll. He flew through a line of ovens in the kitchen to smash into one at the end of the row, an old thing made of brick and wood fuelled.

The bricks broke apart under his weight as he came slamming into them, causing the oven to collapse on top of him. bricks came raining down on his helmet, and his already chipped visor cracked again as a brick hit it, sending a spider web of fine lines dancing across the supposedly bulletproof glass.

The world became filled with the crashing sound of bricks collapsing and the deep thunking of the bricks as they hit his armour, burying him under a pile of rubble. After a few seconds the tumult of noise came to a halt and the bricks settled, Blaze took a second to breathe, before an ominous droning reached his ears and he recalled his situation.

The pile of bricks covering him felt like they weighed a hundred tons. Any normal pony would have no chance of escaping this brick red death trap Blaze found himself in, but then again; Blaze wasn't a normal pony.

During his conversion his bones had been replaced with adamantium and ceramite, and his muscles treated with hundreds of different types of stimulants and growth fluids.

The results where magnificent to behold, a stallion in peak physical condition that could go above and beyond the endurance levels of almost any pony in the entirety of the equine race. Blaze tensed and began to push against the bricks, trying to force himself up into a sitting position. Fortunately in the crash his arms hadn't been terribly pinned, and he had just enough leverage to sit himself back up.

He shook his head and tried to get his bearing straight, his mind reeling. "BLAZE, GET UP!" Angel appeared from round the corner of one of the ovens, trotting along as if she had actually been some place. In reality Blaze had temporarily suppressed her programming in order to focus on escaping the dropship.

"COME ON, THE SHIPS'S GETTING READY TO FIRE!" his vision swimming, Blaze looked past Angel, through the door he had just been launched through. The front of the store was a raging inferno, bright tongues of fire that glowed orange and red had consumed the drywalls, and within he could make out cinderblocks, electrical wiring and timber.

Another deep thunk emerged from the grating roar of the flames, and Blaze watched wide-eyed as another auto round was fired into the building.

The whole place shook. The walls cracked, the floors rocked like the deck of a ship. Another pile of bricks fell onto the back of Blazes head, causing him to grunt in pain. Fire raged through the door, a thick tongue of it leaping forth to engulf Blaze.

In the centre of his vision his armour flashed a warning, telling him that the external environment had become hostile, Blaze barked a sarcastic laugh.

As the flames roiled around him, he picked himself up and began to scramble across the floor. He rolled to the right out of the way of the flames and picked himself up; overhead the cheap plastering of the roof began to light up, fuelling the flames to grow bigger. "Exit on the right" Angel stated calmly, emerging from the flames like a ghost. The fire seemed to make her coat glow, and a white sheen seemed to cover everything around her.

Blaze got to his hooves and galloped down another row of ovens, took a left turn at the end, and ran on. Just as Angel had told him, a door lay in wait at the end for him.

Through it was an old wooden staircase, which creaked alarmingly under Blazes weight as he began to climb. The second step gave way beneath him, and Blazes back right hoof fell through, causing him to fall over. "DAMMIT!" he shouted, lifting himself out "today just isn't my day" he said bitterly to himself and he continued to climb.

After ten steps there was a small landing, and Blaze looked back through the doorway at the bottom of the stairs as he reached it. The kitchens had become a roaring inferno, the plaster and wood within the walls acting as the perfect catalyst for the flames to roar even higher. Within the ovens the fire writhed like snakes 'good thing nothing was baking' Blaze thought.

"This place is collapsing, we need to get to the roof and take out that dropship" Angel told him "there's a weak spot in the armour under the anti-gravity generators" Blaze nodded and began to ascend.

Up and up he went, twisting constantly, taking whole flights of steps in a single bound. Underneath his armour coolant systems where pumping liquid nitrogen around his body to keep his temperature down, but Blaze was beginning to feel his skin heating up, his breath was causing his visor to fog up.

"ANGEL, RETRACT THE VISOR!" he shouted over the roar of the fire below. As he reached the fourth floor he saw the door to the stair case had been left open, and through it the floor of the building had completely fallen away, leaving a gaping pit, up which the flames danced like the fires of hell.

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!" Blaze ran on. At the sixth storey the stair case ended, meaning he would have to cross the hallway to get to the next set of stairs. Without a moment's hesitation Blaze shouldered his way through the door, sending it flying off his hinges. "Shouldn't have done that" he said aloud.

Outside the windows that lined the hall he could make out the dropship hovering over the street.

It was like looking at the underside of a huge black beetle. Hatches for jetpack troops lined the centre, towards the outside where two boarding ramps, and past them where sets of huge mechanical arms used to carrying heavy armour and war mechs. Lining the edges of the ships underbelly where autocannons, attached to the sides of each was a small sphere containing the guns operator.

For a moment Blaze dared to hope that they hadn't spotted him yet, but his little stunt with the door had dashed those hopes before they'd even formed. In the front most sphere a gunner wearing a pair of green goggles pointed at him, and the other guns spun round on their mountings to fix Blaze in their sights. Blaze didn't waste a moment; he was off like a bullet.

The guns began to fire, sending a spray of massive shells the size of his head towards the building. Most of the gunners had fired too early, and their shots hit the floor below him, causing the floor to shake and making Blaze stumble as he ran, but one of them got lucky. It was the gunner who had spotted Blaze first, and his shell came smashing through the glass about twenty meters ahead of him to fill the corridor with golden flames.

The shot came so suddenly Blaze didn't have time to stop, let alone throw up a shielding spell. Instead he plunged onwards, driving into the fire. Shards of glass flew into him, most raking across his armour, but several small shards embedded themselves in his cheeks, one large piece even piercing through to punch a hole in his right cheek. For a moment Blazes whole world condensed down to the searing fire and the sharp stabs of the glass as it grated against the nerves in his cheek, and then he was through the flames, and the door was right in front of him.

He shouldered his way through this one as well, and was up the stairs in the blink of an eye. The flames behind him, drawn to this new source of oxygen, came chasing after him, and Blaze could smell the scent of scorched hair, his tail was burning. As he ran onwards he swished it from side to side, batting it against the walls to put the flames out.

For another five storeys he climbed, and then he burst through the final door out into a dark gray world filled with rain, where lightning split the skies and the shadows around him seemed to pool in every corner. The wind caused the rain to lash at his face, and the water was blessedly cool against his skin. He spat out the shard of glass that had penetrated into his mouth, and then swilled some spit around and spat out a stream of blood, wiping the back of his hoof across his mouth.

There was a sudden harsh whining that rose in pitch to drown out the screaming of the wind, and Blaze recalled his current situation. In the skies above him there was the dropship, silhouetted menacingly against the dark backdrop of the sky. For a moment Blaze simply stared, and then, as if some god wanted to add some dramatic effect, a bolt of lightning wracked the sky, and the world was painted in monochromes of black and white.

With a faint click his jezzaile came loose, and Blaze reared back on his back legs as he took the machine into his sights. With a high pitched whine and a deep boom, a bolt of highly ionised feltrite burst from the guns snub-nosed barrel to smash into the side of the dropship. There was no effect.

Blaze fired again, and again, and again, but he may as well be attacking the ship with rocks. Every single shot ricocheted off the ship, not even denting its metal skin. "Aim for the guns" Angel told him, appearing out of nowhere "they lack the same armour capabilities"

Blaze nodded and pivoted to aim at the foremost autocannon, lining his shot up so it would go straight down the barrel. Just as he punched down on the pressure trigger the dropship fired, and the two rounds met in midair.

There was a blinding explosion, a flash of white light, and Blazes ears filled with a high pitched ringing that never seemed to end.

As the ringing began to die, a deep, throaty roar seemed to come from the dropships anti-grav engines, like the ship was mocking him for his futile efforts. Blaze gritted his teeth and stowed away his jezzaile before standing, legs braced, in the face of the ships guns.

"Blaze, what are you doing?" Angel asked, he gave her a grin, and a sudden comprehension crept across her face "no…don't tell me you're being serious" Blaze chuckled "you're crazy!" she shouted at him. Blaze gritted his teeth and his visor began to form up across his face.

"Am I really?" he asked as the plates crept up his neck, his voice becoming muffled by the metal as it formed over his head, the visor lid into place with a deep click. "Let's find out" the dropships cannons opened fire, sending a hail of shells towards him. Blaze began to gallop forwards.

After five steps he had reached take-off speed.

After ten he opened his wings, the plasma shields causing a trail of cyan light to trail behind him.

At fifteen he leapt into the air and began to fly straight into the storm of cannons rounds that where shooting directly towards him.

He rolled to the right of the first shell, causing it to miss his wing by an inch.

He ducked under the second and over the third.

He spiralled around the fifth and causally dodged the next three without breaking a sweat.

The ninth shell was the last.

Blaze rocketed straight towards it, gaining speed.

A split second before impact he dodged to the right and opened his wings to their full extent. Time slowed down like thick honey, and with pin-point precision he reached out and grabbed the shell.

The magnets in his hooves held it tight in his grip, and Blaze spun around to throw the shell back at the dropship, sending it hurtling towards one of the anti-grav plates that lined its hull.

He took a split second to enjoy the sight of the gun operators screaming in fear as the shell they had only just fired was used against them, and then he shot upwards, rising higher and higher over the city.

Below him the shell smashed into the dropship and there was a grating explosion as the round obliterated the right side of the hull, there was a deep groaning and the ship began to list dangerously towards the right as gravity began to act on it.

Blaze flew upwards, his focus concentrated on what would occur next. At three kilometres he closed his wings and allowed his inertia to carry him a few dozen more meters upwards.

After a few moments he slowed and hung in the air for a second, taking in the sight of the enormous spire piercing the thick storm clouds as it rose up into the heavens, then gravity took a hold of him, and he began to fall.

Blaze angled straight down, placing the top of the dropship directly below him. from this high up its black, smooth, domed armour made it look like a beetle, and Blaze was firmly intent of stepping on it.

He folded his wings in to make himself as streamlined as possible and let gravity do the rest of the work, he began to pick up speed. The ground began to rush up to meet him, the miniature scale buildings and street growing larger.

Through even his visor he could hear the wind roaring, and Blaze was now going so fast he was actually beginning to overtake drops of rain as they fell to the earth. He pushed his hooves out in front of him and a dome of air resistance began to form in front of them.

'Come on' he thought to himself, pressing his wings tighter against his back, trying to make himself as aerodynamic as possible 'just a little more'. The G-forces were beginning to act on him; spots began to flash at the corners of his vision. Blaze simply gritted his teeth and pressed downwards.

For a moment it seemed like he had reached terminal velocity, but then the roar of the wind became a scream and the dome vanished. Blaze became a blur of motion, rocketing towards the earth faster than a drop pod. Behind him the conducting fibres on his tail became to flare with energy, and this coupled with the cyan light of his wings caused a trail of blue to stream out behind him as he descended.

The dropship was only a hundred meters away when he finally broke the sound barrier. With a rolling boom Blaze accelerated to unprecedented speed, and with a roar of wordless fury he channelled all of his armours energy into the conductors in his hooves. He smashed down into the dropship like the hammer of the gods.

The armour beneath his blow dented, and then simply caved in and allowed Blaze to pierce through. He rocketed through the interior of the ship, smashing through decks and corridors and power reactors, all the while his armour held firm and the energy in his hooves allowed him to obliterate anything that got in his way.

With the scream of tortured metal and a fierce explosion Blaze burst from the dropship, piercing through its underbelly. He opened his wings and tried to bank upwards to slow his descent, but he was travelling too fast. And all he could manage was to slightly raise his angle of approach so that when he hit the ground he managed to roll to a halt.

Alas it didn't quite work out, and Blaze hit the ground with such force that he caused a crater to form in the earth.

He felt the integrity of his armour buckle and for a moment feared it would collapse, but it held true. Angel appeared over him, and behind her the dropship still hung in the air, fire spewing from Blazes exit hole. "You might want to get up now" Angel told him, and just to highlight her point an explosion from the inside of the ship caused a tongue of fire to spew from the hole in the ships armour.

"Yeah, that sounds just about right" he mumbled and rolled onto his stomach, scrambling to his hooves. Fortunately the crater he'd created wasn't a deep one, and he bounded out of it in a single jump. With his hooves back on firm concrete he began to gallop. Overhead the dropship hung still and serene for a few moments longer before another explosion, this one from its central reactor, sent segments of external armour to go flying.

There was a final deep groaning as the anti-grav generators finally gave out, and then it began to plummet to the ground, with Blaze directly beneath it. As the ship collided with the top floors of the surrounding buildings the air became filled with the shrieking of steel, the snapping of wood, and the harsh cracking of glass.

A storm of glass shards fell as numerous as the rain, slashing at Blaze and scratching at his armour. But despite the deadly hail he ran on.

With a harsh screaming the up storeys of the buildings began to collapse as they were crushed under the dropships weight, their shoddy construction causing them to literally fall to pieces.

Bricks, timber, and old pits of worn through plaster came crashing down like a wave behind him, a rising tide of detritus and building materials that threatened to crush him. And towering over them all was the dropship itself, Blaze trapped within its shadow as the massive ship fell towards the earth.

'Ironic' some disturbingly calm part of his mind told him 'After all those insect analogies, looks like we're the ones getting stepped on' Blaze gritted his teeth to hard he was surprised they didn't shatter, and pushed himself harder, but it wasn't enough, he was still trapped under the shadow of the ship.

Now the ship was only ten meters above him and closing fast. "WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!" Blaze shouted over the shrieks and screams of the collapsing buildings.

Despite the fact he was about to die for the second time today, Blaze felt oddly calm. Being crushed would be a quick death; only a single moment of pain and then it would all be over. Beneath him his legs where on autopilot, galloping of their own accord; the ship was only eight meters above him, the whole world seemed so alive, even through the blanket of monotonous grey that covered everything Blaze could see everything in stark relief, and it was truly beautiful.

His visor beeped, and something appeared in the top right hand corner of his vision, some sort of proximity warning, but Blaze didn't even look twice at it.

'Why am I still running?' he thought to himself 'I'm about to die anyway' Blaze began to slow his legs down, but the moment he started something swept him off his feet, grabbing onto his right arm and lifting him into the air.

'this is it' he thought as the world tumbled past in a blur 'I'm dead and one of the valkyries has come to take me away' the faith taught that the six where attended in heaven by hosts of winged angels known as valkyries, who swept over the battlefields searching for the souls of the dead warriors to bring to the afterlife.

He turned his head to face his benefactor, and instead was greeted by a pony wearing brown armour.

"Did you miss me?" Wonder bread asked in his causal nonchalant voice.

There was a deep screaming noise and Blaze looked back to see that they had just cleared the shadow of the dropship, the tip of his tail only an inch from its edge.

The dropship had finally crashed down to earth and was skidding along the road. Tearing up the tarmac and smashing buildings as it skidded along, the whole thing rose at least five storeys into the air. By the rim where it was scarping along the concrete sparks where flying along with bits of tarmac and concrete.

Blaze swivelled his head around to see that they were flying headlong towards another building that sat at the end of the road, from the looks of their trajectory they were going to crash straight into it.

"PULL UP, YOU CRAZY BASTARD!" he shouted at Wonder bread, if the squad-mate had heard him then he gave no sign. The building came zooming closer, behind them the momentum of the dropship was causing it to gain on them, the sparks it was throwing up began to singe Blazes tail.

They were less than ten meters from the façade of the building before Wonder bread pulled the sharpest climb that Blaze had ever seen, altering course to go straight up into the air.

For a moment Blazes momentum caused him to carry on flying towards the building, Wonder bread stalled, Blaze was too heavy for him to carry.

Blaze slipped his hoof free from Wonder breads grip and opened his wings. He hit the side of the building with all for hooves so hard that the concrete caved in, instantly Blaze began to beat his wings against the air.

Blaze began to gallop with his hooves against the side of the wall, and this combined with the push from his wings and the magnetic clamps in his hooves meant he began to run up the side of the building.

He had reached the second storey when the Dropship crashed into the front of the building, filling the air was an intense shriek of twisting metal and the dull roar of collapsing masonry.

Shockwaves ran through the entire building, and bricks on the lip of the roof came loose and began to fall down on Blaze like thick red raindrops. He was at the third storey when the ground floor gave way and started to collapse, causing the whole building to shudder as it sank downwards. Blaze pressed on, his wings beating in a rhythmic pattern and his hooves slamming hard against the masonry beneath him, ahead of him Wonder bread had disappeared over the edge of the roof.

Beside him Angel was flying calmly, the white of her skin combined with her wings causing her to look like an actual angel.

The whole building lurched and started to tip forwards, turning the vertical incline into a sharp angle. Blaze roared wordlessly and leapt upwards, his wings carrying him towards the sky.

For a brief second it looked as if the building was going to crush him flat like a bug, but then he cleared the lip of the roof and rocketed into the sky, where Wonder bread was waiting for him. "Have fun?" the synthetic Alicorn asked as Blaze caught up with him, a cheeky grin on his face.

"Remind me to never take part in a drop every again, EVER!" Blaze told him, gulping down air "that's the third time in ten hours I've come within an inch of death, in this case literally!" Wonder bread chuckled

"Well, remember that time on Praxis? Ten grenades and they still couldn't kill you!" he chuckled again, his deep voice making sound like rocks where banging against each other. "Come on, we've gotta get back to the other. I got a vox from high command saying we have to rally with the survivors at the park and orchestrate the assault" Blaze stared at him incredulously.

"You're telling me they want us to lead the attack? A specialist squad?" Blaze gave a bark of laughter "I'm pretty sure even Derpy wasn't that stupid!"

"I don't like it anymore then you, but we're the highest ranking members of the taskforce that's still alive, it falls to us to take command" he sighed "we lost a whole lot of good ponies to those lunar bastards" Wonder bread looked towards the spire and spat at it, the drop of phlegm joining the fall raindrops "the entire Elysian fourth company is dead because of them" Blaze felt a knot tighten in his stomach.

The Elysian fourth had been one of the most decorated military companies in the taskforce, a regiment of heroes whose history stretched right back to the first expeditions.

Elysian had been one of the first planets to be colonised by the empire. It was said the Applejack herself had been the first to set hoof on the world, and had planted an apple tree at the sight of the touchdown; the tree was still there, a gnarled old thing that was one of the galaxies greatest pilgrimage sights.

"I'm sorry" before being indoctrinate into the synthetics program Wonder bread had come from Elysian, it was likely he might have once been part of the company. Wonder bread just shook his head, sighing.

"Apologies won't bring them back" he turned to face the south and studied the skyline before nodding and beginning to fly in that direction "let's rendezvous with the others" as Blaze flew beside him Wonder bread gave a deep growl "looks like Cadence owes us both"

≤ΘΘΘ≥

This just wouldn't do, this just wouldn't do at all. Cadence gritted her teeth and paced in circles around the dais, her two generals watching her patiently.

Steelhoof clad in a heavy brown trench coat, and Shadowmane with a hooded black cape that was tinged with deep green. They were in the great audience chamber, the massive circular hall a kilometre in length and lined with pillars depicting the saints of the galaxy, who watched with stone faces as the princess below them went round in circles.

"We can't stay penned up in here, without fresh intelligence we will be blind to the movements of the empires soldiers" she completed a circuit of the dais and began another "I need eyes out there, somepony who can get me the information is need" she stamped a hoof in frustration, 'Damn you Celestia, may the six damn you to pony hell' at the base of the dais, three steps below her, Steelhoof cleared his throat.

"My princess, please. As I've told you before, we can't send any troops beyond the defence lines, it's suicide" Cadence turned to face him, a flash of annoyance crossing her face.

"Can't? suicide? Open your eyes you fool! We have their forces surrounded; the enemy is cut off from their supply lines and hopelessly outnumbered, how is it we could possibly be on the back hoof?" Steelhoof glanced sideways at Shadowmane, who simply shrugged, before looking towards Cadence again.

"We may have the empires forces within the city contained, princess. But if we send out troops and the enemies breach the city then we won't have enough time to recall all the teams" Steelhoof shrugged apologetically "I'm sorry, but if we divide out forces we risk losing the base of the spire, and should we lose the base then the spire itself will fall shortly after"

"What he says is true, princess" Shadowmane added "by splitting up our forces we will only weaken ourselves. Say if we sent out ten squads of a hundred men, and one by one the enemy hunted them down and killed them, what would we have achieved other then collecting a few scraps of data and losing a thousand loyal soldiers? There's nothing happening inside the city that our scanners can't detect, there's not a single enemy troop movement that we don't know about. Why waste lives to recognisance operations when we can hold the fort here without any loss of life? Let the scanners do the work for us, Cadence, it's what they were designed to do"

"I won't hide here like a coward whilst the enemy prowls the streets of my city! This is my world, my charge! I was sent here to defend this world and that's exactly what I mean to do!" Cadence told him in a heated voice, she began to pace again.

"Enemies are at our gates and what would you have me do? Put my faith in machinery and close my eyes to pretend it's all a dream!" Cadence felt anger beginning to boil up under her coat, wanting to burst free and burn this puny mortal for his insolence.

"Regardless of what you say, i am in command here. Empress Luna gave control of the defence to me, you are simply my advisers" Cadence gave both of her generals a whithering look "And I reject your counsel" she pointed to Steelhoof with a hoof, her general froze on the spot, a look of terror on his usually stalwart face. "prepare a strike-force. We will level the solar empires forces to the ground!"

Cadence grinned in an almost feral manner, her lips pulling back in a predatory smile. "How goes the current defence?" she asked "I must ensure that our current defensive positions are secure before the strike-force is deployed" Steelhoof stared at her with terrified eyes for a few moments before he shook his head and snapped back to reality.

he opened his mouth, but before he could begin to talkShadowmane interrupted him.

"We've isolated and quarantined all hostile forces in the city within Saint Applebloom Park on the northern side of the city. We've also scrambled several heavily armed dropships and a squadron of Valkyrie gunships to patrol the perimeter of the park and ensure the empires forces as contained"

"However we've had reports of our first casualties" Steelhoof added "we've lost a gunship already, the pilot was Vincent lightguard of the Kireena second squadron. We've also lost squad Omega-Nine-Sega of fifth battalion" Steelhoof slid out a small holo-projector from the inside of his trench coat and flicked it on. The image it produced was grainy and devoid of any colour, save for the blue glow of the projector itself, but Cadence could see the images well enough.

The first dead pony she saw was the pilot.

He was young, and handsome. There was something about the mischievous grin he wore that gave the impression of arrogant confidents. Cadence had known hundreds of his sort, brave, bold, always ready to pick a fight, always the ones to die first. Steelhoof pressed a button on the side of the holo-projector and the image changed from the dead pilot to a thick set pegasus.

This one had none of the pilots charm or good looks, but despite his broad features he had an honest face. Cadence had known his sort before as well. Honest, humble, and determined. They where the sort of leader that the average soldier could look up to, the type of leader who wasn't afraid to stand at the front side by side with his men.

"The gunships onboard cameras captured this footage before the VTOL crashed into the side of a building" Steelhoof pressed the same button again and the image changed to video

The video was filmed from the nose of the gunship, and as a result the video appeared to be in first person. Cadence leaned in and watched as the gunships twin mini-guns fired a hail of bullets towards what appeared to be a lump of metal. As she watched the stream of bullets came to a halt and the lump of metal stood up to reveal that it was actually a stallion, it took Cadence a few moments to realise that the stallion was an Alicorn.

"an Alicorn" she said "the empire have deployed a specialist squad against us" In the video feed the Alicorn was stood stock-still whilst ten soldiers encircled him. For several long moments nothing happened, when before Cadence even realised, the Alicorn had killed the pegasus sergeant.

Before the rest of the squad had time to react the specialist had taken another member hostage and had shot three ponies dead.

Snapping his shields neck, the specialist leapt forwards and stabbed another pony under his chin before throwing him at another member of the squad, who went down under the ponies dead weight.

Before he could pull himself back to his hooves, the trapped pony had his head viciously crushed by the specialist, who leapt into the air and slammed down on the back of another pony, riding him down into the tarmac of the road and snapping his spine.

The last member of the squad was fleeing for his life, but that served him no good when the Alicorn pulled out a weapon from his flank. It was an ugly thing, stocky and snub-nosed. For a few seconds nothing happened, and then the stallion fired his weapon. There was a bright pulse of light and the video feed suddenly became a tumble of images before blacking out and being replaced by static.

"The feed cuts off there, it seems the weapon discharged some sort of electromagnetic pulse when it was fired. All we can tell is that about thirteen seconds later some of the gunships ordnance exploded and the VTOL crashed" Steelhoof flicked off the holo-projector and stowed it away within his trench coat "There were no survivors"

The words rang loudly in the empty hall, their meaning emphasised by the silence.

"A specialist, this is not good news" Cadence began to pace yet again, her hooves touching softly on the cold marble of the floor "where there is one specialist, you will always find more" she completed a circuit in silence and turned to face her generals.

"Whatever mission this specialist and his team have been deployed on, they must not be allowed to complete it. Should they do so they could sabotage the war effort, and that is a scenario I would prefer us to avoid"

Steelhoof nodded in agreement, Shadowmane simply watched his princess through deep moss green eyes. "Now do you understand my need for a team in the field? Now do you see why we can't stay trapped in here? We must fight fire with fire; we must deploy our own specialist squad" she turned to Shadowmane "how many Alicorns do we have?"

"None, my princess" Cadence simply stared at him.

"Not even any synthetics?" she asked, hoping Shadowmane was only making a joke. It was not unheard of for synthetic Alicorns to be considered 'false', Cadence herself didn't consider synthetic Alicorns as real ponies.

"We have none what so ever, princess. Three years ago Empress Luna requested all of our Alicorns, natural or synthetic, to be sent to Aurelia for special training so that she could have an adequate bodyguard, we've had no dispatches since. We lack the technology and the facilities necessary to create our own synthetics, and there hasn't been a natural Alicorn born on Threnor prime for well over three hundred years" the general shrugged apologetically "we simply don't have the resources necessary for a specialist squad"

Cadence shook her head, this couldn't be happening.

"There has to be some sort of solution" the two stallions simply stared at her "WHAT ARE YOU DOING STANDING AROUND? THINK DAMN YOU, THINK!" Cadence shouted. Both of the generals jumped slightly, startled by the unnatural out burst from her, but recovered quickly.

"I could send a vox down to the commanders at the base, they may be able to select a few troops who could meet our demands" Steelhoof shrugged "I've authorised the commanders to use any resources as they see fit, however. They are well within their right to refuse us if we should ask. Their main priority is the defence of the spire and the spire only, sending troops out in a specialist squad could be considered as the mismanagement of resources" he glanced over to his companion "any suggestions Shadowmane?" he asked.

The grey earth pony was silent for a few moments, his eyes closed. And then he opened them, revealing the green moss of his eyes underneath.

"Like my comrade here says, sending out troops could be deemed unpractical" Cadence began to talk, but he raised a hoof.

"but necessary, and I have a solution" he grinned "follow me, if you would. I will explain along the way"

Steelhoof paused for a moment and then nodded, Cadence did the same "excellent" Shadowmane turned away from them both and started down the western aisle, he appeared tiny in comparison to the enormous pillars rising up on either side of him.

The princess and the remaining general fell in step behind him. Cadence glanced over her shoulder to watch a shadow flit between the pillars to their right, almost imperceptible in the darkness. The main aisles were lit up, but this late at night it was unlikely anypony would pay a visit to the audience chamber, so the areas beyond the rows of pillars remained shrouded in darkness.

For a brief moment the shadow paused, and Cadence imagined she could see two flecks of gold shining bright in the dark, but the apparition melted into the shadows.

No matter where Cadence went, Brute was always right behind her, watching over her from a distance and keeping her out of harm's way. It was reassuring to know that even now Brute was with her, keeping his charge safe.

In front of the Shadow mane began to explain his solution to their dilemma. "As we've all agreed, we need every soldier we have stationed at the base of the spire to repel any possible assault by the empire" the stallion grinned "but we have more than just soldiers at our disposal"

"What are you saying, Shadowmane?" Steelhoof asked.

"I may have fallen…slightly short of the mark, when I said we had no ponies fitting enough to form a specialist squad" the pony said, he had enough grace to blush at his own indiscretion.

"So we do have Alicorns?" Cadence asked. She should be outraged that the pony had withheld information from her, but Cadence need a specialist squad, and Shadowmane was the only way to get one.

"no, no, I'm afraid that part is true" the stallion frowned "only the six know how many times I petitioned empress Luna for Alicorns, but every time all I got was the same message over and over 'the empresses continued safety is paramount, as of this we are unable aquiest your request'" Shadowmane snorted "tell me, how will paramount will the empresses safety be should this world fall?" he sighed "but enough of past annoyances, let me continue. Several years ago, before my promotion, I was posted here under the command of General Solaris as head of a new research division. Phase-jumps and ghost waves was the pretext, but in actuality the division had been set up to research a new form of genetics and synthesis"

Cadence shot the pony a look.

"I was not informed about this when I was posted here" she told him "you were ordered to give me full access to any weapon at your disposal, which includes your synthetics"

"With all due respect, princess, they're not weapons, as such" they had reached the far wall, they now stood at the foot of an enormous set of double doors depicting the saint Nova battling Chrysalis, one of four identical doors at the end of each aisle. Shadowmane turned right into the darkness, making for one of the large circular elevators that lay hidden in the shadows. "They are...well actually even I have trouble guessing what they are. They're not synthetic, well, not entirely. We do have a synthetic unicorn and two pegausi, I believe, but no Alicorns"

"So…what are they?" Steelhoof asked hesitantly "what is their purpose?"

"Originally the projects aim was the creation of synthetic Alicorns, but shortly after the division was established we experienced…" Shadowmane contemplated his next selection of words "a paradigm shift, I believe that's the correct term. We received new orders from high command, we where to switch from genetic alteration to genetic amplification. Essentially, our new job was to amplify the existing talents of ponies in order to turn them into weapons in their own right"

They had reached the elevator, a wide circle of white metal with enough room for about ten ponies. As they stepped onto it there was a ruffling noise from the shadows, and Brute stepped out of the darkness, his face emotionless.

"The little one goes nowhere without Brute by her side" the griffin told the ponies, and without another word he moved to stand beside Cadence.

"As you would, Brute" Shadowmane said, and with that the elevator began to sink into the floor, moving at a steady pace down the spire.

"I'm sure you must have more questions, but I think it will be easier for you to understand if you see the team first hand" they rode down the rest of the way in silence.

At the bottom of the elevator shaft there was a pair of bright white metal doors, curved to fit round the perimeter of the elevator platform. Shadowmane walked up to the join line in-between them and placed his right hoof on it, there was a faint clicking, and a small dot of blue light ran down the join and under the ponies hoof. There was a deep rumbling, and then the doors slid open, revealing a room beyond the doors.

The room was large, the walls bleach bright white and filled with white metal tables. Every single one of them was covered in pieces of machinery, mainly weapons based. There where plasma coils, ionisers, pulse emitters and even basic solid projectile weapons.

Everything shone brightly, and it made Cadences eyes hurt. "Amethyst, you've got visitors" shadowmane called out.

"I'll be there in a minute" a female voice called out, and at the back of the room, hidden behind a clutter of used plasma coils, there was the sudden sound of an explosion.

There was a pulse of bright blue light and the whole floor shook, on the table the coils rattled and several rolled off the table onto the floor. "Darn it, I was so close!" the voice said, and from behind the pile of coils there emerged a unicorn mare.

Her coat was a dark blue, her mane and tail light blue and both where long and free-flowing. Over her eyes was a pair of blacked out goggles, on her flank her cutie mark was a gun silhouetted over a biohazard symbol. She approached the group and pulled off her goggles, revealing a pair of bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle.

She smiled, showing white teeth and shook Shadowmanes hoof. "Director" she nodded towards him "and you're guests are?"

"This is my fellow general Steelhoof. The griffin is called Brute and this is the royal princess Cadence" Amethyst gave each of the group a nod and gave Cadence an elegant curtsey.

"Princess" Amethyst said, standing back up "May I ask what brings you to my neck of the spire?"

"We're here to inspect the team" shadowmane told the unicorn, at that the mare paled slightly.

"Erm…really?" the unicorn scratched her horn tentatively "the crew have just had their dinner and are taking some time off, I don't think they're fit for inspection"

"no need to worry Amethyst, I'm sure the princess won't find if their manners are abit slack tonight" he turned to his companions "Amethyst here is in charge of team, she keeps them fed, watered and maintains their weapons when they're not on active duty. Down here we call her 'mother', because of the affection she has for the team" the mare blushed slightly.

"I only do what is necessary, though if you ask me they shouldn't be kept down here, they get abit cagey from time to time, they need to get some fresh air and feel the wind on their faces again"

"They only get cagey when they've not been deployed"

"with all due respect director, they've never been deployed, most of them haven't left the facility in over two years" Amethyst laid her goggles down on one of the metal tables "Follow me" the mare turned around and went towards a small door set in the rear wall of the workshop, it slid open with a faint whooshing sound as she approached, the group of ponies followed behind her.

Beyond the door was a corridor large enough for two ponies to walk abreast, the walls where lined with glass panels that overlooked the rooms below, as they walked Amethyst pointed out what happened in each room.

"That's the amplification chamber" she said, pointing out a window to her right. In the room below there was a sterile surgical table made of metal, at the top and the bottom there where leather straps designed to hold the 'subject' in place. Set in the roof above where several robotic arms, each one tipped with a different surgical implement. "Every day they have to spend at least an hour being treated, it keeps the synthetic elements in their DNA from degrading".

They advanced down the hallway "That's the firing range" on a window out of the left was a large hall, on the far wall where several pony shaped targets. "Those are the sleeping quarters for the boys" a single room filled with bunk beds, only half of them in use. "And the sleeping quarters for the girls" this room was filled with single beds.

"Their quarters are very…bare" Cadence remarked "are they not afforded some personal items? And surely they don't all have to share rooms?"

"No need to fret princess" Amethyst said "these are just for when the rooms are being cleaned. All of the teammates have their own rooms and they can decorate them however they want, couples get to room together" the unicorn smiled "after what that lot go through each day it only seems right they can keep each other company at night"

"How touching" Cadence remarked.

"Oh it is, but we still have to keep things…calm, if you get my meaning. Certain emotional triggers can cause the synthetic genes in their bodies to degrade"

"I thought you said that the ponies down here where all natural" Cadence said to Shadowmane, but before the general could answer, Amethyst spoke up.

"Oh, they all are, make no mistake. But amplification causes their chromosomes to rearrange the helical spiral of their genes, so they have certain strings of biological data that don't naturally occur" they had reached the end of the hallway, and another pair of large white doors rose up in front of them, an access terminal to the right.

Amethyst went to the terminal and entered a short code; there was beep and the grinding of locks retracting. "We have to keep security heavy, legally speaking the subjects don't exist, so we can't have them getting out of the lab and causing trouble with the authorities" the grinding stopped, and the doors slid open.

The hall beyond them was whitewashed like everything else in the facility, and they gleamed in the light from the fixtures set in the roof. Along the centre of the hall was a large, white metal trestle table, covered in dirty plates, sitting at the table on benches that ran either side where several ponies, both stallions and mares. A pegausi mare and a pegausi stallion where playing a game of cards over a wooden board covered in breadcrumbs, the stallion was losing.

Sitting on a swivel chair over in the corner was another stallion, an earth pony who appeared to be deep in thought as he spun the chair round and round. Sitting further down the bench, surrounded by bits and pieces of machinery was a third stallion, a unicorn who was currently focussed on a soldering a set of wires into an electronics board.

Across from him was an earth mare, who was watching enraptured as a flame danced across the surface of her hoof, her eyes following the flickering red, yellows and oranges. And finally there was a couple sitting at the far end of the table, chatting about something in hushed voices.

"Everypony, we have visitors" Amethyst called out, and instantly the whole room fell still. Cadence could feel every eye on her, and sensed Brute tense as he waited for one of the ponies to make a move. "Come on everyone, line up for inspection" the air became filled with the clattering of knives and forks and the scrapping of benches as the team fell in. they stood to attention, eyes forward and backs straight, though the stallion who had been sitting on the swivel chair had his brows furrowed in annoyance.

"This is the team, the finest soldiers Threnor prime has to offer you" Amethyst said in a proud voice and she went up to the first pony on the right, the mare who had been playing cards. "this is Roulette, our resident gambler" the mare in question was a small pegausi, her coat grey, her mane and tail a reddish purple, and her eyes a deep brown, on her flank her mark was a pair of ace-and-spade cards. She smiled hesitantly. Amethyst moved down the line to the stallion that had also been playing cards "this one's called Darkstar" Amethyst said.

The stallion was tall and muscular, on his back his wings slowly swept back and forth, fanning the air. His coat was a midnight blue, his mane and tail jet black and his eyes where a bright sapphire blue, he bowed deeply. As he stood back to attention Amethyst patted his wings lovingly "he's one of our finest, you won't find another soldier as loyal as this one, even Rainbow dash wasn't as steadfast as this pony" at that the stallions cheeks turned the slightest tinge of red, Amethyst smiled and moved down the line.

The next was the mare who had been wielding fire, "this is Ignia, she's a pyro" pyro ponies where an evolutionary off shot from the equine species, coming from a desolate home world covered in fire and ash. The mares coat was a dark, reddish brown. Her mane and tail where a mixture of red, orange and pink. Her eyes where abit disquieting, a bright yellow and the iris' flecked with purple. On her flank was a butterfly, it would have looked cute, save for the fact the butterfly was on fire "like all pyros she has a natural aptitude for summoning fire, but she can get abit out of hand" the red mare grinned "but she's gained so much potential since we started amplifying her abilities, she's also an expert in hoof-to-hoof combat"

Next down the line was the stallion who had been sitting on the swivel chair, the look of annoyance still on his face. His coat was a light brown, his mane and tail blonde and his eyes a bright green "this one's called Cloudy. He's the teams' tactician, we've used amplification to increase his neural abilities and improve his processing speeds"

"I was busy thinking" the pony complained, his brows furrowing again "why did you have to interrupt?" Amethyst gave him a hard luck.

"In future do address a princess with more courtesy, Cloudy" the dark blue mare gave Cadence an apologetic look "I'm sorry about that. Cloudy tends to spend more of his time sitting in his swivel chair, thinking. He really doesn't like being interrupted" the stallion nodded in agreement.

Next was the unicorn stallion who had been tinkering with the scrap metal and electronics. His coat was a deep burgundy, his mane and tail the colour of ash with white streaks through it and his eyes a golden-amber colour, on his flank his cutie mark was a crossed hammer and nail. He bowed low when Amethyst named him "This is Russet Cheer; he's the teams field engineer. There's no type of weapon he can't patch up and no security code he can't hack. I should know, I trained him myself. He was already a whiz kid before he joined the project, but with amplification he's gone beyond what we could have ever predicted"

Finally there was the couple who had been sitting at the very end of the table when the group had walked in, a large pegausi stallion and an earth mare with some sort of metal plating across her back. "This is our resident couple, Red arrow" Amethyst pointed to the stallion "and Daredevil" she pointed to the mare.

The stallion was huge, at least on size with Brute, he towered over Amethyst and the mare beside him. His coat was the grey colour of a storm, and his mane and tail where cinnamon ginger and filled with tangles. His eyes where a storm grey, the same as his coat, and on his flank his cutie mark was an arrow coloured red.

"Big Red here is the teams heavy, goes into battle with a small plasma cannon. We had to have his armour custom forged, that's how big he is" Amethyst turned to the mare. The mare was a dark onyx, and her mane and tail where a deep indigo and woven through with small metal stars.

Her eyes where a fiery red, but she didn't have a cutie mark "Daredevil's the teams sniper, she's as silent as a mouse and goes pretty much undetected, she's even given me the drop a couple of times" with the whole team now introduced Amethyst stood at the end of the line, her facing showing a certain maternal pride for her charges.

"These are you're best soldiers?" Cadence asked "this one" she pointed at Daredevil "she only looks like she's twelve years old, what's she even doing in a synthetics programme anyway?" Amethyst was about to answer, but the mare spoke for herself.

"I'm fourteen actually" she dropped her eyes and kicked one of her hooves, beside her Red arrow shifted slightly closer to her and spread a wing across her back, almost as if he was shielding her from Cadences question, he scowled at the princess. "And I was born into the programme" the mare finished.

Cadence didn't quite know what to say. The ponies before her simply stood to attention, eyes forward and backs straight; Arrow still had his wing over Daredevil.

Some of these ponies had potential, she could see that.

Darkstar looked as if he was a professional soldier, a pony who had serious combat experience. But on the other end of the scale was Daredevil, only a foal who had known no other life then the amplification chamber and the white walls of this facility.

If Cadence could have formed the team herself she would have picked the finest members of Threnors military personnel and trained them herself, but she didn't have time for that, she had to make do with what she had. "These are the best of the best?" she asked Amethyst "The finest soldiers on the planet? Have they been sufficiently trained, do they know what combat's like?"

"Of course princess, we're not foolish enough to use raw recruits as our subjects. Every single one of these ponies has served a minimum of three years on the frontlines. They're trained to the highest standards and subject to the most precise synthetic surgeries and operations we have available, each one is a soldier, born and bred"

"And when can they be ready for deployment?"

"When would you like them to be deployed?"

"As soon as possible, I have a target for them. A Solar specialist team has infiltrated the planet" she gave each one of the ponies a hard look "I want you to find them, and kill them"

Amethyst

++ RECEIVING AUDIO-FILE FROM CELESTIAS GRACE++

++DOWNLOADING++

++AUDIO-FILE DOWNLOADED++

++OPENING AND PLAYING AUDIO-FILE++

++HELLO? CAN ANYONE HERE ME? FUCK IT, HERE I GO ANYWAY. THIS IS EROL CARSTEIN FROM ENGINEERING. IF YOUR LOOKING FOR ACTION THIS CHAPTER YOU WON'T FIND IT. TURNS OUT THAT THE AUTHOR GUY DECIDED TO EXPERIMENT WITH CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT++

++IF YOU'VE GOT ANY TIPS FOR HIM ABOUT IT THEN LEAVE A DATA-FILE ON THE SERVER INPUT BELOW. "LEAVE A COMMENT" I THINK HE SAYS. LOOK I GOTTA GET BACK TO WORK. SO ENJOY++

++OH. AND IF ANYONE SEES LYRA TELL HER THAT HUMANS DON'T EXIST. YOU'D THINK A GROWN PONY WOULD KNOW THAT BY NOW++

++END AUDIO-FILE++

++MOTTO FOR THE DAY: THE SURVIVAL OF THE EMPIRE IS WORTH MORE THEN THE SURVIVAL OF THE INDIVIDUAL++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

The first deployment was always the hardest, that moment when you had to let everything go and trust that it will all be ok is possibly the most difficult thing to face.

Amethyst had been with the program since the very beginning, watching over the subjects. She fed them, clothed them, made sure they slept at night and that they treated with each other with respect.

Though Amethyst had never had foals of her own, looking at the team now, she felt a maternal compassion for them so strong she had to fight to hold back her tears.

Within the amplification chamber where seven genetic modification units, and sitting in the units where the members of the team.

Six where within a deep, medically controlled coma, their brainwave emissions and pheromone outputs being carefully monitored to ensure that their immune systems didn't attempt to reject the reconstruction of their helical DNA.

The units themselves where specially designed tables, each padded to keep the occupant comfortable. Metal straps where placed around the arms and legs in order to keep the subjects muscles in the correct positions needed to maximise blood flow. In the centre of the head piece was a small hole, and through this hole was fed an input jack, designed to deliver electrical data to the chemicals and pheromones being injected into the subject so that the correct sequences of DNA where added to the helical spiral.

Though Cloudy, Ignia, Red arrow, Poker face, Darkstar and Russet cheer where already undergoing amplification, Daredevil had yet to be put under. 'Poor thing' Amethyst thought 'she's always been scared of this room'

Daredevils mother had been a political prisoner of the new Lunar republic, a dignitary from the planet of Dalmora who had been captured during a specialist operation and brought to Threnor for interrogation.

At the time of her capture the mare had been six months pregnant, though the foals' father had been long dead. When high command had been unable to find any use for the prisoner and the interrogation had proved that the mare had no knowledge of any imperial troop movements, it was decided that the mares' as yet unborn child would be placed in the new amplification program and trained as a new breed of soldier.

The filly had been born free of any defects both physical and mental, and was taken from her mother only minutes after she was born, the mare had then been transferred to Aurelia had hadn't been heard of since.

Though she had never known her mother, or for that matter even been held by her, Daredevil had grown strong.

She was quiet and subtle, never making a noise or attracting attention to herself, she was also intelligent and demonstrated remarkable aptitude for science, but lacked any interest in anything else. She was also fearless, never backing down from anything 'except for this' Daredevil had always been afraid of the amplification chamber, from the very first time she laid eyes on it.

When they'd brought her in for the first time she'd begun screaming and thrashing, trying to escape. The second time she'd been more restrained, but had still needed to be heaved onto the unit and sedated before the process could begin.

Now the filly had her fear of the chamber under control, but she'd still needed somepony to be with her whenever she went for amplification. For the first nine years of her time in the facility, Daredevil would only enter the chamber if Amethyst had been with her, and every day for nine years Amethyst had to stand beside the filly as the process began, and return when the process ended.

When Red arrow had been admitted into the program Daredevil had taken an immediate liking to the stallion, and Amethyst was replaced. But now Arrow was under sedation, and Amethyst found herself in a familiar situation. "Everything's going to be ok" she told the young filly "I'll be right here when you're done, alright?" the foal nodded and laid back on the unit, closing her eyes tight shut.

Amethyst felt the girl tense as she tightened the metal straps around her hooves, strapping her down on the cool metal of the unit.

"Will it hurt?" Daredevil asked her, Amethyst smiled. Every time she came in here it was the one question she would always ask, no matter who she was with. Amethyst gave her the usual reply.

"Only for a moment" the mare said. The filly nodded, her eyes still shut. Amethyst turned to the touch screen control panel by the side of the unit and pressed "activate sequence" with a metallic whine that began to gently rise in pitch, the unit tilted backwards until Daredevil was facing the ceiling, from the metal roof above a bright cyan light flared up, illuminating the proceedings below.

As the unit came to a stop wires and needles began to emerge from tiny ports dotted around the edges, slithering across the cold metal and writhing their way along Daredevils bodies. The filly squeaked quietly and screwed her eyes shut even tighter, but kept her body still. The needles got into position, and for a brief moment they reared up like the snakes they resembled before they simultaneously stabbed down into the flesh of the fillies arms and legs, piercing her coat in one swift motion.

The needles where connected to the unit by several thick transparent tubes, and now thick orange liquid began to pump through the tubes and into Daredevils body, the pony gasped and opened her eyes. Her irises had expanded to make her eyes seem blood red, and her pupil looked like a deep pool of black ink. Daredevil gasped again and her pupil expanded once more to consume her eyes, turning them black.

"It's ok" Amethyst said, gently taking Daredevils hoof in her own, the filly tried to answer her, but could make no sound. The amplification drugs that where being pumped into the fillies body had caused her to go blind and had paralysed every muscle in her body save for her heart, it was only natural she would be scared.

From the floor beneath the unit, directly below the hole in the centre of the head piece, there emerged the input jack, four inches long and an inch thick. Its surface shone dull silver in the cyan light, and slowly the thick wire began to pool on the floor as the jack rose up towards the back of Daredevils head.

On the control panel appeared the words "initiating amplification" and with a single thrust the input jack shot upwards and plugged itself into the docking port at the top of Daredevils spine.

The filly convulsed as her mind synchronised with the machinery of the amplification unit, and then fell still, closing her eyes and sighing deeply. A computerised female voice sounded over the intercom.

"All subjects are now ready for amplification, please enter the activation code to begin" Amethyst nodded to herself and gave the recumbent form of Daredevil one final look before she turned to the panel and typed in the activation code, the panel giving off little beeps as she did so. Upon entering the code the voice said "code accepted, beginning amplification procedure, initiating phase one" and Amethyst stood back to watch as the chamber became filled with the sound of whirring gears.

From the ceiling above each of the units, several articulated hydraulic arms began to descend on the unconscious ponies, the medical implements attached to their ends gleaming wickedly.

Each unit possessed four of these mechanical arms, which were used to deliver minute loads of specialised re-constitution chemicals, apply electrical pulses to certain nerve clusters, and perform internal surgery on a microscopic scale within the subject through nanotrites.

One was equipped with a medical syringe, another with what could be best described as an electrical cattle prod, and the last two where equipped with an array of cutting tools.

All of the arms on every unit worked simultaneously, mirroring each other as they worked. Amethyst watched the mechanical limbs begin to work on Daredevil, observing the process with a critical eye to ensure everything went as normal, genetic amplification was a tricky science to work with, and even the slightest error in the reconstruction of the helical spiral could lead to fluctuations and mutation, an outcome that was best avoided.

The limb equipped with the medical syringe lowered itself down until it was about ten inches or so above Daredevils body, hovering over her heart.

A bright blue light shone from a diode on the side of the needle as it scanned the filly's heart, checking that it was in the correct position. There was a faint bleep and the blue light disappeared, then there was a blur of motion as the needle thin syringe pierced through Daredevils coat, through a gap in her ribs and into her heart.

The foal convulsed and spasamed, but the metal restraints held her tight and the input jack signalled the release of several types of endorphins into her blood stream to prevent her from regaining consciousness.

In the space above the control panel there appeared a holographic projection, glowing a bright orange.

It showed the silhouette of a pony, arms and legs spread apart. A small dot of orange flashed over the holograms heart, and smaller dots began to radiate out from it like a sunburst, the hologram mapping the route of the nanotrites as they were fed directly into the blood stream and spread along the veins and arteries.

Within a few seconds the foals' entire circulatory system was saturated with nanotrites, the nanoscopic machines filling her body. With a dull whining and a disgusting sucking sound the needle retracted from the fillies' heart and was retracted back up towards the ceiling, the articulated limb that was equipped with it folding up into the roof.

All across the chamber the other units had mirrored the process move for move, each had a holographic projection of a pony's silhouette above it, some were of pegausi and others were of unicorns. "Initiating phase two of amplification procedure" as one, the mechanical limbs equipped with the electrical application tools descended in perfect synchrony, a high pitched whining filling the air as the tools began to charge.

The dual-pronged tool held above Daredevils unit began to make sharp zapping sounds, bolts of electricity shooting across between the prongs, the electricity painting razor edged shadows across Daredevils serenely calm face. "Beginning electro-shock stimulation" the tool descended and lightly tapped against Daredevils chest.

Even though she was unconscious and unresponsive, her subconscious mind was still capable of registering pain. Daredevil screamed, a high pitched, undulating noise that seemed to reach into Amethysts head and pull at her mind.

Across the chamber, lying upon their own units, the others were screaming too.

Cloudy was whimpering beside Roulette, who wept loudly, Ignia was screaming almost as loudly as Daredevil, which was unusual given her rugged and harsh exterior. Red arrow and Russet cheer where both struggling violently against their restraints, the only one to remain silent was Darkstar.

Checking that the procedure being performed on Daredevil was going as planned, Amethyst made her way over to the silent pony, who lay completely still and serene on the cold metal surface of his unit.

Contrasting sharply with the white metal of the walls and floor of the chamber, the stallions' coat seemed to make him a solid shadow, darkness given form, a deep midnight blue that was streaked through with bands of black, held tightly to his large frame. His build extenuated the contrast between his coat and the unit.

Darkstar was heavily built; every inch of him well defined muscle. From his wide set shoulders to the powerful muscles in his legs, the stallion seemed to radiate an aura of strength.

Spread out from underneath him where his wings, the feathers a deep glossy black that seemed to drink up the light, making them appear even darker. His jet black mane was cropped short in a typical military fashion; though he hadn't opted for a buzz cut.

Darkstar had been indoctrinated into the program three years ago, and was perhaps the most interesting specimen Amethyst had ever studied in her life.

The Pegasus was calm and quiet, never raising his voice higher than a shout and always keeping a level head. Whereas the other members of the team where always laughing or making jokes, Darkstar always kept himself distant from the rest of the team, watching, waiting like a predator. He always did as he was ordered and followed commands to the letter, where the others would shout and complain and resist, Darkstar would simply nod in mute acceptance and follow on behind you.

It had not taken a lot of thought for Amethyst to decide who should be team leader, Darkstar was the obvious choice. Level headed, quick to adapt to any situation and possessed of an almost unreal level of battlefield prowess, there was no other pony in the team who had the capabilities to match Darkstar.

Yes, Red arrow was stronger, Ignia was more powerful and Russet better with mechanics, but none of them could plan even so much as ten minutes into the future, let alone formulate a plan of action in the middle of a battle.

Darkstar had been in the program for three years now, and for three years he had exceeded every expectation that had ever been laid in front of him. He had been a fast flyer and strong before he joined the program, but with regular genetic amplification he had gone beyond the limits of what his natural body could ever have granted to him.

The pony had the capability to punch through solid ferrocrete with the same ease as any of the empires synthetic Alicorns, and was capable of reaching flying speeds of mach two when in flight. The amplification process had also widened his mental faculties, and the pony now possessed the same processing capabilities as a genome class bio-computer.

But the thing that was the most unsettling about Darkstar was his eyes. They were constantly shifting in hue, never retaining one shade for too long. At one moment they would shine as bright as the midday sun, seeming to glow with an ethereal light of their own. The next they could darken to a deep twilight blue, giving his eyes an almost soulless appearance.

More than once Amethyst had seen those eyes watching her, their predatory gaze filling her with a sense of unease and dread ... and something else.

She knew that she had no need to fear Darkstar, but she also knew that left to his own devices the stallion was extremely dangerous. the chamber suddenly fell silent, and Amethyst looked around to watch the electric application tools begin to retract away from the unconscious bodies of the team and rise back up to the ceiling, the excruciating electric current that flowed through their tools giving off a last set of cracks and snaps as the remaining energy dissipated before falling silent.

"Initiating phase three, beginning genetic reconstruction, estimated time until completion: one hour" the holographic projections above each of the units flickered before disappearing entirely, their orange light fading to leave only the brilliant white of the roof lights and the gentle cyan glow of the lights set into the units.

Amethyst quickly went back over to Daredevil to ensure that everything was running smoothly before she made her way down the line of units towards the glass door at the far wall.

As she passed each pair of units the lights went off behind her, causing the room to begin to black out and leaving the cyan light of the units as the only source of illumination.

Amethyst reached the door and typed in an access code in the small terminal to the doors right side, the buttons making faint beeping noises as she entered each number. With a final beep the door slid silently open and Amethyst stepped through, the final pair of lights shutting off behind her. The door closed again and the unicorn mare looked back through the glass door to see that the chamber was completely dark, save for the islands of light that where the units.

"It's been so long..." Amethyst said to herself, glancing towards the back of the chamber where she was just about able to make out Daredevil, her eyes closed and her face calm.

It was hard to believe that anypony so young would have to see the horrors that the filly was about to witness, that only a mere foal would be forced to watch the devastation of war, it wasn't right. 'No' she thought to herself 'Daredevil is a soldier, this is what she was trained for ... no; this is what she was born for'

Amethyst knew that it was unwise to build any sort of emotional attachment to her charges, she had been tasked to train soldiers, not to treat them like they where her own children. 'they were born for this' she told herself as she made her way down a stark white corridor, her hoofsteps echoing quietly on the cold metal floor

'you shouldn't feel any connection towards them, they're just lab rats to be used and disposed, there's always plenty more where they came from. Red arrow was a murderer, Ignia's incinerated hundreds, and Darkstar is a P.O.W. who was bred and trained to kill NLR citizens'

That much was true to say the least.

Red arrow had butchered his father and mother in their sleep with a cleaver.

Ignia had been an insurrectionist who had single-hoofedly incinerated two hundred riot control officers during the Pragmix uprising.

Darkstar had once been part of the solar military program known as "the blue-blood orphans", a highly skilled shock tactics unit that specialised in blitzkrieg style strikes on vital military assets, and the stallion had only been captured by the combined efforts of five NLR synthetic Alicorns, two of which died for their efforts.

'this is how it was always going to end for them, fighting for the new Lunar republic and dying in a final blaze of glory' Amethyst tried to hold that thought, that her charges really where meant to die fighting for the glory of the republic, but the dream turned into ashes in her mouth, and all she could think about was the sight of her precious foals getting cut down by merciless gunfire.

But now wasn't the time to start letting her conscious get in the way, princess Cadence wanted the team ready for deployment as soon as possible, and as a loyal citizen of the NLR it was Amethysts duty to ensure that the war effort went unhindered.

She'd reached the end of the hall way, and was greeted by another door, this one made of solid white metal and four inches thick.

The current corridor she was in was part of the entrance way in the subjects living quarters and as a result access to both the subjects' areas of the facility and the outside world was heavily restricted.

Only Amethyst and select members of the inner circles of high command where allowed direct access to the subjects, with the only way in and out being a door made of solid adamantium that was four inches thick and conducted a deadly electrical charge once sealed.

Amethyst laid her hoof against the centre of the door and waited for a moment whilst the sensors and receptors implanted in the surface of the door registered her genetic signature. There was a faint beep followed by a deep grinding and clanking as heavy gears and cogs built into the wall slid back the sealing bolts and deactivated the heavy magnetic field that kept the door sealed. With a final deep growl the door spilt in two and began to clank open, the top section rose upwards into the ceiling and the bottom section sank into the floor, leaving a doorway for her to step through.

Amethyst went through the door and out into her laboratory, filled with tables and workbenches that where piled high with everything from nuts and bolts to old plasma coils and miniature fusion reactors.

She turned around and pressed a button on a small terminal at the right side of the door, causing the heavy door to close sink back down from the top of the door frame. It locked back down into place with a deep clanking noise, followed by grinding as the sealing bolts slid into place and a high pitched whine as the door was electrified.

Amethyst turned away from the door and was greeted by a formidable visage, she yelped in fright.

Towering over her was an enormous griffin, who gazed at her with emotionless eyes.

The coat on his lionessque body was a bright caramel gold, whilst the feathers on his avian head where snow white, the feathers on his wings where a deep chestnut brown, bleaching at the tips to the same golden sheen of his coat, around his eyes where the rings of black that all griffins had, and the eyes themselves where a deep gold. They where cold eyes, eyes that showed no sign of emotion or gave any inclination to what the griffin was thinking, his beak was scarred and chipped, a single thick scar ran down the griffins right cheek.

"Brute ... " Amethyst managed "you scared me" the griffin shrugged unapologetically.

"Brute heard the door open, but could not see who was coming through. Now Brute knows, so the end justifies the means" Amethyst simply stared up at the griffin, her eyes wide. Brute stared back, his eyes empty. "The little one wants to see you" he said in his clipped accent, Amethyst cocked her head slightly.

"The...little one?" she asked, she had no idea who that could be.

"The griffin means me, Amethyst" from behind a stack of Ceramite plates there emerged Princess Cadence, Amethyst dropped to her knees.

"Princess" Amethyst looked up to Cadence "how may i be of service?"

Cadence had opted for a simple garb today, trading away her silks, satins and jewels for a simple torque of gold around her throat with a purple topaz crystal set into the centre.

Her rich pink coat was well groomed and had a glossy sheen to it, and her mane and tail, striped through with purple, pink and cream, shone with its own illumination. Her dark purple eyes seemed bottomless and twinkled gently; a soft smile was on her face.

"You have three hours until your team has to be deployed, i simply came by to see how everything was going" Cadence flicked her mane "and to get away from my generals, they babble like children calling to their mother for attention"

Amethyst blinked, she wasn't really sure what to say, no princess had ever paid her a social call before. She cleared her throat.

"It would be my honour, Princess" Amethyst stepped around Brute, uncomfortably aware that the griffins eyes where following her every move. "The team is currently undergoing a final procedure in the amplification chamber, but they will be ready for deployment in roughly two hours"

Amethyst swallowed, her next words seeming like lead in her mouth. "I must confess that i'm worried about my pon ... I mean my charges" she corrected herself at the last moment, but the flash of recognition that went across cadences features told the unicorn that she'd misspoken.

"Your ponies?" Cadence asked, a sad smile on her face "did you really just say that?"Amethyst lowered her eyes and kicked one of her hooves half-heartedly.

"Yes, princess" she murmured. For a few moments there was silence, and Amethyst looked up to see Cadence smiling, sadness twinkling in her eyes.

"Are you affectionate towards the subjects?"

"Yes, princess"

"And ... Is that affection strong?"

"Yes, princess"

"Then there is no fault in regarding those ponies as your own" Cadence told her. The Alicorn looked around the cluttered lab, taking the sterile white walls and the neatly organised stacks of components.

"I imagine that down here they don't receive as much love and care as others do" Cadence walked over to one of the tables and picked up an old plasma coil, a blackened spiral of grey metal that faintly glowed blue. "So tell me, Amethyst. What is it you specifically do down here?"

"I'm the teams primary technician" the blue unicorn answered "i keep their weapons maintained, their armour up to scratch. I programme the amplification units and make sure that no errors occur during the process" Cadence gave her an even look.

"Something tells me you do more than that" she said in a level tone. "That filly, Daredevil, she's far too young to be without her mother" Amethyst nodded.

"Daredevil never knew her mother...i raised her myself, princess" Amethyst smiled shyly "i'm...i'm the only family that she's ever known. Me and the other members of the team" Amethyst stepped up beside Cadence at the workbench and began to idly tinker with a small device she'd been working on for the past few months, a musical box made out of Ceramite and several old gears she'd salvaged from a decommissioned war-mech.

"she's never been outside of these walls, she doesn't know what the outside world is like" Amethyst picked up a small Alan-key and began wind up the music boxes internal mechanisms "she spends a lot of her time in the simulator in order to make sure that she can function on a mission, but this will be the first time she's ever actually seen the sun or the stars, or felt the wind in her mane and the rain on her face" the box began to chime, the gears and cogs within meshing together. She set the musical box down on the work-surface and watched it, beside her Cadence looked on inquisitively.

"this song...i know it" the princess said, gently picking up the box in her hooves "it's a lullaby, i used to sing it to Twilight" she closed her eyes and slowly moved her lips as she remembered the words

'though the night rides, and the sun no longer flies, oh no dear child, don't cry'

"Twilight, princess?" Amethyst asked.

Twilight was a common name throughout both the republic and the empire; there were literally millions of ponies who bore the names of the holy saints.

But Cadence was a princess, and a high ranking general in the NLR military, how could she have ever sung a lullaby to some foal? As far as Amethyst knew, the only Twilight cadence could have ever sung to was...

"Twilight Sparkle"

she said the name aloud with both reverence and awe.

Twilight sparkle, the bearer of the element of magic, was the patron saint of unicorns across the length of the whole galaxy, particularly of scholars and navigators.

During the first expeditions Twilight sparkle had served as the navigator of the first fleet, using her knowledge of the stars and constellations to map the route of the fleet as it traversed the empty void of space beyond the system of Equine prime. After her death on the far flung planet of Ianose during the first griffin insurrection it had been decreed that she was to the first of the six saints, and had been immortalised in the history of the equine race for the entirety of time.

Amethyst herself had prayed to Twilight for guidance for the whole of her life, indeed the first words and phrases she had ever been taught had been prayers to the lavender unicorn.

Cadence smiled sadly, opening her eyes and gently placing the musical box down on the work-surface. "Yes, Twilight sparkle" Cadence looked towards Amethyst, and the blue unicorn could see sadness in the immortals eyes "thousands of years ago i used to baby-sit Twilight when she was only a young filly, she was so small and innocent back then, it was hard to believe just by looking at her that she would one day be a saint" Cadence broke her gaze with Amethyst and turned her attention back to the musical box.

"Pardon me, princess. But...what was she like?" Amethyst asked hesitantly.

Only natural born Alicorns where given the gift of immortality, synthetic Alicorns would usually die after a thousand years or so.

Cadence herself was immortal, and had known the six saints when they were alive.

She was a cornucopia of knowledge from an almost mythic age.

However, almost all immortals never talked about their past or the things they'd seen, when a being continues to go on living forever and is forced to watch their friends and family grow old and die until they have to carry on alone, it can change them. Amethyst didn't really expect Cadence to be an exception.

For a few long moments there was silence, until Cadence sighed. "She was...she was kind"

Cadence turned away from the box and looked around the lab, in the few seconds before she turned away Amethyst thought she could see tears in the princesses eyes. "She was a good and kind pony" Cadence walked around the work-surface and began walking down one of the makeshift aisles that ran between the work benches, Amethyst followed behind her. Brute seemed to have disappeared, which was unnerving given how small the laboratory was.

"She was always working hard, always fretting about work and friendship reports, and she always had her nose in a book" Cadence had reached the far wall of the lab, and before her where rows of bookshelves, the shelves themselves built into the wall and made of white metal, just like everything else in the lab.

Sitting on the shelves where hundreds of old leather backed books, containing everything from biological thesis reports that Amethyst read in her spare time to books full of old pony tales that Daredevil had loved so much she'd read all of them twice. Cadence seemed to stare at the books without really seeing them; her mind was away somewhere else. "I married her brother, Shining armour" she said quietly, more to herself then to Amethyst "and there where changelings ... "

Cadence suddenly blinked and shook her head, tossing her colourful mane. "Pardon me, Amethyst, but...i would rather not talk about it. Immortality has its burdens, and i would rather keep them to myself" Cadence smiled and turned to gesture to the whole of the laboratory, making a sweeping gesture with one hoof. "So tell me, what is all this equipment used for, exactly?" Amethyst, a little put off by the princess' recent phase-out, eagerly seized the new topic.

"Well, here in the lab i perform maintenance on the team's weapons as well as their armour. I also research upgrades and augmentations for the team" at this Cadences brow furrowed slightly in confusion.

"Augmentations?" the Alicorn asked "I though all the members of your team where natural?" Amethyst nodded.

"they are princess"

"So what are these 'augmentations' for?"

"well, as I explained the last time you where here, the process of genetic amplification creates several base chains in the helical spiral that don't occur naturally" Amethyst paused to make sure Cadence understood before continuing. "These new chains aren't synthetic, as they are created more by accident then by design, it's more rather that they're mutations" Cadence frowned again.

"Mutations...i have reason to believe that the NLR has a strict policy against the employment of biological weapons in the field"

In the beginning centuries of the war both the Solar Empire and the new Lunar republic had fielded unstable biological weapons against each other, from such creatures as hyper evolved evolutionary offshots of the equine species such as the pyro's to genetically unstable mutants whose wildly fluctuating genetic structure meant that they could be anything from vicious killing machines to degenerates that would simply collapse at any moment in quivering piles of rotten flesh.

These creatures had been used in a time when the concept of economic genetic synthesis for military purposes, such as the creation of synthetic Alicorns both quickly and cheaply, was still a dream. Indeed, it was only in the previous five hundred years or so that the levels of technology required for synthesising Alicorns for military application had been reached.

Amethyst bristled slightly. "With all due respect, princess, my charges aren't mutants"

"I meant no offense, Amethyst. I'm simply having trouble getting my head around the concept of what this genetic amplification process is. I believe that what you're telling me is that genetic amplification doesn't alter the subjects' natural DNA structure, but it still creates mutations?" Amethyst nodded slowly.

"Yes. What happens is that during the process we inject a variety of different chemicals into the subjects' blood stream. These chemicals bind with the bases that form the subjects DNA and alter their fundamental properties, which allows the helical spiral to be rearranged. In the process, several new chains of bases that wouldn't naturally occur are created, and these are the mutations that are a result of the process" Cadence took a few moments to mull this over.

"And these augmentations you research. They have something to do with these mutations?" Amethyst nodded.

"Correct. Though these new genetic codes are mutations, they don't exhibit any outward manifestations. Indeed, it seems as if they don't exhibit anything at all. From what my studies have told me, the new codes are in fact blank. The augmentations i'm creating will allow me to use these mutations as a sort of blank canvas, meaning i can use them as inventory slots for a whole host of genetic abilities"

"So what you're saying is-" Cadence began, but an excited Amethyst cut her off.

"What i'm saying is that these new augmentations will allow me to alter the abilities of anypony who has undergone the amplification process. Think about it, princess. Say one soldier becomes wounded in battle and is unable to reach a medic in time, if that soldier had already been amplified that it would be possible to alter one of his mutations so that his body naturally has accelerated healing abilities"

The unicorns eyes glittered with fevered excitement.

"The possibilities are endless, there are so many abilities just waiting to be created. Pryomancy, telekinesis, with the potential of latent psionic abilities there's no limit to what these augmentations could accomplish. Genetic amplification is quicker and more effective than creating synthetic Alicorns, with enough funding and time i could revolutionise the NLR military, create a new breed of soldier"

Amethyst cheeks where flushed and she was breathing hard, but then she suddenly realised her sudden bout of fanaticism about this single concept, and she immediately tried to regain her composure.

"But of course, it's an empty dream" she said quietly, lowering her eyes "It would take too long for the entirety of the republics military to be amplified" Amethyst coughed lightly, raising one hoof to her mouth as she did so. "Please forgive me for my ... rant, princess. I tend to get carried away when it comes to science" to Amethyst surprise, Cadence smiled.

"There's no need to apologise, Amethyst. Twilight was the same when you got her going on something to do with friendship or magic" Amethyst smiled shyly, and then realised that she had been talking for a rather long time, the amplification of the team would almost be complete.

"Princess, if you would follow me, i would like the team to meet you one more time before i begin to arm them for deployment" Cadence nodded in agreement.

"Lead on" she said, and gestured for Amethyst to do so. The unicorn curtsied and turned back around to start making her way back to the magnetised door. They walked past three rows of the white metal tables stacked high with their odd bits and pieces and then took a left turn at the far wall towards the door, Brute was waiting for them. "Brute, i'm going into the facility to meet the test subjects one more time, kindly wait here for me" the huge griffin tensed.

"Little one" the enormous creature said in a deep rolling voice that sounded like thunder "Brute doesn't believe that to be a sensible course of action, Brute insists that he accompany you" Cadence smiled.

"Always protecting me, truly you are a stalwart defender, Brute" Cadences smile became sad "but i fear that your presence may cause the team to believe i...doubt their abilities. I am perfectly safe here, Brute, nothing will hurt me here"

Brute frowned, but made no move to continue the argument.

Amethyst stepped past the griffin and began to enter the access code into the input terminal beside the door, the buttons making light beeping sounds every time she touched the pad.

There was a sharp whine as the deadly electrical charge flowing through the door dissipated, followed by the deep rumbling of metal on metal as the locks and bolts in the door where retracted, the noise ending with a deep clanking sound as the door split into two section once again and slowly vanished into the walls, leaving an opening into the white walled corridor beyond.

Amethyst stepped through, followed by Cadence, Brute stayed behind, frowning at them through the door as it slowly closed behind them.

"It's very...sterile in here" Cadence said as they walked along the corridor "so much white and not a single speck of colour, do you not get sick of it?" Amethyst shrugged casually.

"To be honest, princess, the lack of colour doesn't really bother me"

"But...do you not want at least a bit of colour down here?"

"Of course, but the white's a necessity. It's sterile, so there's less chance of any genetic infections spreading amongst members of the team" Amethyst sighed as they continued onward "once i did try to decorate the walls of Daredevils room pink, but she hated it. She kept saying that pink was an ugly colour and that she preferred white, so i keep it that way"

They had reached the door to the amplification chamber, and Amethyst entered the access code into the terminal at its side. As the door silently slid open and icy chill seemed to seep from the room that ran down her spine and made her shiver, within it was pitch black, save for the lights of the units.

The units where powering down as they entered, filling the air with a deep grumbling sound as the various mechanical arms retracted up to the ceiling. A thick fog swirled around the floor as the two ponies entered, shrouding the floor from sight. "It's from the coolant systems" Amethyst explained as she led Cadence past the rows of units to Daredevil at the back of the room.

"too much heat and the helical spiral becomes unstable and collapses, so we have to keep the subjects cool whilst they undergo amplification" there was a final whirring sound from the units and then the chamber fell silent, the only remaining sound was the gentle hissing of the vents set into the floor as they filtered out the thick fog generated by the coolant systems.

Amethyst stepped up to the control panel by Daredevils unit and tapped the screen lightly, causing it to light up and wash her face in a monochrome blue light.

On the screen of the panel where the words "Amplification sequence complete, initiating revivification cycle" there was a high pitched whining and the lights set in the ceiling turned back on, flooding the chamber with brilliant white light. The bright cyan lights above the units faded away into nothing.

With a deep beeping noise the input jacks plugged into the cerebral port at top of the ponies spines disconnected and disappeared back into the floor at the same time as the smaller needles that were injected all over the fillies body where retracted and slithered back into the metal of the unit, all over Daredevils body blood began to well up from the tiny circular cuts caused by the needles.

Amethyst pressed another button on the screen and the metal straps the bound Daredevil to the unit unfastened themselves and fell free, releasing Daredevil from the unit.

For a few moments there was nothing but silence, even the ventilation had become silent. Amethyst glanced at the units monitor and saw that the fillies heart rate and vital signs where normal.

"Come on, Daredevil" Amethyst said gently, taking the fillies hoof in her own "time to wake up"

As if the fillies body was waiting for those exact words, the young foal opened her eyes. Her pupils where still dilated, and covered the majority of her eyes, but around the edges was a faint ring of red. As her pupils slowly constricted back to their normal size, the filly blinked and sat up, her motions jerky and autonomous, as if she were a machine.

"It's ok, i'm right here like i promised"

"Amethyst, i still can't see" Daredevil said, rubbing at her eyes with her free hoof "it's still so dark"

"Just give it a moment, Daredevil. Everything will be normal again in just a second" the young filly nodded slowly and gripped Amethysts hoof tightly. Behind her Cadence gave a small smile.

"It's ok, Daredevil" came a deep voice behind them, and Amethyst looked behind her to see Red arrow walking up to them, a look of concern on his face.

Amethyst stepped aside and let Red take Daredevils hoof from her.

The large colt took hold of it gently and leaned in to the filly, who seemed tiny compared to him.

Immediately Daredevil fumbled blindly until her hooves found Reds shoulders, she hugged herself tightly against him, her eyes closed. Red arrow began whispering gently in her ear, and whatever he was saying caused Daredevil to cling even more tightly to her partner.

Amethyst smiled to herself, Cadence leaned in to whisper in her ear.

"That is so sweet" Cadence said, Amethyst nodded "what's their story?"

"Daredevil was born into the project, but she was always alone. When Red was introduced into the programme Daredevil took an immediate liking to him and they've been together ever since" Cadence made an 'Aww' noise.

"Amethyst" said another deep voice from behind them, and Amethyst turned to discover Darkstar towering over her, a predatory gaze in his dark blue eyes.

The Pegasus looked at her coolly, taking note of her every move.

His eyes momentarily glanced towards Cadence, taking special note of her presence. "Ignia, Cloudy, Roulette and Russet are ready for armament, we await your command" as soon as he was done, Darkstar stood to attention, his wings shifting gently against his back.

Cadence looked the pegausi up and down, and then nodded approvingly.

"right then, let's get going" Amethyst gave Daredevil a glance to see the filly was back on her hooves, and then she led the group out of the amplification chamber and onwards down the corridor deeper into the facility, Ignia, Cloudy, Roulette and Russet fell in behind them.

After a minute of silent walking down the cold metal corridor they reached another door, and when Amethyst entered the code into the access panel the door slid open silently. Inside the room was pitch black, but as the assembled ponies stepped through the doorway lights set into the ceiling switched on and flooded the room with light, revealing rows and rows of weapon racks.

The rows stretched back to the far wall, each rack filled with neatly stacked weapons, their cases shining dully in the light. There where pulse rifles, pulse carbines and plasma rifles. Placed in mountings on the walls where power weapons, each one with the destructive potential to smash through solid walls.

On the right wall was a row of display cases, each containing a set of armour, above each was a pair of mechanical limbs equipped with multiple digits. "Welcome to the armoury, princess" Amethyst said, looking across the rows of weapons with pride. Half of them she'd constructed herself, pouring all her heart, soul and dedication into making each of them a work of art.

"You're certainly well equipped" Cadence remarked as the team spread out from behind them, moving towards the sets of armour.

"I've constructed most of these weapons myself, princess. Each one of them is a labour of love that was crafted individually for each member of the team" by the cases each member of the team lined up in front of their armour, except for Red arrow, who disappeared towards the back of the room to a specially constructed armoury where his own suit of armour waited, as it was too big for regular machinery to equip it.

Darkstar looked down the row of ponies to make sure everyone was in position before he entered an access code into a small terminal on the right side of the display case that contained his armour. Immediately there was a hissing sound and the glass of the case slid into the wall, leaving the pieces of armour suspended in a magnetic field.

The mechanical limbs above the pegausi whirred into life and immediately took hold of the armours chest plate. With a soft hissing and the grinding of cogs the chest plate was lowered down and joined with the back plate around Darkstars chest, locking him inside the chest piece. The same was occurring simultaneously to all the other ponies, the mechanical limbs working in perfect synchrony with each other.

"Amethyst, who have you designated as the team leader?" Cadence asked, never taking her eyes off the armouring process.

"Darkstar holds that rank, princess" Amethyst stated, moving up towards the weapon racks and picking up a pulse carbine, studying its chassis with a critical eye. "He has a history of military service, so he served as the most logical choice for squad sergeant"

Amethyst tapped the side of the carbine and with a gentle whining a set of gentle cyan lights lit down the length of the weapons short barrel. Amethyst closed one eye and glanced down the sight before nodding with approval and placing the weapon on the rack. She glanced over to see that the armouring process was half complete, Darkstar was encased in armour from his legs and chest, only his arms, head and neck were left bare.

Amethyst watched as the muscles at the base of his wings flexed and tensed as wing blades where attached to the rims of his pinions, their razor edges catching the light and causing it to flare blindingly bright.

"Quiet a specimen, isn't he?" Cadence asked, a knowing smile on her face, Amethyst blushed lightly and looked away, turning her attention back to the weapons. "Oh, come on, Amethyst" Cadence smiled again "not going to talk about it? Well, that's your choice I guess. There's no point in hiding it" Cadence reached up and tapped her cutie-mark lightly "I'm the princess of love, remember? I can see the affection you have for that colt as plain as day"

Amethyst didn't react, instead she inspected a shotgun with a critical eye, wondering if its gauge was sufficient enough to blow a ponies head off.

Cadence looked back to the pegausi, who had his back turned to them. "He has got wonderful wings though. Strong and powerful wings" the Alicorn ruffled her own wings as she spoke "but gentle as well, i can see that too" Cadence turned back to Amethyst, surprisingly there was a look of concern on her face

"you must be careful of that Pegasus, Amethyst. I sense something...dark about him. 'White wings and a broken horn, no...Darkstar is not the one i must fear'

"Darkstar has my complete confidence" Amethyst said, still blushing as she examined a rail rifle carefully, checking that the entire magnetic rail guide system was in position and that there were no anomalies with the power distribution array. "He's the perfect soldier, born and bred for war. He's not going to betray me" Amethyst swallowed "he won't betray me" she whispered to herself.

"And will the team succeed?" Cadence asked "is your Darkstar skilled enough to ensure the success of this mission"

"Of course" Amethyst began to bristle slightly at the Alicorns tone "This team is no ordinary squad of soldiers, Princess. This team is a machine made for war. I've poured my heart and soul into making these ponies what they are, countless hours of research and development into turning these creatures into more than colts and fillies"

Amethyst gave the princess an accusing stare "until yesterday you didn't even know these ponies existed, Cadence. Don't presume to judge them" Amethyst pulled back the bolt action loading system on the rail rifle and inserted a clip of five highly magnetised Ceramite bolts before pushing the loading bolt forward and arming the weapon with a clicking sound.

"You don't know what they've been through, you never could" Amethyst picked up a pair of gauntlets covered in flame designs from the rack and began checking them over, inspecting them for defects.

"I do"

Amethyst left Cadence' side and approached the members of the team, just as the armouring process was finishing, silently cursing the princess behind her.

Darkstar approached her first, his heavy duty armour clanking gently. His armour was similar to that of a specialist, sturdy and durable, made for heavy wear and tear.

However, Darkstar had made some more personal modifications to it. It was made of a compound that contained both Ceramite and titanium that Darkstar had engineered himself, and as a result it was both lighter and more flexible, allowing for greater freedom of movement.

The armour also possessed a more pleasing aesthetic quality to it, where as the armour of a specialist was bulky and possessed of more hard edges and straight lines, Darkstars armour was smooth and sleek, the metal of the framework almost seeming to flow like liquid. Even the colour matched its owner perfectly, a deep midnight blue covered in swirling flame patterns of black, the same as the pegausi' coat.

Amethyst handed him the rail rifle, his personnel weapon of choice. "souped up and ready to go" she told him as he inspected the weapon himself "i replaced the plasma coil with one i made myself, i bypassed the induction system so you'll have a higher rate of fire, but in order to do that i had to strip back on the coolant systems so it'll heat up more quickly. I've also replaced you usual ammunition with special conductive Ceramite bolts with armour piercing capabilities that are designed to delocalise the electrons of the targeted area upon impact"

"Explosives" Darkstar said, nodding to himself "i appreciate it"

"And what about me?" asked Ignia. The mare was resplendent in her flaming armour armour; her thin and lithe body belied the deadliness beneath the red exterior of her coat. "Do i get any toys?" Amethyst smiled.

"Don't worry Ignia; I've got toys for you too" Amethyst produced the gauntlets "Prometheus pattern flamer gauntlets, custom made, took me a month to complete" Ignia took the gauntlets and attached them to her hooves, there was a clicking noise followed by a whining as the gauntlets connected to her armour

"they're designed to sync with some systems i built into your armour, some storage tanks containing promethium that'll fuel the burners. be careful though, promethium is highly volatile, burns like wildfire, it'll consume everything in its path and keep burning until there's nothing left. If you run out of fuel, however, you can use them to project your natural pyromantic abilities" the mares pink eyes seemed to burn with a fire of their own as Amethyst talked.

"Oh Amethyst" the mare said with an odd glitter in her eyes, licking her lips as she stared at the muzzle of one of the flamers, Amethyst knew that look all to well "don't you know that fire is my special talent?"

"Sorry, Cloudy, Russet, Roulette, but i'm afraid that i haven't got anything for you. However..."

Amethyst turned to Daredevil "i do have something for you though" Amethyst turned back towards the weapon racks and disappeared down one of the aisles, Daredevil followed behind her.

"It's here somewhere, i know it is" Amethyst said to herself "come on...ah, here we go" Amethyst pulled out a slim pulse sniper from one of the racks. "It's a custom design, lightweight, durable and packing a hell of a punch"

Daredevil took the weapon almost reverently from Amethyst, running one hoof down the streamline barrel of the gun. "It works on the same principle as a pulse jezzaile, but I've stripped back the ionising compartment and coolant systems to the bare essentials, so it's got an increased range of accuracy to about ten miles, but it'll over heat if you maintain a constant rate of fire. Once someone gets in your sights, they're as good as dead"

Daredevil grinned, and ran a hoof down the helical spiral pattern that had been ingrained into the metal of the barrel.

"It's beautiful" the filly breathed.

"And deadly" Amethyst suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of sadness crash down on her. This was Daredevil, a foal she'd raised from birth, practically her own child, and now the young filly was going out into a war zone. To kill and bring death and destruction in the name of the republic

'she's too young' Amethyst thought to herself 'she shouldn't be here, she should be someplace warm. She should be somewhere where she can feel the sun on her face and the wind through her mane, somewhere where she can have a real foalhood'

Amethyst felt like crying but instead she hid her tears and smiled. "Come on, i have a Valkyrie gunship waiting for us up on the docking pads. It's time for deployment" the words felt heavy in her mouth, and the message they imparted made her feel even worse.

They turned back and went to rejoin the group, who had armed themselves during the pair's temporary absence. Red arrow had appeared carrying his plasma cannon; a walking mountain of metal seven feet tall. Amethyst nodded to Darkstar

"All right everyone" Darkstar said, his voice loud and clear and filled with authority. "It's time for deployment, let's go" Amethyst smiled proudly as Darkstar talked, knowing she had made the right choice for squad sergeant. Darkstar headed for the door and the rest of the squad followed behind, moving out of the door in single file, Amethyst and Cadence followed behind, Cadence walked beside Amethyst.

"Amethyst, please forgive me for what i said, i shouldn't have said what i did" Amethyst kept looking ahead, watching the light play along the rims of Darkstars wing blades. "Amethyst?"

"No apologies needed, Princess" the unicorn said, not turning her head to look the Alicorn in the eye.

"Please. I didn't mean it" Amethyst stopped in her tracks, gritting her teeth.

"The relationship between Darkstar and I is purely professional, and as for your comment on his capabilities" Amethyst looked Cadence in the eye, her own blue eyes where seething wells of anger "Darkstar has seen more of the war in his life then you have in the whole of yours. I don't know how many ponies he's killed, or how many friends and family he's lost because of the conflict. I don't know how many mares he's raped and how many foals he's orphaned. But i do know that he's one of the greatest soldiers I've ever seen and that I trust him with my life"

Amethyst turned back down the corridor and proceeded towards the magnetised door at the end of the hallway where the team where waiting for her to deactivate the security systems. Cadence watched her go and then sighed; it seemed like no matter what she said Amethyst wasn't going to forgive her anytime soon.

Amethyst made her way through the team and entered the access code for the door. 'That mare!' she thought to herself as the electrical current flowing through the door powered down with a whine and began to split in two and open 'How dare she come down here and question the efficiency of my team!' the door finished opening with a deep clanking boom

'And to talk about me and Darkstar like that!' she thought as the pegausi in question walked past her and through the door 'How dare she!' through the door Brute was waiting for them, and the griffin growled deeply as he watched the heavily armoured group go past, mentally taking note of the ponies strengths and weaknesses and formulating a plan of attack should they become a threat to his charge.

"Brute" Cadence said as she stepped through into the lab "I believe we have outstayed our welcome"

"As the little one says" Brute said in his clipped voice "Brute can smell the stink of these unnatural creatures, it makes Brute sick" the griffins eyes glanced towards the group of genetically amplified ponies, growling.

Cadence glanced over to Amethyst to ensure the unicorn hadn't heard her, the relationship between them was already stretched thin and a comment like Brutes would only make things worse. Thankfully the mare hadn't heard. "But though Brute agrees with the little one, Brute thinks that the little one should see the team leave" Cadence gave the griffin a glance.

"Did you really just state your opinion, Brute?" Cadence asked, raising an eye brow at her guardian.

The griffin nodded.

"These ponies are about to go out and die for the little one, it is only right that the little should see them leave" the griffin closed his claws into a fist and beat it once upon his chest "it is an honourable action amongst griffins" Cadence saw the look of resolution on the griffins normally blank gaze and sighed.

"Very well, Brute, We shall see them leave" Cadence turned and made her way through the lab to rejoin the team as they were stepping onto the wide lift that would take them up to the landing pad.

Her hooves made gentle clanking noises on the metal floor, and Brutes claws made clicking noises as they scraped against it. Amethyst entered a code into the elevators terminal and the metal disk began to rise, leaving the laboratory behind. Cadence glanced across to Amethyst, but the mare refused to meet her gaze.

They rode the rest of the way up in silence.

After ten minutes the lift came to a slow halt, and a pair of curved double doors opened to let in a gust of cold wind, with the clanking of metal on metal the armoured group of ponies along with Amethyst, Cadence and Brute following behind. The landing pad a circular disk of metal thirty-five meters in diameter, facing towards the east and exposed to the elements as it jutted out from the side of the spire.

The metal surface was wet with the night's rain, and pools of it had gathered in depressions in the metal. In the west two of the moons where sinking below the horizon whilst the third, Threnor minor, held its place in the sky, its blue oceans shining bright.

In the east, Threnor primes blue sun was rising, painting the western horizon and the low hanging grey storm clouds a band of deep blue. Waiting in the centre of the pad was a valkyrie gunship silhouetted against the rising blue sun, the darkness of the remaining night painting the gunships chassis black, save for the blinking red lights along the rims of its wings and the yellow light that poured out the open boarding ramp and the nozzles of its thrusters.

The air was filled with a high pitched whining as the VTOL turbines set into the wings powered up.

Amethyst looked across the team, taking in what could be her last sight of her charges. Cloudy was looking towards the rising sun, his face calm and deep in thought. Ignia and Russet where talking, Russet said something that Amethyst couldn't hear, but whatever it was made Ignia to laugh lightly, causing her mane to gently flare up and flicker momentarily with golden flames.

Roulette had produced a pack of playing cards from seemingly nowhere and was flicking them from hoof to hoof. Red arrow and Daredevil where also deep in conversation, leaned in close and talking in low voices to each other. Darkstar simply looked towards the rising sun; Amethyst couldn't tell what was going on behind his dark eyes.

Ignia, Poker, Cloudy and Russet walked towards the gunship and went up the boarding ramp, their armour clanking on the metal of the ramp, to take seats inside the gunship, Russet pulled out a mechanics kit from underneath one of the seats and kneeled down to open it up and check everything was in place before sliding it back under and taking a seat. Ignia pulled down a heavy machine gun from one of the overhead weapon racks and gave it to Cloudy, who then stepped back down the ramp, walked round to the side of the gunships chassis and climbed up a small set of metal rungs.

Once he got to the top he pulled open a small dome of glass that was a gunners post and placed his machine gun on the pintel mounting before he sat down inside and pulled the dome closed.

Amethyst approached Red arrow and Daredevil just before they stepped onboard the gunship. Daredevil heard her approach and turned to watch her approach, her eyes glittering. "Well" Amethyst said, trying to keep the tears from her voice as she smiled at her little pony.

"what do you think of the outside world?" she asked Daredevil. The filly looked toward the rising sun and closed her eyes, breathing deeply as the weak morning sunlight washed across her face. A gentle breeze blew up and caught hold of her mane, causing it to billow out behind her. In that one moment Amethyst felt her heart wrench, all she wanted was to take Daredevil back to the safe lab and protect her from the horrors she was bound to see.

"Is that the wind?" the filly asked as she raised a hoof and ran it through her indigo mane. She smiled as it flowed over her hoof; lapping against it like water "Is that the sun?" she opened her eyes and took in the sight of the small ball of deep blue before she looked towards Amethyst.

"Yes" Amethyst said, smiling gently. 'She's too young...far too young'

"It's more beautiful then i imagined" Daredevil looked towards Red arrow "it's even prettier then you said it was" the colt smiled. Amethyst stepped up to Daredevil and wrapped her hooves around her, holding her in a tight embrace and gently nuzzling the filly's muzzle.

"Stay safe" she whispered, the filly nuzzled her back. Amethyst glanced at Red arrow.

"Keep her safe" she told him, Red arrow nodded.

"I will" he promised, his voice deep and sincere. With that Daredevil broke the hug and nodded to Red arrow before they both turned and stepped up the boarding ramp to take seats in the gunship, their armour clanking on the metal. Finally Amethyst glanced over to Darkstar, who was stood on the edge of the landing pad staring out at the blue sun as it slowly rose above the horizon, the mares heart got caught in her throat.

'You have to say goodbye, you can't just let him go. This could be the last time you ever see him'

Slowly Amethyst walked up to the stallion and stood behind him, her breathing became tense.

"This could be the last time we see each other" Darkstar said, not taking his eyes off the sun. Amethyst nodded mutely.

"Darkstar ... there's something i have to tell you" her heart was thumping in her chest, Amethyst licked her lips and was about to continue, but before she could speak Darkstar began to speak.

"This is the first time in seven years i'm going into combat, it feels ... strange" the pegausi turned and looked down on Amethyst; he was a full foot taller than her.

"I've done a lot of bad things in my life, Amethyst. Things that no pony should ever do, and now i'm carrying the weight of my actions on my shoulders"

Darkstar sighed, his wings ruffled sadly.

"So many sins, so many wrongs that have to be made right. Do you think I'll ever be forgiven, or will i have to carry these things for the rest of my life?"

"Don't say that. You did what you thought was right, nothing else. Don't ever say that you're a bad pony" Amethyst laid a hoof on his cheek, staring deep into the pegausi' dark eyes.

"You're not a bad pony...you're not" she whispered, Darkstar gave her a sad smile; his dark eyes seemed to glimmer in the early morning light.

"Pray for me, Amethyst. Pray to the six and ask for my deliverance" Darkstar turned away from her to have one last, long look at the sunrise.

Then he sighed, and turned to board the gunship. Just before he slipped from her reach Amethyst reach out and grabbed one of his hooves.

The pegausi turned to look at her.

"Star ... I ... goodbye" Amethyst felt the words catch in her throat.

Then, as if he knew what she was about to do, Darkstar stepped up to Amethyst and wrapped his hooves around her. Amethysts breath became sharp as Darkstar leaned in and took a deep breath before his lips met hers.

Amethyst squeaked quietly as their tongues met, a shiver running down her back.

Darkstar spread his wings around her and covered her in their soft feathers.

For a few moments longer they held their embrace, and then they separated slowly, Amethysts breath was shallow and fast. "I ... I ... " she managed, before she took a deep breath and hugged Darkstar tight, burying her muzzle into his neck.

"Bring them home, Star. Bring my foals back to me" Amethyst looked up and locked her gaze with his "Come back alive"

Darkstar nodded, folded in his wings and headed towards the gunship, Amethyst watched him go, her heart sinking like it was made of lead.

Once he was onboard the gunships engines began to power up with a high pitched roar and slowly began to take off, gently rising off the metal pan to hover a few feet in the air.

"I love you!" Amethyst shouted over the roar of the engines. Darkstar, who was still on the boarding ramp, gave her a sad smile.

"i know" he shouted back "I've always known" and then with a deep throaty scream the engines of the gunship fired up and the gunship shot off towards the horizon, taking Darkstar and her foals out over the city and beginning their mission.

Amethyst stood on the wet pad and watched the ship go until it shrunk to the size of a fly and eventually receded from view.

For a few moments her composure held before she broke down and began to weep uncontrollably, tears running down her cheeks.

She wept for Daredevil, and the fact she might never see the filly again.

She wept for Darkstar, and the impulse she should have acted upon.

But most of all she wept for the loss of the ponies she had cared about for her entire time with the project.

Cadence walked up beside her and spread a wing over the crying mares back, making gentle shushing noises. Brute simply watched from a distance, his face placid and his eyes emotionless.

"I should have told him before he ... he ... " Amethyst managed between sobs, Cadence smiled sadly and hugged the mare.

"It's ok, Amethyst. He'll come back, they all will, and when they do you can tell him how much he really means to you" Cadences voice was soft and gentle, she knew all too well how it felt to lose somepony you loved. 'Shining armour ... '

"I hope he comes back" Amethyst said, her eyes red from the tears. She looked towards the rising sun, watching as the sky turned from black to blue "he has to come back" Cadence hugged the mare again, all the while only one thought was running through her head

'please, Twilight sparkle, please. Bring him back to me. Bring them all back to me'

Casualties

++ACTIVATING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++SUBJECT BLAZES CURRENT LOCATION: THRENOR PRIME. CONTINENT: ANTISIA MAJOR. CITY: NEW TROTTINGHAM. DISTRICT: CANTIA. HABITATION BLOCK: SEVEN. LEVEL: EIGHT++

++BLAZE HAS REGROUPED WITH SQUAD MATE WONDERBREAD++

++ACTIVATING PSYCHO-INTERLINKING SYSTEM++

++PSYCHO-INTERLINKING SYSTEM NOW ACTIVE. PSYCIC DATA TRANSFERAL VIA AI'S NOW AVALIBLE++

++TWO LIFE-FORMS APPROACHING. UNABLE TO IDENTIFY. THREAT LEVEL: MINIMAL++

++TRANSFERING DATA TO CELESTIA'S GRACE++

++MOTTO FOR THE DAY: IN LUNA, THERE IS ONLY DARKNESS. IN CELESTIA, THERE BURNS THE LIGHT OF THE RIGHTEOUS++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

"The suns rising, we don't have much time"

Wonderbread lifted the sniper to his shoulder and looked down the scope, closing his other eye as he did so. Despite the weight of his brown armour his movements where silent. Blaze picked up his plasma rifle and warily scanned the surrounding environment, watching for any enemy movements.

They where currently just on the edge of the ghetto, crouching on the ledge of a ten storey building that sat on a junction where five roads met to form a star, in the centre of a junction stood a massive statue of the holy saint Applejack, rearing on its hind legs with a look of calm resolution on its stone face.

The edifice was seven storeys tall; its grey exterior seemed to drink in the light of the rising blue sun.

Unusually for statues of the saint Applejack, this one was missing its Stetson hat. Instead the saint's long stone braid was flowing freely down the statues back. Held in its right hoof was a massive war hammer; the haft was heavily decorated and ornate, covered in spiralling scroll work that was etched with runes from a language Blaze couldn't understand.

Over the previous night a heavy fog had built up once the rain had ended, and the thick mist of condensation made it impossible to see anything further then twenty meters at the best. Any normal soldiers would have been blinded by the fog.

But Blaze and Wonderbread weren't normal soldiers.

Blazes eyes had been replaced years ago with synthetic ones that had been grown in a lab when he had been going under biological augmentation to become a synthetic Alicorn. As a result Blaze could now see the world through infrared imaging, and currently his vision was a deep blue, with points of heat picked out in varying degrees of red depending on how hot the object was.

He glanced across at the roads on the opposite side of the junction; one branched to the right, one to the left and one down the centre. He looked down the left road, no sign of movement, the same with the right.

"Do we have a visual yet?" Blaze asked. He glanced up at the sky, wincing slightly as the small dot of rising blue sun flared a blindingly bright white in his vision. He raised a hoof to block it out from sight and scanned the skyline, searching for any sign of enemy aircraft or pegausi.

Thankfully the sky over their current location was clear, but when he glanced over to the spire and looked up and down its length he detected a tiny heat signature. Winking with his right eye Blaze magnified his vision and watched as a Valkyrie class gunship took off from a launch pad and rocketed out over the city.

"I have visual contact with enemy tango. Approximately fifty miles away, it's gunship. Looks like the NLR have deployed a squad on a mission"

"Specialists?" Wonderbread asked, not lowering his eyes from the sniper scope.

"It's a Valkyrie class gunship, hasn't got enough protection to warrant a specialist squad. Nah, i reckon it's a scout patrol, maybe even a triarchs unit, but definitely not a specialist unit" Wonderbread snorted in derision.

"Triarchs? What a joke, as if they would even consider deploying a Triarch squad against us"

Triarchs where biological augmented soldiers, typically pegausi, designed for specialist missions, the same as synthetic Alicorns.

However Triarchs where less effective then synthetic Alicorns and nowhere near possessed of the same qualities, so they were used for seizing secondary objectives rather than high priority targets.

"Still though, I wonder what they're doing" Blaze said, frowning "apart from the gunship I brought down and that dropship that I destroyed I haven't encountered any NLR soldiers, where are they?"

Blaze winked again, this time with his left eye, and his magnified vision returned to normal. He rapidly blinked twice with both eyes and the infrared imaging flicked off, turning the world back to monotonous shades of gray.

"I don't like it, not one bit. Where are they? By all rights this city should be flooded with NLR forces, but we haven't encountered a single soul" Blaze glanced across to the towering statue of Applejack "Only the six can know what those bastards are planning"

At the mention of the six holy saints both Blaze and Wonderbread reflexively drew the shape of the horse shoe over their hearts.

Or more rather, what was left of them.

"Well, whatever the NLR are planning, we don't have time to consider it. Our primary objective is to regroup with Jester and Sugarcane and then to rendezvous with the rest of the strike force at St Applebloom park for evacuation" Wonderbread lowered the sniper from his gaze and frowned "I'm not reading any thermal activity on the scope"

The synthetic Alicorn blinked twice in rapid succession and Blaze knew that he had just activated his thermal imaging. Wonderbread scanned the skies around them, mimicking Blazes earlier movements. "No sign of anything moving anywhere" Wonderbread growled at the back of his throat "Where are they?" he said to aloud "Buttercup, are you getting anything?"

From out of nowhere the orange eyed AI appeared, Angel by her side.

Buttercup was as shy as anypony could be, quiet and complacent. She never raised her voice louder than a whisper, and her hoofsteps where silent.

Not for the first time Blaze wondered at how similar the AI's artificial personality was to that of the holy saint Fluttershy, who had been a living paragon of kindness and humble virtues.

"There's...erm...nothing in the skies that i can detect" the mare said, lowering her head to let the cascade of her snow white fall over her orange left eye "But that doesn't mean that they're not...um...out there" Buttercup lowered her eyes.

"I've also done a sweep for any NLR ground units. The only republican forces I've detected are those around the base of the spire. There's nothing hostile moving outside of the spires defence perimeters" Angel stated calmly, rolling her eyes as she looked at Buttercup.

In comparison to Buttercup, Angel was a completely different pony all together.

She walked with her head held high, her long mane flowing down the back of her next like a snowdrift. She was confident and her golden eyes shone with fierce determination, Blaze couldn't help but feel proud that she was his AI when he looked at her. Angel tossed her mane.

"However, I've discovered two life forms approximately one mile away" Angel pointed down the central road in front of them "Airborne pheromone signatures indicate the presence of synthetic hormones within the life forms bloodstream"

"Synthetics" Blaze stowed away the plasma rifle and drew his pulse jezzaile, raising the weapon to his shoulder. He blinked twice and reactivated his thermal imaging.

From underneath the weapons housing he pulled down a bipod stock before resting the weapon on the raised edge of the building.

He raised a hoof and reached round under his right wing and pulled out a long scope roughly nine inches in length and an inch and a half in width.

He raised it to the jezzaile and fixed it against the top of the weapon, there was a faint clicking noise as the scope fixed into place and several tiny clamps attached themselves to the scope, locking it in place.

"Angel, how long is this road?"

"Approximately four point eight miles, you should be able to identify the targets from here" Angel stated in a matter-of-fact voice.

Blaze nodded and raised a hoof to his left ear, pressing down on a small quantum communication ear piece that had been implanted into his inner ear during his synthesis. "Lyra, are you receiving me?" for a few moments there was silence, and then the familiar voice of the light blue unicorn filled his head.

"Blaze, this is Lyra here. What do you need?"

"I need a thermal scan of our location, radius of five miles centred directly over my position"

"Got it, give me a moment" for a few moments there was yet more silence, and then the unicorns voice reappeared. "Well that's running, give it a few moments to get started" Blaze nodded to himself.

"I can't get any visual on the targets" Wonderbread stated "This fog is so thick that it's absorbing all the heat from the surrounding environment"

Blaze's expression was grim, without proper identification they had no idea whether or not Jester and Sugarcane where out there.

"I don't like this; i don't like this at all" Wonderbread said, his voice filled with undercurrents of fear and uncertainty. Suprising given his usually stolid demeanour.

"Results are in" Lyra said; Blaze raised his hoof back to his ear

"no major sign of movement within five miles of your position. Only four life forms detected, that's you and Wonderbread plus two unknowns" Blaze gritted his teeth.

"Shit"

"However...i do have some good news" Blaze raised an eyebrow "I've managed to extrapolate two Solar Empire homing signatures from the scan, they match perfectly with Jester and Sugarcanes beacon signatures"

Blaze grinned, Wonderbread shot him a confused look.

"It's Jester and Sugarcane" Blaze told him, Wonderbreads expression instantly changed. "Lyra, open a comms channel for us, patch me through to Sugarcane"

"I'm on it"

There was a moment's pause.

"Channels open. Now if you don't mind i have to go talk to the head of the communications corps. I recently put in a request for a private workspace and now i have to go justify myself, you'd think I'd just insulted his mother from the way he's acting"

Lyra fell silent, Blaze turned to Angel.

"Angel, I've just requested a comms link with Sugarcane. Lock on the channel and secure the operating frequency" Angel nodded and flickered slightly.

"Channels open and secure, commence communications"

"Sugarcane, can you read me?" Blaze said, kneeling down to glance down the scope of the jezzaile.

Wonderbread picked up his sniper and also looked down his scope. Both of them waited with baited breath, the atmosphere became tense, even the AI's fell silent.

The air seemed to become thick and oppressive; the heavy fog began to sink from the air around them. Blaze watched as it seemed to flow around them like water. It flowed down into the streets surrounding them, and even though the buildings around them where ten storeys tall the fog filled the streets up and up until it was like they were surrounded by an ocean of grey water with only the very tops of the buildings still visible, like islands of concrete.

Rising above them all was the statue of saint Applejack, the lower half of its body hidden in the fog, its calm and serene face gazing blindly into the heavens whilst the hammer pointed straight upwards into the sky, a defiant symbol of the strength of the saints. Blaze glanced across at Wonderbread.

"did you just see that?"

Angel flickered slightly and re-solidified with a look of bemusement on her face.

"There's been some sort of alteration in the meteorology of the city. I've hooked up with the mainframe server on 'Celestia's Grace'. Orbital visual feeds indicate that the anomaly has been isolated to the perimeter of the city; whatever's causing this is not a natural part of the continents weather system, it has to be magical in nature"

"Whoever...or whatever...has the ability to manipulate a planets natural weather system has to be incredibly powerful. Do you reckon Cadence is behind this?" Wonderbread asked, at the mention of the Alicorn, Blaze gritted his teeth.

"I wouldn't put it past her; likelihood is she could be watching us right now" Blaze muttered, raising the scope back up to his eyes

"But right now we need to focus on finding Jester and Sugarcane and regrouping with the survivors of the drop"

He stared down the scope and slowly scanned the main road ahead of them, searching for even the smallest form of a heat signature. When he found nothing he growled and lowered the scope, before blinking twice and deactivating his thermal imaging again.

"I can't see a thing because of this damn fog. Angel, are you sure there's nothing down there?"

The semi-sentient AI nodded.

"I'm detecting no signs of life other then the unidentified creatures east of our position"

Blaze nodded in understanding and folded in the bipod on his jezzaile and stowed the weapon away against his flank, taking his rail-rifle out in its place.

"Due to this fog we're not going to be able to identify our targets from up here. We need to get down to ground level and confront the targets face to face"

Blaze stood up and looked over the edge of the building, trying to find a safe landing zone down on the road. But all he could see was a grey sea of fog, swirling in the wind currents, lapping against the sides of the building like waves on the sea shore.

"Come on Wonderbread, let's go. Keep your eyes and ears open and watch your back, the scanners might not be detecting anything, but we both know how easy it is to fool a machine"

Wonderbread nodded and stowed away his sniper, pulling out in its place a large, heavy gauge shotgun equipped with incendiary rounds.

"Let's go"

Blaze glanced one more time over the ledge before jumping over the edge with Wonderbread right behind him, Buttercup and Angel disappearing from sight.

Their descent through the fog chilled Blaze to his core, even through the armour.

The fine particles of mist condensed on his coat and armour, running down his neck and underneath his armour, cooling the skin underneath his snow white coat. The fog seemed unnaturally cold, far colder than any fog had a right to be.

Where it touched against his coat it chilled him down to his metal bones, and it had even caused his mane to plaster against his neck.

Since the fog was too thick to see more than a meter or so in front of him, Blaze was caught a little surprised when the ground came from nowhere, shooting up to meet him.

He landed on his hind legs, the weight of his armour causing the concrete beneath his hooves to crack, sending out a lattice work of cracks like a huge spider web, the ground caving in beneath him to form a shallow crater.

Immediately Blaze dropped down to one knee and drew a bead with his rifle, scanning the surrounding area despite his decreased range of vision.

There was a heavier crushing noise over to his right and Blaze glanced across expecting to see Wonderbread, but instead was greeted by a wall of grey.

He blinked to reactivate his thermal imaging and was greeted by the faint outline of Wonderbreads silhouette, glowing faintly yellow against the surrounding backdrop of deep blue.

"Wonderbread" he called out, the synthetic Alicorn looked in his direction.

"this fog is too thick, no matter what; don't get separated"

Wonderbread nodded in recognition, Blaze glanced around. "Shit, this fog is thick. Even thermal visioning limited, i'm guessing a maximum range of vision of about twenty meters before the signatures get too faint to detect"

He took a deep breath, before exhaling slowly.

"Best keep your visor up too, no telling what kinda magical residue could have been pumped into this fog"

"Copy that" Wonderbread answered, his voice muffled by the fog.

Blaze glanced to his left and saw Angel standing next to him.

Even with thermal visioning activated she still remained the same, with golden eyes, and a white coat, mane and tail.

Blaze nodded to her and the mare nodded back, instantly the metal plating of the armour began to rise up his neck and encase his head, the glass of the visor sliding into place.

"Let's go, reconvene at the base of the statue"

And with that the pair of soldiers silently stalked forward, ghosts in the fog.

Blaze constantly looked around him, searching for any sign of movement. Angel padded silently beside Blaze, not sharing in his wariness of the situation.

For a few moments he silently moved across the grey landscape that the mist painted, the only sounds where the muffled steps of his hooves on the concrete road. And then from nowhere a massive pillar of stone rose up out of the ground, the plinth of Saint Applejacks statue.

Blaze de-activated his thermal imaging and slowly stepped up to the massive block of stone, gazing upwards at the enormous representation of the holy saint.

Blaze slowly circled the statues plinth, raising one hoof to run it against the stone, listening to the scraping noise of his metal plated hoof against the hard granite.

When he was half was around the plinth he felt the rough hewn stone under his hoof suddenly become smooth.

Blaze turned to examine his hoof and saw that a section of the stone beneath his hoof had been smoothed off and turned into a plaque, carved into it was an inscription of dedication to the holy saint.

The letters where carved deep into the stone, the plaque itself made of black marble that was veined through gold, the letters themselves said "Applejack, the bearer of Honesty and saint of our world"

Blaze took a few steps back and stared upwards towards the saints face, which was hidden by the fog.

"Honesty" Blaze muttered to himself, his face contorting with anger

"Sally was honest for her entire life, Applejack, and where did that get her?"

Blaze knew that respect had to be paid to all the saints, but looking back he knew that paying her respects had done Sally no good when the NLR had come for her.

There was the sound of metal on concrete behind him, and Blaze instantly spun round, raising his rifle to his shoulder.

"Hey, easy Blaze! It's just me!" Wonderbread emerged from the fog, a look of confusion on his face "You know, Wonderbread? We've been friends for years!"

"Sorry" Blaze lowered his rifle.

"You feeling ok? You look kinda white, you know, a bit pale"

Blaze gave Wonderbread a raised eyebrow; the electric blue Alicorn raised one in return. Blaze turned and gave the statue another glance.

"Yeah, I'm fine"

Wonderbread nodded and from behind him Buttercup appeared, her face afraid.

"Two heat signatures are approaching fast" she said, pressing herself against Wonderbreads flank and glancing over his back in the direction that Blaze guessed the two signatures where coming from.

Both Blaze and Wonderbread spun round, raising their weapons as they did so, Wonderbread spinning so quickly that Buttercup didn't have time to move, causing Wonderbreads armoured flank passed straight through her.

The AI squeaked and backed away to hide behind Angel, who sighed and rolled her eyes in exasperation.

"Angel, reopen the comms channel with Sugarcane"

The AI nodded and flickered slightly.

"Comms channels open and secure, commence communications" she stated, flicking her tail against Buttercup in annoyance.

Wonderbreads AI squeaked again and pressed herself against Angels flank, her mane falling in front of her left eye, her orange irises glowing brightly.

"HALT!" Blaze shouted out into the fog, the thick grey mist swallowing up his words

"WE KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE! COME FORWARD AND IDENTIFY YOURSELVES OR WE WILL SHOOT!"

Blazes voice echoed outwards and was consumed by the mist, falling silent in an ominously short amount of time, he shot Wonderbread a look.

"If worst comes to worst, aim to kill" His squad mate nodded grimly.

For a few seconds silence reigned as king, and his court was the swirling mist all around them. Time seemed to slow down like honey, stretching on forever. Blaze took aim down the sights of his rifle, gritting his teeth.

Finally a voice called out from the fog.

"It's nice to see you to, Blaze" A female voice called out, a slight mocking tone to it.

Blaze took a deep breath and sighed with relief.

"Sugarcane, is that you?" Blaze called out.

"No, i'm Empress Celestia herself come to say how hot you look in that armour. OF COURSE IT'S ME! WHO ELSE?"

"Ok, ok! I get it, it's you!" Blaze rolled his eyes "Is Jester with you?"

"Yes, i'm here too. Thanks for checking I was ok as well" Jesters voice commented sarcastically. As it spoke two heavily armoured formed coalesced from the mist.

One was an attractive mare, the other a lean built stallion.

The mare had bright brown eyes that seemed to sparkle; her coat was a light dusty colour that contrasted nicely with her chocolate brown mane and tail. Her armour was a gentle pink colour, and beside her stood Strike, her AI.

Sugarcane smiled when she saw Blaze, her eyes seeming to shine brighter than usual. Strike gave Angel and buttercup a wink each, causing both to blush and giggle. Instantly the two AI's began to gossip to each other like school fillys.

Blaze didn't feel inclined to listen in.

The stallion beside the mare was lean and thin, smaller then the mare standing beside him. His eyes had the same lustrous golden sheen as Angels, and his coat was a creamy white colour whilst his mane and tail where varying shades of cherry red. Beside him was his equally small AI Ivy.

"Good to see you too, Jester" Blaze nodded in the stallions direction before stowing his weapon away against his flank.

"Well, now that the whole gang is back together" Blaze said, stretching his wings open and flapping them for a few moments before folding against his back "we need to discuss our present situation" both groups of ponies came together, forming a circle.

"Right, status report" Blaze cleared his throat. "We're currently twenty point four kilometers east of saint Applebloom park, the current location of the solar empires surviving soldier within the city. Our weapons appear to all be in perfect working condition and we currently have an active server connection to the communications hub onboard Celestia's Grace" the stallion gave his team members a worried look

"However .. "

Wonderbread sighed.

"There's always a 'however'" Blaze rolled his eyes at his electric blue team mate.

"However...the NLR have all the solar forces with the city quarantined within saint Applebloom park. Estimates show that the survivors have a maximum of four days food and fuel at the best, without immediate reinforcement from the fleet they'll be easy prey for the NLR. Since high command has placed us in charge of all surviving forces within the city our main priority is to regroup with the survivors and then find a way to re-establish contact with the orbiting fleet" The other synthetic Allicorns nodded in agreement.

"Right then" Wonderbread said, stashing away his shotgun. "Let's get going" the stallion opened his wings and was about to take to the air. When suddenly all four of the AI's froze in place, Blaze gave Angel a confused look.

"Angel...are you ok?" Blaze stepped up to his AI and gently tapped her on the shoulder, his holographic interaction programming allowing him to touch the holographic mare.

Angel was literally frozen in place, the edges of her body beginning to distort, as if she was made from glimmering static.

Angel began to flicker, and a few moments later the other AI's began to flicker as well.

"What's going on?" Sugarcane said, walking up to Strike "Why are they doing this? Do you reckon there's something wrong with our holographic projectors?" Blaze gently tapped Angel again.

"No, that would only cause an isolated problem for one of us. And the chances of all our projecters developing a fault at once is too slim. It looks as if something external is interfering with the holographic realisation programming"

"Like what?"

"Well from the looks of it i would say some sort of multi-frequency signal jammer" Blaze had a sudden realisation, an icy chill running down his spine. He raised a hoof to his right ear and pressed. Instantly the harsh scream of static flared into life in his hearing.

Both the AI's and comm channels where down in only a matter of seconds. this didn't bode well. His mind wandered to the gunship he'd seen leaving the spire earlier. No it was impossible; there was no way that could be the answer, How could the NLR get a lock on them so quickly?

"What around here could have that kinda of capabilities?" Wonderbread asked.

Blaze suddenly felt a shift in the wind; a subtle change in the breeze that caused the fog began to swirl around him.

It blew straight through Angel and the other AI's and hit him full in the face, sending the chill of fear running down his spine.

"Wait ... does anyone hear that?"

The air filled with a low and predatory growl, like a dragon waking from its slumber. The four synthetics loked around them, searching for the noises point of origin. But their reduced visibilty and lack of AI support rendered them practically blind.

Without any warning the dull growl grew into a high pitched whining and was accompanied by the screaming of RAM jets.

Blaze felt his heart - or more rather, what was left of it - seize up for the fourth time today. With a final roar of spinning turbines and the howling of the wind the snubbed nose of a Valkyrie class gunship burst forth from the fog.

"TAKE COVER!" Blaze roared, immediately bolting towards the side of the street.

The gunship screamed overhead, rocking over them and disappearing into the fog again. It hadn't even fired a single shot. As quickly as it came the noise of the gunships engine disappered.

As it passed over head there was a deep thunking sound as several heavy metal objects dropped down from the open boarding ramp.

Immediately there was the sound of shouts and the clanking of heavy duty armour, followed by several beams of red light that lanced out from the fog.

Blaze heard a voice begin issuing orders.

"Ignia, Cloudy, Russet, take the two on the left. Roulette, Red arrow and Daredevil, take the mare. I've got the leader!"

Instantly Blaze reacted to the situation, his artificial brain clicking into overdrive as he processed the sudden enemy presence.

"ALL UNITS, ENGAGE HOSTILES WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!" and with that the four Alicorns leapt into combat. Blaze charged forward, screaming the war cry of the Solar Empire.

"FIRE AND FURY!"

Blaze grinned devilishly as he heard the other members of his team take up the cry.

Through the thick fog he heard the sounds of combat ensue, the brief yet loud sound of firearms discharging quickly followed by the sound of metal on metal as the Alicorns engaged the enemy in close combat, where they were bound to over-power their opponents.

And then he came upon his target.

Rearing out of the mist came a thick set pegausi stallion, clad in heavy armour similar to his.

The stallions coat was a deep midnight blue and criss-crossed with bands of black, his mane and tail where both jet black, the mane cropped short in a typical military fashion. The pegasus spun around and raised a blunt-nosed rail-rifle to his shoulder, taking Blaze in his sights.

Blaze opened his wings and leapt into the air, gaining a few meters of height to gain altitude before diving towards the stallion, using his momentum and the weight of his armour to come crashing down on the pegausi like a mountain of adamantium and ceramite.

The pegasus fired his rail-rifle, but the shot went wide of its mark by a few inches and disappeared into the fog to slam into a nearby building with a roaring explosion. he fired again but missed again, this time his shot going high over the top of Blazes head.

The Alicorn was simply to fast of a target to catch.

In the few seconds before Blaze came into contact with the enemy, time seemed to slow, and he felt every sensation he'd ever known play out across his coat.

The fog was cool and his coat burning hot, condensing on the fog his brow and plastering his mane across the back of his neck.

When he breathed in the air felt sharp in his mechanical lungs, the cold searing at any of the remaining flesh of his respiratory system.

He could hear the pulsing throb of pulse weapons being fired, along with the high pitched whine of plasma weapons and the harsh scraping and grating of metal on metal.

The air around him lit up with the blue flashes of plasma balls as they burst from the muzzles of weapons and bolted through the air, and the atmosphere around him whistled as he felt bullets pass by him, grazing his coat and the skin underneath.

Finally he saw his opponent, as if for the first time.

The stallions face was calm and placid, watching Blaze with cold blue eyes.

His opponent spread his legs and braced for Blazes impact, a look of stoic determination on his face.

In that one moment, blaze came to admire his opponents courage.

For a few moments longer Blaze felt frozen in place, and then every sped back up.

Blaze roared wordlessly and brought his right hoof smashing down in a devastating arc.

If it had come into contact with the smaller pegausi it would have easily crushed the bones in his left shoulder, but instead as the hoof came slamming down on Blazes opponent it met nothing but thin air.

The pegausi had silently slipped backwards away from Blazes attack, moving with a deadly grace that was surprising for someone of his build. Blaze recovered instantly and as his hooves came back into contact with the concrete road beneath him he bunched up his hind legs beneath him and leapt forward again.

Blaze launched forward and brought his left hoof swinging in a vicious uppercut, aiming for the area under the stallions chin. This time his opponent rolled away to the right and once again Blazes assault was met with nothing with empty air.

"GET BACK HERE!" Blaze roared, blood rushing to his cheeks and causing him to flush.

The stallion grinned, revealing perfect white teeth, and glided backwards away from Blaze, moving out of his reach.

Blaze grunted and attacked the stallion again, attacking first from the left and then the right before spinning and opening his wings, using the shields on his wings to lash out with superheated plasma.

The stallion dodged every single attack, ducking under the first punch and then rolling underneath the second. When Blaze opened his wings the stallion opened his own and leapt over Blaze, spinning like a top through the air. Blaze finished his own spin and came to a halt, his hooves raised defensively.

The stallion landed in front of him, the grin still on his face and his cheek flushed. "Who are you?" Blaze asked, not out of breath despite his previous exertions. The stallions grin widened and he folded in his wings; Blaze couldn't stand that making smile for one more second. "WHO ARE YOU?" Blaze roared.

"Oh, me?" The stallion opened his wings and raised his hooves, beckoning Blaze to give him another try. "I'm just a pegausi"

Blaze growled deeply at the stallions arrogance and was about to launch another round of attacks, but the stallion had beaten him to it.

Before Blaze even knew it the pegausi was on him, moving faster than Blaze could have believed. The stallion leapt at him, silently moving forward, not even uttering a single cry of aggression.

Blaze lashed out with a hoof, aiming to smash the appendage into the side of the pegausi' head, spinning his body to the right so as to use his weight to give the punch extra force. But instead his opponent dodged again, rolling under the blow and coming up on Blazes right side, which was left unguarded from his over-extended previous attack.

The stallion lashed out at the base of Blazes right wing, aiming at a join in the armour where his wings met his back.

The punch connected with full force, and the armour beneath the blow buckled and screamed as it dented.

Warning lights flashed up in Blazes vision, telling him that his armour was in danger of being breached. In the centre of his vision appeared words highlighted in blood red.

++WARNING: BREACH IMMINENT. RETREAT FROM CURRENT LOCATION++

The words where soon replaced with a cross sectional diagram of the armour joint at the base of his right wing that glowed golden, the sections of plating that were in danger of being breached flashing red.

With a grating scream and the sound of tortured metal being ripped to shreds the joint at the base of Blazes right wing buckled and snapped, leaving the flesh of his wing joints exposed.

As the joint broke the power lines that supplied energy from the fusion core in Blazes heart to the shield emitters along the rim of his wing armour shutdown, and with an undulating cry the plasma shield shut off, leaving the delicate wings exposed and vulnerable.

The Stallion seized his opportunity instantly before Blaze could even react.

Warning lights were flashing in his vision and the screaming of warning sirens where echoing through his ears, filling them with a persistent high pitched whining that seemed to drag on for an eternity.

The stallion gave a bark of laughter and with a wicked grin and predatory glint in his eyes he punched straight upwards into Blazes wing.

The stallion struck with more force than Blaze had ever guessed he could muster, and his hoof punched straight through the soft downy feathers and delicate skin, even bursting through the iron hard ceramite bones.

The hoof burst out through the top of Blazes wing in a shower of blood, oil and ceramite shards, sending a spray of both natural and synthetic fluids spattering on the concrete all around the two combatants.

Blaze screamed in pain, the exposed nerves and muscles in his damaged pinion grating against each other to send burning lances of agony shooting through his mind. He felt his knees buckle and give way beneath him, causing him to collapse to the ground.

He took a deep breath and screamed for help.

"WONDERBREAD!"

≤ΘΘΘ≥

For Wonderbread, there was no greater thrill then that of combat.

All around him the air was filled with the symphony of violence, a delicately orchestrated web of intricacy, ranging from the deep bass of pulse weapons to the high pitched whine of plasma energy weapons. The sensation set him on edge; it brought to life something that revelled in the shedding of blood.

Within his chest there lay a beast, and it roared with anger and pent up frustration to be let loose. Wonderbread could feel it stirring in his heart, rushing through his veins, filling his mind.

Whereas for others the ecstasy of combat isolated their world down to the opponent they faced and themselves, for Wonderbread, it expanded the mind in a way that was truly unique. Every sensation was brought to the forefront of his mind, regardless of its significance.

He could hear what was left of his organic heart pounding in his ears as it furiously sought to supply his body with the oxygen it demanded. In his chest it beat against his ribs, the beast within screaming to be let loose.

At some point he’d lost Jester in the fog, but right now that was irrelevant. And besides, Wonderbread was sure that the weedier Alicorn could easily hold his own.

Wonderbread took a deep breath and felt what was left of his lungs swell, filling up the inside of his chest before he slowly exhaled, listening to the long sigh of the air as in came out of his nostrils and misted up in the chill air of the fog that surrounded him.

His pupils dilated as they sought to view every detail of the world and imprint it permanently on the surface of his mind, everything from the monotonous grey of the mist to the black tarmac of the road beneath his armoured hooves.

And finally his opponent.

The synthetic Alicorn circled the burgundy unicorn, snarling like a vicious animal. For his part the unicorn showed no fear, staring Wonderbread down with a pair of stolid amber-gold tinted eyes. Wonderbread could respect his opponent for his fearlessness, even if he was lunar scum, it took balls to stand tall in the face of impossible odds.

Wonderbread growled deeply, a thunderous bass tone that welled up from the deepest parts of his throat and rumbled like the snores of dormant dragon. The unicorn returned the growl with a snarl of his own, baring his teeth to reveal a set of sharp canines that only a synthetic or a mutant could possess, no natural pony ever developed fangs.

The two combatants tensed their muscles as their pacing froze, both readying themselves to unleash their strength. For a brief second their eyes met, and without words they both conveyed their hatred for each other.

Words weren’t needed to understand the animosity. It wouldn’t matter if this was the first time they had met or if they had danced this deadly dance a thousand times, they needed no explanation to hate each other. From the first moment either of them had been born they had been raised to believe that their enemies where the foulest creations of nature, and that no accord of peace could ever reach between them.

Wonderbread felt his unexplainable hatred for the lunar soldier rise up like a wave within his mind, and he rode that wave with every fibre of his synthetic being, using his hatred and rage as a bottomless reservoir of strength to be tapped into at a moment’s notice.

With a deafening roar that wouldn’t be amiss on an emperor dragon, Wonderbread threw himself towards his foe, three words where the only legible things coming from his mouth.

“FIRE AND FURY!”

Wonderbread charged with furious abandon , his hooves leaving inch deep furrows within the tarmac of the road as his hooves dug for purchase on the weak material, the metal of his armour sending up storms of sparks as it buried deep into the ground.

The muscles in his powerful legs let lose, pouring all of their strength into the opening charge to give Wonderbread the maximum amount of momentum he could achieve. This, combined with the formidable bulk of his combat armour, literally made Wonderbread a moving mountain of metal and muscle.

The burgundy unicorn replied in kind, bolting forwards in the blink of an eye towards Wonderbread.

The Alicorn lowered his horn guard, aiming its needle pointed tip straight for his opponent’s heart. The unicorn copied him move for move, lowering his own, much smaller, horn. For a brief instant the two combatants where in mid-charge, their horns lowered and their armour rattling. Like the unicorn knights of ancient equestrian history, the two opponents faced each other on the field of honour, readying to fight and die in the purifying stimulation of combat.

With a blink of an eye the instant was over, and then the two where bearing down on each other. Wonderbread maintained his headlong charge towards the unicorn’s heart, but at the very last second his lowered his horn even further. His left shoulder slammed into the unicorn’s front, his opponent’s horn hitting at an obtuse angle that caused it to deflect off Wonderbreads armour.

Within a sneer Wonderbread tensed the muscles in his neck and tossed his head, using his brute strength to lift the unicorn in the air and effortlessly throw him over his shoulder. With a cry of alarm the unicorn went head-over-hooves past Wonderbreads shoulder to land rolling on the tarmac behind him.

Wonderbread lowed his charge and took a moment to let out a victorious snarl before resuming his circling of the unicorn, who promptly picked himself up from the floor and resumed his own circling.

Wonderbread growled, sneering at the unicorn who returned his look of mockery with a fierce, pointed gaze of his own. This first charge was a test, used to judge his opponents speed and his strengths and weaknesses, an as expected Wonderbread had come out on top.

“Come on, Rookie” He growled at the unicorn, snorting and pawing a hoof against the ground, gouging yet more furrows into the tarmac “You think you’ve got what it takes to pick a fight with an Alicorn? Well come give me a try and we’ll see how good you really are”

The unicorn snorted and let out a furious bellow at Wonderbreads mocking tone, surging forward with a look of pure aggression in his eyes. Wonderbread bark a sarcastic laugh before beginning his own counter-charge, once again lowering his horn.

He respected the unicorn for his bravery and resolve, but he couldn’t help but regard his opponent as an idiot for attempting the same tactic twice. However, a split-instant before they came together, the unicorn leapt into the air.

Wonderbread stalled his charge, his hooves grinding deep into the tarmac of the road and sending showers of sparks skating in all directions. As he slowed he raised his head, planning to skewer the unicorn on his horn. However, as he turned his eyes skyward he was just in time to watch an energy blade flicker into existence around his opponent’s right hoof.

The Blade flicked out and effortlessly sliced through the adamantium shell of Wonderbreads horn guard to shatter the ivory horn underneath before emerging on the other side in a spray of metal and ivory shards that sprinkled lightly onto the floor with a delicate sound akin to that of broken glass.

For Wonderbread, it was nothing short of absolute agony.

Lances of pain stabbed into his mind, mercilessly shredding at his consciousness. Within his head he felt some small part of him drift off into oblivion, a shard of his essence lost to him for all eternity.

Wonderbread screamed.

Blood started to drip from his eyes as the magical neurone cortex’s within his brain began to haemorrhage. He felt bile rise up at the back of his throat, and his shaking legs gave out beneath him, causing him to unceremoniously collapse to the floor, where he wretched violently.

A horrible void began to form in his chest, as if something had reached down into his soul, his very identity, and ripped it loose. Wonderbread felt hollow, like a vessel emptied of water.

It was the single most soul-crushing sensation he had ever been subject to.

For any creature possessing a unicorn’s horn, synthetic or natural, losing that horn is an agonising experience, enough to drive some to insanity. For those who natural possess a horn, the experience is worse, as if with the horns destruction, a small part of their soul is lost.

It was Wonderbreads unfortunate grace to have been a natural born unicorn before his synthesis.

Waves of agony washed over him as he lay recumbent on the floor, rising up and falling away in equal amounts to fill his head with skull crushing pain in one moment and a dull throb the next.

Wonderbread spat up blood and a final bit of bile before slowly, agonisingly slowly, he got back to his hooves, which buckled threateningly underneath him as he put weight on them.

The unicorn was circling around him, like a shark drawn to the scented blood of a wounded creature. His gaze was both mocking and victorious as he sneered at the wounded Alicorn.

Wonderbread took a deep breath, gritting his teeth to the point where they would shatter under the pressure, as he tried to overcome the pain ravaging his mind and the hollow void he now felt in his chest.

A sparkling fluid, as thick as honey and glowing a bright cyan blue hue, began to slowly run down his face and drip from his muzzle. His tongue flicked out and he licked some of the fluid off of his lips

Instantly Wonderbreads palette was lit up, the fluid fizzing on his tongue like sherbet. He swallowed and felt a warm sensation begin to creep down his throat and into his heart, as if he had taken a shot of some heady spirit. For a brief moment Wonderbread felt the new void in his chest fill slightly as the liquid magic filtered into his system. He revelled in the sensation, thinking how foolish he had been to ignore it for so long until it had been taken from him.

But within seconds the magical high dissipated, and the hollow void returned.

“You ... son of a bitch” Wonderbread murmured as he watched the fluid on his muzzle drip to the tarmac, where it stood in stark cyan contrast to the blackness surrounding it. The Alicorn looked up at the unicorn and instantly felt a surge of hatred fill his body, setting his coat a fire with rage.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” he roared “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

It was, by no means, the classiest of death threats.

The unicorn raised the energy blade defensively, staring at the laid-low Alicorn with a neutral expression that somehow still managed to be at once glowering and hate-filled.

Wonderbread charged for the third time, pouring every single drop of his rage into this final attack.

He was going to kill the unicorn.

They came together for one final time, and with a bestial scream of pure, animalistic aggression, Wonderbread opened up and gave the beast within free reign.

The unicorn swiped at him with the energy blade, missing Wonderbreads face by a few inches but still slicing through the armour just above the Alicorns left knee.

Before the unicorn could bring the blade back up for another strike, Wonderbread brought a powerful hoof slamming into the side of his head. Wonderbread had placed as much hatred as he could physically and mentally manage into the blow, and was thoroughly satisfied when, with a thick crunching sound, a tooth went flying from the burgundy unicorn’s mouth.

His opponent went flying to land as a pile of metal on the tarmac, landing so hard that he formed a small crater where he landed. Wonderbread was on him in an instant, a single armour hoof raised high.

“BLOODY BASTARD, THIS IS FOR MY BLOODY HORN!”

The hoof came slamming down on the ponies’ unshielded face, crushing the cartilage in his muzzle with an immensely satisfying crunching sound. The unicorn screamed in pain as his muzzle was broken and began to bleed profusely from the split skin.

Wonderbread snarled, a red haze descending around him as he felt blood-lust begin to course through his veins

“SO’S THIS!”

The hoof descended again.

“AND THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS! AND THIS!”

Wonderbread continued to repeatedly slam his hoof down on the unicorns face, turning his muzzle into a wreck of blood, split skin, and exposed cartilage. Within his head the world became filled with a red haze of unremitting violence, setting him free of any inhibitions he could have ever possessed towards beating this unicorn to death.

This pony had done more then just shatter his horn, or break a bone. He had single-hoofedly destroyed the one thing that could have ever defined him. For unicorns a horn was as much an expression of self as wings where to a pegasus, or simple hooves where to an earth pony. His horn had been more then a part of his body, a conduit for his magic. It had been a physical manifestation of his soul, as intrinsically bonded to his mind as the urge to breath.

And he had lost all of this, because of this ... one ... fucking ... unicorn!

The ferocity of his blows somehow managed to increase, from somewhere deep within his spited half-soul Wonderbread found fresh reserves of hatred to unleash. The unicorns face was well disfigured by now, blood coating his features like a second skin of flaking rust.

The cartilage in his muzzle had long since collapsed, and under Wonderbreads assault had turned to complete mulch, leaving nothing that could resemble some sort of supportive structure. Blood was flowing freely from both the unicorns nostrils and his mouth, moving in a slow gruel of blood, saliva and tears. The skin around the unicorns right eye had split open, revealing the sickly yellow-white colouration of blood underneath.

The creature was snivelling pathetically as Wonderbread momentarily paused to take a breather, somehow managing to retain conciousness. Mustering what little strength he still possessed, the unicorn took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his voice.

“RED ARROW!”

“SHUT UP!” Wonderbread roared, punching the unicorn again, causing him to shriek in pain “JUST SHUT UP YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Wonderbread raised his hoof again, beneath him the unicorns disfigured face cringed. But before he could bring it down he heard a loud, deep voice call out from the fog, rolling like a wall of thunder.

“GET OFF HIM, YOU SOLAR BITCH!” Wonderbread snarled, pulling his attention away from the object of his hatred to come face to face with a tall, muscular pegausi stallion clad in blood red heavy-duty armour.

He stood taller then even Wonderbread, his statue lending a huge and menacing effect which was only accentuated by his immense build. Without needing to look, Wonderbread could tell that under the red armour there where huge slabs of muscle just itching to be let loose on an opponent. The pegausi flared his wings menacingly, choosing to for-go any form of shielding and instead arm the rims of his wings with deadly sharp blades.

At the sight of the new comer Wonderbread snarled again, subconscious programmes within his mind redirecting the source of his rage towards this new threat in order to ensure operator survivability by giving him a combat incentive. Wonderbread moved to get off the unicorn. However as he did so the pegausi's left fore-leg twitched, drawing Wonderbreads attention to something that was writhing weakly in the pegausi's grip.

“JESTER!”

Wonderbreads squad-mate, Jester, had always been diminutive, even by Alicorn standards. He barely reached halfway up Blazes neck, and Wonderbread towered a full head taller then him. But wrapped up in the inescapable iron grip of the pegausi, Jester looked like a mere foal.

Whilst Wonderbread had been succeeding in beating his opponent to death and had almost finished the job, Jester seemed to have met considerable failure. One of his wings was missing, completely torn off at the base. From the now open wound red blood, black oil, and orange synthetic fluids poured profusely, coating the left side of Jesters moss green armour in a disgustingly thick, brown fluid.

The pain in his golden eyes was more then clearly evident.

“Wonder ... bread!” he squeaked in a barely audible voice, his right hind-leg kicking sporadically “... help me ... please!”

Wonderbreads eyes flashed back to the pegausi’s, an unspoken threat past between them. However, Wonderbread found need to give it voice, for Jesters sake.

"If you hurt him any further, I will kill you"

For a few moments the pegausi did nothing, blinking lazily and taking slow, deliberate breaths, as if this were a run-of-the-mill situation. And then, with a nonchalant roll of his shoulders, snapped Jesters neck.

With a slight squeeze from the powerful muscles in his leg, the pegausi increased the pressure on Jesters neck. The Alicorn let out a strangled, pitiful mewl as he felt the pressure rise, his hind-legs kicking with renews vigour as he pawed at the stallions hoof. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, the pressure on his vertebrae began to spike.

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Jester could feel it, the pain in his neck insurmountable. He met Wonderbreads eyes and begged, pleaded, silently that his squad-mate would help. But before Wonderbread could even move, Jester felt something pop in his neck, almost like a bubble.

The pain fell away, along with the rest of his senses. The world turned black, soft, comforting. Every sound was muffled, like someone had thrown a blanket over everything. He was faintly aware of something shouting, but he couldn't make anything out His body relaxed, slumping slightly. He closed his blind eyes and succumbed to oblivion.

In the brief second before he completely slipped away, Jester smiled.

His pain was finally over

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Wonderbread roared with wordless fury as he watched Jesters limp body fall to the floor as the pegasus relinquished his grip on the now dead Alicorn, dropping him to the floor like a sack of flour.

Leaping up from the now unconscious unicorn, he galloped towards the pegausi at full pelt, screaming unintelligibly. The red haze descended again, thicker and more blinding then ever before.

This pegasus had killed Jester, and he was going to pay.

The pegausi in question, however, didn't seem to bother by his predicament. Despite the fact he had an enraged synthetic Alicorn bearing down on him with all the fury of tartarus burning in his eyes, he didn't even budge an inch. Instead the pony waited patiently until Wonderbread was almost on top of him.

Then he simply turned around, and bucked.

The blow hit with full force and deadly precision, striking Wonderbread straight under the jaw. The Alicorns head snapped back as the force of the blow struck him in his muzzle, shattering teeth and crushing cartilage and bone with a disgusting crunching noise that reverberated endlessly inside his head.

He collapsed to the floor, the energy in his body flowing out of him as exhaustion, fatigue, and pain, finally caught up with him, leaving him a demoralised wreck on the floor. His whole body felt like lead, the weight of his armour crushing him. He managed to scrape enough energy to spit out the splinters of tooth still lodged in his mouth, but even that taxed him to the extreme.

Warnings where flashing in his HUD, bright words and phrases silhouetted in blood red bouncing around in a maddening display of colour in his vision. He'd broken nine adamatium bone, his jaw was fractured, the nanotrites in his blood had suffered a power failure from excessive trauma, through it all the message was clear.

This was were Wonderbread was going to die.

Somehow, with an effort that almost caused him to black out, he managed to look up at the pegausi. His victorious opponent was watching on with casual disdain, his eyes uncaring. briefly they flickered over to the unicorn, who was groggily picking himself up from the tarmac, moaning in pain.

"You ok, Russet?" the pegausi asked, his voice flat and level.

"I bith my thongue" The unicorn answered, rubbing a hoof over his muzzle tentatively, hissing with pain. "bloody bathtard broke my dosthe" The pegasus made a chuckling noise.

"Hey, Ignia, I've got one here for you" the pegausi shouted over his shoulder. there was the trotting of hooves on tarmac, and a mare appeared by the pegausi's side, dwarfed by his immense bulk. "He almost killed Russet" the pegasus quipped, pointing towards Wonderbread "This guys insane"

The mare observed him with disquieting sulphur yellow eyes, his iris' flecked with purple, before she smiled maliciously. "He looks cold in that armour of his, doesn't he?" she asked, turning to look up at the pegasus, who chuckled and nodded in agreement "Let's see if I can help him out, shall we?"

The mare raised up a hoof, and Wonderbread was vaguely aware of what appeared to be a flame-thrower nozzle attached to a large gauntlet wrapped around the hoof. It was black and covered in grime, and from the smoke that was rising from the nozzle, it looked like it had been freshly used.

The mare giggled, a light, flowing noise that felt like silk. Her eyes seemed to dance with some kind of mad excitement and she pointed the flamer straight at Wonderbreads face. "That's a whole lot of metal you're wearing" she said, addressing him directly "I better turn up the heat, just to make sure you can feel it under all that armour. She giggled again, a discomforting mad smile spreading across her face.

Wonderbread gazed at the gauntlet for a moment and then exhaled a breath he didn't even realised he'd been holding in. He took a breath and screwed his eyes tight shut.

"Aww" the mare said, in a voice that a filly would use when she didn't get her way "I like it when they watch"

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Blaze screamed again.

"WONDERBREAD!"

From somewhere out in the fog he heard someone shout, but he couldn't make who it was. Suddenly, the fog in front of him lit up a bright orange, heat radiating towards him in a wave, as if he'd stepped into a furnace.

Blaze saw a heavy silhouette - undoubtably Wonderbreads - through the fog. He only had a few moments however before a rolling wall of bright orange flame came crashing down on the silhouette and filled the air with the dull roar that only a flame-thrower could produce.

The stench of burning flesh and hair assaulted his nostrils. And though he told himself it was only his mind playing sick games, he swore he could have heard Wonderbreads high pitched scream.

The stallion stood over him laughed mockingly at the supposedly biologically superior synthetic Alicorn collapsed on the ground beneath him, his hoof still buried in Blazes wing.

The stallion ripped his hoof out of Blazes wing, pausing to grip a loose shard of ceramite that emerged from an opening in the wing's rim. The stallion gripped the tube of metal and twisted, forcing jagged splinters of metal to bury themselves in the soft flesh of the wing, making Blaze whimper.

With a devilish grin the stallion pulled hard on the metal tube, pulling it out with a meaty sucking sound, causing a new flow of blood and oil to pour from the wound. Blaze whimpered in pain as the stallion retracted the medium length of metal and finally pulled his hoof free from the new hole in his wing.

Blaze managed to hold himself up for a moment longer before a tide of pain washed over him and caused him to collapse to the ground, his face hitting hard against concrete road.

The stallion stood over Blaze, holding the rod of metal in one hoof "Look at you" he said, idly examining the length of metal "Just look at you!"

The stallion raised the metal rod above him and brought it smashing down on the rim of Blazes unshielded wing. There was a disgusting splintering noise and Blaze screamed again in pain, a black tide of agony washing over him and threatening to drown him in unconsciousness.

"You're superior to nothing!" the stallion cracked the length of metal across the back of Blazes neck "how are you better than me? HOW?" The stallion dropped the length of metal on the ground beside Blaze and gripped the rim of Blazes wing, gripping it hard, making Blaze wince.

"You're no better than shit" the stallion said "And now i'm going to finish this" The stallion began to pull at the pinion, his strength threatening to pull the joint out of its socket. "How are you better than me?" the stallion asked, leaning in to whisper in Blazes ear "How?"

Blaze took a deep breath, steeling himself for the pain that was about to follow his next move "Because...i'm not..." he wheezed, the stallion leaned in even closer "I'm not...LUNAR SCUM!"

Blaze opened up his other wing and swept it towards the stallion, the deadly energy shield trailing cyan out behind it as it sliced through the air. The stallion shouted in surprise and leapt backwards, the deadly shield of plasma skimming against his chest plate and gouging a deep furrow into the metal and circuitry to send sparks flying.

Blaze scrambled back up to his hooves and backed away from his opponent, his breathing heavy. The stallion backed away himself and then his grin returned and he reared on his hind legs.

"Not done yet, are you?" Blazes opponent knelt down on one knee and pulled a boot knife from the ankle of his right hoof. Blaze took a deep breath, filling his lungs with cold air. His right wing throbbed painfully, blood and oil pouring from the ragged hole in his pinion.

This was not going well; already he was confined to the ground with his wings now useless. The opposing stallion had inflicted him with a major injury and Blaze hadn't even given him so much as a scratch. Blaze folded his damaged wing against his side, wincing slightly as the damaged muscles and nerves contracted.

As soon as the pinion was folded against the side of his armour, metal plates began to emerge from the armour and encase the damaged appendage in light weight ceramite, protecting it from any further damage. Blaze shut off the shield on his other wing and repeated the process with his other wing, fully encasing both in protective metal plating.

Blaze focussed his mind and reached into the programming files within his artificial mind, digging in search of his combat drug dispensary programme. If Angel had still been online then she would have automatically activated the programming for him, but the multi-frequency signal jammer was still blocking Angels holographic realisation programming from coming online.

Instead Blaze was forced to activate the programming himself, switching on the drug dispensers. Blaze felt tiny needles prick him all across his body, injecting into all four of his legs and the base of his wings. Instantly Blaze felt his muscles begin to expand and his pulse elevate, his pupils dilated and his rate of breathing increased.

Once again time seemed to slow down, and Blaze took in every detail of the world. "I'm not done...until you're dead!" the stallion grinned.

"Bring it!"

Blaze charged, roaring wordlessly as he bull rushed his opponent. Despite being prepared for Blazes assault, the stallion was unprepared for such a direct form of attack, expecting a slow and calculating string of attacks rather than a straight up assault. Blaze came crashing down, punching with his right hoof into the side of the stallions head.

Once again the stallion dodged backwards to avoid the blow, but this time Blaze had predicted his opponents next move. Blaze landed on his hooves and immediately launched another attack with his left hoof, bearing his teeth as he lunged forward. Blaze grinned in satisfaction as he saw the stallions eyes widen and the glimmer of terror enter them.

As Blazes hoof connected with the side of the stallions muzzle there was a satisfying crunch and he grinned as several loose teeth went flying out of his opponents' mouth.

"COME ON, YOU BASTARD!" Blaze shouted as the stallion went reeling, his opponents head snapped back around, his eyes filled with rage. He followed up his previous attack with a right hook, smashing his hoof straight into the front of the stallions' mouth.

There was a disgusting cracking noise and one of the stallions' front teeth went flying, followed by a trail of blood. The force of the punch caused the stallion to fall to the floor, he landed with a hard crunching noise and the concrete beneath him cracked. The stallions knife came loose from his grasp and skittered to the floor by Blazes hooves, its sharp edge glowing dully in the weak light of the fog.

Blaze picked it up and took a few short steps to the stallion before raising a hoof and stamping it on his opponents chest. The stallion gasped as the blow winded him, coughing up a few drops of blood. "Who are you? How did you find us?" Blaze showed the stallion the knife before he shoved the edge of the blade under the ponies next, his opponent tensed.

"Who sent you?" Blaze pressed the knife slightly harder against the stallions throat, moving the blade in a sawing action that brought a small welter of blood bubbling up from beneath the serrated edge. "I won't ask again. NOW TELL ME!"

The stallions shot Blaze a defiant stare. "What's it matter to you?" he asked, hatred burning in his eyes "We're both on opposite teams. Does it really matter who sent me?" Blaze grunted and pressed harder with the blade to show that it did matter.

The stallions resolve held, Blaze could see that this one wasn't going to break easily. But just as he was about to start cutting, his captive began to talk. "We were personally deployed by princess general Cadence of the New Lunar Republic. Our target was your specialist team, Cadence wanted you eliminated before you could complete your mission"

Blaze grinned 'Oh Cadence, if only you knew. My mission will be complete when you're dead' Blaze raised the blade from his opponents throat, leaving behind a shallow red line where he had pierced the flesh.

"Ironic, isn't it?" He said, twisting the knife to send a flash of light playing along the blade. "You're mission was to kill me, but instead, i'm killing you" he held the knife high and brought it slamming down, aiming straight for the gap between the stallions eyes.

The stallions eyes grew wide and Blaze grinned viciously, but a split second before the blade impacted something heavy slammed into Blazes side. Blaze grunted as a heavy mountain of metal crashed into him and knocked him off the stallion, the knife when flying from his grip and skimmed along the floor, disappearing into the fog.

A hoof slammed into his face, cracking him in the jaw. Blaze looked up at the new threat, and saw a massive stallion clad in heavy bright red armour raise another hoof, strapped across his back was a massive plasma cannon. The stallions visor was blacked out, but Blaze could tell that underneath his new opponent was grinning.

"WONDERBREAD!" Blaze cried out, backing away from the stallion, there was no reply.

"Your friends can't save you" came another voice called out, this one female. A mare with a deep red coat and a mane made up of reds, yellows and pink that was clad in bright red armour covered in swirling orange and yellow flame designs, and around her wrists where two gauntlets, both equipped with flamers.

"That stallion in the brown armour was tough, but he looked so cold in his armour, so i decided to warm him up" the mare grinned, and flames began to simmer up from around the base of her hooves, casting dancing shadows across Blazes face. "Cooked alive in his own armour, how tragic" the mares eyes glittered evilly at the idea.

"You bitch!" Blaze spat a stream of blood at the mare; the blooded landed on the mares hooves and began to hiss as the flames caused the fluid to turn into a faint cloud of red mist. "YOU KILLED WONDERBREAD!" the stallion in the red armour punched Blaze in the face under his eye, instantly the skin under the blow began to swell.

"You shut your mouth, or we'll kill you" the stallion make a grunting noise "You're lucky Cadence wanted the squad leader alive, or your head would have been rolling by now"

"We got the last one" Came another voice, this one male. A unicorn stallion, a pegausi stallion, and an earth mare and stallion emerged from the fog. The earth stallion was leaning on the unicorn, blood dripping down from a wound in his shoulder.

The Pegausi mare spoke "That last stallion went down easy, Red Arrow snapped his neck. But the mare was tricky. She stabbed Cloudy through the shoulder with a combat knife and snapped off the blade, it's still in there"

The earth pony in question grunted and raise a hoof tentatively to his wounded shoulder, he gently poked at the wound before he took a deep breath and reached into the open rent in his armour. The pony grimaced and gasped in pain before there was a wet tearing sound as he pulled out the blade and let it drop to the floor with a clatter, a few seconds later he collapsed to the floor, wheezing for breath.

"Daredevil, get the medical kit and patch him up" the dark blue stallion Blaze had just been about to kill shouldered his way through the group to tower over Blaze, a look of disgust and hatred on his face. "Ignia, signal the gunship we're ready for pickup" the stallion turned his head and spat out another tooth, deep red blood dripped down his chin.

"You almost got me there, you bastard" the stallion said before raising a hoof. Before Blaze could raise his own hoof in defence the stallion stamped down hard on his chest, winding him. "You're good, I'll give you that. I've never met a specialist who was bad at combat, but you...you where really something"

He turned to the massive stallion next to him. "Bind him and take his weapons, I'm presenting this one to Cadence personally. The massive stallion nodded and stepped forward, raising a hoof and slamming down on Blazes face. Blazes head slammed against the concrete road, sending stars flashing across his vision.

The skin under his left eye had swollen shut, blocking all sight in his left eye. When the stallion saw that Blaze was still conscious, so he stamped down with a hoof again, Blaze groaned in pain.

"Gunship is on approach" the one called Ignia said, lowering a hoof from her ear "ETA is three minutes"

"Good" the leader of the group said, wiping a hoof across his mouth to get rid of the blood "Tell Cadence the mission is a success" the stallion glanced at Blaze and gave him an evil smile "We're bringing one in, alive"

"Come on" the stallion that had hit Blazes face said, grabbing the front of his armour and hauling him to his hooves "You're coming with us" Blaze gasped for breath. The left side of his face was inflamed and swollen and he was pretty sure that he was missing a tooth somewhere at the back of his mouth, he took another ragged breath.

"Fuck...you..." he managed, doing his best to give the huge stallion an evil glare but failing due to his swollen eye. The stallion made a grunting noise of indifference and punched Blaze in the face again on his swollen left eye, causing him to collapse back to the floor.

"He's got plenty of fight this one" the stallion said, his voice deep like thunder "What'll you reckon Cadence will do to this one?"

"I don't give two shits" the dark pegausi said, glancing over at Blaze before moving over to the injured pony called Cloudy, who was whimpering slightly as the small filly called Daredevil poured a dark orange liquid onto his wound. "All i care is that after this I'm going to take a well deserved nap" The stallion spat another trail of blood "And see a dentist about my teeth"

Just then with the screaming of RAM jets the Valkyrie gunship reappeared, slowly hovering into landing two dozen feet away from them in the middle of the road. The force of the RAM jets and the spinning turbines set into the crafts wings blew away the fog around them, leaving an open space of clear air. "Alright everypony, our ride's here. Red, grab the prisoner and let's get going, i have a feeling that some more of those Solar bitches will be appearing at any moment"

The stallion standing over Blaze nodded and grabbed Blazes hoof, dragging him along the ground, a storm of sparks flaring up as the metal grinded along the concrete road. With a deep clanking and the sound of whirring the gunships boarding ramp lowered, warm air spilling out to gently caress against Blazes swollen face.

Daredevil wrapped a final strip of bandage around Cloudies chest and picked him up, letting him lean on her shoulder as they stepped up the boarding ramp. Blaze tried to fight back, but the pounding he had taken and the pain in his wing had robbed him of his strength and his attempts to resist where feeble. Just as his rump hit the bottom of the ramp Blaze felt his hope leave him, there was no point in resisting.

'So this is how it ends' he thought to himself 'I'm going to be dragged in front of Cadence and paraded around like some sort of circus animal for the whole of the NLR to see' he closed his eyes 'Sally...I'm so sorry...please...forgive me, all of you, forgive me' But just as he was dumped at the top of the boarding ramp and he succumbed to exhaustion, a single shot rang out.

A sniper bullet pinged off the top of the boarding ramp and began to ricochet around the interior of the gunship. The mare called Ignia screamed as the bullet impacted into her rump with a meaty thunk; a spray of blood went flying and painted the wall red.

"SHIT!" the dark stallion shouted, instantly pulling out a rail rifle from his flank. "GET US OUT OF HERE!" he shouted to the pilot, turning his head towards the cockpit "DAREDEVIL, SEE TO IGNIA!" the young filly nodded and pulled out a medical kit.

"SOMEONE GET THIS BULLET OUT OF MY ARSE!" Ignia screamed "SWEET TWILIGHT, THAT THING HURTS!" there was another shot and another meaty thud, the dark blue Pegasus gritted his teeth. Blaze realised that they still hadn't taken off.

"WHY THE HELL HAVEN'T WE TAKEN OFF!" the stallion shouted. Blaze glanced across to the cockpit and saw that the pilot was slumped in his chair; the windscreen in front of him covered in blood and smashed open with a single exit hole caused by the bullet. "SHIT, WINDFREE'S K.I.A.!" another shot rang out, smashing into one of the overhead storage racks. "CLOUDY, TAKE THE CONTROLS. RED, GIVE US SOME COVERING FIRE!" the massive stallion nodded and unslung his huge plasma cannon from across his back. The stallion stepped forward and took aim.

"WHERE ARE THEY? I CAN'T SEE JACK-SHIT!" another shot rang out. This time the sniper had aimed for one of the missile racks and there was a huge explosion that rocked the gunship. The stallion lost balance and fell back on his rump; his plasma cannon fell down beside him and whacked Blaze in the back of his head.

With a grunt of pain Blaze winced as the force of the blow sent him sprawling and caused him to roll down the boarding ramp to land head first on the cold concrete of the road.

"GET HIM BACK IN HERE!" the pegausi stallion shouted "IGNIA, HOW YOU HOLDING UP?"

"MY RUMP HASN'T FELT THIS SORE SINCE THE LAST TIME ME AND RUSSET GOT DRUNK! IF THAT HELPS?"

"THAT'S NICE. RED, GET THE PRISONER BACK ONBOARD!" the huge stallion nodded and stowed away his plasma cannon, but before he could descend the boarding ramp something huge landed beside with a heavy cracking noise. Blaze looked up to see a huge synthetic Alicorn standing over him, a look of grim determination and hatred on his face.

The specialist was clad in jet black armour similar to Blazes but equipped with heavier plating on the shoulders and on the chest, across the armours flank was three stripes of blood red. His coat, where it wasn't covered in black adamantium, was dull silver. His mane was thick and coloured snow white and his eyes where a bright gold.

Wordlessly the stallion drew a katana from his flank and brought it to bear, his eyes glittered with hatred. The stallion named red paused at the top of the ramp, eyeing the blade held in the newcomers hooves warily.

"Come on, Lunar scum. If you want him, come get him" the black armoured stallion stood over Blaze defensively, taking measured breaths. The red armoured stallion at the top of the ramp growled and began to descend, but another sniper round pinged off the ramp by the base of the stallions hooves, a warning shot for him to advance no further.

The stallion paused for only another second before he roared and charged down the ramp, his armour clanking heavily on the boarding ramp. The synthetic Alicorn waited patiently below, waiting to meet the stallions charge. The stallion came crashing down on them like a living mountain, his roar echoing like the thunder.

The Alicorn stood silently in the face of the charge, his blade still and balanced. Blaze feared that his saviour was about to die, but as the red stallion came hurtling towards them the Alicorn suddenly burst into action.

Moving faster than Blaze would have believed, the Alicorn side stepped the on rushing Stallion and raised the katana on high. The charging stallion didn't have enough time to react and continued his head long rush, unable to slow down in time to block the Alicorns attack.

As the stallion came charging past the Alicorn brought the katana slicing downwards, the blade making a faint humming noise as it descended through the air. The blade met the armour at the back of the stallions neck and sent up a storm of sparks flying as it sheared through the alloy of adamantium and ceramite.

There was the faint sound of meat being cut and the sound of bone and gristle being sliced through, before the blade emerged through the front of the stallions neck without a sound. The red stallion continued his charge, but now his legs seemed to working without any form of cohesion.

The stallion slowly stumbled to a halt, standing on shaking legs. He gave a final shallow gasp before his head and neck slowly slid from his shoulders and fell to the floor, the armour clanging loudly on the concrete. The now headless corpse stood stock still for a few seconds longer before it to fell to the floor, the sound of the metal armour impacting on the concrete deafeningly loud in the sudden silence that followed.

The young filly on board the gunship screamed in mindless horror as she watched the body of her squad mate fall to the ground, the sound was filled with the pain of loss and despair. The filly stood up from the red mare she was attending too and began to rush towards the door, but the dark pegausi grabbed her before she could reach the boarding ramp. "NO!" The filly screamed, clawing towards the synthetic Alicorn "THEY KILLED HIM, THOSE BASTARDS KILLED RED ARROW!"

"DAREDEVIL, NO!" the stallion said, using his superior strength to easily hold back the weaker pony. He shot the Alicorn and Blaze an evil glare before he turned back to the cockpit "Cloudy, get us out of here"

"Yes sir" with a deep clanking and a high pitched whirring the boarding ramp began to rise. Blaze had one final glance at the dark pegausi before the ramp sealed shut. With the screaming of RAM jets and a deep whining that began to rise in pitch the gunship slowly began to rise into the air, the gunship rose above the buildings before the engines released a final deep roar and the craft rocket forward towards the spire, swiftly disappearing from sight as it was blocked out by the buildings that surrounded them.

The mysterious Alicorn stood stock still for a few seconds, his ears perked up as he listened for any sign of the enemy. Silence descended on them, blocking everything out.

"ALL CLEAR!" he shouted out, his deep voice echoing loudly in the now silent street. There was a scuffling noise and the sound of metal meeting concrete and three shapes emerged from the fog, slowly coalescing into the distinct outlines of bodies.

The first of the new comers was a tall Alicorn stallion, his horn unusually long for a synthetic. The Alicorns coat was jet black and his mane and tail where the same mixture of reds, oranges and yellows and Blazes, though unusually his wings also bore the same colouration. His eyes where a bright yellowish gold and on his flank was a cutie mark of a royal phoenix over a backdrop of two crossed swords.

The second of the three was yet another Alicorn, this one tall, but still slightly shorter than the first Alicorn. His coat was a dull silver, much like that of stainless steel, but his flesh where it wasn't covered in deep green armour was criss-crossed with faint scars. His eyes where a glassy blue and his mane and tail where a deep gold, both cropped short, his mane done up in a series of small spikes.

The last wasn't an Alicorn or even a pony at all, but a dragon, his scales and wings where a metallic blue and his eyes bright gold, cresting his head and running down his back was a row of golden spikes.

The Alicorn standing over him sheathed his katana and pulled Blaze back to his hooves. "Are you Blaze, specialist unit JDA16?"

"Yeah, yeah i am" Blaze winced as his head began to pound, his skull feeling like it could split open at any minute "Who are you guys?"

"Specialist unit CTA14" the dragon answered, crossing his arms "We were sent to ensure that you and your team successfully completed your mission"

"Looks like you lot where a bit late" Blaze said bitterly, swilling some blood around his mouth before he spat it out and a tooth as well "Oh look, there's my tooth" Blaze tried to flex his wings but the armour held them tight, the result was a lance of pain the shot through his side like a hot knife.

"Sentinel, see to his wounds. Firelight, recon the area, Phoenix, you help" the Alicorn with the katana said before raising a hoof to his ear

"Berrybrew, this is Desolator. Package is secure, alert command that we have Blaze intact but the rest of his team is K.I.A. requesting immediate pickup at coordinates: Michael-Luna-thirty-nine by Gamma-Foxtrot-twenty-six" the stallion, apparently named Desolator, walked up to Blaze and knelt down beside him, placing on hoof on his shoulder.

"Hey, you ok?" he said in a gentle voice, which was surprising, he didn't look like the gentle type "Not an easy thing to see your squad mates die, when we get back to base we'll get you to a psychological care unit" but stallion tapped on his chest plate and it silently slid up into the armour, the stallion reached in and pulled out a thick connection cable. "Until then I'll give you the next best form of therapy, I'll give you your AI back"

The stallion gently tapped on Blazes chest plate and the metal plating retracted to reveal a selection of input ports, he then pulled out an extra length of cable and plugged the thick wire into a medium size input port. Blaze felt the stallions bio-mechanical mind digging through information files in Blazes own synthetic brain.

The stallion accessed the files containing the programming for Angel and opened the holographic projection and realisation programming; there was a jolt of energy as the stallion used some of the energy from his fusion core to reboot the files and then he pulled out the thick cable, causing Blaze to lurch slightly. "There we go" the stallion said, placing the cable back inside his open chest piece, which closed with a faint whirring sound "just give it a few moments and you'll have your AI back"

Blaze nodded and felt the Angels programming begin to come online. There was a faint whining and the heads up display in Blazes vision flickered, the data streams pausing from scroll down his vision. Blaze jolted again and the fuzzy outline of a pony silhouetted in white appeared next to him, a beeping noise filled his ears.

The silhouetted pony solidified into Angel and with a final jolt from Blaze she suddenly burst into life. The holographic pony stood stock still, blinking for a few seconds and taking in her surroundings before she turned to Blaze "You're hurt" she stated in a placid voice. Blaze waited for a few seconds longer for her pheromone synchronisation programming to come online. "YOU'RE HURT!" she said, this time her voice filled with concern.

Angel dropped to her knees beside Blaze and took his head in her hooves, her golden eyes where wide with maternal compassion. Angel flickered and Blaze felt her programming perform a full scan of his body. "We need to get you to a medic. Your right wing is broken and you're losing nanotrites fast, if we don't get the wound closed up quickly your synthetic genes will begin to breakdown and decay"

"Just give me a moment" Blaze said, tenderly rubbing the back of his head "I'm feeling pretty sore right now"

"The others..." Angel started, but her voice quickly broke off as she realised what had happened. Blaze shook his head.

"They didn't make it" his voice was sombre; a heavy weight like a chain of lead began to wrap itself around his heart.

"Oh..." for a few minutes they sat in silence, Blaze not wanting to speak and Angel not wanting to intrude. Angel opened her mouth and was about to speak, when from nowhere Buttercup appeared. The mares outline was flickering, and at times whole portions of her body distorted and disappeared entirely, the mare was panting heavily and her bright orange eyes where wide with desperation and fear. Blaze was so shocked to see her that he froze in place.

"Blaze..." she whimpered; her shy voice fearful and near silent. "It's Wonderbread...please...help" Blaze instantly leapt to his hooves.

"Where is he?" Buttercup pointed off towards their left, towards the side of the road, and Blaze bolted in that direction. The thick fog swiftly concealed him, and behind him he heard Desolator shout out his name, but he paid no mind. For a few moments Blaze encountered nothing, and then he found Wonderbread lying deathly still by the side of the road.

"Wonderbread..." he whispered, falling to his knees beside the stallion "no...no...OH SWEET TWILIGHT, NO!" Wonderbreads armour, once such a vivid brown, was now scorched pitch black and covered in soot and ash, sections of the metal had melted away. The image was horrific to behold, the sight of such a strong warrior laid low filled Blazes heart with sorrow, but what had happened to Wonderbreads face was even worse.

The red mares flames had taken a horrid tole on Wonderbreads features. His thick mane of blue and striking white had been burnt off, and his electric blue coat had been cracked and split by the heat, all around them the air was filled with the disgusting sickly-sweet stench of cooked meat. The flames had melted his eye balls, and all that was left of his orange retina was thick fluid of yellowish sludge that had pooled in his eye sockets.

"Wonderbread...?" Blaze asked, his voice almost silent and tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. A painful knot had tightened in his throat and he couldn't swallow "Please...Wonderbread...don't die" Blaze felt his reserve crack and buckle like bending metal.

"OH PLEASE, WONDERBREAD, DON'T DIE!" the tears began to slowly roll down Blazes cheeks "I'm so sorry" Blaze said, lowering his head as the first of the tears "please, Wonderbread, i'm so sorry! No one was meant to die!" Blaze raised his head and looked upwards into the sky, where the blue sun of Threnor prime was slowly rising to take supremacy of the heavens. "NO ONE WAS MEANT TO DIE!" he screamed.

"Blaze..." a faint voice whispered, and Blaze looked down to see Wonderbreads hoof pawing feebly at his chest; he gripped it tightly in his own. Beside them Buttercup and Angel appeared, their faces both wearing identical masks of sorrow. Buttercup began to cry into Angels shoulder, the AI laid a comforting hoof around her shoulder.

"Wonderbread, hold on! We're going to get you to a field medic, ok? Just hold on, it'll be ok, i promise it'll be ok!"

"No, Blaze..." the stallion said, coughing up a stream of thick black blood that dripped down his chin. "I'm finished...it's so dark...i know when i'm done" Wonderbreads other hoof fumbled blindly against his chest, searching for something at his neck. He found it and with a sharp pull and a grunt of pain he pulled on a small necklace made of fine chain links, he handed it to Blaze, who gripped it tight in his hooves. "I'm through, Blaze, I'm done"

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Blaze cried, tears running freely down his cheeks and dripping onto Wonderbreads soot blackened armour, washing away at the ash and leaving streaks across the surface of the metal. "WE'LL GET YOU TO A MEDIC, YOU'LL BE OK!"

"Blaze...take this" Wonderbread whispered "Keep it close...it's got to do you...some sort of good" Blaze looked down at the small necklace to see that it was a devotional icon to the holy saint Fluttershy, Wonderbreads patron saint, three topaz pink butterflies held together by fine links of silver.

Wonderbreads hoof went slack in Blazes grip "Find her...Blaze" he whispered. Wonderbread took one final ragged breath and fell still "You've got to ... do it ... for all of us" he said with his final breath, his chest falling still "Finish ... the mission ... capture Cadence ... make her pay ... "

Blaze felt his heart catch in his throat, and he looked up to see Buttercup looking at him, her eyes red with tears. She flickered and her outline slowly began to distort and fade away.

"Goodbye, Blaze, Angel" she said, and with a final flicker she disappeared entirely, her holographic realisation projectors losing power and shutting down. Blaze looked down at the once majestic stallion beside him, the lump in his throat tightened even further.

"Wonderbread...WONDERBREAD?" Blaze screamed, tears running faster down his cheeks. "No...No one was supposed to die" Blaze was dimly aware that Angel had laid a hoof on his shoulder and was saying something, but he could hear her. Overhead the grey clouds that hung heavy in the sky rumbled, and lit up as a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky.

Blaze turned to look up towards the heavens, just as they opened and the rain began to pour once again. Blaze closed his eyes and felt the heavy rain fall onto his face, the cold drops of water playing across his swollen skin. He opened his eyes and turned to stare up at the at the indomitable spire, which stood towering over them all, a symbol of the power of the NLR.

He felt anger burn up inside of him, drowning out the sorrow and replacing it with white hot fury. He took a deep breath and screamed a single word, his voice with filled hatred and loathing that he had been carrying for hundreds of years.

"CADENCE!"

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Within the halls of the changelings, Chrysalis heard a scream.

The queen paused from her feast of spoiled flesh to raise her head, her nostrils flaring as she absorbed the tantalising scent of emotion. Beneath her hooves, one of her children mewled and whined as black blood as thick as tar oozed from the hole rent in its chest. Beneath the creatures half insectoid, half pony exterior skin, its heart was little more then a mound of ruptured flesh and rotten meat.

The child mewled again, but was swiftly cut off as its mother stamped a hoof down on its mangled heart. The decaying organ burst like an over-ripe fruit, sending out a spray of thick blood and coating Chrysalis's hoof in the visceral fluid. For her part, the queen and mother of the changelings didn't even bother to note her child was dead by her own hoof, she was too enraptured in the scent of emotion teasing around her mind.

She could sense it, the delicious, tell-tale scent of raw emotion, freshly borne from the heart and mind of a mortal. Chrysalis took a deep draught of it from the humid air, savouring the heady scent as it worked into her mind and permeated her very being.

As she absorbed the emotion from the ether, she began to feel it within her own mind. She sensed anguish, pain, loss, all of them bitter tastes that where tart on her palette. But underneath she sensed something much sweeter, something much, much more delectable.

The honeydew taste of love.

It seeped into her body, filling her up with warmth. It spread all across her body, breathing a fire into her that went from the very tip of her fanged muzzle to the very bottom of her graceful, elegantly long legs before spreading to her heart where it settled like a ball of slow burning fuel. It filled her senses, the sensation of it running through her empty heart consuming her as it filled the cold void left by the lack of a true soul.

Vaguely, she felt it spread to her haunches.

Somepony, somewhere, had lost something incredibly dear to them. In the current day and age of the mortals, such losses where common, as the species foalishly turned on itself over insults so petty it made her laugh. But this one was different.

This one was raw!

The sheer power of it! The strength it must have had for this one mortals anguish to transcend the boundaries of reality and permeated the realm of magic! It was incredible! Invigorating! All-consumingly awe-inspiring!

How long had it been since she had felt such strong emotion? Since she had revelled in the pain and misery of the mortals?

The answer was simple. Far too long!

Chrysalis shivered as she felt the mortals inner turmoil stir in her heart, the sheer ecstasy she took from its pain causing her senses to go numb. She felt it reignite the hunger within her, the long starved urge to feed on the mortals. To make them suffer and beg as she inflicted the most horrific tortures on them and became drunk on their excruciation.

Opening her mind, Chrysalis sent the tiniest fraction of her essence out into the ether, searching for the mortal who had created such a strong scream, who had fed her a most delicious concoction of emotion.

She smiled, lowering her head to once again rip and tear at the flesh of her now dead child. As her fangs rendered her childs skin, tearing it from the bone, she shivered in anticipation.

It had been so long since Chrysalis had felt anything so strong, so pure and unadulterated. And the fact that it had been generated by a single mortal only served to peak her excitement. It had been so long since she had ever found anything of interest to her in the mortal world, but with the scream she had found something even greater then she could have hoped.

Chrysalis was going to enjoy her new plaything.

Touchdown

++ENGAGING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++UPDATING MISSION PARAMETERS++

++MISSION STATUS: INCOMPLETE++

++CURRENT MISSION PROGRESS TIME: TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE YEARS. NINE MONTHS. SIXTEEN DAYS. TWO HOURS. THIRTY SIX MINUTES. TWELVE SECONDS++

++SUBJECT BLAZE CURRENTLY IN MID DEPLOYMENT++

++LOCATION: DROP POD FOUR EIGHT SEVEN. CURRENT VELOCITY: THREE MILES A MINUTE++

++ALL VITALS NOMINAL. ALL SYNTHETIC SYSTEMS: NOMINAL++

++ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE PROGRAMME "ANGEL" ONLINE++

++SUBJECT BLAZE EXPECTED TO MAKE PLANETFALL IN TWELVE MINUTES++

++DESTINATION: NEW TROTTINGHAM. GLOBAL CAPITAL OF THRENOR PRIME++

++ RECEIVING IMAGE FILE++

++OPENING AND DISPLAYING IMAGE FILE++

++TARGET IS LOCATED WITHIN CENTRAL SPIRE. EXPECT HIGH LEVELS OF RESISTANCE++

++MOTTO FOR THE DAY: WITH THE SIX BY OUR SIDE, VICTORY IS ASSURED++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

You can never truly know the sensation of fear until you put your life in the hooves of someone else; you can never truly be helpless until you have no control over you fate.

As his drop pod plummeted through space towards the waiting world of Threnor prime below, Blaze truly knew both of these things. All around him where the drop pods of his battle brothers, soldiers, marines and special ops, all were with him as they came down like comets of fire, bringing death to the world below.

All around them space was filled with fire and debris, lances of pulsing plasma charges sliced through them onto the world below, piercing through the clouds and causing the surface of the planet to glow orange as they came into contact with their targets, causing them to melt.

The frigates of the fleet had also opened fire, raining down beams of energy and cyclonic torpedoes, each capable of killing an entire city block. The planet wasn't sitting idle under this punishment however, and balls of debris and severed limbs and body parts floated through space, all that remained of the marines whose pods had been hit by the return fire. As Blaze watched a missile from the surface came rocketing up through the clouds and into the thick of the pods, impacting into one and turning it into a fiery ball of death, no less than twenty meters in front of him.

Blaze gritted his teeth as he fell through the debris, and angel screamed when a hoof splattered against the view port of the pod, slowly streaking across it and leaving a trail of blood in its wake before it was suddenly gone. Blaze gulped and reflexively made the shape of the horseshoe over his heart for the dead pony, but the cables held him firmly in the chair, and he couldn't move a muscle.

"WE'RE GETTING HAMMERED!" a ponies voice screamed into the intercom, so loud it caused his voice to turn into an illegible crackle "WHY THE HELL ARE THE DEFENCES STILL ONLINE! THEY SHOULD B-" there was a loud crack that sounded like an explosion and the intercom fell silent. 'And another one's dead' Blaze thought.

He knew he didn't have as much to fear as all the others, the pods of the special ops teams where equipped with scramblers and deflection shields, meaning that they were capable of warding off any missiles and that any who got close weren't likely to cause any damage. High command had to invest in these measures, any mission that a specialist team was deployed on was vital to the war effort, and so the teams safe deployment had to be ensured. There was another explosion and a warning alarm went off as the force of the explosion caused the pod to veer off course, above his head the RAM jets screamed into life and altered the pods trajectory, bringing it back into line with its destination.

"LYRA, WHAT THE HELLS GOING ON!" Blaze shouted into his visor, suppressed fear being to worm its way through his body, causing him to tense up and his heart level to rise. "THE DEFENCE SYSTEMS SHOULD BE OFFLINE, WHY IN CELESTIAS NAME ARE THEY STILL FIRING?" there was nothing but silence "Dammit, all this debris must be interfering with communications" beside him Angel was whimpering quietly, her head in her hooves.

Angel was connected to Blazes mind in as much the same way as his head was attached to his neck. If she was feeling fear, it could only mean blaze was feeling it as well. "Hey, we're going to get through this ok?" he told her, the sound of his own voice subdued compared to the screaming of rockets and the rattling of metal that was filling the pod. Angel looked at him with golden round eyes that where filled with fear, and she slowly nodded. Blaze gave her a reassuring smile and then Lyras voice filled his head, crackling and cutting off occasionally, but still there.

"Blaze, commands going craz-something about shie-we're try-deal with-contact on plan-all" the few fragments of data echoed around inside his head, and then they were gone.

"LYRA? LYRA!" Blaze screamed "DAMMIT!" he stamped a hoof, frustration lending the blow extra strength and causing the metal plating beneath him to buckle, a rivet came loose and floated through the zero gravity of the pod, Blaze wanted to rip it from the air and crush it. "JESTER? WONDER BREAD? SUGARCANE?" silence. Blazes heart, or what organic material was left, was pounding in his chest. A beeping went through his head and once again the blue graph appeared. This time there was a reading of his heart beat, and the line zigzagged across its face, spiking and plunging erratically. "Warning, heart level critical, administering sedative" Blaze wanted to scream.

"NO, NOT NOW, WE'RE GOING INTO A WAR ZONE!" going into battle with sedative drugs running through his system would only slow him down, and increase the likelihood of him dying from a gun round. It was beyond his control however, and he could only roar in frustration as he felt tiny needles pierce his skin up and down the length of his spine, within a few seconds he felt his heart begin to slow, and a deadly lethargy ran through his body, filling him with sleep. He fought it however, and turned to Angel. "Initiate the override, I can't go after Cadence asleep, he felt a jaw cracking yawn at the back of his throat "quickly!"

Angel nodded, and then her projection flickered as she reached into the armours systems, searching for the program that controlled his combat drugs. She found it, and swiftly altered the sequencing to the adrenal injectors. Blaze felt the needles re-enter his skin, and instantly he felt the weariness fall from him as his body was pumped full of synthetic adrenaline. His heart beat began to rise once again, and the fear it his head was replaced with drug fuelled aggression. "I'M COMING FOR YOU CADENCE!" he roared, his lips peeling back to reveal his canines, sharp and deadly "CAN YOU FEEL ME COMING? I'M GOING TO FIND YOU AND RIP YOU TO SHREDS FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" beside him Angels own fear dissipated, and she smiled aggressively, fire now burning in her eyes.

"YOU TELL HER BLAZE!" wonder breads voice spoke over the intercom, buzzing like he was made of bees "LET'S FIND THIS BITCH AND GET PAID!" he roared, before he cackled loudly "I FEEL LIKE ADDING REGICIDE TO MY CV!" Blazes smile widened. They were almost to the planet, only a few miles between them and the outer atmosphere. This close he could make out the lights of a huge city, hundreds of miles across, shining bright through the clouds, painting them in a deep orange. The lines of huge boulevards and highways stretching out across the worlds surface like a massive spider's web. In front of them the first pods where already making planet fall, leaving bright trails of fire in their wake as they pierced the planet's atmosphere.

They still had a hundred or so more miles to go, but they were screaming through space at immense speed, and the wait wouldn't be long. 'Here I come Cadence, this is the revenge I was promised. All those years of waiting, all the pain I had to go through to reach this moment, I'm going to look you in the eyes when I kill you, I'm going to watch the light go out from your eyes' just then a voice came on the intercom again.

"WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT AR-" and then there was a deep boom and the speakers fell silent, Blaze didn't like the sound of that.

"Angel, trace that transmission to its point of origin" he said, if that message had been from one of the front most pods then something was waiting for them below, something that was likely to get them killed. Angel nodded and her projection flickered, then it solidified again, blaze didn't like what he saw in her eyes, the fear had made its return.

"It came from one of the leading pods, specifically the pod of lieutenant Lucia creed from the Adnelteen airborne fifty second division" an image filled Blazes vision, showing a grim looking unicorn. His coat was white, and his eyes a deep violet. On his cheeks was thick stubble and his mane was black, cropped short in a typical military fashion. His horn was scarred and the tip had been snapped off. "his pod entered the atmosphere three minutes ago, onboard external cameras captured this image before being destroyed" the unicorn vanished and in his place was an image of a huge cityscape, the spire at its centre, surrounded by its swarm of defence ships.

A huge ring of fortifications encircled the base of the spire, aegis defence lines and massive ferocrete bastions. There were also massive flak cannons rising into the air, each with four barrels and in the still life of the image their muzzles where flashing yellow as they spewed ammunition skyward. At the base of each battery massive plasma engines glowed purple and blue as they fuelled the cannons, pouring forth thick clouds of black smoke, which rose into the air and mixed with the thick smoke that rose from the burning buildings of the ravaged city.

Behind the lines there where the waiting troops, in a crowd so vast that they could have numbered in their millions, rising from the crush where tanks and bipedial walkers, armed with plasma cannons and beam and pulse weaponry. But towering above them all where massive six legged scorpion mechs, mobile battle fortresses that bristled with guns and had a huge tails rising from their backs, each tipped with a enormous plasma cannon. "I've been over the statistics, even with our pods defences at full strength the likelihood of us making a successful planet fall is nought point zero, zero, zero, zero, three to nine thousand"

"WHY THE HELL ARE THOSE CANNONS AND THE MECHS STILL ONLINE? THE EMPS SHOULD HAVE NEUTRALISED THEM!" Blaze roared in frustration, fear filling his heart.

"The cannons are all fuelled by plasma generators, and so are unsusceptible to EMP fire, the garrison must have caught on to our tactics and switched the power supply to prevent their defence systems from being shut down. The mechs also appear to be plasma powered, they knew we were coming, and they've set us up. It's a trap Blaze, they knew we were reliant upon our EMP strike to knock them out and they neutralised our main form of protection. This isn't a standard deployment; this is a massacre waiting to happen" the pod suddenly began to shake and rattle, the rivet floating in mid air dropped to the floor and began to vibrate on the floor. Outside the viewing port the world was filled with fire, they had entered the atmosphere, and likely on seconds away from death.

"EVERYONE LISTEN UP!" Blaze shouted into his intercom, activating a vox link with the other members of his team. "THE NLR KNEW WE WHERE COMING AND MOST OF THEIR DEFENSES ARE STILL ONLINE, ONCE WE MAKE PLANETFALL REGROUP AND REQUEST IMMEDIATE EXTRACTION, THERE'S NO WAY WE'LL BE ABLE TO GET TO CADENCE THROUGH THOSE DEFENCE LINES!"

"BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MISSION?" he heard Sugarcanes voice crackle "WE CAN'T LET CADENCE GET AWAY; IT TOOK US MONTHS TO TRACK HER!"

"SHE'S IMMORTAL, IT'S NOT LIKE SHE'S GOING ANYWHERE SOON. UNFORTUNATELY WE ONLY LIVE ONCE; I'M NOT RISKING ANY LIVES OVER THIS. WE PULL OUT NOW AND FIND CADENCE LATER" as much as the thought of letting her escape made him sick, Blaze knew nothing would be gained if they went ahead with the mission and all of them died. 'you got lucky this time you bitch' he thought, grinding his teeth together 'but it's not over, not by a long shot. I'm still coming for you' then, with a final shriek the RAM jets at the top of the pod ran out of fuel and fell silent, marking that the descent was at an end. Outside thick grey clouds where all around them, obstructing their view and blocking the rest of the world off, isolating them. "Angel, no matter what happens, it was an honour to serve with you" Angel looked at him, he never talked like this.

"Blaze…I-" The clouds opened up before them, and Blaze felt a lump seize up at the back of his throat. Below them the world was a monotone of grey, rain was lashing down from the clouds and lighting would sporadically cut through the sky and paint the world in black and white. The only exceptions to this where the flak batteries, which were firing up into the sky with abandon, over head the rain of drop pods was so thick that there was no need to aim, they simply pointed their guns upwards and keep firing into the thick of the incoming swarm.

Occasionally smaller plasma cannons would fire, shooting bolts of bright blue energy into the storm wracked sky above their heads, and every time they fired another pod would bloom with fire and explode, incinerating the occupant inside before they'd even had time to scream. There were also stray pulse rounds flying past the windows, as the NLR troops below took pots shots at the helpless invaders. Towering above them was the majestic spire of the cities elite, its point stretching so high up into the air that it disappeared into the clouds and pierced the atmosphere, leaving its upper floors jutting out into space.

On a normal day with the sun shining the spire would have looked beautiful in its shining white skin of metal, but under the monotone grey light of the storm it stood dark and foreboding, its shadow stretching out over the city below like an enormous claw every time a bolt of lightning split the sky.

All around him drop pods where falling from the sky like a hail of steel, RAM jets leaving trails of fire in their wake. Below him the flak batteries had put up a curtain of metal, and as Blaze watched a pod came crashing down through the flak curtain, it was violently buffeted around before exploding into a ball of flames and falling to the ground. It was no use, for every single pod that got through, another ten met fiery deaths.

He gritted his teeth and prepared for the ends, a thousand curse filling his head as he wished that this wasn't the way he was going to die. Then Angel's voice, loud and clear despite the noise of the explosions and the firing of the cannons, rang out loud and clear.

"Twilight: grant us your magical strength so that our own powers may give us the strength to push onwards"

"Applejack: grant us your honesty so that we may open our hearts to the truth, and destroy the barriers lies build between us…"

It was a prayer to the six; a prayer that had been passed from generation to generation, Blaze knew the words. Angel fell silent, her prayer dying on her lips as another dozen pods exploded, the light painting their pods interior orange. Blaze watched the light from the flames die, and then out of reflex, continued Angel's prayer.

"Rarity: grant us your generosity so that we may support one another, and all may share in the joys of life"

He took a breath to say the next line, and when he spoke again, Wonder breads voice crackled over the intercom, its deep and sonorous tone joining in prayer.

"Fluttershy: grant us your kindness so that we may find mercy in the hooves of our friends, and treat all others with the respect they deserve"

Another set of static spits and cracks and Jester and Sugarcane could also be heard, Jesters voice low and pious, Sugarcanes high and light.

"Pinkie pie: grant us you laughter, so that no matter how dire our need we will always know that the dark will vanish before the dawn"

Blaze felt the fear slip from his heart, and in its place was a new kind of strength, a certainty that this wasn't how it was going to end, that this wasn't where his journey finished. As one the team finished the prayer, their voices becoming one. Underneath the voices of his team mate Blaze could hear the voices of other ponies as the marines all around him took up the prayer with them.

"Rainbow dash: grant us your loyalty so that we may never falter, and so that we will never sway from our cause" as the prayer came to an end Blaze felt the urge to speak, and so he did.

"The six will light our way, with them at our sides we will never falter, we will never fail" there was only less than a kilometre to go before his pod reached the deadly flak curtain "we will not die here, we will not fall. This is not how it's meant to end!" shouts of agreement filled the pod, pouring from the intercom, in his head Blaze could hear Lyra shouting, and could imagine the sight of her at her workstation as she watched his pod plummet towards the planet below. "WE WILL NOT FALTER, WE WILL NOT FAIL! WE SHALL GO TO WHERE THE ENEMY LIVE AND BREED AND WE WILL SHOW THEM THE MIGHT OF THE SOLAR EMPIRE! THE REPUBLIC WILL PAY FOR WHAT THEY'VE DONE; LUNA WILL ANSWER FOR HER CRIMES!" Blaze raised his head and roared the battle cry of the Solar Empire "FIRE AND FURY!" and all around him other ponies took up the cry, their voices becoming a bestial roar, thick with ferocity and aggression. They were almost upon the curtain; Blaze tensed and gritted his teeth together. "DEFLECTOR ARRAYS TO MAXIMUM, BRACE FOR IMPACT!" he screamed to himself, and then they hit the flak curtain, punching through the storm of steel.

The pod shook violently, and became filled with a grating roar as shards of metal scraped along the side of the pod, striking against it and stabbing at the viewing port. One shard slammed into the viewing port, causing the glass to crack and sending a spider web of cracks and splits to spread out from the central point where the metal had pierced the glass. Alarms began to scream and within Blazes vision bright red words that spelled "capsule breached" shone out, blood red.

More alarms began to sound and then the floor beneath them shook and the whole pod lurched to the side as a stray round from a flak cannon passed within a few meters of them, the force of its explosion causing the pod to veer wildly off course, spinning through the air like a top and causing Angel to scream in fear yet again. The force of the explosion had caused the viewing port to completely shatter, and bits of broken glass lashed at Blazes armour, causing scratches in the fresh paint.

Outside the storm raged on, and whenever the pods spin brought the viewing port up to the sky the rain fell down on him, running over the cold adamantium of his armour and soaking into the seat beneath him.

The world beneath them was a blur, constantly moving. For a brief second he would glimpse the ground, slick with rain and dark with shadows, the massive guns firing endlessly and the bright blue beams of plasma fire. And then the pod would continue on its spin and he would see the grey skies over head, filled with drop pods and illuminated by flames. An alarm flashed inside his visor "Thirty seconds until impact" the dull red light over head began to flicker, jumping on and off, sending spots across his vision.

The screaming of the RAM jets cycled down to a high pitched whine, and then with a fit of dull coughs fell silent. "Twenty seconds until impact" an explosion from a pod overhead filled the tiny capsule with orange light, and pieces of razor sharp shrapnel pinged off his armour as they shot through the air like bullets. "Ten seconds until impact" this was the end; this was how he was going to die. Falling to the earth in a malfunctioning drop pod whilst all around him soldiers and marines loyal to the empire died for a ruler they'd never seen, for a cause that had never truly been their own.

The sudden futility of the war hit him, how pointless such loss of life was. "Five…four…" he spoke a wordless prayer to Twilight sparkle, but no breathe escaped past his lips "Three…two…" he closed his eyes tight shut, and gritted his teeth "One…impact" The pod crashed into the side of a building, ploughing straight through it and into the street below. It bounced with a dull clung of metal and smashed into the side of another building, sending brick and metal flying. A chunk flew through the viewing port and smacked right into the side of his head, sending stars scattering across his vision. He felt his head reel and then he blacked out.

The last thing he heard was Angel screaming his name.

≤ΘΘΘ≥

"Empress, the invasion has begun" Cadence knelt before the holographic projection of princess Luna, the marble of the floor ice cold beneath her hooves, and slick with water where it dripped off her coat. They were in the centre of a massive circular audience chamber; a cavernous hall a kilometre in length, from the centre ran four aisles, each facing a point of the compass.

The aisles where flanked by massive columns a hundred meters tall carved into the likenesses of saints and heroes, each holding their burdens above them without any sign of fatigue on their ferocrete wrought faces. Along the centre of each aisle ran a thick carpet ten meters in width, each one covered in flowing patterns of vines and stars. Overhead the roof had been painted in a starscape, lights in the ceiling marking out the stars and each connected to the other by faint white lines, mapping out the constellations of the heavens.

In the centre of the hall atop three steps was a raised circular dais, twenty meters across. Along the rims of each step there was the faint twinkling of gemstones, at the centre was a raised plate of metal, ugly in comparison to the rest of the hall, and upon it stood Princess Luna, her silhouette glowing slightly as the holo-projectors beamed out her image.

"As I predicted" Luna nodded in understanding "Celestia has been amassing her forces for months, it was only a matter of time before she decided to strike" it was true, for the past year the outpost facilities up and down the front had been detecting massive amounts of ghost waves, the radiation emitted by phase shields. Though it had been difficult to guess where the forces of the Solar empire where gathering, logistics had pin pointed the epicentre of the gathering storm, the fortress world of Kriegar.

There were few targets within phase distance of Kriegar that where worth any value, save for Threnor prime, a vital civic world that provided the majority of the ammunition used by the new Lunar republic fleets that operated in the galactic north east. If Threnor prime where to fall then the republic fleets would be left without supply lines and no planet with phase distance to jump to, meaning that this section of the galaxy would have to be conceded to the Solar empire, something Luna was not willing to risk.

From here the easily navigable trade routes would provide the empire with a direct path to the core worlds of the republic, and that meant even Aurelia would be at risk to invasion. It was because of this Cadence had been dispatched to Threnor prime, charged with ensuring its successful defence in the face of the assault. "How many ships has my sister sent?" knowing the strength of the enemy would be vital in planning their strategy.

"Auspex scanners have currently tracked four hundred and three frigates, two hundred and ninety seven battle cruisers and five capital ships. We also have confirmed intelligence which leads us to believe that the flagship of the fleet is Celestias grace of the northern war fleets" Celestias grace was a massive capital ship that had been constructed in the imperial shipyards orbiting Equine prime. Armed with several thousand turbo lasers, hundreds of torpedo bays, and four plasma cannons with the power to reduce entire cities to slag, it was not a ship to be dealt with lightly. In fact the only reason new Trottingham was still standing was because the empire needed the urban centres of the planet in one piece to take advantage of the production centres. "Our phase stations have also detected more ghost waves, another wave of ships is inbound, without immediate reinforcement we won't be able to hold them off, they'll grind us down through sheer weight of numbers"

"I have no more ships to spare, nor do I have an aid to give you. The empire has launched an assault on Cadies, and the majority of the southern fleet has been dispatched to repel the invasion. A smart move on my sisters part, she drew us out like moths to a flame" Luna frowned in irritation, the stars in her mane sparkling gently as it floated in an ethereal breeze. "How goes the defence so far?"

"The empire sought to shut down our defence systems with a preliminary EMP bombardment, short sighted fools. I ensured that our flak batteries where plasma powered to negate their initial advantage. We are currently holding off the first wave of pods, but it is only a matter of time before there are too many of them for us to stop" Luna nodded once again, looking down upon cadence with a studious eye, noting her every move.

"You're wet" she stated.

"I was out on the balcony with my commanders and advisors watching the guns, it is raining outside, a storm so strong that the lightening is splitting the skies" as if to reinforce her point a sudden bolt of forked lightening outside illuminated the hall with its glow, pouring through the panelled windows in the walls, followed a few moments afterward with a rolling boom of thunder. "We have placed static engines around the city in order to use the storm to our advantage, the lightening will doubtlessly strike down a few of the drop pods" Cadence had thought of that herself, knowing she would need every weapon at her disposal to repel the invaders. "How goes life upon Aurelia, empress?"

At that Lunas composure momentarily slipped, she sighed and her shoulders seemed to sag ever so slightly "Dull and wearisome, as ever. The council persists in pestering me with demands to end my use of the emergency powers" though Lunas realm was a republic, it was currently only one by name.

Due to the massive war the republic had found itself caught up in, the council, a gathering of all the planetary governors of the new Lunar republic, had decreed that until such a time that peace had been restored Luna was to reign as a supreme autocrat. However this had been a thousand years ago, and the new generation was becoming unruly, claiming that the high taxes and tithes needed to supply the armies and fleets was crushing their world's economies, and that democracy had to be returned to the republic. 'Could they all be so blind?' Cadence wondered to herself 'do they not see that this sacrifice is necessary for them to maintain their freedom?'

For over a thousand years Lunas strategic prowess had held the Solar empire at bay, and no matter how much they begged or pleaded, supreme autocratic power wasn't going to be yielded until the empire had been crushed and the new Lunar republic ruled the galaxy, even if all the presided over was nothing more than the corpse of the ancient Celestial empire.

"They are simply fools blinded by delusions of their own power; the empress shouldn't trouble herself with the likes of them. They are specks of dust suspended in the stream of time, whilst you and I shall live for all of eternity. You should sweep them aside like the dirt they are" Cadence said, anger in her voice, Luna simply smiled sadly.

"Alas I need the dirt's support to maintain control over the republic. If only I could deal with them so easily, my life would be that much simpler" Luna shook her head "I'm afraid that the duties of being an empress must be attended to, but before I go I have a warning for you" Cadence raised her head from the floor, looking Luna in the eye, confusion was written on her face.

"A warning empress?"

"My mastery of prescience has led me to a vision, Cadence; the goddess has given me insight into a fraction of time. I cannot tell you the true meaning of this warning, only the words that where spoken to me. One has come, his mane aflame and his eyes as bright as the stars. He comes seeking vengeance, to collect a debt of blood and misery. Guard yourself well Cadence, for this mysterious stallion has come for you" the holo-projectors began to fade, Lunas image slowly dissipated "beware the wings of white and the broken horn" where the empresses last words before she disappeared completely, leaving Cadence alone in the cavernous hall. 'Wings of white…and a broken horn, what could she mean?' Cadence stood up and pondered on the words her empress had spoken, before turning her head to a shadow by the base of the closest northern pillar.

"You heard every word?" a part of the shadows seemed to thicken and out of the darkness there stepped a huge griffin, his face placid. He nodded; his golden eyes gave away nothing for what was happening behind them. The griffin was Brute, Cadence's personal protector, a bodyguard without equal. Griffins are long lived creatures and for almost one hundred years Brute had protected Cadence from harm, always out of sight, hiding in the shadows only to emerge when his charge was in danger. He'd been given to her as a gift and had served loyally ever since, but Cadence still felt ill at ease when the griffin was close. There was something about his eyes, how one could never tell what he was thinking or feeling that made her feel unnerved. The griffin ruffled the snow white feathers on his neck and scratched at his chin before replying.

"Brute did, little one" though Cadence had been alive for thousands of years before the griffin was even born, and would see the rest of eternity once he was dead, Brute always referred to her as 'little one'. "wings of white and a broken horn" Brutes voice was rough and clipped, more like that of a bird then a pony.

Since the birth of the Celestial Empire the griffins had carved out their own niche in the galactic west, keeping themselves to themselves and shunning outsiders, only venturing out as small bands of mercenaries. As a result of their isolation the griffins had developed their own tongue, a harsh, clipped and blunt language that sounded guttural and barbaric, and there were few griffins, mostly ship captains and mercenary commanders, that could speak the pony tongue. "Brute shall watch for white wings and broken horns night and day, don't fear little one" he raised his right front leg and his claws closed into a fist, which he beat once upon his chest "Brute will protect you and watch over you"

Though Cadence still didn't truly understand of the meaning of the warning itself, the griffins words still gave her a sense of some comfort. "Walk with me Brute, let us see the invasion" the griffin nodded again and followed After Cadence, his tread surprisingly silent on the hard marble floor. Cadence made her way down the northern aisle, towards a set of huge iron doors that were set at the end, as she walked so turned her attention to the columns that lined the aisle, trying to distract herself from the ill prophecy that Luna had laid out before her.

As was demanded by tradition, those pillars closest to the centre of the chamber where of the six saints of the equine race, each with looks of serene calm on their faces, first came Twilight sparkle and Rarity, their columns constructed in such a way that it appeared that the two unicorns where using their magic to keep them levitated in the air. After them followed Rainbow dash and Fluttershy, who were using their wings to keep the pillars aloft, Fluttershys plinth was adorned with stone statues of animals, and upon her back was a small rabbit. Last but not lest there came Applejack and Pinkie pie, with the columns above them supported on their backs.

After them came the other, lesser saints of the galactic populace. The cutie mark crusaders, Applebloom, Sweetie belle and Scootaloo, who'd led the exploratory fleets after the last of the six had fallen in battle. Big-Macintosh, who'd held the breach at Night gate for three days and nights against a hoard of xenos, whose bodies morphed and changed at will. Cherilee, who'd meticulously, recorded the knowledge of each world conquered and explored before imparting the knowledge to the next generation of explorers and navigators.

There were hundreds more, each with a saga that was remembered on a thousand worlds. Each one of these heroes had given their lives for what they believed in, making the ultimate sacrifice to secure a future for the species. 'But when the Solar Empire storms the spire all of them will be put to the torch. The saints will burn and millions will be massacred simply because they chose to follow the true light of the republic rather than walk the hedonistic path of the empire' how many would be dead before the invasion had run its course? How many ponies would lose their whole lives under the iron shod hoof of the Solar Empire? 'We've done the best we could to prepare, the majority of the populace have been evacuated and the rest placed into Cryo-stasis, there will be no needless deaths'

The iron cast doors at the end of the aisle was at least two hundred feet tall, jet black and covered with flecks of light brown where oxidisation had caused parts of the door to rust. Cadence wasn't surprised at that, the spire was several thousand years old, and had dominated the sky line of New Trottingham for longer than living memory. Upon the door was engraved a scene of battle, nightmarish creatures and brave warriors locked in an epic struggle.

On the left door panel where the armies of the equine race, warriors wielding force hammers, power swords and chain blades. Leading them was a carving of the hero Nova, his hammer slamming downwards in a powerful strike. On his face was a look of fierce determination, his lips where pulled back in a snarl showing gritted teeth and his eyes, picked out with emeralds, seemed to glow with fire.

On the right where hoards of changelings, demonic creatures of ancient legend, the creatures themselves where sickly in appearance, their bodies lean to the point of emaciation and they had holes in their flesh, which seemed to ooze a thick viscous fluid that looked poisonous. They were tearing away to the opposition, ripping them to shreds and leaving nothing but scraps of flesh.

Leading them was the dark entity known as Chrysalis, a creature formed of pure magic who was snarling at Nova, her own eyes a sickly green and possessed of a deep malice, lacking the fiery energy of Novas. In her mouth where fangs, razor sharp and glinting in the faint illumination of the stars overhead, the whole scene seemed so real that Cadence paused for a moment to wonder at the doors, behind her Brute watched on, silent as ever.

"Brute doesn't understand your people's obsession with the past" he idly commented, his deep voice breaking the silence of the hall. Cadence gave him a sharp look, frowning in displeasure.

"these legends are what keep the fires of the ponies burning" she gestured to the door, where the frozen image of war raged on "these ponies made great sacrifices to ensure our survival, it's only right to remember them for what they did" she gave the griffin an imperious look "I wouldn't expect a griffin to really understand"

"Brutes people believe that the present is all that matters, the past doesn't change what will come, it only changes what has been" the griffin scratched his chin again "griffins are strong, we don't need legends to keep our people alive" he smiled at Cadence, who was still glaring at his with her purple eyes "Brute doesn't expect the little one to really understand" when Cadence raised an eyebrow and huffed, his smile widened.

"we don't have time to discuss philosophy, let us see the invasion" Cadences' horn glowed and there was the deep clanking of ancient locks sliding from their positions. With a faint clicking noise the double doors slowly swung open, a fierce gale blowing through the now open portal and racing through the hall, the pillars causing it to scream and howl. The harsh rain followed seconds after and before she'd even walked through the doors cadence was soaking wet, water running from her body and dripping down her legs to the floor, her mane and tail plastered to her body.

Outside where the booming sounds of war. The constant 'dak, dak, dak' of the flak batteries, the high pitched wails of plasma cannons, both accompanied by the screaming of RAM jets as the drop pods fell from the sky in a hail of steel, only to be smashed apart by the shrapnel of the batteries and sliced open by the beams of superheated plasma. Along with the pods was the orange glow of cyclonic torpedoes as they pierced through the flak curtain and pummelled the city below, buildings imploded and collapsed in on themselves, entire city blocks where reduced to ash with each salvo.

Fires where lit up all across the city, black plumes of smoke rising to mix with the grey storm clouds overhead The only things to be left untouched where the factories at the city centre around the base of the spire, the primary objectives of the invading fleet. It was because of this that Cadence had deployed her forces in a secure ring within the manufactories, knowing that her forces would be left unscathed after the preliminary bombardment.

Just outside the door there was a large balcony, with room for at least a hundred ponies. It was currently empty, save for the brave few who had ventured out to see the horrors of war for themselves, the storm had driven the rest of them inside to hide in their luxurious, soundproofed chambers and ride out the invasion in comfort and safety. There were only five on the balcony now, they themselves soaking wet from the rain.

To the left a pegausi aristocrat shielded his wife with his wings, the rain running through the feathers to soak them down to the bone. Though the noblepony was silent as he watched the fires burning beneath him, his wife had no such reserve, and was weeping loudly, her face buried in her husbands' neck.

Another, a techno-savant clad in a dark green cloak, watched on silently. On his back was a large power pack with the symbol of the Adeptus mechanicum, a cog with a skull set in the centre, and from it there stretched four mechanical limbs, the front two where a pair of large claps, the rear left was a needle and the rear right a chain blade.

The remaining two where a pair of her generals, both earth ponies, Steelhoof and Shadowmane, both decorated veterans and strategic geniuses.

"my Princess" Steelhoof said as she approached, breaking off his conversation with Shadowmane and bowing low, his mechanical rear right leg for which he was named releasing a hiss of steam as he bowed. Shadowmane nodded by way of greeting and also bowed, his jet black mane plastered to the back of his neck. "Are you sure you wish to see this? War is no easy thing to watch"

"the world under my charge is under assault general, it is only right that I should have the decency to see every transgression that is passed" at that Steelhoof simply nodded and stepped away from Shadowmane, making a gap by the railing for her. Cadence stepped up to the railing and looked down at the assembled army below, from this high up they may as well have been ants. They even moved like the diminutive creatures, snaking around in lines as they collected extra weapons and ammunition before heading to the outer defence lines, prepared to repel any assaults by those who may have made planet fall. "how goes the defence?"

"we currently have the spire under lockdown, no one is to go beyond the defence lines or risk being fired upon. We are currently maintaining a firing rate on the flak batteries of twelve thousand rounds a minute and we have enough supplies to keep the guns firing continuously for nine months provided we can keep the factories going"

"Excellent news. What about the outposts, have there been any reports?" at this Steelhoof seemed to tense, but it was Shadowmane who answered.

"We have eighteen confirmed reports of the invaders making successful deployments across the planets. The city of Blackwater has reported fighting in the streets and the town of Coltsvale has reported of insurrection by hidden loyalists to the Solar Empire, also, we have confirmed intelligence that says outposts nineteen through to eighty six have already been captured"

"damn" Cadence had been hoping that the outposts would have been able to hold at least three days before being captured, forcing the empire to split its resources to prevent an attack from the rear. But with the outposts in the hands of the enemy not only would New Trottingham take the full force of the invasion, but the empires armies had now gained a secure foothold on the world, if their orbital assault failed then it would only be a matter of time before the city came under attack by land.

A siege was the worst outcome Cadence could imagine, they wouldn't survive. If the worst came to the worst they had enough food and ammunition to hold out for at least two years, but the empire was guaranteed to use heavy artillery both from orbit and the ground to bombard the city into submission, and that could be deadly, nothing sapped a soldiers moral like shelling did. "I want those outposts back" as soon as she said the words she knew they were folly.

"Princess, we don't have the resources. In order to hold even the spire alone we need all the soldiers we can gather to defend the base, we simply can't spare any troops to take back a few outposts. Like as not it's highly likely that by now the Solar Empire has the outposts and the surrounding areas well under their control by now, and they'll probably already be using them as staging areas for supply drops and reinforcements. Any attack on them would be suicide" Cadence felt a knot tighten up in her stomach, she turned her head from Shadowmane and looked up to the sky, where drop pods where falling thick and fast.

She needed to do something to stem the tide of empire troops, but there was nothing she could do without sending good ponies so their deaths. One pod out of the hundred caught her for some reason, and she followed its descent as it fell to earth. It pierced through the flak curtain, shrapnel raking at its sides at it fell through, the RAM jets on its roof leaving a trail of fire to mark its path. A shell from one of the batteries exploded off to its right and sent the pod spinning through the air like a chucked rag doll, for a brief moment she fancied she could hear the occupants speed. And then the pod crashed into the side of a building and punched straight through it before disappearing from sight, with no way to tell if the pony inside was dead or alive.

In that brief instant Cadence felt sick of the whole scene, she couldn't stand the sight of so much death for even another second. "I grow weary of seeing so much destruction. Steelhoof, Shadowmane, you have command, relay orders for the defence as you see fit"

"Princess" Steelhoof bowed again, his prosthetic leg whirring and clicking as it processed the movement.

"Princess" Shadowmane bowed as well, his black mane falling in front of his eyes.

Cadence nodded goodbye to them both and turned away from the balconies edge and made her way out of the rain and back into the dry hall of the audience chamber. Once she was through the open portal Brute coalesced from the shadows cast by the door, padding silently across the marble. "The little one doesn't wish to see war?" he asked as they made their way around the perimeter of the chamber.

"You're rather talkative today" Cadence quipped, on most days Brute didn't even open his beak.

"War is enough to set anyone's blood afire, when Brute knows that the boom of guns firing and the roar of cannons coming to life may be the last things Brute hears, he does tend to talk more often than normal"

"How…odd of you" Cadence commented, they where about a quarter of the way to the elevator to the upper chambers "you don't strike me as a griffin that could know fear"

"All things feel fear, this is known" the griffin stated calmly "Brute is no different from the ponies in the sky or the ponies on the ground; since Brute is not different he must feel fear just as everything else must"

"And are you afraid to go out there Brute, are you afraid to fight?"

"No little one, Brute is not. Though Brute must feel fear, that doesn't mean he must let fear master him. If Brute had to, Brute would go out and fight to keep the little one safe, it is Brutes duty" Cadence couldn't help but smile, she always found the queer fatherly affection the griffin had for her to be endearing.

"That is reassuring for me to hear. Will you escort me to my chambers Brute?"

"If the little one wants Brute to, he will" the griffin stated

"Thank you Brute"

"It is an honour for Brute to serve" they were now about two hundred meters from the elevator, Cadence decided to fill the gap with conversation and take advantage of the griffins talkativeness.

"Tell me Brute, do you have any family back on your home?" the griffin ruffled his feathers and gave a quiet 'squawk', his shoulders seemed to sag slightly, but his golden eyes gave nothing away.

"Brute did have a family once, a happy family. Brute had a strong son and beautiful twin girls, Brute had a mate as well, his white feather" for griffins, and to a lesser extent pegausi, the offering of a feather to another was the ultimate sign of love and affection.

"You had a family? I never knew"

"Brute did have a family, but no more. One day Brute was working to feed his family when some sky ponies came, riding in their ships of fire. Brute went home only to find ash and ruin, his son dead, his daughters gone and his white feather was also missing. Brute searched far and wide to find them, but he couldn't find them. Brute doesn't have a family anymore, Brute lost them"

"Oh…" Cadence had never been aware that Brute had ever had some form of life before he'd entered her service, well; she knew he'd had to have had some sort of life, but she'd never imagined he'd ever had a family, or a wife. "I am sorry for your loss"

"The little one doesn't need to be sorry for Brute; Brute has accepted what has happened. The past doesn't change what will come; it only changes what has been. Brute is strong, he lives for the present, not the past" saying the words seemed to lift the weight from his shoulders; he straightened his neck and ruffled his feathers again. They'd arrived at the elevator, a simple disk of polished white metal, only distinguishable from the marble around it by a blue ring that ran around its circumference.

The pair stepped on and stood at its centre, before Cadence used her magic to cause the disk to rise up from the floor, travelling up and up towards the cavernous roof. Once they where past the roof they entered a glass tube the size of the disk, and they could watch the pods fall into the jaws of the deadly flak curtain. Above the curtain the sky was filled with fire, forming a shell of flame over the city.

There was a bang and a pod spun through the air to impact into the side of the spire just above the right of the tube, exploding with great force and sending scraps of metal smashing into the tube. The glass swiftly shattered and deadly shards of glass descended on them. Cadence screamed as the razor sharp pieces of glass fell upon her, but before the shards even touched her Brute swept his wings of her head, shielding her from the deadly hail.

Cadence cringed and Brute grunted as the shards bit deep into the flesh and feathers of the griffins wings with meaty 'thunks'. After a few moments the hail came to an end, and Brute retracted his wings, Cadence looked about her. Below them the pod was tumbling down the steep slopes of the spire, crashing against the white metal with deep clangs and crashes that she could feel through the floor. Brute stretched his wings and surveyed the damage caused by the glass.

"Sky ponies think they can hurt the little one, but Brute protects" he said as he began picking out the shards, much in the same manner as you would flick an insect off your skin. "Only cowards attack from where they can't face revenge, this is known" a particularly large chunk had pierced the feathers at the base of his right wings, and he snapped his beak irritably as he pulled it out with a wet tearing sound.

"You're hurt!"

"The little one doesn't need to worry, when Brute was trained he went through worse than this" the griffin stated in a matter-of-fact tone "this is just a scratch, Brute will sleep it off" at that Cadence giggled, despite the fact that the floor around them was covered in broken glass, most of them stained with Brutes blood.

"If you insist Brute" they rode the rest of the way up in silence, watching the fire of the batteries and pods as hundreds fell to their deaths. Eventually they arrived at the entrance to the royal apartments, about three kilometres above the ground. "Goodnight Brute" cadence said as she stepped off "go to the medical bay and get your wings seen too"

Though the griffin ruffled his feathers and cocked his head slightly, probably because he might have taken it as some sort of insult to his personal pride, he simply nodded his head "if the little one wishes it"

"I know you say that you don't need to go, but it would help me sleep knowing you had yourself looked over" the griffin bobbed his head and then with a thought Cadence lowered the disk, the top of Brutes head soon disappearing from sight, leaving her alone in the small ante-chamber. In front of her was a large white door, a small light overhead glowed red, she approached it and laid a hoof in the centre of the door. There was a whirring sound, followed by a beam of light that seemed to come from within the door that traced the outline of her hoof. Then with a bing the light overhead turned green and the doors slid open silently, revealing her chambers within, cold and covered in shadows.

As she stepped in and the doors closed behind her, the darkness seemed to intensify, the cold itself oozed from the walls and the floor. Cadence hated the dark at the best of times, but tonight the inky blackness of her rooms seemed to be different, almost malefic in it consumption of the world. "lights on" Cadence said, as she did every night, but instead of the rooms flooding with light as normal, the bulbs flickered and barely gave off any illumination, Cadence gasped. The rooms where filled with a thick black fog, that obscured her vision and blocked her sight, she could barely she her own hoof in front of her face. Up by the roof the fog swirled and eddied in the air currents, like black fingers that clawed and scratched at the light, trying to bring the darkness back into dominance.

"You're here, aren't you?" Cadence whispered, her voice choked with fear, in her chest the knot in her stomach pulled itself back together and threatened to squeeze the life from her. From the darkness there came a giggle, like that of a filly. The light in the roof suddenly blew without warning, and darkness washed over her, it was thick and cloyed up at the back of her throat when she breathed in. something moved in the shadows, darting from the room and through a doorway in the direction of her bed chamber, the giggle sounded again.

"Maybe, but you'll have to catch me to really find out" a voice called out, barely more than a whisper. It sounded like Luna, and Celestia, like that of a stallion and a mares, like a newborn foal and an old aged pony, all at the same time. "come and catch me Cadence, I won't bite" the voice giggled again "or maybe I will" Cadence stood stock still, not daring to move a muscle, the…creature had come earlier then she expected, she wasn't prepared to meet it, and now she had to play its game in order for it to leave. Something nipped at her rump, and she squeaked. "Come on Cadence!" the voice said, irritated "I'm getting bored!" the…thing…nipped at her again, biting down into the skin.

Cadence followed the voice, tentatively stepping around where she thought the broken glass of the light lay on the floor. She'd misplaced herself however, and squeaked when she felt a shard of glass go into her hoof; she held it up to her face. She couldn't see it, but she could feel hot blood begin to well up from the cut, she bit down on her bottom lip to keep herself from whimpering. "Did you cut yourself? Aww, that's too bad" the shadows flowed around her hoof like a snake, slowly spiralling up it to reach the cut. Cadence gasped, the things touch was icy cold, and it filled her heart with a mind numbing terror, every inch of her screamed to run, but she couldn't move a muscle.

The shadow hovered over the wound like a cobra waiting to strike, before it gently licked at the blood, its cold causing the blood it missed to freeze instantly, her cut froze shut. "Delicious" the shadow leapt of her and disappeared into the darkness, Cadence was breathing hard and fast. Her body was shuddering in revulsion from the things touch, cold sweat beaded her brow. "Aren't you going to play the game Cadence? We haven't even started yet" the creature asked, Cadence could feel it circling her, the scent of blood drawing it in like a shark.

She swallowed the lump in the back of her throat and took a breath of frigid air before replying "it's a dangerous game you play"

"Dangerous for me? Oh Cadence you truly know nothing" it said, the shadow pooling by her hooves "this is nothing more than a past time for something like me, how could a hobby like this be dangerous?" the shadow ran up her legs and coalesced on her rump like a spider, Cadence shivered. "You see my dear, the thing is" the thing began to crawl up her back "I've played this game before" it nipped at her, drawing more blood "I know the rules. It's only dangerous for you Cadence, it's only dangerous if you get caught, and you know what that would mean don't you?" Cadence nodded, the punishment for an action such as this was mortification, followed by immolation. "that's why you don't call your griffin guard to you when I come to visit" the spider disappeared and she suddenly sensed that another being was right next to her, its breathe was cold and moist on her neck "that's why you can't get to sleep at night" the shadow flowed past her and from the darkness before her a pair of sickly green eyes appeared, shining malevolently at her. "So, what can this humble being do for you this time?"

"I have received a…warning of sorts, from the empress"

"Luna? Ah yes, I remember her, nice blue eyes, and what was this warning?"

"I have a feeling you already know"

The creature giggled "maybe I do" the green eyes receded into the darkness "maybe I don't, it's not wise to go poking your muzzle where it doesn't concern you" the shadow enveloped her, whispering in her ear "isn't that right Cadence? Maybe some things are left untouched" the implication wasn't lost on her.

"I raised you from the pit, I can put you back" she said, trying her best to sound strong.

"Then why don't you? I mean, if I'm such a bother why not just get rid of me?" the words hung in the cold air, as much a challenge as a question, Cadence bit her lips again. "It's because you need me Cadence, I know that and you know that" the shadow swooped up and circled lazily overhead "beware the wings of white and the broken horn, that's what Luna told you" before Cadence could even open her mouth it continued "I should know, I spoke those words to her in her dreams. Well, actually my sister did, but then again we are all one and the same in the realm of magic, it helps mother keep track of her children"

"You gave her the warning…why?"

"Because mother requires you in one piece to complete the task at hand, surely you haven't forgotten? Mother would be very…angry…if you've forgotten" Cadence felt herself tremble.

"I know the terms of the pact Creature, I made them"

"Creature; is that what you call me?" the shadow dispersed from sight, leaving her alone in the bed room. "I do have a name you know, but even if you had a thousand years you could not say it, my name is meant for a more civil tongue" the voice floated through from her study "so I guess Creature will have to suffice, unless you would care to come up with something better"

Cadence followed the voice, taking each step slowly, in the darkness she was blind. She felt the door frame and that the door was open, she stepped through. Normally the study would have been flooded with moon light that poured through the large window in the wall, but in the darkness it was impossible for any light to reach her eyes. "My queen wishes to know if you are ready to go through with your end of the deal, she's getting rather bored with sitting in her palace and waiting"

"Tell your queen I will only go through with this if necessary, she will have to wait a while longer until I am certain there is no alternative" Creature hissed through its teeth.

"Oh Cadence, I don't think you really get it" suddenly a fire began to burn under her skin, hot and fierce; she scratched at her coat, but to no avail.

"What are you doing to me?" she gasped as the fire seized hold of her heart and began to burn it raw, her legs buckled and gave way beneath her.

"well, let's just say my mother told me that I would have to…persuade you if you weren't ready" the shadow pooled around her, trendils rising up to wrap around her body "so Cadence, would you like to rethink your answer?"

"You can't do this!" she gasped.

"Can't? I already am"

"Get off me!"

"Tell you what, we'll make a deal. Begin the preparations for our arrival, and I'll tell you where to find your erstwhile killer. Does that sound like a fair trade?"the trendils began to dig into her skin, so cold that she felt her blood begin to congeal within her veins "think carefully now"

"I'll do it, I'll do it, just get off me" Cadence gasped. The trendils took one last deep bite that caused her to scream before they released her, the shadow flowing away from her like water back into the darkness. "I'll make the preparations, now; show me where he is, show me what my killer looks like"

"Patience, patience Cadence, first I must go and tell my mother the wonderful news, then you shall know"

"You said you'd show me now!"

"I said I would show you, I didn't say I would do it now" the shadow said irritably "when I return, then I shall show you"

"How do I know you'll come back?"

"Oh Cadence, have faith, I'll return, I promise" the darkness began to flow past her like a strong wind, pulling itself together and coalescing into the shape of a pegausi. As the darkness flowed to together the world slowly grew brighter, until she could make out the outline of her 'visitor' in the faint moon light that fell through the window. Its body was corrupt and deformed, holes pierced straight through its chest and its wings where disgusting, torn and broken with feathers missing.

A green light seem to come from its cruel green eyes, and with its faint glow she could see a disgusting, watery discharge running down from the inner corners of its eyes. When it opened its mouth to speak it had sharp fangs in the place of its canines, razor sharp and deadly "don't you know that a changeling always keeps its promises?"