I used to think that there was still good in Equestria, even as our world tore itself apart. I used to think that the good guys would always come out on top. That the bad would be struck down before it could even get too bad to stop. I used to think I wasn't just a hunk of rusted scrap.

Everything changed when I fell.

We had been travelling to Dodge Junction, a zebra assault had left the town in a state of disrepair, there were no prisoners, only the mangled bodies of stallions, mares, And foals. The attack had begun slowly- a small wave of zebra attackers trying to brute force the lightly defended walls - but being stopped by the various guards in hulking suits of power armor. The small town being the home of a heavily crowded steel mine. Said steel was used to create weaponry, battle saddles, and many, many suits of power armor. That small wave of attackers that had been so easily crushed was supported by a massive second wave of mechanized infantry, snipers perched on far away hills taking pot shots at civilian and soldier alike. The wave of attackers swiftly, and mechanically destroyed the town. Mortars peppering the outskirts of the city, before purposefully targeting the sleepy suburbs that sat outside the town, outside of the walls.

The Steel Pantheon was the relief effort, an elite team of mechanically augmented soldiers in specialized power armor. The team consisted of 6 members, their leader being the blindingly white-maned unicorn named Silver Shield- he was their heavy infantry, his battle saddle consisting of a 50 caliber machine gun strapped to his left and a cherry red revolving barrel assault shotgun strapped to his right. His power armor was perfectly polished, the steel glinting in the evening sun. The image of a silver shield was painted in bright paint. Everything about the stallion oozed confidence and purpose. The pupils inside of the synthetic eyes lodged in empty eye sockets expanding and contracting as they focused on the dull interior of the wagon that sat in.

The Second in command was Rosepetal, a mare with a dark red, almost wine colored coat. Her heavily armored wings snapped into a salute as their leader muttered a good luck to his team, as steely and terse as the words were, they boosted the confidence of the team. His friends wholeheartedly took strength in his words. Rose Petal most of all, Silver Shield's eyes flicking to her briefly, sending a deeper red spreading across her face as she saluted. A tiny smile spread across Silver Shields face, an uncommon sight that set the mood of the sky-wagon to one of relaxed vigilance. Rose Petals violet eyes flicking to and from Silver Shield's hulking form.

"Rosy, stop oogling at the boss!" A gruff, scratchy voice grumbled.

"W-what!"- The Rose-maned mare shouted back, her face erupting into a brighter shade of pink - "I'm not oogling..."

She spat out the word as if it were a poison, the two other mares in the wagon sharing a knowing glance at RosePetal

"Rose, just admit it, you have the hots for silver," The bright green mare said, the only words she'd said out loud the entire flight.

"I-I have no idea what y-you're talking about," Rose's eyes flicked back towards Silver Shield, seeing them staring back lazily, eyes half closed. "S-Silver Shield is an amazing commander to me and nothing more!"

"Ouch." The other mare muttered, her ivory painted power armor shifting as she grimaced at Rosepetals words. "Harsh thing to not call the big guy your friend at the least."

"W-wait thats not what I meant!" The double energy rifles strapped to her battle saddle jingling as she lurched forward, coming closer to Silver Shield's face."You're a great friend, promise, its just that you're not... That kind of friend."

A whistle coursed through the air, the pitch black suit of power armor rustled slightly as the wearer laughed, the gruff scratchy voice once again speaking,

"Really convincing us Rosy-cheeks," Rustyarmor said, his power armor far from rusty. "Hell, you might even be convincing the big man himself!"

The conversation was paused as a single chuckle rung through the air, the shining silver power armor shaking once as a smile played cross the wearer's face.

His horn lit as a custom built helmet was sealed onto his head, the sound of bone against metal ringing through the room as his horn slotted into the custom built M1CU power armor helm. The first ever unicorn specific power armor built to send its user into a deep cryo-sleep should they be lethally harmed, as a way to recover his still living body, should he fall in battle. His pale silver visor sprung to life, numbers and symbols flying down the visor as he opened his Pip-Buck menu, making sure he had everything he needed and that his power supply was full. Seeing the blinking red light at the bottle left of his visor he let out a sigh, turning his vision towards the green mare.

"Gemstone, you have any rubies for me?" He said as he checked that his battle saddle was secured properly, which he had done atleast 12 times throughout the flight. "Running low on power, and we don't want another Incident eh?"

"Ugh, don't even remind me, Silver," Gemstone grumbled, her gaze shifting to her saddle bags and digging out a few rubies with a hoof and tossing them to Silver shield. "My hooves were numb for hours, Silver, hours!"

His magic swooped them from the air, his helmet lifting only to allow him to consume the bright red gems, the little red bar in the bottom left of his visor filling up slowly as his metal teeth munched down on his energy supply. When Silver Shield was first born something had gone catastrophically wrong during the birth. His body had been flayed, devoid of skin entirely, all four limbs were sheared off, supposedly coming off when he was still just a lump of flesh and cells. His eyes were never formed, most of his internal organs were not fully formed, forcing him to spent his first three years connected to a machine that kept him breathing. Mechanized organs were made for him, flesh replaced with panels of steel, limbs replaced with mechanical legs ending with talons similar to a griffin, eyes replaced with cameras connected directly to his brain for him to see.

As time went on his body was enhanced further, armored steel placed upon armored steel, sensitive machinery lodged into his body, augmentations rammed wherever they could. He was an abomination of steel and meat, pulsating flesh covered with a thick sheet of metal, nails hammered deep into tendons to force the steel to not crush his organs. The pain had long since dulled, becoming a numb ache ever present in his mind.

Eight lines sat on his E.F.S. all staying at a neutral white, with one being a dark yellow. The single yellow bar belonged to the towering fortress of pitch black power armor. Cannon was not a very stable stallion. Prone to lashing out at friendlies in battle, blinded by a battle frenzy. His armor was equipped with a gigantic artillery piece strapped to the back, he was their mobile artillery. Now why would you put artillery on someone who was blinded by his own greed for violence? Surprisingly enough, he was a pretty good shot. He used his large size to battering his enemies into piles of meat and bones, or just launching a barrage to do the same thing from afar.

Silver Shield's smile had set off a chain reaction, the six ponies in the wagon sharing a moment of companionship. Smiles spread throughout the wagon, even the gruff looking Rustyarmor joined in, a cheeky grin on his face. The Ivory armored mare simply shook her head and chuckled, mumbling about how Rosepetal was stupidly easy to set off. The Ivory armored mare was the third in command, Moonflare, a lunar pegasus prone to teasing the rest of the team, like an annoying big sister to them. She had an anti-material rifle strapped onto the right side of her body, and a silenced machine gun on her left.

Rustyarmor was equipped with an assault rifle and what looked to be a lever action shotgun, his armor painted with flames and sparks, an auto-welder was strapped half haphazardly to his back with a strap. His left eye was replaced with a metallic cybernetic eye, the green light behind the eye being plain to see to anybody, even through the thick black visor on his armor.

A voice crackled into their helmets, the pilots warning them of something, but most of what they said was lost to static.
"Oh Celestia! They actua -- Krrrk --"

The sky-wagon rumbled around them, the door hissing open and revealing that they were very, very far from the ground, but also revealing a horrific sight. Bodies were everywhere, the entire town stacked high with zebra and pony alike, a single pony in power armor still stood, but upon closer inspection the pony inside the power armor had been melted inside of it, the metal twisted and malformed from melting. Dragon-fire most likely, recently smaller dragons had been teaming up with the zebra menace, giving them air support and a moving artillery platform. Yet that wasn't what caught their attention.

A thundering boom erupted across the desert, followed by a towering green mushroom cloud splashing across the dying sunlight. Then another, further away, then another, and another. Suddenly the evening sky was lit up with countless bale-fire bombs, the signalling of the end. Before they could even begin to understand what was going on, it hit them.

"Silver, W-what do we do?" The normally smug voice of Rustyarmor spoke over his intercom as the wave hit.

The wagon was sent spiraling to the ground, the six gathering together and holding onto the giant black suit of power armor that was cannon. The shock-wave was enough to melt the flesh from the two pegasi flying their pilots, a balefire bomb exploding in front of them by miles but still striking as if they were at ground zero. His voice cleared through even the sound of the bombs, Silver whispered out a single order before his world had come down around him and seconds before the wagon hit the ground in a brilliant splash of fire and steel.

"Hope."

Author's Note

Hey you, what do you think you're doing down here!?

Aaaa, don't worry just joking. Trying the whole comedy thing and all that.

Sorry if I got some stuff wrong or whatever.

Don't worry this chapter is meant to be sudden and short.