Opening her eyes Chrysalis gave a happy sigh as she sat upright on the bed, sliding herself off of the large plush mattress. The room she shared with Lorenzo, Moon and Rainshine was massive. The bed itself was a large round marvel of pony engineering, the mattress was literally a cloud inside of a thick silk sheet cover, it didn't get much softer than a cloud. Tonight she had slept alone, the others were busy off doing their assigned tasks and duties, she would be too later. First however she dressed herself as was proper of a Queen, an elegant grass green outfit with golden trim, simple and practical but also comfortable and still befitting royalty. With that done Chrysalis made her way down to the dining room, where a robotic servant brought her a steaming cup of coffee alongside a small plate with sugar cubes, and a small bowl of Changeling Nectar. Grabbing two cubes and tossing them into the mug alongside half the small bowl of Nectar she stirred it, humming happily to herself as she opened her schedule for today. Chrysalis was always one to keep track of everything she did, it was just how she did things as a ruler and that hadn't changed in the time she'd been part of the ruling class of the Crystal Empire. She may not have been Empress, but she was absolutely treated like one by the few living palace staff there were, given most of the staff was robotic in nature. Still unnerving to talk to something that gave off no emotion, sure they could sound happy or respectfully polite but not one of them emitted emotions.

Taking a closer look at what she'd written the day before she was pleased to see she only had two tasks to do today, before she'd been on Vanov ensuring those absurdly short local reptiles wouldn't just start blowing up like grenades from all the changes happening. She thought ponies had been slow, but by the Maker the Akun made snails look like hyper sonic aircraft in comparison with how sluggishly they'd been adapting to the new government and rules being put in place. That was thankfully now being handled by some of her own Changelings who'd once had a high position of command within her Hive, helping organize supplies and such. Setting the empty mug down her horn lit up, wordlessly summoning three very specific Changelings to a meeting room located down the hall from where she was currently. Once she got confirmation they'd arrived she teleported into the room with a small flash. Taking her own seat at the head of the table without any ceremony, they all know who was in charge here, they would hear and obey.

Queen Chrysalis looked at the former rulers of the Changeling Empire, Seelii former ruler of the Blue Hive, Chitin former ruler of the Yellow Hive, and Blackfang former ruler of the Red Hive alongside the official ruler of the Changeling Empire, now all under her and Lorenzo's command. They had all been seated at a large circular table that like so many decorations in the Palace was made of solid crystal, this one having a golden hue the center of which projected a holographic image of the Crystal Empire's snowflake banner. "I bring you all here today to discuss something important for every changeling on the planet." She said, looking at them all. "We all have our own colors for our own hives, but we no longer have separate Hives as we are unified as One Hive, One Empire, so today we will be performing a spell which will permanently change our colors to match this."

Blackfang spoke. "What color will be chosen to show our Unity with not only our other Hives, but as part of the Crystal Empire?" It was a good question, one which Chrysalis would hope he'd ask.

Pulling out a color swab not unlike those you could get at a paint store, she slid it to the former King and waited as he looked down at it, the color being a rich brightly colored violet purple. "Purple is one of the colors on the Crystal Empire's flag, alongside being Emperor Lorenzo's favorite color, shall we begin?" Seeing all three of them nod in mutual agreement, wordlessly having spoken to one another through the Hivemind, Chrysalis's horn began to shine with a bright emerald glow. The other three Changelings lighting theirs in perfect unison, spirals of energy beginning to swirl around the table and themselves. The room began to hum with the crackling of arcane energy as the spell grew in power, the table they'd sat around beginning to vibrate rapidly.

Chrysalis was providing most of the energy needed for this spell, but the other three where no slouches either given they'd all been soaking in the love of the Crystal Heart non stop since they'd become part of the Crystal Empire, across all of Equis Changelings began to switch colors, from the colors of their respective former Hives to the same violet purple as Chrysalis had shown the others. None panicked, none worried, they'd all been informed of it moments before it would happen over the Hivemind, Changelings in disguise would remain in disguise and see how they looked once they had the chance to slip away for a bit. With a bright flash and the sound of a thunder crack the energy swirling around the table dissipated. Leaving in its place four purple Changelings. Eyes and wings now a bright violet, rather than their previous respective colors. Chrysalis herself had also gone through the change, her cat-like eyes now purple alongside her hair, and wings.

Raising a glass of glowing pink liquid, she spoke. "To Unity! To the Hive!" And drank, the others followed suit as the meeting came to a close, a new chapter beginning for the Changelings as another had ended for them after their integration into the fabric of the Crystal Empire as vital subjects. She'd tell Lorenzo later on when she next saw him, knowing him he'd be so ecstatic about the color change. Now with that done, Chrysalis took ten minutes to get another cup of coffee doctored up the same as the last one she'd had, sighing with pleasure as the brew took effect.

Once she'd finished she activated the Molecular Relay, given the distance she had to teleport she wasn't going to dare try it with magic, best use a more reliable method, thankfully of which the Molecular Relay was and with no cost of energy to herself to boot. A blinding flash of light and the sound of a thunderclap heralded her arrival into Canterlot Castles Throne Room, much to both her amusement and disappointment the Royal Guards in the Throne Room hadn't even flinched, she'd enjoyed startling the crap out of them the first few times, but they'd grown used to it. Personal amusement aside for the time being, Chrysalis looked to the throne where Princess Celestia sat, looking down at her and away from the paperwork that was on the table next to the throne.

"Greetings Princess Celestia, I brought the final piece for that little project of yours, Lorenzo still wouldn't tell me exactly what that project was much to my own frustration, I don't suppose you will now that I've delivered 'the final piece' as he called it?" Chrysalis asked, holding up a pink gem held in some manner of golden frame that was no larger than a baseball.

Celestia's eyes lit up as a smile graced her muzzle as her gaze focused on the 'power cell', as she'd learned it was called when she spoke to the other. "Good to see you Queen Chrysalis, please follow me right this way I’ll be more than happy to show you what it’s for." She rose from the throne, trotting down a hallway as Chrysalis followed behind her. Chrysalis still found these four legged ponies weird, since half the time they'd walk on their hind legs or on all fours, rather unsettling at first. If Princess Celestia were to walk on her hind legs she'd look ungainly, too tall. Soon enough they came upon a door with a slot in the center, of which Princess Celestia lowered her head and inserted her horn. Three lights began to glow to either side of the door as the sounds of locks disengaging reverberated throughout the room, the center of the door beginning to glow as it split open sliding into either side of the wall it had been built into.

Following Princess Celestia inside Chrysalis noticed the room was about the size of a medium guest bedroom in Canterlot Castle, many of which she'd seen. This castle was remarkably close to the one back in her universe, with the exception that some things were smaller than they would be, since ponies here generally tended to be smaller than those of the two legged variety she'd known. It was furnished minimally, but was cozy. A decent sized bed sat in one corner, alongside a couch and two plush chairs with a table sitting between them that had a tea set already on it seemingly filled and freshly brewed if the steam coming from it was any indication. But the most glaring object in the room was the large stone door frame lined with runic symbols of all sorts, a large slot on the top of the frame empty, and quite obviously meant for the item she carried.

Holding it out to her, Celestia held it in her magic levitating it up and into the slot with a small click as it began to glow. She stood back with a small smile on her face, which got wider as the frame began glowing with a golden colored vortex. Chrysalis hadn't known exactly what she'd been delivering to Princess Celestia, only that Lorenzo had ordered it made and asked her to personally deliver it since he wouldn't be able to at the time. Her jaw dropped when Celestia, the Celestia from HER world stepped out into the room wearing a simple white and gold dress, ponies and their hang ups with clothes.

Celestia 2.0 looked at her four legged counterpart. "Hello, good to see you finally got it working from your end!" Her gaze turned to Chrysalis, and she gave a curt, respectful nod. "Chrysalis, I hadn't expected to see you here, but nonetheless it's a pleasant surprise." Chrysalis promptly fainted, landing on the floor with a dull thud much to the surprise of both Celestia's.

When Chrysalis awoke it was to the sound of Celestia, she wasn't sure which one, laughing rather loudly. The second thing she noticed was the plush bed she'd been put on, sitting up she saw a sight that made her eyes bulge out of their sockets. This world's Princess Celestia, had her world's Celestia on her back, while wearing a saddle. Both Celestia's stopped laughing as their eyes locked onto her. The one being ridden opened her mouth as if to explain, but Chrysalis didn't give them enough time to do so as she activated the Molecular Relay and vanished with a flash of blue light. Celestia looked up at the other version of herself on her back. "Well, that'll be fun to explain later if she squeals."

The other Celestia stared at the bed they'd placed Chrysalis into after she'd fainted, then nodded. "Undoubtedly."

-----------------------------------------------Ss'ket Home System----------------------------------

The entire Solar System was in a panic, it had been quite awhile ago that the Zetan's had attacked Equis, the planet their allies called Home, and been repelled not without great cost to those on the planetary surface of their allies home world. Now it seems the Zetan Menace had come for them as they'd been warned would happen. The Zetan fleet had arrived suddenly and without warning, but thankfully the Red River Union had prepared for this eventuality and set up interlocking rings of starships, each one armed with a small plasmatic lance in their noses. There was no Great Mothership as there had been for the attack on Equis, but a massive fleet of circular starships was no less effective.

Before the Zetan Fleet could begin their assault they found themselves under a rapid merciless attack on all fronts as rays of golden light began shearing through their energy shields, laying waste to the ships those shields had been meant to protect as if the shields hadn't existed at all. The busts of plasma were so super-heated that they bolted through the plasma based energy shielding without resistance. A half dozen had been turned into scrap before they knew what hit them, but there were dozens more each one now taking evasive maneuvers that would have killed the occupants inside if not for the internal inertia dampeners. Being faster than the Ss'ket's starships the Zetan saucers began darting around, firing their own beams of plasma at the defenders while smaller ones began firing salvos of small missiles, most of which exploded harmlessly miles from their intended targets from Flak fire. If one could call lasers Flak fire at any rate.

It went on like this for awhile, a chaotic song and dance as ships blew apart with bolts of energy being thrown around haphazardly. Union ships had the home advantage, but their main armament took five minutes to fully charge after each shot so they'd lined themselves up like a volley of old school muskets. One ring would fire then another would boost in front of them to let loose their own bursts of pure plasma. Zetan craft didn't have that downside, their deathrays had less punch than a Plasmatic Lance did but could still do damage. Worst part was they could fire more often as they didn't take nearly as much time to recharge. Ships that tried to get past the Union lines and towards the Ss'ket homeworld found themselves facing arrays of orbital coil-cannons that fired at the rate of an auto-cannon. An entire sphere of these defensive platforms blanketed the planet like the quills of a porcupine. The amount of physical projectiles coming at them at such rapid speeds would more often than not just slam into the shields of a ship until it was overwhelmed in mere minutes. Once that was done the ships looked more akin to swiss cheese than a starcraft.

The battle seemed more of less even from an outside perspective, both sides taking losses but neither seeming to back off despite this. Then without warning another fleet of starships exited FTL into the system, long sleek starships colored white with a golden trim, others in the fleet a midnight blue with silver trim, all emblazoned with the symbols of a Shining Sun, and a Crescent Moon. The Equestrian starship fleet having come to the Red River Union's aid turned the tide of the evenly matched battle in favor of the defenders. Powerful beams of magical energy striking Zetan ships faster than the Ss'ket's Plasmatic Lances could recharge. Blasts of focused thaumatic energy striking any ship they could touch.

Princess Luna watched the battle play out from the bridge of her own Flagship named Harmony’s Might, well by technicality her and Celestia's, they ruled as Equals and thus would command as such, had Celestia not been unreachable. Ponies running around the bridge working weapon systems, communications, coordination efforts with the friendly fleet. Luna paid it no mind, her gaze solely focused on the odd Saucer like starcraft she'd seen mere video and photos of prior to this. They looked like saucers made of plain metal with random curved sections holding three layers together, an ugly design if she'd ever seen one. Despite their ugly appearance the Lunar Diarch was no fool to think something ugly could do no harm, she'd personally visited the ruins of Manehatten, it had been enough to anger her at the sight of a city melted into slag. The ground had been naught but ashen obsidian glass left.

Had it not been for the underground shelters already being filled to the brim, many more would have died that day, and while Princess Luna would never admit such a thing to anyone aloud the sight of her Sister letting for the briefest of moments her rage and grief consume her was utterly terrifying. Luna would do all she could to stop such a thing from happening again, and to that effect Harmony’s Might’s main weapon began to spin as golden thaumatic energies swirled around its tip. It was something akin to the ‘Plasmatic Lance’ the Crystal Empire had, but the main difference is it would draw power directly from her Sister’s sun, directly channeling plasma from the core of the immense star, a terrible weapon that would bring a terrible retribution to those who’d dare try to impede its path. A tremendous feat of magical engineering. The hum of power flowing through it caused the entire starship to shake and groan as it was fired. In an instant the bolt of energies struck at the Zetan starships causing a luminous blaze that blinded anyone looking directly at it.

Luna was unaffected by such a thing for she'd had the foresight to blink as it fired, and those it had blinded recovered within moments though a bit disoriented it would do them no permanent harm. She gave a smile seeing a quarter of what had been left of the enemy fleet vaporized so thoroughly they'd left not even molten slag behind to show starships had once occupied the space they'd been in moments before. But that smile didn't last long, flipping into a frown as she watched the saucers begin turning themselves away from the solar system, evidently trying to make a retreat.

She would not allow them to escape, allowing such a thing would mean they could come back later and try again. Princess Luna closed her eyes as her horn began to glow with an ethereal silvery light as she flared her wings. Finally her eyes snapped open and shone with their own silver radiance. She began to hover inside the bridge of the starship without so much as a flap of her wings, the air around the Alicorn beginning to spiral as the glow intensified. Her mane and tail began to swirl alongside the air, looking not so much like hair but as flowing waves of the Galaxy spinning around herself.

The starships that moments before had been trying to retreat went from breakneck speeds to a sluggish crawl, then no movement whatsoever. The abyss around them beginning to condense into solidified form, from inside the Zetan ships it looked as if light itself was vanishing as the stars where snuffed out, their twinkling glow vanishing in an instant at the same moment the local sun looked to have been blown out like the flickering flame of a candle, causing an atmosphere of terror inside the ships as they couldn't even communicate with one another. The inky blackness being so thick no signals could penetrate it, despite their desperate attempts to regain communications with one another the darkness refused anything to escape its grasp.

Then, they felt nothing as the solid shadowy masses suddenly and violently compressed, within mere moments the remaining ships had been reduced to crumpled wrecks with no chance of survival for any aboard them. From an outside perspective it had looked as if darkness itself had grabbed ahold of those ships and torn them asunder. Luna fell to the floor of the bridge without grace, panting and grinning like a madmare at her own hoofwork. She thought to herself, these craft would not harass them or their allies again, and any that dare come afterwards would share the same fate. If they were moronic enough to send more, then she alongside her sister would show them how foolish they truly were. Then Luna's snout began dripping with blood as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, causing her to slump forwards in an undignified heap of Alicorn. Medics had already begun rushing towards her.

---------------[INFORMATION REDACTED]--------------------

The Holy Hegemony's Defense Fleet stood steadfast above one of their last colony-worlds, stubbornly refusing to retreat and leave the planet below defenseless. This war had been going on for months, it began with one or two fleets going dark, then their colony worlds began to go silent alongside them. Any starships sent to investigate would never be heard from again, presumably destroyed by what had taken the colony-worlds from them to begin with. Now that threat had come for this world as well. A fleet of starships that had little to no resemblance to one another as if it comprised of more than one fleet. The largest ships of the group looked like rounded slabs of metal colored an odd mix of purple, gray, gold and black. The second group in the oddly mismatched fleet looked sleek and elegant, almost like birds of prey. The third group of clustered starcraft being purely utilitarian in nature, drag gray and boxy. Each ship from the group was bristling with weapons, glowing and already primed to fire.

The Defensive Fleet was torn apart within mere minutes by the sheer volume of firepower being thrown at them, bolts of plasma, bursts of lasers and coilguns, even tactical nuclear warheads where not out of the question as several ships got blown into radioactive slag that fell from orbit to smash into the cities below. The United Fleet hung in orbit without anyone to impede their path any further. The ships that had reminded the Defensive Fleet's crews of birds began dropping pods into the atmosphere, each one containing soldiers from the Military Republic of Lunarium outfitted in sleek agile armor that covered every inch of skin. The larger ships began bombarding the planet from orbit with orbital plasma bursts, several smaller ships dropping down like stones as they made landing approaches, completely ignoring the attempted flak fire and missiles fired at them. The troop-transports bulldozed through any defenses that'd been set up to shoot them down, in some cases literally slamming through anti-air batteries as they landed. Requirem's own starships followed closely behind those of the Crystal Empire as they descended into the atmosphere of the planet.

The side paneling on one starship peeled back as seven modified Akun Killercraft shot into the skies as they took off from within the internal aircraft bays. Oh sure, they wouldn't be able to knock all the local junk from the skies right off the bat, but the pilots would do their best to cripple the enemy as their Emperor had commanded them. With that in mind the leader of the Killercraft formation aimed the nose of his aircraft at a great herd of local aircraft, the targeting computer having selected a target for each missile he ripple-fired them one after another.

His killercraft bucked slightly under him as the missiles dropped away as their motors kicked into action and spat bright gouts of blue flame as they sprinted downward toward the Hegemony's ugly fighter craft. What little the local aircraft could do they tried as they began taking evasive maneuvers in a vain attempt to avoid their demise they had no chance, not when his missiles had ten times the speed of their aircraft. The heads-up display showed his salvo and those of his wingmates streaking home. Then suddenly, Scoktal needed no heads-up display to gauge what was happening as gouts of smoke and fire suddenly filled the skies below as aircraft fell from the skies in wrecked ruins, none of the pilots having had a chance to eject.

Minkre cheered into Scoktal's radio headset. “Look at them fall, every shot a clean hit!”

Flightleader Scoktal hissed into the radio "We may celebrate later after we knock as many of these unsightly craft from the skies as we can as we have been ordered too, go after the larger ones, I suspect them to be bomber-craft or some sort."

"It Shall Be Done Superior Sir." Minkre said automatically as his aircraft veered out of the formation as he took aim at a larger slower aircraft that had four large turbojet engines that gave an odd golden glow. His aircraft fired twice, two missiles launched away, the heads-up display showing it vanish from the skies as the enemy bomber crashed into the ground below with its entire tail and left wing missing from the resulting explosions. Minkre twisted his aircraft back around, increasing the speed of the Killercraft to catch back up with his wingmates. They would soon be joined by other Killercraft from their MRL allies, large black aircraft with oddly backwards looking wings taking up formation alongside the Akun's own Killercraft. The skies still had plenty of aircraft to down, both sides would enjoy this.

On the ground, both civilians and military alike were being slaughtered mercilessly by soldiers of the Three Nations they had made the mistake of angering. Requirem's soldiers in small mech suits as they lumbered across the battlefield of wrecked buildings and burning vehicles, shoulder mounted missiles firing into the Hegemony's defensive structures while arm mounted railguns hammered away at vehicles. Empire soldiers in Power-Armor marched alongside them providing covering fire using heavy weaponry, dedicated groups of unicorn's keeping several of the group shielded at all times. While Republic soldiers fired weapons that seemed to break all logic, the beams they fired moved faster than the eye could see and sheared through anything they hit. Vehicle, building, or flesh didn't matter as it was all vaporized or turned into powder and mist by the combination of firepower each side had brought with them. Further into the burning cities waves of combat robots and androids swarmed like ants on anything that moved, Heavy Sentry-Bots firing artillery cannons from their backs to reduce the surrounding buildings into rubble. The fighting would drag on for seven hours, in that seven hours every Fedan on the planet would be exterminated like vermin, any that managed to hold out longer than that by some miracle would find themselves begging their Goddess to save them, or to perhaps have mercy. They’re prayers would be wasted for no one would hear them.

--------------------------{Research Ship Nebula.}-----------------------

Biomedical researcher Zulah walked down the halls of the Nebula quickly, reading the data she'd been given on a small tablet, tapping away at it as she strode past doors and other researchers in her path. Glancing down briefly at herself she gave a small hum of satisfaction that her jumpsuit was spotless, it was only a brief thought as she came to the docking bay to oversee the process. A small group of armed soldiers hauling cryogenic tubes on hover-carts, the one in charge walked up and nodded his head to her, crossing his fingers in an odd triangular shape before tapping at his own tablet, causing Zulah's to beep as the information was transferred. "Shipments of Specimens from System X-42 as requested for study and experimentation from The Council, be careful some of these are very deadly, all relevant data on the specimens will be on your tablet."

Looking over the information that'd been transferred she nodded in confirmation after everything seemed to be in order. "Proceed to Cryogenic Storage Bay Three, that is closest to the lab in which we will be working on these things."

The Commander nodded, and turned to the soldiers hauling the hover-carts burdened with the pods. "You heard her, get to it, The Council doesn't like to be kept waiting!" This caused the soldiers to move faster than before, none of them wanted to personally have The Council displeased with any of them.

Zulah made her way down the halls, the Commander following alongside her. "Anything specific I should know about these specimens?" She questioned, it was always best to ask the people who'd spent half their lives guarding the things she was about to start prodding at, any additional information or advice he'd have would prove invaluable if there was any to be had.

"Yes, the ones marked with the symbol that denotes 'Danger, Radioactive' are to be handled with absolute care, some of those things are filled with gamma-radiation or even feed off it and produce it, be careful around those ones, it's recommended to have the proper sedatives on hand for when they're released from cryogenic storage so they don't start a rampage on the ship, the listed sedatives proven effective at this task are in the information on your tablet."

She nodded, feeling foolish. "Of course I will see to it that I carefully study the data as much as I can." Zulah began scrolling through it again, feeling an eyebrow raise at the sheer absurdity of some of these creatures. One looked almost like a human, if one took all the hair off it and dyed them a color almost reminiscent of her own skin but looking like hulking brutes made of pure muscle and rage with the constant snarl on its face shown. 'Supermutants' the label called it, a subspecies of Humans artificially evolved from an unknown biological contagion.

Walking away from the Commander she went into her own personal lab, uploading the data from her tablet to a computer terminal for easier display and reading. As she read further her eyes widened with amazement at the sheer level of mutations creatures from System X-42 could undergo, that much was an anomaly for sure. She felt the ship shudder and groan as it undocked from the Cryogenic Specimen Storage Facility that floated in a lifeless solar system. It had been placed in that location to ensure anything breaking out of containment couldn't go rampaging on a planet, if need be the station itself could self-destruct given a remote command sequence to do so. Knowing how far The Council was willing to go to make sure some of those things didn't get out or get ahold of a starcraft intrigued her, while also frightening her at the same time.

And now she had several creatures of varying types on her ship, being prepped for the lab she was to work in, it was both frightening and exhilarating to think about. Zulah continued to read through the data on the subjects she had gotten, for the next day and a half the crew didn't dare disturb her as she poured over every scrap of information the files had until she was absolutely certain she knew all there was to know. She had barely eaten, slept minimally, and knowing as much she'd taken a half day simply to rest and recharge her mental batteries.

Finally, she exited her personal lab headed towards the lab in which she would be working, stopping at a room across the hall from the lab to dawn a Biohazard Suit. Complete with its own internal oxygen supply and protective energy resistant glass helmet to allow her full visibility. It wasn't unlike the suits some ground troops would wear when going to the surface of a planet to gather natives or trinkets the locals of any given planet under study had made. The suit was stark white, which would help show if any foreign contaminants splashed on it, making decontamination a much easier process. The lab doors shut behind her with a hiss after she'd entered. Just as she'd instructed, no one was in the lab as she was to be left alone and undisturbed while she performed her experiments.

Zulah more often got the best results while working alone, and not having wanted to get anything less than the optimal results she could from the subjects she'd been provided with she'd issued that order. However she was to be checked in on in ten hour intervals to ensure she wasn't working herself to death. Grabbing a tray of various medical instruments she set it on the metallic table next to the table with a sedated subject already restrained to it with steel clamps locked around its wrists, ankles, and throat. A special chemical cocktail was constantly being pumped into its blood by use of a specialized IV stand to ensure it wouldn't wake no matter what she did to it.

Lifting a standard medical scanner she gave it a brief scan to get a baseline, then turned on the audio-recorder mounted on the wall. "Head Biomedical Researcher Zulah log entry one, first subject labeled X-42-1 is a mutated Human experiencing various growths of green mineral extending from cracked ashen skin which seem to faintly glow if carefully observed in low light conditions." She inserted a needle into it, extracting several vials of blood which she then inserted into a machine. It hummed for about five minutes before it beeped, spitting out a report on the contents of the fluids.

"Subjects vitals compared to that of Baseline Human's are significantly reduced from what should be physically possible for the species to survive, yet by all indications this creature is very much alive, not much information was gained on this specific mutation of the Human Species prior to their apparent extinction caused by unknown events." Zulah paused to tap at another medical diagnostic machine. "Subject X-42-1's blood is also filled with odd radioactive particulates that are actively emitting Gamma-Radiation. Normally this would result in Radiation Sickness leading to cellular decay and death, however the subject itself appears to be using the energy created in this process for itself, extracting samples now."

Reaching back to the tray she grabbed a tool that looked almost like a pair of pliers and reached over clamping it on one of the large green shards extending from cracks in the subject's skin and tugged. When the shard didn't come out she raised an eyebrow and tugged again, jerking the subject's arm upwards against the restraints. Zulah was yanking with all her strength when suddenly the shard broke free from the flesh it was embedded in causing Zulah to stumble backwards due to both surprise and loss of balance. In the resulting tumble the medical clamps she'd been holding went flying off somewhere in the room. With a sickening crunching noise she landed on her back, the suits HUD indicating she'd cracked an oxygen tank and maintenance was suggested to happen immediately less the crack resulted in the pressurized gasses within escaping in a violent decompression which would likely kill her if she still had the suit on.

As Zulah exited into the decontamination chamber adjacent to the lab she'd failed to take notice that when she'd fallen her landing caused her to crush the green crystal that she'd been trying to extract intact, shattering it and sending the razor sharp shards into the skin of her protective suit like splinters. The lingering pain from the fall having masked the feeling of pinprick shards stabbing into her flesh. The room was filled with a cold mist as the decontamination process took place, a red light on the far wall blinking to green once it was completed. Zukah removed her helmet with an agitated sigh. How could she have been so careless? She thought about it as she removed her suit, sliding it into a tube to send it off for repairs. Zulah had simply been too eager to get results, so she thought to herself she'd have to be much more restrained next time.

What an embarrassment, the first subject she was working on and she'd not even got so far as examining the internal organs of the creature! Truly, this would be a black mark on her career records. Maybe she had simply not taken enough time to rest, so as she exited into a small room set to the side built into the lab she decided to lay down. Still not having noticed the thin slivers of crystal shoved into her back she rested on her side, later she would be much more rested and in a better mindset to properly conduct her experiments. With that in mind she drifted off.

Sometime later Zulah awoke feeling much better than she had before, oddly enough she felt stronger than she'd ever felt in a long time, almost as if she'd been put inside a regeneration pod instead of taking a brief nap on a simple cot. Walking into a small bathroom she twisted the only knob in the shower built into the wall. Giving a happy sigh as the warm water cascaded on her skin. Her eyes shot open after the lights in the room dimmed, flashing in and out like a glitch in the electrical systems had happened, an odd voice whispering from somewhere within. "Free Us." It whispered distantly, almost too faint to hear over the sound of the shower but it was as if the voice as faint as it sounded cut through any noise in the room.

Zulah spun around, sliding the door to the shower open as quickly as she could and scanned the room, the lights having gone back to normal seemingly in the blink of an eye. "Who's there?! I gave explicit instructions not to be disturbed! I know the ten hour interval hasn't passed yet!" She yelled out, glaring around the room. Only for her glare to morph into an expression of confusion as no one was here. Another blink and the room dimmed again, faint whispers head from outside the door. Both curious and angered that someone was intentionally messing with her, and disobeying a direct order she had given, Zulah took a minute to put her jumpsuit on before exiting the lab altogether.

Looking around the hallways she took note they'd been dimmed, to signify the crew's resting period. It was to simulate the day and night cycles of her people's homeworld making it easier to rest. She cautiously peeked into one of the crew quarters to see several of them sleeping, she knew the security crew would be awake and on the Bridge at this time so she began making her way towards it to ask for the camera footage to find who’d been sneaking into her lab. However as she made her way towards the Bridge Zulah found herself compelled to change direction now headed to the Cryogenic Storage Bay. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she absolutely had to go this way. Zulah was so engrossed with following this odd gut feeling that she hadn’t noticed her eyes beginning to leak tears of green-yellowish blood.

Lanzos sighed to himself, looking over the Cryogenic Storage Bay while tapping away at the controls that monitored all of the pods, alongside the occupants inside. Looking to his left he checked the controls on a set of special pods that didn’t contain anything alive, just some primitive robots that had been collected from System X-42 for study. All of which showed the machines inside inactive, which he was thankful for. Primitive or not they proved deadly in combat against unarmed combatants and even decently armed troops if they didn’t expect to be facing them.

The sound of the doors hissing open made him swivel around in his chair to look at who’d be entering, the only personnel awake at this time would be the security crews on the Bridge or a scant few researchers on the nightshift. He was startled to see Head Biomedical Researcher Zulah enter, and quickly stood while making a triangle shape with three of his fingers. “Head Researcher to what do I owe this visit? Is there something I can assist you with?”

When Zulah didn’t respond right away Lanzos began to get nervous, then both concerned and alarmed at what he saw, she was crying tears of blood. Her eyes were no longer a healthy solid black but filled with white spots. He quickly stood from his chair, grabbing a medical-scanner. “Head Researcher please hold still, you look unwell so I will perform a basic medical scan to see what the issue is.” As he went to raise the scanner, Zulah bolted forwards directly into him. She ripped the scanner out of his hand and threw it aside into a wall causing the device to shatter. Lanzos didn’t even have enough time to yell out in shock or surprise, or for help as Zulah’s hands wrapped around his skull crushing it in her grip. Zulah let go, allowing Lanzo’s lifeless corpse to fall to the floor with a sickening splattering noise.

Zulah was heaving eyes wide and unfocused as she stumbled her way to the control panel the poor fellow had been sitting at mere moments before. Ignoring her gore soaked hands she began pressing various buttons, twisting dials and knobs smearing blood and chunks of meat across the control panels, she took no notice of that. Every pod in the room began to hiss as they brought their occupants out of cryogenic stasis one by one opening with hisses of vented steam and other gasses.

She’d enacted a protocol that would open every pod in the Storage Bay, and in doing so the source of the voices she’d been hearing the past few hours slowly driving her to the brink of insanity was released. The largest pod at the far end of the room burst open as two clawed arms smashed through the protective glass, the creature pulled itself out and flared its large leathery wings while letting out an ear piercing shriek. It was at that moment, she became one with the Queen in mind, body, and soul.

The occupants of the other pods began wrenching themselves out, Feral Ghouls began growling crowding around one another while attacking the Supermutants from the pods next to them. Dozens of creatures crawled out of their own pods as alarms began to go off in the Storage Bay, to warn the crew of the unauthorized shutdown of all pods. Humanoid creatures wearing what looked to be protective suits with bright green eyes glowing like embers in the low light of the room began shambling around, wrapping hands around the support rails and ripping them off to use as makeshift spears in the chaos.

The pods that had contained robots from X-42 for study hummed to life, activating the machines within as they opened. A large, relatively intact Sentry-Bot rumbled out of one pod, growling out a warning as it entered combat-mode. ”Non-combatants are advised to stand clear of weapons discharge.” It began unloading one of its arm mounted gatling-guns into a group of Ghouls, the gunshots ringing out like a gong being sounded. Only seven seconds after it began to fire its gun clicked empty, its abductors had never bothered to reload its main armament.

Several Supermutants bum-rushed the machine, beating against it with bare fists and in return one of them got his head smashed in with the still hot barrels of the robot’s gatling-gun. The other arm’s gun beginning to spin but refusing to fire. It had locked up from years of neglect, the Sentry-bot was torn apart shortly afterwards as it entered its Cool-down mode which allowed one Supermutant to reach inside and violently rip the fusion cores out of their sockets.

This caused an explosion, killing seven Supermutants as the machine exploded. Damaging another pod that had been unable to open, causing the door to crack as one half of the pod took the brunt of the explosion and shrapnel. A hand covered in synthetic rubber that had yellowed and withered with age gripped the edges of the now broken door, shoving it off as several more did the same from their own pods. Yellow eyes burning like the blazes of hell itself as the humanoid robots broke free. ”By or-or-order of the In-in-institute, you must be destroyed.” One of them called out in a broken, glitched and harshly synthetic male voice.

As security personnel arrived the chaos was finally let outside of the Cryogenic Storage Bay. The security forces were overwhelmed in moments, while the Scorchbeast Queen and her new Drone moved to infect as many lifeforms as possible. The Queen mauled several, chewing them and spitting them back out still half alive while her new Drone picked up one of the security personnel’s weapons and began firing it clumsily at what had once been her former crew, making non-lethal shots as often as possible then intentionally slicing into anyone who got close with the jagged shards of Ultracite now stabbing themselves free from her flesh. Alarms blared throughout Research Ship Nebula as both the mutated, and infected creatures slaughtered their way through the crew of the Nebula.

Scorched Zetans now under control of the Scorchbeast Queen made to attack anyone not infected, while Ghouls and Ghost People roamed the halls, a rudimentary alliance forming between the two groups of mutants. Feral Ghouls could not strategize or even plan, but they couldn’t tell the Ghost People where not one of their own due to the radiation leaking from their protective suits. Ghosts would throw makeshift spears at a target to incapacitate it while Ferals would swarm the downed Zetan, or Supermutant, or Scorched. Ghouls were almost completely immune to the infection that the Scorched could spread, and the Ghosts couldn’t be infected on account of the fact they were not living nor dead, but in between. The remaining crew on the Bridge disabled the doors, alongside the teleportation pads. It didn’t help them as the doors buckled inwards crumpled like tinfoil under the weight of a Scorched Supermutant, mutated monstrosities swarming into the Bridge like water from a broken dam. The Captain had no chance to record a warning, or to try and scuttle the ship into the nearest star as his body was smashed into lifeless paste across his own Command Station’s chair.

---------------------------John Hancock's POV-------------------

As they entered the apartment, John let his gaze wander around for a moment to passively scan the room without moving his head, a habit he'd picked up from his days as a Drifter. Suvill had already skittered into what was evidently the kitchen while John himself took note of just how barren the place seemed. He'd seen farmers' shacks set up under broken highway overpasses with more decoration than this! The walls a drab grayish green color not unlike Suvill's skin....scales? That was something he'd have to get used to. The floor was an artificial tile of some sort, that had a reddish hue to it. Another thing he noticed looking around was the place seemed so, small. Literally, everything was perfectly sized for Suvill, it made John feel out of place and a little too tall.

The living-room had a few chairs that looked to be made of metal and leather, with a medium sized couch in the center facing a large wide television of a make and model John didn't recognize. No pictures or paintings hung on the walls, the corner of the living-room had an odd looking ornate table pressed against the wall that had an odd series of candles and a small metallic statue on it, the statue looked like whatever species Suvill was, with ornate golden bodypaint holding a small bowl that still held ashes of whatever had been burned inside. Just as he was about to touch it, Suvill startled him out of his internal thoughts. "Please come in, the food I left simmering in the pot is just done. I managed to procure a few Eponite chairs that would suit your hindquarters better than those meant for my kind." He called from the kitchen.

Walking into the kitchen he had to duck his head to avoid hitting it on the archway, it was as utilitarian as the rest of the apartment had been. A simple stove, an odd box built into the wall that reminded him of something he couldn't recall the name of, what he presumed was a fridge, a table and a few chairs. All of which was made of metal, not a hint of wood anywhere in the decoration or design. On the table two ceramic bowls sat filled with a stew of some sort. Suvill was already eating his with an odd pair of tongs, while Hancock's own bowl had a metal spoon sitting next to it.

As if knowing he was going to ask, Suvill spoke. "I have a few Eponite friends who sometimes visit, as such I've gotten a few of the eating utensils your kind prefers."

John nodded in thanks and sat in a chair looking down at his bowl, before mentally shrugging and taking a bite. His eyes widened in surprise and delight at the flavor. "Damn this is some good stuff! What's in it?" He asked, shoveling another bite into his maw, careful to not swear in front of his Host, he didn’t want to offend the weird thing somehow.

"It's cubed Thalaill meat, with spices and plants native to my homeworld added with something you call 'diced potatoes', I've found I like potatoes, so decided to experiment and add them to the recipe."

Thalaill? Well, whatever it was it tasted damn good, John thought to himself as he finished off his bowl. "Thanks for the meal, I'll find some way to pay back that kindness, always do." He thought about that, what exactly could he get Suvill? He knew little to nothing about him, let alone his species." "I gotta ask, what are you? Your species I mean."

Suvill set his own empty bowl alongside Hancock's into a dishwasher, closing it with a click. "I am an Akun, that is what we call our species, I would think you would know this given how widespread information is around here."

John winced slightly. "Well, I'm not exactly from here if ya catch my meanin." He said thinking back to what the hell would happen to Goodneighbor without him, sure it would be fine for awhile he'd left people in charge before. But what would happen when he didn't return? He knew several of his most trusted friends would likely be able to work something out, if not...well, he wasn't going to worry about that until the time came.

As Suvill opened his mouth to ask what John had meant his door-hisser went off. "Hold on a moment, while I see who's arrived this late at night." He skittered out of the kitchen pressing a button next to the door causing a screen to light up with an image, he hissed in both surprise and alarm because Law Enforcement Androids showed up on the screen. Seeing this, he opened the door quickly but calmly. "Hello Officers, what can this male do for you tonight?" He asked, keeping his tone polite. Always respect those of higher rank than you had been all but beaten into him since hatchlinghood.

One of the Androids looked down at him, as he entered the posture of respect. "We are here to apprehend and question a man that looks to have severe burns across most of his body, security cameras showed him entering this flat." The Android walked inside alongside two others without asking for permission, they didn't need to ask. Suvill made no effort to impede them.

The moment John Hancock saw them however, all he could think about was 'The Institute', these things looked almost exactly like 'Gen Two Synths' those bastards left roaming the Commonwealth. Without so much as a word he kicked the table over to use as cover while pulling his sawed-off shotgun from his coat and firing twice into the face of one Android. He didn't know how the fuck the Institute was here but he wasn't gonna go down without a fight. Suvill had likely already been nabbed the moment he'd opened the door, poor fucker.

The Android Hancock had shot reared back as its helmet was dented by the buckshot, its eyes switching from a calming green to a bright red. "You are attacking an Officer of the Law, by Order of Emperor Lorenzo you are to be brought in for questioning. Come peacefully or we will be authorized to use any means necessary for your transport. Failing to abide by this order will make you a Criminal in the eyes of the Crystal Empire." It barked out, hefting an odd looking pistol out of a holster, the tip of the weapon crackling with electrical energy.

John rose from cover, and managed to get one more shot off before he was struck by a ball of electricity that stunned him, giving the Androids enough time to cuff him, while one disarmed him and carried John outside of the flat complex like a sack of potatoes, still limp and unable to do much more than wheeze and move his eyeballs as he was loaded into the back of a police cruiser. He was still limp when ten minutes later the cruiser pulled up to an absolutely massive Palace of Crystal. He was just regaining some mobility in his face when he was pulled out and once more tossed over the Androids shoulder like a sack. He was forced to look at the floor from his position as the Android walked into the Palace, going through the halls.

For twenty damn minutes, he was dragged around like a sack of vegetables before he was stood upright in front of a simple wooden door, his legs wobbling almost like Jello. "The Emperor is Awaiting you within, do not cause a scene." One of the Androids said before his cuffs fell off his wrists and the door swung open as he was shoved inside without warning. He fell onto the floor with a thump against the hard floor as the door slammed shut behind him.

His head shot up when he heard someone chuckling. "Apologies for the rough treatment, maybe next time I should send out some living officers alongside them so they don't get too rough."

John was staring at a man that looked to be in his mid twenties, maybe early thirties with skin tanned from exposure to the sun, dark facial hair with bright green eyes that almost made him pause. He had on a suit that looked to be a mix of purple, pink, gold and black. A weird ornate silver colored crown on his head lined with more gemstones than Hancock had ever seen before, the centerpiece gem in the crown looking like a solid black orb with weird colors spinning within. He had no context for what a 'Galaxy' looked like, he'd never seen a picture or drawing of one so to him it just looked like swirling colors with orbs of light.

Standing up and slowly dusting himself off, he was surprised to see the man called 'The Emperor' repeatedly was just sitting at a wooden table with two glasses and inhalers of Jet on it. A bottle of brown reddish liquid sitting alongside them. "I am Emperor Lorenzo, though you may just call me Lorenzo. I know much about you John, some things you'll be surprised I even know and will want to know how I know them, this will be explained in due time, for now sit have a drink or take some Jet, it's non addictive I assure you." As if to prove his own word, 'Lorenzo' as he'd called himself, picked one of the inhalers up and pressed the pressure button on the top, releasing its entire contents into his lungs in one large puff. "Ah yeah, still as good as I remember, don't do chems too often anymore."

He slid one of the inhalers towards John while pouring two glasses of what smelled like rum, John Hancock looked down at the Inhaler in his hand, before mentally thinking 'Fuck it, I've had weirder shit happen' and raising it to his mouth, inhaling the wonderful chemical cocktail within.

Author's Note

Hello all! Sorry for the delay in chapters lately, hopefully this longer than normal one makes up for that in some aspects! I was moving, then some other crap happened so I'm busier lately, but fear not this series will be given a proper ending even if it takes me 7 more years to do it. Anywho, lemme know what ya think of this chapter like always, I enjoy reading you're comments. Happy late new-year, for what its worth XD

Here's an image of what Equestrian power armor looks like, since some people asked me prior.

This was the closest image I could find to what I had in mind for Equestrian Power Armor, keeping in mind the Day/Night themed armor the dayguard and nightguard have, just apply those color schemes to the armor for each respective part of the guard-force .

Here's an example of what the changelings now generally look like in terms of color.

Let me tell you, finding images with Changeling's that had the correct shade of purple was HARD as hell!