Zaloon the Zebra of Many Stripes as the order has come to know him, he was the ordered info broker and also a heavy hitter similar in form to Orfeo, and that Lost Dog. Though the Lost Dog has since been lost and forgotten, by most but not him, he knew this Lo.Do personally. If he remembers he Told the HUb that he will be in contact but may not report for any action. Unless they required his attention, It seemed the order needed him now.

Zaloon saw a building that he knew all too well military storage, though if the File was correct, this was no mere military storage building. It was in truth a storage location for Experimental Items, meant to keep them secure. Sadly he doesn't have the clearance to enter there without getting trapped and killed If the file was correct. The security system ran on a mainframe in the basement and told all systems that anyone without clearance was hostile and to eliminate them. He did not want to die so young, after all, he is only 15 years old.

He continued forwards towards the general direction of the Hub.

Two Number one seeing one of their agents heard straight for the hub would normally be concerning, but she had an idea why this was happening. Someone or something was jamming her signal and Zoms wished to assist, sadly she couldn't assist him in his endeavors so she had to do what she would normally do. Sit in the blank void, alone, in silence. She had no choice but to sit and wait until she could actually be of assistance, she couldn't even send a message to the Prince because of this, She looked at Lost Dragon's Tag. He was also heading this way, though his mission was different to defend the Hub.

Unlike the rest, she actually informed the Dragon of her exact location, she had faith in him.

Zaloon had been walking for days until he hit a still living forest, unlike main Equestria this was actually common and not rare. Though this forest was no forest, it was a jungle, a wild untamed jungle. He gulped, 'So this is why no one can attack the hub? It's in the middle of a jungle someone would have to burn the forest to get an army to the base, and a small force would stand no chance. This location does not have the common defence, The Mainframe is actually sentient so it can enact in Strategy. Imagine being sent to investigate a location when the turrets pop out of the ceiling than when you take cover they retreat back into storage and repair themselves.' He had to investigate one location like that, it was to gain more processing power for the hub. He had to be smart and quick, his hooves did little to a ceiling-mounted gun he couldn't reach. So he had to use a pistol, though he wasn't after the base, he was after the jammer so he could get a perfect signal.

He entered the jungle and shivered, This was place was actually unnatural, It wasn't like Zebrican jungles. No place had this weird aura around it, it caused fear to enter his heart, Though he shook it off. 'I see why you placed the Hub here Midnight, most ponies would flee, even most zebra. This place will wear you down until you flee, it is like it wants to save you, but is unsure how to.' He smiled and snorted and kept walking, but he came face-first into a magical shield. "What the?! This is not normal pony magic? So what is it?" The shield was purple, a color he knew all too well. "Alicorns?! What the fuck does the Goddess want here?!" He looked at his watch and typed an SOS signal to all surrounding Order members. Though most were too far to receive these messages two got it.

Zaloon groaned and rubbed his head as he left the jungle and made camp at the edge of the jungle.

Ruby was having a peaceful day investigating all locations where her prince could be located flying the Lunamoon, when Lunamoons systems exploded in alerts, not danger warnings but an SOS signal. She located the signal and pointed the ship in that direction to see what the hubba was about.

Lost Dragon, flew across the sky as he looked at his order PipDragon then his P`ipdragon exploded in alerts, and they were coming from the direction of the hub. His eyes widened and shot forward with all his strength, his body became a blur as he was no longer just going for some routine, This was an emergency! His wings beat again and he went faster and faster until he was a streak in the sky.

"Don't worry M.M I will be there soon! Whatever the problem is I will help!" The wind blocked out his voice, it was just a whisper to his ears, even though he was shouting.

Ruby was headed in the direction of the SOS marker, though his radar picked up a large winged flying object, labeled as a dragon. She kept an eye on it, but it was listed as nonhostile and seemed to be headed for the marker also. That irked her, a dragon with Midnight level clearance, someone must be issuing these labels. Who though the only ones who can do that is Midnight who she hasn't heard anything from, and the Director. The Director was a pony who Midnight specifically used as a Commander of sorts, the Director was never a combat entity. It was meant to guide and inform, Like a military CO, though with a faster decision process. So how did He/She survive two hundred years?

She shook her head questions for later, she needs to assist in any Order business. Her mind went blank as she saw the jungle in front of her, though that wasn't what Actually caught her attention. The huge fucking purple shield, one she knew as Shining Armor Shield spell, also used by Twilight Sparkle. She also saw a Zebra on the ground next to a campfire, so this is who sent the SOS it seems, a Zebra!

Zaloon looked up when he heard the roaring of the engine, and his jaw dropped, Ruby Shield came to him?! The Lunamoon was a beautiful ship made from titanium and it was pointing its guns directly at him. He just shrugged, he knew he would die if those things fired. But those cannons point away from him he looked at where they pointed. Right at the Alicorn shield, the boom that shattered the silence of the jungle would have been heard for miles around, but the sound didn't end there was a secondary explosion as the Cannon rounds hit the shield exploding in smaller Balefire explosions. The shield actually cracked but quickly repaired, so it seems they are not perfect, The ship's engines suddenly cut off and it landed softly behind him. He jumped at the sound of the ship hitting the ground, the thump could have been the last thing he ever heard. He sighed and looked behind him only be face to face with pretty lavender-pink eyes, he felt his warning senses ignite. So he acted on instinct and backflipped and landed on his front hooves, into a hoove-stand, he twisted his body around spinning around he lost his balance on purpose and landed on his hooves. A wrench hit the air where his head just was, that could have killed him.

"Whoa whoa, Miss we are on the same side, You see that shield?" Ruby sighed and nodded, "Well I'm here to stop whatever is happening inside that thing, it may help others, and mainly, It will help the order."He looked at her and smiled, "You must be Ruby Shield, The Prewar Magic Shield specialist, Similar to Shining armor, but your shields are said to be twice as powerful as his. Not sure if I believe that or not it seems far-fetched, and while you have the cutie mark, not sure if your skills follow." He was expecting her to be angry or at the very least miffed, to his surprise she blushed and looked away.

"Some stories may be overexaggerated, while my magic is powerful it is not on par with Shining Armor." She looks at the shield, "Or Twilight Sparkle, That shield is made by Ministry mare Twilight Sparkle, that magic has her name all over it. I mean who else overlays two of the exact same spells over each other? It takes tons of power to sustain that. So how is it so stable?"

Zaloon nodded in agreement, "I may not be a unicorn but I know how much magic is used to sustain that!"

"So how are we going to destroy it?" Zaloon was taken aback at the words 'We', She seemed to notice and clarified further. "You are part of the Order it seems and I am here to assist in the order any way possible so yes, We, even if I hate Zebra."

"That's fine you can hate me, it's not like I can say you ponies don't deserve to hate some of us, I mean look at what we have done. We both destroyed the world, Ponies and Zebra are the most hated species, on the planet. Dragons didn't blow things to shit, Hellhound didn't, not even Griffins. We did!" The words caused Ruby to flinch, but he was right, we caused this we have to fix it.

"The only good thing is Only 3 cities were bombed, so a couple of million ponies survived the bombs, after all unlike Equestria. Maraston was devoted to protection, so you set up Anti Missile protection all across the country, Only big hit was the capital city. Which similar to Canterlot was hit with a more devastating kind of bomb than most of the country, I believe they called it The Discord Bomb, if that's not correct well just what the ponies in Maraston called it."

"Discord bomb?"

"Yeah, it contains Chaos magic, ponies who enter Mannalus change permanently some grow new limbs, organs, eyes, you name it. I once saw a pony who had tentacles that functioned perfectly, and a weird foreleg with claw-like appendages, though they were not claws. Most ponies who gain these things commit suicide and their bodies are gained by the order for experiments, we wanna know how to remove it, We haven't found anything." Zalooon explained and ruby gagged.

"Why are we even talking about this?" Zaloon smirked and pointed behind Ruby.

Ruby turned around and came face to face with an Orange dragon with blood-red spikes, his eyes were piercing green. She gasped and noticed who this was, she meet him in the bunker.

Then the Dragon spoke in a low dangerous voice, that made the ground shake in its intensity, "So you ditched that changeling?" Ruby nodded in fear, and the Dragon smiled softly. "Good" He looked to Zaloon, then towards the shield. "So this is what is blocking out messages?" Zaloon sighed and nodded, "Great have you tried your Reality Shredder yet?" Zaloon looked horrified then he looked at the knife in a case that was on his belt. The Dragon noticed and sighed, "It doesn't actually shatter reality you know it's just the name." Zaloon nodded.

"I did not wish to use the blade for something like this unless we had no choice, as it would break it, and it would be pointless after the blade is broken."

"Break?! That thing is made of Starmetal, it takes a lot to break Starmetal. So how are we gonna do this?"

Ruby looked at the shield and sighed, "I won't be much help, my magic is defensive, and my only weapon is a wrench!"

Zaloon sighed, "I wasn't prepared to fight alicorns, so I may be underequipped, my hoove to hoove combat is only good if I can actually get close. My pistol is only 10mm, it won't do much against a shield, also my knife may be Starmetal, but I am unsure if it will actually dispel this shield. This shield has an Anti-Magic repel in place, so Starmetal would be useless, mostly." Those last words rang in Rubie's head, Starmetal is Antimagic, She smirked.

"I may a way to destroy this shield." Rubies words made both Zaloon and Lost look at her in surprise.

"Oh yeah, how?"

"Starmetal jacketed 20mm cannon shell." Zaloon jaw dropped. Ruby smiled with confidence

"That might just work, but sadly that would be so expensive, we would have to find the shell or at least the Starmetal."

Lost looked thoughtful and sighed. "Leave the finding of the shell to me, it would allow me to repay you for allowing access into the Hub.

Zaloon looked thoughtful and he had to ask, "How many Antimagic shells do you have?"

Rubies ears flattened, "One." That's all she needed to say, that word make them all grimace, she had one shot and the target was small. She also would need to hit one of the alicorns to ensure the shield weakened enough, this was something she was not trained for!

She walked into the ship, and gulped nervously, luckily this ship would do most of the work for her. She sat into the pilot seat and groaned, 'I only have one shot, maybe I will get my answers after this, like where is Prince Midnight?' She flipped the switch that literally said start then the engines roared to life, she plugged in her pipbuck and the ship hummed. She looked at her pipbuck and saw the entire ship diagram, and to her surprise, the ship had two Starmetal shells, but one was the incorrect caliber. 'That is one huge shell, it seems like it would be fit inside a raptor, so why is it inside this ship. This ship is more a Vertibuck class or Skytank, it isn't supposed to hold such heavy weapons, Skytanks are assault vessels. A vertibucks are Air Personel Carrier, Lunamoon was a ship devoted for direct combat similar to the skytank but with less life loss.'

The ship's targeting system auto-locked, but before she could push the button, the ship's warning systems activated. The ship activated autopilot and swerved out of the way of an incoming magical blast, A dark purple magical blast. Ruby almost instantly recovered and jumped into the ship's joystick with her hooves, and pushed the ship's pedals with her rear hooves. She pulled the joystick backward as hard as possible, the ship reacted almost instantly, the nose of the ship pointed almost ninety degrees into the sky. The ship's gyro systems were acting on overcharge, when Ruby slammed the pedal down the ship lurched into motion, reaching three hundred miles an hour in 10 seconds flat. The ship passed the cloud layer in 2 minutes, all the way dark purple magic beams passed the ship causing Ruby to enact defensive maneuvers. The ship started swaying from side to side or doing small loops, when ruby reaches high enough she cut off the acceleration, the ship quickly quite moved upwards and instead of falling to the ground below. She grabbed the joystick and pulled the stick as hard as she can, the ship flipped around causing Ruby's nose to bleed from the G force. She pointed the nose towards the magic shield, all the while she was analyzing the shield matrix, she could in fact replicate the shield, though it would only last for a few brief seconds, those seconds could be very important.

She spits out some blood into a bag, she saw a flash of purp[le on the ground than a magic beam nearly struck the ship, she had to find out where that was coming from! This ship couldn't take on of those hits, it would spread the Lunamoon! Her magic can protect the ship and herself for a few brief seconds, but after that she will have to wait for her magic to recharge for a minute, or risk magical burnout. She growled, 'I suppose I have little choice, let's hope this shield falls!'

She targeted one shot at where the light flashed, and she also activated SATS to help assist the targeting system, the left cannon hummed to life then roared. It sounded like thunder and could have been heard miles away the shell ripped through the alicorn shield like it was paper. She could also see a spray of blood where the shell hit, whatever was hit is dead now, nothing can survive a direct shot from that. The Ship shuttered as if in pain, and she looked at her pipbuck and nearly screamed, The left wing of the ship was shot clean off from the recoil of the shell, luckily the damage was able to be repaired by the repair talisman but it would take power time and supplies, the time she would not have as the ship was about to crash! The ship started to spiral out of control, she tried with all her might and magical power to pull the ship out of the death dive. The ship was pointed to the shield, she couldn't escape the death dive and it was scaring her, then the shield fizzled and faded away. 'It seems she hit the correct pony after all' Was her last thoughts as her world went dark with the sound of metal tearing and ripping from the hull.

Zaloon started in shock as he saw the ship crash into the ground, he saw everything perfectly. she the ship fired that round it seemed it hard such a powerful recoil it ripped the cannon and a minority of the wing from the ship, not enough so the ship could not repair itself, but enough that the ship had no airflow around its wings. She majority of the wings flaps and airflow systems had been dusted in the recoil of the shell, Zaloon can see why those shells were dangerous. Lost was almost just as surprised when the shield fell, Zaloon still couldn't figure this dragon out, or why he was named Lost Dragon and not an actual name! It couldn't be his name, while his own name Zaloon, that may not be his name but it was his code name. He tells everyone his name is Zaloon, his real name is something he doesn't like to talk about very much.

Zaloon slapped the Dragon hard, "Focus" The Dragon sputtered but nodded, They both moved forward and Zaloon pulled out his pistol and held it in his mouth. They both knew their priority, ensure the safety of Ruby and the Hub, all others come last. They froze when they heard voices, The zebra was more silent than the dragon but they both were unnoticed.

"What does the Goddess want with this location sister? I mean we lost contact after we crossed the border and into this land, this place is almost free of radiation, though it holds more potent dangers than even the Hoofington!" they both heard a mare groan this one pompous and cheeky.

"Well sister we have nothing to worry about, we are the goddess after all! Nothing can harm us." They heard a face hoove, and Zaloon smirked, it seemed they were not being controlled by the goddess, but instead freed from her influence. He frowned in confusion, but why? His eyes narrowed and he sighed, whatever reason can come later, they need to either be sure they were no true threat or a hostile force, Also were they not concerned by the loss of the shield, and why was no one after Ruby?

"What are to do with the intruder Pony, and that ship, it makes my bone shiver just looking at it! Also, That mare makes me cringe when I look at her, something about both of them is not normal! Though Azure Blare wants to interrogate the mare! She should be killed after killing Sparkle Star, she deserved better than that!" Zaloon looked at Lost, and Zaloon moved slightly, and Lost shook his head. 'So do not kill? okay, boss.'

Zaloon body blurred into motion moving silently through the brush, he jumped into the branches on a tree and jumped from tree to tree, he saw a light in the darkness and targeted it. He landed on a tree overlooking 4 Alicorns inside a light purple shield, he grimaced, so much for a stealth approach. He looked around looking for any chance to attack in a frontal assault seeing...none. This won't do, that shield sparkled with similar power to the shield that covered the jungle, in the daytime, it would be so faint to see it would be invisible. Though at night, it was like a spotlight, he pulled out a magical energy grenade and sighed. Won't do shit! I'm useless without my supplies! That's when all the Alicorn's froze in place and looked right at him, his mane tingled in fear, and he backflipped away just in time as a beam of pure magic flew through where his chest just was. If it hit it wouldn't have been lethal it seemed they were not trying to kill, he had no choice.

"PLAN B!" That sentence made Lost launch from the shadows and surprise the Alicorns, They were confused now seeing a Cyber Dragon. It just confused them completely, "ATTACK TO DISABLE!" Zaloon roared and Lost nodded, they both blurred into motion, the Alicorn shield falling from their surprise. That was all the chance the Order creatures needed, Zaloon struck on alicorn in the jaw, with his rear hooves, cracking it before he twisted and landed on one hoove. He rolled forward and landed on all four much to the surprise of the alicorns, he just took one of their sisters. Lost body-slammed an alicorn into a three cracking a few bones and knocking the Alicorn out. The last two Alicorns backed up and activated their magic shields, they were angry, but they both disappeared in a flash of purple magic. Leaving their two other sisters, Zaloon and Lost stood in a combat stance for a few seconds before relaxing. Zaloon looked at Lost cooly, Though the dragon snarled.

"Zaloon! We should have used stealth, and not attacked we got lucky they were so surprised that they dropped their shield!" Zaloon sighed but Lost kept on. "Now the Alicorns will know we are coming! We may be powerful but alicorns are on a whole nother level! I mear I heard one of them attack an Enclave Raptor and shredded it to dust! What can we do!"

"I am thinking! We don't have to kill or hurt them just get them to leave, maybe we should instead of attacking them propose they leave, I suspect they are only here for safety and nothing else." Then his eyes hardened, "If They are after the hub we have to eliminate them all though." Lost nodded, Better plan than winging it.

They waited for the Alicorns to wake up.

Ruby groaned as she woke up, her body was covered in pain, it felt like she had been hit by a train! She also realized she was not inside her ship, she was on a bed chained down with bronze chains. She had been captured by the hostile force? These chains while strong won't last against her might, steel would hold a better chance, after all her metal skeleton was capable of bending foot thick steel. She just had to play good girl for as long as possible, and when they expected to either kill or hurt her she will break free and kill all she can before dying, or escape. She looked around but the room was completely black she could not see anything, even her pipbuck was offline.

Then a Pink Alicorn entered the darkroom letting light enter the room causing Ruby to squint in pain, the alicorn looked familiar, she had a blue heart on her flank, her mane and tail had red, blue, and purple stripes across them. Ruby's eyes opened wide in shock, fear, surprise and, awe. Princess Cadence Of The Crystal Empire, The kingdom that was not bombed in the slightest as Cadence made peace with the zebra and allowed them to use her territory for the war. Also when the war got bad she was the one who told Midnight to stop the senseless fighting, Though he agreed he should. He said it would have no point to stop as the war was nearing its end. She remembers this because she was sent with midnight as a guard, it was a few months from the end of the world. Cadence looked ragged and nothing like the same naive princess she once was, her body had scars and her expression was less than pure happy. Though she seemed to still have that happiness and joy she always has, I suppose that's the trait for the princess of love.

When Cadence looked at ruby she frowned but not at her, "I told them not to attack outsiders they are so foolish! They still have that same foolishness as the 'Goddess' had, assuming everything needs to die beside alicorns! How are you doing after all these 200 years Ruby You don't look like a ghoul? So how did you survive?" She asked as she removed the chains on Ruby's leg.

Ruby smiled, "Well I heard Midnights alive and also why are you in this location?" Cadence sighed and looked away, she looked tired and angry?

"Well for starters, there is this Alicorn hivemind in Equestria had to flee, they kept targeting me! Attempting to either kill or capture me to make me join their little demon cult! I wanted no part of it so I took the Alicorns and ponies that saw me as a true God and took them far away mainly to Maraston, because well it seemed the Goddess lost alicorns after sending them to ...Midnights country. Wait you said he is alive?! I assumed he died when that awful mega spell hit Mannalus! It destroyed everything, not just alive! I heard it turned the clouds into cotton candy and the roads into soap similar to what discord did but it was all highly radioactive! They say it is a literal deathtrap, Luckily it's not all bad, I heard some changelings and ponies actually turned into Mannalus ghouls. They were saved from the worse of the fallout though, they were permanently changed. So how did midnight survive?!

"Not sure, I just got a message from the hub earlier explaining the situation with Midnight! maybe we should go find him soon?"

'The HUb? That wouldn't be the building that is covered in trees, it had a huge sign with the word HUb on it would it?"

"I suppose it would? But from what I heard the alicorn shield was blocking the signal from the hub." Her pipbuck chirped as a new objective showed, this one made both Cadence and ruby's eyes widen.

Mission: Oh no the Nexus is in trouble!
Objective: Protect the Nexus 0/200
Notes: It seems raiders have found the Nexus and wish to kill all who call it home! Protect the Nexus and gain the admiration of Nexus! Doing so will add Plus twenty to the national integrity!

The Fuck?!

Name: Ruby Shield / Code name :Unbreakable Shield
Race: Cyber Unicorn
Perks!
Str: 10
Per: 8
End: 10
Char: 2
Int: 2
Agi: 5
Luck: 1

Traits: Cyber Pony You are a Cyberpony you gain plus 10 to strength and 5 to agility! Don't expect this to save you always!

Name: [Data Expunged]/Code name: Zaloon
Race: Odd Zebra
Perks?
Str: 10
per: 10
End: 10
Char: 10
Int: 10
Agi: 10
Luck: -120

Traits: Odd Zebra "Am I Just the unluckiest thing you ever saw?!" For some odd reason unlike most, you have negative luck, it seems something in the world wants you to suffer.

Name: Bronza Moltex /Code name: Lost Dragon
Race: Pony Dragon Hybrid
Perks: [Data expunged]

Traits: Dragon Pony Hybrid You have a mind similar to ponies in a body of a Dragon. You also love ponies/ +10 charisma talking to pony characters.

Name: Midnight Sun/ Code Name: Midnight Sky
Race: Alicorn Wolf Hybrid
Bio: You may not look like Celestia but you are her soon, have the eyes of your grandmother and the Coat as your grandfather. Your mane is similar to your mother, You have a smaller horn than most Unicorns and Alicorns so you can easily pass as a Pegasus.
Trait: Assassin, You exceed in stealth needed situations +20 to stealth but -20 to Big Guns and Heavy Hitter.
Trait: Magical Prodigue, you have skills only available to High-level mages and you can teleport tons over a long distance. Your magic is powerful but it can be a drawback! +20 to all magic but -10 to Strenght.
Perks: [data expunged]

Midnight was looking at the town of Bottom Creek and smiled slightly, it had been a week since the raiders, they rebuilt quickly. He told those mares to stay here and protect the town as best they could, while he looked for something capable of reviving the dead. He hated this, He was the one who caused pain in their lives, he owed them a lot for the trouble he caused. He looked over to Zextra, Who was cleaning her new Pipe Rifle that one raider had, She took it from the raider and customized it with an actual pretty finish. Now the Gun looks more like a Military issue firearm and less like a handcrafted piece of shit. Metal wing chose to stay with her wings and Golden Sky had a 10mm pistol, and Lucky Star, well she had a Minigun and Missile Launcher battle saddle. Midnight was just confused on why he had a feeling like something bad was happening somewhere else,

Author's Note

Next Chapter: The City of Lamark

I hope people like how I explained things near the end I had a couple plot holes with midnight so I chose to clear 'em up, also did people like how I added Princess Cadence, seriously though The princess of LOVE in a WAR?! That just dumb, so I chose to make it so she and the Crystal empire stood out of the war, As in The Crystal Empire is its own seperate nation similiar to Maraston. I hope its to other peoples liking I know its weird and confusing, but I explained it best as I could.