"I'm telling you, those noises came from over here." Sharp Sword explained, his golden armour contrasting deeply with the green shrubbery of the forest around them. Sharp was currently leading the group of four other guards through the forest to where he claimed the noises had come from. It had almost sounded like somepony had fired off a hundred thunderclaps in the span of a few seconds, despite the weather being as clear as it could be with not a single cloud in the sky.

"Yah sure about that rookie? I know you pegasus have super good hearing and all that, but there isn't a single thing out here." Broken Shield said, his voice gruff from years of shouting orders to his subordinates. He shifted his spear in his grip, glancing around to the trees surrounding them. "Not even those darn timberwolves have decided to show up yet."

They continued on in silence, eyes constantly watching the shadows as if expecting a monster to jump out at any moment. As they continued their slow march, the forest soon fell eerily silent, the previous tweeting that had come from nesting birds disappeared, replaced by nothing but the sound of the group's breaths. Broken Shield held up his fist, telling the group to stop while stopping Sharp Sword with his other hand. Everypony stopped dead in their tracks, eyes now furiously scanning the undergrowth. Broken Shields ears flicked as faint noises, almost like somepony was talking just ahead. Motioning with a hand, the group crept up to a large bush, the voices getting ever louder as they approached, yet somehow also seemed to be slightly garbled. Peering over the bush Broken Shield's jaw dropped at what he saw.

A small clearing was just on the other side of the bush, several creatures in what appeared to be yellow suits walked around picking up pieces of timber that lay scattered around the clearing and dumping them into a small pile that reached to about their knees. They also appeared to have slung what looked like grey clubs, which had small pieces of the club sticking out at random, over their shoulders. They all looked exactly the same, with a full yellow suit coupled with a larger piece of black on their torsos with a large silver cylinder on the back, as well as a mask that looked to be connected to the cylinder. One stood out from the rest though. This one seemed to wear full white, and didn't carry any of the extra stuff that all the others did. All that she held was a dark green orb in her covered hand, turning it over as she observed it closely. He recognised the orb however, and it began to make sense as to why they hadn't encountered any timberwolves. The piles of wood. The green orb. These things had killed the timberwolves. A shuffling was then heard from his right, causing him to whip his head to the source of it, only to find one of the creatures standing there, pointing it's club at him with two hands.

"Don't move." Came the garbled voice, several more slowly walking out of the forest from all around them. The group quickly got into a defensive circle, pointing their weapons back in turn. This caused the creatures to freeze, their gaze fixed on the weapons that they were holding.

A different one stepped forward, holding up a hand towards the ponies, "Put down the weapons and come with us. If you resist we will use force." It said, causing Broken Shield to bare his teeth in a low growl.

"Like tartarus we're going to do that. Rather you should put your clubs down." He countered, pointing his spear at the first on to walk out, "You are outmatched with those clubs of yours, even if you managed to take down some timberwolves you are no match for Equestrian steel."

The one that had stepped forward stopped for a moment, tilting his head in what could only be confusion before he placed his hand on a small grey rectangle on his chest, not reacting when the guards closest to him pointed their spears at him, "Subjects are resisting, requesting lethal force to be authorised." He said, a reply coming soon after from what could only be the grey rectangle.

"Lethal force authorised for only one subject, bring the rest in alive. We only need four."

The creature flicked his club in Broken shields direction, "Kill that one. The rest of you switch to tasers" He said. The guards immediately tightened their defensive circle, not about to let these creatures take them without a fight.

The first one that had showed itself took a step forward aiming the club at Broken Shields head, as his comrades drew much smaller clubs, once again aiming them at the group. Baring his teeth even more he stared at the one that still had the larger club, the most obvious threat. "Come on then! What are you waiting fo-"

Blood. It covered the back of his neck, the side of his face, and was just everywhere at once. Looking to his right, Sharp Sword's eyes widened in horror as Broken shield fell to his knees before continuing on to the once green grass, a hole that looked like it had been drilled in between his eyes present on his face. His eyes rolled back into his head and his tongue hung outside his mouth. He didn't even have a chance to scream as his body suddenly began to spasm, intense pain coursing through it. Collapsing to the ground as he lost control of his limbs, his wings splayed out, one of the monsters approached from above, a heavy boot falling onto Sharp Swords face soon after.

His eyes blearily opened, a splitting headache causing him to hold his head with a hand. Rubbing his eyes he sat up, looking around at his surroundings. He appeared to be in a concrete box with a glass panel making up one of the walls, all the normal furnishings that one might find in a room such as a desk and bed were present, all being the same shade of mahogany. The light for his room that hung from above was enough to illuminate the whole of the box however didn't reach far beyond the glass panel, only a small fringe of what looked like concrete was visible at the very edge of the light. Placing a hand on the glass he squinted his eyes, trying to see past the never ending blackness to no avail. Looking at his clothes he appeared to be wearing a white jumpsuit, with no means of a zip visible to him. Trying to move his wings, his eyes widened as he looked behind him to find that his dark blue wings were secured in a metal clamp, not being able to move an inch.

A ding was then sounded, causing him to look toward the source of it which had come form beyond the darkness. Another light turned on, revealing an open door. Standing in this door was a creature, its body covered in a white jumpsuit similar to Sharp's except that it had more on it such as pipes and a mask that covered it's face.

"N.I.L.S.S, activate welcome message." It said, sounding female as it walked forward, stopping at the glass.

"Subject 3, welcome to NERO Compound 501, please cooperate and you will be treated well."

Author's Note

Nice job if you can figure out the reference