Dead Air

by MMBK

Rating: mature
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Sex, Science Fiction, Horror, Profanity, Non-consensual, Violence, Death, Alternate Universe, Human, Gore, Original Character
Length: 49807

The stars wait. The planet watches.

After hundreds of years under the captive, authoritarian rule of Humans, a foreseen flame is ignited. The beginning of the end.

Published 2022-01-17 02:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-02-14 23:09:06 UTC

001

Author's Note

This is not the direct sequel to Fallout Equestria; Radio Static. This is a side story of RS. If you're expecting a lot of action in this, then you're mistaken. This is mostly about story.

The wording in this story might come off as a bit strange, but that's how it's supposed to be. From the perspective of a slave, in a society that's supposed to differentiate from ours, the odd wording is a creative choice. Plus, dabbling with vocab and spelling is something I do a lot.

001

I pressed my stomach to the soft bedding below me, biting down on the pillow as he slid out in attempts to stifle a moan. I winced my eyes shut to the sensation of him.

His hands gripped my flank as he panted, slowly getting off me before collapsing down on his back beside me. He broke into a small chuckle as he turned to me, caressing my fiery mane. My eyelids fluttered open to the sight of him as I panted in turn.

"You're my favorite..." He whispered breathlessly, before leaning in.

His lips pressed firmly to mine, and behind the kiss, my eyes closed again instinctively. His tongue intertwined with my own as he held me close to his naked form, allowing me to recite another soft moan.

He pulled back after a moment with a string of our mixed saliva hanging between our lips as we gazed into each other's eyes once more.

"I should purchase you all to myself..." He whispered again, kissing my nose.

I let out a small giggle as my colored wings fluttered to his contact. I brought one of them forth, wrapping him in a cocoon of warmth to the best of my abilities, seeing as I was lying on my side.

"I'd love that, master..." I whispered back, nuzzling into his neck. The musk of his sweat from our previous rounds drove me mad.

He let out a small chuckle, petting my mane as he whispered into my ear, which flicked frequently in response.

"When it's just us, you can call me Vector."

A soft blush developed on my cheeks as I pulled back, looking into his eyes once more; red staring back at red.

A momentary glance at the unit, which stood firm at the exit of his quarters, revealed to me that it was staring back at us behind a blue, artificial glare. Vector laughed.

"Don't worry about it, dear. Robots aren't sentient. It's just you..." His hands gripped my firm, sore flank. His fingers dug into my tough, hot hide, kneading my tender muscles. I arched my back in response, whimpering under my breath needily. "... And me..."

Letting out another fit of giggles, I scooted closer to him, grinding my hips.

"You wanna go for round six?" I bit my lip with a sultry gaze, glancing down at his excitement. "I aim to please..."

"Hell yes." He grinned.

"Maybe I could... heh... put these lips of mine to good use..."

He grew quiet in what I perceived as anticipation as I kissed at his lips...

... And then his neck...

Shoulder...

Chest...

Upon reaching his nipple, I teasingly bit at it, to which a light moan escaped him.

"012..." He whispered breathlessly.

"And my tongue..." I replied in the same volume, before tracing it around his nipple, lighting sucking on it after. "I'm yours..."

I shimmied down the length of his body, leaving behind a trail of my kisses down his belly; stopping for a moment to tongue his belly button.

My wing caressed his side; the fluffy, warm feathers against his smooth skin driving both of us into an even more satisfactory state.

I kissed at his navel...

The base of his shaft...

The tip... followed with a lap of my tongue... from the sensitive underside to the top...

He shivered in pleasure in response, causing a wry smirk to curl on my lips.

Excitement further developed in my nethers with a hunger as I took in his addicting scent.

I parted my lips around his shaft, sliding his length in and pumping my head as he moaned quietly.

"012... hah, fuck..."

His pleasure was my fuel. I pushed in, nearing his base as my wing moved around; the feathers massaging his balls.

I closed my eyes, taking in the senses...

"Commander Vector."

His moans stopped as I ceased in unison, staying glued to his length. I looked up at him curiously.

With a disapproving look up at the ceiling, he sighed.

"What is it?"

"Are you alone?"

"Not exactly." He spoke in a near whisper; frustration growing in his tone as he grit his teeth.

"Then make your present company scarce."

"Can it wait?" He asked impatiently. "012 and I are kinda busy..."

"No. It's urgent. Code N-D1."

His eyes grew wide before he lifted his upper body, supporting his weight with the palms of his hands pressed firmly against the mattress. Had his dick not been impaling my throat, he would have shot up out of bed in a panic.

"S-shit... alright, give me a minute."

His erection was already going limp...

Whatever this ND-1 was, it really killed the mood...

Reluctantly, I parted from his member and sat up.

"Sorry, 012... I gotta take this..." He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Damn it..."

"Can we try again later tonight?" I asked with a curious head tilt. "It sounds like you'll need to relieve some stress after whatever this call is about. Who better than me to release it on?" I grinned.

He chuckled lightly, but I could see in his eyes that something gravely disturbed him.

Regardless, but with hesitation, he nodded.

"Sure. We can try again tonight." He turned his head to the unit at the door. "CM-108, comply."

Immediately, the unit stepped forth. "Present, awaiting orders."

"Take 012 to her assigned room." With a faint smile, he paused. "And... if she asks, satisfy her needs."

"Affirmative." He turned to me. "Move along, Subject 012."

I stood up on all fours, my legs quivering from the exhaustion of our activities. A little climax dripped out in response, to which I giggled softly.

"Sorry, Vector." I glanced back, blushing with embarrassment.

"I'll have a War clean it up later." He said with subtle laughter. "Get going now, 012."

<>

We made the long descent of the orbital platform with the company of others that shared the same circumstances. No words were exchanged. No looks.

Windows and steel stronger than titanium kept the vacuum out and the artificial oxygen in.

The world outside held a sad beauty, even from orbit.

The land, scorched as far as the eye could see. With large patches of ashen clouds, held great colossal towers that led to other space stations like the one I departed.

Some of them went without the orbital platform that Warhorse and I occupied, but great sky bridges connected a variety of towers to the other, which ultimately led to the central complex. The structure we descended.

Massive ships went to and from orbit like clockwork, taking rest in the loading bays of towers and the stations above. To the stars beyond, some went.

I didn't know what lied beyond those stars. But I dreamt of it... a lot.

I didn't even know what the atmosphere of Equus was like, apart from a simple description.

Hot and radioactive.

That was all I got.

Upon reaching the central complex's tram station, I was escorted to a shuttle parked in a rail system.

Overhead, in bold, yellow, militarized font much like my code that was printed on my flank, was the navigation, 'CAMPUS 0.2.4.6.'

The only difference from my mark and the label apart from the text was that my code was printed in a shade of black darker than the smoky, ashen colors of my coat.

Many others were in my same situation, being escorted by the Warhorse units back to their residential sectors. Still, none paid others any mind.

An uncanny sight was the mixture of Warhorse and Silence units standing guard, optically scanning the room like sentries; weapons drawn.

Something strange was happening. Silence units only came out when something big was going down.

The tram doors slid open with a ping, and in a single file line, four escorts stepped in; myself and CM-108 being the fourth.

No words were spoken from machine, pony, zebra, griffin, or thestral. Only the faint hum of generators, air filtration, and hooves against the steel walkways sounded across the expansive tram station.

CM-108 followed me into the tram that was due for Campus 0.2.4.6.

The doors slid shut behind him with another high ping over the speaker.

No one dared look at one another. Even still, not a word was ushered. I was no exception. I kept my eyes locked on the window to my right, sitting on my haunches as we traversed the skybridge to a smaller, but still massive tower.

The air outside was red with molten heat. The earth was cracked and scarred.

Freighter ships moved to and from towers in the distance. To and from gaping holes in the surface of the planet.

The station rumbled, and the glass of the window panes vibrated as an armada of spacecraft that consisted of frigates, cruisers, and battleships moved in for the same pit.

Everyone, save for the units that accompanied us, watched in ominous silence.

What the hell was happening?

The zebra that shared the tram with me glanced in my direction, perhaps to get a hint of explanation.

But immediately, both his guard and CM-108 stepped up.

"Cease contact." 108 declared with a menacing, deep, metallic tone.

Immediately following his response, we averted our eyes from each other. The griffin kept his eyes on the fleet that soared the reddened skies.

"Look into the void." The zebra's accomplice spoke, to which I instantly closed my eyes.

"Darkness." Me and the other subjects spoke in unison.

Through my eyelids, a dull blue light swept past for a moment. The rounds put into me slowly disintegrated, along with any grime and dirt my coat may have picked up after my last shower.

The wall of blue swept through my body once more. This time, from tail to head, before shutting off completely.

"Reveal." The unit spoke.

I opened my eyes as the others presumably did, just as we approached the entrance to Campus 0.2.4.6.

The shuttle docked, and the doors once more slid open with a notifying ping.

First, the griffin and his companion disembarked. Then the zebra and his, the thestral and his, and lastly, 108 and I.

The station was empty of mechanicals and organics, save for us. After the ping of the doors closing occurred, all was quiet.

The four escorts diverted course with their tethers - zebra was the first door on the left, griffin for the first door on the right, and thestral for the far right. I was directed to the door on the far left.

0.2.4.6.

The hangar door to our wings screamed open as we stepped forward, revealing the massive corridor I knew better than what sat outside the walls of the structures. The doors weren't the only thing screaming, I discovered...

"Please!" A mare called out, her belly pressed firmly against the floor as she wailed.

A steel hoof of a Warhorse unit applied harsh pressure against her spine as she screamed in pain.

I kept walking for fear of ending up like her.

As we passed the two in silence, did I hear her spine shatter within her just before her screams escalated.

"Failure to obey the command of proper and timely arrival to fulfill one's purpose is inexcusable, Subject 099. I suggest you crawl to your superior before he grows more impatient."

I dared not look. I didn't have to. Her wails echoed down the corridor as she barely managed to crawl.

Just as we turned a left corner at a four way intersection, did her screams cease with a single flechette round, eliciting a brief flinch from me.

"Halt." 108 said, to which I did just as instructed.

He stepped up to my side and stared at the door on our right for a few seconds in silence, before a holographic series of circles with intricate designs appeared over the closed passage; spinning each of their own unique pace.

Gaps began to cut through the circles, one at a time, and as they rotated, the gaps began to align. A bright red rectangle slid through; the trail of gaps making way for the center of the bright blue design.

Once the way was clear, and the virtual mechanism reached the center, the whole display blinked twice with a familiar ping, just before vanishing altogether. The door slid open.

"Subject 012 is issued with Dorm P-586 for the duration of 12 hours. Nutrient pills will be issued in 6 hours."

I nodded and stepped into the room, to which the door slid shut behind me, locking down.

The room was bare. Only a bed, which was built into the wall to my left, accompanied me here. It was neatly made, and the linens, as always, were as fresh as fresh got. I could smell it from here. A pleasantly rich aroma.

I stepped up to the mattress, and without pulling the covers up, laid down. My back sank into the soft comfort as I stared up at the white steel ceiling of the alcove that was within arm's reach.

After a moment, I closed my eyes as a wave of exhaustion overwhelmed me. Both physical and mental.

This was the only time I could show my true colors. Show the real me... The me without a mask to appeal to my masters, to the machines. To appear as a machine to their cause...

Because no one was around to see it for themselves...

002

"Little Phoenix..." A small voice spoke in a most peculiar waver from the abysmal darkness of sleep. "Wake up, Little Phoenix..." The voice was strange. I had never heard anything like it before. It was that of a mare... I think. But her voice was... tiny, for lack of a better term. Higher pitched? Not the usual darker, rich tones me and the other subjects had.

"Subject 012."

I shot up as my eyes opened in a near panic.

A Warhorse unit stood in the doorway, regarding me behind blue light.

"You have been requested. Fulfill your purpose. Vector awaits. Comply."

"Affirmative." I said in a monotone, quickly getting up from bed and standing firm.

The unit stepped aside, allowing passage.

"Get moving, Subject 012."

I stepped past, back into the corridor, to which he followed close behind.

The body of the mare that laid before me earlier was gone without a trace. Not a speck of blood resided where she once cried out.

The view from the tram showed a sickly, dark red landscape, where the only lights were that of the ships and the towers in the distance. Not a single star shined through the thick blanket overhead.

The tram was empty, save for me and the unit. Which I found strange. I had been called up for sex countless times in the middle of the night, and every time I was, many others had been too. We rode the same tram to the central complex.

But for the first time ever, I rode alone. With the company of the Warhorse unit, of course.

War and Silence units stood in large numbers at the orbital platform that waited for us. It seemed they too, had been awaiting our arrival, as all of them stared at me as we disembarked the tram.

Quietly, I stepped on the lift with the War that escorted me, and then began our ascent up the central complex.

Still, all virtual eyes laid on me, standing at a distance.

It became evident that the guns built into the War units stayed on me as well...

Something was happening... This wasn't just a sex trip...

The thick, dark, ashen clouds that suffocated the planet lowered as we rose, and upon entering the smoldering curtain, did the orbital platform's walls rumble and groan in protest.

Ever so faintly, through the thick, I caught the fog lights of spacecrafts lowering into the atmosphere, safe distances away from each other. The lights would be blinding outside of the clouds, had they been aimed at me. But through the ash, I could barely make them out. The vessels that emitted those heavy spotlights were impossible to see even an outline of.

The units around me stood firm and uniform, despite the trembles of the protest.

The groan was drawn out, like a colossus breathing its last. In pain. Begging...

I heard the mare... 099...

I heard her in that groan. Screaming. Crying. Pleading, bleeding, and dying...

Standing firm, I took a deep breath of air. Had I not been made of flesh and bone, I wouldn't have stood out from the machines that escorted me.

Without any subtle change to the view, the sky opened again. Changing from scorching red to ashen suffocation to an endless field of stars over a bed of darkness.

Lightning of red lit up the plains below here and there as ships became a part of the neverending cycle of the Talon Corporation's flight schedule.

Again, the orbital platform rumbled, moments before a steel titan shot into view in a bright flash of light.

The blue radiant glow of the rear thrusters on the leviathan dimmed with a variety of rays in its wake, acting as tails that gradually faded out into the darkness of space and time.

The lights overhead flickered as the orbital platform cried out to the sudden reveal of its mass.

The bottom of the space station lowered into view, accompanied with the batteries that defended it, before the windows ceased and steel began.

A few seconds after the fact, the lift began to slow down, and a klaxon screamed in a deep, bass-filled voice that shook the ground beneath my hooves.

The ceiling above opened to the calling as we neared. A series of yellow lights flashed around the lip of said opening.

The lift came to a stop with ease at the station's bottom floor, revealing to me the company of even more Wars, Silences, Taurus', and Sentries, all of which laid sight on me as I to them.

I was the only biological lifeform in the vicinity, it seemed...

I had heard of the Sentry and Taurus units and their description of appearance, but to witness their towering, bulky form in person meant something beyond my imagination was happening. They were issued for deployment only in the midst of existential annihilation. They were the top tier of machine under the manufacture of the Talon Corporation...

What. Was. This...?

And why was I the only one on duty? Why were they all staring at me?

I stepped forward for the corridor that led to the Master's Residential Wing, as portrayed in bold yellow text.

Three units of each type followed close behind; Silence's being the closest, War's being in the second row, Taurus' in the third, and Sentry's in the back.

My heart pounded with fear of whatever awaited me...

Was I to suffer the same fate as 099...?

<>

I stepped into the room of my master, with which the Silence and War units followed. The Taurus and Sentry's, what with being too big to fit in the doorframe, stood guard outside.

Vector sat at his desk with his forehead pressed firmly against his folded arms on the surface.

"Master?" I asked tentatively, worried about disturbing him further.

He shot up and spun around in his seat, looking startled.

"012..." He sighed, before glancing at the units that overcrowded the space. "Leave us."

"Negative." One of the Wars replied. "Per Directive-"

"Override Alpha-Omega 06." He lashed out, now glaring and gritting his teeth. "That's an order."

"... Affirmative."

With that, one by one, they left the room, and with the last one out, the door slid shut and the locks engaged.

Vector pinched the space between his eyes, shaking his head and muttering to himself.

"I need a fucking drink..."

He then looked at me as he opened a drawer in his desk.

"Do you want a drink?"

"I don't know what that is, mas... er... Vector."

He froze for a moment before nodding.

"Right... Forgot about that..." He chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. "Well, we really fucked that one up, didn't we? Alright then... We're having a drink."

I began to step forward, to which his eyes shot open wide.

"Don't." He said quickly. A silence hung between us as we both stayed frozen. Our eyes glued to each other. "... Move..." He whispered, as if he forgot to finish his sentence.

"Vector...?"

"Shh." He studied me for a moment, before closing his eyes and letting out a deep exhale of relief. "Alright... you can approach..."

"What's going on?" I asked, raising a brow as I took a cautious step forward.

"There's a..." He paused, his hand buried in the drawer as his eyes wandered to the ceiling. He resumed pulling out a glass bottle of a strange amber substance that glowed in the light of the quarters, along with two pieces of carefully formed glass. Cylindrical, with an opening in one end. "There's a sickness. Had to scan you to make sure for myself you didn't have the... uh... strain..."

"Wait, a sickness?" My jaw dropped as my mind ran wild. That didn't make any sense! "How? The showers-"

"I don't know, 012." He interrupted abrasively. "Something got through. I'm a slaver, not a scientist."

He proceeded to twist the cap off the bottle and pour the thick, amber fluid into one glass a quarter full, and then the other. He then set the bottle down beside the cap and clinked one glass to the other, before raising it to me.

"Drink. To the end."

"The end...?" I asked quietly as I took the glass in a wing.

He clutched his hand tight around his own and lifted it to his lips, breathing in through the nostrils.

"Prophecy doesn't seem to lie..." He whispered in a deep tone, just before tilting the glass to his lips and letting the contents flow in with ease.

"I'm not sure I understand, Vector."

After his throat worked down the apparent 'drink,' as he called it - a concept I was completely unfamiliar with - and a shiver escaped him, he set the glass down and started pouring another quarter.

"You will in due time, 012... Now drink..."

"You don't want to... fuck...?" I tilted my head curiously, as this was new to me. I was used to serving for sexual release. I was damn good at it, too. But this was just... weird. What did I call this?

He laughed. Not of humor, but of annoyance.

"Let's just... see where the evening takes us. Okay? Now drink..."

I cupped the contained pool of mystery in both wings as I rose it to my lips. Instantly, before my mouth could even reach the glass, a strong whiff invaded my nostrils, burning my senses.

I recoiled slightly, frowning down at it.

"Whoa, what the fuck?"

He chuckled slightly, this time with mild amusement.

"Strong, huh?" He set the bottle down and went for round two. "Hoo!" He exhaled before a grin began to form. "Better start catching up. We're here to have fun. C'mon." He nodded to my glass as he emphasized impatiently. "Drink."

"Alright..." I said softly as I lifted it to my lips. Once again, the repulsive aroma hit me in a strong wave of an unfamiliar heat.

I tilted the glass, and my throat burned with an overwhelming, foul taste that almost had me spitting it back out. As if he knew, he advised me not to, just as I took the sip.

My throat wanted to close in on itself to keep it from going any farther. To seal my stomach away in another realm just to keep it from reaching there.

My tongue felt raw, almost. Just drinking a small sip sent an adventure of feelings stirring inside me.

Regardless, to please him, I finished the glass and quickly recoiled, gasping.

"What the fuck..." I wheezed. "This... you... drink this!?"

He let out another dry chuckle. "You'll see why soon enough. 'Nother round?"

I narrowed my eyes at the bottle for a moment. I was... strangely intrigued...

"Alright..." I smirked. "Let's see what this is all about then." With that, I gave him my glass, and he poured a second round.

I downed it in one go, ending with an abrupt fit of coughing and shivering.

A warm, full feeling enveloped my gut as my lips felt... heavy. My tongue felt numb, and my saliva, thick.

"I'm starting to feel... weird." I said, swaying a bit. "Lightheaded."

He nodded with a smile. "Then it's working."

"W-working...?" I raised a curious brow.

"Don't worry. You'll be okay. Enjoy it."

With a hint of laughter, I smiled and reached my glass out.

"Another?" That smile morphed into a grin. "It's kinda growing on me."

He grinned in response as he lifted the bottle to my glass.

"Now we're talking."

With both glasses filled partially for round three, we clinked and drank.

"Round four!" He blurted behind a grimace.

"Right on!" I reached out to him again.

"Do you wanna watch something?" He asked as he poured.

"W-watch something...?" I tilted my head with wonder of what he meant.

"A movie?"

"I'm not sure what you... mean..."

"Like a book, but interpreted as if it's happening in front of you."

"Whoa..." I swayed a bit. "That's a thing?"

He nodded with satisfaction, putting the bottle down once more. "That's a thing."

"Well, what kind of movies are there?"

He handed me my glass before clutching his own. "Mystery, adventure, sci-fi, et cetera, et cetera... Romance..."

"Romance?" I was just filled with questions tonight... Questions that even he seemed a bit worried to answer.

"Not too loud." He spoke softer. "There's a reason you don't know about it... but considering..." He paused, his eyes fixated on mine. A glint of something shined within... Tears. On a Human...

I had known Humans to be cruel, violent, and needy. They got what they wanted, or no one did.

Vector, though... He was different. He'd always been kind to me. Respecting. Many times, sought to please me instead of the other way around.

But I had never seen him cry... I was unaware Humans even could cry...

"V-Vector...?" I asked softly, stepping closer to him. "Vector, what's wrong?"

His hand reached up, his fingers caressing the sweet spot behind my ear as he smiled wanly.

I leaned into his hand, closing my eyes instinctively. A gentle Human's touch in a world of violence and control... run by the same species...

That gave me hope...

I was learning a lot of new stuff today. A whole new world beyond my imagination was being unraveled before me.

But what baffled me further was seeing the emotion in Vector's face. A Human's face...

He sighed.

"012... I'm... going to miss you..."

"W-what?" I opened my eyes again, regarding him. "What do you mean? Vector, what are you talking about?"

"It's complicated, 012... Any answers I give you will only lead to more questions. And I fear I've already said too much. If word gets out about this conversation, then I'm going to be executed for treason. And you right alongside me... I broke the rules, but I'm tired of being... this person. I'm tired of being me. I'm tired of this corporation, and I'm tired of my occupation."

"Vector..." I placed a hoof over his hand. He grasped it lightly, looking me in the eye.

"I just want you to remember all the good things... I wish things could have been different..."

"I don't understand, what-" I broke into a scoff, not even sure of how to proceed with what I was saying.

He stared for a moment longer, before blinking and looking down with a weak smile on his lips.

"Ah, I'm just talking out of my ass... Had too much to drink..." He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled lazily. "How about that movie? Rule still applies with the books I've let you read. You can't tell anyone about it."

003

"Everyone is present?" One of the many - an orb of blue light projected by a holographic projector - asked. With each word, the light grew and shrank.

We sat at a large, round table. The holo projector resided in the center atop its surface, displaying six orbs of light - each of different color - to me, three Humans, one of which was Vector, and 10 Warhorse units that stood guard along the walls.

I didn't recall my arrival here, however. I just kinda found myself here...

I couldn't seem to speak or move, save for my eyes. My body may as well have been strapped into the chair.

One by one, the party confirmed their presence.

"Good..." Blue said. "Then this council is now in session. Vector, report."

"The core has been speaking. It's not emitting just static now. She's been entering our subject's dreams and saying the same thing over and over again. Little Phoenix... Little Phoenix..."

"If I may..." One of the other Humans said abruptly, sitting up straight. I knew him... I wished I didn't...

He was one of the bad ones...

"Proceed, Feris." Blue replied.

"One of my subjects in the zebra division is hearing a different message. Dancing Flame in the void."

"So the core is being poetic on appearance." Yellow stated matter of factly. "Good for the core."

Little Phoenix...?

"So she's calling for two individuals... One of which is scheduled for this year's breeding cycle." Purple filled in. "This dents our plans."

"This is bigger than money." Red declared. "If we're going to get in there, we need to ease into her demands."

"That risks endangerment." Vector replied, glancing around the room. "It risks extinction. That mural-"

"Is a dying piece of art from a dead generation."

"Vector proves a point." The third Human said. "We've all seen the mural. We know what the symbol means. If there really is some involvement with the Nekkra, we should reconsider this whole thing. We don't even know if she has something planned for us."

"We have no intention to give her what she wants. Just enough to get past the blockade."

"And what about our quota?" Feris asked, leaning back in his seat. "We still gotta meet supply and demand."

"There's more." Blue snapped. "What don't you understand? We have the power of a thousand suns in our hands. And still, we leave the core unscathed. Whatever is inside, they sought to keep from us. And I intend to get in. I want what they've been keeping from us. The Talon Corporation owns everything but that cursed relic. We have the keys now, we can get in."

"Don't tell me you're scared of what a wall mural portrays." Red sneered. "Whatever is inside was worth protecting."

"This is madness." The third Human stated lazily, regarding the council. "Have you failed to consider that there are two signals coming from within? One of which is now reciting poetry to our subjects?"

"I find it hard to be scared of poetry and static." Orange drawled. "You'd be a fool."

"You don't understand, this is bigger than-"

"I understand that there was a folklore that died with the rest of them. It's you that doesn't seem to understand that if you keep feeding me your superstitious bullshit, I'll have you shipped out to the outer rim colonies to work alongside the Earth Ponies, living in shit and breathing methane gas for the rest of your life."

The Human quickly closed his mouth as he stared in horror.

"What if they never died, though?" Vector stepped in, staring intently at Orange. "Something in there is alive, and we're hearing her. But what if there are more?"

"Do you think if there were more, they'd let a signal emit static for six hundred years without saying anything?" Red chided.

"I don't know, sir. None of us know, and that's why we need to be careful with this. We have no idea what's inside. Sometimes things are best left alone."

"And sometimes, inferior ranks need to keep their thoughts to themselves." Blue hissed. "Here's how things are going to go. You three and the subjects that have been reached out to by the core are going to go down to the dig site, and you're going to put those fucking keys to use, or so help me, we'll come down there and do it for you. Do I make myself clear?"

Vector's jaw clenched as his eyes widened.

"Yes, sir... I understand..."

"Good, then this meeting has met a conclusion. Get to work. And you can thank your superstitions for bringing you down there. And you can be certain that next time a promotion comes, I'll look back on this conversation and reconsider."

The projector shut off, and the lights of the higher ranks vanished.

Vector turned to the third Human as he rubbed his eyes, sighing.

"We're fucked..." He muttered.

"Anyone else feel like we're in the Saturn Protocol's crosshairs now?" The nameless Human that Vector regarded asked.

Feris and my master both nodded silently, just before Vector closed his eyes, exhaled, and pressed his index and middle finger to his temple, rubbing them in a circular motion against his skin.

"A thought..." He whispered.

"Go." Feris replied simply as he stared blankly across the table at an empty seat.

"If the voice in the core is reaching out to our subjects in their sleep, whose to say she wasn't listening to this meeting?"

As if a black hood had been pulled over my head, everything went black. I was suddenly able to move again once the chair vanished out from underneath me, and my voice came back in a gasp.

I seemed to be in contact with nothing now. Just floating weightlessly in the void...

There was no bag over my head.

I stretched my wings out before me, and I saw them as clear as day, carrying a faint glow. My sight was perfect, but...

I was in the nothing. The Afterdeath.

Then, I heard her. The same raspy, high pitched voice in my dream...

"They have no idea..."

"Who are you? W-where am I?"

A speck of red light shined far off in the distance, a million miles away. As time went on, it grew closer, and one light became two rings, glowing brighter than my mane, tail, and feathers combined.

A figure formed around them; that of a pony - somehow darker than the black that swallowed us. And yet, I saw her perfectly.

"I've waited so very long for you, Little Pheonix... It's time."

In a panic, I shot up, gasping. My heart raced; pounding in my chest relentlessly. My breath escaped me as I stared up at the blank ceiling, where only a fluorescent light resided.

It was just a dream...

Just a dream...

But...

That was the trick, wasn't it...?

She spoke through dreams...

Who was she? What was happening?

... And why was I so scared...?

004

My body was pressed tightly against the tight confines of the metal box I had been placed in. My breath bounced off the walls as I stood in darkness; the light that emanated off me being my only means of sight.

Even then, there was nothing to see but a wall in front of me.

A familiar rapid sequence of distorted, synthetic beeps sounded outside of my containment, instantly hitting me with dread... and many others...

"No, wait!" Someone else called out from outside my box. "Please, no!"

I closed my eyes as tears shed... There was no fighting Orientation. It was going to happen regardless...

"Please! We'll do anything you tell us! Just- AGGGH!"

The beeping quickly, and without warning, shifted to an ear piercing, droning shriek with a mess of distortion behind it.

I grit my teeth as the veins in my head bulged and throbbed from the violation to my mind.

The other subjects in the boxes with me screamed and cried, as if they were getting slaughtered.

Some, perhaps were. It wasn't so uncommon for subjects to die from Orientation. I just had to hope I wasn't going to be one of them...

The sound twisted and morphed as it worked to take control of us. Warping around itself as the beeps worked tirelessly with an amplified strike. Like needles repeatedly jabbing through the skull and into the brain.

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!" A mare nearby screamed at the top of her lungs. "STOOOOOOOOP!"

A heavy droning soon fell in the mix, rising and falling. Like heavy furniture being dragged across a steel floor of an endless room, where no walls could contain its echoed screech, allowing it to carry on for what felt like would be eternity.

My legs buckled under my mass as I finally joined the others in screams. Needles stabbing endlessly into my psyche with each beep... I couldn't take it anymore...

Had I not been squeezed in the tight, suffocating confines of the box, I would have collapsed entirely.

The beeping and synthetic scream came to a stop, but in its place, the drone rose to an even higher, ear piercing shriek dramatically. My mind felt like it was going to burst. My eyes...

Warm blood trickled out of my nose... Tasted the metallic flavor...

Obedience is...

Fuck, no... Please...

Obedience is mandatory... I live to serve. Live to satisfy the desire of my masters. My body is theirs to do with as they please.

Stop this... I can't do this anymore... I'll be good...

I promise...

I will die for them.

The scream fell away, and all that remained was silence...

It wasn't until a minute later that a klaxon blared, and the walls that pressed against me fell away. I collapsed for a moment, gasping from the pain as many others around me did.

There were some who ceased to move. The one on my left was the zebra I rode the tram with. A familiar face, even before our exchange the day prior...

To the right, a unicorn.

But before me...

... A filly. She ceased to move. Her eyes, motionless as a dark red dripped from her lips and nostrils. Tears obscured her gaze into the Afterdeath...

Many others had fallen with her, but the majority of us were still breathing.

The doors to the room we resided in slid open, and one by one, in single file lines, Warhorse units stepped through, rounding up the subjects that survived.

The ship rumbled and shook softly as the engines gradually went quiet.

We had landed. This would have been the first time I ever set hoof outside of the towers.

I wanted to feel grief for the filly, but... even through the control of Orientation, I knew she was better off dead. Better off than the rest of us...

I envied her...

<>

Upon the hatch to the battleship opening, and the ramp lowering, we stepped out at the order.

The air was hot, and the atmosphere glowed a reddish orange.

The walls were jagged and crude, made of rock, but on one face, there was a golden steel with a design carved in a professional manner. I couldn't quite make it out from here though.

Machines stood guard like the floodlights that were positioned here, waiting to be given an order or activated. Metal crates laid scattered along the stretch of land, and in the distance behind us were more vessels like the one I disembarked; landed and sleeping.

Humans wore masked suits the likes of which I never saw before. Yellow, rubber-like suits with a transparent pane of what looked like glass or plastic over their face.

Almost all the subjects with me stared in awe at the steel structure as they walked.

Upon reaching the ground, a powdery substance stained my hooves in that same red-orange color.

I shook a forehoof around in attempts to shake it off my clean form, but the moment I did, I heard the charge of a pulse cannon behind me.

"Keep moving." The War unit behind me demanded.

Without question, I complied.

There was a slab in the floor just before the metal wall; bearing the same warm color as the main sight.

I had suspicions that the slab buried in the ground was just another part of the structure.

I looked up to find the ceiling was missing. Instead, way up, was a red sky. The walls stretched on for a great distance, squeezing that sky into the size of the nutrient pills we took. Choking it.

My eyes felt criss-cross as I continued to stare in bafflement. I soon began to stumble out of dizziness as a result. I quickly shook my head from the mind trick and averted my eyes back to the peculiar design on the wall, now that I could see it better.

There was a sun. A moon. And then Equus.

But the sun seemed to scorch Equus. Below that resided a series of strange looking ponies in a single file; each one looking more similar to the last, until ending on one that looked like a proper pony. With folded back ears, glowing fiery hair, and a bulkier mass. Like me.

Ships that I was all too familiar with surrounded another Equus. This one, however, wasn't burning by means of the sun. Instead, explosions seemed to cover the surface in many areas.

Deep within that planet resided a variety of towers, each of different size. Over it, a strange symbol consisted of four crooked chevrons. Two pointing up, and two pointing down. One big and small in both directions.

There was an egg inside a pony that took up a lot of the space on the wall. A pegasus with her wings... out... stretched...

My legs almost stopped functioning as my eyes lingered on the code on her flank...

012...

What...?

"Little Phoenix is waking up now..." That strange voice spoke in my head.

What the fuck was I doing on that wall...? They... whoever made the mural, got me exact to my appearance... They even got my ear piercing right! What the fuck was happening here...?

Behind her... or me, rather... was a hammer and wrench, crossing presumably at the middle.

Beside 'me' was another of same size. A zebra. The same zebra I knew even before the tram...

268.

I glanced around to find him among us still, and he looked just as confused as I felt about seeing the two of us up there.

He turned to me, his mouth hung open as his brow knit. He quickly turned away once he saw I was staring too, but the Warhorse units that escorted us didn't seem to care this time.

I made a brief glance over my shoulder at the Warhorse unit, but still, they gave no reaction to me. They were staring right at me, they saw me staring, just as the War that accompanied 268 paid no mind to him looking at me.

I took a step closer to him, but still, there was no warning or violence.

Another step, and still, nothing. Another. And another.

268 glanced at me, his eyes then wide with terror.

"What are you doing!?" He hissed in a whisper. "You're going to get us killed!"

"I don't think we're in danger." I replied in the same volume. "We're important. We have our ticket."

He looked at his War unit, and then mine, only to find they didn't care about our contact. He let out a sigh.

"Besides..." I added. "We just went through Orientation. We wouldn't be able to talk to each other even if we wanted, unless they wanted us to talk. Let alone take a step out of line."

"Right..." He sighed again, rubbing his temple. "Right..."

"I think they want us together."

"Most likely to open the weird wall thing. Seeing as we're the keys..." He spoke softer, as if he wished not to be heard.

"You saw that dream too?"

"Keep your voice down!" He hissed again, leaning in close. "They don't know we had it. I want to keep it that way."

Odd... he didn't seem all that shocked to discover I had the dream. I certainly was.

We both looked at the mural as we continued to approach.

"I don't know what's more baffling..." He whispered, his eyes flicking between our portraits. "The fact our existence was predicted, or that you're pregnant with a bundle of tentacles..."

Wait, what?

I spun back to the mural to find he was shockingly right. There were lines within the egg that formed tendrils. Upon second observation, I discovered some were sticking out from its shell.

That was... worrying...

The extra subjects ahead of us were lined up near a rock wall, while 268 and I were pushed forward, towards the slab in the ground.

The Humans stood at a distance as we neared the structure, observing. To a point, even the War units stopped following, yet all eyes were now on us.

We looked at each other for a moment, and then at the structure.

"Guess we're going alone then..." He muttered.

"I'm with you." I said back. "Not alone."

He smiled wanly with a brief glance, then started forward. I stayed by his side.

Up close, there was even more to discover. But so much was happening in the mural that it was hard to follow.

It seemed entire stories of... what was that...? Other universes? Were being shown...?

Okay, that was... weird.

Stories of Humans. Stories of ponies. Stories of races I wasn't at all familiar with. Stories of a giant beast that bore the strange chevron mark, and a vortex of sorts. Stories of a weird, glowing cylindrical object, like a power core.

Stories of nukes, the annihilation of entire species, and the birth of others... Stories of ends and beginnings...

Stories of consequences and stories of demons... Stories of forests conquering a world and driving it to madness...

Stories of stars...

It was all just one massive story, tied together.

And we were... a part of it...

All connected somehow...

Level with our chest were two intricate hoof prints spaced far apart from each other.

"I'll take the left one." 268 stated as he approached the strange button.

I approached the right, and as we put our hooves over the slots, we turned to each other.

He nodded, and together, we pressed our hoof into the wall.

Something buzzed and clicked overhead, and the ground softly rumbled behind us.

I looked over my shoulder and found that the slab in the ground was rising as an open , circular doorframe.

Upon reaching the length it was designed for, it ceased, and a red beam shot out from the chevron symbol on the mural to a black but shiny gem built into the top of the frame.

Red electricity danced around the inside of the doorframe moments before the atmosphere in the middle was torn asunder by a red-rimmed, expanding vortex. Black filled the middle. The same vortex seen on the mural...

I took my hoof away, staring intently at the vortex portal that we had just opened.

"Yet another prophecy fulfilled..." Vector stated. "This is a really bad idea. It's clear now they really were the key, we shouldn't be doing this."

"I second that..." The other beside him noted.

Some murmured in agreement. Others didn't.

"Alright, one of you, or preferably both of you, go in first." One of the other Humans - an unfamiliar voice - said as he stared at 268 and I.

"Yes, master." We both said in unison as we approached.

"Wait, no." Vector stepped up. "We don't know if there's any long term effects yet. We haven't tested its signature."

"We're taking a shortcut." The other Human snapped a look at him. "The higher ups want this now, and by the stars, the last thing we need is them coming down here and making a mess of everything."

Vector sighed, looking back at me.

"Unless you'd like to go in first...?"

His eyes grew wide in terror.

"That's what I thought..." The other Human turned to me. "If either of you make it on the other side and find that the place is safe to venture, then come back and report."

"What's the report on the radio signal?" One of the other Humans asked, looking at a War.

In response, a static hissed abruptly from the unit.

"Of course..." Feris rolled his eyes, looking at the Human in question. "It's been hissing static for hundreds of years, what made you think today was going to be any different?"

"Piss off." He snapped in retaliation. "We just opened the gateway. There was a good chance it could have changed things. I wanted to be sure... not that I have to explain myself to you, Feris." He spoke his name with strong resentment.

"012, before you go..." One of the other Humans started, his hands meeting behind him in a formal stance. "Is your piercing made of metal?"

"No, master." I said with the shake of my head. "Plastic."

"Good. Don't wanna risk the chance of detonating the rift if metal comes into contact with it, let alone the entire area..."

"Carry on, you two." Vector said, before nodding to the War units in the area. Simultaneously, their pulse cannons began to charge, aiming at the rift.

We both turned to the vortex stuck within the frame, to which 268 took a deep breath and stepped forward, fading deeper into the tunnel of black. The red around the portal brightened momentarily, but that was the only reaction to him.

I closed my eyes and followed, having not the slightest clue what to expect on the other side.

Assuming I reached it...

Author's Note

Orientation is based on the following link: Wavves - Goth Girls

005

Static hissed far off in the distance, instantly hitting me with dread the moment I heard it. There was something about it I couldn't quite shake the feeling of...

The air was pleasantly cold to the touch, like I was back in the towers. But there was something else to it. Something more. Something... pure...

The smell, though...

I knew the stench of corpses any day...

"Whoa..." 268 muttered as I heard him take a few steps forward along what sounded like a steel walkway.

Upon opening my eyes, I was greeted with a sight I never once thought possible. A massive complex of towers - each of different size - stood in the distance. The same towers that were on the mural outside.

I stepped up to 268's side, both of us staring in awe at the wondrous sights before us. Things not even dreams could conjure in the realm of sleep.

Caves carved into the steel dome's interior that kept us from the outside, for things living - or perhaps once living - on a leviathan scale.

The dome must have been extremely thick in order for that to be done.

Falls of a blue and white liquid pouring off mountains and canyons.

Strange, brown structures with green all around them, standing tall and reaching for the ceiling.

I thought for a moment while outside of the structure that the steel only looked to have a golden color to it due to the discoloration of the atmosphere. But it indeed was golden.

Smaller buildings rested together in isolation, deep in green plains.

Giant puddles of that weird blue liquid covered certain parts of fields far off near the horizon.

It appeared we were standing at the top of a rather large mound that too carried the strange brown towers and green fields.

Flared, multicolored pads of intricate design faced a variety of directions. Us, the sky, the horizon, the ground... Each took focus on something else.

268 turned to me as I to him.

"W-what is... this...?" I asked in a state of bafflement, almost forgetting how to speak.

"I don't know, 012..." 268 whispered. "But I had a glimpse of this place in my sleep..." He closed his eyes, tapping a forehoof to his temple as he fought hard to think. "I feel like there was more than just a glimpse, but all I got are bits and pieces... I can't seem to remember... It's right there, I know it is... Something important..." He looked back at the towering complex near the center of the sheltered land mass. "Why can't I remember...?"

It took me a moment, but deep within the towers was a hint of another golden dome.

It sounded like the hissing was coming from there.

"You hear that too, right...?" I asked, keeping my eyes fixed on the towers and the road that led from here to there.

"Yeah..." He replied softly. "There's something wrong about that... and the rotting corpse stench isn't helping its case..."

"I second that."

We both turned to the rift behind us to find that the frame, which was that of the same model on the other side, had glowing blue symbols all around. But another strange green substance coated a lot of it. A language unknown to us, and perhaps, even our masters.

"Together at last..." That voice of a mysterious entity spoke in my head once more. Only... 268 seemed to hear it too, on account that he looked around frantically for the source. "Come to me, my children... We have much to discuss..."

We looked at one another once more.

"You heard that too...?" He asked after a moment of studying my eyes, to which I nodded.

"Something is alive down here..." My eyes drifted to the dome deep in the tower complex. "I think I know where it is, too..."

"Oh, no..." 268 shook his head, backing up. "No, no, no. I'm not going near whatever is making that static noise. Not with just the two of us. I have a horrible feeling about it..."

"So do I..." I stated, looking back at him. "But... 268..." I spun around and waved a hoof around at the scenery on display. "We found something wonderful. Something that was destined to us and us alone. 268..." I reached a hoof out to him with pleading eyes. "This is our chance to be free... and I want to know why we're here... I want to know why we were carved into a wall a long time before we were even conceived."

His brow knit as he stared down at my hoof.

"You... broke free from Orientation..." He spoke matter of factly. "How did you...?"

"The same way you did. You're not running to report me. Which means you broke free from it too."

There was a moment of silence between us as he stared into my eyes, realizing my statement was true.

"Please, 268. We can have a good life now. Here. No masters, no machines, no forced breeding... A lifetime of intimacy..." I stepped forward as a puzzled look etched his face.

"Intimacy...? I don't... know what that is..."

"Passion for one another. A deep care. Bound to a special place..." I tapped a hoof over his chest, over his rapid, beating heart. "... Here..."

His eyes flicked across mine, from left to right, right to left. He pondered my ideas, I could see deep down he wanted it...

"It's not allowed..." He whispered.

"We can make our own rules..."

"But... what about the others...?"

I peeked around his form at the portal with a smile growing on my face.

"It's only a matter of time until the other subjects are sent through to figure out what happened to us. Once the last one is through, we seal the portal off."

His eyes grew wide at my last sentence. "No." He backed away. "There's a malice behind that static, and I don't want to be stuck in here with it."

"268, wait..."

"No." He spoke more sternly, stomping a hoof to the ground. "I'll take being a slave any day, than suffering whatever that static intends to do to us. I'm okay with being fucked up the ass or getting blown, compared to what's in here. And from now on, I'm following each climax with a 'Thank you, master.' Because now I know there's something worse..."

I sighed and hung my head down.

"Should I start running...?"

"You can do whatever the fuck you want, 012. But... as crazy as it is, I'm not ratting you out." He lifted my chin, looking deep into my eyes with... something. Something sparkled within... I didn't know a word for it... But it made me feel good...

"Why...?"

"Because... I still want to be free. Your idea isn't bad... But with that static, it's a bit of a deal breaker..." With that, he turned back to the rift. "I'm gonna go back and call the others through. Will you be here when I come back?"

I nodded slowly, feeling my spirits falter.

"Yeah..."

He looked from me, to the portal, to me again, before shaking his head and approaching.

"Damn you, 012, for making me care..."

His foreleg wrapped around the back of my neck as his head rested beside mine. His chest pressed to me firmly. I could feel his heart racing.

This very action would have gotten us executed on the spot...

But it felt so real... It felt so true... I never wanted him to let go...

I wrapped a foreleg tightly around him as I closed my eyes. Our bodies warmed each other greatly.

His mane smelled of smoke from a fire. I suppose mine did too... I suppose we all had some burning scent to us. This was the second time I ever got to smell him... Got to smell anyone. It was a scent I held in my memory ever since our first night together. Something I cherished.

We had history... Albeit, fabricated by the Talon Corporation's breeding quota. But still... it was something.

I remembered it vividly. A special order was put out for a zebra-pegasus hybrid. A pega-zorse, they called it. 268 and I were put together for the commission.

Somewhere out there, in the infinite... we had a kid...

Little did I know that we were destined to be together, judging by the ancient mural outside. Little did I know putting us together to make a foal was one of many tests between us to see what would happen.

"Perhaps, someday..." 268 whispered in my ear, just before kissing me on the cheek. "... Together... we can get away, and try again..."

Heh...

He read my mind...

We pulled away from each other just barely, as it seemed he didn't want to let go either.

He pressed his muzzle to mine as we gazed into the red rings of each other's eyes.

"I'd like that..." I whispered back.

With a smile, he pulled away and took my hoof in his, before bringing it to his lips. He closed his eyes as his lips delivered a kiss to the frog of that hoof, followed by a brief nuzzle.

"I've wanted to do that to you for so long, 012..." He whispered again, glancing up at me with a gentle smile. "Will I see you here when I get back?"

With a wide smile, I nodded. This time with a brighter answer.

"Definitely."

He let out a soft chuckle. "Just remember to look miserable or at least catatonic when I get back. Can't have the masters suspecting anything between us."

"Right." I slouched my shoulder as I pouted. "How's this?"

He burst into laughter and lightly batted my shoulder.

"A good sense of humor, too. Knew I had a good feeling about you for a reason." He turned to the portal and began walking. "I'll be back soon, 012."

"I'll be here, 268." I replied, before slipping into my catatonic stare. Needed to maintain the illusion that I was still under the spell of Orientation.

But upon turning away from the rift, I couldn't help but smile.

268 and I... just might have been happening. After all this time.

That sent a warm feeling deep in my chest and belly.

006

The subjects looked just as amazed at the scenery as 268 and I did when we stepped through the portal together.

Even the Humans seemed intrigued about this new, strange, beautiful land.

No weapons or armor were brought through, as per the statement about metal being a risk of catastrophic proportions. Safer than sorry.

Everyone seemed disturbed about the static in the distance, off toward the tower complex. Respectively. Seeing my masters frightened by the invasive noise startled me further.

There was something off about the whole thing... and it scared me even more, not knowing what it was. At the same time, I didn't want to know...

We had been split up into four groups, each with a pegasus, unicorn, zebra, dragon, griffin, changeling, and thestral.

Oh... and uh... five Humans...

Yeah, them...

Hurrayyyy...

It was no surprise to me now, when 268 and I were put in the same group. They wanted us together. Not as partners, of course. More as... tools. Keys. In case there were anymore locks...

Still, that had potential to work in our favor as well.

One group was to head directly to the towers - a city, they called it - while another group circled around and went in from the other side, lest they not find anything unusual along the way. Whatever that meant... This whole place was unusual...

The remaining two groups were to take left or right flank of this... city... thing, then move in from there. Again, assuming they didn't find anything 'unusual.'

268 and I took the right flank, heading towards the falls.

"Go on, then..." One of the Humans started, looking around at the scenery. "Speak your mind. Anything so I don't have to focus on that damned static..."

"I don't even know what to say..." 329, a dark purple, glowing dragon just a tiny bit bulkier than the average pony stated. "I've never seen anything like this before..."

"None of us have..." 153, a unicorn with an ashen coat much like mine filled in. Our hair color was reversed, and her horn, while tall, looked scorched.

The similar look was uncanny. That gave me an idea that she very well could have come from the same pony that birthed me at some point. But I couldn't be certain.

Regardless, it didn't matter. It only meant that we were a small world with only a hoof full of the living. A dying race... A dying planet...

All thanks to the Humans...

"Master...?" A dark red, chitin plated changeling with the same shade of red as the rest of us had for eyes spoke in a timid manner. "Could we... explore...?"

"No. We have a job to do." He looked down at the young, nervous changeling in disapproval. "Be thankful I'm not lynching you for that, bug. We need all the bodies we can get, so count your fucking blessings."

The changeling looked down, quiet-like and defeated.

"I don't get it..." Vector spoke, looking around curiously at our surroundings. "We're at the planet's core... How is this anywhere near the realm of possible?"

"It's not..." Another replied.

Hold on... did I have static in my ears? Did I hear that right...? The planet's CORE!?

... I expected it to be a lot hotter and inhospitable than this!

With a brief glance at 268, and then the others, I saw they were just as confused as I. My ears hadn't played tricks on me after all.

"I have a serious foreboding about this place..." 268 muttered, looking around warily. "That horrible noise..."

As if on queue, the noise cut out abruptly.

"Hold it..." Vector snapped, still looking around; this time with greater regard to the vicinity.

One of the Humans chuckled, nudging my partner.

"Hey, 268... At least you don't gotta worry about the noise anymore." The others began to join in laughter at the stale humor.

268 glanced at me through the corner of his vision with a subtle deadpan.

"Can it." Vector snapped again, shooting the others a glare. "This isn't right..."

Even through the strange suits, I could tell a lot of the others were rolling their eyes, moments before one of them spoke for the others.

"Scared of some ancient delusions of a dead civilization..."

"Listen, asshole..." Vector shot him a look. "In case you didn't realize, we didn't wipe this civilization out. Something else did. Everything on that mural came true so far. There's something bigger at stake here. Lest you forget Exhibit A." He then proceeded to wave a hand at 268 and I. All eyes were on us...

The laughter died as he continued.

"And lest you forget, we have no weapons, no armor, and no means of communication with the other groups. Which I personally believe was fucking idiotic for you to all agree with."

The other Humans looked to one another in silence, to which Vector scoffed.

"I swear, I must be the only one with a brain here. The subjects are smarter than the lot of you put together."

Everything went quiet as the Humans regarded what Vector had said. With unpleasant recognition...

"He makes a point..." I filled in, which earned me a lot of disgruntled looks. "We shouldn't have split up. We're without defense, and we have no idea what-"

My body was thrown to the ground with an impact that stole the breath from my lungs. The side of my head grew sore with blunt trauma. I felt hot blood trickle from my hide as the other subjects flinched.

"You speak when you're fucking spoken to, cunt. Know your place. I don't recall asking your opinion."

"Enough..." Vector pushed him back, before looking down at me. He bent down and reached a hand out. "C'mon, 012..."

Slowly, in a daze, I put my hoof over his palm. His fingers wrapped around it, to which he began to lift me back up to a standing posture.

"You okay...?" He asked softly, gazing deep into my eyes.

I nodded quietly.

Some of the masters chuckled and shook their heads.

"You've grown soft on us, Vector." One of them stated, to which he regarded them again.

"She's right, you idiot. We need to find weapons. We're better off with sharp sticks and rocks at the moment."

"Maybe there's some arsenal in the buildings?" One of them pointed out.

"We'll search as we go along. Stay close, stay alert, and stay sharp." Vector gave a salute, and the others followed. "Groups of two. One subject per Human."

The Human who had struck me down grinned as he spoke with intent to harm...

Feris...

"I'll take the cunt that works her mouth too much. Remind her what it's used for..."

"Negative." Vector stepped between us. "012 and 268 will team up together. They're vital to this operation. It's important that we keep them close to each other."

"They were vital, Vector." Feris hissed. "Now they're expendable..."

"No, they aren't. You don't know for sure. They're hands off. That a fucking order."

Feris scoffed and shook his head. "Fine..."

"If you hated this plan..." Another jumped in. "... Then why didn't you speak up when it was being set up?"

"Because each and every one of you is the equivalent of a pimple in my ass cheek! You can't argue with stupid, and by the stars, you're all flat out retarded! Now quit asking questions and get to work! I'm getting a headache just looking at all of you just standing around with your mouths hanging open!"

"Yes... sir..." The crudest of the lot spoke quieter, before they began setting up their teams.

Vector turned to 268 and I and nodded. "Good luck, you two. Try and stick close, yeah?"

"Of course, master." I replied softly.

268 began walking for the city... thing. With a brief trot, I caught up, sticking by his side.

"Seems your master trusts you with me..." 268 whispered. "He's... different. Not like the others..." A smile curled on his lips, but it wasn't very noticeable.

"That he is..." I smiled wanly. I would have probably smiled more sincerely, had my head not been rattled by the clenched, angered fist of Feris. I felt a bit off... "I'm not sure he's even Human. He's so... nice to us..."

"You're lucky." He smiled back, this time a little brighter. Even then, there was a pain behind it. "My master? Feris? The one that struck you? He likes to hurt me... Gets off on it. Nearly choked me to death during, ah... oral... services..."

"Not surprised..." I sighed, taking a step closer to him. "I've had to please him a few times, so I know what he's like..."

268 nodded quietly for a moment, looking ahead as we began to enter the space between the towering structures which seemed to stretch on forever.

I felt small then...

"I like your master." 268 finally spoke again. "Vector, was it?"

"Correct."

He smiled, this time a little more with sincerity.

"Tell me a story. Bet there's some good memoires in there of you two. And if we're gonna be together, we may as well know more about each other, instead of a wall telling us we have to be."

With a brief chuckle, I nodded and began the story of the night prior to this day. The movie, the romance talk... Something I was still unfamiliar with, but liked the sound of...

As I figured, it was all alien to him as well. But regardless, he carried a fascination in the whole thing. Again, I was still new to it, so I had a hard time explaining it, and I was most likely getting it all wrong, but... that didn't matter. He liked it.

Then I proceeded to tell him about the night prior to that as an example of how he treated me.

If I could see the stars down in the planet's core at that moment, they were in 268's eyes...

By the time the stories had stopped, we had searched the bottom and second floor of one of the many towers, but came up empty hoofed.

It appeared to be a housing complex of sorts, but more... personal. Decorations littered each unit, items of personal connection to whoever lived in them back then. Nothing like the units in the towers I spent all my life in.

We continued to climb the tower, hoping to come across a weapon. Even more so, two.

"Hey, 012..." 268 started in a soft tone as we ascended the stairs to the third floor.

"Hm?" I tilted my head, smiling a little brighter now. The glow of our hair enveloped the once dark confines of the stairwell.

"Do you ever...?" He paused, and for a moment, he bit his lip as his eyes wandered into the gaze of the space between the nothing. Growing ever so distant...

He shook his head and cleared his throat, pulling himself back into focus before looking at me.

The red stripes of the pattern of his coat reflected the light of his hair - with a strain of red in a sea of black - appearing themselves to glow in their surrounding abyss. My color mirrored from his eyes as he pondered, lingering on mine. His mouth opening and closing as he fought to speak...

Sadness, joy, grief...

So many trapped emotions in his eyes...

But all while those stars burned stronger.

Just then, we entered the third floor corridor of sealed units, lighting the way with our presence.

"Do you ever... wonder about our kid...?"

My heart felt like it had stopped for a moment. Stopped as my motion did...

I looked down the stretch of corridor that fed into darkness. I soon sheltered my world in that same darkness as a defeated breath escaped my lips. Two words escaped with that breath.

"Every day..."

268's hoof ran along my back; from the middle of my spine to the back of my neck. His body lightly pressed into mine; that rich aroma of a fire hitting me.

"I just... hope they're okay..."

"It's weird..." He whispered in my ear. "I've bred so many in my time. Never once thought about the kids. Never cared. But with you... It's different... It's... like... I dunno..."

"... Like a part of you is missing..." I finished.

We stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Silence swallowed us...

He opened his mouth after an unregistered time.

"Y-yeah..." He whispered as his pupils flicked across mine. "Like... a part of me is missing that I'll never get back..."

"The feeling is mutual..." I took a deep breath of the atmosphere into my form and nodded my head to the nearest door. "We should... uh... keep looking for something useful..."

He closed his mouth and turned away. "Right. R-right... You're right..."

We proceeded for the door to our left, and upon opening, we entered. He continued as we searched around.

"I shouldn't even really care. We never got to see it. We don't even know the gender. I've tried shaking the feeling, but it's just... fused to me. I've never felt like this before we had a kid together... And this is the first time in years I'm even able to talk about it..."

"I've never felt that way either..." I stated just before opening a metal footlocker. Inside was a series of apparel. Cloth fabric. Useless.

I went for the dresser as 268 searched a strange desk made up of a material I was unfamiliar with. It didn't look like metal. Or rather, any metal I've ever seen. It had a strange, abstract design to its body, which consisted of an even darker brown. Almost black, in some areas.

The dresser held the same design and material.

It was smooth like metal, but it still felt different...

I opened the top drawer and began rummaging around yet more fabric.

"There's a sense of... longing..." 268 continued. "A deep desire..."

With a wry smirk, I looked over my shoulder. "You too, huh?"

He glanced over his, and once our eyes met, he couldn't turn away. Neither could I...

His smile brightened into a near grin.

"I like you, 012... A lot. It's... deep. I can't describe it."

"Like we'd do anything for each other?" I could feel a deep shade of crimson spot my cheeks. The room was growing hotter...

He chuckled as a blush enveloped him in turn.

"You're something special, 012."

"Awww, thanks! You're retarded too!"

Just as his jaw dropped, I lapped my tongue against my nose repeatedly, going cross-eye'd.

"Hey!" He blurted in offense.

I broke into a giggle fit, looking at him again as he paused.

"You know I'm just fucking with ya. Though..." I put the tip of my forehoof to my temple, lightly dabbing at the blood rush.

Stars, the headache was getting worse...

"That strike might have actually done something to me..."

With concern in his eyes, he tilted his head.

"I know a thing or two about medicine and biology. Let me take a look... we can put these clothes to use, after all."

I pulled my hoof away and leaned my back against the dresser, sitting on my haunches.

He moved across the room with a light step and reached over my head for the shirt of a pony much smaller than I, tearing it into strips.

His scent invaded my nostrils...

Once of the best things I ever smelled in all my 203 years...

Though, that wasn't saying much. Most things in my experience were odorless.

"Okay..." He looked down at me with a caring smile. "Let me see your eyes. Check if your pupils are matched."

I smiled faintly, locking my eyes to his.

"Just don't get lost in them..." A small grin formed.

He lightly tapped my nose, refusing to turn away. "No promises."

With that, he began tying the ripped lengths of fabric to each other. "Well... consider yourself lucky. It doesn't look like you have a concussion. Though I'm sure your head feels like it..."

"Yep..." I drawled, pressing the back of my head against the dresser due to the invisible, phantom weights trying to pull it down every which direction.

"You might need stitches, but I can't do anything about that right now. However..." He paused, regarding the wound. "I can clean it so it doesn't get infected... But it might feel weird. You okay with that?"

I nodded. "Whenever you're ready."

He took a deep breath through his nostrils and leaned in. I closed my eyes as his tongue lapped gently at the opening.

A neat little trick everypony knew. We didn't eat food. Ever. Only nutrient vitamins. We didn't drink, because there was nothing to drink... well, except whatever that amber liquid was the other night. But I only found out about it because Vector let me. Through the minds and eyes of others, the idea of drinking anything was non-existent.

And with the daily showers that cleansed our forms of any dirt and grime, and with the intense body heat we carried, it burnt away any chances of infection.

No food, no drinks, no bacteria.

He pressed his lips over the wound just before licking the blood that stained my fur in the area away.

"There..." He whispered, pulling away ever so slightly.

"Thank you, 268..." I whispered as my hoof ran along his chest.

"Anything for you, 012..." He licked his lips clean, picking up the bound fabric. "Now for the dressing. On your word."

"Word."

A sharp, humored exhale escaped his nostrils as he tilted my head forward a little, closer to his chest.

"You're special, too..." I whispered as he began wrapping the fabric around my head as a means to dress the wound. "We're special..."

"Not retarded though, right?"

With a soft giggle, I replied. "I mean, probably."

He let out an exasperated sigh. "Glad to see you coming out of your shell."

"Glad to see you coming out of yours."

Things grew silent as he began to tie the fabric off.

"268..." My smile faltered as my eyes stayed glued to the bright red stripes of his wondrous, black coat.

"Mm..." He mumbled.

"This might be the last time we ever get to be ourselves with each other... But... I want this to last forever..."

His body froze in place... no words...

I looked up at him curiously, speaking again. "26-mmh!"

My back was pressed firmly against the dresser. My eyes shot open wide as a hint of my blood coated the sense of taste.

His forehooves met at my upper back as my wings flared out from the surprise of his lips... his tongue... to mine...

My eyelids fluttered shut as my body sank in his firm, yet caring embrace. I pushed in deeper, tracing my tongue along his. Leaving nothing untraced. His mouth... nothing unventured...

My wings wrapped us together in a cocoon of fire; red, orange, and yellow, our world. Nothing else mattered. Just us...

They met at his back, feeling at his smooth, rich hide.

Upon him pulling back, we both gasped for air, gazing deep into each other's eyes.

"If this is the last time..." He whispered, inches apart from my muzzle. His hot breath brushed my lips as I panted needily. "Then let this day last us a lifetime... Let's make it count..."

"268..."

"012..." He chuckled under his shaky breath.

"Look at us breaking the rules..." I snickered as both our bodies trembled against each other.

"It feels... exhilarating. Terrifying, but... exhilarating." He shot me a cool look. "I blame you for this."

"As you should..." I whispered lustfully, tracing my hooves down his sides to his flank. "I'm your little trouble maker now... I must be punished..."

"Hardly little." He grinned. "Fuck, this is... scary."

"Only makes it more fun." I replied with a giggle and a boop to his nose.

With a soft laughter, he twisted me around so that his back faced the dresser, then laid me down on the floor, locking our lips and intertwining our tongues once more, subtly grinding his hips against mine with need.

I wanted it...

I needed it. I needed him...

Just one time, where we chose not to have sex to fill a breeding quota, or because it was demanded... but because we both wanted it. Because a deep, nameless desire connected us, had us long for each other. Our words, our actions, not being empty and meaningless, but full of affection and care.

How was there not a word for this...?

This was real... and it was happening...

Oh fuck, it was happening... I could feel him...

"A-ahhh!" I cried out in pleasure, arching my back as he slid past my folds and explored his treasure. "26-68! F-fuck!"

"0-012..." He panted, barely breaking the kiss.

I let out another half moan, half giggle as he grinded.

"W-we, haah... we really need... mmh... bet-better names f-for each other... ah, fuck..."

His forehoof wrapped around the back of my neck, thrusting into me deeper as he moved his head around, moaning in my ear.

"M-my... Phoenix..."

"My... nng! My Dancing F-Flame..."

Almost instantly, the pain in my head grew sharper. More violent. I winced as I cried out, and that was signal enough for him to stop.

"012..." He paused. "Phoenix... What's wrong? Did I hurt you?"

"N-no, just... my... head..." I put a hoof to my temple as the pain continued to grow with each passing second. Like the matter in my skull wanted to explode. My eyes felt like they were beginning to burn...

"Fuck!" I cried out.

"I-is there anything I can... wait..." He froze for a moment before getting off of me.

"Agh... what the fuck is that noise...?"

It was then that I noticed it.

As he recoiled through the squint of my eyes, holding his hooves over his ears, I registered it. I had already been hearing it... but my mind hadn't picked it up... And now it was.

There were screams in the distance.

Deformed, agonized howls. Torment. Perhaps a whole population, just... screaming in the distance...

... It took me a moment to realize they were getting louder. Getting closer... Coming near...

Some sounded strangely metallic. Nothing a living creature could ever make. The frequency was all over the place...

This was worse than Orientation...

This spoke something worse than death.

"153, GET BACK HERE!" One of the Humans yelled over the screaming. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE-"

His voice got drowned out by the horrifying screams of whatever approached.

I rolled onto my hooves and rushed to the newly nicknamed Dancing Flame, grabbing his hoof and pulling him toward the exit of the unit.

He was on board with the escape instantly.

A short canter across the corridor, and we were bolting down the stairs to the ground floor.

Through the chaotic screams, I thought I heard the other subjects and Humans crying out. But it was difficult to figure out just what was happening. The voices were hardly muffled, even through the structure's confines.

Just as we left the stairwell, Flame pushed me down on my belly, before laying next to me, just below one of the many windows that lined the walls.

Beams of lights shined through the panes, reflecting off the smooth, polished walls within the building and glistening the floor and ceiling.

The migraines grew worse. MUCH worse... My eyes felt like they were going to burst...

As our masters and subjects screamed more noticeably in agony with whatever was out there, an intrusive thought slipped into my mind... One I sought hard to ignore...

Flame held me tight, and I him, wishing for the worst to be over...

"PLEASE, NOO-"

...

Silence...

As if nothing ever happened...

I could feel a malicious presence. I had felt one my whole life with the Humans and the machines that served them, but this overwhelmed that significantly...

There were many...

Right outside...

Silent...

For a moment, I thought I had gone deaf...

The lights that poured through the window began to flicker as a static roared across the atmosphere, instantly hitting Flame and I with that existential dread. Hitting us with the fear for our very lives.

Suddenly, being a sex slave didn't seem as bad as it had been, in comparison to this...

Hooves, boots, and claws began to trudge off down the wide corridor-like system, taking the hiss of static with them... The light on the wall faded just before.

Flame and I stared at one another in bewilderment. He mouthed the words, "what the fuck?"

I shook my head and mouthed in turn, "I don't know..."

I began to lift myself up gradually, peeking my head up over the window sill.

An army clumsily walked down the corridor, slouched over.

Smaller creatures, like the one on the mural outside. Some of the subjects that came in with us now in the mix...

Even some of the masters, both from our group and the others... Many were coated in blood. Old and new.

Lights seemed to beam off their faces, but with all their backs turned to us, I couldn't see what was actually happening. Only that the light was flickering with their hissing as they moved further into the city.

I noticed the griffin and dragon from our group, among many others, were among the numbers of static. Our thestral, changeling, and unicorn were nowhere to be found, however.

Flame peeked his head up, staring in wonder at the evident hostiles.

Upon them reaching an intersection farther away, Flame nudged my shoulder, whispering.

"Well, at least we know what we're up against now... You sure you still wanna live here?"

Author's Note

The scream: Found here. VOLUME WARNING.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e10yuV40ns

007

The green plains were littered with what felt like dull, flexible needles that pointed up at the sky, but bent under the weight of my hooves, attempting to tickle at the frogs.

The hissing was no more than a startling whisper as Dancing Flame and I trekked through the open landscape to the falls of blue in the distance. It was evident that the city was not safe. Both of us seemed keen to stay as far away from it as possible...

"Phoenix..." Flame said, hanging his head down to the prickly tendrils of green.

"Yeah?"

"In the screaming... did you hear anything else? Like... a voice? Or rather, a bunch of them? Telling you something?"

"About a song or something like that?"

He glanced at me with a brief nod, before closing his eyes, deep in concentration. "Fulfill your part in the choir of unity... Rejoice in righting this wrong, sing my song..."

"Yep..." I clenched my jaw as tears fought to escape me just thinking about it... "I heard the same thing..."

"I don't know what all this psychic shit is, but it's driving me over the edge... Too many voices in just one head... And..." He knit his brow. "I mean, what the fuck is a song?" He spoke the word as if it were alien. It was alien... to both of us, to everyone...

"I'm not keen on finding out..." I muttered.

"Fair... I guess I'm not either."

Not much else was said between us as we ventured farther from the city. As far away as we could go, was the plan. This place didn't look so great to me anymore...

For hours, we traveled. I wasn't sure exactly how long. I wasn't exactly keeping track. But I knew it had to have been hours. And still, an invisible force kept the land lit as if the sun poured its light through the thick, impenetrable shell of a structure that domed the land... the... core... of the planet...

It was at the point of nearly collapsing from sheer exhaustion that we actually came across a landmark near the base of the falls.

A two story structure. Nothing like the towers. This looked older, more crudely built. Nothing metallic, I was certain.

"Just a little longer..." Flame mumbled.

I wasn't sure if he was telling me that, or himself. He looked as if he were about to keel over too...

We were both dehydrated. We were both starving. The muscles of our legs quivered, threatening to buckle the joints at any moment.

"Just... a little... longer..." He reiterated.

... Then collapsed.

"Flame!" I rasped, grabbing a hold of an outstretched hoof. "C'mon..." I tugged, but I was no better off than he was...

Regardless, I put his foreleg around my back, attempting to lift him up so I could carry him the rest of the way.

"Damn it!" I shouted weakly just as my legs gave out beneath me.

He rolled off me, staring up at the sky.

I rolled over on my back, rasping with each breath, until finally, I turned to Flame.

"So close... yet so far..." I whispered.

He let out a dry chuckle.

"Well... If we die out here..." He turned to me, and despite the exhaustion and fear, a smile curled on his lips. His hoof rested over mine. "I had a great time with you, Phoenix..."

"I did too..." I replied, feeling some semblance of... something great. Despite everything... "Just wish it could have lasted longer..."

"Yeah..." He sighed, then coughed. "Great while it lasted, though."

"At least we won't die as slaves."

Another chuckle escaped him. "I'll take what I can get..."

"Well, fancy seeing you here..."

Oh... shit...

"Looks like the cunt came crawling back for more... and brought me a little bonus, too..."

Dread washed over Flame's eyes as fear struck my heart once more.

Our dream died right there...

I slowly turned my head up to meet the gaze of Flame's master, Feris, now without his suit. He held a gun to my head from a distance, standing straight with a wicked grin and disturbed look in his eyes.

"Vector ain't around to give orders no more... Cunt. You're mine now."

"Go to Hell..." I said behind clenched teeth. "I'll die before I ever comply again..."

"Oh, I never said anything about needing your compliance, 012... I was looking to just take what I want from you..." He then kicked my hindlegs apart, exposing me.

"No!" I shouted - or at least tried to - as I pressed my legs firmly together. "Piss off!" I curled up on my side as a sad means to protect myself from that...

He laughed softly, shaking his head.

"Seems you figured out how to break free from Orientation..." He turned to Flame next. "What about you? You seem free spirited..."

"Fuck..." Flame turned from me, glaring up at him. Fire in his eyes. "... You..."

"Oh, that's the spirit." He laughed. "This'll be fun. I like it when they try to fight... I think I'll take you first. Now get up!" He slammed the toe of his boot into Flame's side, resulting in his cry. "Get the fuck up!" Another firm kick to his side, with which he curled up, shivering. His teary eyes stayed on mine for a moment before he winced, lifting himself up on his hooves.

I barely managed to follow his lead...

He stayed behind us as we made our way to the building in the distance.

Eventually, coming across the door, I stumbled over, leaning against Flame.

"Come on..." He whispered, wrapping a foreleg around me.

"Oh, that's cute..." Feris remarked. "I'll be sure you watch while I take the other, then."

My head slammed against the door before me. My body was launched forward, and the obstacle broke into shards, stinging at my hide.

I landed on the floor, sliding along its coarse surface for a moment before coming to a halt. My rear already implied I was gonna have a bruise from that strike...

"Get in!" He screamed, moments before Flame gasped, landing atop me.

Boots traversed the interior, nearly each step met with a creaking sound.

His hand firmly grasped my mane after throwing Flame off my form, lifting me up.

I cried out as he dragged me across the floor.

"Leave her alone!" Flame shouted. "Motherfucker, I said LEAVE HER-"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" He screamed back, throwing me against a couch.

I pressed the side of my face against the bottom of it, shaking. Hot tears stained my face as I shuddered.

As his footfalls faded for Dancing Flame, something ran through my mane with care.

I looked up to see 153 staring down in remorse, her hoof stretched to the back of my head, petting me...

Blood stained between her legs...

In a quick motion, I lunged up, holding her tight to me. Her forehoof dropped like dead weight, and her upper body convulsed as tears broke out.

"012!" The vile Human known as Feris called out with sadistic tones. "Turn around, you don't wanna miss the show!"

Shaking, still holding my look-alike, I looked over my shoulder with hate in my heart.

He slammed Flame's head into the ground, getting in position as his other hand fumbled to undo the belt around his waist.

"Look away, Phoenix..." He hissed behind grit teeth, locking his eyes with mine.

"Look away, and it'll be worse for you!"

No...

I was dying free...

Flame cried out, wincing his eyes shut as Feris took him...

I let go of 153 and spun around, charging in a clumsy canter. Exhaustion, fatigue, pain, and severe disorientation fought me, but damn every star, every molecule if I wasn't going to die fighting! I finally got a taste of freedom, and I wasn't letting that go! Flame got a taste of it!

I let out a scream as blood rushed into my vision. He glanced over, swinging the gun around. Pulling the trigger...

There was a loud crackle of energy which carried on through an absurd ringing in my ears.

I couldn't hear my screams, his swears, the floor creaking. I didn't need to...

Both of us rolled along the floor, slamming into a chair, a table.

I bit deep into his arm as he tried to choke me out, and even through the ringing, I could hear his agony.

More gunshots...

The ringing got worse.

A muted scream unknown to me escaped my lips as he slammed the butt of the weapon against my gut repeatedly, but that was his mistake. The pain only made me bite down more. My scream wasn't that of pain... Something was burning deep inside me...

Sinking teeth through muscle, to bone.

He flung me off him, to which I struck a wall. His blood-soaked flesh remained in my mouth, and turning away from the indent my head left in the wall, blood sprayed out over him, over the floor, over Flame's shuddering form.

And between us, the gun...

In a near instant, I lunged for it, but his awareness got me. An outward swing of his leg had his boot strike over the wound he previously inflicted on me, tossing me to the side.

The gun slid off to the right, but in the dazed confusion, I lost track of where it laid next.

He lunged for it before I had time to think... or move...

Blood spattered everywhere from his arm.

In the corner of my eye, I saw his body struggling. I looked up to see 153 pounding her forehooves down on his chest, screaming, though I could barely hear it.

He pushed her off, shouting something that only came out as a muffled incomprehensive rage.

Just as he raised the gun on her, I had gotten up and charged him once more.

A quick glance in my direction had him swing the gun back around just as he pulled the trigger, resulting in a miss.

I tackled his mid-section back to the ground, and without a moment of hesitation, sank my teeth into his ear, ripping it clean off his head.

He dropped the gun, screaming at the top of his lungs.

Now, that... I heard...

... And I discovered a new part of me at that moment. Because... I liked it...

I was enjoying his pain...

Something deep and dark inside me shivered and laughed at the same time. Crying with repression, but celebrating all at once... Burning me with a freezing embrace. Something I never knew possible...

I couldn't stop myself. I needed more...

Fuck, yes... I needed MORE!

"ALL THE SHIT YOU PUT ME THROUGH!" I yelled, just before taking his nose in my jaw and ripping it off, only to spit it out to the side with the other severed parts. "ALL THE PAIN YOU PUT US THROUGH!" Next came chunks of his hair. "THE FUCKING TORMENT!" Tears broke free as my body trembled with a rage I never knew I had. "THE FUCKING TORTURE!" Part of his cheek. "THE FUCKING TRAUMA!" Part of his chin. "NOTHING I EVER FUCKING DO TO YOU WILL EVER MAKE UP FOR EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE TO US!"

I sank my teeth into his throat and closed my eyes, listening to the choked gurgles, feeling his vacating struggles underneath my body, tasting the rush of hot iron that slid along my teeth, my tongue, shooting down my throat from nicked arteries.

I pulled back, crying out.

"FUCKING DIE!"

His body continued to spasm as he gasped and choked, desperate for air. Looking at me. Beyond me, his eyes looking through the window to another place. A place best suited for him, and Humans like him. Not the Afterdeath. That place was meant for rest.

He was going someplace else...

I was sure his friends were waiting for him there...

My only regret was not being able to enjoy it further...

Tears and blood became one, dripping from my lips, my chin as I stared down, towering over his lifeless body... trembling...

Why the fuck was I scared...?

He was fucking dead now... I did a great justice...

I killed a monster.

I killed a Human.

I... killed him.

I... killed... someone.

I... killed...

... I took a life...

...

Oh...

My stomach turned on itself...

His blood, now foul, wouldn't leave my senses. I couldn't look away...

No matter where I turned, I couldn't unsee the destruction I had done...

I... had a killer inside me...

That's why I was scared...

I was a murderer... and I... enjoyed it...

I was a monster...

"012...?"

I spun around to 153, eyes wide, mouth panting, heart pounding, stomach turning, hide sweating.

She and Flame stayed at a distance, staring... Judging from a distance...

"I-" My voice choked on his blood, bits of flesh between the teeth...

Tears fogged my sight of them.

My legs further weakened, to which I collapsed, retching over the taste and scent of what I had done. Nothing came out...

I couldn't rid myself of the taste...

"I'm so sorry!" I wailed, rolling off the corpse and curling up. "I-I don't know what happened to me! Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" I winced my eyes shut with each swear. I slammed my head against the ground.

"Phoenix..." Flame whispered. Through the abstract blur, I saw him approach in a calm manner. Or was it caution...? "He would have killed us... You did what you had to..."

"B-but I... I enjoyed it!" I looked up at him, terrified. He looked more concerned than surprised. And considering what just happened, shaken up.

"After everything he did to us... how could you not enjoy it?" He looked down at the mutilated corpse beside me and spat. "Fucker had it coming..." With a hint of a pained smile, he regarded me again. "You took my kill, by the way. But..." He stepped closer, wiping some of the tears free. "Thank you, Phoenix... For sparing me from..." He winced at the thought. "Further... torment..."

I looked from Flame to 153, awestruck in a puddle of blood and tears.

"You're not... disturbed...?"

"Fuck no..." 153 said. "Fighting for our freedom is the best thing we could ever do. Even if we die for it. Just wish you'd arrived sooner... He... got me good..." She glanced at the blood on the couch. "Point is, you gave us the courage to fight back just now."

"A life of freedom is meant to be." Flame continued. "They take that away from us, then we got nothing left to lose. You showed that. Just now."

"You were willing to die for what's right..." 153 spoke softly. "We stand by you with that."

"So no... we're not disturbed in the slightest." He lifted my chin with the tip of his hoof, smiling softly, though he was still pained. "We're thankful... You saved us..."

I began wiping the remaining tears away, sniffling at an attempt to clean up and clear my head.

"Damn it all..." I let out a choked hint of laughter, sitting up and shaking my head.

Flame ran a hoof along my back, sitting beside me.

"Are you in pain?" He whispered.

"N-no, why?"

A moment of worry in his eyes lingered.

"You will be when your adrenaline wears off... You got shot."

"Twice." 153 added with that same look in her eyes.

"W-what...?" I looked down at my body, searching for any fresh wounds. Almost immediately, I discovered a bloodied scar on my rear hoof, which had already cauterized itself.

"Doesn't look like it hit anywhere lethal. Lucky for you, those weren't flechette rounds."

"Second shot grazed your ear." 153 added.

"Shame, too..." Flame jumped in with a smile of mirth, flicking my left ear lightly. The piercing still resided, judging by the subtle weight behind it. "That was my favorite ear..."

Well, that explained that horrible ringing sound...

Sighing, I leaned against Flame.

"I wanna get clean and rest..."

With a kiss on my cheek, he responded with a whisper. "Right there with you... Let's see what we can do about that..."

"I saw Feris washing blood off him in that room over there." 153 said as she pointed at an open doorway in the corner of the main room we resided in. "Some liquid washed it off him. Didn't seem to hurt him, so I guess it's okay..."

"Sounds like a good place to start." He said, getting up. "Come, Phoenix."

I stood up and began stumbling for the room.

"I'll use it after you two." 153 stated as she sat against the couch where I had once been leaning.

"You sure?" Flame asked. "You're welcome to join us."

"Thanks, but..." She turned away, pausing for a moment. "I wanna be alone right now..."

Flame nodded silently, before moving for the room.

The transparent liquid that rained down on us from a piping system the likes of which I never saw before was pleasantly warm.

Flame and I were a bit crammed together, but neither of us were really complaining.

The grime, sweat, tears, and blood washed off our coats with ease, mixing together into a light pink shade before spiraling around a circular, brass grate below us in a vortex, inevitably getting sucked in to the black, unknown depths beyond.

During our cleanse, Flame checked on my eyes again. I was woozy, I was tired, and my brain felt even more rattled.

It turned out I had a small concussion now...

Our manes sparkled from the liquid, giving a certain deep admiration to one another.

I lost track of how long we were in there, but by the time we got out, a lot had changed.

For starters, 153 was sorting through a pack of nutrient rations. That was a blessing right there. Starvation, I discovered for the very first time, wasn't too fun.

Feris' body was gone, but a puddle of red remained where he once laid, which trailed off toward the front door of the building. Or... rather, where the front door once was, before my thick ass demolished it...

The gun rested on the table's surface, pointed away from everyone.

Couch cushions were flipped over on the other side, so as to not sit in her blood.

... And upon a mere glimpse of the windows, the land was now cast in shadow. Everything was, save for the lights that continued to run power, and the glow of our hair.

"What else did we miss?" Flame asked as I stepped up to the window, looking out into the darkness.

Spotlights beamed up from a fully lit city in the horizon. A dome of white light encased it. Thankfully, I couldn't hear the hissing or screams from here. It was a good assumption that we were safe from... well, from whatever those things were.

"Not sure what happened." 153 answered, presumptively leaning against the back of the couch due to the audible groan of the furniture's protest. I had noticed that everything here in this core was meant for creatures that were smaller than us by, I'd guess, 6 to 8 inches... My hips rubbed tightly against the doorframe when I crashed in! "I was moving Feris outside, and everything got dark. Then lights turned on. Guessing its a day and night simulation stuck on loop. Triggers the lights after some time."

It was then that I noticed the white, twinkling dots in the sky to act as stars.

I wanted to reach out to them, touch them. They were so mesmerizing... So free. I was going to be up there with them someday. I just had to stay alive...

"This doesn't bode well for us..." Flame said.

I turned away from the window as 153 spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"We can't see if those things are approaching now. Not until it's too late, anyways. We're blind here."

"But, the static-" 153 knit her brow.

"They can go quiet. It happened before they attacked, remember?"

"It happened a second time after the assault." I filled in. "It didn't last very long, but right after the last of our party was wiped out, they stopped completely. As if it had never happened to begin with."

"Then they went back to the hissing..." Flame shuddered.

"So... why make static noises then?" 153 asked, raising a brow. "It doesn't make any sense..."

The room fell quiet as we wandered our thoughts. Disturbing theories... Too many possibilities...

I almost wanted to stay awake because of them...

"What if..." Flame froze as we regarded his pondering. "What if they're resting? Dispersing their memory to others of the individuals the way our psyche catalogues the information we stored in our waking moments? Studies it?"

"Like data to a network?" I questioned.

"Exactly." He replied with a pointed hoof at me.

"But why would they do that?" I asked with skepticism.

His cold, fearful gaze met mine as he spoke softer.

"To learn about us... To study how we as a species would react to them. Ideas of where we'd hide, or if we'd try to fight them... Make their hunt easier..."

...

"... Is it possible for blood to run cold...?" 153 asked.

"Yeah, this is unsettling as hell to think about before going to sleep..."

"I know..." Flame sighed. "But it's vital to our survival that we discuss the elephant in the room and have a plan ready, just in case."

I nodded to the gun on the table. It was a model I had never seen before, but ultimately, it did the same thing any gun did. Shoot. "How many rounds left?"

153 nervously bit her lip, looking down. "One..."

Flame turned to me with a clenched jaw. "If you don't desecrate Feris' corpse further tonight, I'm gonna fuck his ass bloody, I swear..."

"Noted..." I drawled. "Alright, so if they're gathering info on us, then let's do the same." I turned to 153 with a single nod. "Got anything?"

She stared up at the ceiling for a moment, biting her lip.

"Actually... yeah, I think we have an advantage. We might not be blind after all." She sat up straight, wincing a little as she crossed her hind legs. "When the attack started, I got a glimpse of their faces. Their eyes are glowing white. Each one. Like spotlights. We could very well see them miles away. Especially if they're traveling in numbers."

"That sounds promising." Flame stated.

"Just... one problem." 153 grit her teeth nervously. "The moment I saw their eyes, it was hard to look away. There's something in them that just... pulls you in..."

"Aaaand, there goes our advantage..." Dancing Flame slouched with a pout. "So now what?"

"We take shifts on lookout. I'll go first." She said. "Do you have good willpower?"

"I like to think I do." He replied with a faint smile.

"Okay. I'll wake you in four hours and you can take second shift."

"And me?" I asked plainly.

"Not you..." Flame said in a near whisper. "Your perception of things is too... flexible right now. You took quite a beating to the head..."

"What you need is rest." 153 added.

"... Right." I sighed, rubbing my temple. "No, you're right..."

"There're two sleeping quarters upstairs. I'll keep watch in one of them. You two can take the other, seeing as you're..." She gave us a sultry look. "Inseparable..."

Flame blushed as he glanced at me. I smiled wanly. My mind was rolling from everything that happened today, so I didn't have much energy left to do anything more complicated than a faint smile.

"Oh, before you two go, here..." She held out the pack of nutrient pills. "Thankfully, what's his fuck was carrying them, so we won't starve at least."

"Thank the stars..." I murmured, grabbing the pack with my wings.

"With that, I'm gonna get clean." She carefully slid off the couch, wincing. Once she was on all fours again, she looked at Flame.

"Can you stand watch while I do? I won't be as long as you two horn dogs."

"W-we weren't fucking in there..." I stated abruptly.

She gave us both a skeptical look. "Mhm... I smelled you two when you were thrown in here. I don't believe you."

Flame sighed, shaking his head. There was a hint of laughter.

"I'll be up there with you soon, Phoenix." Flame said amusingly.

"W-wait, 153!"

She turned back to me, standing in the doorway. "Yes?"

"Fulfill your part in the choir of unity..." I rubbed a hoof over my temple, wincing my eyes tight, trying to remember. "Rejoice in righting this wrong, sing my song..."

Upon opening my eyes, she stared silently. Coldly... Fearfully...

"You heard it too, right?" I asked timidly.

She nodded.

"Do you... have any idea what it could mean...?"

"No." She stated abrasively. "And I don't want to know. If it's not going to help improve our odds of surviving this chaos, then I don't need to know about it... Rhymes don't keep us alive."

With that, she turned and closed the door behind her.

008

With a satiated belly, a clean body, and a head full of nightmares and migraines, I laid my back against the soft, musty scented mattress. Who knew how long it's been since the last time it was even touched...

But it was comfortable.

Problem was, parts of my body hung off its edges, due to my mass. That wasn't so comfortable...

Flame was right about me feeling pain later. My hindleg was screaming, and my ear felt like it was melting. It certainly didn't help with the headaches...

There was no way I could sleep like this.

I turned over on my side, burying my face halfway into the pillow as I groaned.

"Phoenix...?" The deep, caring voice of Dancing Flame spoke tenderly as the door to the quarters opened. Light poured in from the hall, and I retreated under the pillow, groaning even louder than I had initially.

"Light bad." I drawled.

"Right, sorry..." The door creaked shut, and his hooves traversed across the worn flooring, before coming to a stop at the side of the bed. I peeked my head out from the safety of the pillow to find him regarding me with that gentle smile that told me he cared.

He reached a hoof out, brushing the rat's nest of a mane from my eyes.

"Hold me?" I whispered, to which his eyes shifted down to the structure I lied on for a brief second.

"Sure the bed will hold both of us? Looks like it's already having trouble with you."

"Hold me." I pouted in a playful demand.

"Mm." He nodded and lightly hopped up, lying over me and partially behind me, so as to not fall off. The bed cried out and bent in a little at his weight, but it wasn't giving in just yet.

I looked up at him, staring deep beyond the crimson rings of his eyes as his hind legs intertwined with mine, and his fores wrapped lightly around my neck.

"Thank you, Flame..." I whispered, nuzzling gently into him.

"For what?" He asked curiously in the same volume.

"For everything..."

With a giggle, he booped his nose to mine. "I should be the one thanking you, my Phoenix..."

Our gaze lingered a moment before closing my eyes. It was hurting to keep them open at this poi-AGH!

The mattress collapsed beneath us momentarily, and us with it!

I yelped as we plummeted in that split second, yet somehow the snapping of the support beams was louder than I.

My form bounced off the mattress in the landing, and with me, Flame, who was laughing.

I soon joined in as he shifted into a more comfortable state, now without the fear of falling off.

"I told you!" He teased. "We're too big!"

"When you're right, you're right." I giggled lightly, wincing as I shimmied my body near the edge of the mattress, so as to give him some more space. He scooted closer to me, holding me from behind and nuzzling into the back of my head as the laughter fell away.

"Are you in pain?" I asked softly.

"Nothing I'm not already used to." He whispered into my mane. "He can't touch me or anyone else ever again... What about you? How are you holding up?"

"My body is screaming at me right now... Can't sleep like this..."

"Well, good news my schedule is free... I'll just have to hold you until you do..."

"Or you could knock me out." I giggled half jokingly, but alas, he didn't share the sentiment.

"I think we both know that would only make things worse, if not fatal. If you can't sleep, at least rest your body..."

"Yeah..." I mumbled, mentally fighting through the pain.

My mind, as time went on, gradually slipped away into the dark. The warm, gentle comfort of Flame's body pressed against me, his forelegs wrapping me in his embrace and our hinds crossed almost had me forget all the pain my body was going through. Not entirely, unfortunately. But it was enough that I found myself starting to doze off. Granted, it took some time. But he was there with me through it all.

<>

"Come to me, my little Phoenix... We have much to do..." The voice spoke to me in the darkness, engulfing me with her sound.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Where are you...?"

The crooked chevrons on the mural glowed red in the distance, ensnared by a thick, black fog.

"I am the one to release you and your friends from the cage you've been living in, so that you may fly free. I am judgement. I am justice. I am the future. I am the key to a parting sea of your freedom."

"Can you stop speaking to me in riddles and just tell who you are?" I blurted in a fit of frustration. "Seriously, I've had it with all the bullshit."

There was a brief pause in the darkness, before that voice sighed.

"Come on... I waited trillions of years for this. Don't be a buzzkill, let me have this!"

... Uh... what?

Okay, that was unexpected...

"Well, I asked a simple question, and for once, I want a simple answer! I didn't get to ask too many questions without getting struck until today, so I'm asking!"

"Alright, you know what? I was trying to be mystical and cool. He got to do it, and it was my turn, and you ruined it. After so long have I waited! So no more mystical dreams for you! Just... find me or some shit, I dunno..."

"Wait, find you where? I mean, who even are you? What's happening here? What-"

"I'll answer all your questions..." The voice interrupted. "Once you see me. In the meantime, head beyond the canyons beyond the house you're in. There's someone there that'll help you get to me easier."

Before I could usher another word, I shot up from the mattress, gasping and panting.

Flame wasn't next to me, which would have worried me gravely, filling my heart with the sudden drop of dread that further led to the horrible sense of loneliness...

... Had it not been for the chatter I heard downstairs.

I heard a new voice in the mix, though through the floors and walls, I couldn't understand anything that was being said.

I rolled off the mattress, and with each step toward the door, did a loud creak scream from the floor. The voices stopped in mid-conversation, only for a moment.

As I proceeded to the door, not caring about being noticed now, they resumed their incoherent muffles below.

A brief stroll through the corridor and down the stairs soon brought attention to the new former subjects.

647, a thestral that had come from another group, and 529, the changeling we had been assigned to the same group with.

647 had a scrambled, purple mane of three different shades, like mine. Glowing neon around him. The silky webbing of his wings glowed a cyan neon. The rest of his body was a dark purple, but the tufts of his folded back ears and chest fluff were even darker.

529 nodded to me with a faint smile, and it was then I noticed...

He was far younger than I initially thought. Maybe in his mid-teens. He still carried an innocence in those eyes. There wasn't a whole lot left, but I could still see it in his face...

He was hanging onto it dearly...

Because of the chitin plating, his slave code wasn't inked in like the rest of ours. It was burnt into him...

"You're awake." Flame stated, sitting on the couch beside 153. "How do you feel?"

"Like shit." I replied simply. "And confused as hell."

"Aren't we all...?" 153 muttered, keeping her hind legs pressed firmly together as she showed hints of pain in her expression.

Flame put an arm around her shoulder, to which she leaned against him, breathing in deeply.

"The worst part is over, Polarity..." He whispered.

"That's debatable." She replied softly.

"Polarity?" I raised a brow.

Flame cracked a hint of a smile. "Her color pattern is the same as yours, just reversed."

I regarded her coolly, but she shrugged.

"Not gonna be picky with the new name. I'm not being called a number, so that's good enough for me."

"Fair." I regarded the new arrivals. "And what about these two?"

"We were just going to discuss that." The thestral spoke softly.

"Firefly sounds appealing for bug butt over there." Polarity said with a hint of amusement.

"I resent that statement." He scowled at her in retaliation for a moment, before visually coming to terms with it. "But yes, Firefly is rather fitting. Just... wish I knew how to fly..." He looked down and sighed.

"You and me both..." I replied.

"For me..." Thestral pondered; his eyes wandering to the ceiling as he drifted away in thought. "I'm thinking Moonlight."

"Hey, if you like it, own it." Flame smiled. "It fits you."

"So..." I stepped further in, looking around at the party. My head was still lost in a daze, and while it was better, motion sickness was still being a cunt. "What all did I miss?"

"Well..." Flame began, sitting forward. "I filled Firefly and Moonlight in on everything we know..." He paused, knitting his brow. "Or... assume to know... and my idea on how they operate... what with the static hiss. They have some notes to add as well..."

"Right..." Moonlight stepped up beside me. "Surely you've all seen a subject die before, yes?"

We all murmured in agreement. It was clear none of us wanted to reminisce on such memories.

"So we know what happens within the span of a few minutes after death." He stated matter of factly.

"They lose their glow and color, yes, we know." Flame bit his lip impatiently. "What of it?"

Moonlight stared for a moment, before looking to Polarity and then me.

"Oookay... Clearly you aren't seeing what I'm putting down."

"They still have their glow." Firefly blurted.

Moonlight nodded. "And color."

The room shared a silence. A thought, as we all looked at one another. We were all thinking the same thing, but dared not speak it. It disturbed us greatly.

Instead, we waited for someone else to say it. Or perhaps, the lot of us hoped no one would say it...

Because... what was worse than death?

Being ripped away from the option of it...

"They're not dead..." Polarity muttered regrettably. Her eyes glossed over in a distant realm invisible to us. "Which means the attackers...?"

"... Just may still be alive, for lack of a better term." Moonlight finished with a nod.

"So..." Flame frowned, keeping his eyes glued to the ground. "The screams... are... them...?"

"In theory." He said softly. "We know next to nothing about these things, so this is all just speculation."

"They're just being tortured..." Polarity covered her eyes with a hoof as her voice wobbled. "Stars above..."

"Allegedly." Moonlight added with a raised hoof at her. "Again, we don't know for sure..."

"I can't seem to figure out the weird eye glow thing." Firefly stated. "That one is still a mystery."

"Aye." Moonlight nodded, patting a hoof lightly against the back of the changeling's head. "Maybe some things are best left that way."

"Left what way?" Firefly asked quizzically, looking up at him curiously.

Moonlight let out an amused, but brief chuckle.

"A mystery."

"Oh, right..." Firefly chuckled nervously in turn. "I feel dumb..."

"No, not dumb." Moonlight spoke softer. "You're just tired. And scared... we all are."

He looked to me as Firefly pressed his black chitin face to Moonlight's dark purple chest fluff. The faint dark red glow of his eyes mixed in with the purple light Moonlight emitted from his mane.

His wings stretched out, wrapping around the changeling's form. The two claws atop his wings gently scratched the back of Firefly's head, who began to giggle.

"S-Stop that, you know it tickles!"

"Serves you right for revealing such a weakness to me, little one." He smiled thoughtfully as he looked down at the struggling changeling that sought escape.

They had a bond. Not like Flame and I did, but... something just as special. They cared about each other.

They carried that same deep feeling as Flame and I did.

That know of if it ever came to it, they would do anything for each other. It made my heart sink. Not in the sense of dread, but as if it were beginning to melt. Without hurting, of course. It filled me with a warmth I never felt before.

Moonlight sighed as he let go of Firefly, and as they regarded each other, giving the other some space, he spoke.

"I'm gonna need you to go upstairs and try to rest, okay?"

"But... what about you?"

He smiled wanly, caressing the side of his face with a hoof as he looked into his eyes. Firefly leaned into his affection, not breaking line of sight.

"I'll be up there with you momentarily. And... whatever you hear, don't... don't come out." He grit his fanged teeth as tears welled up within.

"Moonlight...?" Firefly whimpered.

"It'll be okay..." Moonlight whispered back. "Everything'll be okay..."

As Polarity stared at the two in confusion, Flame and I took a glance at each other, which triggered a shrug of his shoulders.

"Run along now..." Moonlight placed a kiss atop his head just before letting go completely. "Cover your ears, if you need to... Just don't come out..."

"P-Please..." Firefly's voice wavered. "Be careful doing it..."

Moonlight nodded silently, pursing his lips firmly together.

Firefly stood up and began to walk for the stairs. Each step was met with a creaking floor.

The room remained silent as we all stared at one another. The house's groans were all to be heard.

Moonlight stared at Flame the entire time with a deep focus. He didn't look happy...

I glanced at the gun on the table. It was still there and close enough... If he tried anything, his head was getting blown off.

At this point, a sudden movement would have had me lunge in for the kill.

Upon the door upstairs closing, and the ceiling groaning under Firefly's weight, Moonlight took a deep breath and slouched, hanging his head down.

"You're good with biology, Flame?"

"Uh, y-yeah... why...?"

"I need you to..." He paused as tears broke free. He wiped a hoof over his face to try and break the stream. "I need... need you to destroy my ear drums..."

"What the fuck, no!" Flame knit his brow, recoiling from the request.

"I'm a thestral, Flame." Moonlight snapped. "That might not mean anything to any of you, but that means I have outstanding hearing. I can hear for miles away, which means I'm more prone to turning into one of those... things. It's astonishing I haven't already. And I'm not gonna tempt chance. I need to go deaf. I don't want to become whatever those things are out there..."

"Moonlight..." Polarity stated. "There's gotta be another-"

"I'm gonna stop you right there." He said with a raised voice and an agitated tone. "I tried other alternatives. Helmets. I found ears muffs, even tried giving myself shell shock. But it didn't work..." He let out a shaky breath, before exhaling coolly, tears still streaming down his face. "If there was another way, I'd take it in a heartbeat. But there isn't..."

"And what would you recommend I use, assuming I'm agreeing to this?" Flame raised a brow.

Moonlight nodded to a window. "Break some glass."

"That's unsanitar-"

"I know it is, but it's either I go deaf, or I face something worse than death!" Moonlight shrieked; his batpony coming out. "Please! If you don't do it, I'll do it myself!"

Flame groaned in frustration, before sitting up.

"Fine!" He trotted to a window in an angry fit, spinning around and raising his hind legs to buck against the glass pane.

It shattered on impact, and without hesitation, he grabbed a slender, sharp edge with his teeth, being careful to not cut his mouth.

"I didn't realize freedom came with mutilating others..." He hissed. "Lie down."

"I don't want to be here for this..." Polarity said as she stood up, heading for the front exit.

"I second that remark." I jumped in, ready to leave.

"Too bad." Moonlight looked intently at us as he snapped; tears washing out his eyes. "You have to stay here."

"What? Why?" I asked in defense, feeling my heart begin to pound with dread.

"Because..." Flame muttered. "Both of you need to hold him down."

"Why can't you just knock him out and then do it?" Polarity asked defensively.

"Oh, I intend to..." He replied. "But there's no saying if the pain will bring him back. If he jolts awake, screaming and kicking while I have a glass shard embedded in his ear..."

He didn't need to finish his thought. We were all thinking it now.

Damn it...

"Whenever you're ready." Moonlight said quietly, lying his back against the floor.

Flame stepped toward him. Polarity and I shared discomfort in the whole thing in our glance, before joining his side.

"One thing before we start..." Moonlight said, looking up at Flame.

"Yes?"

"Did you start that little project hanging outside the front door?"

Flame chuckled menacingly. "Glad you noticed. Phoenix started it. I finished it."

"I thought you hated the idea of mutilating."

"He was an exception." Flame's smile went.

"Just... don't do that to me, okay?"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Flame replied, before turning to me, and then Polarity.

"Phoenix, once he's out, you'll hold his head in place. Sit on his fores so he doesn't hit me or push me away. Polarity, you'll get his legs."

Tonight was gonna be long...

<>

I stepped out of the shower area in a damp coat. Droplets of the liquid shined in my mane.

All the blood that I washed down the drain, and still... I felt dirty.

I could hear his muffled cries upstairs. Polarity stepped up from behind, shuddering under her breath.

"I never want to do anything like that ever again..."

I wrapped a foreleg around her, pulling her in for a hug and a nuzzle to her cheek.

"The worst part is over..." I whispered.

"Yet I keep reliving it..."

My legs kept wanting to buckle underneath me from both exhaustion and what I just had to witness. And when she said that, I would have collapsed entirely. My eyes burnt with hot tears as she caught me.

"Hey, Phoenix... Are you alright?"

"Far from it, Polarity..."

She lifted my foreleg further up her damp shoulder, having me lean against her smoky scent.

"C'mon, let's get you to the couch..."

Both of us shaking from the horror show, we trudged across the creaky floor, before flopping our bodies against the old, beaten couch that was beginning to sound more and more like the floor it occupied.

She held me close, and I her. A comfort we were depraved of our entire lives, unless our masters... our former masters... wanted to hold us. We never got to hold our own kind. To touch, feel, look at... Speak to... Admire... Care for...

The closest thing we ever got was the breeding quota.

Flame stepped down from the stairs, each step made with a noticeable groan of the floor's integrity. He approached the couch clumsily and sighed, before crashing his rear down on an empty cushion.

"He's bandaged up... I can't do anything about his pain, though. So expect to hear his complaints for a long while..."

He closed his eyes as he moved a blood stained hoof over them. A mere glimpse of the condition of his hoof had him recoil before he could rub his eyelids.

"Damn it all..."

He lowered his hoof, looking at the other, before slumping in a deadpan.

"I'll be back..." He muttered as he stood up, making his way to the shower area.

Minutes went by without a word. As time moved on, so did our nerves. We were both still uneasy, but who wouldn't be in a situation like this?

"Hey..." I whispered.

"What is it?" Polarity asked in the same volume as I, squeezing me lightly.

"What exactly happened to Vector...? Do you know?"

"Ah... yeah..." She leaned into me a little more, her forehooves squeezing me even more, if not for a second. "He had me and the others run for safety. He tried getting those things to chase him the other direction... and it worked. Too well..."

"Oh..." Another sinking heart...

He was one of them now...

"Turns out they were faster..." She continued. "I still hear him screaming..."

"He didn't deserve that..." I shook my head, closing my eyes. Remembering his face, his voice, his touch. Everything he did for me and to me. The movie and the drink... His care and affection... "Humans are vile things, but... he was different from the rest. He was good to me... and others."

"That he was..." Polarity replied. "He'll live on in memory..."

"Do you think there are others like him?" I opened my eyes, looking at her.

She nodded. "If there was one, there is bound to be more. We just got the shit end of the stick in regards to meeting Humans."

"Right..." I leaned my back against the couch, closing my eyes from the 'thank you' my sore muscles filled me with. Arching my back, I tilted my head up, facing the ceiling. The light fought to get through my eyelids, filling my vision with a dull, orange haze, rather than dark.

"Think we'll ever find more good ones?" I asked plainly.

"Assuming we survive this... and somehow find a way off this planet... I'd say the chance is unlikely. If Talon Corporation owns the planet, they most likely own the universe it comes with."

"Well..." I opened my eyes with a knit brow, fixated on the ceiling. "That's a depressing thought..."

"Just thinking realistically."

"Didn't say you were wrong..." I ran a wing up her back before wrapping my pinion around her shoulder to pull her into me. She moved in with my request, laying her head against my chest.

I had hoped that Vector had found the Afterdeath, that he was in the eternal sleep of it all. But if Moonlight was right about whatever those things were... then he wasn't. No, he was still alive. Screaming through the torture, his body now his prison.

I really hoped Moonlight was wrong...

Flame stepped out with a damp, shiny, clean coat. The moisture beamed off him in specks of light like stars as it did us.

He regarded the two of us and nodded once.

"Can I join you two?"

"The more, the merrier." I replied, smiling softly. Though it didn't feel sincere, given the situation, and the pained cries of Moonlight on the second floor.

Polarity scooted away and tapped a hoof on the cushion between us, to which Flame hopped up, turned, and sat. Her and I scooted in, holding him close as he did us.

He turned his head, placing a kiss atop my head. I reciprocated one to his chest.

"How's your head?" He whispered into my ear.

"Throbbing. But a little better."

"Mm... and how's the gunshots?"

"Throbbing. And not better."

"I figured as much..." Another kiss, this time, against my ear.

"It's nothing compared to..."

I was interrupted by another pained wail.

"... What he's going through..." I finished behind grit teeth.

"I..." Polarity froze, to which the two of us looked at her. She was biting her lip nervously. "I might not be able to help with the pain, but... I might know a way to make it... better for him."

"I know what you're thinking..." I said plainly. "Are you sure you wanna do that? I thought you were in pain."

"I am..." She sighed, looking down. "But I can still use my mouth... if it helps him, I dunno... It's what I'm good at... It's what I know." She looked up into my eyes with remorse. "I hate hearing him in pain. So... I'm willing to... try and make him feel... better. If I knew healing magic, I'd be going with that method, but... I wasn't trained in that department..."

"What do you know?" Flame asked curiously, but she shot him a glare. That was his answer.

"S-sorry, that came out... wrong..." He looked away nervously.

"No..." She sighed. "I know what you meant. I'm a clean slate unicorn. All I know is telekinesis."

Flame and I looked at each other, puzzled, before turning back to her.

"What's a clean slate unicorn?" I asked with a subtle tilt of my head.

She raised a brow.

"You mean... you don't know?"

"She wouldn't have asked if we did." Flame stated with a deadpan.

"Right..." She shook her head. "Guess they kept us in the dark about our own native races as well..."

"It seems so." He muttered.

"Well, a clean slate unicorn is a subject - a unicorn, obviously - who isn't trained in any magic save for telekinesis. Upon being sold, the buyer gets to decide what the slate specializes in and can either train them manually, or implant them with a chip that offers shortcuts. Chips are sold separately."

"By the stars..." Flame's eyes widened. "You just sounded like an advertisement!"

"Wha...?" Polarity asked in a state of confusion.

"Chips sold separately." I filled in. "He's right, you sound like a commercial."

"I don't!" She balked.

"You do." Flame and I responded flatly in unison. He turned to me with a hint of a smile.

"Looks like the real threat is in here with us. Opportunist Commercial Advertising."

"Capitalism, baby!" I giggled.

"The worst threat of all."

He joined in laughter as Polarity huffed and folded her forelegs.

"I'm not an advertisement!"

"I dunno, you could've fooled me." I said behind a teary eye'd giggle.

As I wiped the tears away, it was then that I noticed. This wasn't forced laughter. This wasn't subtle. This was pure, unadulterated joy. For the first time in my life, I was experiencing fun. After 203 years... Despite everything. The danger, the pain, the past, the slim chance of making it out of this situation alive, I felt...

... I felt fucking fantastic.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you two laughing." She said with a weak smile. "Sincerely."

"Honestly..." I said, calming down. "It doesn't sound too far from pegasi. We're never taught to fly. And attempting to teach ourselves results in termination. I can only imagine it's the same for thestrals, dragons, griffins, and changelings."

"They ripped our birthrights from us..." Flame muttered.

Polarity frowned. "Bastards..."

"What about you?" I looked up at Flame.

"Me?" He raised a brow. "Well, I'm good with medicinal remedies and biology. They teach a lot of zebra that stuff. But apart from that and a cock sock or a walking dildo, that's all we're really good for. Oh, and uh... dancing..." He looked away nervously, a soft blush of deep red growing on his cheeks.

"Dancing?" Polarity recoiled slightly. "Why dancing?"

"Pole dancing mostly. Lap dances." He looked back at the two of us. "Seeing as we're built with more flexible bone structures, we're seen as exotic."

"OOOO!" I grinned, as my eyes lit up. "Can Pol and I get a private dance!? A pole dancing session for Pol! HAH!"

Polarity giggled, sticking her tongue out playfully.

"No." He deadpanned, before glancing at me. "Okay, well... maybe... When I'm comfortable."

"Ah, yeah!" I raised a triumphant hoof and pumped it in the air.

"Maybe!" He reiterated. "Don't get your hopes up!"

"Alright, you two." Polarity got up, laughing under her breath. "I'm gonna get out of here before you two decide to start doing shit."

"You sure you wanna do this, Polarity?" Flame asked, regarding her behind a blank stare.

She froze for a moment before looking back at him. A smile curled on her lips.

"I'm okay with it. Besides... Moonlight's cute as hell. Two birds, one stone. Or... in this case, two stones, one pecker." She winked with a grin before turning towards the stairs and resuming her walk. "Goodnight, you two."

"Goodnight, Polarity." I said back in a near whisper, watching her venture up the stairs before disappearing out of sight.

009

Author's Note

DISCLAIMER:

This chapter carries topics of suicide. The reason there's no tag of Suicide/Self Harm on this story is because no act or attempt of an act is actually portrayed in said story.

009

My chest was shoved by a deep pressure, and in an instant, my ears were bombarded with Flame's shouts.

"WAKE UP!"

I shot up in alarm, looking around frantically as Moonlight and Polarity gathered the gun and the nutrient pills. Firefly kept his eyes fixated on something outside through the window.

Flame trotted away for the front door. "WE NEED TO MOVE!"

"W-what's happening?" I asked, fearing the worst. "Did they find us!?"

"They knew we were here the whole time!" Polarity shouted as she cocked the gun in her telekinetic grip. "They were waiting for us to lower our guard!"

I scrambled for the window, stopping beside Firefly, who remained quiet as he stared on into the night sky.

The stars shined bright up above. Twinkling, singing... They were so beautiful. Mesmerizing...

Hypnotizing...

I wanted so badly to reach up and touch them. To sing with them...

They danced along the black as beacons of light. Growing bigger, stronger...

"PHOENIX!"

I was thrown to the side abruptly, away from the view that ensnared me. In a confused daze, I blinked, looking around.

Moonlight was pulling Firefly away from the window.

It dawned on me...

Those weren't stars...

THOSE. WEREN'T. STARS.

Polarity pulled me up from the ground.

"C'mon!" She yelled. "Let's go!"

Firefly and I were both rushed to the front door, where Flame stood, impatiently waiting.

"Double time it, for fuck's sake!" He screamed, before running around to the back of the building, toward the canyons I was told to go to in the dream.

Countless lights marked the horizon as a million screams roared with the stampede of hooves, boots, and claws.

Once more, did I find myself getting enthralled...

We were a mistake... Everything was. Life was an error. There was not meant to be a beginning...

"Damn it, Phoenix, MOVE!" Polarity shoved me to the side of the building, shaking me out of the attraction.

The others began running for the direction Flame took, and I followed after them.

I didn't dare look back at the lights. If it hadn't been for the others, I would have been staring until they took me...

They were closing in. That was as much as I needed to know right now.

The land was dark, but the glow that emanated off Flame came off as a beacon, along with the flow of running liquid in the distance that came with the falls. Had it not been for that, we would have surely been lost and perhaps, even separated...

Everything was to be nothing, and nothing was to be everything. No life, no death.

Silence.

A song that started since before the mistake of the first breath. A mistake. Everything was wrong. Needed to be fixed.

I was a part of the equation. A variable. A variable that needed to be solved. I could solve it.

I just needed to kill myself.

"PHOENIX, GOD DAMN IT!" Flame screamed, inches from my face as he tugged at me. "RUN!"

The others were far ahead as lights. Different lights. Lights of friends. Lights that didn't deceive my troubled mind...

Lights that were variables...

Variables that needed to be solved...

"That's it!" He blurted, spinning around and lowering to the ground. He quickly positioned himself underneath me and raised back up, before breaking into a full canter once more.

The song was louder now. Closer. Calling to me. Singing for me...

"I have to die." I attempted kicking myself off his back.

"Stop moving!" He shouted. "We're almost there!"

Almost... where?

"Life is not an option!" I blurted, kicking around harder. "Let me go! I have to die for them!"

"Phoenix, stop!" He screamed behind a pant.

"No, we need to die! All of us!"

"Phoenix, what the hell are you doing!?"

"Existence wasn't meant to exist! We will all submit to Cetera!"

"Stop it, you fucking psychopath! POLARITY!"

"On it!" She screamed nearby, just before my hooves locked in place, restrained by a fiery aura.

"NO!" I screamed. "Let me go!"

The two ran with me in tow. Ran from the truth. Ran from the song. Ran from what mattered. And what mattered was nothing.

"We don't belong!"

"For the love of the stars, shut her up!" Flame blurted in a fatigued breath as he gradually slowed from exhaustion.

A blunt pain quickly met the back of my head, and as they advanced, everything blurred and darkened. Sensations drifted away as my mind did.

The song was quieting down...

And then...

Black.

<>

Everything was quiet, save for a few distant voices, one of which I didn't recognize. It was deeper. Something that belonged to a giant...

All physical pain had seemed to vacate me, much to my surprise. For repeated blunt trauma to the head, I would have expected one hell of a headache to stick around for quite some time.

But instead... I felt completely fine. Well... physically, anyways.

Mentally, I felt violated... Used... Manipulated...

I remembered what happened. Vividly. And that wasn't me... I wasn't myself... I was possessed. Tricked. I didn't feel like me... I was a stranger to myself...

And my friends... if they could be called that anymore...

Did I lose their trust...?

I sat up from the dark cavern floor, looking around.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but I saw them in the distance, sitting around a fire. Talking to... something. Big. Shrouded by the dark. Blending in.

The only visible part of it were the two massive, white glowing lights that hovered over them, much like the eyes of the things we were running from.

What did I call them? Cetera...?

But it wasn't like the others. It spoke calmly, instead of screaming or hissing static.

Quietly, I stood up and approached the fire.

They were far away enough where I could hear a conversation, but it was indecipherable from this distance.

As I stepped forward, I noticed that the group was shy of one silhouette...

Upon stepping into the light, all eyes were now on me.

"Phoenix..." Flame quickly stood up and trotted up to me, holding me close.

"W-what happened...?" I asked over his shoulder, looking at the others as I reciprocated his affection. The others looked wary... "Where are we?"

"You're safe." The voice of the shadowed beast spoke softly. "As for the one you were referring to as Moonlight..." The voice paused. "He wasn't so lucky..."

"They got him, Phoenix..." Flame whispered, releasing me. "They tore into him. Almost got Firefly, but... he took his place..."

Firefly sat alone, holding himself tight as he stared into the flames before him in silence. He wasn't accepting company right now.

"Are you okay?" Polarity asked me. "We know about the... messages you were getting out there."

I shook my head and sighed. "I feel wrong."

"As anyone would." The beast spoke. "I was able to counter the effects and your afflictions. You may feel like this for a while, but you're safe now."

"Who are you?"

The two white spotlights of eyes lowered, inching near me. A long, massive scaled muzzle came into view, revealed by the light of the fire. Fangs larger than my body jutted out from the dragon's closed mouth, but I felt no malicious intent from him.

"I am the last guardian of the planet. My name is Lucisco."

With that, he raised back up to his former level, towering over all of us.

"I have waited a very long time for you, little Phoenix. All of you. We both have."

"We?" I raised a brow.

"You will meet her soon enough." He replied softly. "I will allow you to catch up with one another while I arrange a meet with her."

Flame nodded, looking up at the dragon before taking his seat at the fire beside me. I took a spot next to him as the dragon faded away into... nothing. Wait, what the fuck? How did he do that?

"The static..." Flame muttered. "I only got a fraction of the theory right. They..." He froze for a moment, his eyes glistening with tears in the fire's light before he wiped a hoof over them. "They weren't just gathering information on us. They really are a network, connected to one mind..." He scoffed and shook his head. "I was really hoping I was wrong about that..."

"What do you mean?" I asked, reaching a hoof out, running it up and down his back as he stared into the flames intently.

"They were searching for us. And they were using Moonlight and Firefly to track us."

"What...?"

"They knew there were more survivors out there somewhere. They knew about us... How important we were. Their eyes in the sky couldn't find us, so they used the next best thing."

"Prey that had a better chance of doing so while staying in the dark..." Polarity filled in. "They wanted us to find each other... wanted us to feel safer in numbers... wanted us to let our guard down and rest..."

"... Only then, would they move in..." Flame added dryly. "The bigger the group bands together, the bigger their cause becomes. Catch them unaware, by surprise, and they have them..."

"They're recruiting." Polarity jumped in again, regarding me plainly. "And with all the shit you were spouting, I have a good idea what for."

Firefly abruptly stood up and stormed off into the darkness without a word. Not so much as a glance to anyone...

"Lucky for us..." Flame continued dryly. "We knew better than to let our guard down entirely..."

I watched as Firefly's glow gradually fell away into darkness, and just as I stood up, Polarity intervened.

"I got it, Phoenix..." She said quietly, getting up. "I'll handle it..."

"You sure...?"

Her eyes lingered on mine for a moment before she nodded. "I think it's... best... you avoid him..."

"What, why?" I raised a brow.

"Polarity..." Flame chided.

She glanced at him and sighed. "Nothing..."

"No..." I glared, feeling anger boil within like a volcano about to erupt. "You can't fucking do that. You... all of you... know better than to keep others in the dark. Tell me! Now!"

"Phoenix..." Flame spoke tenderly, but I wasn't having it.

"Don't you 'Phoenix' me." I sneered. "We're better than Humans. Don't you dare start adopting their habits of confidentiality!"

The two of them fell silent as they stared at one another through the flames between them.

"Well!?" I blurted, looking from one to the other.

"Alright..." Flame spoke in a near whisper. "I'll tell you... But you're gonna wanna sit down..."

"I'll leave you two to... discuss it..." Polarity whispered, turning away and walking for wherever Firefly had gone.

Quietly, I sat down. Flame took my hoof and brought it to his lips, pressing against it lightly for a moment, before tracing his along the rim of mine.

"I didn't tell you... the full truth... about what happened to Moonlight..."

Already, I wasn't liking where this was headed. But I demanded the truth, even if it hurt.

"Polarity knocked you out because you were making things difficult. I would have been taken. She would have. Firefly... and Moonlight..." He shook his head, closing his eyes. "But when she knocked you out, things got worse. Your body started... attacking me. It took all of them to pull you away from me, but then you went after Firefly..."

"W-what...?" My heart felt as if it had stopped.

"Moonlight intervened, and you went after him."

"I..."

He raised a hoof to my lips, silencing me. His eyes lingered on mine, tears glistening within.

And then he spoke horror through a broken whisper...

"I... killed you, Phoenix..." He paused, a lump in his throat. "I shot you... It was the only way to... stop you... Yet... you're here."

I would have, in most cases, taken that as a sick joke. But the look in his eyes... I saw nothing but truth in them. He was sincere, and he was terrified seeing me alive...

I was terrified hearing I had been killed.

"I didn't... kill... Moonlight...?"

He shook his head.

"No. But Firefly blames you anyways. See... because of that turn of events... the Cetera, as you called it, caught up to us a great deal. At the base of the canyon was another gateway only you and me could open, but with you being... dead..." He slouched over. "Moonlight had to carry you to the hoof imprint. We got the portal open, but the Cetera crowded Firefly. Moonlight... did everything he could to save him." Finally, he averted his eyes to the fire. "Even if it meant trading places..."

"Firefly blames me because I wasted time..." I stated matter of factly in a monotone.

"I'm gonna stop you right there." He said quickly, looking me dead in the eye. "This was not your fault. You were not in control. You were possessed. This does not reflect on you. Phoenix..." He held me tight. But... I was too far away to feel him... "Phoenix, please don't blame yourself for this..."

I was alive, and he wasn't...

"How come no one else got the messages I was...?" I asked in a dead, defeated tone.

His body tensed a little, but he only hugged me tighter shortly after.

"Your... head injury... As it turns out, a dazed consciousness allowed them to speak to you through the screams, according to Lucisco. You were able to decipher something from them. Their goals and ideas..." His body shivered slightly. I don't think he wanted me to notice, but I did, even before the fact.

He was scared...

"It wasn't your fault, Phoenix..." He reiterated, nuzzling into my neck. May as well have put him repeating that in Orientation, because it hurt like hell hearing it... "You have to believe that..."

"Right..." I sighed, finally wrapping my forelegs around him. "I still feel disgusting... but... a part of me knows it wasn't me..."

"I'm so sorry..." He whispered into my ear. His lips met my cheek.

"I am too..."

"You have nothing to be sorry about." He said quietly.

"I'm sorry that it happened. I'm sorry that my body was used to do it..."

"Are you ready?" Lucisco asked in a deep, yet soft tone. Even still, it caught me off guard, and both Flame and I jumped from the surprise.

"My apologies." He continued. "I meant not to frighten you."

I turned around to find his eyes in the darkness above us.

"T-that was quick." I stated nervously.

"She's had an open schedule for quite some time. We both have."

"What about Polarity and Firefly?" Flame asked, looking up at him as he clung tight to me.

"They are busy." Lucisco answered simply. "I will retrieve them when they are ready to join us."

"And..." I started. "Just who is it we're going to be meeting?"

"My queen. My mother. Your planet."

...

Today was fucking weird as hell...

I was both seeing and hearing it all in such short notice.

The planet was alive!? Stars, that's creepy! As if the illusion of stars suddenly coming to life and chasing us wasn't creepy enough!

Gah!

Flame and I turned to each other. He nodded once before standing up. I followed his motion, and together, we looked back up at Lucisco.

"We're ready."

010

Through a rift of darkness, we emerged in a world of light and green. Falls, buildings, and walkways of that strange brown powdery substance. Much like the previous place, this one had a dome around it. Though it was much smaller in comparison. It soon dawned on me that this was the inside of the dome I saw in the city.

"Right this way..." Lucisco, who towered over us, said as he began to walk down one of the paths to a small, one story building in the distance, sitting beside a large puddle that was fed by one of the falls.

One of those strange, brown structures was built over the lip of the body of glistening blue liquid, forming a walkway that led to... well, nowhere.

Bad design choice...

Who the fuck would build a path that led nowhere? That was stupid!

Flame and I walked underneath the colossus of a shadowed dragon, which I soon noticed seemed to emit a strange black smoke from his form.

"Now I have a question." He asked, looking down at us. "What do the numbers on your flank mean? She mentioned that there was some coordination behind them, but she never went into full detail."

"The first number represents the race." Flame stated in a near instant, as if he expected the question to arise. "Second number represents gender. Odd numbers female, even, male. Third represents the occupancy the subject takes via queue rules."

"Fascinating..." Lucisco purred, to which I raised a brow at him. "And how many races are there?"

"There's 7 on record." I jumped in. "Started from 0. Pegasi, Unicorn, Zebra, Dragon, Griffin, Changeling, and Thestral."

"Seven...?" Lucisco fell silent for a moment, before releasing a deep exhale. "So many gone..." He looked down at us. "They removed a lot of the more aggressive races, but kept the dragons...?"

"They're in high demand." Flame said simply. "I imagine for something like them, they'd be broken in at birth."

"I've never seen a dragon anywhere near as big as you." I said, looking up at him. "The dragons I see always stick around the same size as the rest of us."

He nodded slowly, before speaking in a drawled voice of mental anguish.

"Keep what's meant to be a leviathan locked in a tiny cage for generations, and the body will adapt to its surroundings to stay alive..."

We came to a stop at the edge of the puddle, where the liquid rippled in tiny waves, back and forth. In, out. Reaching for land, failing to conquer, and returning only for another attempt a few seconds later.

Lucisco sat down behind us, staring down at the body of water.

"How many occupants are allowed to exist at once?" He asked with a subtle fire in his breath.

"50 per gender, 10 per unit, and 100 per complex." Flame answered, as if obligated to do so. He sat down, and I with him.

"And how many complexes are there?"

"I... honestly don't know." He replied, frowning in thought. "Each complex kinda just keeps all the others in the dark. Stay secluded. Can't form a resistance if we don't know anyone. Which is why they assign us with a completely random sleeping quarter once every 12 hours."

"You seem to know a lot..." Lucisco tilted his head to him in a curious manner.

"I'm a lot smarter than the Humans give me credit for." Flame smiled. "I'm very observant. I stay quiet, and I watch. I listen. I study. I learn."

"Evidently so." Lucisco smiled faintly. "So that's 50 males and females of each race, right?"

"In every complex, correct." Flame nodded. "Upon one being sold or terminated, their slot opens up for a new one."

"Wow... Don't get me wrong. I hate what it's being used for, but I'll give them credit. That's a very efficient numeral system..."

"I beg your pardon?" I raised a brow at him, unsure of whatever it was I just heard. Admiration?

Lucisco chuckled as he lightly ran a claw through my mane in an affectionate, caring manner.

"I'm probably the most organized and nerdiest dragon you will ever meet... I love numbers. Still gonna enjoy slaughtering the Humans for everything they did, though." With that, he stood up and stretched. Bones cracked absurdly loud as he moaned from the evident relief to his joints.

It had Flame and I gritting our teeth from the violation to our ears...

"Alright..." He sighed with satisfaction. "Let's go meet her, then."

As he turned toward the small building near the puddle and approached, we followed, and after stopping at the front door, he tapped a claw against it a few times.

Immediately, we were greeted with a shout of surprise, following with the crashing of... something. A lot of somethings... Like glass breaking. A LOT of it...

"HOLY SHIIIIIIIIIT!" The voice from my dreams blurted in the midst of the chaos that occurred within.

Flame and I exchanged a look of uncertainty about all this, before we looked up at Lucisco, who deadpanned at the door.

Something smacked against it through the avalanche of clutter, and she yelped.

"FUCK ME!"

The knob of the door rattled and twisted this way and that, before she hissed.

"Star damned, blasted piece of shit, come on..."

With that, the door creaked open, and through the crevice, a purple eye peered through at us. The mane was a little darker than my coat, but her coat was about the same shade. Maybe a little lighter. It was hard to tell in the dark confines of her building. She was eye level with my chest. I could tell right now she was small compared to me.

Suddenly, the door slammed shut on us, and a hoarder's avalanche resumed.

"AGH, MOTHERFUCKER!" She screamed as the door began to groan in protest. The hinges wobbled from their slots. "TAURUS, I NEED A PUSH!"

"Affirmative." A deep, metallic bellow of a T4URU5 unit spoke, before more clutter crashed about.

"Might wanna stand back..." Lucisco muttered in exasperation.

Flame and I in unison stepped back, residing between the dragon's foreclaws as the door trembled violently. As did the ground we stood on...

And just about everything else...

SLAM!

"AGH!" She screamed again. "A-almost there! Harder!"

"Affirmative."

SLAM!

"Unff! H-HARDER!"

"Affirmative."

SLAM!

The door flung open, and out poured heaps of scrap metal, guns, containers, shattered porcelain, pictures... The list went on.

With the avalanche of trash rolled forth the mare that had peeked through the doorway. A zebra by the looks of it, but... without the stripes. No wings or horn...

Strange...

Never saw a zebra like that before. The last two days were like that, I suppose. There was a lot I hadn't seen before...

She came to a stop, sitting her rump atop a metal panel; her hind legs stretched out with her fores between, stationed at her crotch.

She smiled at us brightly, a blush of... black, of all things... developing on her cheeks.

"Now that's how you make an entrance!" She said ecstatically.

"Or an exit?" The dragon above us asked flatly.

She pointed a hoof at him.

"That too!"

At once, a small, inanimate, soft looking model of a pony launched from the depths of the mess, bouncing off the top of her head before landing at her forehooves.

The model was that of a unicorn. Or rather, a variant of one I had never seen before.

The mane and tail was black and disheveled, and the coat was a tannish orange. Green eyes, and a black, fractured horn with red in the cracks.

The right rear hoof had red dots circling its circumference.

The mark on the flank of the mare model was a hammer and wrench crossing along the middle.

As for the more peculiar exhibit...

Her flank had flames as a design.

She looked down at the model that fell before her in surprise, before lifting it with both fores and hugging it tight to her chest.

At once, the head of a T4URU5 unit popped up from the heap of trash behind her.

"Very well executed, commander."

She looked over her shoulder and beamed. "Thank you, Taurus!"

"Uh..." I knit my brow, and at my audible bewilderment, she spun back to us. "Who the hell are you?"

Her grin grew wider as her eyes lit up. "Baby, with a sweet bod like that, I'll be anything your precious little heart desires!"

"My queen..." Lucisco muttered.

"Ah!" She pointed at him with a frown. "What have I said about that! No superiority, royalty, or worship! I am not a Goddess, I am not a queen, I am simply someone that exists. That's the rule."

He growled softly, before hissing behind grit fangs.

"Mother..."

She smiled timidly, squeezing the strange unicorn model for a brief moment.

"Yes, dear?"

"You had over 200 years to clean your house..."

She giggled and stuck her tongue out playfully.

"And?"

"And?" He stressed with emphasism. "AND? Why is your house a trash compactor!?"

"Hey!" She snapped a look of annoyance at him, grabbing a hunk of twisted metal that I couldn't begin to comprehend was originally for. She hugged it tight to her chest as she did the unicorn model. "What's trash to you is treasure to me!"

"Mother..." He hissed. "You didn't answer my question..."

She smirked, tossing the chunk of metal away. Several items rolled down the hill after it.

"Two answers. First and foremost, who else is gonna trigger your OCD?"

He groaned in disgust.

"Secondly, I didn't want to. I was too busy watching Doctor Who."

"Doctor Who?" Dancing Flame raised a brow as he tilted his head.

"Doctor Who!" She beamed.

"Who's Doctor... Who?"

"Exactly!"

"It's a mess!" Lucisco blurted in frustration. "It's disgusting!"

"That's Global Warming for ya." She winked with a sharp fanged grin. Two fangs specifically on her upper row of teeth.

"You're the planet..." Flame stated in near disbelief.

She looked back down at us and nodded happily. "Mhm!"

"You..." He regarded her with vast skepticism.

"Yep!"

"A pony."

She looked down and gasped before plunging a hoof down into the garbage and returning it with a bottle of that weird amber funny juice.

"I finally found it!" She giggled happily, collapsing on her back and rolling around as she hugged both the model and the bottle tight. She soon bit into the cap, ripped it off the neck of the bottle, spat it out to the side, and began chugging without retreat.

"This has to be a joke..." Flame muttered, before looking up at Lucisco. "What the fuck is this?"

"What were you expecting to find?" He asked simply.

"Something... with vast wisdom! Intellect! A higher understanding of the universe! The meaning of life! Not..." He cut himself off as he waved a hoof at the mare, just as she finished off the bottle, took a bite out of the neck, and tossed the rest of the glass away for it to shatter as she chewed and swallowed the shards with an absurd crunching that had me wishing I was deaf...

Black ooze dripped from her lips as she let out a loud belch I had ever had the misfortune to hear... I could smell the liquid on her breath from here...

In the midst of her belch, some of that black gunk shot out from her throat and landed before my hooves, causing me to instinctively take a step back in disgust. Within a second of landing, several tendrils shot out from the gooey mass, lifted itself up, and scurried off, shrieking.

"What the fuck!?" Flame shouted as he gawked at it.

By the stars, this was repulsive to see, hear, and smell...

She placed the unicorn model atop her head and rolled over on her stomach, only to slide down the heap toward us. She came to a stop before our hooves, looking up at us with a soft smile as she reached out a hoof.

"Name's Firebright. And I'm your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great..."

"She's gonna be on this for a while..." Lucisco muttered.

"Great, great, great, great..."

"How long?" I asked flatly.

Firebright froze, knitting her brow. "Wait..." She looked up, mouthing inaudible numbers. "Gah! Fuck, I lost track. Gotta start over." She took a deep, exaggerated inhale...

"No, Fire! Wai-"

"Great, great, great, great..."

"Damn it!" Flame put a hoof to his temple, wincing his eyes shut.

"Great, great, great, great, great, great..."

"Freedom is coming with a heavy fee..." I drawled.

"This isn't starting to look like a good deal anymore..." Flame sighed. "I'm greatly underwhelmed."

"Great, great, great, great grandmother!" Firebright finally shut the hell up with a beaming smile. She opened her eyes moments after to meet three deadpans.

"What?" She asked as her eyes widened. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Great..." Flame muttered.

Oh no, it was contagious!

"Don't you start." I sneered, glaring at him.

"Next time I say that word, please hit me..." He sat on his haunches and sighed. "For a planet, she's..."

"Annoying?"

"I was gonna say small, but you're not wrong."

"Hey!" She barked. "Rude!"

"Not even a Dwarf." He continued. "I was expecting something much bigger."

"Gotta say, I'm pretty underwhelmed too." I added.

"I-It's not the size that matters, it's how you use it!" She wailed.

"Out of everything that's happened over the last two days, I'd say this was the strangest thing."

"I second that remark." Flame replied.

"I'm assuming you already know who we are, then?" I asked, regarding her coolly.

"Phoenix Feather and Dancing Flame." She smiled more timidly, finally rising to her hooves. "I've waited so very long to meet you two." She leaned in close and spoke softer. "And dare I say you two are looking very fine. Need to blow off some steam, feel free to ask. Both of you."

"No thanks..." Flame pulled away.

"Yeah, I think I'm gonna pass on that offer..."

Stars, her breath...

"Taurus." Lucisco spoke, to which the machine moved through the heap of garbage toward us, revealing his full form.

"Lucisco." He replied, looking up at the beast.

"What's your progress on triangulating the signal?"

Firebright cringed a little.

"It's a bit more complicated than that, I'm afraid..." She whispered.

"The signal is in a completely different dimension." Taurus filled in. "There's a small pocket somewhere out there that the frequency has been leaking through, but where it leads is beyond my understanding. I would need a closer examination to relay further information on the topic."

"That's another thing..." Firebright deadpanned. "The pocket is too small for anyone to get through."

"Affirmative." Taurus jumped in again. "I have been manufacturing a key of sorts in attempt to open the pocket. If my theory is correct, based on my research, the signal is alive. The sound is a living thing. If that is the case, then there is a way to get it to react to a sound of our design."

"I'm sorry..." I shook my head, knitting my brow. "Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm new to all this... but it sounds to me like you want to... open a doorway to the source of the Cetera scream?"

"Well..." Firebright tilted her head left to right and right to left as she rolled her eyes up. "The door is already open, technically. We just plan to open it bigger."

"Are you insane?" Flame emphasized, to which the surrounding party fell quiet as he stared in wonder. He then added. "Actually, don't answer that. You are..."

"We only plan to open the door so that we may destroy the source." Taurus added.

Firebright sighed and looked over her shoulder. "Taurus, prepare for extraction."

He perked up at her order and spun around. "Affirmative."

She then looked up at the dragon.

"Lucisco."

He nodded. "I'll gather the other two and get to work, mother."

Finally, she looked back at Flame and I as the others departed.

"Walk with me." She spoke softer as she stepped past us for the walkway over the body of water.

With a brief exchange of a confused look between Flame and I, we followed behind her.

The trip was silent, save for the rippling of the liquid we approached. Upon reaching the end, she pulled the unicorn model off her head and hugged it tight to her chest as she sat down, looking out at the field of blue.

"Something wrong...?" I asked in a near whisper. With how distant she looked, speaking too loud might have startled her.

She squeezed her unicorn model tighter to her chest, smiling wanly as she closed her eyes.

It was then that tears broke through the breach, rolling down her cheeks.

"I... I'll be alright..." Her voice wavered. "Just thinking about something..."

She turned to us with that wan smile and glistening eyes. As if a different pony was looking at us. One not so crazy. One with a deep sincerity. One filled with pain, and wasn't afraid to show it.

"Do you wanna... talk about it?" I asked with a sense of sympathy rising in my chest.

She let out a choked chuckle moments before she looked down at the unicorn model. She ran her hoof along the back of its head.

"I miss my brother is all..."

"Your brother?" Flame asked with a raised brow. "What's a brother?"

She cracked a smile, looking back out across the large puddle.

"A brother is family..." She replied as more tears shed from her eyes.

"But... what's family?" Now it was my turn to ask the question.

"Family is someone that is there for you, no matter what... To love you, care for you... Would do just about anything for you..."

Past her, Flame's eyes flicked from her to me, and a smile crept on his lips as mine did.

Were we family...?

By that definition, I suppose we were.

"And this... mare." Flame pointed at the unicorn model squeezed tight to Fire's chest. "Is that your brother?"

Fire let out a giggle, wiping away some of the tears that soaked the fur of her cheeks.

"Did I say something funny?" Flame tilted his head.

"My brother... He would have corrected you on that. Aggressively. My brother is a male. All brothers are males. All sisters are females. All mothers are females, and all fathers are males." She pulled the unicorn from her chest and gazed down at him as it did up at her. She caressed his cheek with a hoof. "For the longest time, I was all he had... and I betrayed him... and I rubbed it in his face... No matter what I do, it'll never make up for what I did to him. I'd offer my soul to him if I could..."

"What happened to him...?" I asked softly, looking from her to the unicorn.

She closed her eyes to my question and shuddered. "We got separated... He isn't dead, if that's what you're wondering. He's just... gone..."

"Gone?" I raised a brow.

She looked over at me with a deep found sorrow within herself.

"The way your and Flame's child is gone..."

Flame glanced at me momentarily from her response, before quickly turning away.

"Not to sound rude, but..." He started quickly. "Where is this coming from? This thing about your brother?"

She looked at him next, but he didn't reciprocate her motion. He was fighting it, but still, I heard grief in his voice. A hint of it...

After staring for a few seconds - which seemed to drag on - she looked back out at the liquid.

"The last time I saw him, I told him we would meet again. But... I lied. I was given a glimpse into my future, and I had to lie. Otherwise I would have never been able to let him go... I guess I never really did let him go..." She scoffed, looking back down at the unicorn. "I bring him up, because I know how all this ends... and that ending is right at my doorstep. My time has come... and it doesn't end with him anywhere near me..." She slouched, hanging her head down and dropping the unicorn. "I wish I could hold him one last time... tell him I love him one last time..."

"Love...?" I jumped in in a near whisper.

She scoffed. "What you and Flame have..."

Still, he kept his gaze away from us.

"I've seen it, you know..." She looked from him to me, then back at the puddle. "The way you two react to each other. The way you feel about each other. The Humans... they can try their damned-est to shelter the word, but they can't rid you of instinct and passion. You two... in this universe, you two are the definition of love. The purest form to exist here."

Flame finally turned to us; surprise in his eyes. A welcoming surprise. Coated with warmth as they rested on mine.

We were more than connected. More than keys. Much more than a prophecy. More than a mural on a wall of gold.

And there was a word for it...

We were love.

We were in love.

I was still unfamiliar with the concept, but I think I got the gist of it. I felt it. A pony I just met, who knows more about me and Flame than I do her, says we were in love. Something about that... I couldn't help but believe it.

"Hey..." I tapped Fire on the shoulder, to which she looked over curiously. "There was a guy. A Human... named Vector."

"Yes, I know of him." She replied coolly.

"Did he... love me?"

Whatever light had been in her eyes, I couldn't see until that very moment. It came out from darkness, for only a fraction of a second, before somehow delving even deeper into the abyss. Dying away even more than it already had.

"I don't think he loved you..." She spoke in a near whisper. "I think he loved the idea of you. Being associated with you. The idea of change coming from you... That's not to say he wasn't bad. Nor was he good. He was middle ground. But if he had loved you, he would have done anything for you. He would have granted you your freedom, even if it meant never seeing you again..."

"Like you and your brother?" Flame jumped in.

She nodded slowly, turning to him. "Exactly..." She cracked a smile as she looked at the puddle again. "I love you two... Platonically, of course. Though... if you wanted to take it one step further..."

Flame and I groaned exasperatingly before speaking in unison.

"NO!"

"Alright, alright!" She chuckled, raising a hoof. "I'll take a hint. But I meant what I said. I love you both. I love all my... inhabitants, save for the Humans and the machines. After all, you're all related to me. You're my family... What's left of it, anyways... Mother, father, brother sister, et cetera, et cetera..."

The ground shook softly, and upon us looking over our shoulder with the exclusion of Firebright, Lucisco stepped forward with ease. Accompanying him was Polarity and Firefly, who took in their surroundings with stars in their eyes.

Firefly still didn't seem too happy to see me, though...

The three of them stopped at the strange walkway. Polarity was the only one to set hoof on it after a moment.

Fire turned to me with a wry smile.

"You'll be pleased to know that Polarity is your sister."

"Huh?" Polarity knit her brow. "Wait, what's sister mean?" She turned to me quizzically.

Fire let out a sigh with a hint of amusement. Her smile remained.

"I have a lot to cover today... Alright, then." She glanced back at my apparent sister. "Gather around, children. It's time we had the talk about trains and tunnels..."

...

"What the fuck is a train?"

<>

"So, let me get this straight." Polarity started after what felt like hours of Fire trying to explain what family meant in biology. Flame seemed to be understanding this the most. "Phoenix and I share the same mom and possibly dad, as you put it. We carry their genes or whatever. And so that makes us sisters?"

"Siblings." Fire shrugged as she pursed her lips.

"So..." I jumped in. "If Flame is my family, what would I call him in this term?"

Fire chuckled. "Anything you want to, really. But you're not immediate family like you and Polarity. More like what your parents should have been to each other."

"Answer me this..." Flame knit his brow in contemplation as he stayed fixated to the ground at her hooves. "If we carry the genetic strains of our parents, then what would happen if a brother and sister, or a daughter and father, son or mother... reproduced? What would happen then?"

Fire burst into laughter, shaking her head.

"Nothing good! In most cases..." She ran a hoof over her belly, smiling softly. "But in this case, I suppose it was a wonderful thing..."

"This case?" He tilted his head, raising a brow.

"Mm..." She nodded. "You're all the product of me and my brother's... affection." A shade of black began to grow on her cheeks as she kept her gaze on the floor of the strange, creaky walkway.

"But you just said nothing good comes out of that." Flame rubbed a hoof to his temple and closed his eyes. "What makes our case a 'wonderful thing?'"

"Well..." She looked at him. "Three things. One, my brother accomplished something that was once impossible. While it wasn't the same as he wanted, it was and is an alternative solution. Two, we aren't related by blood. Different parents. So it's more of a fantasy than anything else. Three, even if we were related, it wouldn't matter, because we're both Nekkra."

"Nek-wha...?" I asked with a tilt of my head.

She turned to me and giggled, before sounding it out.

"Nekkra. A lifeform, if it can even be called that, that is the ultimate mutation. Incestual breeding - which is what that brother, sister, daughter, father, son, mother thing is - has no consequences as a Nekkra, because they're built to keep strains, er... in the family." She turned back to Dancing Flame. "That is, of course, not to say they can't breed outsiders."

"Whoa, hold on..." Polarity raised a hoof to her, as if her action were to pause Firebright. "If everything you tell us is right, then..."

Fire nodded with a grin. "Yep! You're all Nekkra too! Though, with how far down the line of the heart you all are, it hardly shows. But you all carry the strain of a Nekkra. A small part of it, anyways." She turned to me, and then Flame. "When you two were finally alone, something powerful sparked between you, yes? You felt a deep connection?"

"Y-yeah, but..." Flame muttered.

"More than love, dear. You're all a hivemind, while maintaining individuality. But it's so far out of reach that none of you were able to get a taste of it until you were able to truly converse with one another. As yourselves. Without Orientation."

"Did... the Humans know of our strain...?" I asked tentatively. She regarded me with a tired expression. "Did they know about you...?"

She shook her head slowly. "No, I don't think they ever found out. Keeping you from talking to one another, getting to know each other, was a coincidence. But see... the Humans, they're terrified of the Nekkra. Most are bad... It's good they don't know, because if they did, none of you would even be alive. They'd have burnt this whole place to ash." She scoffed, wrapping a foreleg around my shoulder. "But little do they know they're affiliations with my grandchildren made them Nekkra too. Little do they know this entire universe is now infested with them. I'm not just a planet..." She pulled away with a sharp, menacing grin. "I'm a motherfucking universe, baby. And I'm tired of the Humans living inside me like parasites. Little do they know that they built my own weapons to end them..."

The four of us stared in a puzzled nature, to which she tapped a hoof to my chest.

"You." She then spun around and tapped Flame's.

"You."

Next up was Polarity.

"You."

And last but not least, Firefly.

"And you."

She looked around her surroundings with a deep vengeance in her eyes.

"All of you. The ultimate Nekkra strain. Their hunger for resources... Bleeding my land dry... It evolved you to grow accustomed to the world you live in. Nekkra die to excessive heat. But not you. You've become resistant to it... which has never happened before. We just need to... give you a boost. If you allow it..." As she spoke, a tendril slid out from her back.

The others, myself included, recoiled a bit from the growth that emerged from her.

"Hard pass." Dancing Flame stated quickly with disgust in both his face and voice.

"I second that." Polarity remarked.

"Same." Firefly.

Firebright looked over at me with curiosity in her eyes. "And you...?"

"The mural outside..." I began. "I'm... pregnant with something..."

She nodded slowly.

"Is that a prophecy, or a choice?"

Fire looked at my friends and acquaintances.

"Phoenix and I should talk in private, if that's alright with all of you. Lucisco will direct you to the armory I had made for your visit."

Flame and Polarity regarded me in concern, to which I nodded.

"I'll be okay."

With a nod, they singled out. Firefly was the first to go without a care of my safety. I still couldn't blame him... Flame, whose gaze lingered on mine for all but a moment, was the last.

Once they were gone, I turned back to Firebright, who was staring back out across the massive puddle. Her tendril had receded back into her body without my knowing.

"You always have a choice, Phoenix Feather. What you saw in that mural is a direction. A path that you can choose to take. Of your own free volition. Everything needs to be consensual. Especially after everything I've done..."

"What did you do...?"

As she closed her eyes, she let out a deep exhale of resentment. To who, I was unclear.

"I used to be like the Humans... Taking what wasn't mine. Enjoying the suffering of others. Including my own brother..." She turned her head and looked over at me with a deep regret. "I raped him. Over. And over. And over. And over again. The mare he loved, I made him listen as she got the same treatment from my father..." She winced, shaking her head. "I killed. I tortured. More times than I can remember... and I fucking loved it..."

"R-raped...? I'm... unfamiliar with the term..."

"Right..." She sighed. "That word was banished in the towers... Well... you've seen both mares and stallions crying when they're getting... eh... 'fucked,' yes?"

"Y-yeah..."

"And you were one of them, yes?"

Slowly, I nodded as my heart began to pound with dread. My stomach felt sick, and my memories branched off to every corner of the dark.

"Do you remember how you felt when all that was happening to you?"

"I wish I didn't..." My bones began to quake... "Please..." Tears... "Stop..." I felt like a disease...

I felt like it was happening all over again...

The first time it happened... something deep inside me was ripped from me. Something I could never get back... I never felt the same since...

"That right there." Firebright pointed a hoof at me. "That is rape. And you had to go through it all and pretend you fucking enjoyed it. Because if you showed even a small hint of resistance..."

"Stop!" I shouted. Tears now streaming down my face.

"So much as verbal resistance... A 'no,' or a 'stop...'"

"Stop it! Shut up!" I held myself tight, shivering. Each pump of my heart was a thrust deep inside me... taking what wasn't theirs to take...

"... Meant termination..." Firebright whispered. "I know your pain, Phoenix. I do... and I know the pain of every subject that lived and currently lives under Talon order. I wired my senses to all of yours so I could punish myself for once being like the Humans... Anyone that got raped. I would get raped too. For every crack of a whip, I would bear the scars. For every gunshot, I would die..."

"W-why would you put yourself through something like that!?" I screamed, glaring at her with a new anger. I wanted to hurt her for making me feel like this...

But at the same time, something within myself was holding me back.

"Because I deserved it. And it was a choice. A choice I chose to make..." Her eyes grew distant. Dead from inside. "In the end, my brother loved me. And I him. But I can never forgive myself for the pain I caused him."

The tears began to subside, as did the anger. I felt something for her... remorse? She put herself through the pain of every subject that ever lived... as a choice. She understood our pain...

I leaned in and wrapped a foreleg around her shoulder.

Her eyes widened as she looked up at me. Surprise in her eyes.

She leaned into me, pressing her cheek against the lower part of my chest.

"You're so warm..." She whispered breathlessly. "And by the stars, tall... And your voice, it's so... deep and rich..."

"Part of the evolution, eh?" I chuckled as I nuzzled the top of her head. My body was practically over her at this point.

She grew still, holding me close, similar to how Flame and I held each other. There was a sense of love for her... That love she spoke of. Not as lovers, but as she described a mother to love her daughter.

"Phoenix..." She pulled away, looking deep into my eyes. Purple on red. "You have a choice... This isn't about prophecy... This is me asking you..."

"What is it...?" I whispered back.

"You're... a descendant of Charger and I. All of you are... He bred me before we parted ways. None of us were aware of it... I birthed all but one egg... which I was saving in the hopes that you would take. It's the purest generation I have of him. I need it safe, and it won't be safe with me, I fear..."

"You want me to be a surrogate..." I stated matter of factly.

"I know it's a lot to ask..." She continued abruptly. "Which is why it's a choice. But this benefits me, you, and Flame. Me, because I'll know my child is safe. Alive. You and Flame, because it'll make up for the child you both had taken from you... Or at least, I hope it makes up for..." She wrapped her forelegs around me, squeezing her chest to mine just to have her hooves barely meet at my upper spine as she looked up at me with pleading eyes.

"Please, Phoenix. It's all I have left of him. I-"

I stopped her with a soft touch of my hoof to her lips. She continued to stare quietly, even as I pulled it away.

"I'll do it..." I whispered behind a gentle smile. "I'll bear your child."

<>

Fire and I ventured down a small decline at the far end of the dome, which sat a circular, steel pad. Lucisco waited at the structure.

I felt the egg deep within me. As it turned out, it didn't matter much where it resided. But I still preferred it to be in my womb.

I felt... full, but in a pleasant way.

"Sorry if the process of that was too much." Fire spoke.

"Nah, you're okay." I smiled. "Hell, you might have opened up a new tentacle fetish for me." I leaned in close and whispered with a wry smile. "Just between you and me, I kinda wish it lasted longer..."

Firebright giggled and playfully shoved me, but to no avail did I stumble back.

"Well, seeing as I triggered you earlier, I wasn't sure you'd be okay with me fucking you. In, out, job done."

"Had I known what I was in for, I might have reconsidered your former proposal on blowing off steam." I replied with a cheeky wink and a dark blush.

That got me thinking...

Evidently, Firebright's blood was black, as her blush suggested. I was an advanced strain, so... was that going to happen to me, too?

"Well, look at it this way." Fire smirked. "Now you have tentacles of your own. You get the best of both parties simultaneously. Double the orgasm. Maybe even six times better, if you decide to go for the three sweet spots. That's a pretty great gift if you ask me."

"When will I be able to use them?" I asked, looking down at my form.

"Eager, huh?" She laughed.

I looked back at her, blushing even harder.

"I-I mean, like... overall. Surely these can be used in combat, right?"

She nodded. "Yeah, they can. Give it maybe an hour or so for your body to fully adapt."

We stepped on the platform, and Fire looked up at Lucisco. "They inside?"

"Taurus is with them." He said with a single nod.

"We'll be heading out in about one hour. Get everything situated."

"Of course."

With that, as we descended into the ground, Lucisco spread his wings and took to the sky, flying away for the other end of the dome.

The walls around us were not of the brown powdery grime, but of steel, with lights evenly spaced from one another. Had it not been for them and my natural glow, we would have been cast in total darkness. Even then, our vicinity was dim.

By the time we reached the bottom, the hole to the surface was no more than the size of the nutrient pills I and everyone else had been living off of.

Fire tapped my shoulder, and upon catching my attention, nodded her head to the right.

"This way." She said quietly, before walking for a corridor.

I followed in her hoofsteps down the stretch, where at the end, I saw Dancing Flame walking past. He stopped in the opening, looked at us, then proceeded across, disappearing from our sight, due right.

"Where are we going?" I asked, looking down at her.

She glanced over her shoulder, and without a word, simply smiled.

At the end, I saw Polarity, Dancing Flame, Firefly, and Taurus.

The changeling came into my view just in time to see him tap a hoof to his chest. At once, starting from where he touched, metal began to consume his form. A metal that matched his color. First the chest, then barrel, legs, neck, and finally head.

The Humans had advanced tech, but nothing like that...

The visor consisted of two eyes that matched his, both of which glowed.

Polarity did the same to herself. At the end of each hoof was the colors of her mane portrayed in layers. Yellow, orange, red.

Flame's had red neon stripes all along his armored body, over where his real ones would be.

Firebright began to move for a spacecraft that sat deeper in the expanse of the bunker. Frigate class, by the look of it.

They all looked at me in silence before Taurus spoke.

"Now it's your turn."

011

"We're gonna have a bit of a problem once we leave the dome." Firebright stated, standing between us and the powered ship. "So rule number one." She regarded the lot of us coolly. "Under no circumstances, are you allowed to take off the armor once we leave the ship. Especially the helmet. I designed it so no sound gets in, and none gets out. Call it audible quarantine." She grit her teeth, looking down for a moment. "It'll be a challenge, but we'll only be able to communicate with each other through body language."

"This isn't a good design." Flame jumped in with intent to argue, judging by his tone of voice. "Did it occur to you that one of our best senses for survival is hearing? I won't deny that the situation is complicated, and sound is a weapon against us now. But did you not think about linking-"

"Yes, Flame." She emphasized in annoyance, clenching her jaw. "I thought about radio communications. Hundreds of years ago. But it is out of the question. The Cetera hold all radio signals around them in their voice. It takes only one to infect a broadcast. Radio waves inside your suit would seal your fate indefinitely."

The two of them fell silent as he hung his head down in defeat.

She raised a brow. "Does that... satisfy your curiosity?"

He sighed and shook his head in response. "Damn it..."

She exhaled sharply before turning to the rest of us again. "He does make a point, though. And I saw to it that the matter would be dealt with. You may not be able to hear your surroundings. But you will feel the proximity of your enemies and the Cetera's screams."

"Like echo location?" Firefly asked with a curious tilt of his head.

"Ehhh... sort of." Firebright smiled softly. "Your suit will point to the source of the sound as it's happening in real time, as will it point to any enemies in the area in the form of a vibration."

"Smart." Polarity spoke. "That helps even the odds."

"Definitely." I filled in with a comfort that this plan could work.

"I guess that explains why no technology or metal was allowed through the gateway." Flame said.

"Spot on." Fire replied with a nod. "That's another thing. The Cetera haven't left the dome, despite the gateway being open. I'm a top priority to them, it seems. So... when we break out of the core, it's gonna get bloody fast. I'm sorry, but... we can't stop to save the others. We're gonna have the Cetera hot on our tail."

"Question." Polarity said plainly, catching Fire's attention. "If we're wearing these suits as protection, which are no doubt made of sophisticated metal, then why can't we help others?"

Fire's eyes dropped as if hurt by the idea.

"This armor is mostly to protect you all from the dangers of the Humans and their machines, in terms of physical contact. But the Cetera have ways of ripping you out of it... It might hold them off for a little while, but it won't stop them..." She paused for a moment, pondering to herself.

She turned toward the ramp that ascended through the bottom of the ship. "Are there any other questions?"

The four of us looked at one another; the majority of us shrugging or shaking our head. Firefly still refused to acknowledge me...

"No, I think that's it..." Polarity spoke as we all turned to her.

She sighed softly to herself, muttering something. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to hear it, but I did.

"The hardest part is always saying goodbye..." She proceeded to step up the ramp in a slow saunter. As she ascended, her voice, now spoken aloud and in a variety of odd pitches, began to echo through the ship's hull. "Don't know where... Don't know when... But I know we'll meet again some sunny day..."

Just as she vanished from our sight, her hooves disappearing into the confines of the vessel, one final word left her lips.

"Someday..."

<>

"Strafe thrusters online." Fire said as she sat at the controls, flicking a variety of switches, both fore and overhead.

The lot of us, save for Taurus, were strapped in in the cockpit. Firefly sat in the center, and Flame took the left; I the right. Polarity in the front, alongside Firebright.

Before each of us was a console with no controls. But instead, was a holographic projection unit to accompany.

"Reverse thrusters online." She continued as the engines began to roar with jet fire. "X, Y, Z Axis is responsive. Main thrusters online. Main batteries online. Secondary batteries online."

A 3 dimensional projection flashed into view before Firefly, Flame, and I. It was that of the hangar.

"Targeting systems online. Shields online... All systems green. Standby for launch..."

Black claws of smoke emerged from her hooves, dancing around a sphere of light that brought itself before her. Sliding her claws up the mass slowly and with ease, the ship began to raise off the ground.

"So... how exactly do we use these?" Polarity asked, looking at the simulated view of projection before the ship.

"Steer, aim at the triangle that appears over your targets, and fire. It's like your suits. Your minds are connected to the system. If you have a desire, the computer will act on it." She looked back at us with a sharp grin and winked. "Nekkra tech, baby. It's the finest." She spun back around and flicked another switch overhead, to which a klaxon blared from outside, above us. Light poured into the dark tunnel we ascended.

I looked at my battery's point of view before blinking once. Not even the Humans had tech this advanced... It was almost hard to believe. I wouldn't have...

But upon wanting to look right, the view shifted to such. I was only greeted with more, steel wall.

"Whoa..." Firefly grinned. "Okay, this is cool..."

Firebright chuckled softly as we arose from the ground. The klaxon shut off soon after.

We emerged on the other side of the puddle opposite of the building Firebright had been inside.

Lucisco stood tall at the end of the dome, staring at us as we advanced on his location.

Fire stayed at eye level with him, hovering several dozen feet away.

"So this is it, then..." Lucisco spoke with undeniable sorrow... and fear.

"I suppose it is..." Fire said in turn. "I love you, Lucisco."

"And I, you. Mother... Firebright..." He scoffed and looked down for a moment, before facing her once more. "It's been an honor..."

"It certainly has..." She whispered.

"In silence, we part..." He spoke softer.

"But only temporarily..." Fire choked. "This isn't goodbye... I won't let you suffer..."

He nodded, and she pulled a handle down from the overhead controls, to which a synthetic voice spoke through the system.

"External frequencies muted."

At once, the sound of the jets outside went deadly quiet. Only the sound of my breath, and the humming of the internal engines at work ensued.

Lucisco closed his eyes, turning to the dome wall.

And the shell began to fade...

"Wait, what's he-"

"Focus." Firebright snapped. "It's his choice, that's all you need to know." She wiped a claw over her face, shuddering.

She pulled the ship back, and through the cockpit window, as the barrier faded out of existence, the city it resided in came into view. With it, lights of millions stared back at us, waiting...

For this moment.

I spun my battery around, facing ahead once more and keeping my focus solely on the imminent danger. I could assume by the silence among us that the others were too.

Lucisco spread his wings seconds before the dome ceased to be. It was then that I noticed it wasn't just this shell. It was also the one that held the mural. The way out was revealing itself to us far off in the distance.

Dragons, pegasi, griffins, thestrals, changelings... All wingbearers, even those that escaped my knowledge, flew down from the ceiling, eager to collect.

Both domes were gone, and simultaneously, everyone reacted to its disappearance with a set goal.

Lucisco pushed forward to protect. The Cetera pushed back to control. Firebright pushed in for escape. And my friends and accomplices opened fire on the population to survive.

With one swipe of a shadowed claw, a great number of the land bound Cetera were removed, though not without first dimming his ability to fight from their song.

In my projection, a reticle in the shape of a red triangle appeared over every hostile in sight. But as they moved, the reticles advanced faster, staying in front of them at a certain distance that depended on how far they were, and how fast they went.

The computer assisted greatly in our efforts. We stood a chance after all... But not all of us...

Streams of gatling fire branched off from the vessel, completely eviscerating prisoners of the Cetera. We were doing them a favor. No more pain, no more torment. The Afterdeath granted peace.

Or, at least... that was the idea. There was so much more I didn't understand...

The lights of the Cetera's eyes were starting to fascinate me by mere glances. There was something about them that... just pulled me in. A beauty like that of stars...

"PHOENIX!"

The world came rushing back in the speed of the ship Firebright operated, and instinctively, I shook myself back in the reality of the situation.

I turned to Flame, but he was back on his gun before I had time to look.

I turned back to my controls as airborne deceit flew in for the kill of both Lucisco and the ship we resided in. Lucisco stayed by our side as we pushed through the city, leaving behind a torrent of black fire to wash over the wide corridor, and any surface dwellers that were in the area.

Right... back to work.

The ship grew deadly quiet as we worked tirelessly to fight them back.

In my peripherals, did a hologram overlay the pilot's window. Several flashing red dots descended toward a certain point.

"Firefly, eyes on the sky!"

"I see it!" He blurted.

I spun the battery up just to get an idea of what was closing in. I really wish I hadn't done that...

Several dragons dived on us, roughly the same size as Lucisco, if not bigger. Fear grabbed hold of me. Fear and... something else...

Stars...

Stars in their eyes...

Beautiful stars with a philosophy... An idea... A purpose... A mission...

Lucisco swept into view, tackling one of the many and sinking his teeth into the neck of the beast.

The others rounded on him, forgetting us for a moment. I wanted to help him so bad... tell Firebright to turn back and help him. But... this was his choice... I hated that I had to let it happen, but... he had a choice. Something I never had until recently. It was his to make... He was doing it for us...

The ship dived down to the corridors between the tall buildings.

I aimed behind us at the swarm that were in pursuit. Flame and Polarity seemed to be on the same page, while Firefly still focused on what was above.

Gatling fire of three batteries trailed behind us, removing variables of our problem by the dozens in second's pass.

The dragons seemed to be completely focused on overwhelming Lucisco and conquering his body. It seemed we weren't the only priority...

He roared in what I could very well imagine was agony as he tore one of them off his form. They all screamed, though I couldn't hear any of it. I didn't want to...

He ripped it in half, pouring blood and intestines over the surface, over the land dwellers, before throwing both ends to the side.

"We don't have much longer." Fire stated quickly, racing for the opening far off in the horizon. "He'll fight for as long as he can, but once he joins them, we had better be far away from him. A full Nekkra form infused with Cetera is a horrible mix."

"Nothing like what we've had to deal with so far?" Flame asked, to which she nodded.

"Yep."

Upon reaching an intersection, several more red dots appeared on the overlay, moving in from the right.

I spun my gun around, and at the last second, before a tower obscured my view, I detected a swarm of pegasi, changelings, griffins, and thestrals moving in. Beyond them was another swarm, racing us to the edge of the city.

"We got a group trying to flank us." I said quickly as I swung back to rear, resuming fire. "Trying to beat us to the edge of the city."

"Noted." Fire replied as she increased speed. "Hope you're strapped in tight, cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride."

Firefly's battery projection flickered off, to which he stared for a moment in silence. He began tapping the module.

"What happened?"

"Roof battery is gone." Firebright stated, swinging down lower to the ground. "They're tearing their way through the hull."

"Fuck!" Flame shouted after his projection went offline. "They're taking out our defenses!"

I spun back to my gun and unleashed a merciless fire against the Cetera that closed in on us.

In the distance, Lucisco rose to the sky, coming to our aid. Tendrils spewed out from him in a disturbed, mangled motion. The dragons that had attacked him were back in pursuit of him.

There was something different in the eyes... Something that pulled me in... welcomed me...

Something beautiful...

The feed glitched and cut out, and Fire shouted.

"Damn it! Polarity, it's all you now! Side guns are out!"

I blinked rapidly as I looked down, slouching and putting a hoof to my temple.

"You alright...?" Flame asked, to which I met his concerned regard.

"We'll see..."

Just as we were coming to another intersection, did the group rush in from the right, blocking our path.

Fire steered a sharp left; an alarm blared as a red light flashed over her head. The ship rumbled as the AI voice repeated two words.

"COLLISION WARNING."

She screamed in anger as she pulled the ship from the side of the building it grinded against, but by the time she was clear, a diagram of the ship revealed a red, flashing, right rear thruster. Furthermore, there were three guns in the same predicament.

"One of the thrusters are down!" She shouted in a panic.

"How about something a little more reliable?" Flame smirked. The look in his eyes said it all. He had a plan, and it was stupid...

"Doesn't work like that." She said quickly. "One thruster is the equivalent of five suits."

"So we make due with what we got. You don't have much choice."

She spun right of the next intersection as several black, smoky tendrils crashed through a building from the left.

"What's he talking about?" I asked, looking from him to her to him again.

"Your suits have thrusters built into them." Firebright stated abrasively. "Fine. But don't get killed. Polarity, protect them."

"Them? Wait, wh-"

"Yes, them! He's not doing it alone!" She snapped as the vessel shook. "Three of you, suit up!"

Flame smacked a hoof to his chest, and as the armor formed around him, he turned to me with a cocky grin. Seconds before his face was masked, he winked.

The fucker winked at me...

What the fuck did he sign me up for!?

"Stay in your seats, and get ready." Fire continued as Firefly suited up. "I'll eject you."

With the roll of my eyes, I tapped a hoof to my chest and sat still as the armor shaped around me.

"And if either of you start getting hypnotized out there, I'm gonna zap you. There's shock collars in your suits." Fire glanced at me for a split second, glaring.

"Alright, I get it!" I waved my now armored hooves in the air, glaring back. "Don't be a-" My head was now encased by the helmet, and even though she couldn't hear me, that didn't stop me from finishing my sentence. "-Bitch about it!"

In an instant, without warning, the floor fell beneath me, and with it, the seat I was strapped to.

I slid down a tight space that was about the equivalent of a vent. Steel in all directions, before shooting out into open air.

My suit buzzed violently against my back, and it only grew stronger.

I quickly undid the safety belts around my body and kicked myself off the chair, and at the wish to fly, flames burst from the bottom of my hooves. A pressure grew in my back as I was launched forward, lingering underneath the rear of the ship as Flame and Firefly did.

They seemed to be getting the hang of it a lot better than I.

I noticed on their back, two thrusters jutted out where the wing base of a pegasus would be.

A trail of black smoke was left behind in the wake of the damaged thruster of the ship.

Flame and Firefly disappeared in the pollution.

A simple desire to see behind me had two screens appear in my peripherals to my left and right, leaving the center of my vision vacant for what was ahead. Two screens of my rearview that was no doubt built into the helmet.

Lucisco and the dragons that took his body smashed through buildings to get to us. Hundreds of tendrils came from him, snaking toward us, seeming to know no end of their extension.

The smaller Cetera units traveled in packs that broke off for another flank attempt.

I looked ahead, and with my hooves pointed behind me, pushed forward along the pillar of smoke, nearing its source. The jet fire from Firefly and Flame's suits beaconed my destination through the thick.

I was so close...

But crossing another intersection, Fire swerved right as my entire left half buzzed.

Firefly and Flame struggled with maintaining hold of the vessel, and as a result, the ship slammed against the side of another building. Through the confusion, I had to back off. I didn't have enough time to go back and chase after them, or even slow down. I was on my own...

I looked to my left to find more pegasi and Lucisco's tendrils smashing through structures like a volcanic explosion.

Towers crumbled to the grounds below, falling against one another for a chain reaction.

Then my front buzzed.

I spun my head around to see yet another swarm. I may have been cornered, but I still had one last trick.

I lunged to my right, crashing through the window of the building beside me. My body tumbled down the stretch of corridor as I fought to gain control again. There was light at the other end, but it stretched on endlessly.

My body rolled as the thrusters shut off to my demand. I wasn't going to recover like that.

Before I could come to a stop, I jumped back on my hooves and ran for the other side, looking in the rearviews to see the numbers that my suit kept reminding me about.

The tower began to shake as tendrils crumbled the structure, breaking through to reach me.

I looked back to what was ahead and leapt up off the ground mid-canter.

The thrusters under my hooves burst back to life, slamming me through the ceiling to the next floor. Had the thrusters in my back not activated, I would have escalated to the next floor. And the next. And the next, and so on.

I bolted down the length of corridor, and despite my velocity, it felt like the window only grew bigger at a snail's pace. Leaving miles between me and the exit...

Doors on either side of me flung open with Cetera bursting through. My whole body was feeling their proximity. They were everywhere.

A huge chunk of the tower was ripped away ahead of me as the structure shook, and in its place was Lucisco, staring back at me.

Several tendrils of smoke shot out like a torrent of fire from his outstretched maw, pushing through the corridor as a wall of black. The integrity of the building fell away.

I darted right, obliterating a wall in the process.

On the other end was a Cetera, that of which immediately clung to my form, screaming in my face. Thestral.

I kept my eyes away from its gaze, pushing across the room with the utmost haste.

It gnawed and pounded at me, but my armor was holding its own for now.

Tendrils and Cetera smashed through the wall behind me with terrifying ease as I crashed through window, bursting into open air again.

Despite my race across the gap between the two structures, the tower behind me grew closer in a tilt...

Ah, shit... I was about to get crushed...

The thrusters of my forehooves shut off just before I grabbed a hold of the Cetera that fought with me, bringing them outward before me.

Rubble and debris rained down on us as a shadow crept into the land.

I smashed through a window of the next tower, and upon flying through the room, glass dug into the Cetera's hide.

The wall of the unit behind fell apart, and with it, floor, ceiling, and anything that resided here. In its place was a collapsing tower; the likes of which was still vastly infested with Cetera and Lucisco.

I smashed through the door on the other end, using the thestral as a battering ram.

Its head burst, staining my entire front half. My vision was red as I crashed through the next door across from it in the tight corridor. But only for a moment. My sight was restored to normal before it became a problem as I raced across the next unit. The wall of destruction gaining speed in pursuit of me, I angled my forehooves after dropping the body and hit the thrusters again, gaining as much speed as my suit was able to provide.

I burst through the next wall, as there was no door. I couldn't afford dead ends.

My sides buzzed as I crossed the corridor, and a brief glance in both directions, one of which was through the rearview, before smashing another door into oblivion, showed Lucisco's tendrils rushing for me. Seconds away from meeting their target.

I launched across the unit and out the window at the end just as the building began to collapse for good.

I swerved left and continued my race through the Cetera sky; the building of the housing complex beginning to loom over me from the weight of the other.

Tendrils of shadow stretched across the surface and snaked up buildings, tearing them down. The city was getting devoured, and I was still in it...

As I looked down at the pitch black waves, the rearviews showed Lucisco... or rather, what was once Lucisco.

He - it - stayed high up above the city as a giant orb of smoke. Hundreds, if not thousands of tentacles had dropped down, again, reaching no limits to their reach.

My eyes were back on the exit of the planet's core.

With my sensor going berserk, there was no means of figuring out if any flying Cetera were close to reaching me. Nice one, Firebright. Found a design flaw...

I began to cross another interse-

"AGH!"

Something big rammed into the right side of my body, to which I began to roll up and over its mass.

"Motherfucker!" I screamed in more shock than pain.

In split second time, I saw Firebright and Polarity wincing as they looked up at me, sliding up the ship's nose and over the roof.

I was so glad I didn't feel the pain behind that hit...

I tumbled over the top of the speeding vessel and soon enough rolled off the back, to which I hastily got in position, gained control of my momentum, and raced after it.

Flame and Firefly were still acting as the right rear thruster.

Behind us, several dozen more tentacles crashed through the city in pursuit of us.

I caught up to the back end, carefully navigating my way to the others.

Flame looked at me for a moment and nodded to the broken thruster, where the two of them held onto the lip of the jet's output. They used the thrusters on their back and rear hooves to push and steer from what I gathered.

I grabbed hold, shutting off my fore thrusters. At once, my hooves became magnetized to it, so as to keep me from slipping. Buildings fell all around, and Firebright's maniacal piloting through it all had us constantly slamming into one another just trying to keep things in order and work with her flight trajectory.

Massive tentacles crashed down on the city, both forward and behind.

The ship rocketed up for evasive action, and the three of us complied with her request.

Buildings caved in all around us, pluming up dust and detritus. The system in my suit, like all the desires I had since wearing it, detected the strain to my eyes, and as a result, everything was highlighted in a neon blue, granting me some semblance of sight once more.

We bolted out from the city, facing the falls that we had run to earlier. My vision returned to normal once we were clear of the dust, and Firebright eased right. With smooth motion, we positioned ourselves to fulfill the task.

For a moment, I wondered why we were given no training with this tech. This seemed like a horrible idea at first. But now I saw...

We were trained as we went. We were smart enough to figure things out on our own and adapt to it.

The suits seemed to have it all.

I looked to our right as we rushed for the exit to find the Cetera were still in pursuit. We lost them for about half a minute, but half a minute was the only leeway we were given.

Lucisco was still expanding...

Furthermore, the gunships and Warhorse units were flying in through our exit.

And the Cetera...

They were more than one mind now. They charged from the city ruins as one body. A goliath bigger than Lucisco. A titan half the size of what the city once was...

Tentacles burrowed deep in the ground, then came back up miles away from their dig site, before digging deep again, like a sewing needle. They were gaining on us at an alarming rate...

Within the tendrils were hints of their light. One peek at it sent my head spinning, and so I closed my eyes in attempts to collect myself again.

There was no knowing if the screams lingered, but I wasn't going to take the chance to find out.

When I opened my eyes, Polarity's gun was blasting away at the pursuer. It was then that the sky itself trembled like a cough trapped in the lungs. The cavern ceiling glowed bright with fire and smoke, spreading out across the core at a much faster rate than the Cetera and Lucisco combined.

Had we not been magnetized to the thruster, I was certain through the consistent crashing of one another that we would have lost control entirely and lost our grip.

I gaped up at the mass of heat above us...

And down came the sky, falling on our heads. One boulder half the size of our ship. Five more through the thick smoke, each varying in shape, but around the same mass as our vessel.

Beyond hundreds more, dropping down like bombs the size of the dome that once kept Firebright contained...

... And then...

The sky grew brighter than the explosion. Something crept forth through the ashen curtain. Lava falls poured down in mass with the downpour hail of rocks.

Polarity's gun ceased. Upon looking ahead, the gun stayed fixed in place; undamaged. She was doing something.

Beyond the gun, the gunships spun back around to where they had taken off, bolting back for the safety away from the imminent cave in. If my judgement was correct, what with the planet core exploding and collapsing within itself, there was a global evacuation order put into place.

The Warhorse units, however, continued pushing forward; their visors glowing red.

Two of them had turned and chased after the gunships that retreated.

A hefty suit of grey, steel armor unlike ours bolted underneath me, before coming back around and regarding me behind a black visor.

The chestplate had a white, pointed sword pointing up through several cogs, but over that was a hammer and wrench crossing paths.

What struck me as surprise was that I knew the history behind that suit, who was in it, and who originally owned it. As if I had always known, despite never knowing it even existed.

I was absorbing Firebright's memory. I was a part of her now.

The suit was her brother's, though some modifications were evidently made to it, such as the thrusters in her hooves, and the two caliber barrels over each fore.

She raised her hooves as she backed away, then pointed ahead. Polarity soon joined her side with the same calibers over her hooves.

Flame released his grip. Then Firefly. Then me.

The ship had already begun its descent for the ground below. Pebbles and detritus were already raining down on us.

The lot of us pushed forward together; Firebright in the lead.

Our fore thrusters were good for speed, but if we had to fight, which looked unavoidable at this point, we'd have to turn them off.

I noticed Taurus' head had been dismantled from his body and attached to Fire's back. His visor was shut off, implying he was offline. That was for the best, given the situation. If he picked up the Cetera's signal...

Flame tapped my shoulder, which came to me as a buzz, and looking over, he brought a forehoof between us to reveal the same caliber guns slide out and manufacture from both, starting with a base. He then pointed at the Warhorse units ahead, then slid the tip of his hoof along his throat, before pushing forward to catch up to Firebright. Firefly followed his lead, readying his guns.

Here we go...

Two caliber guns constructed themselves on each forehoof in less than a second, side by side. I pushed towards my allies as the remnants of the city were flattened by massive chunks of rock. Lucisco - or rather, his intruder - went with it.

Our ship crashed, burning as it rolled along the ground. Before it could come to a stop, the Cetera rammed through it, obliterating the vessel completely.

And I meant completely...

I couldn't see any sign of it anymore.

Fire's fore thrusters shut off just as she brought them forward, blasting away at the Warhorse units that fired back in turn.

Pulses of a bright, light blue launched from their pulse cannons as flechettes bounced off our armored form.

While their pulse cannons fired more lethal shots, they traveled at a slower rate than the flechettes. Even then, not by much. Still, it gave us a decent chance to evade from this distance, albeit, a closing one.

Bigger rocks began to hail down on us. Just another good reason to get the hell out of here.

The group dispersed as the shots of the pulse cannons were near.

Their flechette rounds thankfully weren't able to penetrate the armor we wore, but in turn, we weren't doing all that much either. No more than dents to their armor.

Obstacles of bigger mass came down. Obstacles that were more troublesome now. Obstacles that could crush us.

Several of these obstacles had halted the progress on the Cetera's gain on us. That was our silver lining.

A Warhorse unit swept in for me with the intent to pummel. Just before it could strike, did I swerve to the left. It's wing made an attempt at my side, from chest to flank, but my armor kept it away from my flesh with its resilience.

Regardless, I felt it. Not as a pain, but a disturbed tingle through the trail it attempted to make red.

In the rearview, it began to make a turn in pursuit of me. I spun my body around and shut off the back thrusters temporarily as my rears kept my momentum. Pointing both fores at the unit, I peppered him with Tungstian munitions.

Firebright's knowledge of how this tech worked was coming to me, it seemed. I had never heard of Tungstian before. Only Tungsten.

It seemed that my suit was manufacturing the ammunition from the carbon I exhaled; altering its compounds to take a solid form of its choosing and utilizing it as a means of defense.

Nekkra technology was far more superior than anything else I've ever seen... though that wasn't saying much, seeing as I hardly knew about about the universe to begin with.

Most of my shots simply bounced off the armor of the robots, but a few slipped between the cracks. Breaking through the thick, black, silicone suit that housed their inner workings and burrowing deep into its back.

It spasmed as it spiraled out of control, diving to the ground below.

One down...

I swung back around and hit my back thrusters. The others had been busy while I was disposing of just one.

Firebright was going through a whole rampage. I turned just in time to see her tear one of the units in two with her hooves, all while blasting its innards with hot Tungstian steel. She discarded the malfunctioning machine and darted to the side as a pulse cannon fired at her relentlessly.

A boulder triple the size of the mech that fired at her dove down mere inches from where she was.

Without a second wasted, she slammed her forehooves against its passing surface and hit her thrusters, launching off it and zooming past me. In turn to her action, the boulder flung the opposite direction, destroying six of the units before inevitably hitting the ground.

The Cetera behind us were crushed from the fall of rocks, and as each second passed, the situation here got more dicey. We needed a way out, and fast. But through all the evasive action, that proved to be a problem.

Firebright launched forward from behind, and as she passed over me, struck the back of my head with a hoof. A vibrating jolt lingered in the place she hit, and after a momentary head drop, I looked up at her to find she was looking back at me, pointing up at a boulder that plummeted down in our flight path ahead. She then shoved her two fores in the direction of our destination, before rushing off to the aid of my friends, who were finishing off the last of the Warhorse units in the area. However, there were more ahead.

I charged forward, keeping a watchful eye on the descending boulder.

As it obstructed my path, I rammed my fores against it as my rear and back thrusters went to full power.

The boulder launched forward from the impact; my forehooves digging fractured craters into its surface.

Lava washed down and engulfed the land behind, becoming an ocean of certain doom. The falls were close to reaching us.

Polarity struck the surface left of me. Then Flame to the right. Firefly below, and Firebright above.

Together, we put the strength of our suits against the boulder, increasing its speed. It was by no means anywhere as fast as the ship, but it was a good shield against any incoming attacks from the Warhorse units ahead, allowing us to travel in a straight path.

A boulder crashed down on ours, causing it to collapse to the doomed ground below.

The lot of us backed off from it, but in an instant, Firebright leapt to action, bolting up to the boulder that had impacted ours and recruiting it as our next battering ram.

The rest of us joined her side without a second to spare. The falls were too close now, and judging by the suit's proximity warning, we wouldn't survive it.

During all this, I noticed Fire was bobbing her head, swaying it left to right occasionally. There was something cheerful about it, but I couldn't quite...

... Wait...

Her memories. Song. Music. Dancing. Not the way Flame's dancing was to be executed, but genuine dancing. It was a sign of fun. Enjoyment. Just having a good time. Even so much as a head bob or a rhythmic tap of the hoof was a sign of enjoyment...

Firebright was listening to music through all this!?

She was enjoying this!?

How the fuck!?

By the stars, she was a psychopath!

In the rearview, the remains of the city were devoured completely by molten lava. Lucisco launched out from the rubble as a black orb of tendrils, writhing and presumably screaming as the substance ate away at his body.

It was then that the extra collective that chased after us through the field shot up from the boulders that pinned it. It's body disintegrated, as if connected to Lucisco's pain.

By a few dozen feet, a boulder shot down behind us, blocking us of any view of what was happening on our six. We were lucky enough to not have been hit by it...

We were then jolted down by another impact with a boulder, and after backing off from it, we adopted the new one with haste. The plan was working, that's all that mattered...

Upon looking in the rearviews once more, once the boulder behind us was gone, so was the Nekkra-Cetera hybrid. And Lucisco.

Below us was the portal Flame and I had opened to get in here. The start of our adventure.

It felt so long ago now... even if it wasn't.

Firebright backed off from the boulder, but continued to stay behind it at a close proximity. The lot of us released it too, and with a nod, she slowed her speed. We followed her lead.

On the other end of the boulder, as I peeked around, a battleship began to take off from the other various spacecraft.

The ground floor was pure chaos. Warhorses advancing on subjects and Humans alike, pinning them down behind a red gaze. Getting close to their face as they cried out in pain...

Their eyes bursting...

White light pouring through...

The units were working with the Cetera's frequency now. They picked up the signal...

Several units laid a heavy barrage against the battleship's engines as it sought to escape the disaster.

The bottom half of the vessel began to disappear behind the boulder. Before it could entirely, the giant hunk of rock threw it against the wall of the pit, sandwiching it and the units that assaulted it. Fire and explosions ensued in its destruction.

Firebright launched up, as did the lot of us follow close and behind. Going as fast as our suits would allow us.

Pulse energy chased after us as the Warhorse units did. Flechettes bounced off our armor.

They seemed fixated on shooting me in the ass, judging by the nerve wracking vibration...

Damn it all, this was sending me into a frenzy... There was a time and a place, and this was NOT it!

Behind a soft moan, I shouted as I spun around.

"Fuck! OFF!"

With all thrusters still active save for my back, I aimed my guns down at them and let it rain Tungstian.

Rounds either bounced off their armor or dug into their neck, expiring them. One of them burst into fire before exploding, taking two others with it.

Further down, coming at a much faster rate, were Silence units...

Moving in for the kill.

I wasn't sure how well this armor would do against energy damage such as theirs...

Firebright swept in front of me, catching my attention with a wave of her hoof between us. Between the two caliber barrels on both fores, another base popped out, and a serrated blade stretched out, about a foot in length. Small gaps of black were evenly spaced from each other; steel separating their contact, like the units we were fighting were designed to allow easier motion.

The others opened fire on the incoming attackers; blades now protruding from their forehooves.

With a simple desire, my hooves carried the same feature. The lot of us fired below. Their advance was frightening. This was the first time I had ever seen the Silence units in action. They carried more armor than the Warhorse units, yet they moved so much faster than them.

Their armor seemed more resilient too, as if speed wasn't bad enough.

The closest of the group received a full barrage of Tungstian rain, but the guns didn't seem to be doing much in the way of damage against them.

Their horns began to glow red as hard light holographic blades. Two others shot out on either side of their head the way the Warhorse units had their guns built over their ears.

As it came to, Firebright swung her arms around, and her blades whipped around, one of which wrapped and tangled around the unit's neck.

It lunged for her, to which she bolted to the left in a twirl, swinging it against the jagged rock wall. She rammed into its back side, pounding against the back of its head mercilessly.

The other units, having caught up, went for all of us. Two on Firebright.

I swung the blade of my left hoof out against a unit, to which it darted back. In my recovery, it lunged forward again, throwing my against the wall.

A sharp drill of pressure ran through my entire back to the extent of pain. Pressing two barrels against the underside of its chin, I fired repeatedly, screaming from the burning sensation that grew in my body. Still, it didn't let up...

My other hoof pressed firmly against its neck as it tried swinging its blades to my face.

A bladed tendril whipped around its face from behind, inches from hitting mine.

At once, the unit was ripped off me, and thankfully, with the grip it had on me at that moment, I was pulled off the wall.

Flame grabbed a hold of it and dug a blade into its neck between the plating. He fired into its circuitry as it fought with him. After the fourth shot, it went limp.

He threw the body around to his rear as another mech rushed in, dismissing the attack with a tumble of the machine. It spun wildly for a second, but as it recovered, I rammed into it, slicing both blades along its neck. It's circuitry, now exposed, sparked as the unit fell to the growing inferno below.

Firefly and Polarity were in my rearview, using the blades as whips to make quick, lethal jabs at the units that dared approach them. It took longer to take them out, but it was working.

I turned to Firebright seconds before she threw a Silence unit in my direction with her whip, preoccupied with the one she drove into the wall. It's body twitching and sparking to her cause.

The Silence struck me, but thankfully, I wasn't thrown off into a state of disorientation from it.

I dug both blades into its neck and fired three shots before it faced expiration. I dropped the mech and turned to Firebright once more, just as she ripped the head off of the unit and let its body plummet. With a toss of the decapitated head, and a push off the wall, she spun in a twirl, holding her forehooves out.

Her bladed whips spiraled around her as more swept in for their target.

I raced for them, firing at the machines. The rounds just kept bouncing off, despite my best efforts to save her...

She stretched her arms out wider, spinning faster and lifting her head up to the sky. Her guns fired repeatedly...

Sparks flew along her whips, and a red energy lashed out from the tips, striking and immediately disposing of the Silence's all around her. Literally melting them... All in one fell swoop...

What the fuck...?

She raced past me before the mechs - or what remained of them - could even begin falling, and upon another squad in pursuit, she waved her forehooves around in intricate patterns, twirling this way and that, darting left, right, up, down, forward, back. And all while she did these random assortments of actions, her guns fired, and more sparks became red death for the machines.

She was fucking dancing... and kicking ass doing it! It was... beautiful! It was almost like the dances I imagined Dancing Flame did in the past. She moved like a zebra... Or, at least, I think she did. Flame seemed to have some fascinating patterns in his movement that I could see were similar to hers.

It was breathtaking.

Something grabbed a hold of me from behind, and before I could react, a sharp pain grew in my shoulder. A pain beyond any I felt before...

I gasped from the shock, looking down at the red holographic light pouring out of my shoulder.

I was then thrown back to the wall...

I didn't want to scream, cry, or fight... I didn't want to move...

The Silence that stabbed me swept in and grabbed another hold of me. All I could was stare...

It jolted its head down to mine with no time to waste...

...

... And went rigid, inches from meeting me.

The body fell with a burning hole in its back.

In its place, Firebright rushed to me and grabbed a hold, putting my injured foreleg around her shoulder and rocketing up.

I wasn't feeling any buzzing anymore.

We soon reached ground, but upon my hoof meeting the surface, I collapsed, wincing.

"Fuck, ow..."

"Damn it, Phoenix..." Fire said exasperatingly.

Just then, did I notice sound had come back. I guessed we were safe here for now.

"I appreciate you liking the show, but be more attentive. This is fight or die!"

"Is she going to be alright?" Flame asked, stepping up and looking down at me.

"She'll live. It'll take some time, but her suit will patch her up." She looked back down at me and leaned her head in. "You can't freeze up like that. When there's danger, you eliminate it. Pure and fucking simple. I lost everything for you. I gave up everything I loved for you! If you die, then it was all for fucking NOTHING!"

"Firebright..." Polarity stepped in with Firefly draped over her back. I wasn't the only one injured I guess... "We were slaves..."

Firebright's head shot up. Not of anger, but realization. She turned to my sister as she continued.

"We've never known how to fight. It's incredible we're alive at all with what just happened... Give her a break..."

Fire sighed and shook her head, hanging it down. She dragged a hoof along the powdered land, kicked some dust up, then looked at the tower complex in the distance.

"What is it?" Flame asked.

She turned to him, and then down at the ground again, kicking more dust up.

"This is... the first time I've been up here since the Humans took over..." She shifted some of the red powder around in a circular motion, almost as if digging for something. "I feel... so much... blood... beneath our hooves..."

Black oozed out from her suit's hooves, leaking and stabbing into the ground.

"Bones of the many, turned to dust and scattered with the winds of time. Yet... I hear their screams, I see their battles of the past. They tremble beneath our steps eternally, hidden by falsities. Blood of the fallen, it stains the dry plains of greed. Death of the many lie around us in numbers no mortal could ever see..."

She hunched her back, bending her head to the ground as she gasped and cried out in pain. Her bones... were... snapping... I could hear it, even under the heavy plating of her armor.

"B-But now, they will rise for a final just... It is time for my children of old to rise. You have paid more than your dues, and the many may rest once home is home once more. R-rise... My children... Rise from the dreamless slumber of death and be born again..."

A shadow began to darken the land next to me, and in a panic, I rolled to the side, crying out from the pain in my joint. I stood up on three legs and looked around frantically. Shadows and pits began to form across the landscape for as far as the eye could see.

"Be the justice you sought so long ago, my children. And I assure you, you will all get the rest you deserve when this is all over. Your revenge is here..."

Shadowed smoke of various shapes and sizes crawled out from the ground, bearing the same white glow of eyes that Lucisco had.

They huddled up close to us by the millions, completely surrounding us.

The place was silent...

"W-what is this...?" Polarity asked, tripping over her words as she looked around frantically, as I did.

"Long ago..." Firebright huffed, slowly rising up to stand straight in a heavy pant as the tendrils in her hooves ceased production. "I had a utopia... Every race got along with another. Everyone was truly equal. I helped them with advanced technology, and we all worked together to build great things." She reached a hoof out and brushed it against what looked like the bottom of a filly's chin. The filly tilted her head to her curiously and blinked.

"We sent out signals for the stars in hopes to find alien life. More specifically, a certain civilization that I was told by my benefactor would help me bring you to existence. Thing is, they weren't so... civil..." She waved a hoof to the tower. "My inhabitants fought long and hard, but the Humans were stronger. For a time, anyways... The remaining survivors joined me at the planet core, carved the mural around it, sealed ourselves away. Lived as happy as we could, given the situation. But we never stopped loving each other. We were..." Her voice cracked, to which she paused for a moment, until finally clearing her throat. "We were perfect. I lived among them. Not as a Goddess, or a queen, or even a planet, but as someone that simply existed. As a pony. As a friend. As family..."

"So what happened?" Polarity questioned. "To the core, I mean?"

She hung her head down and sighed. "The Humans... weren't the only one that got our signal. The Cetera found out of the Nekkra and went straight for us, skipping the Humans and... well, thankfully all of you. Slipped in through the core just before we closed it off and waited. They had to of. There's just no other explanation."

"Sounds like something they'd do. But... waited for what?"

Firebright turned to my question.

"They were cataloguing, is my best guess. Getting record of every inhabitant, their patterns, keeping track of who was where, and determining the right time to strike. If they got a hold of me... well, you saw what Lucisco became... I'd be much worse..." She turned to the Nekkra that surrounded us. "Well... it's time to right a deep wrong... One more battle... And like many times before, alongside my people. Alongside my family..."

012

Klaxons blared throughout the facility in an endless frenzy.

Beneath us, crushed under debris, were the remains of Silences and Warhorses.

Gunshots echoed down the corridors, and screams of the many soon accompanied moments before those shots went quiet. Nekkra spread throughout the facility.

"Damn it..." Firebright hopped off the debris and looked back at us. "I was hoping the Cetera didn't get here first. Sound off, everyone."

With a simple mental command, all went silent. I nodded and hopped down beside her after. Then the others.

Firefly was back on his hooves, but he was still in a bad condition. He was moving a lot slower with whatever new injuries he had. With one of his hooves favoring his side, I had a good idea where he was hit.

As for my injury, my foreleg was getting more numb as time went on. I had hoped he got the same treatment.

We had crashed through the control complex that held the orbital platform. Unfortunately, we had to target the lower floors, as the sentry guns along the tower would have shot us down if we passed a certain height.

We were gonna have to climb, and it went without saying that I really hoped we didn't run across any trouble. But the chance of that was extremely slim, even with Firebright's Nekkra roaming the planet and towers. We had to steal a ship, as per Firebright's order. If getting there with no resistance wasn't impossible, than stealing a ship under the same concern was.

While the others walked, I limped. But we were all going the same pace. As it appeared, we hadn't been detected yet. With a new threat running around, our enemies were preoccupied.

Blood of many stained the walls and floor. More blood than bodies...

The ones that were shot down were the lucky ones, in this case.

The ground trembled softly beneath our hooves. The lot of us stopped and looked at one another, and then our very limited surroundings. Something had to have blown up nearby to cause that. Below, judging by the buzz under our hooves.

Firebright waved a hoof over to her before continuing her cautious advance for the stairwell ahead. We followed in her steps.

Upon reaching the stairwell, Firebright hit her thrusters and hovered over the drop in the center, looking back at us for a moment, before Flame, Polarity, and I did the same, almost simultaneously. Firefly was the last to join us.

Firebright raced up the levels hastily with us in tow. It seemed avoiding conflict here wasn't so impossible after all. The Nekkra had been clearing the entire vicinity of our route. Within a few minutes, we had already reached the main platform... which appeared to us as void of any life, hostile or otherwise. There was a fight here. A brutal one, between machines, slaves, and two hive minds.

The lift wasn't on our level, but that didn't seem to be a problem for us. Looking up the colossal shaft, our path looked clear.

Two buzzes on my shoulder had me look at Firebright, who tapped her ear a few times.

I disabled the soundproofing to discover the screaming had stopped. At least, here it did. I was certain the whole planet had an infestation now.

Alarms roared with the company of the red spinning lights overhead.

"No stalling." Firebright shoved me. "I fucking mean it. Get your head in the game. Do not hesitate to kill whatever is up there, because they sure won't."

With a sigh, I nodded. "Okay..."

Firebright backed off and stared up the shaft.

"Aren't you worried about your army getting turned by the Cetera?" Firefly asked worriedly, looking around at all the exits and entrances.

"Nope." Firebright replied simply before looking at him. "They can't hear. So they can't turn. The worst the Cetera can do to them is rip them apart or shoot them down with the mechs, but any organic life they took over would be Nekkra territory again before that happened. This is an entire planet against a panicking corporation and a sound. We have the advantage." She looked up at the shaft again. "It seems they put the stations in orbit under lockdown for fear of the invasion reaching them. I'm certain there's quite a bit waiting up there for us. Tread carefully. Don't be a hero."

"Copy." Flame said with a salute. He seemed to be enjoying all this..

They all did, to an extent.

I didn't feel like a monster killing Cetera and expiring machines. But I did feel... like less than a pony for not being able to save the others. It was... a weird feeling... not feeling like myself...

But...

Something...

Hit me...

I've never bothered trying to save any subject from termination, rapings, or beatings. Otherwise I was going to receive the same treatment. I realized it was selfish of me... I put myself before others... With that epiphany, I did feel like a monster...

But what could I, one pony, do against gun wielding, 900 plus pound armor plated machines?

Still, with that fact, my mind still berated me. I did nothing. I never did anything.

So... why was this any different?

...

... I knew the answer, right as I asked the question to myself.

The slaves finally had a chance for a better life. Like us. But it was kept out of reach, and they were to die here, or get assimilated by the Cetera's song.

And we had to let it happen so we could escape...

We were fucking monsters.

It was as it always had been. The robots were doing their job. Secure order. I was doing my job. To stay alive, no matter what it took. And I fucking hated myself for that... Sacrificing the lives of others to save mine...

A hoof to my shoulder brought me back to reality. I swung my head to Firebright as she regarded me behind her black visor. Her hoof wrapped lightly around the back of my neck as she spoke in a more consoling manner.

"I know you want to save them... I know it's hard... I've been right where you are now... and I'm sorry... but you must understand... you're a part of a plan. Something big. Your survival is vital to that whole operation. Saving the ponies here is not how you'll be a hero."

Screams started at the volume of a whisper off in the distance, far down the tram bridges. Growing louder as second's passed by.

Fear and pain of a physical manifestation mixed in with dread and mental anguish I was already feeling.

"We should get moving..." Flame said in a deep tone as he backed up toward us, keeping an eye on the sky bridge where the screams were coming from. Deeper than his natural voice. "More are coming..."

Firebright nodded. "Keep your sound on. I may need to give orders during this. If the screaming gets too bad, then mute it if you have to."

With that, she kicked off the ground and looked down at us, hovering over where the orbital platform should have been.

We all followed her action, and at once, she darted up into the massive widespread shaft, only for us to follow close behind.

The screams rapidly decreased the further up we got. It was satisfying to know we were already losing them... again.

The facility below rumbled once more as we pushed through the thick, black clouds that sought to get in. That explosion was a lot bigger than the others... and the screams were catching up to us.

We reached the clearing, and far up above was a carrier class vessel, hanging near orbit. Upon our sighting of it, the batteries, which just finished turning to the tower we ascended, started to glow a bright blue. Electricity ventured around the massive barrels as the inside of the guns warmed up.

Far off in the distance, one of the other shafts of the orbital platform to another complex collapsed to gravity's will, having already been sliced clean in several parts of its body.

"MOVE!" I screamed, pushing forward as fast as my suit was able. This time, I was in the lead, while the others followed.

The steel beams that supported the tower in the distance groaned as they bent and twisted, overlapping the scream of the Cetera behind us. A brief glance to the right showed it was leaning in our direction, getting ready to collide.

Beams of bright blue light shot out from the ship's batteries and swept across various sections of the structure, cutting clean through. The lot of us came to a halt as a laser swept in front of our path, moments before shutting off. We all looked at one another while the Cetera closed in.

Then the structural integrity began to cry out...

Cracks traveled across glass like a lightning storm frozen in time the moment it struck. Steel began to melt and bend. Fractured tower struggled to stand... and all it needed was a push from another.

We pushed forward again, racing against time as the shaft gradually distorted.

The neighboring tower split off into chunks, increasing speed against us. There was no way we were gonna get through this safely. But pushing forward was our only chance, despite the heavy risk.

The sliced columns began to slide to the left, picking up speed the further they went.

The first of the chunks of the neighboring structure crashed against ours, one at a time. Starting from further up, and trailing down with each impact. Metal and glass began to rain down on us as we pushed for our very lives.

At once, Fire clung tight to me from behind.

"What the hell are you-" I started to blurt, before she interrupted.

"Everyone grab a hold!"

Without question, they did just that, clinging tight to Fire and I. It was then I realized what was happening. We were going to combine our thruster speed collectively.

And as Firefly grabbed a hold of my front end, still avoiding looking at me, we propelled up with a sudden jolt of power running through our back and hooves.

Upon turning to the right, as steel and glass crashed down on us, one of the massive fragments of structure closed in on our location.

We bolted to the side as one unit, inches from striking a steel bar that would have hindered our advance greatly, if not flat out kill us.

The collision of the two fragments of tower sent ours further down the slope it had already been sliding down, and was now beginning to tilt for a dive to lower ground.

"Hang on!" Fire screamed. "Everyone, stay on full power!"

"We're not gonna make it!" Polarity shouted.

"Not with that attitude, we won't! Full thrusters! NOW!"

"We already are!" I screamed defensively.

The way to the top of the fragment we were in was already closed, however. It was too late for that opportunity. However... a new one arose.

As the fragment began its plummet to the planet's surface, the right wall became our new ceiling, caving in hard and fast on us. With one desperate, collective effort, we pushed up against it...

... and with our velocity against the structure's, punctured through the reinforced glass like a bullet to flesh. Had it not been severely damaged already, the force of the impact and the tumbling break off of the party told me we wouldn't have been so lucky.

I quickly recovered and rushed to Firefly, grabbing a hold of him so as to stop his disoriented flight pattern.

Firebright, Flame, and Polarity swept in and clung tight to us shortly after, just as another fragment crashed down over us; this one leaning to the right, only by a little.

Within a second of banding back together, we were inside the structure's failing interior. Much to our fortune, the damage to the glass in this area was worse. There were no more windows on this end, and the other side was starting to look the same.

We flew together at an angle that matched the fragment's as we bolted through its descent. Out from the other end of that was a gap of open air, seconds before another tunnel consumed us; this one more straight than the former, thankfully.

Save for the rain of the resources they spent to fulfill their empire coming down on our heads, and the occasional dodge of a metal support beam, the ride through this section was relatively smooth.

Once we reached the end, we were free from that obstacle course, and just entering the fabric of space. The rest of the shaft here was still intact, so that was our entry point.

One of the many features of this armor was a steady oxygen supply, as it turned out. I kind of figured that was the case though. Firebright wouldn't have sent us up here without something like that, I didn't think.

Firebright squeezed us tightly, and then Flame and Polarity as we raced for the orbital platform that kept us out. We weren't slowing down...

I clung even tighter to Firefly, wincing behind the flaring pain in my shoulder.

As we advanced, the front end of my suit began to buzz softly. It grew in volume, and gradually spread to my shoulders.

In one impact, we drilled through the thick, steel platform. The strike slowed us drastically, and all around us, as we were broken off from each other, were Wars, Silences, Taurus', Sentries, and even Humans, dressed in armor.

They didn't have a second left for them to react before the puncture became a pocket for the vacuum of space.

The lot of us hit our thrusters again, but even at full power, we were slowly being dragged down.

Machines and Humans alike congested at the breach, crumpling up like tinfoil into each other to the will of space, before launching out into the void. Only then, did a new wave of clustered machines and flesh get compressed to each other.

Having my former masters scream in agony the way they did as blood and mashed organs seeped out through their armor sparked something deep inside me...

I enjoyed it.

I lusted for more...

After the third cluster, the main hub of the station became weightless and silent.

Some of us, myself included, struck the ceiling from the lack of warning, but it wasn't a problem. Our armor had dealt with much worse.

We recovered, taking a gander at one another. Firebright pointed a hoof down an empty corridor, then gently made her way in that same direction, to which we respectively followed.

We reached a door at the far end, and as Firebright opened it, more mechs and Humans were thrown out. It wasn't the Humans that were a problem, seeing as they relied on oxygen that was flushed out.

The machines, however...

Flechettes, pulse rounds, and bodies swept past, many of which struck us. Fire was the first to get hit by a lethal round - being a pulse. She staggered for a moment as we laid down a suppressing fire. She joined the fight with very little effort, and within second's of doing so, the assault ceased. Thankfully, on our part, there weren't many there.

We pushed in, to which Firebright closed the door behind us. Gravity began to restore, and with it, sound. Air hissed through the ventilation as our hooves touched the ground. Fire tampered with the door controls momentarily before putting a round in it, frying the circuitry.

She turned to us and nodded down the other end of the corridor, before moving in the same direction.

"Not gonna hold the Cetera off for long, but it'll buy us some time."

As we followed, she continued.

"There's a ship waiting for us on the third floor. The route has heavy resistance, but nothing we can't handle. Regardless, be ready. Try to avoid putting yourself in harm's way."

She proceeded to leap off the ground, her thrusters bursting to life. With a quick spin to us, she spoke in a cheerful voice.

"Race ya."

<>

"Pew! Pew!" Firebright blurted as she opened fire at the War units that guarded the airlock to the ship we sought. She quickly returned behind the cover of the crates with the rest of us, chuckling.

"How the fuck are you enjoying this?" I asked as flechettes and pulses curtained over us.

"How the fuck aren't you enjoying this?" She replied with a tap to my nose, before reaching a hoof around and firing another round as she screamed. "KERBLAM!"

"Stop that, it's giving me a headache!" Flame snapped.

"Never!" With a rapid fire, she recited. "Pew, pew, pew! Brrraaaat!"

"That last one didn't even correlate with your actions!" Firefly chided, before peeking over the top of the crate and firing a few shots. "Bang! Bang! Bang!" He returned to cover when the rounds of the War units were directed at him, to which he looked back at Fire.

"See? Bang works better. Makes more sense."

She chuckled again, shaking her head as she pat him on the head. "Maybe in certain, heh... situations. But now? Fuck that." She spoke in amusement before poking her head out from the side and blasting away. "Bam! Bam! Bam! Kaboom! Gun sounds!"

Firefly shook his head disapprovingly as he rose up and aided her in combat.

"Bang! Bang!"

"Boom! Bam!"

"Will both of you stop that!?" Flame spat, firing a few more rounds. "It's distracting!"

"NEVER!" Firebright roared through the firefight. "More gun sounds! Kerbam! Ping! Pew! Boo-AGH!"

She recoiled, holding a hoof over her armored chest, breathing heavily.

"Those motherfuckers!"

Before Polarity or I could reach out to her, she rolled back onto her hooves and growled.

An explosion rocked the station from below, and briefly, through the firefight, I could hear the screaming of a collective...

"It. Is. ON!"

With that, Firebright jumped out into the open, standing on her hind legs and peppering the machines with Tungstian.

"Fire!" I screamed, peeking around for retaliation.

"That's what I'm doing!" She said behind a cheeky laugh as flechettes and pulses riddled her, knocking her back one step at a time. Yet through all this, she laughed. Maniacally. The pulses were hurting her, but still, she laughed...

We, as a team, blasted relentlessly at the overwhelming odds. We didn't have much time left before the Cetera got here... They were already on their way.

"Taurus, stop listening!" Fire screamed as her back pressed against the wall.

Immediately, without a second to spare, she started spouting the weirdest shit as she laid down a heavy fire. I could tell in her voice she was on her last legs.

"If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done!? I am the wisest mare alive, for I know one thing! And that is that I know nothing! It's weird to not be weird! Ugh... F-Fuckers! Procrastinate now, don't put it off! He who fears he shall suffer, already suffers what he fears!"

Her armor began to glow bright red, melting over the symbol on her chest. The icon she adored... She screamed in tears.

"Fire, what are you doing!?" Flame shouted back.

"Stay behind cover! Fighting for peace is like fucking for chastity! Nobody comes here anymore, it's too crowded! I never said most of the things I said!"

She collapsed against the wall, ceasing fire as she pressed her back to it.

"I'm already dead!" She rasped. "I just learned to live with it..."

Immediately, everything went quiet. No more guns. No more buzzing in the suit, except a subtle one from behind that gradually grew more intense.

The hammer and wrench on Fire's chest was molten metal at that point... I was heartbroken about that. It was all in her memory, but it meant the world to her... I felt that.

We cautiously peeked over the riddled crates to find the remaining units were standing, but... they were offline. Their visors were blank, and smoke rose from their bodies.

Firebright chuckled, before coughing in a rasp, to which we turned back to her.

"How funny..." She shook her head and coughed again before taking her helmet off and tossing it aside. "The overload went into effect at such a poetic moment..."

"Firebright..." Polarity stepped forward. "What did you just do?"

"Paradoxes." She smiled faintly. "Contradictory statements to disrupt the AI's process. These ones were pretty advanced. Took a lot more energy than I thought it would bypassing their processor."

"You couldn't have done that behind cover?" Flame chided.

"It ain't fun if it ain't a risk... Which..." She paused, looking down as she ran her hoof over the back of her head. "... Leads to our next course of action."

She laid on her side for a moment before the back of her armor opened. She slipped out, coughing behind a rasp as she grabbed Taurus off the suit's back. Feebly, she stood up and stumbled over to me specifically, smiling wanly. The screams were still far away enough to not be too much of a problem, but my head was starting to hurt...

Her body looked pretty beaten, but she was regenerating. A feature I learned Nekkra were known for.

She reached Taurus out to me, pressing it lightly to my chest.

"Seeing as you're a certified part time engineer, I'll let you do the honors of hooking him up to the ship's systems. He'll do the rest of the work from there, on your command."

"My command?" The helmet around my head began to subtract itself. Then the rest of the suit.

The others followed. She was out of her armor, so I guessed it was safe for now. She didn't protest either, so that really helped confirm it.

She tapped me on the shoulder after I grabbed Taurus with my wings.

"Alas, I got something to do here." She chuckled again. "It's gonna be legendary. So get ready to record it through the ship's blackbox. You and many others will wanna relive it." With a cocky, yet tired, sharp toothed grin, she winked.

"Firebright... You'll die here..."

"I'm already dead, remember? I just learned to live with it." She leaned in and wrapped her fores around me in a caring embrace. I slipped Taurus on my back and returned her affection, closing my eyes.

As she pulled away, she pressed her lips to my cheek lightly and regarded me behind a gentle smile.

"I love you..." She whispered, seconds before glancing at the others. "I love all of you. You're the only family I've got left..." She put her hoof to her forehead in a salute. "It's an honor dying for your safety... For your freedom... I know that whatever you do with your life, you'll make me proud."

"What are you going to do...?" Flame asked in a near whisper, to which her smile widened only by a little as tears lingered in her eyes.

"I'm gonna be putting in my one way ticket for the ride home..."

Confusion set in the faces of my friends, but I knew what that meant...

I had her memories... Nekkra Death... The Everafter she was promised... Her native world...

... Her last moment with Charger...

Someday...

She nodded to the airlock.

"Go on. Get going. I gotta prepare the party favors, and you better be on your way out of the universe by the time I start it up."

"Thank you, Firebright..." Flame saluted to her before turning around and walking for the door, passing glances at the units that stood in still silence.

"I'll never forget you..." Firefly said softly.

Her eyes glistened with tears as she smiled happily at him.

"Damn right, you won't. Especially after what I'm about to do."

He went in for a momentary hug and moved for the airlock.

Polarity stepped forward and nodded once, holding a hoof out.

"May the Afterdeath grant you peace..."

Fire and I both winced at that word simultaneously, which threw Polarity in a visually confused state.

"Let's start calling it the Everafter. It sounds nicer..." I chuckled nervously.

"Oh." She cracked a smile. "May you live happily ever after in the Everafter, then."

Firebright smiled and shook her hoof. And then there were two.

"Take care of our kid, Phoenix."

"Of course." A nod of my head. "Do you have a name you want for them?"

"Once, I did... But now..." Her eyes lingered on mine. "... I want you to name them."

Quietly, I nodded once more. "Take care, Firebright."

I turned and began to walk...

"One more thing."

Stopping, I turned back to her to find she was smiling again. Sincerely.

"The kid you and Flame had together. I don't know where he is, but I know he's alive, and not in this universe. Where you're going... ask for help to track him down. The people I'm sending you to are good at keeping track of things. A lot of them are Human, but... they're good folk. Most of 'em, anyways..." With a reassured nod, she finished off with, "You'll be in good hands."

I cracked a smile back, and our contact concluded with such.

"Thank you, Firebright..."

<>

The ship rocked violently at another blast to her rear.

The lot of us sat in separate seats as we raced through the void. Several red dots with lines above, below, and center were displayed on a holographic projection over the panel to the right hand side of the pilot's seat, which was occupied by a severed head of a T4URU5 unit.

"Shields below 60 percent!" Firefly blurted; his eyes fixated on the screen before him.

"Taurus, evade better!" I screamed as I unleashed laser fire against the incoming projectiles from the massive fleet of carriers, battleships, and frigates on our tail. Flame and Polarity were on the same task as me, but even then, we were just one ship. Against an entire armada of a pissed off slaver corporation.

"Hello?" Firebright's voice boomed over... wait, that wasn't the sound recognition module. That was outside! In space! And holy hell, she was loud!

There was a tapping sound against what sounded like glass, before she spoke again. It seemed the pursuers had stopped firing as well.

Suddenly, a trumpet began to play. Rising in higher pitches as a song began to intensify.

"Helloooo? This thing on? Ah, good! Ahem... Behold..."

I spun my battery around frantically, trying to find out just what was happening here. Drums beat rhythmically in the fabric of space - something that shouldn't have been possible! What the fuck was happening!?

More trumpets joined in...

And then, panning left in the turret's view, I saw it...

A rift in space and time that covered one side of the entire universe like a wall, just as the music grew in volume and intensity for a conclusion...

"The vagina of the universe!" She exclaimed as such was revealed without shame...

She swayed her hips left and right...

By the stars... Firebright, you magnificent bastard...

"It's beautiful..." Polarity said as her gaze lingered on our creator's... pussy...

Okay, I had to admit... this was beautiful.

The song came to a finish, and she spun around to face the rift.

"So!" She started. "Let's get down to it! Who am I?" She grinned. "Well, my previous statement might already have some ideas running around in your head. But let me break it down for you. I am no Goddess. I am no queen. None of that nonsense. I am simply an entire universe of trouble coming down on your heads. You stole my planet, you stole my people, and you stole my resources! But here's the absolute kick in the teeth for all of you nasty little Humans! You fell into MY trap. I planned all this, see." Her grin widened as she looked around through the tear. "Now, you ask, why would I sacrifice my people to you? Did I deceive them? No! I made sure they all knew of your arrival far before you showed up, and by the stars, we planned for it. We had to make the fight look real. They saw the greater good. The ones that didn't want to participate, I gave them a new home. Far away from here. Someplace you'll never - and I mean NEVER - find! Your empire falls here! You won only because we LET you win! It was all one giant stage performance! The beacon we launched in space was the bait, and you took it! We pulled you in with the promise of great riches, and you just couldn't resist. Next question!" Her grin got more vengeful.

"Why didn't I destroy you all the moment you took over? You were all an ingredient to something magnificent. You silly Humans think you're all that, that you're the top dog, but you never even suspected it. You made your own worst nightmare a reality. You conquered an entire Nekkra civilization, dumbass! And with all the raping going on, that means you're infected, too! Not only that, but you let them evolve to their surroundings. I gave you just enough resources to keep them safe in your towers, to keep you invested. I thank you, really. Because now the Nekkra strain is resistant to fire. A thought that terrified you all to the core. And sure, you could end it all right here. But that means ending yourselves and your empire. Killing off all the slaves? You have no more revenue." She then raised a brow.

"Oh, what? You don't believe me? Watch this! Bam! Five trillion Tungstian fuel tanks just disintegrated in each depot you made here! By a simple wish! Where ya gonna go now!?" She burst into laughter. "I'm screaming in space through a giant tear in reality, and you're all hearing it! What more do I have to do to prove to you the truth!?" She paused for a moment, smiling satisfactorily. "That's better... Now... think of this like a letter of resignation. And think of the following events like a going away party. It's funny, really... how comfortable you all got living here. Thinking there'd be no consequences." Her eyes lit up with a new idea in her head.

"Wait, hold on... I got something perfect for this." She left the scene really quick, and at once, a song of triumph began to play. She came back.

"I had a lot of time to think through all th-"

The music cut out, and she groaned. "Damn it... You seriously cut off the fucking internet on me? You guys suck! Alright, fine! I had a backup plan in place... Guess we're gonna bootleg it..." She left the scene again momentarily, before coming back with the same song... but it was all in her vocals... Everything.

"Now! I had a lot of time to think through all this. Found this on a show, by the way. Loved it. Er... not this version, the real version... Anyways! Had a lot of time on my hooves to fuck around. And now I'm finally free. And I'm feeling wacky. I'm feeling dangerous. So come on!" She screamed. "Come at me! I'm right here at Equus! I'm all you got now! But regardless of your actions, know this! You kill me, you kill yourselves. You hurt any of my subjects one more time, so much as even make an attempt at their life, YOU! WILL! FALL! Most of your tech is made by ME! You do one little thing out of place of my desires, and it all goes away! Let me people go! OR! ELSE! IT'S ME YOU WANT! SO GIVE ME YOUR BEST! I'M ALL YOU GOT NOW! THE SUN IS A GIANT DISCO BALL, AND THE UNIVERSE IS THE DANCE FLOOR! SO LET'S FUCKING DANCE!"

I spun the battery around to the fleet in pursuit of us, and after seconds of staring, they began to turn back to Equus. Holy shit, it was working...

I also caught sight of the sun changing... Into a ball of glitter...

Firebright laughed, and confetti burst from the air, raining down as if tethered by gravity. Lights danced and flashed like strobes across the infinite, in sequence with the 'music.'

She backed away from the rift, still staring through with intent. Determination for what was to come washed over her.

"Good dog..." She grinned mischievously. "Charger... I made you a love letter. Before I die... I want you to know... That roses are red, violets are blue. You're my lil' bro, and I fucked you." With a wink and salute, she grinned. "Firebright, signing off."

Author's Note

All that's left is the epilogue.
Dislikes incoming in 3... 2... 1...

... Years Later

I lied under the grated walkway of the ship's corridor, biting down on the handle of a wrench. My right wing was occupied with the turning of a socket wrench against the module before me.

Light from the ceiling overhead beamed down through the small rectangles in the floor above me, only dimming my scenery. My mane kept the area lit enough to actually see what I was doing.

Funny enough, now that I was free, I had discovered from many other races that the atmosphere I found myself in was reminiscent of a prison cell; many of which had an unfortunate experience with one. But me...? I loved it down here. I found peace, comfort, safety...

What I didn't like was over the top clean facilities, with shiny, white, light reflecting floors from the florescence above. A little dirt and grime reminded me that I was safe now...

Bipedal footsteps traversed the corridor overhead, and a shadow moved past as I finished twisting the nut into place, securing the housing of the unit.

"Yo, boss!"

"Mm!" I removed the wrench from my mouth with my free wing, tapping the panel twice. "In here!"

The head of a Human under my employ peeked down into the crawlspace. His eyes glued to the reveal between my legs, frozen in place.

With a giggle, I tossed the wrench at him.

"Eyes are up here, Floyd."

He blinked and shook his head, finally meeting my gaze.

"R-right... sorry. Just... uh... Hard not to notice when your... nethers and teats literally glow..."

"You had something you wanted to tell me? Or you want an excuse to a free show?" I raised a suspecting brow at him.

"Right. It's lunch time, boss." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck in a nervous manner. "The boys are gonna play a round of Texas Hold 'Em. You interested?"

With a grin, I replied.

"Ante up." I proceeded to scoot toward the opening, to which he backed up.

I hoisted myself up, tossed my tools in the red box near the entrance, and following him down the corridor for the exit of the ship as I wiped a rag over my face, partially cleaning it from the machine oil that found itself on my hide.

Music of an outlaw western aesthetic blasted from the radio as me and my crew sat around a few steel crates pressed against each other on the tarmac, out in the open of a pleasantly warm summer day. Some of the guys puffed on cigars or had a bottle of beer glued to one hand as they studied their hand of cards.

"I'll raise you two cigs." One of them - Fenix - said as he slid two onto the table.

"Calling." Revol knocked on the crate twice before putting his due on the table.

"Raise you." Floyd put a full pack of cigs on the table, to which the others, myself included, laughed or whistled.

"I call your bluff, and I raise." I spoke in a wicked, fanged grin, throwing down a tin of cigars. The premium stuff, imported from the outer rim of Dimension G-19735.

"Gah..." The next player, a dark purple coated pegasus with grey cybernetic wings by the name of Iris tossed his cards face down. His eyes, evidently, were cybernetic as well, considering the digital violet nature of his iris, and the black shade of what was once the whites of his eyes, though we never actually talked about it. He always seemed uncomfortable whenever it was brought up. His mane, always disheveled in a fashionable way, was a dark violet purple, while the bangs were a slightly lighter shade of blue, as was his tail. He owned it. The messy mane look was good on him. The scars across his eyes gave me an idea why he didn't like talking about whatever happened, though...

"Fuck you guys, I fold..." He said in a pout.

"Chicken shit." I stuck my tongue out at him in a playful manner.

"Volcano tits." He smirked.

The group chuckled, and I was no exception.

"Yeah, fuckers are pretty swollen..." I said as I glanced down at them. "Little one ain't drinkin' as much as I'm producing."

"Why not have Flame take some off ya?" Floyd asked. "Everyone knows how active you two are at night. Damn hard to sleep with all the screaming."

The group shared another laugh as a deep shade of crimson grew in my cheeks.

"Well, to answer your question... He has been. Still got too much." I slammed my cards down on the crate, face up as the song on the radio came to an end, and a new one began. "Now read 'em and weep, bitches!" I shouted with an ecstatic, confident rise in my chest as I grinned.

The first two groaned in protest and put their cards down. One of them was an obvious bluff, a pair of two, the rest, junk.

The other was three of a kind 8, but it still wasn't enough.

Floyd put his hand down and sighed. "Motherfucker..."

Two aces, rest was crap.

I put down dual queens and kings. And a five.

"Hahaaaaaaaaah!" I wrapped my wings around the bounty and shoveled it in to my side of the crate. "Suckers!"

"Alright then, hot stuff." Floyd said, grabbed the deck of cards and shuffling. "Cool your jets, Black and Red."

"Black and red?" I raised a brow as I regarded him, to which he nodded his head to the radio that blasted such.

"It's your song."

I stared in a deadpan at the crew, but they all just nodded silently.

"You dedicated a song to me based on my color?"

"How could we not?" Iris smiled.

I chuckled and shook my head. "Well... at least it's a song I like."

The group fell silent as Floyd dealt the cards, save for the music and the birds that sang in the open, oxygen-rich atmosphere of the outdoors. The sun's light beamed down on us pleasantly, mixing in with the cold chill of the planet's naturally lower but not unbearable temperature.

After a moment of studying our hands, Fenix spoke.

"Wonder what it tastes like..."

"Hm?" I raised a brow, and his eyes shot open wide.

"Shit, sorry, Phoenix! I didn't mean to say that aloud!"

"What are you going on about?" I asked, chuckling under my breath.

"I... was wondering what your... milk... tastes like..."

The others looked to one another for a moment, before all turning to me.

"Come to think of it, I'm kinda curious too." Floyd filled in.

"Yeah, same." Iris nodded.

I chuckled and leaned my back against the chair I sat in.

"It's smoky. Tastes like it's been hardwood smoked. I'll give ya each a bottle later, if you really wanna taste it. Or you can drink straight from the source now, if you want. I need to lose some anyways."

The others looked at each other with surprise, before Fenix spoke up.

"Y-you sure that's okay...? Flame wouldn't be upset or anything...?"

"Why would he?"

"I dunno... could be seen as cheating, maybe...?"

I shook my head, smiling. "Flame and I don't understand the idea of cheating. And we don't want to. We were raised as sex slaves. We've fucked so many others before and during our time together. Hell, we don't even understand the idea of relationships or marriage. We know we love each other, and that's all we need. I let him fuck others, he lets me fuck others. Sometimes we join in on the action of the other."

"Sounds... slutty... No offense..." Revol said.

"Eh." I shrugged my shoulders. "Call it what you want. But we don't let our actions muddy our love for one another. You could all take turns fucking me right now, and if he showed up during, he wouldn't bat an eye. Hell, he'd probably want a turn."

"Are you... offering...?" Floyd asked with a nervous smile.

"Maybe."

"Damn it..." Iris muttered. "I'm gonna be up all night thinking about plowing my boss now..." The others murmured in agreement.

"Officer on deck!" Dancing Flame shouted as he walked alongside the familiar face of a Human.

At once, everyone except me shot up from their seat, stood firm, and saluted.

There had been a lot of arguments about me not standing whenever an officer was 'on deck,' but I didn't respect Humans fully yet. I sure as hell wasn't ever going to live up to their expectations ever again. But the officer before me understood that, and even accepted it. He was far more different than the others... I admired him for that.

It was astonishing I could still fuck Humans, after everything that happened. Let alone be around them.

"At ease." Sven said, smiling softly.

They relaxed and sat back down. Floyd glanced at Flame and smirked.

"Hey, Flame... We were just talking about fucking Phoenix's brains out."

"Okay." He said simply. "And is she interested?"

"She said maybe."

"Well, if she says yes, then go ahead."

"See?" I jumped in, smiling at their shocked expressions. "We don't give a fuck if we mess with other people. We're comfortable and confident with each other."

Sven sighed, pinching the space between his eyes as he closed them.

"Found the perfect time to visit... Always find the perfect time to visit... Zev would love you two..."

Everyone chuckled as he recovered from his regret.

"Well, sorry to break it to all of you, but I need to steal Phoenix away from all of you for a while." He then turned to me as I tilted my head. "Firebright's brother is able to talk to you now."

"Charger?"

"Mhm."

I exhaled deeply as my heart pumped aggressively in my chest. I hated being the bearer of bad news...

I slid all my treasures off my side of the crate and on the tarmac we resided on. "Everything I dropped is mine. If I find anything out of place, I'm gonna find out who dun it, and I'm gonna bite you. Hard. In the ass." I pointed down at the pile of treasures and smiled faintly. "No touching."

"Yes, ma'am." Floyd saluted. "Good luck, boss."

<>

"How are you liking it here?" Sven asked as he walked alongside Flame and I.

"It's peaceful." I smiled appreciatively. "Thank you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't arrange a living situation at the Hub. People are still freaked out that we have Nekkra living under our jurisdiction now."

"It's no problem." Flame said. "I think I speak for both of us when I say we both prefer living out here than in an industrial complex."

"Right." He nodded as we stopped at a door to a building not too far from our ship and the tarmac she rested on. "I suppose a past such as yours would do that to just about anyone."

He opened the door and waved a hand in.

"After you."

I stepped in first. Then Flame, and lastly, Sven.

Sitting around a table were various holographic projections of ponies I've never seen before, with the exception of one.

Charger Surge.

He sat at the far end of the table, regarding me behind a faint smile.

"Firebright was right..." He sat up straight, looking me up and down as his lips curled into a fanged grin much like my own. "You are hot." He then waved a hoof... claw exactly like Fire's to the seat across from him. "Please, have a seat. I don't bite... as hard." He spoke in a sultry tone. Well... it seemed winking ran in the family.

"You do realize I'm your granddaughter, right?"

"Eh." He shrugged. "Fucked my sister. Fucked my brother. Dreamt of fucking my mother. Many times. In a way, I... did..." His face twisted into disgust as he shook his head. "Gah... don't wanna think about that..." He turned to a white coated mare with a black mane and two white stripes. "I meant Hollow. Not my biological mom..."

"I know, darling." She smiled and turned to me. "I'm Bullet Storm. Mare across from me is Dream Catcher. Mare beside me is Sora. And the stallion that looks like a mare is Charger Surge."

"Oh, come on!" He blurted, glaring at her.

She giggled and pointed a hoof at me as I sat down.

"And you must be Phoenix Feather and Dancing Flame. I've heard a great deal about you."

"Polarity couldn't join us, I'm afraid." Sven stated as he stood near the closed off exit. "She's caught up in a supply run. And Firefly kinda went his own way... with some harsh words for Phoenix..."

"Don't remind me..." I muttered.

"That's fine." Bullet said calmly, regarding my lover and I. "I take it your satisfaction have been met thus far?"

"Very much so." I smiled.

"Good! Sven is such a sweetheart taking you in. Stars know the Dream Walkers would see you dead if it wasn't for him..."

"Well, that's reassuring..." Flame deadpanned.

"But!" Bullet intervened quickly before more ideas ran through our head. "That's not gonna happen! You're a part of a plan. Charger's plan."

"They're more than a plan." Charger said, looking from me to Flame with a faint, yet warm smile. "Firebright, is she there with you?"

Looks of dread washed over me, Flame, and the rest of the council, save for Charger. He was the last to know...

"Oh..." He whispered. "I... see..." He hung his head down.

"I'll show you her message after this conference..." Bullet whispered, regarding him.

He gave her a hurt, confused look, but said nothing. Eventually, he cleared his throat and regarded the two of us again.

"May I ask your occupations? I want to make sure my..." He froze in thought for a moment. "I want to make sure you're under conditions to your liking."

I nodded. "Well, I'm an engineer and a co-pilot for frigate-class vessels. Flame here is a doctor."

"And a damn great one, too." He smirked. "Part time exotic dancer as well."

I blushed and rolled my eyes as Charger looked him up and down, smiling faintly once more.

"Polarity is our main pilot. Likes to go on deliveries a lot though, so we only get to see her once every so often. And Firefly... well..." Looking past his harmful tongue, I smiled. "He's doing what he loves. He's free. And he went his own way. To explore the multiverse. I don't expect he'll be joining us again, sadly. But I'm happy for him."

He nodded slowly. "And what about the rest of you? Are you all happy with your arrangements?"

"Fuck yes." I grinned. "I got my own crew, a beautiful home, a wonderful lover, and-"

"Mama!"

The door opened, and my two little sweethearts came through, one of which rode on the back of the other.

I giggled as the dark orange, glowing filly rammed into me with a tight grip around my waist. Her mane, a charcoal black, and her eyes, a heterochromia of red and green.

On her back was the foal Flame and I made together. Black and red striped wings, along with her body. A mane and tail of fire, like mine, and fiery rings for eyes.

"Daddy!" The oldest let go and rushed to Flame. "I missed you both! Are we still gonna go on that camping trip tomorrow!? Are we, are we!?" She bounced up and down giddily as our foal babbled and giggled, hanging on to the back of her neck, so as to not fall.

"Of course, dear." Flame chuckled, holding them close. "We didn't forget."

Charger smiled softly as he studied the situation.

"Firebright, love...?"

The oldest swung her head to me, smiling brightly. I pointed a hoof at Charger.

"This is your biological father."

"Oh! I remember you!" She grinned as surprise crossed his face. "I dream about you and my mom a lot. Er, your sis, I mean. Though, they might be memories..." She shook herself from the ponder on what it could be, then giggled. "It's great to finally meet you! She said I'd see you soon!"

The room fell in a puzzled silence as we regarded each other.

"I'm sorry, she... said?" Bullet Storm questioned.

"Yep!" She beamed. "Firebright did! My other mom. She talks to me in my dreams. She calls it the Mountain Sound, though."

"That's... fascinating." Sora quickly began to pull out a journal and wrote furiously through the pages. "The birth of a Nekkra, it's gotta be a paradox. A contradiction to itself. The only thing that can be dead and alive, all at the same time. In between realms. Stuck between plains, channeling through them. I'm going to be in my study." She stood up, still writing, though she took a moment to adjust her glasses, all while keeping her eyes on her book. She flapped her wings and took lightly to the air, still writing. "Don't bother me. I have much to contemplate and study." It was then, that her hologram dissipated into particles of light.

"I'm interested too..." Flame ran a hoof through her mane. "Bullet Storm, was it?"

"Yes?"

"Have Sora contact me later. I want to study this with her."

"You got it." She smiled.

"Mama!" Comet reached her forehooves out to me, whining. "Ma!"

I scooted closer and took her in my wings carefully, cradling her softly. She looked up at me, smiling and giggling as her tiny hooves ran around my muzzle.

Charger smiled wanly and nodded.

"Firebright... a beautiful name..." He ran a claw along the back of his neck and took a deep breath. "I'm afraid I have some matters I must discuss with my council..." He sneered at Bullet Storm, whose ears wilted as she recoiled a little. He turned to both of us again, smiling slightly. But deep down, I saw his anger.

"Next time we meet, I hope it'll be in person. You all look wonderful... Welcome home. I trust Sven to keep home safe. He's been a great help."

"Thank you, sir."

"Nonsense." Charger smiled wider, regarding our mutual friend. "I should be thanking you."

"Until next time."

Charger looked over at Dream next, and at once, the holograms of the meet and greet vanished.

Author's Note

First song: Reignwolf - Electric Love
Second song (Phoenix's song): Reignwolf - Black and Red