(???)

His limbs screamed in exhaustion but he pressed on.

He had to deliver this package to the Magos.

Explosions roared around him while the auto fire from the heretic lines fired blindly in the darkness not able to see the Krieger rush for the allied lines.

A bullet went past his trenchcoat's left collar only an inch away from hitting his unprotected neck.

No...

He had to press on...

He can't die...

Not yet anyway, he could see the trench line of fellow Kriegers firing at the enemy to try and provide cover support for the lone survivor.

He was a few feet now.

One of his 'brothers' reached out his hand to pull him into the trench but...

Pain.

He was flung into the trench in a ball of fire.

During his training, he was taught to ignore the pain and push it back through all means.

But this...

This was a type of pain he couldn't hold back.

He screamed.

So loud he can feel his vocal cords start to bleed.

Death wouldn't come to him so easily like the rest of his now down squad.

Trying to grab his auto pistol and end it, yet his limbs seemed to cry out and pain not listening to his commands to end his own life.

The flames covered his vision was blurred and covered his entire line of sight not allowing him to see the red blur.

In seconds the burning was gone followed by the pain before the familiar touch of cold metal wrapped around his body but his body still screamed.

Just as the fire was put out the Krieger quickly felt his entire body being to grow easy and relax, before his shredded gas mask was carefully pulled from his face and a new mask was placed over his face.

"00000000 01100010 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 01100101,"

The familiar voice of the Magos spoke in his ear.

"01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100100 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01110010 01110110 01101001 01100011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101101 01100001 01100011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01100100 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100100 01101001 01100101 00100000 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00101110,"

He had no idea what the priest of mars spoke but he couldn't keep his eyes open before passing out in the sea of mechadendrites that wrapped his entire body.

"01010010 01100101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100111 01110101 01100001 01110010 01100100 01110011 01101101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101011 01110010 01101001 01100101 01100111,"

(Present-day, Ponyville)

The sound of rain lightly drizzling was the first thing the Tunnelratte heard when he awoke from his slumber.

Moving his head up to look at the sky, the rain was coming down hard.

Shifting the shotgun in his arms the Krieger moved his head back down looking at the puddle right outside the covered area where he sat.

Closing his eyes he exhaled in his gasmask.

This world...

It wasn't a part of the imperium.

Nor did it have any sort of vox system to reach out for a request in assistance.

He was alone on this Feudal world with no orders.

That was the worst part.

He had no orders.

A kriegsman with no orders is nothing.

He was nothing before and now...

He was a waste of space.

That was when he heard the rain hitting an umbrella.

Opening his eyes he looked up to see another equine adhuman, but this one was... different looked almost-

"Oh my gosh, what are you doing out here in the rain?" She then held out her hand to him. "Please come inside you'll catch a cold,"

The Krieger looked at the hand then to the female who looked at him with a worried look on her face.

Looking at the hand he then reached out...

And took it.

"Ah thanks," The adhuman stated before taking back the brown paper bag with the food goods in it. "Come on in forgive the mess I didn't expect to bring home any guests,"

Looking at the 'mess' the Krieger stood silently in the middle of the room looking at every detail seeing every point of entry and began to assess the layout.

"Temp I'm home! I brought a guest over!" Passing by the Tunnelratte into a cooking area of the house she began take out the food supplies. "Oh please make yourself at home,"

Looking at the bat-like equine adhuman he turned to look at the large padded seat before walking over and taking a seat on the edge ready to move at a moment's notice.

Looking at the small table in front of him he saw many books set out on top of it with dirty plates with dried food remains on them and a few empty wine glasses. Turning back to the hybrid creature the guardsman of Krieg looked back and took one of the books off the table and looked at the title.

'Scale and Fang by Fair light' was written in low gothic on the cover.

This book had a strange art cover of a scale-like creature holding a feminine fur canine-like creature in his arms and seemed to be oddly fit for a reptile.

Flipping the book open he began to read the strange book.

"Alright all done there now... thanks for helping me get- OH NO!" The book was quickly snatched from his hands the bat-equine looked down at him with her face blushing, though that should be impossible due to the fur on her face.

He just looked at her confused about why she took the book away from him, the two just looked at one another before the hybrid shouted.

"Don't judge me! I have a right to like these kinds of stuff in my home!" If he wasn't wearing a gas mask she could clearly see him holding a confused look on his face.

He didn't say anything making her think he was silently judging her but in reality, he didn't know what to say to her. The bat-like equine's blush grew deeper before the sound of a flush came down one of the many doorways, followed by an equine adhuman who walked through with a towel around her neck and barely dressed wearing a black top and shorts.

"Sorry I didn't hear you... what were you saying Amber," The equine froze when she saw the Krieger and 'Amber' standing before him with a book in her hand. "Oh,"

"T-Tempest this our guest I found him trying to stay out of the storm," Amber stated to which 'Tempest' looked at the Krieger holding either side of the towel around her neck.

...

A awkward silence filled the room before Tempest walked over to the Krieger eyed him while the Tunnelratte did the same but couldn't sake the feeling she was studying him... in a way similar to that of a assassin.

Amber was the first to break the silence trying to lighten the mood.

"Sorry I just realized I never introduced myself," Amber spoke. "I'm Amber Spark and this is my roommate Tempest Shadow... so what's your name?"

His name?

He didn't have a name.

He was unworthy of a name.

He was a son of Krieg... born of sin... undeserving of anything... even a name.

All he had was a serial number.

"Krieg Engineer #77-77," His muffled voice spoke taking the two by surprise.

"That's a... unique name," Amber smiled awkwardly before speaking. "Um... why don't you take off your coat and... armor Mr. Krieg"

He just looked at them causing Amber to be even more uneasy before Tempest walked over and looked at 'Krieg'.

"There isn't any danger here friend," Tempest spoke up.

Amber looked up at her roommate clearly confused about what she just said, Krieg only looked at her.

"There is no war here... no one is going to hurt you,"

From how all these equines acted around him this one had her guard up ready to move if he were to do something unlike equines before. Then again she was different, scars covered her body, the strange horn coming out of her head like the one that Sweetie Belle had was broken and seem... harden.

She looked like a Cadian in a way.

Ready to stand her ground and die on her feet.

Something that he respected in a way.

It was almost as if he could... trust this adhuman.

Relaxing ever so slightly though her sharp eyes saw this even though Amber didn't notice him move, Tempest smiled at the movement.

"Why don't you take a shower?" Tempest asked the Krieger. "It'll help... it clears your head,"

A shower?

He heard of bathing before but that was only available for the wealthy in the imperium.

The only time a Krieger could 'clean oneself' is if they get to survive and only if they are covered in so much blood or mud that they are given a bucket of clean-'ish' water to dump over themselves and try and get the muck out of their coat and gear.

Maybe he shoulder try and take a 'shower'.

(Moments later)

*Knock Knock*

"Hey, Krieg! I got you some fresh towel to dry yourself off mind! if you unlock the door and grab them?" Amber asked behind the bathroom door.

Hearing the door unlock over the sound of the shower she watched as the door open and moved her hand out with the towel not looking at the naked Krieger but saw...

A wet gloved hand grab it.

"WHAT THE-!" Pushing the door open more she looked to see the Krieger still fully dress dripping in cold water. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

Krieg's wet gasmask kinda made it hard for her to see his face but seeing that not only was he still dressed but the shower curtain wasn't covering the tub and water was all over the bathroom floor.

"What- I- How- EH!"

"What's going on?" Tempest asked still in her workout clothes waiting for Krieg to be done with the shower. "Oh..."

"OH?! Tempest look at the mess he made!" Amber shouted seeing their guest not understand the concept of how to correctly shower and most likely would cause water damage to the floor.

"I can see that... it can be cleaned up before the water can damage the titles don't worry about it," Tempest stated before going over to a hall closet and pulling out some extra towels.

"But he-"

"Don't worry about it... no harm done we just have to throw in some towels with our laundry... speaking of which you really need to do when was the last time you wore something that you haven't already worn three times," Tempest asked.

"I- don't remember," Amber stated causing Tempest to smile before looking to Krieg then to her.

"I'll help him out with his shower," Tempest told Amber which caused the bat-pony to look at her. "Relax... he wouldn't do anything plus I need to take a shower too and it could save us some water,"

"Are you sure," Amber asked with a slight blush on her face. "I mean he's a stallion and your a mare and well you know-"

"What's wrong with two soldiers taking a shower together... it happens all the time,"

"You're not wrong,"

Before going off Tempest entered the bathroom before closing the door behind her and setting out the towels on the floor before turning to look at Krieg who held his towel that Amber gave him. Looking to see his gear was neatly placed on the toilet and sink areas leaving Krieg only wearing his clothing, helmet, and strange-looking mask.

"Alright Krieg strip," Tempest ordered to which Krieg flinched slightly, "That's an order,"

She couldn't tell what Krieg was thinking but saying those three words followed by saying it was an order made him think, she wasn't his commanding officer but she was the former High Commander of Storm kings army so she still had a commanding voice that made even the stubborn storm beasts not question or disobey her.

She watched as Krieg began to remove the puttees at his legs, watching him carefully fold up the wrappings and then move to take off his boots.

But the moment he did... Tempest went wide-eyed.

His feet...

They were metal.

Then he pulled off his gloves, his hands were like his feet.

Machine.

Taking off his coat she was met with the sight of a white shirt under it but seeing the metal moved up all the way up below the shoulder. Watching him remove his pants to show off his legs were the same way...

Was he even flesh under the rest of his clothing.

Who did this to him?

Why did they do this to him?

Hearing his helmet strap clip, Tempest looked to see him remove his helmet which caused her to exhale at the sight of hair watching him move to the straps of his mask only to stop.

Looked at her through the black lenses of his mask before looking forward.

Moving the straps back he pulled off his mask.

"Whoa," Tempest looked at the scared face underneath. "So you are alive under that mask,"

His face didn't really hold any expression but a frown came to his face.

"Sadly,"

Author's Note

Sorry for the wait but here it is and well...

Kinda left you guys hanging on this cliff hanger but hey you wouldn't miss anything and plus I'm really trying to keep what Krieg now looks like a secret for now.

Though nothing will happen and like Tempest said: 'It's just two soldier's showering,' that it.

Like seriously nothing is going to happen, so get your minds out of the gutter.

Now then... sorry if this does feel rushed, work has been taking up most of my time and if not work it's in game events in halo or doom or whatever.

So I'm sorry guys.

Hopefully I get more time to write...

And hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner rather than later.