Bon Bon stood before the double door of the new weather factory, looking out on the plaza where she had killed the zebra from Ponyville… What had her name been? Zecora? was it? In the end, she was just another opponent that fell under her blade.

A call was buzzing in her head, it had been buzzing for several minutes, but she couldn’t bring herself to answer it. And so, the small screen with Yona’s name kept flashing in her view.

“You need to answer,” Lyra said, the green mare standing weakly against the cloud wall.

“Why? They’ll just order me to stand down and get tried for heresy,” Bon Bon replied.

“You don’t know that,”

The unicorn had a point, for all she knew her team could be trying to help her, or maybe the queen decided to go back on her orders. But still, she let the call ring away. The window disappeared for an instant before reappearing, this time, it bore Sandbar’s name.

It was still raining in the yard, the heavy downpour had already washed away the blood that had been spilled, Leaving the whole yard as if nothing had happened. The only giveaways of the battle were the mangled trees… and the burnt zebra.

Another ring from Sandbar came accompanied by another disappointed look from Lyra. Bon Bon took a deep breath and let it out slowly before finally answering the call.

The window expanded to show a distraught-looking earth pony. Sandbar was sitting… somewhere, wherever it was, that wasn’t their office at Canterlot castle.

“Bon? About time you picked up!” He said, indignant, “Have you gone completely insane?”

“I… I think so,” She replied.

“What? What have you done?”

A tear would’ve rolled down her cheek if she hadn’t been standing in the rain.

“I found out what the foals were for… I killed three of them…” Bon Bon’s voice started quivering, “They put the brains in the automatons, Sandbar, that’s what the life support was for,”

Several emotions flashed through the communications officer’s face, confusion, shock, horror, and then settled on concern.

“Did you know?” The earth pony asked.

“No… not until they told me,” She responded.

“Why would they do this?” Sandbar said to nopony in particular, burying his head in his hooves.

“I’m standing outside their headquarters. I’m planning on getting an answer, even if I have to cut it out of them,”

Sandbar grimaced.

“I’ll let you know that the queen has officially deemed you a radical terrorist and kicked you out of the royal guard,”

Bon Bon lifted an eyebrow. That didn’t sound like the queen at all! If the Weather factory were under attack, even by a single pony, Celestia would come in the flesh to obliterate the threat with the full glory of the sun.

“But why haven’t the royal guards been dispatched? And why are you contacting me?” She asked, confused.

“Well, officially, you’re a terrorist. But the queen relocated us to a more… secluded location and gave us the instructions to assist you. I don’t know what you told her, but you’ve been given one more chance,” Sandbar replied with a mischievous smile.

“A chance to do what?” The confusion was clear in her voice.

“A chance to find out what Desperado is up to, and to stop to them. She said that you better be right, or all of us are never getting a job again,”

It seemed unfair that her team had to suffer for her actions, but she couldn’t complain too much, after all, it was better than getting thrown in a dungeon for treason.

“And I’m guessing that if I fail, I’ll get tried for heresy?” She asked.

“No, Bon,” Sandbar replied, his tone becoming serious, “If you don’t find anything that justifies your crimes, the queen has specifically stated that you will receive lunar banishment,”

The words hit Bon Bon like a hammer, that was the highest form of punishment that the queen could give. It was madness! Her legs gave out at the sheer thought of being frozen in time for a thousand years; forced to watch everyone she knew grow old and die, and their children as well. No mortal pony had ever been made to serve such a sentence; no mortal pony would remain sane after such a thing… not that she was feeling very sane to begin with.

“Good thing I’m sure, then,” She said, but she was feeling more and more like she had made a grave mistake.

“I hope so,” Sandbar replied, “Well, you better get going then,”

“Yeah, thanks,”

She turned to face the factory doors again but stopped before closing the communication link.

“Oh, is Yona angry?” She added quickly.

“She’s looking for another desk after smashing her old one… for the fifth time,”

Bon Bon and Sandbar shared a short laugh. Then she cut the communication and threw the double doors of the factory open.

If she were asked to describe the lobby, she would’ve only had one word to do so: grand. Everything showed the grandeur and splendor of peak pegasi craftsponyship, from the intricately chiseled chairs to the wood-cloud hybrid flooring, polished to perfection. Giant posters adorned the walls, commemorating the factory and the wonderbolts.

A front desk lied abandoned, whoever was supposed to attend it had probably fled when the fighting started outside. Bon Bon walked up to the desk to check for any kind of map, but she found nothing of value.

“Well well well, if it ain’t the candy mare,” The voice of Big Mac said, popping into a window tagged ‘unidentified’, “I see ya managed tah kill the zebra,”

“And I’m coming for you next,” Bon Bon replied to the air.

“Eyyyup, ah thought as much. Try not tah get too noisy though, the fillies are in class,” Stated the red stallion before cutting the communication.

Bon Bon stomped towards the large door that separated the lobby from the rest of the factory. What had Mac meant by ‘the fillies are in class’? Did they have more brains here?

“Sandbar, what tools do we have?” She asked her communicator as she walked down a hallway.

“Not much, we have communications and any books on Cloudsdale we could get out of the archives before leaving,” The earth pony responded, lowering his head.

“No unicorns for tracking or magical scouting?”

“Nothing, remember this whole thing is off the books, you’re on your own,” Sandbar said, concerned.

Lyra caught up with her just before she reached the door to the main factory floor, putting her hoof on Bon Bon’s shoulder.

“I can’t fight, but I can scout ahead. Let me go first,” The green mare said.

“Are you sure?” Bon Bon asked, concerned.

Lyra nodded.

“Stay safe, let me know what you find,” She said finally, letting her friend go ahead.

She watched as the unicorn dragged her damaged leg down the hallway and into some kind of maintenance hatch. Bon Bon turned and opened the door marked with a sign that read ‘civilian production’.

The first thing that caught her attention was the flashing red light that popped out of the dense cloud walls, most likely an evacuation alarm. Then she took in the rest of the room. Unlike a normal building, the floors of the weather factory were the height of several floors, organized into massive hangers full of weather machinery.

Of course, this was the civilian section, the machines were meant to produce average amounts of rain clouds, rainbows, snow and whatnot. But Bon Bon knew that the top half of the factory held the heavy-duty production, tornado generators and heavy lightning storms ready to wreak havoc on the changeling army.

But as of now, the abandoned halls of the factory were almost… creepy. The machines lay dormant, harnesses still swinging from what must’ve been a swift evacuation. But the only sound in the air was a low buzzing alarm.

“All right Bon, I have a…” Sandbar said, popping into her view with his face firmly planted on a piece of paper, “Weather factory tour pamphlet, but it only has the civilian section mapped. Maybe we can use it, where are you?”

Bon Bon looked around to try and find some sort of sign that marked this section of the factory. There it was, a sight hung over one of the machines reading ‘rainbow wing B’. She relayed the information back to Sandbar, who took a moment to stare at the map he had found.

“Here we go, is there a sign that says ‘cafeteria’ near you?” The earth pony said.

She looked around the empty atrium, she spotted the sign over a gateway, it was about four floors up. There was one problem though, Bon Bon didn’t have wings.

“I see it, but it's pretty high up,”

Sandbar stopped for a moment to think, but the communication link opened a new window containing Lyra instead.

“Bon Bon, remember this section of the factory is open for tours. There is probably some way for non-pegasi to move around,” She stated.

“I’ll look for it, how are you doing?” Bon Bon answered, trying to make out the background in the small window.

“I am climbing through the vents; I should reach the middle area soon. I don’t see any guards,”

That could only mean one that there was probably a large greeting party waiting for her. Bon Bon scanned the room, searching for any way of getting up. Her eye landed on a large fluffy cloud with a guard rail around it.

She walked towards the cloud and noticed it was some kind of mobile platform, perfect for her needs. A lever came up from within the cloud, probably connected to some kind of levitation talisman to adjust the cloud’s height. She gave it a pull to test its function and grinned when she felt the cloud rise beneath her.

Bon Bon took the lever in her hooves and turned the cloud until it faced the cafeteria entrance, then, with a small push, she was heading up.

The platform connected with a segment of softer cloud on the edge of the entrance, attaching itself into a single cloud. Bon Bon stepped onto the hard cloud of the cafeteria floor and immediately saw her welcoming committee.

Four armored pegasi charged at her, two were running along the cafeteria floor while their comrades flew above them. Bon Bon quickly surveyed her attackers, she didn’t stand a chance if she was cornered on the platform, she needed a way to outflank them.

Her opening came in the form of the pegasus mare charging at her from the left; she didn’t share the same determined expression of her fellows. With a great leap, Bon Bon launched at the mare, sword drawn. The pegasus mare’s eyes widened in fear before she threw herself onto the ground to dodge her.

Bon Bon rolled through the opening, avoiding the two flying pegasi as they spun to avoid crashing into each other. She landed in the middle of the cafeteria, the multiple rows of tables would make moving around harder for her, but maybe she could use them to fight the pegasi.

To test her theory, she kicked one of the tables into the air and then shattered it with a strong buck, sending the wooden shrapnel into one of the flying pegasi. Judging by the surprised scream, the wood had hit something soft. But Bon Bon couldn’t turn to see the effect after being forced to spin and parry a wing blade that had been aiming for her neck.

The other flying pegasus dove at her, twirling into a steel-bladed tornado. Bon Bon dropped to the floor and rolled under a row of tables, hearing the wood splinter as the wing-blades ripped into it.

The pegasus couldn't see her behind the table, and Bon Bon made use of this by launching herself into the air, the white sword twirling into the face of a shocked pegasus, cutting it cleanly in half. Yet another reminder on why helmets are so important.

A blade cut into Bon Bon’s left rear leg, she turned to see that the pegasus she had kicked a table into had gotten up and attacked her. The mare’s face was a bloody mess of wooden shrapnel, fragments of table sticking out of her features like a hedgehog’s quills.

Another one of the guards, the one she had parried earlier, charged at her with their wings spread. Thinking quickly, she jumped into the air, pulling the blade in her leg up with her and leaving the pegasus wide open to her companion’s sword.

But the pegasus’ sword wasn’t strong enough to cut through the other one’s armor. Instead, the pegasi slammed into each other, ripping the blade out of Bon Bon’s leg. She had to admit, she did start to reconsider her choice of deactivating her pain inhibitors.

She turned to see the two tangled pegasi; seeing her opening, Bon Bon launched forward with her sword at the ready. In one fell swoop, four pegasi halves fell onto the cafeteria floor. Two loud metallic clangs behind her caught her attention, and she looked back to see the last guard, the one she had dodged first.

She was young, very young. The mare had dropped her weapons and was shaking uncontrollably. Bon Bon sheathed her sword and walked up to the pegasus.

“You, where is the entrance to the military section?” She ordered the trembling pegasus.

“I- I- It’s up th- there,” She said, starting to cry. A shaky hoof pointed at a door that led out of the cafeteria, a sign above them read ‘meeting rooms’.

“Thank you,” She told the guard, turning to leave.

But as she walked, she couldn’t shake the thought of going back and killing the mare, after all, she couldn’t leave any witnesses. Shaking her head harshly, she kept walking towards the door.

Surprisingly, on the other side of the double doors Bon Bon saw a staircase, clearly meant for non-pegasi to reach the meeting area. She trotted up the stairs and quickly called Lyra over her communicator.

“Bon Bon, have you reached the security checkpoint?” The green unicorn asked.

“Checkpoint?” She responded.

“I guess not. The civilian and military sections are separated by a single gate protected by an external magical shield. I’m hiding in the vent next to the gate, there’s two guards and one of those automatons here.” Her companion explained.

“Is there any other way into the military section? Maybe a window?” Bon Bon queried as she kept skipping up the stairs.

Sandbar popped into her view, holding up several books.

“I’m afraid not, we’ve been looking at the factory blueprints, the only access point is that guarded gate,” The earth pony explained before being joined by Ocellus, the changeling’s black head appearing next to the communication officer.

“Indeed, no windows or maintenance shafts,” The changeling added.

“And the gate is magically shielded…” She followed, pensively, “Can’t I cut through the roof?”

Ocellus shook her head before replying.

“Those black clouds are grade four armor clouds, nothing short of Celestia can cut through them. If you want to access the upper area, you’ll have to destroy the shield generator, it should be in an adjacent room.”

“Why is the generator so close to the gate?” Bon Bon asked, it made no sense.

“It is hidden in the armored roof,” Responded Lyra, “Perhaps the distance is needed for operation,”

Bon Bon nodded, but didn’t respond, she had reached the top of the staircase and fallen silent. Her crystal eye didn’t light up the automaton, meaning this one was probably being piloted by a brain. She would need some way of disabling it without killing the brain inside.

The first thing that Caught her eye was the color of the roof. Instead of the grayish tint of the structural clouds that made up the factory, the military section was jet black and packed into something that looked more like steel than a cloud.

Bon Bon stood in a central hallway with four connected doors that led to the different meeting rooms. On the far end of the hall, she saw a double door guarded by a green magical shield, two guards stood there talking to each other, they hadn’t seen her yet.

“Where is the generator, Lyra?” She asked, crouching on the stairs to stay out of sight of the guards.

“It’s in the second door on your right, on the roof at the back of the room. I’ll distract the guards on your mark,” The green mare responded.

Bon Bon crouched and prepared to make a sprint for the door; she was thankful for the cloud floor that would muffle her heavy hoofsteps. Just a quick run and then she would have to destroy the generator.

“Mark,” She told Lyra.

From the vent next to the shielded door came a loud clanging sound, followed by several scraping noises. The two guards whirled around with their weapons ready and stared at the vent, approaching carefully.

Making use of the distraction, Bon Bon sprinted towards the open door. She charged into the room and stopped just as quickly as she had started running. To make sure she hadn’t been spotted, she pressed herself against the wall next to the door and listened closely for the guards. The pegasi were talking over the radio with an operator, but they didn’t seem to have spotted her.

Bon Bon turned to face the far wall and spotted her target, a bright orange triangle in the ceiling, through the black roof.

“How am I supposed to hit it from down here? I thought you said these clouds were basically indestructible?” Bon Bon asked her team.

“You won’t be able to cut a hole large enough for you to get through, but you should be able to pierce it with the tip of your sword with enough patience. Try deactivating the magic limiter,” Ocellus answered.

Bon Bon unsheathed her sword and did as she was told, bathing the clouds around her in the blade’s warmth. She jumped onto a meeting table and placed the sword into her forehoof, standing upright on her hind legs.

“Let’s try this. Lyra, let me know if I have incoming,” She said over the communicator before poking the roof with the white sword.

“Will do,” The green mare replied.

The clouds above were incredibly hard to cut, even though both of Bon Bon’s enhanced legs were pushing against it with all her might it still felt like she was trying to drive a stick through honey.

But the cloud still gave way, slowly at first, but as Bon Bon’s sword grew hotter and hotter it started to dig into the armored plate faster. Agonizingly long seconds passed as she stretched her rear legs until she was almost standing on her hooftips; but at last, the roof gave way and the white sword slammed itself up to the hilt.

A gargantuan energy discharge hit Bon Bon like she had been struck by a lightning bolt, her inner talismans saturated and started to discharge the excess energy into the table below her, scorching its surface. She couldn’t help but scream as the rippling current coursed through what little flesh she had remaining.

“Over here!” Somepony shouted from down the hallway, probably one of the guards.

Bon Bon dropped back onto her hooves, her entire body shaking vigorously as if she was being shocked. Magical energy arched between the artificial muscles in her legs, giving her the appearance of a pony on fire.

She had expected one of the guards to come rushing through the doorway, but instead she was surprised when the wall on her right exploded. The pegasi automaton that had been waiting outside had charged through the wall.

Bon Bon didn't want to kill the brain inside, so she had to make sure to aim her sword at the legs. The white blade had turned a pale yellow as its metal overheated, the sheer amount of energy coursing through it was causing the sword to shoot sparks in every direction.

Almost absentmindedly she slashed at the automaton, fully expecting the sword to bounce off its armor. But the blade was too powerful, instead of a bounce, the sword cut cleanly through the Automaton’s lower half with audible pops as the magical shielding was overpowered.

By some miracle she had managed to miss the brain inside. But she couldn’t take too much time to look before a pegasus charged at her from the hole in the wall. She lifted her sword to parry the wing-blade, but once more the overflowing magic in her white weapon cut cleanly through the entire limb.

Blood splashed onto her face like warm, soothing raindrops, drowning out the agonizing screech of the wounded pegasus. The world came to a halt as Sweetie Drop carefully placed her weapon in her forehoof. The pony she had been fighting lifted their head to face her with fearful eyes, but the white blade was already swinging.

A flurry of cuts fell on her helpless victim, chopping the pegasus into ribbons. Sweetie Drop looked up from the carnage to see the other guard charging at her. With a maniacal laugh, she launched herself forwards with her hind legs, stretching out her forehoof with the sword aimed at the approaching pony.

She slammed the white sword into the pegasus to the hilt, crashing into the guard like a bag of bricks. Both ponies flew into the far wall, effectively pinning the pegasus onto it like a giant butterfly on a corkboard. The guard was unmoving, most likely killed during the impaling, but Sweetie Drop didn’t hesitate to rip the blade out and rain down more cuts like an insane butcher.

“Bon Bon, there are heavy reinforcements coming your way, get through the door, now!” Lyra shouted over the communicator.

Sweetie Drop took the blade back into her mouth and ran to the door, kicking it open to reveal the military section.

Almost immediately she was forced to jump back by the sheer volume of magical beams that fire out of the doorway. The deadly lightshow burned holes through the walls around her, fired from at least eight pegasi automatons.

“You’ll have to push through; the reinforcements are almost on you!” Lyra said.

The double door swung back closed, seeing how the armored clouds stopped the beams, Sweetie Drop got an idea. She ran at full speed towards the door, jumping into the air before reaching it and connecting with all four hooves.

The door may have been armored, but the hinges clearly weren’t. Two black rectangles flew into the group of automatons like a battering ram, scattering them as they tried to dodge. Without wasting a single second, she ran into the military section of the factory, running up the wide ramp where the automatons were struggling to get up.

“Run, Bon! Run!” Sandbar shouted as she dashed between her foes.

A long hallway full of guards stood between her and the entrance to one of the hangars. For more mobility, she sheathed her swords and focused solely on running as fast as her metallic hooves could carry her. With her whole body still buzzing with the power from the shield generator, she became a black blur that darted down the hallway.

Sweetie Drop dodged and weaved through scores of armored guards and automatons, diving pegasi and magical beams flew around her as she kept running and running. The hangar came to an end, but she jumped onto the machinery and flipped into an open gate leading to… somewhere… up, she had to go up.

As she leaped from machine to machine, the excess energy her body was shedding arched onto the metal she touched, leaving electric hoof marks in her wake. Some of the beams hit her, but the talismans within her chest were quick to heal whatever damage she received. She had to go up, higher!

She rose, climbing up another hangar, the world blurred into blotches of color and deafening noise. Eventually she ran out of machines to jump to, but that wouldn’t stop her, Sweetie Drop ran into the wall, her legs moving so quickly that she was able to run straight up.

A large machine was hanging in the middle of the room, possibly a tornado generator, it didn’t matter, what mattered was the several magical beams that struck it as they missed Sweetie Drop. The large device exploded with a gust of compressed wind, thunder and magical discharge, sending her flying through the door she had been running towards.

She flew through the air and into the other hangar just as debris from the machine lodged itself into the opening. Sweetie drop kept going, however, slamming headfirst into the far wall.

Bon Bon shook her head, looking around the hangar. This one was deserted, could it be that she ran past everypony? Machinery buzzed around her, the glowing blue pipes coming out of them tipped her off to what the machines were: lightning bolt generators.

All the impacts and healing had reduced her energy supply back to normal levels, but it didn’t seem like she would be fighting anypony until they managed to get the remains of the machine out of the door.
“Lyra, is there any other way to get up here?” Bon Bon asked, begging that the communicator could reach her friend through the several floors of armored clouds.

“Bon Bon, the signal is pretty weak,” The green mare responded, her voice sounded like she was speaking in a sandstorm, and the video feed was too distorted to make anything out, “The hangars are connected by single doors for easier defense, you need to keep going up,”

“We’ll lose connection?” She asked, concerned.

“Yes, but you should reconnect to your team if you get close to the edge,” Lyra answered.

“Stay safe, Lyra” Bon Bon told her friend before cutting the connection.

The next door was, surprisingly, on ground level instead of high up. The sign above read ‘worker housing’. Bon Bon walked towards it carefully and pushed the door open, revealing another ramp leading upwards. Without a second thought she started walking up the ramp, her mouth already headed for her sword, just in case.

But when she came out of the ramp, she encountered what could only be described as a… town?

Around her rose several single-story houses made of light white clouds, all the doors were shut tight. Above her shone an artificial sun of sorts, bathing the whole area in warm light. Feeling the warmth of the light above felt… wrong… heretical, even, only Celestia should be able to create the warmth of life.

Bon Bon wandered through the fake town, looking confused at the closed houses and the empty market stalls. What was this doing here? The sign said, ‘worker housing’, but could it be…?

Sweetie Drop walked up to one of the houses and gave the door a strong buck, making it fly off its hinges. On the other side of the door, she saw a pegasus mare and a stallion cowering behind an overturned table. Both of them wore weather factory jumpsuits.

“What?” She asked aloud.

Bon Bon turned and walked out of the small house, walking back into the ‘plaza’. Was every house here inhabited? There had to be hundreds of them! She racked her memory for an explanation and remembered an important detail about the weather factory.

When the military section had been constructed, a small village was built inside to accommodate the workers and keep them secure within the armored walls of the upper factory. That meant that this entire area was full of civilians.

She had to get out of there, if the guards below caught up to her here…

No time to think, Bon Bon ran forwards to the door that led to the upper area of the town. She tried to wipe the memory of the pegasi’s scared faces from her mind, it hadn’t been the first time an enemy was scared by her. It almost made her feel like some kind of abomination, scratch that, she was an abomination. A horrid collage of metal and flesh armed with a blood-soaked sword.

“Bon? Do you hear me?” Sandbar said.

The voice shook her out of the trance she had fallen into, Sweetie Drop looked up and saw a double door. She turned and looked back into the bottom section of the town; she could see the pegasi poking their fearful eyes through their windows.

“I- I hear you, Sandbar,” She replied shakily.

“The connection is clearing up, you should be close to the top,” The earth pony said.

“Yeah… great,” Sweetie Drop answered.

Sandbar’s face was heavily distorted, but she could still make out his concerned expression.

“I’m fine, I’ll rescue the brains,” She said, almost in a whisper, before closing the window.

Yet another double door opened before Sweetie Drop, revealing yet another open room. However, unlike the first door she had opened today, there was considerably more blood on her hooves.

The room beyond held a single pony that stood proudly in the middle, surrounded by the Spike automatons she had fought so long ago. The pony in the middle was wearing the same collar that…

“Rarity?” Sweetie Drop exclaimed in shock.

The white unicorn didn’t respond. She looked… unnatural, her whole body twitching slightly. The mare’s mouth was shut, and Sweetie’s crystal eye picked out a metal string, sewing her mouth shut, as well as many other alarming details.

For starters, the desiccated lips and nose that looked as if she were severely dehydrated, and then the eyes, glowing with an unnatural purple tint. This wasn’t Rarity, this was her body.

The unicorn charged at her, spinning the spear that she had wielded in life around her multiple additional arms. She launched forward with her spear at the ready. Remembering the last time, they had fought, Sweetie Drop cached the sharp edge at the end with the flat of her sword.

The metal Spikes charged her, throwing themselves onto her legs to hold her in place. But this time she was ready for them, with a series of backflips and kicks, she managed to get out of the automaton swarm. Several of the spikes were bent out of shape from her powerful kicks.

But she didn’t have time to catch her breath before needing to jump out of the way of the spear. The arms that made it up bent upward to strike at Sweetie Drop, but the aim was just barely off, causing it to glance off one of her lower armor plates.

But the spear flying past her wasn’t satisfied with a miss, and it wrapped around her midsection like a metallic tentacle. Her body went limp as the spear sent her flying upwards.

Rarity whirled around as Sweetie Drop flew, aiming the spear-whip at her head. But with a spin of the head, she managed to parry the hit.

More metal Spikes ran at her when she landed, forcing her to roll out of the way. But she realized too late that she had rolled herself into a corner.

Her reanimated foe jumped at her once more, the deadly spear aimed directly for her heart. Sweetie Drop dodged almost by instinct, rolling to the side of the spear with her sword at the ready. The white blade danced through the air, connecting exactly where she had been aiming: the unicorn’s head.

A horrid, fleshy sound escaped from the cut as Sweetie Drop finished her riposte, the top half of her opponent’s head flying off into the middle of the room.

However, to her surprise, the fight was far from over. Despite missing the top half of her head, the resurrected Rarity turned and attacked once more, striking Sweetie Drop in the side with her whip.

The sudden impact sent her flying into a wall where several Spikes were waiting, she started to buck furiously to get them off her back before Rarity had another chance to attack.

Her undying, half-decapitated, enemy turned to ‘look’ at her. The reanimated flesh within her head started to ooze coagulated blood as the unicorn (was she still considered a unicorn?) attacked once more.

Sweetie Drop parried several spear strikes as she tried to formulate a plan. Clearly chopping her up wouldn’t work… or would it?

She dropped the sword into her hoof, parrying one last spear strike as she angled herself to attack. The first strike hit the arm collar, chopping a substantial number of the arms off. Another hit, this time on the right foreleg, cutting through the necromancy-infused flesh.

But Sweetie Drop was forced to let up when the remaining arms attacked with the spear again. She rolled back and looked up at her opponent.

The sight before her was, in one word, haunting. Dark black liquid dripped from the cut foreleg and the missing head; the sown jaw was the only remaining feature above the neck area. The arms around her collar twitched slightly like the rest of her reanimated body.

Rarity limped towards her once more, but without one of her legs she was painfully slow. No more Spikes were here, there was no way for her to regain the arms she had lost.
Bon Bon took a step back and stared at her foe, this was wrong, this was horrible. Rarity had made her choice to join these ponies, but that was no reason for them to not let her rest. Why? Why did they do this? Was it to make her turn back?

But she knew she couldn’t simply go back, she was in too deep now, and she was nearly at the finish. She swallowed down her thoughts and bit her sword harder, if desperado wasn’t going to let Rarity rest, she would have to do it herself.

Time slowed as she prepared once more to lay the fashionista to rest. A first slash cut the spear in half, sending the barbed spikes at the ends flying. The second attack cut the harness around her neck down the middle.

Then she started to slowly and methodically work her way through the reanimated body, cutting apart limbs, then the torso, making sure that no piece could move anymore. Bon Bon wiped the necromantic gunk from her blade and looked down at the gore pile she had just finished chopping up.

A purple haze emanated from the body as the last of the magic keeping it in the land of the living dissipated.

“Go back to the afterlife and rest…” Bon Bon whispered after resheathing her sword.

She took a moment to pay her respects before lifting her sight back to the only other door in the room, she was so close, just a little longer.

She got back up and found the room filling with… green smoke?

Bon Bon barely got her sword out in time before the charred remains of Zecore flew at her from the smoke, wooden claws ready to rip into her. Through the green mist she could barely make out what her opponent looked like, let alone where her next strike would come from.

Her question was answered when both claws dug into her left rear leg, ripping out several strands of artificial muscle. This time, however, she caught a quick glance at the blackened zebra. The charred coat and the missing rear legs made her opponent look like some kind of ghost.

Another attack came from directly above, but this time Bon Bon managed to roll out of the way. The smoke had started to dissipate by now, letting her take a good look at the zebra. Where Rarity had been mostly contained to her own body, the zebra was essentially several segments of burned wood floating in a purple necromantic field.

She jumped forward and slashed at the field, her sword passing cleanly through and absorbing a tiny bit of the energy that kept the pieces attached. But she couldn’t dwell on the result before receiving a hard hit in her chest, the hardened wooden claw pierced her front plate, stabbing the flesh beneath.

Bon Bon swiped her sword through the purple aura several times, never managing to hit any of the floating segments. Another hit made a gash across her right cheek, coming dangerously close to cutting her crystal eye.

She needed range, and she needed it quickly. She tried backflipping out of the way but found herself being attacked once more by the floating claws, but that’s when Bon Bon noticed something, the purple haze still connected the segments together. Whenever the zebra stretched its claws towards her, they were still linked to the general field that encompassed the rest of her body.

An idea formed in her mind, all she had to do was wait for the opportunity to test it. The zebra gave her the opening she needed with a claw attack, Bon Bon sidestepped and wrapped her forehooves around the wooden appendage, pinning it against her chest.

The unnatural necromantic energy pulled on the claw, but Bon Bon’s steel muscles held it firmly against her chest. And now for the next part of her test, her rear legs tensed, and she jumped backwards. A smile tried to force its way through the hilt in her mouth when she saw the rest of the field being pulled towards her.

An overhead swipe forced her to release the claw and jump back, but she already knew what she needed to do. Every part of her plan fell into place to assemble the full picture.

The zebra spun and flew at her in a tornado of purple and black, both claws headed directly for Bon Bon’s neck. Time slowed as she rose to her rear hooves, slipping just barely out of the attack’s reach. But before the zebra could try again, she slammed her forehooves hard into the two floating claws, pinning them to the floor below her.

The other fragments tried to pull back, but Bon Bon’s full weight crushed down on the claws and didn’t let up. However, the zebra, or the magic controlling her body, hadn’t realized that it wasn’t just the claws that were pinned in place.

Bon Bon craned her neck to the side and held her sword only by the pommel. With a great heave, she threw the white blade directly at the floating wood segments. The zebra tried to dodge but discovered too late that it couldn’t move.

With a low whistling sound, the sword flew towards her opponent and struck true, biting deeply into one of the zebra’s chest sections. The attack itself wouldn’t kill her, but the enchantment on the pommel would.

She was proven right when the zebra started to emit a horrible screech as the sword started to drain its magic. It spazzed around desperately, slamming itself into the ground several times to try and get the sword out of the field.

But Bon Bon held strong, keeping the claws down as they pulled to try and get away. Her opponent became more erratic, now taking to hitting the sword with its other fragments, but it was all in vain. Before long, the field lost its glow, dropping several fragments onto the floor.

“Gotcha,” She said when the last piece fell to the floor.
She trotted up to the zebra’s remains to retrieve her weapon, resheathing it quickly. The door that led further into the facility opened behind her; it seemed she was being expected.

The room beyond was dark until she stepped inside. As soon as her metallic hoof made contact with the floor, a series of large columns lit up around her, illuminating the entire open room. On the far end, standing proudly on an elevated platform, was Big Macintosh.

“Ah! The candy mare! Glad ya could join’ us!” He boomed, “The class is in session, ah believe ya know the royal guard code? We use a… revised version, simulate it directly into their brains, it's like a dream!”

“They’re foals, you bastard!” Bon Bon shot back.

“And foals, are cruel” Mac replied, walking up to one of the pillars, “They just lose touch with it when they get older! They start tah think they know better, harmony-this, war crime-that; but foals can be conditioned tha serve a greater purpose!”

“What are you talking about? What greater purpose?” Sweetie Drop was starting to get angry at the red stallion.

“Ah mean progress, Bon! Think!” Mac opened up the pillar he was standing next to, pulling out a jar with a brain inside, “With these super pegasi, we can crush those awful bugs! We just need an excuse to make ‘em! Get our ponies off tha front line n’ back in factories tah push Equestria forward! If we don’t do it, our enemies will,”

Sweetie drop walked slowly towards the platform; the sheer insanity of the stallion’s words made her feel like she was about to burst into flames.

“And what happens when you defeat the changelings? When the war is over?” She asked.

“Then we rebuild, we use this here factory to send rain tah farms! We use the pegasi to make great cities! Can’t ya see it, Bon?” The Stallion asked with a wide smile. He placed the jar back into the pillar before laughing and turning to face her again, “It won’t matter in three hours anyway. Demand for super soldiers is about tah skyrocket! Like the good ol’ days after Nightmare Moon’s return!”

The stallion’s words made her stop in place, three hours? What were they planning? She looked up angrily at Big Mac, arching her head back to draw her sword if needed.

“Three hours?” She asked, or rather, demanded.

“Not here, let’s go somewhere more… open,” The red earth pony responded before turning around and running.

“Get back here!” Sweetie Drop bellowed before launching towards the stairs.

She ran onto the platform and reached another open door with a staircase leading upward. Seeing a staircase after so long in the weather factory was… strange, but she still ran towards it.

“Bon! you’re back!” Sandbar said, excitedly, “Are you on the roof? What is going on?”

“I’m chasing down Mac… he said something is going to happen in three hours,” Sweetie Drop replied.

“Something like what?” Yona asked from behind the earth pony.

“That’s what I’m going to make him say,” She responded before cutting the channel.

The stairs ended in an armored double door with the words 'chariot landing area’ painted on it. Next to the door stood a disabled magical shield generator, clearly Mac wanted to fight, and Sweetie Drop was practically buzzing with the need to chop chop chop.

With a mighty buck, the door went flying out onto the open landing area. Big Mac stood in the rain, smiling at her as she walked towards him. The earth pony was wearing the same armor he had worn in Saddle Arabia, only this time he had a series of metallic limbs attached to his back, akin to Rarity’s collar. Each limb held a rectangular shield covered in smaller blocks.

“How's this? We can rassle up here without hurting those poor fillies!” The red pony said in a mocking tone,

“What happens in three hours, Mac?” Sweetie Drop asked, barely biting back the rage in her voice.

“It don’t matter, yer too late! Not even the wonderbolts could get there in time!” Her armored opponent said, clearly enjoying the words, “B’sides, why are ya so worked up about this? It’s just progress!”

She stopped her approach just a short distance away from the red pony, tensing her body for the approaching fight.

“Progress means nothing when your ideals are evil!” She pointed a hoof at Macintosh.

“Bah, ideals-this or ideals-that. Ideals are good and all, but ya can’t plow a field with ‘em,” He answered, “Enough talk! Ah’m gonna take mah sweet time killing you, slow and painful,”

The shields on his back extended to cover his sides and chest, revealing the twin magical machetes on his sides, the same ones he had killed Haakim with.

“Like ah said, foals are cruel, Bon; and ah’m very in touch with mah inner colt!” The stallion bellowed.

Sweetie Drops unsheathed her sword and fell into a fighting stance. Mac unsheathed one of his machetes and crouched down like a monster ready to pounce.

With a muffled ‘yee haw!’, the red stallion charged directly at Sweetie Drops with his massive magical blade aiming directly at her chest. She thought back to her combat training, Mac may be strong, but that made him slow and prone to leave openings in his defense.

The machete swung over her head as she dodged and angled her own sword to strike his unprotected throat. But one of the shields on his chest moved up to block her attack, intercepting the white blade and-

White light blinded her crystal eye as Sweetie Drops went flying backward and rolled on the roof. She got up, dazed, and barely managed to focus before seeing the machete headed for her face. By some miracle, she managed to place her sword between her face and the approaching weapon. While the sword stopped the deadly edge, it did little to limit the sensation of being struck by a sledgehammer that came with parrying the blow, sending her sliding across the roof again.

“Bon Bon!” Ocellus called over the communicator, “Those shields are covered in recharging reactive armor, keep your sword away from them!”

That explained the explosion, but how was she supposed to defeat him when she couldn’t hit him? Macintosh moved his shields to form a wall in front of him and charged at Sweetie Drops while screaming through the machete’s hilt.

She rolled out of the way of the charging stallion, just barely avoiding the explosive plates on its surface. Mac seemed to enjoy the game of cat and mouse, and he sheathed his machete before charging at her with the shield wall again.

“You can’t touch me, Bon!” She shouted as he charged again.

Sweetie Drops responded by charging at the red stallion herself. The two ponies crashed into each other, Mac’s immense strength and special armor beating Sweetie Drop’s artificial muscles and forcing her to slide back as she planted both her forehooves on the shield wall.

She screamed at the earth pony as she pulled on the wall with all her might, slowly forcing the shields apart. With one last gargantuan pull, she spread her forehooves out and split the shield wall down the middle.

The two bottom shields, the ones she had been holding, went flying wildly to the sides. She took her sword and focused, but the other four shields were still covering his body too much to cut through them. Yet another target caught her eye: the arms holding the shields she had spread apart.

Two vertical cuts slammed through the steel limbs that held the shields, causing them to fall onto the roof. Macintosh roared in anger, splitting the other four shields and giving her a massive headbutt. Sweetie Drops was too dazed to parry the shield that flew towards her head, but it was enough to trigger her shielding.

The magical covering absorbed the brunt of the explosion, but it didn't do anything to stop the rectangle of magical steel from slamming into her. She managed to flip in the air and land on her hooves, but her view was still blurry from the heavy impact.

Mac charged her with a machete again, forcing Sweetie Drops to backstep several times to avoid the flurry of blows. Every time she dodged, she took a few instants to try and find an opening, but was forced to fall back frustrated when the shields moved to intercept every angle.

As a last-ditch effort to force an opening, she ducked under a machete swipe and gave a strong buck to the closest shield, praying silently that her steel hooves weren’t enough to set the explosives off. To her great relief, the shield not only didn’t explode, but instead went flying into the air, barely held by the steel limb beneath.

She took the opportunity to spin and cut the arm. When she landed, she was met once again by Mac swinging another one of his shields at her, but instead of withstanding it, she threw herself back and out of the way, revealing the arm that had swung it. One cut, one less arm.

Sweetie Drops backflipped away from a machete swipe, but this time, Mac stood in place instead of pressing the offensive, he seemed furious.

“Ah’ll split you in two!” He shouted, throwing his machete into the air and unsheathing the second one.

With a massive jump, Macintosh launched himself into the air, throwing his machete into his forehoof and catching the one in the air with his free limb. Sweetie Drops rolled back to avoid the attack, seeing how the machetes stabbed into the clouds below.

Mac stood on his hind legs and started swinging both machetes wildly, forcing her to backstep repeatedly until she was almost at the edge of the building. The red stallion roared and placed his machetes on top of each other, forming the V shape he had made in Saddle Arabia.

Sweetie Drops rolled to the side to avoid being caught by the twin blades. Mac gave her a wide grin and closed the blades together, ripping out a section of the roof and throwing it at her. She managed to kick the reinforced cloud out of the way, but the cloud itself was a distraction for Macintosh to charge her.

The open scissor-blades were aiming for her neck. She barely ducked under them, losing part of her mane in the process. She tried to attack but found the last two shields to be blocking her every attempt.

But maybe she didn’t have to avoid the shields, what if…

With a defiant battle cry, she charged at Mac, holding her sword horizontally.

“Ah’m buckin’ invincible!” The stallion shouted back as he charged her with his shields.

Just before the blade met the explosive armor, Sweetie Drops let her neck go limp and sidestepped just a bit. When the shield detonated, it whipped her head around so fast that it would’ve popped her head clean off if her neck hadn’t been reinforced.

The sword sliced in a circle before stabbing directly into his unprotected shoulder on the opposite side of the shield. Macintosh let out a pained cry and jumped back, clearly dazed by the pain.

She pressed the advantage, jumping in circles around the red pony and raining down a flurry of cuts and stabs, Mac tried desperately to cover himself with the remaining shields, but he couldn’t focus enough to move them correctly.

Sweetie Drops pushed him back until he stood at the edge of the building, bleeding from a dozen wounds and breathing heavily. The blood that had splashed onto her only fueled her bloodlust.

“You… little… b-” Macintosh started, but Sweetie Drops interrupted him with a demented shout, jumping at the wounded stallion.

Mac lifted his machete to block, but she wasn’t planning on hitting him with her sword.

Like a bag of bricks, Sweetie Drops slammed into her opponent, kicking him as hard as she could. The red earth pony hadn’t been expecting a kick and wasn’t prepared to find himself falling into the void below.

Big Mac’s echoing shout died out as he fell further down the side of the factory. It was done, Bon Bon resheathed her sword, falling to her knees in exhaustion.

But she had to jump back to her hooves when a massive black figure flew up from the edge of the factory. One of the pegasi automatons, carrying Big Mac in its hooves. The red earth pony was practically foaming at the mouth.

“Enough fun, now die!” He shouted before throwing both of his remaining shields at her, or more specifically, under her.

The shockwave from the shields sent Bon Bon flying off the edge of the building and into the void. That’s when she saw all the small groups of automatons that were filling the air around the factory. Thinking desperately, she angled her body to slam into the factory wall and start slowing down, scanning the pegasi to see if any of them were autonomous.

A triangle lit up around one of the automatons, jackpot. She jumped off the factory wall and towards the flying pegasus, praying to Celestia that she hadn’t miscalculated the jump in her hurry.

But her fears were unwarranted, as proven by her slamming into the automaton with the sword at the ready. Thankfully, the pegasus was unshielded, allowing Bon Bon to disable her sword’s magic limiter and pierce the thing’s central talisman.

Her eye immediately came to life with a live feed of the automaton’s view, she could feel the wings on her back and the wind blowing in her face as if she were the one flying. She made the automaton pull up and fly back towards the top, nearly scraping the black wall of the weather factory as they climbed.

She reached the top to find a shocked Macintosh, wide-eyed in disbelief as Bon Bon reappeared from the void and flew directly at him. With a single thought, she forced the automaton to fire its eye-lasers at the pegasus carrying Big Mac.

“Sweet Celestia!” Mac shouted, shielding his face from the incoming attack.

The automaton exploded, sending the wounded earth pony flying towards Bon Bon. With a quick spin, she cut the red pony in half at the waist, the superheated edge of the sword cauterizing the wound instantly.

Both halves of Big Mac and Bon Bon landed back on the chariot landing zone. With one practiced movement she resheathed her sword and turned to face her defeated opponent.

“What happens in three hours Mac?” She demanded.

“He…” the wounded stallion replied weakly, “Will start… operation… Tecumseh,”

“What is that? Give me a clear answer, dammit!” Bon Bon shouted.

“Ah… said too much,” Macintosh replied, “Ah need tah… make a call,”

A window appeared in her sight; Mac must’ve been using an open frequency for the call. Another window opened with the name ‘Jetstream’ on it.

“Mac? Mac! What happened, Mac? Talk to me!” The voice of Applejack came over the communication link.

“She’s… good, sis… real good,” The red pony said, “Ah’m sorry ah failed… keep… keep the family safe for me,”

“What? No! Mac!” Applejack said, her voice breaking down, “Get up Mac! Macintosh!”

The mare started to sob, repeating her brother’s name almost like a prayer.

“Bye… sis,” The red pony said, cutting the link.

Even though the communication was cut, Bon Bon could’ve sworn she heard the voice of Applejack calling out her brother’s name.

She took a moment to stare out on the horizon, her battered body had seen better days, but she knew that there was one more problem to deal with.

“Yona? Sandbar?” She asked into her communicator.

“We’re here, Bon, we’ve been trying to figure out what they’re planning,” Sandbar answered.

“Find out anything?”

“Yes,” Yona interjected, “He said they needed excuse to push the metal pegasi, we think they’re trying to start another war!”

“What? Where? He talked as if it were far away,” She said, lifting a hoof to her chin.

“That’s what we’re worried about,” Sandbar said gravely, “The queen is going to arrive at Zebrica in two hours, if something were to happen to her…”

He didn’t have to finish the sentence, an attack on the princess would have the entire population up in arms and ready to receive any form of military technology. But Zebrica was too far, she would never make it there in time. What could she do?

An idea popped into her mind.

“Is the queen’s pupil in Ponyville?” She asked quickly.

“I’m… not sure?” Sandbar replied, “Why?”

“Last I heard she was working on long-range teleportation. It's a wild bet, but it's the best we have!”

Another window appeared, containing Ocellus.

“Good thing your transport is here! Heads up!” She said.

Bon Bon looked to the sky and saw the black figure of the changeling pulling a small chariot. Ocellus landed triumphantly on the small runway, spreading out her bug like wings.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting a changeling chariot,” Bon Bon said, jumping onto the vehicle.

“Ponyville isn’t far from here, we didn’t have time to get a pegasus,” The changeling replied, defensively.

“I’m not complaining, doc” She said with a small chuckle as the chariot took off.
The changeling pulled the wooden cart through the air at high speed, immediately making the factory shrink in the distance. But as they flew, Bon Bon saw that several of the automatons in the area had turned directly towards them.

“Uhhhh, doc? We have a little problem here,” She said, causing the changeling to arch her head back and look behind them.

“I see!” She replied before going into a dive.

The horde of automatons behind them opened fire, filling the air with lights. Ocellus went into a spin, forcing Bon Bon to grab onto the edge of the chariot. A barrage of lasers shot by them, some of them striking and burning holes in the wooden cart.

A hit struck Bon Bon’s foreleg, forcing it off the edge of the chariot and leaving her hanging by a single hoof. More beams struck the chariot, the sheer volume of fire started to rip parts of the cart off.

Ocellus started to fire back, her horn firing green beams into the swarm of pegasi behind them. She was clearly firing blindly, however, and most of the beams missed their target completely. Even when the beams did connect, all they did was deflect off the automaton’s shields, those things were built for combat after all.

Several pegasi surrounded the cart, flying closer and closer to aim better as they showered the chariot with bolts. Ocellus kept desperately performing evasive maneuvers to try and dodge as much of the incoming fire as possible.

But it wasn’t enough, half of the cart had been shot off, and the changeling hadn’t been hit by sheer luck. And their luck was about to run out. Bon Bon turned to see a pegasus diving directly towards them, its eyes charged and ready. A green beam from Ocellus bounced off its head just before the pegasus slammed into the chariot like a cannonball.

Bon Bon desperately tried to hold onto the edge of the cart, but it had disintegrated between her very hooves, slipping out in a rain of splinters. She looked up and saw Ocellus turning to watch her fall before being forced to dodge the rain of lasers. The changeling dived and wrapped herself in a green glow, taking the appearance of a pegasi automaton and mixing into the swarm.

She, on the other hoof, wasn’t lucky enough to have mimetic abilities… or wings.

“Get out of here doc!” She shouted into the communicator, hoping that the changeling could hear her over the roaring wind, “I’ll find another way to Ponyville!”

“I can’t do anything to help, Bon Bon, good luck,” Ocellus replied, the window in her view showing a pegasi automaton instead of the changeling’s black carapace.

The swarm closed in around her, filling her sight with lasers. In a last-ditch effort to avoid being fried, she triggered her shield and desperately tried to find a place to land and not die. Her eye locked on a group of fluffy clouds that somepony had left outside a building, with a simple flex of her legs she turned to dive towards it.

But one of the pegasi had other plans, slamming into her like a battering ram and sending her flying into a building. The last thing she saw was the cloud wall of the building as she slammed through it.

Author's Note

Hello again, as you may have noticed, this chapter is very late.

This one in particular has been difficult to finish due to a very long list of real life issues that no one really cares about, the biggest problem is that it set the publishing back almost two whole days.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Next one should be ready in the next 7-10 days.