Guardians of Equestria : The Emperor's March

The sun was rising over Ponyville, finally putting an end to that eventful night. In the hospital, Drag was growing more and more tired having to keep Luna alive for such a long time. He knew he won’t be able to last for the entire day, for he grew more and more tired by the minutes. Time was running out and thus, somepony had to find an anti-venom, and quickly at that. Or else, the lunar princess would die. It was at that point that Pink and Fluttershy went to the Everfree Forest to call Zecora for help. The Pegasus also thought to bring Smithy along, hoping that by saving Luna, he would be accepted by her peers.

~***~

“You know the way to Zecora, don’t you Fluttershy? Because I personally can’t for the life of me remember where it is.” Fluttershy was the one to lead the way, seeing as Pink didn’t know where the zebra lived and Smithy had never been here before.

“Of course. I don’t go there often, but I know where it is. It’s not all that far in the Everfree Forest, thankfully. I don’t like going in there all by myself, it’s too scary for me.” responded Fluttershy. “Oh, and be careful to avoid the poison joke that grows around her home, Smithy.”

“Hmm? Poison joke? Is that like, a venomous plant?” curiously asked Smithy.

“Yeah, sorta. Its venom won’t kill you, but it’ll change your body in a way that’s not really convenient. Like making your hair grow tenfold, or shrinking you down to the size of an apple.” explained Pink as they took their time to bypass the poison joke.

“I see... Say, Pink. Do you ever feel like you don’t belong here?” The humanoid looked at the swordsman with a surprised expression before responding.

“Yeah, I feel that a lot. This isn’t my home after all. Even though it’s better than my previous one, I still feel like an outsider here. Everyone makes sure I don’t forget it.” Fluttershy felt the need to interject, so to make Smithy feel better.

“Don’t worry Smithy. I’m sure that once we would have saved Luna, everpony in town will no longer fear you.”

“Sure hope so...”

Fluttershy recognised the path they were on. They’re close to Zecora’s home.

“We’re nearly there, guys.” she announced to the others. They continued walking down the path, until something caught their attention.

It was a torch sitting on another path, with blue fire burning on top of it. Smithy didn’t think much of it seeing as he knew nothing about Zecora but Pink and Fluttershy knew that this torch was out of place.

“That wasn’t always there, right Fluttershy?” asked Pink.

“I’m certain there wasn’t a torch here before.” she replied. “I know we must look for an anti-venom, but we can’t simply ignore this. Maybe there’s something dangerous up ahead?”

“That’s not supposed to be here?” thought Smithy, judging from the others reaction, this wasn’t normal.

Pink nodded as he readied his fist for an incoming battle. Smithy reached out for his sword, one hand on the handle, ready to draw. They walked down the path where the torch was positioned in, going in further until they reached a strange stand in the middle of nowhere. Behind the counter was a Scaler dressed in a black coat, his eyes casting away the darkness with its glow.

“The Merchant? Is that really you?” asked Smithy, surprised to see him here.

“Ah, if it isn’t the young and promising Smithy. And you’re accompanied by two potential customers. He he he he, how fantastic.”

The swordsman approached the stand and looked at the variety of items on stock, The Merchant had certainly grown his catalogue considerably in just a few months. Going from just weapons, to just about anything at that point.

“A friendly stranger told me I could make a profit here in Ponyville and so I came. It’s as simple as that. Now tell me; are you here to save princess Luna?”

The Merchant had now caught the interest of the trio, for he already knew it all thanks to Rainbow Dash.

“What? How do you know?” pressed on Fluttershy.

“Like I said, stranger. Someone told me about the situation here.” Pink had a feeling this “someone” was Rainbow Dash, though he couldn’t be certain about it. “Now, do you want the anti-venom for the Komodo poison?”

“Yes, we would like to.” responded the Pegasus.

The Merchant chuckled and went to the back of his stand, pulling out an advanced looking gadget that he laid on the counter. He then activated the device, creating a holographic map of the region surrounding Ponyville.

“That doesn’t look like an anti-venom...” pointed out Fluttershy, but the Merchant quickly dismissed her, for he had something important to say.

“There have been multiple anomalies occurring in this world, which is how it caught my attention. Well, that, and the fact that Balgo literally kickstarted a war here. Just in this morning, there has been... another.”

“What?! Are you freaking kidding me?!” shouted Pink as he slammed his hands on the counter.

“Careful not to break anything. But yes, there has been another. I’ve looked into it and there’s something that I want in this anomaly. If you can retrieve it and hand it over to me; I’ll gladly craft the anti-venom for your princess. Deal?”

Fluttershy and Pink were unsure if they should accept the deal, but Smithy assured them that The Merchant was their best bet.

“Guys, trust me when I say that The Merchant is our best solution at the moment. The Komodo venom is unlike any other poison. He knows how to craft the fastest acting anti-venom for this type of poison found only on certain Scalers. He’s the only one who knows how to do it in Equestria.”

Pink wanted a quicker route however. “Why can’t we just force him to do so?”

The Merchant responded by opening his coat, revealing multiple grenades and explosives attached to him. “Then I’ll take the secret to my grave, stranger. Simple as that. Try me.”

Smithy got in between Pink and The Merchant, trying to calm down the big guy. “Dude, he’s dead serious about kamikazeing himself. Don’t try him. He’ll blow all of us up!” Fluttershy flew up to the Scaler, agreeing to the deal.

“Fine, can you tell us more about this “something” you want us to retrieve?” she said with a warm smile on her face.

The Merchant smiled back at the Pegasus. “Of course! This anomaly in question is a huge laboratory that teleported to your world, unbeknownst to the workers inside. It’s called, the Biolabs, created by a company called Horzine. I want you to go in there and retrieve flasks containing Fleshpound DNA for me. Bring them back to me, and I’ll deliver the anti-venom as promised.”

“Um, okay. But where is it?” asked Fluttershy.

“Here I'll show you.” He moved around the holographic map, pointing to them the exact location of the laboratory. “You should be able to make the trip and come back in time to save your princess. I’ve calculated it all, you can be sure of that, strangers... and Smithy.”

“No problem mister, we’ll make it quick!” exclaimed Fluttershy before they left to commence their journey.

~***~

Threading through the Everfree Forest, the trio finally found the exit to this dark place. According to what the Merchant showed them, they’ll soon arrive at an old mansion. The laboratory is just pass that. Something came to Pink’s mind, and he felt the need to tell his teammates about it.

“Hold on, does anyone here knows how Fleshpound DNA looks like?”

“I don’t think we need to know its appearance. The scientists in that laboratory surely must have labeled them. We just need to look for vials containing it.” replied Smithy

“Oh ok. Wait, now I'm just wondering what the hell’s a Fleshpound.” Pink looked at Smithy, expecting an answer the swordsman clearly didn’t have.

“Don’t look at me like I know. I know nothing! All I know, is that Fleshpound isn't a friendly name.” Fluttershy move in closer to the Scaler.

“Aw, come on now. Don’t undermine yourself like that, I’m sure you’re a lot more knowledgeable and smarter than you believe!”

“... Yeah, I hope so.”

Fluttershy finally spotted the old manor over in the distance, signaling to them that they are nearly there.

“That went by a lot quicker than I thought.” noted Smithy.

“This is great! At that rate, we’ll make it back in time!” softly spoke the Pegasus in a joyous tone.

They walked around the building, admiring its architecture in the process. It must have been decades since it was first abandoned. A relic of another time.

“Y’all think it’s just beyond this hill?” asked Pink as he pointed out to the hill before them.

“Let’s pick up the pace, guys.” urged Fluttershy.

They moved over the hill and were greeted by a jaw-dropping sight; the Horzine laboratory was massive, rivaling Canterlot’s castle in size. The Sun’s light barely allowed them to make out the size of the infrastructure.

“Oh crap, we’re gonna have to sneak in through that?” said Pink in a demoralised voice as he let his arms go completely limp.

“This seems daunting, but my suit should be well equipped for this mission.” exclaimed Smithy as he gestured at Fluttershy to bring back the humanoid’s morale.

“Pink, don’t be intimidated by the size of this laboratory. I’m sure we can do it, and I know you can manage!” spoke Fluttershy, smiling at the Guardian in hopes he’ll snap out of it.

“Let’s hope your faith isn’t misplaced...” concluded Pink, still in a worried expression.

~***~

Walking up to the entrance, they noticed there wasn’t any guards patrolling outside of the lab. Still, they weren’t stupid enough to enter through the front door, instead they opted to look for any windows, or vents to go through. Problem was, nearly all the windows were sealed off, preventing anyone from taking a peek inside. They had to find a way to take off these seals, or just brute force their way through it as Pink would have it.

“Ok then, guess I'll just smash one of them open. How about this one?” announced Pink as he moved toward one of the windows in the first floor.

“Heh, do what you must, big guy.” chuckled Smithy.

“Are you sure this is a good idea? It might attract the attention of the guards inside.” pointed out Fluttershy nervously.
The Guardian acknowledged her thoughts. He placed his head on the window in an attempt to hear what was going on inside. He could hear many sounds, but not that of a person’s voice. There was nobody in there.

Good, this one was safe to bust in. With one precise and powerful punch, Pink broke the window, allowing them to get inside. Fluttershy looked at the room they were in with confusion. There were many instruments she had never seen before, anywhere really. This place clearly wasn’t built by ponies, so what exactly could be inside this laboratory? The technology in there seemed more advanced than what Equestrians can do. The thoughts only served to unease her even more.

“The technology here doesn’t compare to that of the Scalers, but it’s still superior to you ponies. Be careful, there’s most likely security cameras.” pointed out Smithy as he examined the room.

“Security cameras?” questioned the Pegasus.

“It's basically devices hung up on walls that allow a security guard in the building to see what’s going on at all times. If you are spotted by one, you’ll start up an alarm. That’s our biggest concern.” clarified the young swordsman.

“Wow, you do sound much more confident now.” Pink noticed that in Smithy’s voice. He talked as if he had done this kind of thing before.

“Well, uh... that’s kind of because I was trained my whole life for this.”

“Damn, you never had a childhood?” asked the Guardian as he fiddled around with the various instruments present in their surroundings.

“No... Wish I had one.”

“I’m so, so sorry to hear it, Smithy.” added Fluttershy out of compassion.

“Well, there is nothing I can do about it.” said the swordsman as he looked off into the distance before seemingly casting away these thoughts. “In any case, our first course of action should be to find whoever is monitoring the laboratory, and take him out.”

“We’re not going to kill him, are we?” questioned Fluttershy, not wanting to cause too much harm to the workers in here.

“As long as we’re not forced to. I’d like to keep deaths at a minimum for this mission...”

Pink suddenly snapped out of his trance. He was playing perhaps a bit too much with the stuff he saw in this room.
“Oh shit, what were you guys saying? I kinda... didn’t hear any of it.” he said with a sheepish smile.

~***~

Somewhere in the laboratory, a scientist was called out to perform the routine. Inside this lab contained multiple shady experiment. Experiments to create the perfect super soldier, instead turning into something else entirely. Beings created from the DNA of humans. They looked vaguely human, but they could be described as anything but.

“Bloody hell, it’s already that time of the day again?” asked an annoyed scientist to his colleague.

“The bloody hell are you waiting for, ya bloke? Come and give the Fleshpound his usual dosage of adrenaline, we got some test to run in here.” responded the colleague.

“Pff, fine.”

The scientist took the syringe and walked out of the research wing of the Biolab, heading towards the section where the many subjects were locked in. The Fleshpound was their most ambitious project yet, as well as their biggest success. That monster perfectly fit the criteria for a super soldier; tough, bloodthirsty and does not rely on emotion, but only the desire to massacre everything that stands in its way. Adrenaline sent it into a frenzy, strengthening it as well as enhancing its speed. That was the bulk of their research on the Fleshpound as of now.

This scientist had to repeat the same mundane task he had done for months already. Little did he know, much darker schemes were going on behind the scenes. Schemes that would bring hell to this place.

~***~

Sneaking around the facility, the trio were making progress at a good pace thanks to Smithy’s expertise in this area. He was taught not just to be a great swordsman, but a great assassin as well. His great perception, plus the added bonus of the suit allowed him to spot all cameras in their vicinity and avoid them. Thus, he was the one to lead the group in this scenario.

“Are we getting close to the security guard’s office?” quietly asked Fluttershy as they were hiding in an unoccupied room.

“Should be, the maps around here indicate our destination is on this floor. We just need to look around.” answered Smithy.
Pink took a peek through the glass window and spotted exactly what they were looking for.

“Hey, that looks like the security’s office. Well, it’s pretty obvious that it is; the word security is written on it.” he announced to his friends.

“Great! We won’t have to worry about the camera’s afterward.” happily exclaimed the Pegasus.

The group waited for when the coast was clear, then they made their way into the office. Inside, there was only a single guard sitting at a desk, watching over the security cameras, although not looking like he took his job very seriously. Pink gestured at the others to indicate that he’ll deal with him, throwing on a confident smirk as he tip-toed his way to him.
Once he got close enough to the guard, he spun the chair, lifting a fist up to punch him.

“Surprise motherfucker!” he shouted right as he was about to throw his punch.

“W-What?!”

Pink threw a quick, but precise jab into the guard’s head, splattering his head on his chair.
“Oh no, oh fuck...” said the Guardian as he looked at his bloodied hand and then at the mangled head of the guard.

“You, uh... killed him, big guy.” pointed out Smithy, although it was pretty obvious that the guard was dead. He was missing half his head.

“Pink! I thought we were not going to kill him!” shouted Fluttershy nervously.

“That’s, not what I was going for. I swear!”

Without skipping a beat, Smithy rushed to the guard’s body and lifted him up. He then hid the body in a closet, locking it with an iron bar to make sure no one could get in for a while.

“Woah, Smithy. That was some quick thinking there.” exclaimed the Pegasus, slightly nervous at just how fast and calmly the Scaler acted.

“I’ve gotten used to doing this, actually. Things don’t always go the way we planned after all.”

“OK, so... Are we going to shut off the cameras now so we can move in further?” asked Pink to the Scaler.

“Yeah, but before we do that; let’s use the cameras to find where they are storing the DNA’s.” proposed the swordsman. The others agreed to Smithy’s proposal.

They looked at the cameras in an attempt to find out where the scientists stored the Fleshpound DNA the group needed to retrieve. On one of them was a scientist, carrying a box of syringes, slowly making his way to a containment chamber.

~***~

The scientist had finally arrived at a Fleshpound’s containment chamber. All he had to do was to give the monster the injection and then leave. Something he found rather annoying seeing as he was always the one picked to perform this boring duty. At first, it was scary seeing the beast enrage, trying to break through its bond but thankfully, the metal bonds restraining the creature were powerful enough to endure its trashing.

Sighing out of exasperation, the scientist entered the chamber. There it was, chained to the walls, not even noticing his arrival for it was in its docile state. Of course, the Adrenaline shot will get it out of this calm state of mind.

“Here you go, ya big lumbering oaf.” spurted out the man as he injected the Adrenaline into the mechanical device found on the giant and inhumane specimen’s chest.

Without even looking at the beast’s reaction, the scientist turned around and started to leave the room just as the monster began to scream in rage and trash around. He paid no mind to it, that was, until he heard a sound that made his heart sank. The sound of metal snapping, breaking apart. Then, even more metal began to break.

He turned around and saw much to his horror that the Fleshpound had broken through the metal restraining his arms and was now starting to break through the ones holding his legs in place. He ran for the door leading out of the containment chamber, but couldn’t open it. The door had locked itself in order to prevent a containment breach, but he knew it wouldn’t stop the Fleshpound from breaking it apart.

“Flesh...pound!”

The last restraints broke and the specimen was now free. He begged the monster to stay back, but the beast charged at him, blinded by anger and using the grinders that replaced its hands, pounded him into bloody bits. Then, it broke the door down in just one strike and ran out of its chamber, sounding an alarm throughout the Biolabs.

~***~

Having sabotaged the cameras, the trio was now free to move around the cameras without being spotted. They hid behind barrels and in other rooms whenever they would run into the personnel walking around. They moved from hiding spots to another, one at a time, but still going fairly quickly as their time was limited.

Suddenly, the alarms blared throughout the laboratory, alerting everyone inside to a containment breach. This sudden change in atmosphere made the group nervous, not knowing what was happening.

“Uh... we should lay low for the moment; they’ll be a lot of traffic in a situation like this.” proposed Smithy to his teammates. They nodded in response and the trio hid in a small closet, waiting for all of this to blow over.

“Hum, we could have picked a bigger room than this one.” pointed out Fluttershy as Pink and Smithy took up most of the space in this closet.

“Pink, you’re crushing me!” exclaimed the Scaler.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do anything about it!” responded the Guardian.

“Urgh, I don’t want to stay in there any longer!” said the Pegasus as she tried to push Pink back, which only made him crush the swordsman even more.

“Ack! You’re going to crush my head to bloody bits at that point! Fuck off, will you!”

Smithy began to push on Pink, this time Fluttershy was in an uncomfortable position once again.

“Leave me alone you two!” shouted Pink as he jumped out of the closet, causing the Scaler and the Pegasus to fall on the ground in relief.

“Oof, I can finally breath again.” absent mindedly said Fluttershy.

As the trio got up, they noticed that a human has spotted them.

“What the? Where in the bloody hell did you blokes come from?” asked the scientist, horribly confused at the group of atypical beings in front of him.

“Oh! Hum, sorry for intruding in your laboratory Mr. Scientist, but we’re looking for something called Fleshpound DNA. Do you know where we can find it?” demanded the Pegasus in a soft voice.

“What the fuck? It talks?!”

Pink looked rather uninterested in this exchange, wanting to just get it over quick. “Yeah, we ALL talk. So please, just tell us where it is, we don’t have all day.”

The scientist was just about to tell them where to find the DNA, well that was until he got his entire head blown to bits by a fireball. Fluttershy shrieked, Smithy activated the wipers on his helmet to wipe off the blood from his face as Pink began to scrub away at his eyes while swearing, blinded by the man’s blood.

The one who had killed the scientist was a human, or so it seemed. This person’s body was completely burnt and one of his arms was replaced by a gun that shot fireballs out of it. It was a Zed known as the Husk.

“Hold on guys, I'll take on this one.” said Smithy as he moved forward, challenging the Zed.

The Husk answered by firing a fireball at the Scaler. Smithy easily blocked the projectile, absorbing it into his sword before he slashed away, launching a fiery projectile at the Zed. The fire didn’t damage it too much, but it did cause the tank on its back to blow up, killing it instantly.

“Wow, that was cool Smithy!” complimented Fluttershy.

“A cool quirk of my high frequency blade.” he added as he put his sword on display for his teammates.
Fluttershy’s look of admiration quickly turned into sadness as she looked at the corpse of the scientist. “I’m sorry we couldn’t save you...” she muttered.

“Ok yeah, that’s cool and all Smithy. But Princess Luna’s life is on the line here! Let’s try to fight as least as possible and just get it done already.” announced Pink as he grabbed the two by the arms and dragged them along as he ran up to a random corridor.

~***~

Back at the security office, a large and imposing figure made its way in. This figure was once the brilliant head researcher of Horzine, Kevin Clamley. Now transformed after multiple experiments done on him at his request, using the company’s most advanced technology yet. He had transformed himself into a monster known as the Patriarch. His size and strength rivaled that of a Fleshpound, perhaps even surpassing it. One of his hands was replaced by a machine gun with a rocket launcher attached on it. A large tentacle like appendage was in his chest, which he could shoot out of his body. One of hie eyes even extended beyond his eye hole. Lastly, multiple tentacles were growing out of his mutated form, making him look no longer human.

The Patriarch re-enabled the cameras and looked at them thoroughly. His attention inevitably landed on Pink, Smithy and Fluttershy running around the Biolabs. He looked really surprised as he observed them, but his initial surprise quickly grew into something sinister as he grinned, thinking of all the things he could do if he can get his hands on their DNA.

“Excellent! Another batch of subjects.”

~***~

Fighting their way through the army of Zeds, the trio quickly realised that fighting them might be a lost cause. For each one they kill, three more come to take its place. If this keeps on going, they’ll tire themselves out before they reach their objective.

“Isn’t there a better way to go about this?” shouted Pink to his comrades as they were busy dealing with the specimens.
Smithy was slashing and hacking away at them while Fluttershy pushed them back with her kicks, preferring to let the others fight them as they were more experienced in this matter.

“I don’t think so! We’ll just have to persevere!” replied Smithy right as he decapitated an invisible Stalker approaching from behind. He quickly examined his surroundings just in case there were a better solution.

He found something promising; an empty room with a welder in it. “Everybody! Get in that room, now!” he yelled as he dashed inside, with Pink and Fluttershy joining him soon after.

The Guardian closed the door while the Scaler welded it shut with the tool.

“It works! Looks like they’ll have a hard time breaking THIS door down!” happily exclaimed Pink as he looked at the Zeds trying desperately to break the door down.

“Um, g-g-g-guys? We still have a problem.” muttered a scared Fluttershy.

The two turned around, wondering what was the issue. They froze for a moment once they saw what was in the room with them.

It was a Scrake, a large and muscular specimen possessing a chainsaw for an arm. He revved up the weapon and howled, before power-walking towards the trio.

“Oh fuck...” muttered Pink under his breath. “You deal with him Smithy.” he then said in a confident voice.

“What? Why?!”

“Because you have a sword. I only have a shovel; I don’t think it’s as good as a sword.”

Reluctantly, Smithy moved forward, ready to challenge the Scrake. The Zed charged forward and swung his chainsaw at the Scaler, to which he perfectly parried such an inelegant and predictable swing. He then slashed at its throat, slitting it and cutting off the metallic mask it wore.

“Well, that was easy.” he exclaimed as he turned to face his colleagues.

“Smithy, look out!” shouted Fluttershy as she pointed a hoof at the Zed behind the swordsman.

He turned around only to see that the Scrake was still alive, now missing his lower jaw after it had lost its mask. It sprinted at Smithy and swung again at him. He braced himself to parry the attack, but the specimen’s strength knocked him to the ground. The monster lifted his chainsaw, ready to strike down the Scaler, but was killed quickly by a shovel lunged into its face.

Pink ran up to the Scrake to take back his shovel as Smithy stood back up.

“You know, you could have helped me out instead of waiting at the very end to do something, jackass.” exclaimed the swordsman out of irritation.

“It’s just that, for a moment you didn’t look like you needed my help.” tried to explain Pink, knowing fully well that this excuse wasn’t going to cut it.

“It doesn’t matter if I need your help or not, you should be doing something instead of leaving me to do all the work!”

“Guys, it is no time to be fighting. I can see bigger and scarier monsters coming on the other side. I don’t think that door is going to hold on for very much longer.” said Fluttershy as she placed herself in between the two. Indeed, bigger specimens seemed to have arrived next to the door.

“Level of aggression, eleven!” shouted one of them in a voice that sounded organic and robotic all at once.
Without hesitation, the trio moved far away from that door, running up a flight of stairs that’ll surely lead to their objective.

~***~

“What have you done to my children?!” shouted the Patriarch as he slammed his fist on the desk. These intruders had murdered his very own creations, creations he considered to be his children for they shared his family’s DNA. They had to pay for their crimes, thought the mad scientist.

But if he wanted to have his retribution, he’d have to come to them. Without a second thought, the Patriarch left the security’s office in search of the intruders. A task that will be easy for him since he perfectly knows the layout of the Biolabs. On top of that, he knew where they were heading. The DNA vials were his most prized possessions, of course they were going for it.

He activated his cloaking ability and sprinted throughout the green-lighted corridors of the laboratory, knowing exactly where the group was heading for, nothing in this world was more precious than his research. He just knew that that was what they were looking for and he had to stop them from ruining everything he had worked so hard to build.

“Grrr, you’ll pay for what you’ve done.”

~***~

After minutes of running, the trio had found the place where all the specimen’s DNA were kept and preserved. Now, they just had to find the vials that contained the Fleshpound’s DNA. In the far back of the room lied large tubes containing Clots inside. Though they didn’t appear to be alive as of now.

“Well Fluttershy, judging from all the things we saw in here; you shouldn’t feel too bad about what’s happening to the scientists here. Fiddling around with genetics and creating monsters like this only brings karma to your doorstep.” told Pink to the Pegasus as he briefly looked at the Clots.

“I see. I suppose so but still, they don’t deserve to be slaughtered like this...”

Smithy walked away from the tubes, instead looking at the vials. “OK, let’s split up and find it quickly. Then, we’ll get the hell out of here!” he exclaimed to the group.

They each ran off in a different part of the large room, looking at all the vials. They just had to find the one that contained the Fleshpound’s DNA and then they could get out of this horrible place.

“I found them!” said Fluttershy. Pink and Smithy dropped their search so they could take a closer look at the correct vials.

“Finally! I’ll take them, they’ll be safer in my hands.” exclaimed Smithy as he took multiple vials and stored them in his suit.
“Alright, let’s get out of here before more monsters come our way.” said Fluttershy as she started to flap her wings.

Without skipping a beat, they fled the scene and were making their way towards the stairs until something big blocked their path. The Patriarch had finally caught up to them and he wanted vengeance for the massacre of his children.

“Urgh, I’ll show you no mercy.” he spoke in his distorted voice.

Pink stared in awe at the amalgamation of man, machines and genetic mutation. “Ok, that must be the boss around here. No doubts about it.” He walked up to the Patriarch gesturing at his friends to let him have this one.

Just as he got into melee range of the mad scientist, he turned invisible, causing the Guardian to lose his focus. Before he could even react, he felt the monster’s claws stabbing him in his guts and it lifted him up, hitting his head upon the ceiling before he was thrown into a glass window.

“What was it that you would hope to accomplish? I cannot be stopped.” arrogantly boasted the Patriarch. He then pointed his minigun at the two remaining intruders and prepared himself to fire. “Time for one more direct approach!”

“Ah shit... Get behind me Fluttershy!” shouted Smithy as he pulled out his sword.

The Patriarch opened fire on them to which Smithy deflected all the bullets using his quick speed and precision. When the mad scientist stopped firing, he was shocked to see that none of his bullet had hit them.

“Now you’re really starting to piss me off!” The Patriarch was about to charge at them, but Pink had gotten up and stopped him with a strong punch to the face. The Guardian then followed up by choke slamming the monster on the ground. The mad scientist tried to get up, but Pink made sure he won’t strike back by hitting the Patriarch with enough strength to send him into a wall, smashing it into pieces.

“Nice one Pink! You had me worried for a moment.” complimented Fluttershy. Pink threw on a confident expression, he felt more in control this time seeing as his opponent wasn’t nearly as dangerous as those that came before.

“Save me my children! Show them how much you love me!” cried out the Patriarch out of desperation.

Upon hearing their father’s cry for help, all the specimens around their location began to move in on the trio. First, there were only the smaller and weaker Zeds that jumped in the fray. But soon enough, bigger and stronger ones began to make their arrival.

“Flesh...pound!” That large and intimidating voice caught Smithy off guard, and he turned around, ready to parry the incoming attack, but the Fleshpound was far too strong for him. The resulting hit tore off his arm and sent him flying into even more Zeds. A nearby Bloat vomited on him, covering his suit in acidic bile. Before he could make a move, a Scrake kicked him into a wall, nearly knocking him out. He was now clutching his blade with his remaining arm like he was holding onto it for dear life.

The Fleshpound then lunged onto Pink, performing an overhead smash with its two grinders, but the Guardian grabbed its arms to stop the incoming attack. The Patriarch noticed a good opportunity to land a clean blow on the intruder.
“One in the pipe you sons of bitches!” he shouted as he loaded up his rocket launcher and fired it, hitting Pink in the back. The damage caused Pink to yelp in agony as the Fleshpound hit him in the stomach with its knee before smashing him onto the floor with an overhead smash.

Pink could only helplessly watch as Fluttershy was being pounced on by multiple Crawlers, these disgusting mixture of man and spider, trying to bite away at her face. Their sharp tendrils stabbing at her hooves and torso to make her lose her strength to hold them back. Pink noticed that she was looking at him with worried and pleading eyes.
His face hit the ground once more when the Fleshpound stomped on his head. Other specimens joined the mighty beast to beat him up.

A Gorefast tried to stab Smithy in the chest with its blade, but the Scaler grabbed it before it could impale him. However, the Bloat’s bile was disintegrating the muscles in his arms, slowly taking away his strength to hold the blade back.
Enduring the beating, Pink started to feel angrier and angrier by the seconds. He was always looked down upon by Alduin, always viewed as being the lesser of the three so called Guardians. Even in his old life he was still being mocked and underestimated. His entire life was beating, after beating, physical, and verbal all the same. No one could apparently see his true worth; he can be as great and imposing as Alduin if he wanted to. So why should he let all his anger inside him. Why should he let himself being tossed around as if he was nothing more than just a nuisance to everyone?
No, it was time he let it all out.

Pink began to lift himself up from the dirt. The Fleshpound stomped on him again, but he did not let the hit bring back down. He kept on rising until he finally stood up. With one wrathful yell, he knocked back all his enemies. His skin started to turn a shade of red and was now covered with fire.

The Fleshpound lifted its right arm in the air and swung down on Pink but he effortlessly caught the grinder with one arm. He then ripped it off and smacked the beast in the face with it. Letting go of the severed arm, he punched the Fleshpound with so much power that it plowed through his chest and sent it flying into multiple walls.
“No! You’re ruining everything!” yelled the Patriarch, now extremely angry.

The other Zeds all set out to fight Pink, but they each fell in just one swing from the enraged Guardian. Each of his punches ignited the hydrogen in the air, creating small explosions. One by one, they were torn to shreds by his fist of steel. Now, all that was remaining was the Patriarch himself. He was now just as angry as Pink, seeing as all his children were slaughtered before his eyes.

“I don’t think you fully understand the situation; you’re all going to die.”

Pink sprinted to the mad scientist. The Patriarch lifted his minigun up to him and began firing.
“This is the end of you!”

Pink punched as many bullets as he could, but many did hit him. But much to the Patriarch’s surprise, the bullets only tore off his skin but did not damage his muscles all that much. They have become so tough that the bullets could only scratched the Guardian’s muscles. The scientist quickly reloaded his rocket launcher.
“One in the pipe!”

He fired at Pink, who punched the rocket, somewhat deflecting it. The explosion sent him to the ground, but he simply jumped back into the fray in less than a milli second. He threw a punch at the Patriarch, but the monster stepped back just enough to avoid it. He then fired the appendage from his chest at the Guardian, to which he dodged it quite easily.
Grabbing it, Pink punched the Patriarch, severing the appendage from his chest. He then rushed the monster and began unloading all his fury on him. Then, he knocked the inhuman being to the ground and began pummeling him until there was nothing left but bloody bits.

Afterwards, he finally calmed down. Smithy could finally regenerate his wounds, with the nanobots in his suit repairing all the damage done, including the armour on the arm that had just grown back.

Fluttershy struggled to get back on her bloodied hooves with tears in her eyes, the Crawlers had done a number on her by the looks of it. “P-Pink, are you alright?”

Pink was the most injured of the group, most of his flesh had been torn off and burnt. His entire body was now covered in blood, both his own as well as those of the specimens. “I don’t know about that. I feel great.” he simply answered with a smile on his face, his breath now becoming labored.

“You’re bleeding out! If we don’t get you to Drag or a doctor, you’ll die!” she objected.

“That’s not a problem, I still have some fight left in me! I’ve never felt this good in my entire life!” he exclaimed happily.

“I don’t understand how you can feel that way.”

“Aye, I can see why. We’re both pushovers in some way, aren’t we? You know Fluttershy, anger isn’t necessarily a bad thing. See for yourself; it’s what saved all of us.”

“So, you’re saying I should express my anger instead of always trying to keep it inside?”

“Eh... Pretty much.”

Smithy had just gotten up, now fully healed. There were no traces of damage anywhere on him.

“Are we getting the hell out of here? I already hate this place.”

~***~

Somewhere on the first floor of the lab, a door opened out of thin air. A door that wasn’t connected to anything really. Out of that door came Mugen, wanting to help out. He was at the core of the building, where all the electricity was stored in. There was one big machine that gave the entirety of the Biolabs the energy needed to function.

“Ha ha! And where you see one machine, I C4.”

Mugen pulled out a C4 from who knows where and placed it on the machine, activating it and setting up a timer.

“Ok well, good luck to you three. Thought you probably don’t know I just did that. Hmpf, you should manage just fine.”

Mugen cart wheeled back into the door he had just opened and thus, he left the laboratory, having just doomed it.

~***~

“Since when were there four of him?!”

Pink nearly had a heart attack when he spotted three Patriarchs blocking the way leading to the stairs.

“Superior genetics. I’ve cloned myself, so come and kill me all you want; you will never find the original!”

Fluttershy’s eyes darted around the intersection they found themselves in. The only exit in sight were the windows, but was it really a good idea to defenestrate themselves? On perhaps the tenth floor? Smithy clearly had the same idea, but he was about to do it unlike the Pegasus.

“I’m not fighting these three assholes, if you want to Pink; they’re all yours.”

The Guardian looked at the Scaler in surprise, who was making a mad dash towards the windows.
“Hey! Where are you going?!”

“Don’t worry, you can handle it!” Smithy jumped out of the window, leaving Fluttershy and Pink alone against the three Patriarchs.

“One in the pipe!” shouted one of them as he began to load his rocket launcher.

Fluttershy and Pink knew they had no other choice in this situation, it’s do or die. Jump out the window, or die trying to get past these monsters. The Guardian sprinted towards the same window Smithy had jumped through while the Pegasus flew out of it.

Before the Patriarchs could fire their weapon at him, Pink escaped. During his fall, he turned around to flip them off and just as he did; the entire building exploded, nearly scaring him to death. The explosion launched him further away from the infrastructure.

“Pink are you alright?” screamed Fluttershy as she flew down to where her friend landed.

“I’m fine, I’m ok. Think I broke a rib, but that’s about it.” As usual, a rather sarcastic response coming from the guy who’s covered in his own blood.

“You need to go see a doctor! These injuries are really bad.” Her caring nature wouldn’t allow her to calm down. Pink was after all, in a pitiful state right now, even though he doesn’t want to admit it.

Smithy approached the two, looking at the Guardian who was still down on the floor.

“So much for keeping deaths at a minimum...You should probably listen to her, even a Scaler would be looking for first aid with such injuries.”

Pink stood up, wiping away the blood and acted as if he was fine.
“Pff, I can make the trip back. Just watch.”

He took a few steps forward, but that didn’t last for long. In a matter of seconds, he flopped on the grass, unable to stand up anymore. “Ok, someone’s gonna have to carry me back. Smithy?”

~***~

The Merchant waited patiently at his counter; fully confident they will return. He took a quick look at the time and realised the waiting was finally over. The group had returned from their quest.

“Welcome back, strangers. You have the Fleshpound DNA I presume?” he said as he reached out a hand for the vials. Smithy took them out of his suit and handed the items over to the Merchant.

“Now, will you give us the anti-venom so we can save Princess Luna?” asked Fluttershy, the Scaler chuckled and walked into his backroom. He returned shortly after with a syringe.

“I had faith in you, strangers. ‘Tis why I synthesised it during your trip. I knew you’d come back successful.”

Fluttershy smiled at the Merchant’s kind words. “Thank you, sir. We greatly appreciate your help.” She looked over at the bloodied Pink, still on Smithy’s back. “Um, can you do something about our friend? He’s really hurt.”

The lizard took a close look at Pink before accepting to help. He took out a first aid spray from under his counter and sprayed the Guardian with it. In a matter of seconds, his wounds closed, leaving barely any traces of his injuries.

“I’ll help you for free on this one, stranger. But that is not all. With the Fleshpound’s DNA, I can craft a weapon, so powerful it can pierce a God’s black heart. I’ll tell you once it’s ready.”

“Really? Oh, thank you so much for your kindness, sir.”

“Heh, the client’s satisfaction comes before everything else, stranger.”

~***~

Back at the hospital, the trio entered the room where Drag and Cadance were waiting for them. The Tauren looked exhausted, breathing heavily on his chair, no longer healing Luna. He took notice of their arrival.
“Thank the Light you’re back! I’ve reached my limit. I seriously hope you’ve got something.”

Smithy nodded and took out the anti-venom from his suit.

“Is this the anti-venom?” asked Cadance, Smithy reassured her that it will save the lunar princess.

“If you don’t mind. I’ll do it.” he said in a calm tone as he moved closed to the injured alicorn. He injected the anti-venom into her body and everyone in the room watched happily as the infected wound closed itself, stopping the bleeding entirely. Princess Luna was saved, but there was still one problem left and that was... her broken horn.

“I’m so glad you three managed to find the anti-venom just in time, but... I don’t think Luna is going to be able to resume her duty as princess of the night anymore...” sadly pointed out Princess Cadance.

“Not to worry, I got super glue!” Everyone turned to face the newcomer, Mugen. “With super glue, I can fix this broken horn!”

Drag was rather confused as to how glue was going to solve this issue. “I assume you have the other piece of her horn then?”

“Of course, take a look at this!” Mugen took out the missing piece of the lunar princess’s horn out of nowhere and showed it to everyone. “Now, let me do the magic!”

He waltzed over to Luna, who was still unconscious, and glued her horn back. Cadance looked at the whole scene with uncertainty, horns can’t be fixed with just glue, that was common knowledge amongst unicorns and alicorns alike. Suddenly, the glue transformed into the same material that made up Luna’s horn, and it looked like nothing had happened to it at all.

“That wasn’t super glue. That was, magic super glue!” added Mugen as he proudly showed the bottle to everyone around him.

“He just keeps on surprising me... How many tricks do you have up your sleeves?” asked Smithy.

“An infinite amount, that’s for sure! They don’t call me Mister Infinity for nothin’!”

~***~

Twilight nervously paced around the train station. She had heard that Shining Armor was going to arrive soon today. After her encounter with the fake Shining, her desire to see her brother had only grown stronger. It’s been so long since she’s seen him, much less even get in contact with the unicorn. Spike was also besides her, as he wished he had been in these recent events.

Her frantic pacing came to a stop once she heard the sounds of the train coming.

“Spike! The train’s going to arrive in just a few minutes!” she exclaimed happily.

“Now that I think about it Twilight... I’ve never truly met your brother, have I?”

“Actually, you did. You were just too young to remember. But I guess this time you’ll remember meeting Shining Armor! Oh, he’s the best big brother one could ask for!”

Finally, the train came to a stop a couple of minutes later. Twilight and Spike excitedly watched as the passengers left their wagons. Some of them were familiar faces, ponies that have returned to Ponyville once they knew that it was no longer occupied by the Scalers. And then, Twilight saw Shining step out of the train. Without waiting any longer, she ran up to him with Spike coming closely behind.

“Shining!” She got the attention of her brother who looked just as happy to see her again.

“Twiley!”

The two unicorns hugged each other tightly, refusing to let go of one another. Twilight wanted to say something, but tears filled her eyes and she was incapable of speaking even a single word. Her emotions were getting stronger and stronger the longer she was in his embrace.

“Twiley... I can’t even begin to imagine what you must have gone through. I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help you.”

Twilight finally found the strength to talk to her brother now that he had broken the silence.
“I-It’s okay. You’re here now and th-that’s all that matters to me.”

After a while, the two broke their hug and Shining turned his attention to Spike.

“Oh my, you’ve grown a lot since the last time I saw you! You were still just a little baby when I first met you Spike!”

“Um, h-hi there Shining. It’s nice, to meet you I mean.” awkwardly said Spike as he did not know how to approach the stallion. Twilight was done wiping her tears away, ready to finally have a serious talk with her brother.

“Well Shining, why don’t we go to the Golden Oak library? There is a lot of things I want to say to you, and I’m sure you have plenty to say as well.” Shining agreed to her proposition.

“Alright! Lead the way, Twiley. We have a lot of catching up to do.”