Chapter five

The whole night, zero hostility had transpired toward the heavy Unit, which made 860 even more vigilant.

It was well into the early morning, three AM to be exact. The effects of being up all night were taking their toll, true he was still dangerous, but his alertness was hindered making him less combat-effective.

Just then his helmet produced a notification.

[Alert. Physical strength, along with situational awareness may be slowed due to the lack of a respite period, please initiate code. Refresh and recycle, to resolve the issue.]

'If nothing has occurred I might as well sleep.' Leaning back and resting his head against the Stone wall 860 finally permitted his modified body the rest it deserved.

Uploading previous mask Data. . .

Upload complete. Replaying old memories. . .

The combine dropship had landed, and not a moment later, it would open its metallic doors. showing the human 860 to disembark.

Stepping out followed by the same Cp's as before, plus four other Officers. Who received this,

'Reward notice.'

Glancing around the massive Courtyard, 860 saw an abundance of combine activity, the majority of which were Soldiers of all varying types, being divided into groups, to go through some kind of 'test.' or possibly being deployed for active duty.

'Well, shit this is how I get killed. Not how I expected it to end. I preferred to die in my bed, not by a firing line.' 860 dryly remarked, thinking he was going to be shot.

Looking left, he would spot four Soldiers walking towards the group of Civil Protection units. The one leading them was of course an Ordinal, and those behind him had the words, 'Nova Prospekt'

Inscribed on their chest, and backs. Showing what they mostly specialized in.

"Civil Protection officers, Follow us and do not stray off from the group. " The majority of the Cp's, had no idea what was coming, and neither did 860.

Entering the lobby, the Ordinal pointed to a soldier on the other side of a reception desk. "Hand over all Firearms. And stun batons, They will be exchanged for upgraded weaponry, After your reward notice." Meanwhile, all around the Cp's and soldiers, the sounds of construction and alien machinery echoed around them.

Following the edict, most if, not all. Had handed in their weapons and continued following, 860 had managed to fall behind till he was at the very end of the crowd.

The halls were made to prevent and restrict the movements of former prisoners, now the new intention of this correction facility was far darker.

Glancing around while they walked, 860 caught a short glimpse of a Soldier he had never seen before.

The armor was white, and the combat gloves were black. One arm had a red plate, the other had been the symbol of the Union, along with a Service Ribbon not to mention pouches for holding god knew what on its chest armor. Not to mention a black utility belt around it's waist,

'The hell kind of Soldier is that? I've never seen one before; it's so White, with that most obvious color makes them useless in any environment, unless they are to be deployed in Greenland or even Siberia. How do they clean blood, or anything off for that matter?'

860 would have moved closer to get a better look. But the Overwatch soldiers, behind him, who were acting as rear guards had stopped him.

Reaching a four-way intersection many different combine Units were going about their business, some going to different sections to continue modifying the man-made structure.

Their large group had stopped and soon shouting was heard.

"Get the hell off of me! You pitiful shells of human beings!" Wailed a woman who was being dragged by two Nova Prospekt Soldiers.

Soon another person was dragged by. This time a man followed, having been muffled by a piece of fabric to shut him up, regardless of losing his voice he sure as hell didn't make it easy for them.

And the last person was far less compliant and had refused to even walk so they just dragged him, however, he had been hog-tied. So he couldn't fight back during transportation.

Watching them leave, the younger 860 shook his head. 'Off to get their brains sucked out. Should have just answered the questions willingly, instead of causing problems.' He didn't know what goes on here nor did 860 want to.

After the three rebels were hauled down the right corridor, 860's group went left.

"Where do you think these Soldiers are taking us?" A feminine, CP inquired to somebody next to her in front of 860.

"I don't know, but maybe it's something positive. Maybe we're getting our selected perks? What was yours again 19?" the male Civil Protection officer asked.

"Mine was family cohesion services, what was yours again 21?" Officer 19 asked, trying to fill the dead and stone walls with some kind of human interaction.

He tried to answer her, but the Soldier who was acting as Rear Guard spoke up. "This Social interaction will cease, immediately."

Seeing no way out of it, they stopped talking, making 860 frown. 'Damn, I wanted to know what his perk is, maybe these two are right? Who knows, perhaps we are getting the perks we selected.'

Entering a room with many chairs, and a single metal desk. With a combine terminal connected to said desk. The alien-made computer looked alive, as it kept Glowing, its many different shades of cyan and blue hues. The officer leading them spoke up. "Remain seated until told otherwise."

In total, there were Thirty Civil Protection officers forced to sit and wait.

They sat there for what felt like an eternity, until the same, white armored Soldier appeared. Followed by two Ordinals, entering the room. The white armored one, went behind the desk to interface with the computer.

"Please approach one at a time, for processing." One by one Civil Protection officers went up and conversed, with this snow-themed combine.

From where he was, 860 couldn't make out what they talked about, nevertheless. Once they finished talking, the Cp would leave behind the Elite and enter one of four hallways. Each of them, was marked with numbers to show where people needed to go.

Gradually the room slowly emptied, until 860, and the two before were left, beforehand. They were asked to move up, due to the lack of bodies blocking them.

"Good luck, see you after this." The female CP whispered to her companion but this time 860 could hear the transaction of information.

"Designation."

The Elite inquired, with zero emotion evident in its Vocoder, far more robotic sounding and not so easily comprehensible for the inexperienced.

"My designation is 19-70."

She stammered nervously having never seen this Soldier before, especially one with only one red eye.

It entered her Civil Protection ID before continuing. "You have shown great leadership skills. Your selected perk is family cohesion services; Regardless, please go down the first hallway."

Nodding she went towards the First door and disappeared into the dark hallway.

"Next."

The man next to him got up, and walked over. After repeating the same process, as before 860 only decided to listen, when it came to Officer 19's perk.

"You're Selected Perk is Infestation Control. However, you lack situational awareness or strategy; Please go to the Third hallway."

'My man! That guy loathes Head crabs and xen life more than I do. Give them hell for me!'

Regardless, it was 860's turn.

"Next"

Looking around the now-empty hall, 860 stepped up following the procedure. Like the Twenty-nine Civil protection members, before him.

"Designation."

"My designation is 86-88." 860 replied, listening to the combine soldier click and press away at buttons to find his file.

"You're selected perk, is Research and Development. With that being said, you also have shown extreme efficiency, and situational awareness, in live Combat. Enter hallway four."

Not many others had entered the fourth hallway. What was down the dark hall? Walking towards it,

860 turned on his night vision and still nothing was there, besides the long dark hallway.

'You only, live once I suppose.'

Going down the hall, 860 Would experience lightheadedness, before falling unconscious.

Consciousness would flicker in one moment and out the next, but 860 could see a new scene playing out before him.

Flickering between the two states only a few things were clear: 860 was on an operating table but he wasn't injured when he first arrived at Nova Prospekt.

Attempting to shift to sit up, resulted in intense pain, trying to open his eyes. 860 failed, it appeared his face was covered, that's what it felt like anyway. Soon a sharp pain entered his neck, and gradually the pain went away but his movement was lightly restricted, yet 860's hearing returned.

"Subject has been injected with 25 ML of Morphine to Impede the patient's movement, restrain further immediately. Prep Femur bones to be altered,"

'What are they doing to me!' 860 tried to get up to see, but his head was locked into place. As his eyes, felt like they had been pulled out of his skull. Before he could protest this further, elastic restraints ended his attempt.

He tried to stop the operation, 860 tried with all his might. And what did he get for his trouble? Nothing more than his restraints creaking. After all, this wasn't what he signed up for, or was it? the combine always knew how to bend
Certain agreements

The human 860 attempted to speak but nothing happened. Why weren't his vocal cords working, 'What the hell did they do to me?! Why can't I speak?!'

Panic began to consume him, some hissing of machinery grabbed his attention, before his leg bone was snapped in half. And finally, his other leg soon followed. In the end, both of his femurs were broken,

The pain was incomprehensible, and 860 tried with all his might to scream, and even cry but the tears refused to come out, yet a soft and meak croak was the only thing he was able to produce, causing his heart rate to increase.

'They broke my legs! They broke my motherfucking legs!' The agony though dull was unlike anything he ever experienced, while dispatch spoke out in the chamber.

"Subject 78 is still responsive, administering drug cocktail 21-E." There was a soft humming, and other combine machinery at work. Until Exhaustion finally hit, 860 who slowly collapsed into unconsciousness.

However, this was only the beginning.

860 was locked within the winding halls of Nova Prospekt for days, weeks, and possibly even months, due to his selected 'perk' to heal. But to keep a long story short, they experimented on him brutally.

In ways that would make rebels shutter, if they had to undergo the same thing without any kind of synaptic dampener, or something for the pain.

When he could finally stand on his own, this took roughly three or so months after the operation; personally, 860 was unsure of the true passage of time. It could have been longer than he assumed,

Finally when 860 was able to stand, longer than fifty seconds his legs shook from the added weight on them. Besides this temporary weakness, he finally could reach the terminal in his room through shear will power.

'N-not very smart to leave a terminal unguarded, don't you think? I-I gotta be quick with this.'

From what he could research at a Combine terminal within his cell when no guard was around, and despite his limited clearance.

This is what 860 knew so far; the combine wanted to replace the Wall-hammer units for a Very long time. Maybe even permanently, and to anyone who still had a functional and fully intact brain, it was obvious as to why.

The first issue was the armor plating, even though it was great and effective at protecting the wearer the defects were it being clangorous, and bulky.

This means no aspect of surprise when flanking a target or stealthily entering buildings that were Rebel hideouts. To put it simply, it was loud, and not cost-effective.

Furthermore, the armor was easy enough for Parasites to latch onto and possibly cause an outbreak. Or for rebels to steal and make better hurriedly crafted bulletproof vests.

So Overwatch, with the approval of the Earth administrator, authorized the work of a new Combine unit.

'Spikewall.'

The new armor was made with Stealth and head crabs in mind, in theory. The sleeker build would make it more difficult for them to latch onto a Soldier's armor, along with a new experimental shotgun to replace their six gauge slugs with self-replicating plasma shells.

The new armor however offered the same, or even better protection to the wearer. Minus the obvious weak spot, the eyes. This means things like RPGs, and landmines were ineffective. Unless fired at the head,

The only main issue was the gun, it could overheat and possibly melt, or even explode. If not given a chance to cool down, properly. Or be maintained, after intense combat drills or live combat.

Subsequently, his memories were wiped. And replaced, but they left some emotions for some odd motive. Overwatch always mandated a field test, to see how this new experimental Soldier of the combine Armed forces, could handle themselves. And today was that day.

"Experimental Unit 860, Report to the seminar room immediately."

Getting up with ease, 860 spotted his helmet and weapon on a metal rack near the exit door he just needed to walk over and put it on.

Taking one step off the shield table, and then another, 860 was by this point still not very balanced. Even though his legs had healed, the combine didn't give him any therapy to adjust to the forced upgrades; reaching up and holding onto the wall as a sort of support. He traveled around the room until arriving at the exit, Snatching his helmet, and with the support of an old cabinet, he equipped his helmet. Giving him the ability to respond to Overwatch.

"Overwatch requesting referred action. Movement is still problematic." 860 inquired, while it issued an answer.

"Use of steroids of class E strength have been prescribed to you, Unit 860. Please report to the medical bay for injections. Afterward, maintain the original directive."

Grabbing his gun, and leaving his quarters. The freshly made 860 dragged himself, to the old penitentiary's medical ward, after a few injections he felt better in walking, even able to sprint if need be.

Entering the same room he entered, all that time ago. A group of Overwatch Soldiers were standing in a loose formation. All of the Cp's who had gone down a hallway, received an upgrade. Not on the extraordinary level as 860 mind you, but they went down the more well-known paths.

"Congratulations on surviving your surgeries, the Administrator of Earth is pleased by your commitment to keeping our collaboration further dedicated to the multi-dimensional empire. Now even though you all are considerably superior to a Simple Civil Protection officer, a field test is required to see how you all can operate, report to the courtyard for a new mission directive."

Leaving the conference room, with his fellow soldiers they went through many twists and turns through combine controlled Nova Prospect; 860 entered the massive courtyard. spotting a group of Cp's who were about to go through the same hellish, and painful fate, not that he cared now. All that mattered now was his mission.

He stood there for Eighty whole minutes, watching combine Soldiers of all types being assigned into groups. Then boarding a dropship and being flown off to their sectors.

"Experimental unit 860, you are being assigned to Grid Niner Dash Five. Infestation control."

"Mission directive confirmed."

860 noted, moving towards a group of combine soldiers who were given the same assignment. The group consisted of two, Wall-hammers. One Ordinal, and four assault grunts. Finally, 860 was given his temporary squad.

The group entered the dropship and not a moment later were in the air flying toward their drop zone.

"Overwatch is confirming the sector lockdown, All units advisory, prep for contact. Keep sightlines open, and sound on." Slowly the doors opened and the group exited one at a time.

"Unit 860, Unit 236, and Unit 987 Split off and clear the underground." The Ordinal commanded, pointing towards the metallic door that was heading for the train station below.

"Acknowledged,"

The Wall-hammer to his right confirmed for his small group while it took point 860 and a lone assault grunt followed.

After a short journey, through the underground train station, they spotted warning signs showing where it had begun to spread out.

"Approaching, zero sector containment zone." Unit 987 conveyed over their built-in radios.

"Possible Parasite infestation." The Wall-hammer announced making 860 flick the safety off on his firearm.

Just then a headcrab attempted to attack them through the shield door only for it to get blasted into chunks, by 860.

"Parasitic infestation confirmed. Grid Niner Dash Five, awaiting advanced directive. Over." 860 radioed their team leader. Subsequently, their officer responded.

"Code 10-307. proceed with Containment"

"10-4. Contain and Control is underway." The Wall-hammer unit to his right responded, before charging through the combine shield door, followed by the other units.

Following but turning left, 860 secured shadow while they pushed,

"Contact, necrotics." The Assault grunt warned, grabbing 860's attention.

"Shadow secure."

Moving to join the group, he saw the state of the necrotics. Most of them were combine related, Others were infestation control cleaners, and a very few were unlucky scavengers.

"Second Outbreak detected. Secondaries spotted," warned the Wall-hammer to his right. Glancing over, 860 moved to cover them so they could deal with the approaching contaminants,

"Processing viscon."

While his cohort stood there watching them, 860 listened to their shuffling footsteps moving closer to them; till finally one of his allies spoke up again.

"Scan complete. Go sharp," Immediately after giving the order the grunt began dispatching the infected, bullets were fired and robotic groans of pain wailed out before being blasted a few more times, silencing them permanently.

"Hostiles exterminated."

987 said towards 860, to show that they were going to move forward, so he wouldn't be left behind.

"Report infection status."

A robotic voice called out through the radio, encouraging 860 to answer.

"Outbreak contained."

"Copy that. Advance and continue Scan and clear."

Nodding, 860 took the lead moving towards a door, the two others following while Xen flora throbbed, and squashed under their boots.

Finding a door covered by xen life the Wall-hammer moved 860 to break it down. "Ordinal, be advised, Wall-hammer is attempting to accomplish a 603."

However, the brain of this team didn't answer seeing that a minor thing like that, didn't need to be answered. Rearing up it kicked the door which shook violently from the kick, trying again and then again the outdated combine Juggernaut couldn't break it down.

"Experimental unit 860, attempt code 603." The annoyed Wall-hammer proposed making him advance as Unit 987 moved away, giving the floor to 860.

"987, 236 please. Back down." Gesturing with his hand for them to move, they followed the request. Giving 860 the ability to proceed fully.

"Ordinal be advised, Tau Cannon is being used."

"Affirmative."

The inexperienced captain answered, giving him the ok to proceed.

Grabbing on the handle, 860 yanked it backward to unlock its tau cannon ability.

After a loud snap, a compartment appeared showing three fluorescent glowing tubes that were rapidly whirling. 860 knew his gun was ready for shooting the door off of its hinges. Backing up, 860 took a firm stance. Placing his gun in a proper position, 860 aimed and fired.

The blast was far louder than in its normal shooting mode, as it tore through the overgrown xenial flesh and covered metal, while molten metal dripped off and sizzled any organic material below. 860 fired again, and again.

After punching a hole through the weaker organic wall, quite literally. 860 pointed at the other soldiers and motioned for them to enter.

The modified human was panting by the end of his first mission. Despite this, his muscles didn't give out. Even though 860 by all human accounts, should have been driven to medium, to even high exhaustion. His armor, needed to be cleaned as it was drenched in parasitic glowing blood.

"Experimental unit. 860, mission status complete. Return to the surface for divergence." Overwatch's voice radioed through his helmet. Showing it was over,

Looking behind him in the darkness of a discontinued train tunnel he saw one of his comrades, Reaching up 860 responded.

"10-4."

Seeing the silhouette of 987 approaching, 860 didn't see anything off. Or something causing an issue, in his half-synthetic ally. 860 chose to play a game while he approached since he was moving towards him.

Coughing to warm up his vocoder, 860 gave a pass to 987. "4.11.12. 7. 10. Check. Your go, bladewall over."

Yet he didn't respond. The only thing audible was his heavy breathing and his heavy footsteps. Which concerned, 860. Deciding to reach him over their built-in radio's, the Spikewall did just that.

"Bladewall, Report sector status."

Still, nothing, thinking his helmet was broken. 860 tested it. By radioing in 236, "Unit 236. 4.11.12.7. 10. Check. Your turn, over."

The grunt answered immediately with his moves. "14. 1. 6. 3. 11. Check. Your turn Bladewall over."

This was going south pretty quickly.

Grasping a flare from a front pouch, and tearing the lid off. 860 threw it towards 987 who was still shuffling towards him.

In the red hue, 860 saw it. 987 had become infected.

Acting quickly, he radioed his captain. "Ordinal we have an Outbreak at Grid Niner Dash Five. Prosecuting at will."

However, the poor soul had come within range and became audible to his Superior model.

"Overwatch…sector is… not secure." 987 called out but the head crab's xenial body armor was too thick to allow the transmission through.

Pointing his gun at him, 860 activated the tau cannon mode. The normal mode would have gone through the hardened fungus, but there's a chance it wouldn't have, and instead caused severe pain to the headcrab and his comrade. Deciding on relieving 987's suffering. Instead of making it worse, drove him to such extreme actions.

Aiming towards his head, 987 said something that made waves to the experimental unit. "Code…10-...109." the words stunned him, but 860 understood completely.

"987, Your request is acknowledged."

Aiming for his head, 860 ended his suffering with one pull of his trigger. The resulting blast killed the headcrab, and freed him. From the extreme pain of being a Uber with legs for a headcrab. Just then a head crab vociferation grabbed his attention.

Turning around, the thing thankfully missed his head. And instead latched into his chest armor, letting his rage out. 860 released his foregrip and grabbed the unarmored parasite.

It stabbed at him with its front pincers along with releasing more annoyed vocalizations, doing its best to get free of 860. 'Not this time, this is why your kind belongs under my boot!'

Grasping it tighter, 860 slammed it against one of many brick pillars to the underground ceiling, the resulting crunching sounds. Made him press forward in brutally killing this infernal lifeform;

After he was done there wasn't much left of the space turkey. Besides its mangled and brutalized remains, 860 would have done more but he decided that was enough. The glowing blood from the recently killed headcrab merely just aded onto his dripping armor. Despite this he Headed topside, once reaching the outside world 860 was stopped by his temporary captain,

"860, report status on unit 987."

Nodding he did so.

"Unit 987 is terminated. Motive, stopping another infestation,"

After giving his side of the events his captain received new orders. Strictly for 860,

"Overwatch is requesting Unit 860 to Refresh and resolve. Cognitive dissonance will not be tolerated."

Slowly 860's heart rate increased while he raised a question.

"Code 19-20?"

Time appeared to slow to a halt as he nervously awaited an answer. It felt like an eternity waiting but finally, he got what he wanted.

"Negative… memories included. Update is live. Acceptance is mandatory."

Seeing no way out of this, without being seen as 'malignant.' 860 accepted. While everything faded to black, 860 spoke his answer along with completing his issued orders.

"Copy. Accepted. Cognitive Suppression biodat update Complete. In three. Two. One."

Starshine POV

Now with these added responsibilities, Starshine had to wake up extra early. And she was not a morning kind of Pony if her ruffled and unruly mane and coat were any correlation.

'Ugh, why did I say yes? I should have asked for a pay increase too. Not just blindly saying yes. Foolish Starshine!' she said mentally smacking herself.

Entering her bathroom she quickly climbed into her shower and began washing up. 'The only way I can get my fur and mane under control is by wetting it. I might as well shower. I need to smell the best for my personal ear scratcher~'

This made her giggle softly, looking through her choices of shampoos and conditioners, Starshine decided on using a Mango strawberry twist. "Maybe if I smell good enough he'll scratch me for longer." Starshine openly pondered,

She showered for roughly five minutes doing all essential parts, places like her mane, wings, and chest fluff were washed first. Then her back face and tail,

"It's all about the system," She hummed.

Once done she turned the warm water off and shook herself out, grabbing her brush Starshine began brushing the wet fur down and doing her wings.

Now having been freed from her unkempt fur, she quickly left her room. And walked down her steps, towards her kitchen. Going into her fridge, upon seeing the sad state it was in, made the Pegasus sigh with annoyance.

"Celestia damn it. I forgot to go shopping last night, *sigh* oh well. I'll grab a bite to eat after my morning duties,"

Closing her fridge, she moved around her kitchen. Through the small living room, and towards the front door of the small apartment she rented. She took her work saddle bag from its spot and put it on.

Unlocking the front door and stepping outside, Starshine was greeted by a warm summer day. Closing the door behind her and locking it with her key, she began walking towards the castle to prepare for her job today.

After being checked through the checkpoint of the front gate and getting her maid uniform on, Starshine started with the first order of business Feeding her alien friend,

"Ugh, I need to give him a name. Or find out if he even has one," Starshine muttered but somepony behind her spoke up.

"Does our Starshine have a special somepony already? You must have one if you're thinking about nicknames." A familiar voice called out, making her whirl around in surprise. Spotting the guard she knew all too well making Star huffed.

"Damn it, Ebony Don't sneak up on me." Starshine huffed before realizing what the Guardsmare was getting at.

Worried, Starshine began quickly backpedaling, "It's nothing I swear!" her friend however was less than convinced.

"Starshine, you know I can tell when you're trying to cover something up. And this," the Unicorn mare said pointing at her.

"Isn't covering it up, nor is it satiating my curiosity." Ebony Shadow said, giving her a look of displeasure.

Groaning, Starshine cracked. "OK fine! I'll spill. I was trying to think of a name for our friend in the dungeon."

Ebony's face fell slightly as she realized who she was talking about. "The guard already has a name for him, the newbies call him, 'The gray beast.' And that is a nickname well-earned. If you read the after-action reports from Ponyville and the Diamond dog incident you'll see why."

Folding her ears back, Starshine found the name for him to be kinda rude, he didn't seem like the type who would hurt a fly but then again. He was chained up with nearly everything the guard had in Canterlot. She's surprised Celestia didn't turn him to stone while they were at it.

"I would be quick. He's got a busy day today." Ebony alerted. That made Starshine perplexed,

"For what? I thought he wouldn't be doing much in a maximum solitary cell."

Giving a light laugh the guardsmare decided to show off his schedule. "Princess Celestia's student is going to have an interview with it. Along with her Highness, and the Captain of the Guard. Watching; after that, he's getting a sooner-than-expected cell transfer, and possibly some one-on-one with Miss Twilight."

Groaning, Starshine shook her head. "How long do I have before this mare shows up?" Asked the annoyed maid pony.

"About five minutes. So If I were you'd move those flanks. Good luck, and if you're fast enough I'll put in a good word for you when you decide to join the guard."

Said Ebony. Trying to give her some verbal support.

'Celestia Bucking damn it.'

Starshine groaned, before galloping off doing her best to feed the being placed in her care.

Running with enough speed to impress the Guard training officials. Starshine arrived at the cell rasping like she dragged herself out of a burning building.

Her lungs were burning, and her legs felt tired. Starshine's heart was beating out of her chest; she had never ran like this before, as the guard coughed to grab her attention.

"Are you here to feed the freak?" Asked the stallion,

She wanted to yell at him, but the lack of oxygen in her lungs wouldn't let her. So she ended up just glaring at him.

"I'll take that glare as a yes, hang on." Fumbling with the ring of keys on his side the stallion simply pushed a large key in and unlocked the door granting her entry.

"A word of wisdom, use your wings next time. Not your hooves. I've been there before, early morning shifts suck." A guard Pony to her right offered pointing to his wings.

Shakeily walking in, The mare gave him his meal and slumped down. Clinging, to the cool floor. "S-sir he needs one hand uncuffed to eat," Star said, too tired to even get back up.

Entering, the earth pony guard walked around the grounded mare and undid, one hand cautiously. "Just yell when he's done." The stallion said not wanting to stick around the thing.

Closing the door after him, Star sighed, having slowly begun cooling down from her non-stop running. And like before, he began removing his helmet, slowly his face was revealed once more.

'How does he even use the bathroom in all that armor? What's the point of the bucket if he's not even using it? Is he holding it in?! How is he not dead if that's the case!' While Starshine contemplated the existence of the room's sole inhabitant be side her. He finished, not too long after.

"G-give me a break, won't you? I've had a rough morning." She said shakily getting onto her hooves, Looking up Starshine saw what she had been waiting for.

The Gray demon had moved his empty tray and was waiting for her, to claim his lap and he re-equipped his helmet. 'Y-yes!!! Hearts and hooves day has come early!' she was just about to fling herself at him when the door opened and a Lavender mare entered, followed by a small group of Royal Guards; one of which was Ebony Shadow.

'Celestia Damn it!!! I was so bucking close!'

She huffed lightly, knowing they couldn't interact now that more than one pony was here. Picking up his tray. Starshine properly departed, disheartened at the loss of not getting scratched.

"I'll get you later."

She mumbled tail softly swishing left to right, as her wings twitched at her sides.

860 POV

'I am going to be flatlined.'

That was his only response to this Entourage of armored horses with weapons of nearly all kinds, primitive to be clear. Yet they fell under the category of a weapon, just not In a firearm category.

Slowly the same pair of keys floated over and freed his legs and body allowing him movement. But at the cost of his free hand being shackled again.

Slowly a horse with a horn approached him, smiling at him, "Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle, we're going to be seeing a lot of one another for the foreseeable future. Do you have a name?" She tried speaking to him. But 860 couldn't understand her for the life of him.

"We're going somewhere more appropriate to talk. Are you ok with that?" Twilight pressed softly, seeing if he could pick up the language the more she spoke it to him.

Noticing, that he wasn't following she simply nodded at the guards to show it was time.

Standing up for the first time. In a long time, 860 struck fear into the guards around him, as he was currently standing far taller than them as their heads came up roughly to his thighs.

"Come on, let's get moving, it's best not to keep the Princess waiting." Said Twilight leading them down the refined halls of the dungeons.

As the group traveled, 860 truly believed he was soon going to be killed. Instead of feeling solemn or trying to negotiate with his captors, like any normal person who feared death. Instead, 860 didn't see a point to it, his fear was removed. Same for his Humanity, and morality.

But after joining the combine those that knew him. Said he never had it anyway, along with calling him a turncoat.

Yet his views on this Changed after entering a gray room with a mirror behind a pillow. "Sorry, we weren't able to find something comfortable for a creature of your size. But I hope that doesn't affect anything!" Twilight said with a warm smile.

Sitting on a worn-out pillow with a metal table before him was the last thing he expected. 'Do these horses perform executions differently? Or even believe in a death penalty?'

Looking around the room, 860 found four guards stationed at each corner of the room out of the way of the interaction but still close enough to act if needed.

Glancing backwards at the two-way mirror Twilight gave a small wave.

"Shinny, can you hear us?" he shortly replied afterward.

"Everypony in here can hear you loud and clear kiddo, Just for my sake get out of there alive or else I'll join you when Mother and Father find out. You died under my watch." He dryly jokes.

Rolling her eyes at his joke, Twilight shuffled to face 860.

"Sorry about my brother, he's just protective, let's begin testing shall we?" Twilight said, pulling out some basic books of the equestrian language.

"Let's start with something simple, can you say A?" Twilight said giving the same amount of effort as Cheerilee would for one of her students.

Looking down at the strange shapes, 860 had no clue on how to read. Or even pronounce it.

'Is this pony trying to tell me something? Or show me? Should I copy her?'

Looking at it for a few minutes, Twilight sat there doing her best to sound the letter out for him.

Deciding that was the best course of action, 860 attempted to copy her. His vocoder didn't agree with it too well, resulting in it screeching loudly. The metal box wasn't adjusted to speak more than one language, approved language.

The loud metallic wails didn't stop until 860 forced it to by restarting it, as it started to annoy him.

'Christ that was loud,'

looking around he took note of how the Horses weren't handling the sound too well.

"M-maybe we should just stick to reading and W-writing for the foreseeable future," Twilight said, rubbing her ears with her hooves.

While Twilight switched to a less verbal method of communication, 860 took a mental note. 'Horses are weak against glitching vocoders, or loud noises.'

They sat there for ten whole hours alternating between reading and writing basics. To even simply her speaking to him, and from what 860 could guess the Lavender horse, was becoming furious and frustrated at him. If her lashing tail and twitching ears were any sighs.

She knew he could speak and possibly write, yet he wasn't even trying now. He did attempt once in communication, and that nearly made everyone in the room and the watching area go deaf.

Releasing a frustrated groan of defeat she gave up for today.

"We will try again tomorrow, see you then," Twilight said, almost relieved to have a break.

860 on his part had a report to give to the advisor unit, the guards around him talked with one another even though he wasn't a part of the conversation, 860 made a mental note of their language for his request

Arriving at a different cell, they locked him up nice and tight but to 860's surprise, he was given a bed that looked a little worse for wear and the worst shock of all. The horse in a maid uniform showed up again after all the guards departed.

'Does she want me to scratch her again?' looking at the Mare before him he was confused by her waving her front hooves about to even flapping her gray wings at him.

To see if what he thought was true, he laid down onto the old bed which nearly broke from his heavy weight as it creaked loudly getting into a position, she immediately nodded and dove for him, giving him her head to scratch.

'You truly are an addict to these simple head scratches for legged lifeform. I would recommend therapy but the combine doesn't believe in it.'

He shook his head at her physical response, which was her stretching herself to cover most of his armored body. This mare did anything and everything to keep getting his gloved, and almost magical hands on her ears. Giving them to her as best as one in chains could, she took them gracefully. Causing her uniform to become a wrinkled mess;

Two hours.

He gave her scratches for two straight hours. She hadn't even left, instead fell asleep on top of him.

860 sat there, watching the steady rise and fall of her sides. He shifted slightly resulting in her nestling closer, and covering him in her gray wings protectively. Even resting her head on his arm, finding him somehow comfortable to sleep on.

'I will never understand these horses, first, she found me not comfortable and for good reason, this is heavy armor, not pajamas, and now she finds it comfortable.'

Getting as comfy as 860 could with a horse that had wings on top of him. He fell asleep to have the meeting that would change the playing field for him;

"Unit 8-6-0-9-6-2-1 Report recon survey." The ghostly voice of the combine Advisor requested.

Immediately getting into it, 860 didn't hold back.

"Spikewall 8-6-0-9-6-2-1 has been captured by equine-like lifeforms called 'horses.' They have no noteworthy technology to report, at this time. For some reason they have, however, tried to create a method of communication with me."

This annoyed the superior combine lifeform before it launched an inquiry into 860's report. "What use would you have over an insignificant language? That most likely is not the dominant tongue of that world."

"The reason why I bring this into the report is because it would be beneficial for me to learn it. If I know the language, I can escape their imprisonment and continue my recon directive. and offer a new form of speech to the union."

Giving a sound of consideration, The slug was calculating the options it had. If it lost the only living unit there it would jeopardize the expansion of the Combine, and no doubt the loss of its life.

"Reason is acknowledged, and accepted. Your vocoder will be adjusted properly, along with parts of you're Frontal lobe, and the Occipital-temporal region will be tuned accordingly. Since you have been captured, your new directive is to escape by any means, and resume the original directives you were issued."

Nodding into the darkness, 860 had nothing else to report, which the advisor already was aware of, and had left him after giving its edict.

Opening his eyes again he found himself being snuggled to death, by a gray blob of fur.

Reaching up, 860 tried to move the horse off his face but his cuffs didn't let him. 'These cuffs are becoming a far worse hindrance than first expected.'

However, the female horse on top of him wouldn't stir from her sleep. The sounds of jingling chains wouldn't wake her up.

Deciding to shake them repeatedly until she awoke, 860 did just that.

Eventually, the soft clanging of metal made her wake.

"A-ahem mm?" She said lazily, opening one eye, and glanced towards the source of the nose.

Gradually her Cyan eye grew in size till finally it was fully opened. "G-gah!" she half shrieked, struggling off of him and falling off of the old bed with a loud *THUD*

'That sounded painful.'

Sitting up and looking over, 860 saw the sad state she was in. The poor horse had fallen face-first into the floor, her uniform was wrinkled beyond comparison and her mane and coat looked like she lost a battle with her bedsheets.

Re-adjusting quickly, she stood back onto her hooves. And began speaking, while also fixing her clothes and coat.

"I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to fall asleep! I have no idea what came over me. Your head scratches are just amazing. Please don't kill me for falling asleep on you!" Starshine tried to plead her case to him.

But internally 860 was amazed, he could understand them now it wasn't perfect. He still needed to learn the terminology before trying any kind of escape attempt.

Just then the door opened and Twilight was accompanied, by her brother, and Starshine's friend Sargent Ebony.

A look of fear crossed Starshine's face as her face lit up like a Christmas tree from how red her face and ears became.

"T-this isn't what it looks like! I swear!" She pleaded as Ebony began to struggle at keeping her composer, let alone a straight face.

"Please do not try and explain this here." Shining Armor said waving with a hoof.

"I'll have Sargent Ebony, talk to you about what you were doing. Alone, with an extremely dangerous alien. So the best course of action for you, Miss Starshine, is to cooperate with the guard."

As the equine talked, 860 was getting a grasp of their language; it was all making sense now. And with his altered brain and vocoder, he would begin practicing in private. But for now, it was best to make them think he didn't understand them.

'That one is a male and the one in a maid uniform is Female, from what I can see Males and females have different builds. This may be the case for their kind. And that is the name of my caretaker? Starshit, negative Starshine.'

He could have been wrong about her name, and there wasn't any way to see if 860 was correct or not. In due time, he would find out.

Sighing, Twilight looked over at him before giving a gentle wave, "Good morning! I hope you're ready for another day of learning."

'A possible way to learn the equine language has been discovered. Escape directive has been postponed.'

After they had served their purpose, he wasn't going to be sticking around. So it was better to learn more of what they had and their capabilities as a species before that day came.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay collage and my sleep schedule have been roughhousing me lately.

If you or anyone else sees any spelling mistakes or sees something that doesn't make sense.

Please tell me in the comments! My tired rear is heading to bed.