Red optical sensors slowly flicker on, as her brain begins to reboot. A groan escapes her vocalizer, as her body begins to feel again. Pain is the first thing to flood her systems, of course, but an unexpected second sensation is also there: a soft, comfortable feeling against her back. Confused, she tries to sit up, only for cracking sounds to emanate from her joints, as pain flared from them. Pushing through the unbearable agony, she continued to sit up, cursing to herself all the while. As she finally reaches a sitting position, words begin to flash across her optical sensors. Her reboot screen? Well, might as well figure out why she’s in so much pain.

”Lets see here… construction schematics are still heavily corrupted, energy blade is down, somehow still have my gun, and what else… oh. Crystalline growths in my joints. Just great. Well, at least I know why I hurt to all hell. Really wished my pain receptors coulda been down.”
Sighing to herself, she set down her gun before beginning the excruciating process of opening her joints to remove the structures. All the while, unaware that she was being watched.

Shining Armor stared in disbelief as the creature… began ripping open its own limbs?! Metal or no, that’s gotta hurt! And from the sounds it was making, it probably did. But he wanted to know, why the hell was it doing that? As the creature yanked out a crystal cluster from its opened arm, though, he realized why. The cloud managed to… somehow create crystals in the joints of this strange metallic being. He shuddered at the thought of what it would have done to him or his men if they had been caught.

A grunt of pain shot from her as she ripped another crystal out of her joints. Tossing it aside, she began to work on another, mumbling to herself as she worked.
”Why wasn’t this blade designed to be detachable? I would kill to just take it off and have another hand. How am I supposed to repair my other arm without a hand? Lousy design choice, if you ask me. Then again, a robot feeling pain is another pretty lousy design choice, so maybe they just didn’t care. ”
As she rips another chunk out, a slight cry escapes her, much to her dismay.
”Damn, that was too loud. Maybe nothing heard me…”
But as a golden armored creature rushed in, weapon at the ready, she knew otherwise.
”Well shit.”

As the creature layer its eyes upon her, a look of shock and fear crossed its face as its eyes widened. It just stood there, dumb look on its face, as it watched her fishing around inside her arm. In an attempt to appear non-hostile, she slowly removed her arm, before giving a quick wave and attempting to greet it. Unfortunately, her vocalizer decided to Fritz that very moment.
”Û̵͓ḿ̵̭m̸̪̾…̶͇͌ ̵̣̔h̵̦̀i̵̦̍?̴̂͜”
Upon hearing the demonic gibberish escape her mouth, the creature began to scream and run away, as she slaps herself in the face.
”Of course that had to happen.”

As Shining watched as one of his supposedly highly disciplined soldiers run away like a frightened chicken, Shining Armor slaps himself in the face. Yeah, he’s definitely gonna have to make some changes when he got back. But before that, he needed to salvage first impressions. Hopefully, he could fix them. Slowly, he began to walk in, making sure to be heard as to not startle it even more.
” You’d think that a soldier would be more well disciplined. Disappointing.”
The creature’s head turned towards him, it’s red, soulless eyes looking directly into his soul. Yet he remained undeterred.
”Sorry if I startled you. My name is Captain Shining Armor of the Equestrian royal guard. A pleasure to meet you.”

MAV-3N scanned the creature up and down. Regal pose, polite yet stern face, and a well paced walk. An obviously well disciplined soldier. And his armor… his armor was something else. It radiates solar radiation, but in non-harmful doses. And it appeared to be made of a strange, luminous metal. It was almost as if it was made with shards from the heavens! Whoever this was, was highly skilled, and had the demeanor and armor to prove it. Hopefully, peace was still on the table, because she did not want to fight him. Though on a new world, she knew her best chance was to respect military tradition. Closing her arm, she quickly got up, before saluting her fellow commanding officer.

”A pleasure to meet you Captain. My designation is commissar MAV-3N. Please forgive me, I am not currently in my… best state.”
He gives a salute himself before A chuckle escapes his lips.
”It is all fine. It’s understandable after the situation I found you in.”
”It’s no excuse to be in horrible shape for first contact. Especially for an officer.”
The creature stopped in its tracks, before looking her up and down a bit.
”Understandable, but it’s alright. We may be officers, but we are both soldiers as well. We fight along side our men, and we tend to get beaten up. ”

MAV-3N let out a small chuckle, nodding in agreement.
”Yeah, better to get suffer along side your men than letting suffer alone.”
Shining Armor finally made his way over to her, offering her his hand.
”It’s good to see another like minded officer, willing and able to fight as well as lead. Most just hang out behind the battle, spewing orders.”
Taking his offer, she grabbed his hand, shaking it with a firm grip.
”I’ve never understood that. Why let your brother’s and sisters in arms fight and die while you hang back, taking the credit and earning their contempt, when you could fight along side them, strengthening your bonds and earning their respect? ”
” Many ponies are afraid to lose their lives. But risking you life to save those under your command is what a good leader does.”
”And from the way you got your troops out of danger with that cloud, I can say that you truly are a great leader. But I… I’m not. Not anymore.”

Shining Armor tilted his head, confusion evident on his features.
”What do you mean?”
A sad sigh escapes MAV-3N, worrying Shining.
”I… failed to get them out. My squad and I were preparing to exfil due to a massive enemy invasion. We were quickly losing, so I made the call to evacuate as many men as possible. We barely made it on and took off, But… we entered anti-airspace, and got shot down. I was the only survivor.”
A feeling of remorse filled Shining Armor. No commander worth their salt should ever have to live with the guilt of losing their soldiers. Thinking quickly, he wrapped her in a hug, much to her surprise, before comforting her.
”It’s always hard to lose those under your command. Especially those you are close to. But that doesn’t change the fact that you risked life and limb to save them and as many others as you could. You still are a great leader, despite what you may think. ”
As his words sank in, MAV-3N choked out a sob, before embracing him back, crying into his shoulder.

After a minute, the crying subsided, before MAV-3N removed herself from Shining’s shoulder.
”Thank you. I know we just met, but I needed to get that out. It’s been eating me from the inside.”
”Its okay. It’s never good to hold onto that pain for long periods of time. Besides, good friends support each other.”
”Friends? But we just met, and barely know each other.”
”Well, it’s more like I wish to be your friend. I feel like we’d get along swimmingly when we get to know each other more.”
For a moment, everything was silent, and Shining worried he might have done something wrong. But when she chuckled and gave a slight nod, a smile grew on his face.
”Yeah, I’d like that.”

As Shining predicted, the two became quick friends. Their military backgrounds led to many a shared interest, and they had several conversations on military history and tactics. She was really interested in their magic. Their technology was lacking, but their ability to take dormant energy in the air and use it to manipulate the world more than made up for that. And he was very fascinated with her tech. To think, she wielded a compact weapons, capable of firing a blast of similar power to a highly trained unicorns! All the while, Shining helped her get more crystals out of her joints. Eventually, they got the last crystal out, and she was back to her peak mobility.
”Thanks again Shining. It feels much better without those things clogging up my joints.”
”No problem. It’s always a pleasure to help out a friend.”
”Nice to see you’re already making new friends here Shiny.”

The sudden interjection of a new voice caused MAV-3N to jump. But before she could grab her weapon, Shining had already reached the stranger, before… hugging them?
”Hey Cadence, how are you feeling? Did you get any rest?”
Oh, it was just the pink one. Maven let her guard down. She knew she could trust her.
”Not a wink. I tried to get some rest, but the cloud just kept battering the shield. I had to keep reinforcing it.”
”Do you need me to take over?”
”Not just yet. Now, who is this?”
Shining smiles to his wife, before gesturing MAV-3N to come over.
”Cadence, this is MAV-3N.”
MAV-3N walked over, before saluting to Cadence.
”A pleasure to meet you ma’am.”
”The pleasure’s mine.”

MAV-3N felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time. She felt joy. In less than a day, she made two new friends, and been offered a chance to train with Shining Armor and his men. Though despite the turn for the better, darkness still lingered on the horizon. That strange cloud still patrolled outside the dome, and any attempts to contact the outside world have been unsuccessful. Hopefully, some creature will eventually take notice, and send a rescue force. Until then, she and Shining Armor were going to whip these men back into army material. If they were going to stand a chance of holding out, they needed to be ready. And by Cyberstan, she’d get them ready.

TWO WEEKS LATER

Princess Celestia sits upon her throne, worry radiating throughout her. It has been 14 days since she sent Cadence and Captain Armor to investigate the frozen north, and see if he returned. But they never came back, and she has received no communications from them. Either they are trapped, or… she shook her head. No, she would not think like that. They’re alive, they have to be. She sighs to herself, before the doors to her throne room open, and the sound of hooves and claws echoed upon the marble floors as eight creatures walk in.
”You wanted to see us princess?”
”Yes, my faithful student. I have an important mission for you all.”

Author's Note

Hope you enjoy this chapter! If you have any idea’s or see anything I need to fix, leave a comment please! Thank you.