Red Sky At Dawn

Red Sky At Dawn.

Spinoff of Steadfast Sky.

Chapter 1: The Danger Zone

Crisis.

Space. A cold empty vaccume, filled with dust, rock and radiation. My home, I guess if you could call it that. Now imagine a galactic freighter, slowly drifting into view, tiny metal men drifting around it, fixing, analysing the vast metal hull. Our owners were too weak to enter this desolate vaccume, yet we served them. It confused me.

I'd seen a stage 6 Biomech once. It was coated in talons, missiles the works. If our masters could control that, then they must have some advantage over us. Maybe I should explain myself first. That would make sense.

I'm a level 1 Biomech, identity code... Ah I keep forgetting that. It's just a load of useless numbers, not like my callsign. 'Crisis'. A good callsign, and one that I'm proud of. Just in case you don't know what a level 1 looks like, I'll do my best to describe it. I'm small compared to those around me, tiny in comparison to a level 6, minuscule in comparison to the ship. I'm still learning my capabilities though, and learning is hard. I can create sparks, that's a start. I still haven't learned to fly yet though.

That's why I'm here on the side of the ship, clinging desperately to the hull as my classmates push off and move childishly through the vaccume. Our teacher Luminum is staring at me.

"It is your turn 774273. Follow the others."

I remained clinging to the side of the ship. I couldn't drift like the others could, they could all catch the solar currents and move with ease but me...

"774273. It is your turn."

The other level 1s were already drifting away from the ship. I hated these lessons, why did I need them? When I learnt to fly, solar sailing would become redundant. I'd jet through space, outperforming all the others in my group. In all the groups. The waiting became too much for Luminum, and he flew closer. A stream of electricity from his hand shocked me off the side, and into space. I frantically tried to move, but to no avail. My frantic scrabbling and thrashing was ignored by Luminum, who flew to help the others. As he passed me, he spoke in a cold unforgiving voice. "You are a failure 774273."

Then I was left floating alone. The ship wasn't far off... If I could ride a heat stream to there then I could continue to frantically cling to the hull. I concentrated my CPU, and tried to remember what Luminum had taught me about locating the streams. In time, my senses would do that automatically, but for now I'd have to measure the temperature in search of heat. There was coldness around me in all directions, except... There was heat! A stream of solar energy! Feeling smug, I pushed myself into it, and allowed it to carry me. Big mistake. I should have noticed that it was too hot on the scale; this wasnt a solar stream, this was a solar tsunami! I was dragged into its current, frantically trying to disable my drift. I was getting further from the ship, the solar wind taking me away into the darkness.

"Luminum!" I called out in fear.

The teacher saw me, but turned away. "774273, you must learn to ride these winds the hard way. It is how machines work. You chose a stream that was too strong. Leave it."

A machine, that's what I was, and  I was no failure. I came up with a plan, find a crosstream, ride that back to the ship and prove to Luminum and the others that I was not a failure! Okay, I thought to myself as the temperature monitor engaged, lets find a crosstream. There was no stream. I kept looking. Still no crosstream. The solar wave pulled me further and further from home. Still no crosstream. I looked up to find that the others were gone, in fact everything was gone. I'd been tugged away into the darkness by these rough solar winds that, even now, were pulling me away. I disengaged my drift, and floated  alone in the void. Silence filled my audio receptors, and agoraphobia kicked in. There was nothing anywhere, just darkness! Massive empty dar...

And that's when I saw it. Behind me, was a blue ball. A perfect little orb, with milky white mixed into the deep blue. It was beautiful. It was also hope. I re-engaged my drift, I already had it figured out; land on the planet, hone my skills in a calm gravity enriched environment, return to the ship after that! Perfect!

The solar winds bought me closer, and closer to the ball until it wasn't a ball anymore. It was a colossus, filling the view in front of me, and now I could see green mixed in with the white and the blue. I could also see something else. I was coming in too fast! I disabled my drift, but to no avail, I'd left the solar winds and fallen straight into the clutches of this planet's gravity.

I got closer and closer and closer until... I was in the atmosphere, crying out as the friction burned me. Then I fell, with no jets, anigrav or anything to slow the fall. The green landscape below rushed up to meet me, and I closed my eyes, ready for the impact.

Then there was darkness.

A shooting star passed over the Equestrian nights sky, before vanishing over the horizon. Ponies across the country might have seen its clestial presence if it were not for the smothering grey clouds that coated the sky, blocking out all signs of the star.

Except, it wasn't a star that was flying past. It was something else altogether, something strange and unknown. Crisis had landed, in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Equestria was in a dictatorship, it's vast lands controlled by the merciless Shadow Stallion.

The sun began to rise, it's rays attempting to speak heat across the green landscape only to meet a wall of darkness.

The sky above those clouds was a deep red.

Crisis had landed.

I took in my surroundings; a field... Some trees... Looking good so far! I still felt rough from the crash, and looking at the scratches on my body, I could tell that the nanobots hadn't finished their work.  The gravity was easy to adapt to, and the trees seemed to indicate that I picked a good planet to land on. Or rather fate had picked a good planet. Then I noticed something. "Oh you have got to be kidding me!" I groaned aloud. There was a fence running along the length of the field, and fences meant...

"Civilisation..." I muttered. This was one of the worst things that could have happened! Even a desolate moon would be better than this! Civilisations had armies, and I wasn't exactly the cream if the crop in my group. I couldn't even solar glide... What was I going to do here? There was no way of leaving the planet until I learnt to fly, a process that could take months.

Typical. This was just my luck. Well there was no use sitting around moping all day, eventually someone or something would come along and see me. I kept imagining all the horrific species that could live here... Giant toothy monsters, horrific parasitic insects... Urgh...

Then I saw something overhead, moving steadily through the sky. A strange creature, with a brown feathered head, a beige body and wings. My database pinpointed it as something recognised. It strongly resembled a griffin, a mythical creature from my owner's history. The creature had almost flown past, when it stopped midair, and swerved towards me increasing its speed. I must have attracted it by reflecting the sunlight! My logic circuits thought furiously for a wat to handle this... and came back empty handed, I was on my own. I focused as hard as I could on creating lightning, small blue sparks dancing in one palm. If I could charge an attack...

The creature landed, and stepped towards me, speaking in a garbled language. My universal translator, one of the few gadgets I'd mastered, activated turning everything he said into binary, and everything I said into... Griffinese? Universal translators, self repair nanobots and an unlimited power source. There were definitely some bonuses to being a superweapon!

The griffin was rough and gnarled, with a scar running across the side of his face, and hatred in his eyes.

"What the..." he snarled, staring at me angrily.

"I... Come in peace?" I replied carefully. The griffin just stood there looking at me before commanding;

"Designation."

Wait, I could remember this... Come on Crisis! At last I remembered it. "774273" I related proudly. Nailed it. The griffin just looked blankly at me, before angrily snarling,

"I meant, what species are you!"

"Bio... Mech..." I replied carefully. This conversation was like flying through asteroids, and I was afraid of saying the wrong thing. Just play it safe, and tell the truth, I thought to myself. He won't be able to process what he doesn't know!

"All non protected species are to be taken in for identification." he smirked.

Rats. Didn't see that one coming... So now what? Do I go with him or try to escape? I chose the latter. It was the wrong choice. As I turned to run, a lasso tightened around my neck. There was something coming off it, some kind of poison. The poison had no effect on me but the dragging, on the other hand, did. The griffin pulled me to the ground, and stood over me.

"Show me your identification." he announced authoritatively. I looked back blankly at him.

"Didn't think so." he leered. "You and me are going for a little walk!"

This is why I didn't want civilisation... I thought to myself, as I was dragged off by the guard. My first planet, and I'd already been arrested.

He dragged me for a while, before ordering me onto my feet. We walked the rest of the way, until reaching a town, cramped and uneven and filled with creatures similar to griffins. In fact, the creatures strongly resembled... Nah, couldn't be. Ponies? Brightly coloured ponies? Another thing I noticed was that hanging from every lamppost was a dark banner, a crest adorned on it. The banners rustled in a small wind, and seemed to symbolise something dark.

The guard pushed me into a building filled with cages, most of which were taken up by a vast assortment of strange animals. Some were trying to reason with the guards, while others were just growling.

"Check out this one," my captor snarled at a pony sitting behind a desk. "You ever seen anything like it?"

The pony looked up, and I was horrified to see that it also looked war torn. He thought for a minute before replying; "Never. Is it intelligent?"

"You can see for yourself!" the griffin replied, kicking me to the floor. "Now where's the reward?"

A bag was exchanged between the two, and the griffin examined the contents. "Four lousy bits?" he cried angrily. Next time I might not bother! He turned away angrily, and left me alone with the pony... and all those cages. The sound of the animals, and the awareness that the intelligent ones were watching this exchange unnerved me. I had to prove myself a wary foe!

The pony examined a piece of paper... wow these guys were shockingly similar to my masters. Eventually he asked me, "Can you talk?"

I held off from answering, and he sighed putting pen to paper. That's when I chose my moment to speak, "You know, when I'm a level 2 you'll regret this."

He looked up surprised, just the effect I had hoped. The look didn't last long. "Okay," he replied, once again confident, "That's a good enough answer. What about species eh? What species are you?"

I thought carefully. Lie? No, I may as well tell the truth, he wouldn't have heard of a Biomech anyway. "I'm a Biomech," I answered.

"Biomech?" the pony said quizzically, a horrible smile still on his face. "That's a new one. So you Biomech, what abilities have you got?"

Abilities? Somehow I didn't think that he'd take solar drifting as an answer. "Define... Abilities..." I replied, trying to sound calm. I didn't feel it.

"Never mind," the pony replied, taking notes on the sheet in front of him. What was he writing about me? I couldn't see from down on the... Floor? I stood, causing him to look up from his notes momentarily. He put down his pen and asked, "Do you have a name little 'Biomech'?"

"Crisis."

"A strange name, but I've heard stranger."

He smiled at me. "What's with the armour, are you a warrior?"

"More like a weapon." I replied, liking the confused look the statement created.

"I've been an animal processor for a long while now Crisis, but I've never heard of a Biomech before." the pony stated, that leering smile back on his face.

I shrugged.

"How old are you Crisis?"

This question stumped me. My actual age was 2 years, but that wouldnt be relevant here... Ah well, maybe 2 is a normal age here. I hoped for the best as I told him my age, "2 years."

He continued to stare at me before replying, and I could tell that he didn't like my answer.

"That's awfully young Crisis, are you sure about that?" the smile was still there, and he added a hint of sarcasm into his voice. "Nevertheless, what about parents? Do 'Biomech' have parents?"

"No," I replied. My desire to leave was beginning to grow with every second. The door was wide open, and the pony didn't look very fast. A quick dash, and I'd be out.

"Hmm..." the pony sighed as he flicked through some papers. Eventually he turned to me and announced, "I think we should talk again later, now step into a cage Crisis."

I froze. "What?"

"You heard. Step into a cage."

"And what If I don't want to?" I was edging closer and closer to the door. The other animals (well the intelligent ones anyway) were transfixed as the conversation continued.

"Well," the pony replied, the smile still firmly on his face, "Then you'll be forced to." As if on cue, two guards stepped out from the shadows behind his desk. I bolted.

I ducked and dodged through crowds of shocked ponies, as the guards pursued me through the streets. As I ran, I couldn't help but notice that the entire town was filled with those banners, the ones that I'd noticed on the way in. I ran into an alleyway, with the guards hot on my heels. Dead end. I whipped around to see the guards edging closer, lassos held tightly between jaws. This was it, I was going to be captured. What good was it being a superweapon, if I couldn't use my weaponry??!

The guards edged closer, and I backed off. I tried to make sparks, but they just danced uselessly in my palm. Closer and closer, lassos ready. I backed up further, bumping against a wall. Good job, I thought to myself, stuck in a corner. The guards edged closer and closer until...

They stopped and backed off, looks of fear on their faces. I felt movement on my arms, and looked down to see blades clicking into place. A defensive mechanism, I realised, and it gave me the upper hand!

"That's right, back off!" I called bravely to the guards. "Now drop those lassos!"

The guards obliged, albeit hesitantly. "Now tell your boss, that Biomech are not your average monsters! Also tell him..." I leaned forward for effect, "That he got lucky this time. Next time, I might use these sooner!" I raised the blades, and began to climb the ally wall. Upon reaching the top, I took a bow... And fell off backwards.

Directly into a squadron of guards. I'm sure that by now you've guessed that luck isn't really my thing. Before I knew it, I was trapped in a tight cage at the mercy of that pony, still wearing a leering smile.

"Have a nice trip?" he asked mockingly, "Oh and one more thing," the pony leered in closer. "Next time you try anything like that, you'll get another trip straight into one of the cages in sector 3! Then you can meet some real monsters."

At he said this, he pointed to a large metal door behind which lived creatures I could only guess about.

Then he went to process another unfortunate creature, leaving me alone in a cage.

Damn, I thought to myself, as I created tiny blue sparks in my hand, this had gone terribly...

And it was only day 1.