Project Eclipse

by Borsuq

Rating: teen
Tags: Sex, Tragedy, Adventure, Crossover, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Comedy, Other, Romance
Length: 52418

Before there was Harmony, there was Project Eclipse...

Before there was Harmony, there was Project Eclipse.

Now for the first time, all questions will be answered. You can learn... about the abominable truth behind everything. The truth that has been forgotten by everypony, even time itself.

But the real question is: can you walk away with your sanity intact?

Edited by Lazygamer313

AUTHOR'S NOTES:
1. This is a prequel to Rebirth of the Damned.
2. You don't have to read the first story to know what's going on here, or this one to understand what's going on there.
3. This story is planned to be shorter than Rebirth of the Damned, so I won't update this one as frequently as the other one.
4. Again, I kindly remind that english is my second languege.
5. There might be sex and gore in some chapters later on, I haven't decided yet. You have been warned.
6. Hope you like it.

Published 2012-11-09 19:50:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-03-18 11:19:44 UTC

1. Introductions

The moon's light shone upon the ruined temple, revealing everything that could be seen. The huge pyramid was in the middle of a clearing in the forest, surrounded by broken pieces of columns and blocks of stone with very old patterns carved on them. The only noise besides the humming of the wind that could be heard was a very deep snoring.

A young light grey earth pony with mane and tail black and a twisted clock with wings for a cutie mark crept silently, knowing he couldn't under any circumstances wake the source of the snoring. While the objective was just to get inside the inner chamber of the pyramid, it would be a LOT easier with the guardian of it is sleeping.

Glancing at the guardian and making sure that it was sleeping, the earth pony gazed at the pyramid, looking for the entrance. There seemed to be none. The stallion frowned.

"Well played." he thought, looking up.

The very tip of the pyramid appeared to have some kind of switch, but to be sure, he would have to climb all the way there.

Rolling his eyes, he started to make his way toward the base of the pyramid, listening to nothing but the whisper of the wind...

"Oh bugger." he said out loud and jumped back behind one of the columns as the place he stood a moment ago was engulfed by the inferno of dragon's flames.

The two other earth ponies looked from the top of the largest tree at the edge of the clearing as their friend was nearly burned by the guardian of the temple.

"Well, looks like Trottingham woke the dragon up." said the tan one with brown mane and tail and disappearing horseshoe for a cutie mark.

"Um, I don't think it was his fault, Manehatten." replied slightly younger pony, whose coat was dark grey, his mane and tail red and his flank blank. "It looked more like the dragon waked up on his own."

"Of course, why make it easy." Manehatten frowned as the guardian continued to breathe fire at Trottingham. "Although, we now have an excellent distraction. Do you think we could climb the pyramid from the opposite side, Eastin?"

Eastin cringed uncomfortably, like most of the time when somepony asked him about something important.

"Err... not, I don't think so. The front wall is the most stable one. If we tried to climb on one of the others, we would alert the dragon, at best. At worst..."

"Okay, scratch the 'climb from the other side' idea, got it." Manehatten said, rolling his eyes, although he long since gotten used to Eastin's observations skill. "Let’s go and help Trot before the dragon will burn through his cover."

They both rose and jumped down from branch to branch, they moves quick and perfectly synchronized from many hours of joined training.

"Um, so what's the plan, Mane?" Eastin asked as they landed on the ground.

"We take advantage of the fact that Trot is keeping the dragon attention on himself, creep on him, and hit him in the base of the skull. That should knock him out."

"Em, I don't think dragons can be knocked out that easily. Especially as big as this one."

"Oh, come on, not getting knocked out from a hit to the base of the skull? It's not this big."

"Okay, I was wrong!" Mane screamed as they run for cover.

"Well, about time." Trottingham commented as Manehatten and Eastin ducked behind rocks in front of him.

"Hey Trottingham." Mane said nonchalantly, as if this was all planned, while the dragon continued to breathe fire at them. "Did we miss all the fun?"

"Hardly, chaps. So, what's the plan?"

"Need to think about it a moment. In the meantime, move up, Trot. You're too far away from us."

"With all due respect, I'd prefer NOT to be killed. If at all possible." replied Trot, ignoring the order.

Manehatten growled out of frustration. One of the two reasons that he hated being in charge was the fact that the soldier he was partnered with often ignored his orders. The other reason was that he wasn't very good at it. He turned to Eastin.

"E, any ideas?"

"Err... Could you phase around him, maybe?" suggested the younger colt.

"Doubt it. When I turn intangible, I can still get hurt from magic, and dragon's flames have plenty of it. Any other suggestions?"

"Well, that depends." interjected Trottingham. "Have any of you managed to grow a horn in the last couple of minutes?"

"You mean besides the one I'm going to shove up your ass if you don't move the hell UP?!"

"Yes, I can see everything fine from back here. Thank you." answered Trot.

"We need to get into that pyramid." the tan pony reminded him.

"How are we supposed to get pass the dragon? Please, tell us, mate."

"Maybe you should try one of yours knock-knock jokes." sighed Mane.

"Oh, who's there?"

Manehatten cursed at himself.

"Nopony, stop."

"Nopony, stop who? Shall I go on?"

"Yeah, I was kidding. Now shut up."

"Shut up, who?"

"Eastin, give me some idea before I will throw myself into the fire." Mane pleaded, facehoofing himself.

"Err... how about Trot distracting the guardian..."

"Already did that, mate."

"... with his time distortion ability." E finished.

"Oh, bugger." Trottingham frowned.

"Well, you heard him, Trot." Mane smirked.

"The last time I used it, I managed to keep it up for five seconds, and vomited later."

"I guess that means it sucks to be you. Now move on, those rock are getting hotter." Manehatten ordered; glancing on Eastin, he added: "You will go climb the temple, and I will assist Trot as soon as he gets this firestorm away. On my mark. Sync?"

"Sync." both Trot and E said simultaneously.

"Mark!"

Trot grimaced, but this time he listened. His eyes flashed and he disappeared. After a second the dragon roared and turned around.

Mane and E jumped from behind the rocks... only to see a dragon's tail swing at them.

"E, get back!" Mane shouted as the tail passed through him.

Too late.

The moment Eastin felt the dragon's tail touch him, everything disappeared,

"Oh no, not again." E thought.

"What happened?" asked Trot.

"The dragon hit E with its tail, and..." Mane started to say, but somepony finished for him.

"... and you failed."

All three colts looked as the door to the Simulation Room - a building with many magical runes embedded into its walls to increase the powers of illusions for training purposes - opened and two unicorns entered.

At once the earth ponies quickly stood in formation.

"Soldier Manehatten, you've been a part of Project Eclipse for three months." said the one with black coat, white mane and tail, and red snake swallowing his tail for a cutie mark. "I would expect you to know that when leading a squad in battle, you need to plan ahead for every possibility."

"Yes, sir, sorry." Mane muttered.

"Soldier Eastin, could you tell what mistake also Manehatten made?"

E glanced uncomfortably at Mane before he said.

"He... should have sent me for the reconnaissance instead of soldier Trottingham, since I am the smallest one and my coat has the darkest shade, sir."

"Exactly." the older pony replied, glaring at him. "Why didn't you tell him that at the beginning of the simulated mission?"

"Um...” Eastin shrank away. "I... thought that maybe I was wrong."

"Director," the other unicorn interrupted, the brown one with black mane and tail and a clipboard for cutie mark, "may we speak a moment?"

"We already discussed that, Counselor." the Director dismissed him. "Please update the Leaderboard."

The Counselor nodded and turned toward one visible rune and shot a magical beam at it, causing the blue hologram to appear.

1. Crystal 33, 654

2. Canterlot 30, 956

3. Los Pegasus 16, 890

4. Fillydelphia 16, 669

5. Baltimare 16, 453

6. Manehatten 16, 285

7. Trottingham 16, 102

8. Hoofington 14, 937

9. Cloudsdale 13, 564

10. Eastin 7, 560

The Counselor's horn shot again and the list have changed.

1. Crystal 33, 654

2. Canterlot 30, 956

3. Trottingham 17, 010

4. Los Pegasus 16, 890

5. Fillydelphia 16, 669

6. Manehatten 16, 489

7. Baltimare 16, 453

8. Hoofington 14, 937

9. Cloudsdale 13, 564

10. Eastin 7, 620

Eastin's ears dropped as he saw the score, although he expected that. Mane must have noticed his expression.

"Director, sir, shouldn't E get more points?" he tried to speak for him, despite the fact that Eastin didn't warn him at the beginning of training. "After all, he did have the right idea."

"But didn't say it out loud." the Director pointed out unsympathetically. "Do you think that Diamond Dogs would have dropped dead if they heard after a battle that the enemy had 'the right idea', soldier Manehatten?!"

E guessed from the smirk that appeared for a split second on Mane's face that he did think so.

"No, sir. But why Trottingham gets so much points?" he asked, pointing the hoof at him. "He first woke up the dragon, and then disobeyed a direct order!"

"Jealous, chap?"

"Soldier Trottingham refused to listen to an order that would get him killed." replied the Director. "Ingenuity and adaptability are admirable traits. He also managed to use his time sync ability without any side effects. As for the dragon, he didn't wake it up. The illusion was set to have the odds 100 to 1 of dragon waking up. You were just unlucky."

"I'm always unlucky." Mane muttered.

"That is all. You are dismissed."

"Come on, chap, cheer up." said Trot. "You're bound to be used to it by now."

"You know, you aren't really helping, Trot." Mane frowned at him.

They have left the training section of the compound and were heading towards the dining hall. The weather outside was beautiful, for once, but that didn't lift E`s spirits.

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, guys, but really, I'm fine." he said, as they passed few guards, not wanting to trouble them.

"Riiight, and Los is chatty." Mane replied. "Look, you shouldn't feel bad. After all, you're the youngest one, you are a part of the Project for less than a month, and you still haven't gone through the Augmentation Process, so...

"Fillydelphia is younger than him, is a part of the Project barely few weeks longer than him, and also haven't gone through Augmentation Process, and yet she still kicks our flanks during joined trainings." Trot reminded him.

"Yes, but Filly is a psycho." Manehatten commented, and smirked. "And it will be fun to watch her beat the living hell out of you when she discovers that you are ahead of her on the Leaderboard."

"Oh, bugger!" Trot said, who forgot about it.

"Is soldier Fillydelphia really that brutal?" Eastin asked.

"You haven't met her?"

"He obviously hasn’t met her if he's asking." Trot chuckled.

"I didn't have the training session with her and Hoofington yet, no. I mostly have with you guys."

"I really don't know how Hoof deals with staying in the same house as her." Mane said, shaking his head as they entered the dining hall. "He probably casts a barrier around himself before he goes to sleep. But yeah, she's a bitch."

"Who's a bitch?!" asked two offended female voices.

Manehatten cursed when he noticed that two mares a bit older than him and Trot were sitting at one of the tables, eating supper.

"Oh, it's just you two." he said when he took a better look at them, breathing with relief. "For a moment there I thought Fillydelphia was here."

"No, she left some time ago." said reassuring the white pegasus mare with blue mane and tail and two ponies' reflections for a cutie mark.

"Thank goodness. Did you had a training session with her and Hoof, Cloud?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't that bad."

"Of course not. She nicer to you ladies."

"Pity you aren't, Trot." said the violet unicorn with mane and tail gold and acid for a cutie mark.

The colts stared at her, not understanding her hostility.

"We saw the Leaderboard change." explained Cloudsdale while rolling her eyes.

"Ah, is the Venom Lady pissed I got ahead of her on the Leaderboard? So sorry."

"Hm." she grimaced as Mane and Cloud chuckled. "I can tell Filly how the two of you talked about her, you know."

"Oh dear, I stand corrected: I'm not sorry." he frowned at her. "You know, Balti, E was also..."

"If you're going to try and convince me that E was talking bad about somepony, I'm going to spit on you." Baltimare warned him.

"Well played."

"Could the two of you stop flirting with each other?" Manehatten asked as he went to pick up some food.

"We're not flirting!"

"I must agree with her. After all, she prefers mares, right Cloud?"

Eastin watch unamused as the two mares jumped at Trot.

"Remember to not use abilities, or leave permanent scars." Mane warned them as they started kicking his partner.

"We know." Balti growled back as Trottingham tried to get away.

"So we're agreed, Director?" the Counselor asked.

"Yes, I suppose so." The Director frowned.

He disliked when he was being proved wrong, but he wouldn't have made the brown unicorn his aide if he couldn't see the few flaws he could make.

"Go and deal with this, I'm going to see what subjects Crystal and Canterlot managed to bring this time." he said, dismissing the Counselor.

The other unicorn bowed and trotted away.

The Director turned toward the lab section of the compound.

In the middle of the lab, filled with few unicorns, and many chemicals, books, schematics, and notes. Two ponies stood in attention near two cages with many runes on them as they waited for the Director.

The black unicorn mare with mane and tail blue and a mirror for a cutie mark glanced at her partner, an orange earth pony stallion with yellow mane and tail, his cutie mark is a symbol of a shadow.

"How do you think the Director is going to react when he sees that one, Cant?" she said, pointing with her tail at the bigger cage.

"I don't know, Crys." Canterlot answered with a shrug. "Pity we had to destroy the corpses of the others, he would have love to dissect them."

"Hmpf." said Crystal, unhappy. "Oh well, he will probably want to dissect this one anyway."

At that moment the door opened and the Director came in.

"Sir!" both Crystal and Canterlot saluted.

"At ease, soldiers." he said and pointed at the cages. "What kinds have you brought back?"

Crys and Cant exchanged looks.

"Well, sir," Crys started with her horn glowing; one of the runes on the smaller cage turned off, revealing the sleeping spider-like creature, "this one is the average one, a 'reaver',..."

"Didn't I send you to find and capture the most unusual ones?"

"Yes, sir, but after we finally managed to capture this one, we had to make haste; the patrol of those... strange bipedal night creatures was coming nearby."

"In that case, I understand." the Director said, nodding. "It is imperative that the sentient beings over there aren't aware of our presence. Not yet, at least. What kind is this one, then?"

Instead of answering, Crystal just turned off the same rune on the bigger cage.

The Director's eyes widen as he beheld the eight-legged tall creature, partially covered by carapace, partially but some kind of clothes. His face would be hard to locate if it wasn't for the eyes that spoke of intelligence.

"It turns out you completed your mission." the Director finally said.

"Thank you, sir. It was hard to catch this one: he constantly teleported, caused some kinds of explosions, and attacked us telepathically. After we managed to finally capture him, we had to activate the run for cancelling magic. We also had to turn on the one for cancelling the noise, as well. It kept screeching at us."

"What was he saying?"

Once again, Crystal simply turned off another rune instead of just answering.

"Ph'nglui mglw'naft C'Thun Ahn'Qiraj wgah'nagl fhtagn!" the strange creature started screaming. "Ph'nglui mglw'naft C'Thu..."

Its other words were unheard, because Crystal once again activated the rune.

"It repeats the same sentence over and over." she explained.

The Director stared for a long time into the eyes of the creature. Finally, he turned to the one of the assistants present in the lab.

"Schedule soldier Fillydelphia for an Augmentation Process." he said, glancing at the average subject. "Three days from now."

"Yes, Director." said the unicorn, taking notes,

"And..." he added, returning to stare at the huge creature. "Schedule soldier Eastin for an Augmentation Process a week later."

Crys and Cant exchanged alarmed glances.

"Director, you want to augmented E with... this!?" Cant asked. As the Director turned to him, he continued: "Sir, I must protest! Remember when you augmented soldier Trottingham with an unusual one as well? He nearly got a mental breakdown, and this one is even..."

"Leave personnel decisions to me, soldier!" the Director shouted, leaning over to him.

Both Canterlot and Crystal backed away.

"Now," he said more calmly, "let's wait for the Counselor to join as, and you can give a full report."

E, Mane, Trot, and Cloud laughed as Balti finished telling how their training ended with Hoof being slammed into a tree by Filly.

"The Director scolded her of course..." she continued, chuckling

"Oh, right, because that works perfectly on our dear Fillydelphia." Trot muttered, amused despite few bruises Balti and Cloud gave him.

They all laughed again. Eastin started to feel better after another disappointing training, but soon he started to get worried again as he saw a familiar unicorn enter the hall.

"Hello, Counselor." Manehatten greeted him as he came closer. "What brings you here, sir?"

"Soldier Eastin, to be honest." he answered, and turned to the young colt: "Can you come with me, soldier Eastin, or do you need to finish eating?"

"Um... no, I'm done, sir." he replied, nervously, and stood up. "See you later, guys."

His friends were about to reply, when the Counselor interrupted them.

"Also, the Director wanted me to tell you all that tomorrow you have all day off, but the day after that, there is going to be joined training session with all soldiers, ended with one on one matches."

Everypony beside E cheered to that.

"It's been a while since we had one of those." Balti said. "This should be fun."

Eastin wasn't convinced. He had usually training sessions with just two or three others soldiers, and knew very well they were all better fighters than him.

"Counselor, sir, is there any way I could fight Baltimare?" Trot asked.

"I'm afraid the matches are going to be decided by randomisation, soldier Trottingham."

"Oh, bugger."

"What, you wanted to get beaten again?" Balti chuckled.

"Hey Balti?" E heard Trot ask, as he and the Counselor started to leave.

"What?"

"Knock-knock."

"Oh for... who's there?" she asked, resigned.

"Pay."

"Pay who?"

"Payback's a bitch, and so are you!"

"Why you..."

Eastin didn't hear the rest of this, although he was fairly sure that he knew what was going to happen.

"So, um..." he asked the brown unicorn. "Where are we going?"

"To your quarters. There is something I wish to discuss with you there. The Director and I noticed that you have problems adjusting to the Project. You're far below the other soldiers in terms of combat."

E didn’t answer, but simply cringed.

"We believe that most of those problems steamed from the fact that you lack assertiveness." the Counselor continued, as if not noticing the earth pony's reaction. "The Director and I discussed this for a long time and I think we finally found a solution to help you."

They stopped in front of the door to E's quarters. The Counselor signaled him to open the door.

"What kind of solution?" he asked as he opened them, feeling a bit excited. If he could be more assertive, then maybe...

His train of thoughts was interrupted as something very fast slammed into him and pinned him to the ground. Eastin tried to move, but with this unknown enemy holding him all he could do was roll his eyes at him...

Or rather, her. The one who attacked him was a mare.

A very pissed of pegasus mare, that was the same age as he.

"Oh, no..."

"The Director and I thought that maybe if you were paired with a very... assertive pony, it would help you to get more confident." the Counselor said, not reacting to the violent welcome E has received. "We decided to pair you with soldier Fillydelphia."

The dark blue mare with purple mane stared into his eyes.

"You have no idea what kind of trouble you are in." she said.

3. Blue vs red battles

"Ha! He's alive! You two owe me 100 bits!" E heard Cloud exclaim to Mane and Trot, as he and Filly approached them and Balti, the whole group standing in front of the Simulation Room.

"What are you talking about?" Filly asked Cloudsdale.

"After we found out that the two of you have been partnered, they've made a bet whether you would kill E or not." Balti replied, annoyed.

E glanced at Mane and Trot, hurt a bit that they wanted to make bits of his death. Mane noticed it and laughed.

"Oh, don't frown, it was just a joke! I mean, we don't have bits anyway, right?"

"You still owe me." Cloud grinned.

"Oh, bugger."

E laughed at that, but grew serious as he noticed Filly making her way behind Mane and Trot. Recalling what she threatened to do to him if he wouldn't help her, he regretfully asked, gaining everypony's attention:

"So, um, where all of you've been yesterday? You weren't in the dining hall by the dinner time."

"Oh, right, the four of us and Hoof went... auugh!!!" Mane shouted in pain, as he and Trot were bucked right in the balls by Filly, causing them to fall to the ground. "What the hay was that for?!" he moaned in pain.

"Um... I accidentally told her that you called her..." E was about to say 'bitch', but noticing her gaze, he shrieked instead.

Mane and Trot gave him an exasperated look from the grass, while Cloud and Balti burst into laughter. Filly however, remained calm, and simply flew over to stand between them and E. She glanced at them menacing, causing them to shriek away.

"This is just a warm up." she warned them. "And I hope you're not thinking about taking anything out on E; I like when my prey runs away, so the two of you best be saving your strength."

Mane and Trot both gulped, as Cloud and Balti continued to laugh. Filly snorted and walked away from them.

"Sorry..." E told them, his ears dropping in shame.

"Eh, don't worry about it." Mane groaned as he picked himself from the ground. "Trot pissed off Balti again, and after she putted up with Hoof's non-stop jokes and allusions that he and Cloud should have a moment of privacy... well, I assumed she was going to tell her anyway."

"I was." Balti confirmed his words, bumping her hoof with Filly's.

"So..." Eastin stammered, not sure if everything was aright between him and his friends. "Where were you?"

"There's a lake deeper into the woods beyond the compound, we all went there for some swim."

E noticed that Filly was glancing at him, raising an eyebrow.

Told you.

Eastin turned his attention back to what Mane was saying.

"We wanted to invite the two of you, but by the time we went to your quarters, you were gone. Where were you?"

"We went for some training." Filly answered for him. "I wanted to see what he's capable of."

Cloud glanced at her, frowning.

"You weren't too hard on him, I hope?"

Filly was about to reply, when she was cut off by a loud:

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow!"

Filly growled in anger as she turned her head towards the source of the voice. E followed her gaze and saw Los Pegasus approaching them with another stallion, a unicorn, whose coat was aqua, and his mane and tail black. His face bore a wide grin, and it was clear he was the one responsible for that shout.

"So, this is Hoofington?" thought E as he regarded him, and looked back at his violet-and-gold sister, who had 'disgust' written all over her face. "How are they twins?"

"Los, why haven't you killed him yet?" Filly asked the pegasus, who shrugged in response.

Hoof laughed, putting his foreleg on Los shoulder.

"Who, his best buddy? Not a chance, right, Los?"

The pegasus in question rolled his eyes, but made no attempt to make Hoof stop touching him.

"You know, Los," Balti said, her eyes shooting daggers at her brother, "nopony can be sure where that hoof of his was earlier."

Los eyes widen a bit, but before he could do anything, Hoof moved away from him by himself. He glared at her sister, although he was more amused than offended.

"Why do you always have to be such a kill joy, sis?"

"He didn't deny it..." E heard Mane whisper to Trot, who chuckled.

"Why do you always have to act like an immature foal?!" Balti spat.

"Speaking of foals..." Hoof said, trotting over to E, immediately losing interest at Balti. E noticed his cutie mark: a double edged blade made out some blue substance. "... You must be the foal who stole Filly from me. Nice to meet to meet you little guy!"

"You're not that older than me!" E wanted to scream, but instead just stammered:

"Um... hi. Mind if I ask you something?"

He needed to know.

"Sure, shoot."

"Is it true Filly used to punch you in the face as you slept?"

Hoof raised an eyebrow as he heard his question, but instead of answering him, he turned to Filly, who was smirking.

"Huh, I thought that it was just a recurring dream." he said, not really caring.

E starred at him, terrified.

"So, how is living with Filly?" Hoof inquired, ignoring the look he gave him. "She can be quite a bitch, right?"

Eastin gasped and pressed his hoof to his mouth, moving away from Hoof, expecting Fillydelphia to strike him, but nothing like this happened. He glanced at her, and she shrugged.

"I've heard him call me worse insults, so 'bitch' coming from him doesn't anger me that much anymore."

"What kind of..." Mane started, but trailed off as Filly glared at him. "You know what, never mind. So, how are you two getting along?"

"Fine." E replied. "Filly isn't as bad as she appears. She can be nice when she wants to."

He was rewarded with everypony starring at him with wide eyes. Eastin would probably find it amusing if it didn't made him so nervous.

"Since when YOU can be NICE?" Hoof asked Filly.

Everypony's heads shifted towards her, as she snorted.

"I just don't hit him as often as I did you...

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow."

"... I don't know if that's classifies as 'nice'." she finished, glancing at Hoof. "On an unrelated note, did you happen to have an urge to say that catchphrase of yours around dinner time?"

"Yeah, why?" Hoof asked, grinning.

"No reason." Filly replied.

Before anypony could react, she jumped at Hoof, turned around in the air and bucked him in the chest. He grunted in pain, surprised, as he was thrown flying.

"What was that for?" Mane asked, curious, as Hoof landed on his face.

"Don't ask." Filly answered, looking more annoyed than angry.

"Around dinner time..." thought E, also curious. "Weren't we leaving the infirmary then? Hmm..."

"Soo... any particular reason you don't hit E too often?" Cloud asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Filly asked, as clueless as Eastin.

"Oh, you know." Cloud responded, poking her with an elbow and winking.

"I don't follow."

"Perhaps this can best be explained in the form of a knock-knock joke." Trot interrupted them, coming closer, and before anypony could stop him, he went on: "Knock-knock."

"Who's there?" E asked, curious, and shrinking away a heartbeat later as everypony shot him a glare.

"Knock." Trot went on again.

"Wait, Knock?" Cloud asked, surprised. "Knock who?"

"Knocked up Filly at this rate!" Trot answered, grinning.

E blushed as he understood what that joke was supposed to mean. Filly, on the other hoof, grabbed Trot by his throat and lifted him few meters above the ground, kicking him in the balls.

"Care to repeat that?" she asked, calm fury in her voice, as she prepared to kick him again.

Before she could do that, however, they were both surrounded by a blue magic field that caused them to separate.

"You know, the training hasn't started yet." Crystal said, trotting over to them along with Canterlot.

She released Filly and put Trot gently on the ground.

"Thanks." he rasped as he laid in fetal position, clutching his balls.

"Didn't anypony teach you to mind your own business?" Filly asked as she remained in the air, crossing her forelegs.

"Didn't anypony teach you that acting like a bitch will get you nowhere in life?" Crys answered, smirking.

"That's it, I'm taking you bitch out!" Filly shouted as she prepared to dive at her.

"What is going on here!?" sounded the stern voice of the Director.

Fillydelphia immediately stopped in the air, whispering to Crystal:

"This isn't over, bitch."

Crys just grinned in response.

"Nothing is going on, sir!" Cant quickly reported as they all saw the approaching Director and Counselor.

Everypony, including still pained Trot and dazed Hoof, stood in attention, saluting. The two unicorns stopped in front of them, briefly glancing disapprovingly at Filly, who rolled her eyes; most likely annoyed that they assumed whatever have happened was caused by her, which was a bit unfair as E thought about it.

"It's not her fault that they keep on angering her."

"Everypony," the Director said, regarding them all now, "today's training goal is to improve your skills to work as a team."

Few ponies muttered (E thought he heard Filly, Balti, and Trot, as well as a grunt from Los) muttered something quietly. Noticing, the Director allowed himself to smile.

"But of course, there will still be a competition involved. After all, what better way there is to motivate somepony to do better? You will be divided into two teams: blue and red. You will enter the Simulation Room, which will have two bases on the opposite sides. The bases will have flags inside of them. Your objective will be to steal the flag of the enemy team, and bring it back to your base. If your opponents have your flag, it won't count, until the flag is returned. You're allowed to use your skills and abilities to the maximum, if one of you would be about to receive a strike that could potentially kill him, he will be teleported outside, where medic team awaits. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" all of them responded.

The Director nodded, pleased.

"The Counselor and I will observe from the viewing room. The training will be over when one of the teams wins three times. Soldier Crystal will be the leader of the Blue Team, while soldier Canterlot will be leading the Red Team. Could the two of you chose four teammates?" when the two soldier nodded, he and the Counselor teleported away.

"Balti, Cloud, Filly, and E, you're with me." Crys said after a second.

Cant looked at her, and then rolled his eyes.

"Guess I'll take the rest, then."

"Wow, you're totally whipped." Hoof said, and then turned to E. "And how come E gets all the ladies? Crys, you should take me, the Love Doctor!"

"You do realize she would have sent you on a suicide mission, right?" Mane asked him, chuckling.

"You mean she would ask me get a score with Filly's..."

"Finish that sentence." Filly said, clenching her eyelids threateningly. "Go on."

"Err... no thanks, I think I'll pass."

She snorted and turned to face Crys.

"Afraid to face me?"

"Alright, ponies, let’s get going." Crystal said, ignoring the taunt, and went through the door.

"Um... you're alright?" E whispered to Filly, noticing how agitated (or, more likely, pissed off) she was, as they all followed Crys.

"I'm fine." she answered, closing the door behind them.

They were now surrounded by darkness. E wanted to say something to Filly, to calm her down, but before he could do that, the darkness changed into light, as they found themselves in a boxed canyon.

"What a dump." commented Trot as they all gotten look around. "Where on Earth did they come up with this?"

E must have admitted, the scenery wasn't very presentive.

"Huge space between two bases, that appeared to be made out of stone, can't tell from so far away. Couple of boulders, some grass, and no trees... wait, there is one."

"Alright, enough admiring the views." Crystal said, snapping them all out. "Let’s get to our respective bases and prepare our battle plans. Ten minutes?" she asked Canterlot, raising an eyebrow.

"Ten minutes." he responded, nodding.

"Let’s go, everypony."

"Hey, ladies, does one of you wants me to go easy on her? Bow-chicka-bow-wow."

"We don't need you to go easy, you already are." Balti answered, causing everypony to giggle, as they all began to walk away.

"Okay, true, but my friend Los over here could be persuaded..."

"No." Los rasped, not looking back.

Hoof glanced at him disapprovingly.

"You're the worst wingcolt ever." he declared

"Of all time." Mane added.

E didn't hear whatever else they said after that, the Red Team was too far away by then. He looked at Crys.

"So, um... what’s the plan?"

"I will tell you all once we're inside." she answered, glancing at him. "But if I were you, I would start stretching. There will be a lot of running involved on your part."

"Oh, no..." he sighed, sensing a disaster coming up.

"Okay, guys, let’s see how the inside looks like." Cant said as they finally reached the base.

Mane looked around the canyon, as the rest of the 'Red Team' went inside.

"Hey." he called after Trot.

"Yeah?" Trot asked, stopping in the doorway.

Mane turned to look at him.

"You ever wonder why we’re here?"

"Round Three, over." sounded the voice the Counselor across the disappearing box canyon. "Point Blue Team. The score is: 3, 0."

"Hehe, you guys suck!" Cloud exclaimed happily to Cant, Los and Mane.

Trot and Hoof were 'killed' during this round, and they were teleported outside. Now they entered, along with the Director and the Counselor. Both of them 'died' in rather comical ways: Hoof was nearly castrated by Filly with his own energy sword, that he could form and extend from his hoof, while Trot was simply about to be kicked in the balls by her.

"I didn't know that kick to the balls could be lethal." Balti said when she saw that, her and E's jaws on the ground.

"That depends on who does the kicking." Filly smirked in response.

E shook his head, returning to the present, as they all stood in attention.

"Great job, Blue Team." the Director told them. "Red Team, I'm disappointed in the lack of teamwork between you."

E glanced at the Red Team. Everypony save Cant didn't seem to care too much, and even he was just frowning.

"Maybe I shouldn't get stressed so much about this..." he thought, but immediately he recalled his position on the Leaderboard.

Still, though, after today he probably earned few points. Like Crystal said, he had to constantly run. From the base up to the enemy base, and back. He's job was to coordinate the efforts of everypony on Blue Team, despite not being a leader. That made his so busy he actually forgot to be nervous. He managed to have few decent fights, and didn't 'die', which besides him could say only Filly, Cant and Los. Crys, despite her all skills, was somehow killed during Round Two when she was supposed to sneak into Reds' base, using her shapeshifting ability to look like recently killed Mane. E made a mental note to ask her what happened.

"Now we'll begin the one-on-one matches." the Director said, and turned to the Counselor.

The other unicorn nodded and shoots out a beam at one of the runes. It coursed the space above it to shimmer and swirl rapidly. E guessed that the rune's magic was causing the names of two soldiers to appear, and changed in split second into names of others. Finally, it stopped.

Manehatten vs. Fillydelphia

"Nooooo!!!" Mane shouted, and looked at the Director, beggingly. "Can I give up?"

E glanced at Filly. She had a terrifying grin on her face.

"No." the Director answered Mane's question.

E turned to look at the magic 'blackboard', wondering with who he would be fighting.

Crystal vs. Canterlot

“If it would be Trot or Cloud, I could win.” E thought, as he looked at the amused Crys and the annoyed Cant. "Their abilities are little tricky, but they can't control them yet that well. Hoof and Balti both have very dangerous abilities, and are better fighters, but I could probably outsmart them."

Eastin vs. Los Pegasus

"Oh, no..." he thought, shrinking away.

Los was an entirely different matter. E would probably have a better chanced against Crystal than against him. The ability he gained from Augmentation Process was incredible physical strength and sturdiness. During Round Three, he was kicked to the balls by Filly (at that point, E decided to ask her why she enjoyed kicking colts there so much), and merely grunted.

E glanced at Los, who was grinning, although not as scarily as Filly. He simply enjoyed fighting, and more importantly, beating his enemies. E knows he wouldn't go easy on him.

"Well, at least he won't kick me in the balls."

Trottingham vs. Baltimare

"Called it!" Trot said.

"I don't know why you're happy about getting your flank kicked," Balti replied, and E thought he saw disappointment on her face.

Cloudsdale vs. Hoofington

"This will be fun." Hoof said, turning towards Could with lust in his eyes. "Just you and me, alone in this room..."

"Everypony besides soldiers Manehatten and Fillydelphia, let’s leave to the viewing room." the Director told them, turning around.

Cloud looked back at Hoof, raising an eyebrow. Hoof shrugged in response.

"I don't mind giving them a little show."

Cloud didn't bother with a response instead, like everypony else, she just followed the Director saying 'good luck' to Mane.

"I'll miss you." Trot told him, grinning.

"Go buck yourself." Mane snapped in response.

E was conflicted: he wanted to wish good luck to Filly, but on the other hoof, he wanted to tell Mane to... well, survive.

"Err... good luck to... both of you?" he finally stammered.

Both of them looked at him annoyed.

"Just go." Mane told him, looking away.

E glanced at Filly and saw something for a brief moment that kind of scared him.

"Did she... smile?"

"So E," Cant spoke up they all stood in the viewing room, watching Filly jump at Mane, only to pass right through him, "I heard you and Fillydelphia were scheduled for an Augmentation."

"Really?!" Cloud asked, as she turned her attention away from the fight they all know how would finish. "Why you didn't say anything about it?!"

"I, um... forgot about it." E replied, trying to concentrate on the fight, so he wouldn't need to think about... that.

"Mane can turn himself completely intangible for few seconds, but he needs to make himself normal when he attacks, and if he keeps it up to long, he would need whole ten second to use his ability again." he thought as Filly pressed an attack again.

"So, when are they going through with it?" Cloud asked Cant when it was obvious that E didn't wanted to talk.

"Filly's up tomorrow, and E goes a week later." he answered, and for a moment looked as if he was about to say something else, but he shook his head.

"Great, Filly's going to be Augmented." Trot said, rolling his eyes. "As if our lives weren't endangered enough."

"Stop calling her bitch all the time, then." Crys told him.

"You call her that, too."

"Yes, but I don't have balls for her to kick."

"Kinky." Hoof added with a smirk on his face

"Shut up, Hoof!" Crystal, Cloud and Cant said in unison.

"Oh, um... that reminds me." E stammered. "How did you 'die' in the Round Two, Crystal?"

She sighed.

"I passed by Hoof, and when he was behind me...

"Bow-chicka..."

"... he slashed me with his sword."

"...bow-wow!"

"Shut up and tell us how you know it was her and not Mane." Cant growled at him.

"Dude, look who you're talking to." he smirked. "You really think I wouldn't tell mare from stallion?"

That earned him half-amazed, half-annoyed gazes from everypony, including both Director and Counselor.

"Filly won." E pointed out, noticing Mane disappearing due to the safety spells.

"Well, that wasn't too bad." Filly told E, as they left the infirmary.

He, like Mane, was sent here after his fight. He managed to land few hits on Los, and dodge most of his, but when he finally hit him... with just one punch, he broke six of his ribs, and the force caused his foreleg to be dislocated.

"Easy for you to say." E said, a bit bitterly.

"Come now, don't be like that." she replied.

"Sorry."

On they way to the dining hall, they passed the Leaderboard.

1. Crystal 35, 785

2. Canterlot 33, 162

3. Los Pegasus 22, 042

4. Fillydelphia 21, 531

5. Trottingham 19, 010

6. Baltimare 18, 487

7. Manehatten 18, 111

8. Cloudsdale 16, 631

9. Hoofington 15, 211

10. Eastin 11, 105

"I'm getting closer to the others." E thought, feeling better.

They continued to trot alongside each other in silence for few moments.

"So, um..." Filly broke the silence, stammering uncomfortably. "Why did you wish me good luck, anyway?"

E turned his head to her, surprised, but before he could answer, she asked another question:

"And while during the Round Two you warned me about Cant? You could have just run ahead with the flag, instead of saving me, you would get a lot more points then."

E recalled how he and Filly were running towards their base after they managed to steal the flag, which was held by E, with Filly watching from the air if there was anypony coming their way. They were finally near their base, and Filly flew down to him, to tell him that there was nopony in sight, when E noticed air shimmering to the left. He jumped and the invisible Cant as he was about to descend on Fillydelphia, and E throwed the flag towards her.

Now he looked at her, not understanding why she couldn't understand that.

"We're friends, aren't we?" he asked her before he could stop himself.

He watched her as she regarded him, and slowly, he saw a surprise change to badly hidden delight.

"Maybe." Filly said, poking him with her wing playfully.

4. Augmentation Process

"Are... are you sure you're going to be alright?"

Filly growled, annoyed. It was about tenth time this morning E asked her that question.

"For the last time..." she answered, forcing herself to be calm,"... they are going to sedate me. I won't feel a thing. Stop worrying!"

He winced at her harsh tone.

"Sorry." he muttered.

"Oh, for Pete's sake!" Filly thought, annoyed even further with him, and also mad at herself.

As much as she hated to admit it, she liked Eastin. He was most definitely different from anypony she has ever met, both since and before she became part of Project Eclipse. He cared for her and considered her friend, for some reason, despite her... not being a pony that was easy to get along with.

"Look." she said, trotting over to his bed and nudging him. "Everypony else went through the Augmentation Process and nothing bad happened to them."

She knew better that to mention about what she heard happen to Trot.

"I'm going to be fine, I promise. Now, get up. I need to go for the surgery, and you have a training session with Cant, Balti, and Cloud."

Since both the Director and Counselor were needed for observing the Augmentation Process, the training was going to be supervised by Crys and Cant. Remembering that he was actually already late, E reluctantly rose, and left their quarters after her.

"Good luck at the training." Filly told him as she prepared to fly to the entrance to the lab section of the compound. She glanced back, smirking: "Next time we're going to train together, so you better toughen up while you still have the chance."

"W-wait!" E said, causing her to stop. She glanced at him, and saw that he looked away and poked the ground with his hoof, blushing. "What's... what's your name?"

"You've got bees in your brain or something?" Filly asked him, raising an eyebrow. "It's Fillydelphia, remember?"

"No, I... I meant your real name." he asked.

Filly immediately narrowed her eyes.

"Protocol dictates that we aren't supposed to reveal our real names to anypony, especially to other soldiers." she hissed.

Eastin looked at her, startled by the change in her voice.

"I-I know, but... I would like to know. I could tell you mine..."

Before he got a chance to finish that sentence, Filly flung at him and pinned her to the ground.

"My name is Fillydelphia!" she growled, pressing hoof on his throat. "Got it?!"

She watched, furious, as E squirmed beneath her, terrified.

"I'm sorry!" he cried, gasping for air. "I'm sorry, please, I..."

Finally, Filly raised her hoof, allowing him to breathe. She waited for him to take few gasps, before she leaned down, stopping barely an inch in front of his face.

"Don't you ever dear to bring up my old name again! Understand?!"

E, with tears of fear in his eyes, nodded. Filly pulled back and turned away, leaving without goodbye.

Few moments later, she practically stormed into the underground part of the compound, trying to get to the lab section. She was still furious at E. Furious that he made her remember her past. Furious that he asked her about her old name.

She was furious that she screamed at E and hurt him.

Filly stopped and punched the wall, hissing as pain hit her. E was her first true friend, and she nearly choked him because he wanted to know what her name was! Filly bit her lip as she pulled her hoof from the small hole she made, wincing when she realized that she have broken her wrist.

"As if I didn't have enough problems already!" she thought angrily as she resumed walking towards the lab, limping.

Filly didn't cared about her wrist at the slightest, and even less about the cracks she made on the wall. Right now, all that mattered to her was to get through the Augmentation Process...

... and how would she apologize to E.

Don't you ever dear to bring up my old name again! Understand?!

Filly's words rang in his ears as he made his way towards the Simulation Room, where he saw the others, already waiting for him.

"Why did she react like that?" he thought, distraught.

"You're late." Balti noted.

He murmured an apology, but stopped to cough. His throat was still a bit sore.

"Sorry, I, um... wanted to wish Filly good luck, and... lost track of time." he said finally.

He didn't want to tell them about what happened, but form the look Cant gave him he realized that the stallion had recognized choking marks on his throat.

"Aww, how sweet of you to stay with your very special somepony as long as possible." Cloud chattered, and started giggling when E blushed.

"She's... not my..." he stammered.

"Relax, E, I'm just making fun of you. Although," she added, winking, "the two of you would look so cute together."

That comment caused E's face to be even redder, and everypony else chuckled.

"Alright, enough chatter." Canterlot said, getting serious. "We've got a training to do. E, I know you're probably worried about Filly's surgery, but it's completely safe, so focus, okay?"

"Okay." E said unenthusiastically.

Filly rolled her eyes as she tried to imagine E's reaction to this sigh.

She was lying on her back, being strapped to the table, with a lot of medical instruments (needles among them) around her. There were three unicorns from the Project's medical staff, and she could see the Director and the Counselor observing from behind the glass.

"What happened to your hoof?" one of the medics asked her, noticing how she winced when he touched it.

"Nothing." Filly lied. "I overstretched it when I was doing push ups this morning."

"Rrrrriiiiggghhhttt..." the medic replied, reaching for her hoof.

"Touch me and you're dead." she threatened, and despite her being tied up, the medic backed away.

"Yeah, that's right." Filly grinned in her thoughts. "Move the fuck away from me, you filthy..."

She stopped her mental ranting when she noticed another medic, a mare, walk up to her and was levitating a syringe.

"We're going to sedate you now. Are you ready?"

Filly nodded, and the medic lowered the syringe down to her body. She felt a little sting when the needle pierced her skin, but that was anything worth noticing.

"Start counting from ten to one." she heard one of the medics ask her.

"Ten, nine, eight..." she started and paused, starting to feel the effects of the tranquilizer. "... seven..." Filly wasn't fond of this sensation. "... six... " she wondered if E would visit her before she wakes up. "... five..." she dozed off.

E jumped away as, the griffon descended down on him, twisted around and hitting him in the eye with his hindhoof. His opponent backed away, screeching, and those few seconds cost him his life, as Balti spit acid on him melting the half-eagle, half-lion. Well, it was an illusion, so he didn't have a life to loose, but still...

He shook his head and concentrated on battle. He noticed that Cloud was about be overwhelmed by her opponent. E rushed to her when he saw the griffon slash his claws across her throat... only for the illusion to disappear, while the real Cloud hit him in the stomach and neck.

"Good going!" Cant said, appearing out of nowhere, There were three knocked out or dead griffons behind him. "The three of you will continue to press on while we still have the momentum on our side, while I will..."

He was cut off by the sound of the alarm. The illusion of the griffon fortress disappeared, and they found themselves in the empty Simulation Room, which now had walls covered in red glowing symbols. E looked quickly around, recalling all the alarm patterns and trying to recognize which one was this.

"We're not under attack, nothing's on fire," he started eliminating the possibilities, "nopony was found dead, there's no intruder..." his eyes widen.

"No..."

Her body was on fire.

Filly woke up, screaming in pain, causing all the medics she didn't give a flying feather about now to stumble back, surprised and scared shitless.

She continued to scream feeling as if her whole body, every singular cell of it, was burning; Filly tried desperately to free herself from her bindings. This pain she felt right now was unbearable.

"Increase the dosage!" she heard somepony scream.

"She's not reacting to it!"

"Give her more!"

"But..."

"That's an order!"

"How could she wake up during the surgery?" Cloud wondered.

All of them were standing in the infirmary's Recovery room. The alarm, caused by Filly's trashing during her surgery, stopped both training sessions and were later informed by the Counselor about what exactly happened. Everypony's training was cancelled for today, so they decided to visit Filly.

"I talked with one of the medics." Cant said. "He told me that she stopped reacting to the tranquilizer few seconds after they Augmented her. The medic team had to increase the dosage to the point when it would put a dragon under before she was finally sedated."

E was listening to what the other soldier was saying with one ear. He already asked the medics when he came in here, sooner than anypony else.

"What if she doesn't wake up?!" he wondered, panicking.

Taking into the account the amount of drugs they put into her, and how small her body was, not to mention her lighter body built due to being a pegasus...

"So... when is she going to come around?" Trot asked.

He wasn't fond of her nor, truth to be told, was anypony else beside E and Hoof, the latter of whom was only interested in what was under her tail. But seeing a teammate, even a disliked one, in a condition like this wasn't very pleasant.

"They say in couple of days, at best." Cant said grimly.

"And at worst?" Mane inquired.

Cant didn't answer that one.

If E wasn't in such big shock, he would probably be crying right now.

"Wanna know the best thing about unconscious chicks?" Hoof asked.

E glanced back at him and growled. The unicorn backed away, surprised.

"Okaay, forget I asked."

"Pig." Cloud commented, and returned to discussing what happened "So, do you think that has something to do with whatever her ability is?"

"It must be." Mane replied. "After Augmentation, we all experienced some side effects, right?"

"What side effects?" E asked, half-curious without turning around.

"You know, bleeding from the eyes, ringing ears..." Mane answered, and after a second of hesitation, added: "... inverted penis..."

That got E to actually turn back.

"Inverted what?!"

Mane chuckled.

"Dude, I'm just bucking with you, ok?"

"Very funny." E muttered as everypony else started laughing.

"Anyway," Cant picked up where Mane started, "those side effect are little aching of some body parts, depending on the ability gained through the Augmentation Process, which in my case, happened to be my whole body. It went away pretty quick though, within a day I think."

After that they all went silent, with E wondering when Filly was going to wake up, the others probably recalling the own Augmentations.

"Well," Trot finally broke the silence, "there's little what we can do standing around here. I'm going to the dining hall."

The other ponies murmured between themselves and started to make the way out. E didn't budge.

"E, you comin'?" Mane asked when he reached the door and realized that the youngest of them was missing.

"No." he answered, keeping his eyes on Filly.

He didn't need to look their way to know that Mane and Cloud exchanged glances.

"E..." she started.

"I won't be long." E replied, lying.

"Okay, if you say so..." Cloud said, obviously not convinced, but she most likely figured out that it would be pointless to argue. "See you later."

E listened to their hoofsteps as the left, his eyes not leaving his friend in a drug-induced coma. He knew that was impossible, but he could shake the feeling that it was his fault, that if he didn't angered her in the morning, she wouldn't be in this state.

"Please, wake up."

"That colt is too nice for his own good." Mane commented as he and Cloud were trotting after the rest of the group.

"Well, that is part of the reason everypony likes him so much." Cloud replied, giggling. "You know, besides being adorable and all."

Mane rolled his eyes. He had no idea why E was so liked by mares. "Hell, even Fillydelphia was fond of him!"

"So, anyway..." he said, clearing his throat. "Seeing as we have free time until tomorrow, would you like to..."

"Hey, why are you two taking so long?" Balti asked from ahead, glancing at them.

"Bow-chicka-bow-wow!"

"I swear, I'm going to..."

"We better go, before Balti kills Hoof." Cloud smirked and flew ahead.

Mane sighed.

"I'm always unlucky." he muttered.

Filly stretched as she regained her consciousness, the pain all but a memory, when she felt her body brush something. She opened her eyes and saw E, his head and forelegs laid next to her on bed, asleep. She rolled her eyes, wondering what was wrong with him.

"How long was I asleep?" Filly thought, glancing around the Recovery room, until she localized a calendar. "It's the same day? Huh."

She took a peek under her bed sheet to look at her flank. Like the other soldiers said, the Augmentation Process altered the pony's body to such degree, that after the surgery, a cutie mark appears, related to pony's ability.

"Okay, why is my cutie mark a light blue leaf of a maple tree?" Filly wondered, but shook her head. She had more important stuff to worry about.

She nudged E, waking him up. He yawned and looked at her, his eyes widening.

"Hi." Filly said, a bit faintly, recalling their previous talk.

"Um..." E replied, but before he could finish, he was interrupted.

"Ah, you're awake, soldier Fillydelphia. Good."

They both turned around as the Director and Counselor entered the Recovery room. E quickly stood in attention, while Filly saluted.

"At ease."

"How do you feel, soldier Fillydelphia?" the Counselor inquired.

"Great." she said, and she meant.

There was no trace of her pain from when she woke up during the surgery. Heck, even the pain from her hoof disappeared. In fact, she felt better than she remembered ever to feel.

"Why have I wakened up during the surgery, sir?" she asked.

She wanted to know who screwed up, so that she could kill him.

"And why did she wake up so soon?" E asked, and , realizing how that could`ve sound, added. "Um, not that I'm not happy with her awake, or anything, but..."

"We have a theory." the Director said, interrupting E's pointless speech.

"And what would that theory be, sir?" Filly inquired.

"Extend your hoof."

Filly raised her eyebrow, surprised at the command, but obeyed, and lifted her right foreleg in front of her. The Counselor levitated a pencil and poked her hoof with it.

"What are you doing, Counselor?" E asked, voicing her own question.

The Counselor used the pencil to pierce Filly's hoof.

"What the fuck?!" she screeched in pain, kicking the unicorn with her hinglegs.

She pressed her hoof to her chest, only to realize that suddenly, she stopped feeling any pain from it. Frowning, she brushed off the blood from her wound... but there was no wound.

Her eyes went wide.

"What... how..." she stammered.

"It would appear that we were right, Director." the Counselor said, picking himself from the floor.

Filly spared a moment to ponder should she apologize for kicking him, but decided not to.

"What do you mean?"

"The ability that you got through the Augmentation Process, soldier Fillydelphia, is instant regeneration." the Director answered her.

"Instant regeneration?"

"Your wounds are going to heal much faster now, and your immune system fights off any kind of infection or intoxication even faster, which made you wake up during your surgery."

"... huh..." Filly said, trying to comprehend it. "So... what now?"

"We need to know the extent of your healing capabilities." the Counselor answered. "To do that, we will run few tests on you..."

"No."

Everypony in the Recovery room looked at Filly, surprised.

"If you want to know the extent of my abilities, we're going to do that my way. By fighting." she explained, crossing her forelegs as if inviting the two unicorns to try and talk her out of this. "I want a match. Right... now."

The Counselor glanced at the Director, who thought about it for few moments.

"Very well, then." he finally said. "Is there any specific soldier you wish to fight?"

Filly grinned in response.

"So..." Canterlot said as they watched from the viewing room as Fillydelphia and Crystal prepared for a fight. "... she woke up two hours after we left, and demanded a match with Crys."

"To sum things up, yes." E answered, while the other soldiers murmured between them.

He didn't think it was such a good idea for Filly to jump into a fight so soon, even if her body now healed instantly. But he knew better than to try to talk her out of this.

"So, Miss Number One vs. an augmented Filly..." Mane exclaimed. "Anyone wanna bet one of them gets killed?"

"Are you kidding, mate?!" Trot replied, slight hint of fear in his voice. "I'm hoping one of us doesn't get killed just by watching!"

"Except that now it's most likely impossible for Filly to die." E murmured, wondering how the fight would go.

"What do you mean?" Cloud, who overheard him, asked.

"Her augmentation ability." E explained.

"Which is...?" Mane inquired.

"Sorry, um... Filly asked me to keep it a secret."

"Her cutie mark is a leaf..." Cant thought out loud.

"Controlling plants?"

"That just dumb."

"Quiet!" Balti hissed at the others. "They're about to start."

"Round begins in three," voice of the Counselor sounded across the Simulation Room, "two, one, begin. Good luck, ladies!

"Thanks, I won't need it." both mares answered and started circling around each other.

Filly knew she could beat her. Their fighting capabilities were more or less evenly matched, and with her newfound ability, she could surprise Crystal. Her only concern was Crys' magic. Against a normal unicorn, this wouldn't be much of a problem. She could easily fly out of reach of her spells, and swiftly move to attack.

But this was Crystal.

Not only her magical abilities were greater than that of Hoof and Balti, both of which were better than average, but also had her shapeshifting ability. While she couldn't copy the powers the others gained through the augmentation, she still could change into a pegasus (knowing Crystal's sense of humor, she would assume the shape of Filly herself), and there would go her advantage.

"Well, it's not like walking around like this will get me anywhere."

Filly jumped into the air and dived at Crys. The unicorn immediately stopped and braced herself. When Filly was right in front of her, Crys tried to grab her. The pegasus whirled in the mid-air, trying to kick her with her hindhoof in the horn, but Crys quickly moved slightly to the right and blocked her kick with he left fronthoof, her horn glowing.

Filly immediately moved her face out of the harm's way, but while she dodged the magical bolt, she was punched in the nose by Crys' righ fronthoof and was sent flying.

"Nice landing." Crys smirked when Filly rolled on the ground.

Filly pressed hoof to her broken nose, only to realize it wasn't broken anymore.

"This is quite useful."

Using her hindlegs, she kicked sand at Crystal, who not expecting her to react so quickly, had to cover her eyes instead of shielding with magic. Filly immediately threw herself at her opponent. Crys responded with activating her ability. For a split second, green flames surrounded her. Filly, expecting her to change into pegasus, aligned her flight to intercept her if she tried to fly. The flames disappeared...

She was attacking E.

Filly's eyes went wide and her body reacted by shifting her punch a bit to the left, letting the E impersonator to easily dodge it.

"You sneaky bitch!"

Crys grinned at her as she shifted back and thrust her horn into Filly's chest, expecting the protection spells to teleport her way.

That didn't happen.

Filly gasped as she felt Crystal's horn pierce her chest. For a brief moment, despite the pain, she took a great pleasure in the sight of pure horror on Crys face, before she raised her hoof and aimed punched her in the right eye, putting all her force into it.

This time, the protection spell activated, and Crystal disappeared. Filly landed on the ground, feeling her lung, ribs, muscles and skin regenerate themselves not that there was no horn in the middle of all of them. Since the wound was bigger than her previous injuries, she got a chance to feel them regenerate. It was a tingling sensation. By the time her opponent appeared again, she was perfectly fine. She didn't even feel tired.

"Round one, over. Point awarded to Fillydelphia. The score is: 0, 1. Beginning round two."

"What the hay just happened?" Crys asked with wide eyes.

"Try to figure that out as I continue to beat you senseless." Filly smirked in response.

"You were amazing." E said an hour and four rounds later.

"Thanks." Filly replied to his complement while she blushed for a bit, still feeling guilty about the morning.

She glanced at the Leaderboard.

1. Crystal 36, 217

2. Canterlot 33, 162

3. Fillydelphia 28, 251

4. Los Pegasus 22, 042

5. Trottingham 19, 010

6. Baltimare 18, 487

7. Manehatten 18, 111

8. Cloudsdale 16, 631

9. Hoofington 15, 211

10. Eastin 11, 105

"I'm getting closer to you, Crystal."

"Looks like because of the commotion I caused, the rest of you didn't earn any points." she notices aloud. "Sorry."

"I-it's nothing." E replied, glancing away.

Filly looked at him, wondering how to apologize. She didn't have much experience in that department.

"E..." she started.

"I'm sorry."

The pegasus starred at the earth pony.

"I didn't know that you would be so upset about... that thing I'm supposed to not talk about. It won't happen again, I pro-"

Filly pressed her hoof to his mouth, silencing him.

"Okay, couple things." she told him, still keeping him quiet. "Firstly, what I told you earlier, still stands: I don't want to talk about my old name, or anything before I became a part of Project Eclipse. Secondly, stop being so damn nice all the time. While it's cute, it gets boring over time. And while we're at it, don't apologise for something that isn't your fault. And thirdly..."

She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, causing both of them to blush,

".. it was Sky Grace."

5. Lifting the Veil (part 1)

"I don't want to."

Filly sighed as E continues to lie on his bed.

"E, you have to go through the Augmentation Process."

"But..." he tried to protest.

"No 'but'. What happened to me was a side effect of my ability, it won't happen to you."

Earth pony winced and looked at his hooves, causing pegasus to sigh again. It's been over a week since her memorable surgery. Since then, Filly learned more about her ability. Not only she could heal all her wounds within instant, provided there was nothing blocking her reforming flesh, or that she practically couldn't get sick or poisoned (or wasted). Also her stamina was sufficiently heightened to the point she could exert herself for numerous hours, even after exposure to powerful tranquilizers. Filly's agility and reflexes were also enhanced to levels that are beyond the physical limits of the finest pony athlete.

Due to her healing factor's constant regenerative qualities, she could push her muscles beyond the limits of the pony body without injury. That did not, however, meant she was resistant to pain, but she could cope with it. Also, she could still suffer the immediate effects of drugs, and toxins (and booze) in massive quantities. The Director theorized that the only way to stop her now is to decapitate her and remove her head from the vicinity of her body. Luckily, she was too good for that to happen.

Now however, her thoughts were not on her awesome power, but instead on the quivering colt that is barely older than her. She jumped on his bed next to him.

"E..." Filly started as she began nuzzling him, blushing almost at once. "... I know you're nervous, but I promise you, nothing wrong will happen. And as soon as my training session ends, I will come to sit next to you in Recovery room and wait for you to wake up."

E glanced at her and smiled weakly.

"Really?"

"Of course, silly." she replied, kissing him on a cheek.

E kissed her back, and she had to fight an urge to move away and hit him.

Filly hated herself for that. Showing her affection to E had barely came easier over the week, which was the reason she still blushed whenever she pressed whichever part of her body to his in a intimate manner, but whenever earth pony did that, her mind almost instantly panicked. Filly was thankful she managed to not harm him yet, or that E was too shy to move things up. She wished she could get over her problems and be more like him.

E was mindful of what she told him and not once asked her about her past. That didn't, however stop him from telling her about his. She found that amusing, considering how bend he was on following protocol on the first day of their partnership. He told her that he was actually from Eastin, and that his father died before he was born. That his pegasus mother died from turbulerculosis, a deadly pegasus disease, a month before he was enlisted into the Project.

He also told her that his old name was Coy Sigil. Fitting, but in Filly's opinion, E was better.

While the two of them became closer, it didn't escape the notice of the other soldiers, despite them acting normally around them. It was most likely due to Filly being less violent when E was around, and E's newfound assertiveness... well, at least to some point. Either way, they were an object of constant teasing. Filly, to her surprise, found that she didn't care. She enjoyed their relationship to much to let it bother her, apparently.

"Relationship." Filly snorted in her mind. "What kind of relationship it is, when I'm afraid when my coltfriend touches me?"

She needed to do something about her mental blockade.

"So, are you going?" Filly asked E, returning her thoughts to the present moment.

"Um... yeah, I guess..." the colt answered reluctantly.

Filly frowned. She wished she could keep him company during the surgery, but it was out of the question. She couldn't let him leave like this. Filly quickly thought of something to lift his spirits up, and suddenly, an idea came to her.

An idea that could solve both problems.

"E, how about this?" she asked, lifting his chin so he would look into her eyes. "You will go to the surgery, be brave and not worry about anything, and after that, we will have something... fun to do?"

"Fun?" E asked, perking up, but his face quickly turned into troubled grin. "You mean something like when you nearly made me fall off the Floating Island?"

Filly giggled, recalling his reaction to that.

"No. Well, kinda." she replied, stroking his mane. "It will be a bit scary, at first. But I promise you won't regret it."

E blushed at seductive tone her voice held when she said that last sentence.

"Why everything has to be scary with you?" he joked as he rose.

"That’s part of my charm."

Few second later they stood in front of their quarter’s door. Filly quickly hugged E, brushing his cheek with her nose.

"Now, do you promise me that you will be fine?" she asked him, looking into his eyes.

"Sweet merciful alicorns, how I want him." she thought, looking into his sharp, yellow eyes, feeling his warm body and his scent. But she know that it would end badly if she would linger now.

"I promise." E replied, red all over his face.

Filly kissed him on the cheek for good bye and flew away as the earth pony reluctantly started trotting towards the lab section.

While she flew, her mind worked on what she was going to do, exactly. It would have to be... convincing, so that her mind could finally allow her to touch E without having to keep herself from harming him.

"I'm going to traumatize him." she concluded, dismayed, but brushed it off as she landed next to Cant, Los, and Hoof.

If E wanted to be with her, he would need to be at least a bit screwed in the head like her.

"We're going to sedate you now. Are you ready?"

"No." E wanted to say.

He was really intimidated by this room and by all those medical instruments, and the fact that he was strapped to the table and was surrounded by the medics, while the Director and Counselor observed from the window wasn't really helping. But he promised Filly that he would be fine.

"Yes." he said, bracing himself for the little sting.

"Start counting from ten to one." one of the medics said after the tranquilizer has been administrated.

"Ten, nine... eight... seven..." E counted, dozing off, his last thoughts about the 'fun thing' Filly had planned to do.

"Sir," one of the medics spoke to the Director, "soldier Eastin is prepped for the Augmentation Process."

The dark unicorn nodded.

"Proceed." he ordered.

The medic nodded and turned around, levitating with his magic a container with a glowing black liquid in it. He put it into the device that was strange even to him, being invented by the Director himself. It had a space of containers such as this, and five long arms with small tubes inside them, that ended with needles. Using their unicorn magic, the medic team moved the device next to the patient, lifted its arms, and plunged its needles into his body. At the same time, they activated another device that was already strapped to Eastin, causing it to glow, along with earth pony's body as it begin radiate magical energies. While it was doing that, the glowing black liquid was being pumped down into Eastin's bloodstream.

"Where am I?" E thought as he looked at his surroundings.

He appeared to be in some sort of desert. E couldn't see any sign of civilization anywhere nearby. The sky above him was clouded, and the wind was blowing, causing sand to dance around him. Strangely, he couldn't feel it.

Ywaq ma phgwa'cul hnakf.

E turned around, searching for the source of the whisper. There it was, a pony, whose coat was black as night, which was sitting in the shadow of rock at the top of the dune, gazing at what was on the other side. The earth pony trotted over to him or her, finding sand a better basis for going uphill than he expected.

After a few seconds, E was finally standing behind the strange pony, whose skin seemed to shimmer due to the temperature of the desert.

"Weird." E thought suddenly. "I don't feel hot..."

Gul'kafh an'shel... another whisper came from the pony.

E moved next to it and stared at what his companion was looking at.

...Yoq'al shn ky ywaq nuul.

It was a huge mass of swirling energy, which seemed to contain... everything. Everything that ever was, is, and will be. E caught glimpses of a city buried in the sand, and of a huge lake that felt to him like a raw magic becoming slowly tainted, changing its color to sickly green, and then imploding. He also caught glimpses of masses of insectoid creatures fighting some blue- and green-skinned bipedal ones, and one of a tree that appeared to cover the skies with its branches, no, wait, it was burning...

Ywaq maq oou; ywaq maq ssaggh. Ywaq ma shg'fhn.

E finally managed to take his eyes from the vortex and looked to his right, at the other pony. His companion did the same.

E backed away as he saw its eyes. They had red pupils, and were glowing green. Those eyes looked at him with contempt.

"Soldier Eastin's vitals are beginning to spike." the Counselor noticed.

"That's nothing out of ordinary." the Director replied, watching as the medics moved away the injection device and augmenting pulser monitor from the earth pony.

Suddenly, there was a slight beeping noise.

"His brain activity is raising." the Counselor stated.

"Is he dreaming?" the Director wondered, surprised.

Ywaq puul skshgn: on'ma yeh'glu zuq. the creature stated, taking a step towards E.

The earth pony continued to back away, scared of this... thing! By now he realized that it didn't seemed to shimmer due to the heat. It body was shimmering, as if made out of gas.

Shgla'yos plahf mh'naus.

Glowing green eyes with red pupils appeared all over its body, all looking with hatred at E. It was a sight so terrifying, that E screamed and jumped, forgetting that he was over the edge of vortex. It turned to be his undoing, as his hooves slipped and he fell down.

The strange pony-no-pony creature lunged after him, mingling them all within the vortex.

UULL lwhuk H'IWN!

"Secure him!" the Director shouted as Eastin began to thrash about. "Get him under control!"

The equipments that was supposed to monitor his body’s vitals were showing activity beyond what should be bearable for regular pony body, and yet...

... he was still asleep.

Sk’uuyat guulphg hoq.

“No...”

Sk’shgn eqnizz hoq. Sk’magg yawifk hoq.

“... no...”

Sk’yahf qi’plahf PH’MAGG!

“Get out.”

UULL lwhuk H’IWN!

“GET OUT!!!”

...Your friends will abandon you.

E woke up with a jolt

“He... he woke up.” A surprised and familiar voice stated on his right side.

The earth pony turned to that side, but soon hissed as the pain attacked his head. He pressed hoof to his temple.

“Easy there.” Another voice said and E felt a pair of strong hooves on his shoulders, gently pushing him back. “You’ve been out a long time.”

E groaned and looked at the other pony, who turned out to be Cant. Behind him he could see Mane and Trot.

“How... how long was I...”

“A month.” Mane replied. “Good to see you awake, buddy.”

“A month?!” E asked, hissing again from migraine.

“Yep, whole month.” Trot confirmed. “You kept moaning some weird shit through it. Sounded like... eh, mate, why are your eyes red?”

E glanced at him.

“They’re what?”

“They’re red.” Cant said, looking closely at him. “Your pupils changed color. Weird...”

For a reason that he couldn’t recall, an idea of his eyes turning red scared him. He quickly picked up the mirror Mane handed him over and looked into his reflection, they were right. His eyes, once yellow, where now red as rubies, with a glow around them.

“Err... dude, how are you holding it?” Mane asked, his voice trembling a bit. “And why did your eyes started to glow?”

It was then that E realized he wasn’t holding the mirror with his hooves, but rather, it looked as if he was levitating it.

“But... I’m not a unicorn!” he thought.

At this moment, his brain once again was stabbed with pain. His growled as he closed his eyes and grabbed his head, causing the mirror to fall on his bed.

“Are you okay?”

“Just a headache.” He grinned as the pain passed. “It’s getting weaker, I will be fine.”

“So... Is levitating things his ability?” Trot asked Cant.

“I have no idea, but it would seem like it.” The older soldier replied. “However, his cutie mark... I don’t know how that is...

"My cutie mark?" E asked them, perking up.

He quickly glanced at his flank and he saw it. His cutie mark. It was... strange. It appeared to be some kind of vortex, made out of all colors of the rainbow.

"What kind of ability I could have with this cutie mark?" he thought as he laid down, rubbing his head.

"We should probably get the Director." Cant noticed and turned to the grey earth pony. "Trot, could you..."

"Sure thing, chap." he replied, moving towards the door. "I will also try to find Filly."

"Filly?" E asked as Trot left. "Where is she?"

"Didn't she promise that she would wait for me to wake up?" he thought, feeling anger at her betrayal.

"Crys and Cloud managed to convince her to go eat something about twenty minutes ago." Cant told him and chuckled. "She spent almost all her time by your side, whenever she didn't have training."

E was immediately relieved, and ashamed. Of course she wouldn't break her word if she could help it, and it wasn't her fault that he slept for a month. And since when did he grow angry at somepony?

"Is there something going on between the two of you that we should know of?" Mane asked E, winking.

"What! Um... no! I mean... err..." younger colt stammered, blushing fiercely.

Cant and Mane started laughing, amused by his discomfort. E was about to say something, but at that moment, two unicorns entered the Recovery room.

"Soldier Trottingham informed us you regained consciousness, soldier Eastin." the Counselor said as he and the Director made their way towards him. "How do you feel?"

Cant and Mane quickly stood in attention, while E saluted.

"Um... Besides a little headache, I feel fine, sir." he answered.

"At ease." the Director told them. "Soldier Eastin, we need to know what your abilities are. Get up."

Filly felt like vomiting what she just ate.

"He's still not woken up." she thought for a billionth time, as bitter as all the other times.

If somepony told her barely six weeks ago that she would feel like this because a pony that she didn't even meet yet would fall into coma, she would burst out with laughter. But now, laughing was the last thing she wanted to do. Even beating the crap out of Hoof earlier didn't lift her spirits.

She quickly realized this must have been how E felt after her surgery, only in that case, it all lasted only few hours.

"When he finally wakes up, I will beat the living hell out of him for making me suffer like this." she thought angrily, not surprised that it actually still fitted her plan.

"Still thinking about E?" Cloud, sitting on the other side of the table in the dining hall, asked.

"It's none of your business." Filly replied, resting her head on her forelegs.

"Oh come on, Filly, everypony knows that there was something going on between the two of you." Crys, sitting next to Cloud, said.

Filly snorted, dismayed. Not because of the comment, though. She didn't need the best - currently - soldier to tell her this to know the others had their suspicions about her and E. What pissed her off was the past tense in her sentence.

"You mean like between you and Cant?" she bit back.

"Maybe." the unicorn replied, smirking, not showing any sign of annoyance that her secret relationship was also an object of rumors.

Filly snorted and looked away.

"Filly," Cloud said, flying over and sitting next to her, "there is nothing wrong with how you feel."

"Shut up." she hissed, not looking at her. "I hate it."

"Hate what?"

"This! I..." she was about to start ranting about how everything was unfair, how much pain she felt, how much she missed E, but then she noticed Trot coming their way.

She still had enough pride left in her to not confide in the presence of a colt.

"What do you want?" she asked him when he was standing next to them.

The earth pony frowned, offended.

"Knock-knock."

Nopony answered.

"It's a good one." he promised.

Filly glared at him, and said:

"If it isn't, I'm hitting you with that table. Who's there?"

"Em..." Trot stammered, a bit put off because of her comment, but soon continued: "Awa ken."

"Awa ken who?" Filly asked, busy getting better grip of the table.

"Awaken E from coma." Trot said, backing away.

"That..." Filly grinned, but soon her eyes went wide when what he said sunk in. "Wait, what? E's awake?"

"Yes," Trot answered, smiling.

Crys and Cloud followed suit, but Filly flew up to Trot and lifted him from the ground.

"He's awake and you've been wasting my time gabbing about your stupid jokes?!" she asked, lifting her hoof to punch him.

"Attention." a voice of the Counselor spoke across the compound. "All soldiers are ordered to gather in Simulation Room's viewing room at once."

Filly let go of Trot and glanced at Crys and Cloud. The last time they were told to gather in such fashion was when she woke up from her surgery.

"Surely, the Director don't expect E to be in a condition to fight a match?"

6. Lifting the Veil (part 2)

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me..." Filly thought as she and some of the others stood in attention in front of the two unicorns in the viewing room.

"Sir, are you sure it's a good idea for E to fight so soon?" Cloud voiced her question, although Filly would have probably added few adjectives that could describe her opinion of this idea. "I mean, he just woke up after a month, and..."

"You're concerns have been duly noted, soldier Cloudsdale." the Director replied, turning his head to regard ponies within the Simulation Room.

"But sir, why is it three on one?" Hoof asked.

Filly also wondered the same as she looked at Los, Mane and Trot facing E.

"The Director and I think it would be the best way to evaluate soldier Eastin ability." the Counselor answered. "Soldiers Manehatten, who was in the Recovery room with solider Eastin, was kind enough to volunteer himself and soldier Trottingham, and so did soldier Los Pegasus when we came across him."

"How come you didn't volunteer?" Filly heard Crystal ask Canterlot in a hushed voice.

"I did." the stallion replied in a whisper, glancing at the Director. There was a strange hint of dislike in his voice. "The Director said that I can't, because E should have opponents that are more or less on his level."

"Los is on his level?" Balti, who overheard him, snorted.

"Well..." Crys whispered, looking uncomfortable."... I'm sure the Director has his reasons."

E was really not looking forward to this.

Not only he had to fight Los, but Mane and Trot as well.

"Let’s get it over with." he sighed.

"Five, four, three, two, one:" the voice of Counselor sounded. "Round begin.”

Immediately, Los launched at him.

Mane looked dismayed as Los flew straight at E. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised by it, but still...

His eyes went wide.

"What? Where is he?" Mane asked as he looked around.

Just when Los was about to punch E, the young colt disappeared.

"Um..." he heard a voice behind him.

He quickly whirled around and saw E standing behind him, no less surprised than Mane, or anypony else.

They looked into each other’s eyes and E shrugged, and his eyes glowed with dim yellow light.

Suddenly, something hit Mane and Trot with great force, sending them flying.

"So I can do something like this as well..." E thought as he managed to hit both of the earth ponies with his... magic?

He shook his head as he felt another pang of headache, noticing that he probably shouldn't overuse his new abilities. He also needed to focus. Los was attacking again.

This time, instead of teleporting, he simply dodged him and bucked him with his hind legs. That did nothing.

"Well, buck." he thought as Los whirled to hit him back in similar manner.

This time he barely managed to teleport himself in time. He stood now few meters away from Los. He levitated a small boulder and throw it to Los’s head, causing the sturdy pegasus to stumble.

At the same time he heard Trot trying to take a swing at him. He lowered his head, avoiding the strike, and headbutted him. While he dealt with Trot, Mane attacked from behind. E lifted the back side of his body and tried to buck him, only to have Mane phase through his entire body. As soon as every part of him moved out of him, Mane shifted back and whirled around, bringing his hoof close to his face. E managed to block it with his own hoof.

They both jumped away.

"I think I know now why the Director insisted for three on one match." Mane stated, slightly amused.

E replied, for the first time ever, with a grin that would make Filly proud.

They attacked again, with a plan to punch the other in the face. E, however, turned around and kicked dirt into Mane, making the other to stop for few seconds to wipe it out of his eyes. The younger colt was fast to seize the opportunity and punched him... only to have his hoof go right through his skin.

Mane smiled as his other hoof swiftly shoot towards E's face, while the latter's hoof was still going through his. E quickly calculated that at this rate, his hoof would move out of Mane's body right when the other earth pony's hoof would be few inches away from his nose, giving him the chance to materialize. Instead of panicking, E simply waited.

At the right moment, when neither of them was touching the other, he teleported, appearing right above Mane. Almost in the instant his punched him with his left hoof, causing him to back away, and when he landed, he bucked him for good measure, sending him flying.

Mane landed on the ground next to Trot and Los, both still a bit dazed, cursing at himself for forgetting about E's ability.

"Which ability?" Mane thought as he picked himself up.

For some reason, the Augmentation Process has granted E more than one ability. Granted, Los was both strong as hell and his body was extremely sturdy, and he heard from Balti few days ago that once her spit instead of melting her target formed around it, hardening, like some sort amber, which could mean that all soldiers got secondary abilities, but E managed to use them all in one day, and Mane wouldn't be surprised if he had more tricks in his arsenal than what he showed so far.

"Teleportation, telekinesis, energy blast, improved reflexes." he counted, making sure he took them into account.

Since his training with Trot and E with a dragon, he improved his skills as a team leader, and he was ready to show it to E.

"Okay guys, this one should be easy, as long as we work together, so let’s just play it by the book." he told the others. "Los, how about you flank left and then..."

Before he even got a chance to finish that sentence, Los charged at E, who hit him with his energy blast, throwing the pegasus back to them.

"... or you could just charge in and get immobilized first." Mane told lying on the ground to his right pony. He switched his attention back to the fight. "Okay, Trot, let’s stick together and...

Trot, most likely due to being offended by Mane 'volunteering' him, also charged in but was quickly knocked down by the combination of telekinesis and hoof-to-hoof combat.

"What’s the story?" Mane asked in annoyance his teammates, both who were now behind him and on the ground, so he had to jerk his head to talk to them. "Am I the only one on this team that knows how to talk?"

"I don't think talking is your problem." E, who was suddenly right in front of him, smirked.

"Oh no!" Mane shouted as an energy blast hit him.

E was surprised how easy this all seemed. He was actually winning. Three-on-one and he held the upper hoof.

His thoughts were brutally interrupted as Los charged in again. E moved swiftly out the way of his punches and kicks, as he gave few of his in return. Despite the difference in strength and size, he was more effective. During one of the trainings prior to his surgery, Canterlot showed him how he could beat Los in one-on-one fight, by concentrating on hitting vital spot on his neck or his joints, and that's what he was doing right now.

Noticing that Trot was raising, he grabbed Los right hoof with his magic, that was about to strike at him, and pulled it into different direction and twisted it, along with Los' entire foreleg, throwing him at Trot.

The other soldiers watched all of this from the viewing room, with their jaws hanged dangerously low.

"Wow!" Hoof, the first to regain his voice, said.

"Okay, that was pretty impressive!" Balti admitted.

"Is that really E?" Filly thought, a bit concerned...

... and turned on.

Mane rose to his hooves once again, along with his teammates.

"Okay guys that obviously didn't work so well." he said, trying once again to coordinate their efforts. "How 'bout this time we stay in formation and instead of like..."

He stopped when he noticed that they run ahead, completely ignoring him.

"Damn it! I can't believe I actually volunteered for this crap." he said to himself as he run after them.

Few minutes and bruises later, Mane finally managed to talk some sense to Los and Trot (or, more likely, E's constant streak of kicking their flanks did him a favor in this matter), and they managed to surround him. They also got an eye on for each other’s backs, in case he teleported again.

E must have noticed things didn't looked good for him for the moment.

"I guess that fighting three at once is rather problematic." he admitted.

He closed his eyes, as if thinking about what to do. Mane frowned at that. E was too smart to do something as stupid as closing eyes during a fight.

"He's up to something..." Mane warned the others, and at that moment, E disappeared.

They didn't have to look far. He appeared next to them. Next to each one of them, surrounding every single pony.

There were nine Es, three for each soldier, all smirking.

"He can do illusionary copy of himself like Cloud, too?" Mane thought, noticing one obvious difference between the earth pony's and pegasus's trick.

So far, Cloud was able to make only one copy, and for a short time.

And, as he saw three surrounding Los jump on him, he realized they weren't just illusions.

"Duplication?!?" he thought as he turned intangible and moved to help Los.

As he reached him, something strange happened. All nine Es grunted as if in pain and grabbed their temples.

"He still has a migraine." Mane realized as he they all disappeared, causing the original one to appear few meters away, still holding his head.

Los at once flew at him and hit him with his body, throwing the younger colt away. Despite being a bit worried about E's headache, he felt satisfaction at seeing his team finally landing a hit on him.

"Don't get overconfident!" he warned Los and Trot, noticing that E was rising to his hooves. "Let’s surround him again."

He began to see a pattern. Every time Eastin used one of his abilities, it caused his head a migraine attack. That explained why he simply didn't keep blasting them. Guessing that this time he didn't managed to get a hold of himself in time, Mane suspected that those migraine attack were getting worse the more he used his powers, and that meant E probably wasn't going to use them now, or at least, not as often.

They circled around him, preparing for the right moment. E growled, either from annoyance or from pain, Mane didn't know which. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a shattered rib. He was after all, hit by Los, even if the brutal pegasus didn't have time to put all of his strength to that strike.

E lifted his head towards Mane and their eyes met. His were glowing.

Before he had a chance to react, he found himself in a dark room. E, Trot and Los were nowhere in sight.

"What in the name of..." he thought, and at that moment, he heard some cute noise behind him.

He twisted around to see a small, dragonfly-like creature, except its body was curly. He recognized it immediately from his tour around the compound few days after he joined the Project. He recalled the name of the creature he saw in the part of the lab section he was allowed to come into.

"Parasprite."

A small, cute creature the Director created as a side project. The purpose for that was to create a way to eliminate the problem few bigger cities had, namely - a huge amount of trash. There was also an issue with addled food. Parasprite were supposed to be a solution to both problems. Those cute little things could eat everything (provided, of course, that it wasn't alive), making even the largest pile of trash disappear within a matter of seconds.

The experiment, while brilliant, was a failure. While the Director succeeded in commanding what parasprite could eat and what couldn't by casting a simple spell, he never managed to find a way for making them stop eating, or to stop them from reproducing. Due to that, the experiment was put on hold. Crystal once mentioned to him that Director lost interest in it completely.

And now, one of those creatures was hovering in front of him. It looked different, however. The parasprites he saw had coats, or skin, in very bright colors. This one was completely dark, and when it smiled, he saw a bunch of sharp teeth.

Mane backed away as he suddenly got the feeling that perhaps nopony told this particular parasprite that he wasn't allowed to eat living beings.

Once again, a cute noise sounded behind him. Mane turned around and saw another parasprite, identical to the first one. And another one, and another one, and another...
Mane realized that he wasn't standing in a dark room.

What he thought was darkness, was in fact a swarm of parasprites.

They all flew at him, and Mane screamed as he felt them biting every part of his body, chopping his flesh, bit by bit...

He was being devoured alive.

Trot looked surprised as Mane's eyes began to glow, similar to E's, but where his had yellow glow around them with his ruby-like pupils, Mane's glowed green. Trot wondered what it could mean, while his partner collapsed, shaking.

He quickly turned his head back to E, guessing that he probably did something to Mane's mind, as Los attacked him again on his own. What made Trot wonder, however, was why the protection spell didn't react. Mental damage could be very dangerous, as his Augmentation Process proved.

Trot frowned. Now that he thought about it, the protection spells didn't activate even once during that fight. Granted, none of them got seriously hurt, but still, it seemed strange.

He shook his head as he saw Los being once again thrown away. He could think about it later. Deciding to finish this fight here and now, he activated his ability.

Everything around him stopped. Los was hanging in mid-air, and E's hoof stopped rubbing his temple. Knowing only too well that he didn't have much time, he jumped at younger colt, planning on knocking him out cold.

E twisted his head and smirked as he regarded him.

"What?!?" thought Trot, his eyes wide as plates. "That's impossible!"

His time distortion ability was still active, so what the hell?!

E moved away from under Trot, and as the gray pony landed, still astonished, the younger colt pressed his hoof to his chest. All of a sudden, everything around Trot seemed to speed up drastically.

And he couldn't move.

E moved away from Trot, regarding his temporary-frozen in time friend.

Well, perhaps that was a bad term to use. E didn't as much froze him, as he reversed his ability for few moments. He suspected it to end within few seconds.

E grabbed his head, the pain becoming unbearable. He was more than surprised with what he could do. Teleportation, telekinesis, energy blasts, duplication, invading minds, and to top it all, he somehow tapped into Trot's time distortion. He didn't know how, all he knew was that when Trot used it, it affected him as well.

He wondered how exactly he managed to reverse his ability without the reverse effect affecting him, but brushed that off for later when he noticed Los attacking him again.

He grinned to him as he moved away from frozen Trot for his safety. How great it was, to be this strong! While those migraines where literally a pain, for the first time in his life he felt that he was in control. Even those three soldiers, all being above him on the Leaderboard; one of whom he lost so pitifully in one-on-one match, couldn't beat him. He felt invincible!

He kept moving away from Los, avoiding his punches, knowing how this must infuriate him. He, who was the weakest, was winning against a pony that was without a doubt the strongest one physically. He finally stopped when he saw Los turn around with intend of bucking him. He smirked as he allowed pegasus' hindhooves to grazes his skin, and he teleported.

He appeared next to Los, firing an energy blast straight at his face, knocking him out cold. A split second before that, however, he noticed something that made blood in his veins turn cold as ice.

Behind where he stood a second ago, Mane was laying. Finally managing to get a hold of himself after the nightmare E treated him, chose the exact moment when Los attacked to stand up, getting bucked in the face.

E watched as his friend was shot through the air, falling down many meters away. He teleported himself next to him and gasped.

The entire left side of Mane face was... caved in. E couldn't even tell where his left eye was, everything looked like big red mush.

"How easy it would be to kill him..."

E widened his eyes as he realized just what the hay he thought, and that his hoof was above Mane's neck. He quickly shook his head and shouted:

"A medical team is needed on the training floor, stat!"

He put gently his hoof on his friend’s neck to check if he was alive. To E's relieve, he was. As a second later a medical team appeared, he could only think about two things:

"Is he going to be okay?"

And:

"Why did the protection spells didn't activate!?!"

"It wasn't your fault." Filly told him as he continued to cry on his bed.

"How can you say that?" E asked, his eyes even more red now.

They just returned to their quarters. They've spent last few hours within infirmary, waiting for the medical team to finish fixing Mane. As it turned out, it was impossible to heal him completely.
Mane would never again see from his left eye.

The extent of damage from Los kick was too great for even the best healing spell to fix. His brutal strength caused not only Mane's eye to be squashed into a state beyond repair, but also the nerves that connected said eye to the brain. The medics couldn't, to put it simply, heal something that practically no longer existed. They said he should consider himself lucky to be alive.

Filly, in a rare moment of syphaty for others, offered to have her eye transplated into Mane, seeing as it would simply regrow, but that too proved impossible, due to the two of them having different blood types.

E couldn't believe it. Because of him, one of his best friends nearly died, and was half-blind.

"For pony's sake, E, even Mane told you it wasn't your fault." Filly told him, brushing him with her wing.

That was true. He came to Mane soon after he regained consciousness, apologizing over and over, until Mane stopped him.

"He didn't blame Los, either." Filly said, nudging him. "If anypony is to be blamed, it would be the Director for making you fight, or for not realizing how your powers could affect the spells in the Simulation Room."

Her voice sounded bitter as she reminded him the explanation they were given. Apparently, E's power caused some of the runes embedded into the Simulation Room to malfunction, turning off the protections spells.

"But still..." E said, still trying to put the blame on himself.

"No." Filly interrupted him with stern voice, grabbing his shoulders and turning him around so that they could talk face to face. "Listen to me. You are the most caring, sympathetic, kind pony that there ever was. You would never be the cause of anypony suffering, let alone your friends. Got that?" she asked in much gentler tone, changing the hold into a hug.

Looking into her eyes, E couldn’t find within himself the strength to argue.

"Yeah. Sorry." he murmured.

"Don't apologize." Filly replied, kissing him on the cheek.

"Still, I didn't expect to finally move up on the Leaderboard because of such circumstances." he said as they broke the hug, recalling the current score.

1. Crystal 51, 982

2. Fillydelphia 49, 445

3. Canterlot 48, 879

4. Eastin 43, 600

5. Los Pegasus 39, 111

6. Manehatten 38, 091

7. Trottingham 36, 980

8. Cloudsdale 35, 157

9. Baltimare 35, 073

10. Hoofington 34, 618

"When did you moved ahead of Cant?"

"About three weeks ago." Filly replied, and a smile passed her lips, only to quickly disappear. "I didn't celebrate it much." she added and looked into his eyes. "I missed you."

"Sorry." he said, to which he got hit gently with her wing.

"How many times do I have to tell you to not apologize for everything?" she scolded him.

"Right, sor-" he immediately pressed his hooves to his mouth before finished that word.

Filly giggled, dropping the mask of annoyance.

"I really missed you" she repeated, and shook. "How's your head?"

"Fine, medics gave me some pills as we waited for Mane." E replied.

"Good." Filly said, glancing at him. "Do you recall how I told you about something fun the two of us could do?"

E raised his eyebrow, searching within his memory their last conversation before his surgery. A smile crossed his face.

"I recall the 'scary' part." he told her, causing her to smile as well.

"Well, wanna do it?" she asked, looking a bit... anxious?

"Um... sure, but wouldn't it be better to do that tomorrow?" he asked her, wondering what could it be that made her appear anxious. "We were given all given three days free, after all."

"Yes, well..." Filly stammered; now E knew something was wrong. "... it would be best if we could do it as soon as possible."

"Filly, is something wrong?" he asked her, concerned.

She looked into his eyes, her moderate cerise meeting his now-ruby, and asked:

"Do you trust me?"

E nodded.

"Then close your eyes." she told him quietly.

He listened to her, wondering what she wanted to do.

"Is she going to kiss me? Like, REALLY kiss me, with tongue and stuff?" he thought, blushing.

Something heavy hit the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

"Maybe I should consider visiting psychiatrist few times." Filly thought as she looked at her coltfriend, that she just knocked out cold with a nightstand.

She was almost relieved when he started to cry after the match. While she found his new fighting attitude hot, she was afraid than the Augmentation process somehow changed completely the pony she knew. But no, he was still the same shy and kind pony she liked so much.

And she just knocked him out with a nightstand.

Rolling her eyes, she jumped down to take from under her bed a rope that she long prepared a month ago.

Author's Note

(Out of respect for readers who may not like clop. The sex scene between Eastin and Fillydelphia follows into the next Chapter 7, Traumatized. While not necessary for the overall story, it reinforces their bond and expresses their psychic behavior. If it's not your thing, skip on to Chapter 8. But you will miss some minor character development.)
- Lazygamer313, the editor

7. Traumatized (Mature)

E woke with a moan, his head aching from the blow that knocked him out. Sure, it was nothing compared to the pain he felt by the end of the match, but still...

He tried to raise his hoof to his head, but found that he couldn't. All of his limbs, humiliatingly spread in the shape of 'x', were tied up. He was lying on his back, on the floor of their quarters.

"Good, you’re awake." he heard familiar voice nearby.

"Filly?" he asked her, still a bit dazed. "What is... this?"

His partner giggled as she came into his view. E stared at her, wondering if it he was being delusional, or she really combed her mane. He also noticed that very sensual scent she was wearing, as well as that her face was redder than his eyes from blushing.

"Well, I did tell you this 'fun' will be scary at the beginning, didn't I?" Filly asked him teasingly as she trotted over to him. "Oh, and while we're at it, please don't untie yourself. I would hate to knock you out again."

The young colt looked closely at the even younger pony, trying to keep himself from blushing.

"Um... Filly, are you alright?" he asked, concerned for her.

"Okay, you really are ridiculously nice." the pegasus sighed, annoyance in her eyes, as she moved to stand directly above him. "Every other stallion at this point would start screaming or something."

"But... why are you...?" E stammered, but was silenced by her hoof.

"Shhhhh..." she told him, bending down to kiss him on the cheek. "I asked you if you trust me. Remember your answer?"

E nodded.

"Then what the problem?" she asked, removing her hoof.

"Um... I'm tied up?" the earth pony replied honestly.

"Oh, that's a precaution, so I won't... harm you." Filly replied, continuing to stand above him.

This was beginning to make E nervous...-er.

"Err... shouldn't you tie up yourself if you're afraid that you will hit me?" he pointed out to her, confused, as his face growing more red.

"Well, it's not that simple." she told him, and E caught a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "And I am going to hit you, probably."

The tied up colt's eyes went wide at her comment. He was about to say something, but stopped as Filly's hoof begin caressing his chin

"Please, E." she begged him. "Let me do this."

Eastin could believe what he was hearing. Filly was begging!

He wanted to ask her what she was exactly going to do (despite that he already had a good idea, for he was shy, not dumb), why she wanted to do... that, in such way and why did she had to knock him out, but upon seeing her expression, he decided to trust her.

He nodded his head.

Filly brightened up and kissed him on both cheeks.

"Thank you." she whispered. She then lifted herself up and again pressed her hoof to his mouth. "Start licking."

E glanced at her, to make sure she wasn't kidding. She could really want from him to lick her hoof just like that, could she?

As if to answer his question, Filly slapped him across the face.

"I told you to lick me, you filthy colt!"

"This is going to be a long night." E sighed in his mind as he felt his cheek burn, wondering if it wasn't too late to teleport himself out of here.

He looked at the hoof as she once again put it within the reach of his mouth, which wasn't very big, seeing as he was tied up. It wasn't dirty, so a bit reluctantly - and embarrassingly - he started licking the base of it.
Its taste was weird, a bit bitter to it as well. E briefly wondered if she purposely walked into something funny, when he heard her moaning softly. He brushed all of his thoughts away; simply glad he could please her, and licked her hoof all around with slow, precise moves of his tongue.

"You don't seem very too excited about this." Filly said after a while.

E glanced at her and saw her looking back at his still hidden stallionhood in his sheath.

"Um... sorry?" he asked, not knowing if it was a good thing or bad thing here.

Filly looked at him annoyed, but instead of berating him for apologizing again, she shook her head and moved a bit forward.

"Maybe this will stimulate you." pegasus said as she her hindlegs were on each side of E's head.

He was staring right at her marehood.

Filly could barely stop herself from giggling as she saw E staring at her moist sex. So far, her plan for breaking her mental barriers was coming along nicely, save for the part of E's rod not growing.

"He's ridiculously shy." she concluded. "Let’s see how he likes this..."

She brought the hoof E's been licking down her body, pressing it to her private areas. She uttered a silent moan as she began to clop above his head. Clopping wasn't something she particularly enjoyed (unlike her previous partner), but this situation proved to be very... arousing.

E watched as Filly had an orgasm above him, feeling his erection rising from the combination of sights and scent he was experiencing.

She shuddered as her fluids started spilling on her hoof, and soon she moved back to her previous position, but this time, instead of standing, she just laid on him, bringing the hoof with her juice to her neck and chest, covering her coat with her bodily fluids.

"Lick it off." she commended, her voice slightly shaking.

E was eager to obey this time. He stretched his head and gave her chest a thorough lick, tasting the strange, but sweet, flavor of the mare's succulent extract. Filly moaned as he continued his work through her neck, giving her muzzle few lick as well...

Suddenly, a hoof slapped him.

"Did I let you lick my muzzle?" she hissed, her good mood gone in an instant. "I think that calls for a punishment, don't you agree?"

E assumed he should protest in this situation.

"No, please, I will be good from now on!" he pleaded, not really needing to pretend to be scared.

"Oh, I have no doubt you will." Filly said, slapping him again.

She rose and once again moved her hoof to her private area, covering it with what was left from her orgasm. Her face momentarily twisted into pleased scowl as she brushed her sex. After a moment, she brought her hoof in front of his face. E, thinking she wanted him to lick it off, sticks out his tongue.

"No." she said, slapping him with her other hoof. "Now, open wide."

E stared at her. She couldn't mean that she wanted to... deep throat him, could she?

Another slap answered him. A bit reluctantly, he opened his mouth as wide as possible, thankful that despite her strength, she had relatively small legs, so when she moved her hoof down his mouth and to the throat, his jaw didn't broke.

"Still, though," he thought as Filly began moving her hoof up and down, as she face-fucking him, "she could choke me if she keeps it up."

Filly watched as E gagged on her hoof, wondering if she was pushing this a bit too far.

"Oh, whatever." she thought, taking the hoof out. "I wanted to move things up a notch, anyway."

"So, are you going to behave now?" Filly asked the gasping for air colt.

He nodded.

“Good...” she said, brushing his rod with her tail, sending a shiver down his entire body. “Do this next thing for me, and perhaps I will reward you.”

"Whatever you command." E replied.

She glanced at him sharply.

"Did I let you speak?"

E quivered, his fear enough for an answer. Filly smirked at that as she rose once again, assuming previous position, but this time, she lowered her back to his muzzle.

"Do you I even need to tell you what to do?" she asked.

She gasped as colt's tongue slipped inside of her. Filly didn't expect him to be so eager. Despite this slightly going against her plan, her traumatized mind didn't react to that, so she was pleased.

"Very pleased." she thought as she pushed her marehood down into his face.

E was eagerly working his tongue up against Filly. The hot taste and scent of an aroused female pegasus flooded his senses as she cooed and rolled her hips eagerly, grinding herself towards the delicate touch of his tongue against such an intimate place. Despite having literally zero experience in pleasing mare, he made it up with imagination, swirling his tongue inside her walls in all possible directions. Stimulated like that, it didn't take too long for Filly to come again, as her fluids spilled all over on E's face.

Filly rose, shaking, which let E to catch his breath, as he cleaned himself as much as he could with his tired tongue. He couldn't help but wonder what Filly would do next. E watched as she moved away from him, brushing his stallionhood with her feathers...

... and, to his disbelieve, jumped on her bed, leaving him on the floor.

"Hey!" he finally shouted.

She moved slowly her head to regard him.

"Yes?"

"What about my reward?" E asked her, not believing that she could act so... selfish.

"I said that I will perhaps reward you, didn't I?" Filly asked in reply, stretching. "I suggest you to go to sleep. If you don't make much noise, I will consider untying you tomorrow. Good night."

E felt his anger boiling. Enough was enough. Taking advantage of the fact that they were still looking into each other's eyes, he used his power to enter her mind.

Filly gasped as they were suddenly within white space.

"What!?" she asked, looking around. "Where am I?"

"In an illusion I placed inside your mind." E told her as he made himself visible for her.

As she spun around to look at him, black tendrils had appeared out of nowhere, caught her and hold her in the air in similar manner as his body was still bind to the floor.

"It's my turn to have some fun." he declared with sultry smile.

Her reaction was unexpected.

"NOOOO!!!" Filly shouted; her mind suddenly filled with many images and noises that flashed before E.

"Face the back." the voice, belonging to a big pegasus, commanded. "Put your hooves firmly on the bed. Do it so I can see it better."

"Noo!" she cried.

"Shut it bitch!"

"He... help me, please..."

"Less talking, more drinking!"

Not being able to bear those and many more memories, E pulled himself back into his tied up body. The first thing he noticed were soft sobs.

Filly was crying.

E silently teleported himself to her bed, and gently hugged her. At first, she didn't reacted, standing still as a rock, but slowly she turned to him and buried her face into his chest, pouring tears unto his coat.

"Don't do that again." she begged, sobbing.

"I won't." he promised, terrified of what he made her relieve. "Sorry."

Filly gave him a weak chuckle.

"Didn't I tell to stop apologizing all the time?" she said, hugging him a bit tighter.

They stayed like this for a long time, with Filly sobbing and E brushing her mane. Finally, Filly lifted her head up to his and their lips touched.

E felt her warm tongue make its way through their lips and he let her in, wrestling his own with hers, deepening their kiss. As they continued their battle, he found himself pushed down on his back, and soon, both of them laid down on Filly's bed, with her on top.

As they woke up in the morning E, sore after both their night time activities and his match, felt Filly press her head into his chin, her hooves and wings wrapped around him. He kissed her on her nose, accidentally waking her up.

"Hi." he whispered.

Filly looked into his eyes, not answering. Fearing she might be mad at him about last night, he searched for something to say to her.

"E?"

He looked at her, surprised she spoke up. Filly nudged him with her nose.

"I love you."

8. First mission

Eastin stretched as he yawned, waking up from well-deserved rest, and opened his eyes to look at still sleeping Filly.

Smile crept on his face as he recalled everything that happened during past two years, majority of which E spent together with the pegasus mare. He knew he would probably never made it this far without her. He got over his shyness issues and, while still kind to others, E had no longer problem with fighting his friends seriously during training. He also gradually got better at using his powers, and now the headaches only came when he overworked himself. Still, whenever they happened, Filly changed her usual slight aggressive behaviour to a really sweet caring one, which made it so much easier for him to bear through them. Of course, she was careful to not show that side of herself in front of others, even though it was rather well-known fact that they were together, like Cant with Crys, and Mane with Cloud.

That didn’t happen until few months ago. While Mane got a crush on the white pegasus for a long time, and few times complained to E, Trot and Cant how his bad luck seemed to constantly prevent him from asking her out on a date (or rather, what was the closest to pass for a date on a military-scientific outpost on a flying island, meaning a walk by the lake), Cloud was really oblivious to his feelings. Finally Trot, who was tired of hearing Mane bitching over and over again about that, convinced E to help him drop the two of them by the lake after he knocked them out. Considering that they barely managed to return in time for training next day, and had twigs and leaves in their manes, the plan worked. So, now there were three couples among soldiers - “Agents.” E corrected himself, remembering that ever since many armed ponies came about to serve as guards, the Director started to call them by this ‘rank’ - and Hoof, the one who tried the most to get laid, was not part of any of them, much to amusement of everypony besides him.

All those thoughts evaporated from the earth pony’s mind as he regarded the mare that lay by his side, admiring the curves on her body... a noticing that she wasn’t sleeping at all. E frowned at the familiar sight of her staring blankly at the wall next to bed. It happened from time to time, and for some reason it worried him greatly, despite Filly telling him every time that it was nothing.

“What are you thinking about?” E asked, hugging her from behind.

She twitched, startled, but quickly relaxed as she realized that it could only be him.

“Good morning,” Filly replied simply.

“Filly...”

“Look, seriously, it’s nothing.” she interrupted him angrily, although she softened up after a second. “Sorry, but I just doze off for no reason when I’m not doing anything, and you seem determined to make a big deal out of it.”

“I’m just worried about you.” E told her, munching on her ear.

“I kno-aaah.” Filly reply turned into moan, enjoying the treatment, but once E attempted to move his lips down on her neck and his hoof down her body, she swiftly turned around and pinned him to the bed. “You seem to forget yourself.”

“You guys totally did it!” Hoof accused them half an hour later when they met up with him and Los on the way to the Briefing Room.

“Did what?” Filly asked him.

“Don’t try to play innocent, I can tell by E’s mane.” turning to the other colt, he asked: “Dude, you’re such a wimp. Can’t you be on top for once?”

E didn’t bother replying, already knowing that Filly would kick Hoof in the balls. He watched unmoved, as she did her infamous kicking that happened almost every week, although only to Hoof. E couldn’t even remember when exactly was the last time she kicked anypony else there. As he became much more confident in himself, Filly also grew nicer to others. And while she was still far from being the friendliest pony around, the pegasus wasn’t so hasty anymore with hurting others just because they offended her, with the exception of Hoof, of course.

“How can you trot normally?” E heard Filly ask.

“After all the ballkicking you’ve given me, I’ve got BALLS OF STEEL!” Hoof shouted.

At least, she wasn’t for as long as E was around. He did hear from others than when they had separate training schedules, she was actually more violent than she used to be before they got paired together. That worried him a bit, but knowing her past... E was just glad that they mostly had the same training sessions these days.

Shaking his head of those thoughts, he entered the Briefing Room, feeling excitement at the prospect of this meeting.

They were about to be send on their first real mission!

Well, first for everypony save Crys and Cant. Both of them have been a part of Project Eclipse far longer than any other agent, and were frequently sent on missions, although E didn’t know much about them due to the whole thing being classified.

Everypony was already there, including the Director and the Counselor, so the four ponies quickly took their places behind one of the desks. Glancing around, E saw his own eagerness to finally utilize the skills and abilities they mastered over those two years in the field, fighting any creature that posed threat to Equestria, reflected on the faces of his friends. For Los this was hardly a surprise, since he was always battle-thirsty. Hoof was probably happy about prospect of leaving the Island, which could give him a chance to meet some mares that didn’t know him and hence he would have a chance with them. Mane and Cloud chuckled earlier as he and Filly entered, probably coming to the same conclusion that the uncouth unicorn came to, guessing by how the other earth pony winked at him, before returning their attention to the Leaderboard. Trot and Balti were deep in conversation, both of them whispering no doubt about the mission, with the mare glancing disapprovingly at her brother for coming a little late. E briefly wondered if she and Trot would end up together at some point, before he turned to look at Crys and Cant. The two senior agents were, unlike the others, calm with barely visible agitation from the stallion.

“No small wonder at that.” E thought as he glanced at the Leaderboard.

1. Crystal

2. Fillydelphia

3. Manehatten

4. Canterlot

5. Eastin

6. Trottingham

7. Hoofington

8. Baltimare

9. Los Pegasus

10. Cloudsdale

Sometime after E’s Augmentation, the Director decided to abandon the points system, and instead have agents now be measured by their overall efficiency for different aspects of their training, like combat prowess, stealth, strategy, logistics, and so on. Due to that, Mane managed to advance to the third place on the list few days ago. After the loss of his eye (for which E still felt guilty), the tan pony became determined to show others that he was as good as before, and doubled his efforts in training. And while Cant was among the first to congratulate him for getting better, and wasn’t by any meaning begrudging to the other earth pony, he was slightly unhappy with being further away from Crys on the list.

A quiet grunt brought E’s attention back to the Director, who was standing by the opposite end of the room along with the Counselor.

“Now that we’re all here,” the black unicorn started, glancing a bit disapprovingly at the four agents for their two minutes late arrival, “let us begin.”

Now everypony ceased any chatter there was and looked at him as he cast a spell on the wall behind him, making it display the map of Equestria. There were five spots marked on it: near Galloping Gorge, Smokey Mountain, a bit west from Los Pegasus’ Lee Mountain, Foal Mountains, and the last one between the Badlands and Macintosh Hills.

“The marked areas are locations of temples of the old Diamond Dog Empire.” the Director continued. “As some of you know, their Empire, which was built deep below Equestria, collapsed due to unspecified reason over two thousand years ago. Judging by the precision that was used in creating the few remaining ruins that were discovered, Diamond Dogs themselves had to degenerate to what they are today, as they couldn’t have created all of that as they are now. Nonetheless, the objective of your missions will be to break into each of those temples, and find these.”

Once again, his horn flashed, and the image of Equestria was replaced by a picture of a small, oval stone, that was shining with gentle and dim purple light.

“It’s called the Harmony Orb, a source of powerful magic. We have one in our possession, from the temple under the Foal Mountain, and we’ve used it to power up spells that created substances with which you’ve all been Augmented. Now, we’ll get the other four. Agents Manehatten and Trottingham, you’ll go to Galloping Gorge; Cloudsdale and Baltimare, Smokey Mountain; Hoofington and Los Pegasus, Lee Mountain; Fillydelphia and Eastin, you are left with Badlands.”

The prospect of going into place literally named ‘Badlands’ wasn’t that much appealing to E, but the general idea, of going into long forgotten temple of Diamond Dogs sounded exciting. Not to mention taking from it an Orb that hosted great powers.

“Wait,” voice of Mane pulled him back to reality, “what about agents Crystal and Canterlot?”

“They will scout the location of our next target.” the Director replied, before he once again flashed his horn. “The temples are located underground, but all of them have a tunnel leading to the surface, hidden in caves and protected by gates. You’ll need to get passed them, which I don’t think should be a problem for agents of your caliber. The temples themselves are small buildings made out of metal and stone, and in the center of them, there’s rotunda with a small shrine that contains the Orb. The temple has many stone statues of Diamond Dogs encased within its walls, on which an ancient spell has been placed that causes them to be animated if somepony gets near to the shrine, and attack him or her.”

“So we will have to make our way into the temple, snatch the gem, and then get out with it and our lives intact?” Trot asked. “Sound easy.”

“I hate to point out the obvious, Director, but how are we gonna get to those places?” Cloud interjected.

“We have a transporter device that we can use to send you there.” the Director replied. “You will all be equipped with a small rune that you can put on your wrist, which will allow you to communicate with us and other agents, and will let us teleport you back.”

That had surprised E a little. He knew that the Director was adept in the craft of runemaking, but to create a rune that was both a communication and tracking device, that would required a lot of effort.

“Should we expect any Diamond Dogs in the area?” Balti inquired. “Those are their temples, after all.”

“We do not know.” the Director told her. “But if that happens, you are trained to deal with them. Is everything clear?”

“Yes, sir!” the eight ponies that were given their objectives replied.

“Good. Report to the science lab section in twelve hundred. You are dismissed.”

Canterlot waited patiently for others to leave; so that he and Crys could learn their mission. He hoped that it would get him further on the Leaderboard, closer to her. While she didn’t seem to care that much about his position, she cared about hers. Even with equally determined Filly to be the best, Crys still managed to hold her place on the top of the list. Cant didn’t want her to be with somepony much weaker than her, so he always tried to keep up with.

Once everypony left, the Director pointed his horn at the wall again. This time, an image of a big city appeared, which is buried within the sand.

“So that’s where he wants us to go...” Cant mused, recognising that place.

E, like almost every other agent, felt slightly uncomfortable as they stood in attention before the strange, big device, that formed a small, round chamber, into which they were supposed to enter. The only ones that seemed to be completely calm were Crys and Cant, but they apparently traveled using this teleporter few times already.

“Can’t we use this to travel directly into temples?” Hoof asked.

“No, the teleporter cannot send anypony underground.” the Counselor replied. “There are also few other limitations to this device, but we’ll talk about them later.”

“Now, remember to stay calm, everypony.” Crys told the rest. “While the teleported is perfectly safe, it can have cause nausea and aching if the pony starts to panic. So stay calm, and relax. Don’t think about anything, you do not want to end up like Yanhoover.”

“Wait, who?” E asked, confused and a bit scared. “And what happened to Yanhoover?”

“They don’t know; they never found the body.” Cant answered.

“What?!” E thought.

He must have made some really ridiculous face, because everypony started chuckling.

“There was no Yanhoover, E, don’t worry.” Mane told him, laughing.

“You guys are assholes.” the youngest earth pony said quietly, angry that he let himself fall for such obvious lie.

“Enough of this chatter.” the Director ordered as he trotted into this part of the lab. “Everypony has their Beacon?”

E glanced at his left hoof where, on his wrist, was a small rune strapped on like a watch.

“Good.” the dark unicorn said once everypony nodded. “Before you will be sent on your mission, I have one bit of news for you. The Counselor and I found a way to enhance the abilities you acquired through the Augmentation Process.”

E’s eyes went wide; and his weren’t the only ones. He was recalling what the unpleasant process had done to him and Filly; however, the others seemed to be excited at the idea. The Director waited a few seconds for the murmuring that arose to simmer down before he continued:

“However, we have enough resources to perform secondary surgery on three ponies. As such, we will have to choose the best candidates. I want you to bear in mind that you performance during this mission will determine who will be chosen. However,” he added in much more sternly voice, “fightings within team, or any other act that would hinder anypony chances, brings danger to the mission, and as such, will not be tolerated. Understood?”

Everypony nodded, none of them wanting to cause harm to another agent. They were a team.

“Good. Then let’s get on with it.”

E hissed at the strange feeling, so much unlike his blink ability, which allowed him to teleport in short distance. Once his eyes opened - he kept them close once the chamber became brighter - the earth pony found himself within vast emptiness of Badlands, with the Macintosh Hills right behind him.

“You’re okay?” he asked Filly, who was standing next to him.

“Sure, just a bit itchy.” she replied, and within next second, she soared into the air. “I will scout ahead if there is any cave among those hills and rock.”

E nodded, knowing she didn’t need to be told ‘be careful’, or any of that. He watched her fly and began trotting towards the direction she took, while wondering how exactly the Director was going to ‘enhance’ their abilities.

“As if they weren’t dangerous enough...”

Cloud glanced around the area surrounding Smokey Mountain, recalling how it got its name because of a dragon that once slept in cave near the top of it for one hundred years, which resulted in covering pretty much all of Equestria in smoke.

“You know, I’m gonna bet that the doors leading to the temple are somewhere in the cave where that dragon used as his vacation house.” she told Balti, who nodded.

“It’s the first place that comes to mind.” the unicorn agreed, glancing down from the edge of the cliff. “Be a dear and check that for me, will you?”

Cloud saluted, and flew towards the top, which was close from where the teleporter had send them, hoping that there was no dragon here this time.

“Well, this is convenient.” Trot observed.

“Yep, right behind you on that one.” Mane agreed with his partner, as the look directly into the entrance of the cave, which they appeared in front of.

Both of them grinned as they walked into it.

Cant shielded his eyes from the wind and sand as they arrived.

“This place never changes.” he muttered as he made sure there was none of those creatures around. “I’m kind of getting sick of coming here.”

“Well then, you should be glad that we are to spy what’s inside the city, instead of just observing what’s outside of it or capturing specimens.” Crys told him, slightly amused.

“Perhaps I should.” Cant replied, nuzzling her head briefly. “But, truth be told, I am glad to do anything if together with you.”

She smiled and kissed him on the cheek, as usual, before they concentrated on mission at hoof.

“So, I’ve been thinking...” Hoof started as he looked around, almost as soon as they found themselves somewhere on the east side of Lee Mountain. “perhaps once we find this orb, we could hang out in Los Pegasus?” not hearing any response from his partner, to which he got used to, Hoof continued: “I mean, think about it: all the mares, the casinos, the mares, the parties... did I mentioned mares?”

He turned to Los and saw, to his confusion, that the bulky pegasus was staring at him with wide eyes.

“What? Do I have something on me?” Hoof asked him, glancing down on his chest.

His jaw fell.

“What the fuck is this black shit all over my coat!?”

Author's Note

Man, it feels good to get back to the story after such long time!

This new arc should be about as long at the previous one, so I suppose I will wrap things up here before the end of April and get back to Rebirth of the Damned. But don't worry, it will be really interesting.

9. On the hunt

“Hey Filly?”

“Hm?

“Mind if I ask you something?”

Filly shot him an annoyed look as they trotted through the dark tunnel leading to the temple of Diamond Dogs. The doors covering it, not so easily found, laid shattered after E pulled them apart to give the two agents access.

“After two years of sleeping together, you ask permission to ask something?” the pegasus replied to his question, and although her face bore the familiar annoyed expression, there was a hint of teasing in her voice.

“I guess old habits die hard.” E chuckled, amused by his brief return to his shy self. “I guess going on the first real mission made me feel as young as back when I first joined Project Eclipse.”

“Right, because you’re soo much older now.” Filly grinned at him. “Anyway, what was it that you want to ask?”

“What do you think about what Director said? You know, about...”

“If he tries to inject either me or you with something again, I’m gonna shove whatever it is down his urethra.” she interrupted him angrily.

“Ueh.” E replied, disgusted. “That’s a bit harsh.”

In response, Filly glared at him, and he almost backed away. E knows too well that while she loved him, she was not above of hitting him from time to time, albeit not in that particular place.

“I am not going to lose you for another month.” she told him harshly, but brightened up and smirked. “Not when the said month could be spend so much more...” Filly added in quieter tone, her lips closing in on his. “... pleasantly...”

“May I remind you, agents, that you are on a mission?” the voice of Director came suddenly out of their Beacons, making both of them jump away, with their eyes wide.

E exchanged glances with Filly, before he lifted the Beacon on his wrist up to his mouth.

“Um, sir, how long have you listening?”

“Long enough to know agent Fillydelphia stand on further Augmentation.” the Director replied, his voice devoid of amusement as he made clear he heard them the entire time. E cursed in his head, but saw Filly merely rolled her eyes. “I’d advise you to focus on the mission. Agents Manehatten and Trottingham have already reached the temple.”

Mane and Trot stayed alert as they trotted through the mesmerizing complex, but despite that they were on a lookout for anything dangerous, all they could see was the sheer beauty of this place.

The temple wasn’t big, as Mane could see that it would probably fit within their Simulation Room, but what it lacked in size made up in style. Its walls, while made out of metal and stone as the Director said, were covered in various murals, the likes of one that nopony had ever seen before, visible thanks to the weak light emanating from crystals within the ceiling. Strangely, the murals seemed to present Diamond Dogs in heroic poses, which was odd to him. Seeing how he always thought of them as bunch of idiots, different from their pet guard dogs that followed them everywhere by its ability to talk and walk on two legs. They also looked strangely, their fur almost... sparkling?

Mane shook his head to focus on the mission as another detail came in his sight. Statues of a Diamond Dog, made out of stone, was engraved into the walls. Each of them held a halberd. Remembering Director’s warning, he turned to his partner to explain his plan to him.

“After we get to the orb, you’ll grab it, and use your time distortion ability to get away. Head back to the entrance.”

Trot nodded, having learned long ago to finally listen to him, but once the tan pony finished, he asked: “What about you?”

“I’ll try to distract them for a while, and then I will follow you as fast as I can. Luckily, I can use my power now for much longer that when we started this whole crazy thing.”

“Yeah, for a few minutes. The tunnel down here took us half an hour to get here.”

“So?” Mane asked nonchalantly. “Those are statues made out of stone, how fast can they be?”

“The statue made out of stone shouldn’t move at all, lad.”

“Well then, it is good that you will be waiting at the end of tunnel to close the door at the precise time.” he told him, smirking at the last word.

Luckily, they didn’t have to destroy the door, as the Director said Balti and Cloud did when they contacted him to report their progress. Using his ability, Mane phased through them, and then simply picked the lock, allowing Trot to go through it as well.

Both of them hushed as they finally reached the center of circular temple. In front of them, hovering above a dais that emits a gentle blue light stood another Harmony Orb, other than color identical to the one the Director showed them. Glancing at one another, they moved closer to it, and Mane felt... something warm and fuzzy stir within him. As if this Orb filled him with calm, warmth, or Harmony, as he realized once he recalled its name, by just standing next to it.

“Okay, you’re ready?” he asked Trot once they reached it.

“Ready when you are, mate.”

“On my mark. Sync?”

“Sync.”

Mane took a deep breath, glancing around to make sure he remembers the position of every statue.

“Mark.”

He saw in the corner of his eye how Trot reached for the Orb and then immediately began to run back with it. Mane galloped with him; knowing that his friend was saving his ability for when he would be in danger. Despite how long he had this ability now, Trot still couldn’t use for longer than few seconds, after which he had to wait about ten to twenty seconds to use it again. But still, that gave him much higher chances than Mane to get away.

As they run, they could hear the noises of statues as they came to life, and began moving towards those that stole their Orb. They first saw them after crossing ten meters, a pair blocking their path. If Mane didn’t knew better, he would have thought that those were real Diamond Dogs. The only thing about them that seemed different was the color of their fur and armor; barely distinguishable in the dim light.

Mane speeds up, getting ahead of Trot, and launched at them. The statues, as expected, raised their halberds and swung, but their weapons phased through him. The earth pony whirled, becoming corporeal, and he bucked both of them in head. The strike wasn’t powerful enough to cause their faces anything more than few cracks, but still so strong that it toppled their balance, and made them fall.

An unpleasant noise sound throughout the temple as the statues shattered upon hitting the ground, becoming nothing more than pile of rocks. Mane paid them no mind, as he swiftly picked up one of the halberds, and despite its great weight hurled it, impaling three next statues that attempted to attack them.

Glancing back at Trot and making sure he had a clear way - and noticing just how far away he managed to run in such short time - Mane returned his attention to another wave of animated guardians.

Cant highly disliked this place already when they were observing it from the outside. Now that he and Crys were inside of it, he disliked it even more.

But, more than anything else, he disliked the fact that they couldn’t get deeper into the city. Past the part they called simply ‘the Temple Gates’.

The only entrance to lower part was too heavily guarded for them to pass, neither of them willing to risk being found out. However, inside of it was what the Director wanted, as the detector he provided them with indicated.

“We need to regroup.” he whispered to Crys.

Unable to answer other than with nod due to the form she taken; she turned around and crawled to the same direction they came in.

Balti panted heavily as the last of statue dissolved into a pile of goo thanks to her acid. She glanced around and noticed Cloud, who’s covered in dust, land next to her with the pink Orb still in her hooves.

“You’ll need to give yourself a good cleaning once we get back.” the unicorn told her sympathetically. While her own ability, as well as magic, allowed her to keep her distance from the statues, Cloud had to come into direct contact with them to perform her attacks, although majority of her opponents were destroyed due to them trying to hit her illusionist self, and hitting another statue instead.

“I’m sure Mane will be more than happy to help me with it.” she replied, making Balti roll her eyes.

Ever since Cloud and Mane began ‘dating’ (“Or, let’s be honest, rut.” she thought) Balti found herself irritated by their ‘lovey-dovey’ behaviour; and the fact that Cloud few times hinted that maybe she should try being with Trot only served to irritate her even more.

Shaking her head, Balti decided to inform everypony about their success, instead of starting to argue with her partner.

“Command, this is agent Baltimare.” she spoke to hear Beacon. “I report that we recovered the Harmony Orb.”

“Excellent news, agent Baltimare.” the Director replied. “What is your position?”

“Agent Cloudsdale and I are still within the temple. We’ll begin to make our way to the surface.”

“Contact us once you make it there, we will transport you back.”

“Close the damned door!” Mane shouted to Trot as he galloped for his life, the horde of stone guardians hard on his hooves, noticing that the entrance was fully open, and if they could time it right to close just after he would pass...

The door shut.

“You dick!” Mane shouted in outrage, as he longed at the door, phasing right through them. Unlike the guards, that undoubtedly shattered when they came in contact with them at this speed.

He landed on the other side to see Trot rolling on the ground, laughing his lungs out.

“You haven’t even given me a chance for a knock-knock joke.” he told Mane, still on his belly.

Mane rubbed his temples, fighting off the urge to hit him, and looked around. The Harmony Orb laid nearby, so the mission was a full success.

“Command, this is agent Manehatten.” he reported. “We have the objective.”

“Excellent. That makes two with the one that agents Baltimare and Cloudsdale recovered.”

“Cloud and Balti got theirs before us?” he thought, surprised. After all, they practically landed right in front of the entrance, so they should have a better time. “Then again, Cloud is trickier than me, and Balti more vicious.”

Listening to Directors instructions to get outside, Mane wondered also what was taking E and Filly so long.

“What’s the hell is going on here!?” Filly finally exclaimed, anger and confusion clear in her voice.

E, who also searched the entire place, found that he had no answer to give her.

“Command, we might have a problem.” he finally decided to contact the Director, and trying to pay no mind to what surrounded them.

“Dude, don’t be so hard. Bow-chicka-bow-wow!” Hoof told the statue as his two bladed energy sword cut the thing in half.

After double checking if it was really dead - earlier when he cut off just the head, the stupid thing just kept coming at him - the unicorn quickly ducked as another statue flew past through him, smashing at the wall. Hoof glanced at his partner, who was fighting against three last guardians, and decided that he didn’t need his help.

Instead he turned his attention at the Orb. While the one the Director showed them during briefing emitted purple light; this one’s was orange. He briefly wondered if he could use it somehow to strengthen his magic, when all of sudden, his thoughts were interrupted by the Director’s voice.

“Agents Los Pegasus and Hoofington, come in!”

“Agent Hoofington here.” Hoof, although surprised, quickly spoke through his Beacon. “Good news, Command! We are done with temple’s guardians... now.” he added, watching how Los dispatched the last statue. “We-”

“Get out of there at once!” the Director cut him off. Something in his voice startled Hoof. Was this worry he was hearing? “Head for the surface and maintain contact.”

“Hoof.” a grunt from Los made Hoof look back instead of asking the Director any questions.

“More guardians?” the unicorn mused, surprised. He was certain he and Los took care of all of them. “Whole twenty. Oh well, let’s get this over with.”

“Very well, Command we’ll just clean up here and-”

“No!” both he and Los glanced at their Beacons, unsure if they heard right. “Abort that action and proceed towards surface.”

Hoof and Los exchanged look, and grinned.

They tapped their Beacons, forcing them to shut down. Now, without any interference, they moved to meet the statues.

It was only when they stood in the middle of the temple that they realized that those weren’t the same statues as the one’s they met.

For one, there were guard dogs with them.

“A pack of Diamond Dogs?” Hoof thought, surprised. “But... what the hell is with their fur?!”

Unlike the ones he was familiar thanks to the training in Simulation Room, whose fur was grey, black, and brown, or the statues that they just devastated with stone pelts, those guys... looked as if made out of Diamonds.

He shared uncertain glance with Los; but turned their attention back to the group as he heard one of them speak.

“What is the meaning of this?!” he asked, clearly outraged. “What is your filthy kind doing in here!?”

“Filthy?” Hoof exclaimed, amused. “You dogs dug in the ground, mutt. We ponies are sophisticated.” he reminded them, a hint of typical unicorn pride in his voice.

That response seemed to anger them even further. Hoof kept casually look at them, wondering why their fur was reflecting the light. Could it really be made out of diamonds? It seemed insane... then again, crystal ponies were made of crystals, so was it really a surprise that there was a pack of Diamond Dogs made out of diamonds?

“Give us the Orb, and you might return to your people unharmed.” a new voice from within group called.

Hoof and Los stared as the other Dogs made way for that one, bowing their heads before him. It was bigger than the rest of his bunch, his armor more adorned in jewels. His massive spear-like weapon that was strapped to his back, glowed, especially at the blade. They couldn’t see his face (for which, considering the ugliness of his kind, they were grateful) because of his helmet, that also served as a mask. The expression on the mask itself, however, was one that a pony could only see in his nightmares.

“So this must be their alpha male.” Hoof concluded, noticing absentmindedly that the parts of the Diamond Dog’s body which he could see also seemed to be made out of Diamonds.

“Sorry, cocksucker, but we’ve been here first.” he said out loud, wondering at the same time why the hell they wanted this Orb now, after it laid forgotten here for good two thousand years. Ignoring the - by now furious - growls, he continued. “You are welcomed to try and stop us. This floor could use about twenty Diamond Dogs shattered to pieces.”

To emphasize his words, his sword emerged from his hoof, one blade from opposite side of it, and pointed it at the dogs. The alpha male of this pack, however, laughed at his threat.

“Bah! Very well then, I shall deal with you personally, to show you how pathetic you are compared to my might.” he bellowed as his laugh ended, no longer amused.

“Dude, you seriously plan to fight both of us while your buddies over there just stand and watch?” the unicorn asked him, surprised, as the Diamond Dog stepped forth, his companions stepping back and standing in attention.

“You think that the two of you would scare me?” the alpha male growled, his spear in his upper-paws. “The Emperor’s courage burns everlasting!”

And with that warcry, he charged at them.

“Quickly!” Filly shouted at the rest as soon as they were teleported to the place near the cave that Los and Hoof entered. “We must get to them at once!”

She looked at her battlegroup as she flew. Despite her dislike for the Director, she wanted to obey this particular order and save her (unliked in case of Hoof) friends. Everypony else shared their sentiment, once she and E described what they found in the temple under Badlands.

There was no temple. All they found was ruins, marked deeply with claw-marks and cuts from various weapons.

Filly bit her lip in anger, for once wanting that bitch Crys to be here. With her and Cant still away, it’s fallen to Filly to lead the charge. As much as FIlly loved to fight, she had her doubts if they could beat whatever the hell this thing was, or even make it in time.

Hoof shook on his hooves, barely able to stand as he spouted blood, which mixed with the one that already he shed through his wounds.

Urging himself to fight on and ignore the cheers of Dogs, he looked up, and, seeing Los having his throat being crushed by this motherbucker, charged his magical might in his horn and fired, hitting the Diamond Dog right into chest.

Like before, it had little effect.

Their foe looked at him, angered that he even attempted to wound him, and hurled Los at Hoof. The collision took whatever strength he had left, and once he fell, he knew he would get up now.

A pain shooting from his chest woke him up from the near unconsciousness he fallen into. The Diamond Dog lower-paw was on him, as his fearsome mask hover right above his head.

“I spare your insignificant life so that you can deliver your people a message.” he growled quietly, stepping harder on Hoof’s chest. “Tell them that the Diamond Empire has been reborn, and we will claim that which is rightfully ours: this world.”

10. Planning the Raid

“How are they, sir?” Mane suddenly asked.

E and others looked up, and saw that his question was directed to the Counselor, who just entered the dining hall. Ever since they recovered unconscious agents, the battered Hoof and barely-alive Los, from what used to be a Diamond Dog’s temple, they’ve been all here, worrying for their friends and wondering what exactly happened. Los was most adept in fighting from all of them, and Hoof in that term was considered to hold fourth place among agents. To see them beaten like that was shocking, at least. Balti was especially hit hard by that. She just kept staring at her brother limp body during the trek back, and hasn’t spoken word since. Even though, as all agents were trained in first aid, they patched Hoof up and she knew that his life wasn’t in danger.

“Then again, I would probably not be much better if Filly was in such state.” he mused as he stood in attention.

“At ease.” the Counselor told them. “I’m happy to announce that agent Hoofington has already regained consciousness, and is currently being debriefed by the Director.” he waited for everypony sigh in relief, although, strangely, Balti expression was still mostly blank. “You may all visit him once they are done. As for agent Los Pegasus, however, I’m afraid that news is much worse. The wounds to his throat were too grievous for medics to heal. He will never speak again.”

Few of them gasped hearing that, E among them. He couldn’t imagine not being able to speak, even though Los wasn’t the chattiest of agents, this would probably still be a lot for him to deal with.

“So when are we getting after those sons of bitches that did that?” Balti’s angry snarl pulled everypony back into reality.

“We will discuss that once agents Crystal and Canterlot return from their mission.”

“.. And then that Dog said: ‘the Diamond Empire has been reborn, and we will claim that which is rightfully ours: this world’.”

E exchanged glances with Filly, who sat next to him in the Briefing Room, as Hoof finished recounting what happened to him and Los. It sounded insane, to say at least, the idea of a Diamond Dog that was actually made out diamond, but... they saw what the ruins of the temple under Badlands. They all saw what became of the one near Los Pegasus.

“So the Diamond Dogs are rebuilding their old empire?” Crys, fresh from her mission with Cant, asked for confirmation.

“Yes, they also began gathering Harmony Orbs and, if that wasn’t enough, had practically declared war on Equestria.” the Director replied. “Luckily, these new diamond Diamond Dogs, while seemingly smarter than their more common counterparts, have made a fatal mistake: they crossed Project Eclipse first. Agents,” he said loudly, making all of them, including still not fully healed Hoof, to stand straighter, “this is exactly what you’ve been training for. You are going to crush this so-called empire.”

“Great.” Trot interjected once he was done. “How are we going to do that? I mean, sir, we don’t even know where they are.”

“Actually, we know.” the Director told him, and turning around, he casted spell, making map of Equestria appear on it again, this time with blue point somewhere under Everfree Forest. “Agent Los Pegasus managed to attach his Beacon to one of the Dogs as they walked past him to retrieve Harmony Orb. Thanks to that, we’ve been able to track them.”

E spared a moment to be amazed by Los durability. Any other pony would have been dead due to such wounds, and yet he managed to not just survive, but to give them all a chance to fight back.

“It is safe to assume that this is some fortress of sorts.” the Director continued. “Of course, it’s underground, and judging by our readings of the signal, it’s very deep below the surface. Agents Crystal, Canterlot and Manehatten,” he turned to the mentioned three, “go to the temple under Badlands, since it is the closest one, and make your way underground towards the signal. Find wherever this empire’s main base of operation is, then infiltrate it and gather intelligence. I want a full report once you get back. Take some provisions and equipment, you’ll need it. I expect you to be ready within an hour.” once they nodded, albeit Mane did so hesitatingly due to not being used to be send on such missions, the Director turned to them all. “That is all, you are dismissed.”

E, like everypony, saluted; wondering what was going to happen next.

The next few days were peaceful, if such it could be called when the prospect of war with an empire loomed over the horizon.

“Or under it.” E mused as he dozed off by the lake, with Filly using his chest as a cushion as she took a nap.

He absentmindedly runs his hoof over her body, enjoying being here with her, not doing anything. They might start doing something once the pegasus woke up, but E was content as he was. Alicorns knew when they could rest like this next time.

The three ponies sent to Diamond Dogs stronghold hasn’t returned yet, but they reported regularly to the Director, so they knew they were safe. The Director mentioned to agents that they found the location of the enemy base, but would share the details once they got back.

That’s not to say that they weren’t slightly nervous. After all, those Diamond Dogs were dangerous enough that just one of them could beat two agents easily. The one that was worried the most was Cloud, and nopony blamed her. They had to remind her few times how good Mane was, and that he was with Crys and Cant, two most experienced agents, so the risk that something would happen to him was minimal.

Hoof was let out of the infirmary, being completely healed in body, but not in pride. While he was most prideful of his ‘love conquests’, he was quite pleased in his fighting skills too. E also suspected that the unicorn felt guilty for Los injury, and was eager to pay that Diamond Dog back. That is not to say that he didn’t try to flirt with mares, of course. Balti, while for some time acted more... well, like a sister around her twin, quickly returned to her usual attitude after she saw him talking with Cloud.

Los, on the other hoof, was still in infirmary. Everypony visited him few times, and saw that he was much better now. He couldn’t speak, and when he tried, his throat gave out a horrifying sound, but they were still able to communicate through writing. Not surprisingly, he was as shy with written words as earlier with spoken words. Most of which he wrote resolved around dogs and ripping something.

A yawn was registered by his mind, and he glanced down to see Filly wake up.

“Afternoon.” E told her, caressing her belly. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.” she replied in half-yawn. “But I am still sleepy. Can you help me wake up?”

“Sure. Any preferences?”

Filly shot him a sleepy grin.

“Hmm... let’s see if placing your muzzle between my hind legs can do the trick.”

Two days later, they all stood in the briefing room, with Crys, Cant and Mane back from the mission and Los out of infirmary. Unlike previously, however, they now gathered around a table.

“You may begin.” the Director told Crys, who nodded.

“We found their base of operation.” she began, flashing her horn. The runes imprinted on the table reacted and soon a projection of a city appeared. “It’s called Diamond City, and it used to be the capital of the Diamond Empire.”

E looked at the huge city which, if he got the scale right, was twice to size of Canterlot. Around it was a very, very specious cave, making him wonder how such huge empty space could exist underground. The city was protected by long and big walls, although here and there portions of it crumbled, even if it was still impossible to get to the inside. A huge gate was in front of it, but E doubted they would just let them in. There were many buildings inside, many of which laid in ruin, but the earth pony concentrated on the biggest one, so colossal that it made almost all of northern part of Diamond City.

“That is the Imperial Palace: our main objective.” Crys said, pointing at it. “That’s where Emperor Huang Li resides. He is the one in that mask that fought you.” she added, glancing at Hoof and Los, as the image of him appeared over the city. “From what we were able to gather, he and his pack, Steel Muzzles, named because of the masks their warriors wear, once lived under Badlands, along few other rival packs. Once Huang Li became alpha male, he challenged and defeated alpha males of other packs, making them join his army. After that, he claimed the Harmony Orb from the temple under Badlands, and somehow used it’s magic to turn himself Diamond, as well as those who followed him.”

“So that’s how...” E mused, slightly surprised that they could use magic at all.

“He lead his pack to the Diamond City; proclaimed himself an Emperor. He sent messengers to other packs, telling them that he reclaimed the power that was theirs, and was willing to share it in exchange for obedience. And so his empire grew...”

“Enough with the history lesson, agent Crystal.” the Director interrupted.

“Very well, sir. The frontal assault is out of the question: there are guards stationed over the entire length of wall.” she paused when few agents gasped, E among them. “This has, however, it’s positives. About seventy percent of Empire’s army is on them, meaning that once we sneak in, the resistance will have less numbers. But I’m getting ahead of myself. We will enter through here.” Crys pointed at the east part of the wall. “There is a sewer drain there, leading to animal pens, which are connected to the amphitheatre. There are many animals there, most of them exotic. Apparently, one of the pack that Huang Li contacted, Beastmasters, lived south in the tropics and brought many of their prized pets as offerings for Emperor. These pets are used either for his amusement and fight in the amphitheatre, or to serve in his army. In return, the entire pack was granted the Emperor’s favor and was diamondized. All of the animals are huge and dangerous, which is why we will have to be swift.”

“Balti, you will have to encase the lock to the cages in you hardening spit, so the Beastmasters won’t release them as we fight them off.” she told the other mare, mentioning her ability to change her spit’s properties from melting to trapping and such. “The noised that the animals make will deafen noises of fight, so none of Dogs will be any wiser. In case Balti won’t make it in time, kill the animals. They appear as huge reptiles, with some of them having shield-like head with horns, others look like bats but bigger, and some walk on two legs, and have huge jaws.” the images of said creatures appeared, and if it wasn’t that they all trusted Crys, they would have thought that she was making them up, such bizarrely they looked.

“We should have no problems, as long as there won’t be more than three or four of them. After the animal pens, we will have to make our way through the amphitheatre, which will have more Beastmasters and their alpha male, Rasta, among them. Once we will be done with them, we will split into two teams: me, Cant and Mane will go plant explosives all over the fortifications, so we will have an escape route if things go south, and because this way we can quickly take out most of their military. The rest of you will advance towards the palace.”

“In three days from now, there is going to be an important gathering in the courtyard, so their attention will be focused there. The gathering will be of three most important pack from Equestria, who are deadly rivals and refuse to work with the other, and the Emperor will have to chose which one of them deserves his favor, and which not, meaning they will die. As they will be busy, you are to take the two Harmony Orbs, plant the explosives and leave. You might have some problem from Guan Yu, the Captain of Imperial Guard, but nopony should be able to hear you when you’ll fight. Once that’s done, we will retreat to a safe distance and watch the fireworks.”

Everypony chuckled, amused by the thought of this ‘oh so mighty’ empire reduced to nothingness so simply.

“Bear in mind that this won’t be an easy mission.” the Director warned them, cutting off the laughs. “On the battlefield, not always everything goes along the plan. But I trust that you will be able to deal with everything. As our Number One, agent Crystal will be leading from the field.” he nodded to her, before addressing everypony again. “The mission starts tomorrow in o six hundred. I suggest you spend this time resting.” the Director paused to look half-annoyed, half-sternly at the three couples. “That is all. You are dismissed.”

“Yes sir!” the agents answered in chorus.

11. Last Stand of the Beastmasters

The Diamond City.

Even in its ruined state, with cracks on the walls and rumble under them, and the color fainting off from the palace’s domes, it still was an astonishing to see. E couldn’t help but wonder as he gazed at it how it must have looked during Diamond Empire’s zenith and, with a slight sensation of fear, would the team have been able to breach into it back then.

“Probably not.” he concluded as he followed the other agents toward their target.

Luckily for them, this part of the city’s wall was less guarded. Crys concluded at their earlier briefing that due to city’s new residents being unfamiliar with it, they simply didn’t know about the sewer passage, so they did not bother this having proper number of guards atop of ruined part of wall. If such wasn’t the case, if this section of the wall had the same number of Diamond Dogs on them, the ten agents would have been most likely spotted. It also helped that they all now wore black clothing with a turtlenecks to make their coats less visible. The Director provided them with those as well as with belts that had many useful things. Explosives, which agents were supposed to use to blow the place to smithereens, being chief among them.

“Okay, Mane, get moving.” Cryst told the tan earth pony once they reached their entrance.

Mane nodded and phased through the circular crate blocking the way to the sewer. E wrinkled, his nose like everypony else, due to smell of animal filth. They went over the plan again, It seemed perfect, but... for some reason, he could not help but feel that something would go wrong.

He turned to Filly to quickly discuss with her; only to frown at the sight of her once again staring at the thin air. He gently tapped her sweet spot on her spine, right between her wings, causing her to break from her daydreaming with a slight shrug. Filly glared at him, angry at being touched when others were around, but before either of them could say anything, the gate opened with Mane on the other side motioning for them to follow.

No pony was happy at placing their hooves what they hoped was at least partly water, but it was either that or storming the gate. So without further ado, they began to trot upwards, heading towards animal pens.

The moment they enter the sewer they could hear the sounds of animals that Cryst spoke off, and the closer they got, the louder they were. Soon, everypony relaxed: their greatest fear was not the dangers they would encounter among the Beastmaster Pack, but that all those guards they saw, which there were hundreds of them, joining the fray. However, with the amount of noised the animals gave, the agents could probably host a party here and none of them would by any wiser.

The animals themselves were... well, terrifying, for the lack of better word. Once the group reached the end of the tunnel, they saw huge beasts like nopony have ever seen before. Even if their images were all already showed to them back at the Floating Island, it was still something completely different to behold such behemoths with your own eyes.

“Everypony remembers the plan?” Crys asked, her voice barely a whisper.

E, who was already prepared, had to wonder if those exotic animals were related to dragons and hydras on the account of their scaly bodies. He quickly snapped himself back to reality as he turned his sight to Diamond Dogs. They were all diamondy, and all looked fierce. They must have been, seeing how they were not afraid in the slightest of behemoths locked up in cages as they tended to them. Despite the task they were doing currently, or maybe because of it, they looked as if they are itching for a fight.

But, so was the team.

“On my mark. Sync?”

“Sync.” everypony murmured.

“Mark!” Crys commanded, and like a wave, the group of ten ponies attacked the unsuspecting Dogs.

The agents had the element of surprise and their first opponents quickly fell. Unsurprisingly, those Diamond Dogs fighting prowess was nowhere near the level of their Emperor, and while their diamond-like bodies gave ponies a little trouble, blood soon flowed down the sewer along the filth. After about half of their packmates that were here laid dead, the Dogs finally had recovered, and rushed to open up cages that housed their pets. But it was too late.

As they planned, Balti moved from cage to cage, using her hardening spit that she mastered about a year ago. Her spit had encased the lock of cages in extremely hard substance, making it impossible to release those monstrosities. To ensure that the unicorn would be untroubled, E was assigned to guard her. So he now stood, appearing as four ponies, around Balti.

He hated duplicating himself, for not just because this trick was more taxing than the others, but also because it caused him to be few separate being at the same time, which could make a pony borderline insane. However, orders were orders, so now whenever a Diamond Dog tried to stub Balti with a spear, he found himself getting hit in the face by an invisible force, and the same thing happened to others no matter from which direction they chose to attack. The blast he dealt to them weren’t enough to kill them, even if their faces now looked like broken windows, but the other agents, especially Los, quickly jumped on them and finished what E started.

It all went well; despite the earth pony’s misgivings... That is until Mane, who was about to be stabbed, phased through the axe as he brought a knife he picked up along the scuffle into his opponent's neck (the Diamond Dogs should have really rethink the idea of using weapons crafted from material that could cut their diamond bodies like normal flesh). While the strike that was intended for him had continued to swung and hit the cage, which damaged the lock on it.The amber - as Balti called the substance she spitted - held, but the metal to which the lock was attached did not.

The creature in it, sensing its chance for freedom had roared, as it used its massive head to completely bash through the gate of cage. It was huge: it stood good five meters high, if not more, and was long for about twelve, half of which was his massive tail. Its greenish scales shone under the black and golden armor its head, back and tail were outfitted with, similar to those the now-dead Beastmasters wore.

“Wow, that’s one angry looking chicken.” Cant murmured as the beast’s huge head glanced around them.

As it took a few steps, E had to admit that there was something chicken-like about the great lizard. All thought like those evaporated from his head as, with a piercing roar, the behemoth attacked them.

Deciding that he would be of much more use as whole, E became one and used his telekinetic power to hurl few spears at the armored head of ‘Chicken’, but with little to none success. His attack only seemed to anger it, because it turned around and tried to smash it with its tail, which hit one of the other cages as the earth pony blinked away.

“Everypony, keep your distance!” he heard Crys order, and as all of them moved away from Chicken, hiding behind some other cages (which, thankfully, were sturdy enough to withhold attacks of the frenzied animal).

“E!” a shout came from his Beacon. “Can’t you make him see a nightmare or something?”

“It’s an animal!” he replied to Crys’ question. “They don’t feel fear the same way we do!”

“Ugh, great.” she muttered. “Okay, new plan-”

She stopped as they all turned around to watch the Chicken open up its massive maw with too many teeth for their liking, and its ‘helmet’ looking a bit like a head of a Diamond Dog, began to shine and soon, a purple ball formed in front of it. Before any of them managed to react, it exploded, creating as strong energy wave around the beast that blasted them all away.

“Cloud, make it dizzy!” Crys continued as the shook off the pain and minor injuries. “You and Filly will then use those chains to tie its legs together, and Los will punch it! Trot, Hoof, come here! Rest of you, stay clear!”

Happy that he didn’t had to participate in what was basically an animal abuse, E blinked further away, joining Mane and a leaving Trot behind a cage with bat-like reptile in it.

“Be careful...” he managed to hear the tan earth pony whisper as his eye were glued to Cloud who, having dispatched two of her illusion selfs to circle around the head of Chicken, raced with Filly towards the long chains hanging from the wall.

“Don’t worry, mate, she’s not oblivious to her surroundings as you showed to be few moments ago.” Trot jibed before he left, causing Mane to scowl and E to chuckle.

He was worried for Filly, of course, but he knew her, and actually pitied the beast. If it was a male, E wouldn’t be surprised if she would kick it in the balls for good measure before they would kill it. For that what soon happened: the two pegasi mares bounded Chicken’s strong hind limbs with chains, and once it was concentrated on preserving what little balance it had left, Los flew up and punched the behemoth with all his might right in the unprotected bottom of his head. The wobbling beast shrieked in pain, his jaw no doubt fractured, despite its sturdy scales. But soon the roars became that of dying beast once it fell and the base of its skull became impaled by the energy sword from Hoof who, the moment before he was squished had disappeared, and appeared along with Trot a few paces away.

“That was... gruesome.” Mane commented, as the Chicken gave out his last breath.

“You should have been more careful then.” Crys told him coldly, no doubt referring to Mane’s action that caused the very animal to be free. “Is anypony hurt?”

“I’m always unlucky...” E heard Mane murmured, as all the others checked themselves for injuries, save for Cloud who landed next to the tan pony and attempted to brighten up his mood.

None of them were hurt, although the blast the Chicken caused made their bodies ache with pain a bit, but they all shook it off as they gathered near a big corridor, that was used to transport the animals to amfiteatr. On Crys’ mark, they marched, but they haven’t even gone half way before they met with more Beastmasters. Apparently, their alpha male managed to hear that something was off in that last roar the Chicken ushered, and send some of his Dogs there to check if his packmates needed any help.

They were a tad too late.

“What is the meaning of this!” the big Diamond Dog in the middle of amphitheatre arena shouted as the agents threw corpses of his people out of the tunnel.

Instead of answering, the group quickly moved to attack. While they have already dealt with half of Beastmaster Pack back in the previous room, those present here were quicker to get a hold of themselves and fought back with fury matching their beasts.

This was going to take a while.

Rasta, alpha male of Beastmasters Pack, was astonished to see those little ponies emerge from the tunnel leading from their precious pets. He growled inwardly, already planning strong retribution for those of his Dogs that tended to the mighty dinoes for letting some pathetic ponies sneak past them.

“Have you come to witness the rebirth of the Diamond Empire?” Rasta asked them, pretending to be mildly curious, but failing, as the words that came out of his mouth where laced with venom.

He shrugged, not really carrying. What mattered was now dealing with those intruders before the Emperor would found out about them. The Beastmasters gained his favor by offering him their animals, in preparation for war His Imperial Majesty wanted to wage on those weak ponies of Equestria, and the whole pack present here was granted the Gift, which returned them to the form of their ancestors. Rasta was not about to displease his liege, not just out of loyalty, but out of fear, too: there were terrible rumors coming out from Steel Muzzle Pack about what had happened to some Dogs that incurred the Emperor’s wrath.

And so, instead of sending messenger as ten ponies battled his warriors, Rasta took hold of his battle axe and joined the fray, while uttering his war cry.

To his slight annoyance, the little ponies proved to be hard to hit. The dark blue one with wings even smirked at him as his axe came close, but barely missing its nose, then it kicked with one of its hind-leg right to his groin...

The pain he felt was tremendous, even with him being Diamond.

Now furious, he swung at it, only to find his axe blocked by an invisible force. The pony looked around, surprised, and then he felt something hit him with the power of a mighty trihorn. Whatever it was, it threw him away from the battle ground, making cracks in his perfect body, and broke few of his bones as well. Rasta rose, spouting blood, and saw to his shock and fear that most of his warriors were dead. The handful that was left gathered behind him, all trembling.

“What now?” one of them asked, as he gets closer.

“Pathetic weakling!” Rasta shouted in rage, disgusted by the fear his voice trembled with. “We are Diamond Dogs of the Beastmasters Pack! We fight to the end!”

The Dog nodded, getting better grip of his dagger.

“I thought you would say that.” he replied, sounding almost happy.

Rasta, pleased, turned his head back at the ponies-

-and choked as dagger pierced his neck.

“Well, that took care of them.” Crys commented as she changed back into her true shape.

All around them laid corpses of Beastmasters. Once their alpha male fell, they actually took their weapons and stabbed themselves, as if not wanting to outlive their leader...

... or face the wrath of their Emperor.

She shook her head. If the plan worked, they wouldn’t even crossed paths with him.

“Okay ponies, one minute to catch our breaths, and we move out.” she instructed others, most of which sit on the lowers seats of the amphitheatre. After frowning, she had teleported to get closer to them. “Now we’ll split: me, Cant and Mane will go plant the charges under their defenses, and the rest of you will head for the palace. Don’t use the Beacons; unless you want to be found out... although, we will probably know that immediately. Filly, you’ll lead the palace group.”

The pegasus nodded. While Crys disliked some parts of her character, she had to admit that younger mare was a great agent. She would do fine in leading the other six.

Once everybody rested a bit (as much as you can rest within stronghold of an enemy), Cryst gave the signal, and they trotted their separate ways: her group going back east, through different passage, and the other straight north.

12. Trial of the Emperor

“I just want to know why we have wall duty for the third day straight and Reksio get’s palace duty every time.” Saba told his packmate as they patrolled the wall, passing by several other Diamond Dogs, although most of them were from different packs; the Emperor’s army, all branded with the Gift, consisted of almost every smaller pack from the world. Only the biggest ones were reluctant to join him, undoubtedly due to their alpha males’ stupidity.

“Not every time.” sighed Szarik in response, already tired of hearing the other Dog complain.

“Every time! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, today...”

“Today is Wednesday, Saba.” Szarik pointed out.

“Exactly!” he exclaimed; Szarik just rolled his eyes under his helmet. “And where is Reksio? Up there.” Saba pointed in the direction of the huge palace. “And what is he most likely doing? Nothing.”

“So what, what are we doin-ugh.” his reply was cut off as he accidentally bumped into one of the guards. “Watch it, pup!” Szarik said to him, recognizing by the armor to be one of the newer packs, while he and Saba were from Badlands’ packs.

The guard’s ears went down as he slightly backed away from them, so the two Dogs on patrol continued walking... and unfortunately for Szarik, his partner continued talking.

Crys fought off the urge to slit the throats of the disappearing Dogs and concentrated on planting the explosives. It wasn’t easy; using those paws instead of hooves proved to be troublesome when it came to such complicated task, in opposed to just using weapons.

Once she was done here, she made sure none of Diamond Dogs looked at her direction, as she jumped down from the outer wall. Dropping her disguise as she fell, while the real guard hurried back to his post after he examined the noise only he heard, courtesy of good old unicorn magic.

She had to speed up. The need to exterminate this Empire to smithereens aside, Crys needed to do her best if she wanted to be picked for further Augmentation. And while she was certain that she will have a better time with her section of the wall than Cant or Mane, there was still the matter of ponies in the palace group. She didn’t want Filly to top her on the Leaderboard.

Crystal had to be the best.

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me...” Filly murmured.

She paid no mind to the others as they all cringed at her word usage, which even she knew was a bit too vulgar. But this was insane! All routes to the Imperial Palace were either guarded, or within the eyesight of those damned mutts! The pegasi of the group could even fly above them high enough to pass them, because there were even some guards looking up every few seconds, as if expecting the ceiling to fall down.

“There is only one way, then.” Filly finally said unenthusiastically from the top of the inner wall, where the seven ponies stood, overlooking the courtyard with many Diamond Dogs standing and one that was sitting down. She didn’t need to hear Los quiet, by terrifying angry roaring to guess who that was.

Everypony looked up at the huge bridge-like ramp that went over the very courtyard.

“This is gonna be fun.” Balti murmured.

The Emperor Huang Li sighed as he leaned back on the courtyard throne, feeling a headache coming up.

In front of of him stood representatives of three biggest, strongest packs of Equestria, their alpha males and greatest warriors: Spot Pack, whose Dogs were short but fast; Rover Pack, which members were surprisingly cunning for non-diamondized; and Fido Pack, who covered up the lack of speed and smarts with huge brutal strength.

Those three packs were enemies for almost as long as their people were divided and scattered. For what Huang Li learned was two thousand years, they fought with each other over the rights to gems that were under this pathetic pony country, spilling blood of good Dogs instead that of lesser creatures. Even now, with the Diamond Empire restored, they refused to come into the hold, not wanting to work with the other. Finally, when Huang Li’s army rose so big that they couldn’t ignore it, they came. But still, they couldn’t stand each other, and made their Emperor chose.

He wouldn’t want nothing more that to reduce them to nothingness for not being obedient, but he knew he couldn’t. Even if he got just one of those packs, his army would be almost doubled. With force this big and with the Beastmasters pets, the only kingdom (if it could be called as such) that pose a threat to the Empire, Equestria, would drown in blood of the slain lesser creatures. So that’s why he listened to them arguing, trying to prove to him which one of their packs was more worthy of the Gift.

“Our pack holds true to the ways set forth by the ancients!” the alpha male of Rovers, Ming, spoke up at the time. “We deserve the Emperor's favor above all others!”

“You are nothing!” accused him the alpha male of Fidoes, Kuai. “We are the greatest!”

The Emperor was pleased to see that despite their hatred for each other, they listened to his command to not draw blades during this meeting, even if Ming’s and his packmates paws clenched angrily.

“Ha!” Hayian, the alpha male of Spots, shouted triumphantly. “You see, Your Imperial Majesty? Those other packs are beneath you!”

Huang Li rubbed his temples as they once again broke into a three-way argument. For a second, he almost wished things could go back to what they were, when he had only to deal with his packmates. But that was before he united the packs. Before he brought order. Before he discovered an ancient temple of their people and claimed the Orb.

How foolish his ancestors were, to blame the Orbs for the curse that has befallen them. The second Huang Li touched it, his body was reformed, becoming the image of legends, the true form of the Diamond Dog. He used it on his Dogs, and led them back to their home, real home: Diamond City. It was here that he found the real cause of their people curse, or so he told his followers, it did not matter to him. What did matter was what he did to that cause: he fought it in a single combat, in front of his warriors, and after three days and three nights, he was victorious, the still beating heart of the one who stood guard over the city for who know how long within his paw, and ate it.

The power that surged through him was unimaginable. He thought that as alpha male of Steel Muzzles he was unbeatable. He thought that as Lord of Badlands’ packs he was powerful. He thought that with his people’s true form he was invincible. But this... since that day, he was a God!

To prove it to his Dogs, he forbade the guardian to die, and tossed him into deepest dungeons. He claimed the throne and crown, becoming the first Emperor of the Diamond Dogs in over two thousand years, and united his people. And soon, very soon, he would rule over the whole world, as lesser creatures would either be slain or enslaved.

But now, Huang Li would have to deal with this. He once again sighed, wishing not for the return of old times, but for something to happen. He didn’t even care what it would be, just-

“OH, FUCK BERRIES!” a loud voice erupted from above them, at the same time the ramp above them, (which, to be honest, the Emperor had no idea what it was for) cracked, and fallen down in pieces.

Huang Li watched with his jaw dropped as several figures dropped with the rubble, but unlike all the rock, they were caught before they hit the ground but their winged brethren, and one simply appeared on the floor between hastily retreating pack leaders. The Emperor quickly collected himself, and while already planning to decimate the guards for letting those intruders in, he grinned, knowing that the ancestors listened to his prayer.

“Welcome, ponies!” he told them, rising from the throne. He noted that the group of seven counted not only the pony he gave his warning to between them, but also, to his mild surprise, the one he was certain he killed. “Welcome to Diamond City, heart of Diamond Empire!” he continued, shrugging that tough off. “Few ponies had the honor to die within its walls!” turning to the three packs, he added: “Kill them. The pack who claims most heads shall earn my favor!”

And then he sat down, content. Now the matter would not only resolve itself; but he was up for one amusing show.

Filly glared angrily at Hoof, who stupidly started to jump on the ramp and caused it to fall. Had she knew that Balti was afraid of heights, she would have made sure her idiotic brother would be standing still instead of taunting her. Making a mental note to kick his balls off once this was all over; she looked around them.

They were surrounded by... one hundred twenty Diamond Dogs. One hundred twenty Diamond Dogs, armed from head to lower paws, and all after their heads.

“Uh, son of a bitch.”

She went over in her mind what little they knew about those packs, matched their description to the info, and quickly came up with some semblance of a plan.

“E, Cloud, group behind us!” she told them, signaling for Rover Pack, the one supposedly smart. “Trot, Balti, Hoof, left!” the Spot Pack, the fast ones. That left Fido Pack, the brutes. “Los, you’re with me on the right!”

And with that; the battle began.

The sounds of battle erupted from the palace guards the moment Crys put the last explosive in place.

“What the hay?!” she thought, wondering what went wrong.

She knew Filly wouldn’t go against the orders, and was more than capable of stopping Los and Hoof if they would try to go get revenge. Something must have happen, but what that exactly was Crys would have to find out later, for she wasn’t the only one who heard the noise.

“Let’s go check this out!” one of the nearby guards shouted to others, who nodded.

Aware that she had to keep them on the walls, Crystal (in Diamond Dog’s form) jumped at the nearest one, ripped away his spear from his grasp, and killed him on the spot. The Dogs were so surprised that taking down next three was easy, but then they started to fight back. Assuming her real form, Crys blasted them with magic, to which now even more surprised foes were defenseless.

Once she was sure there were no more Dogs in sight; the unicorn quickly activated her Beacon.

“Crys to Filly! What the buck?!”

She had to wait few second for reply, a short time for most, but an eternity to her.

“Shit happened!” the pegasus replied at her usual manner, but for once Crys didn’t mind. “Blow the fucking wall up and get here! We need help!”

“What do you mean!?” she asked, but already began moving to a safer distance.

“I’m a little too busy for this shit!” Filly said and cut of the connection.

“Filly?! Damnit!” Crys shouted in rage as she realised that the pegasus hanged up on her. “Crys to Cant and Mane!” she said instead, not minding that she would reveal two stallions’ positions to the enemy. “We need to detonate now!”

“But I still have few of them left...” Mane started, sounding a little winded; no doubt he was also fighting.

“If we don’t do it now, we will lose our chance to take out their army!” Cant interrupted him a second before Crys did. “Throw the rest at the nearest group and run!”

“Ten second!” Cryst told them as she run, lifting up the detonator from her saddle bag. “Meet up at the center.”

“Oh, fuck damnit!!!” Mane shouted, probably scared shitless.

“Nine, eight...”

E blinked away from the group of three Dogs, and blasted them away from a safer distance. This wasn’t looking good so far. He and his friends were coming out on top with the fight; but only because the Dogs were unfamiliar with the team’s powers. It wouldn’t take long for them to get the hang of it. Already he could see that they were avoiding standing directly in front of Balti, and kept their distance from Hoof. Trot had already used his ability to kill the alpha male of the group and few others, and had to wait for it to recover. They were also more careful with attacking Cloud, never sure if it was the real one or fake. So far, the only ones who completely dominated their battlefield were Filly and Los. But how long would that last?

“Only one thing left to do...” E thought unhappily.

He was about to split himself to apart into a few of tens; hoping that greater numbers would give them an advantage. Just then, an enormous explosion some distance away shook them all, ponies and Dogs alike. But while the Dogs looked confused, the ponies grinned, and fought with renewed strength.

While E was happy to know that at least they didn’t have to worry about those guards they saw back on city’s walls, there was battle at hoof to focus on. But, since Crys and rest were on their merry way, he split into only a ten of himself. Still, the faces of the Diamond Dogs were priceless.

The Emperor felt the explosion like everydog here; but was more shocked than them. What happened? For a single dreadful moment he feared that thing escaped, but brushed that off, as it was impossible. Not to mention that if that was the issue, the explosion would have come from the palace, not the city. Angry at himself for feeling something that the god he was shouldn’t, he signaled for two of his elite guards to go and see what this was, and returned his attention to the battle.

Huang Li blinked. Were there really now ten more of them?

Crys tapped her hoof at the carved stone that made roads of Diamond City impatiently, beginning to worry that Cantwas caught up in explosion. The mere thought of losing him of all ponies scared her more than she ever suspected. She was aware how she felt about him, of course, but...

At the same moment, Cant emerged from the one of the smaller streets, and Crys wordlessly teleported next to him and threw herself at his neck, kissing him fully on the lips. The stallion, while a bit surprised, didn’t seem to mind as he moved his hooves around her body in a tight hug. They would have probably stayed like this for a while longer, but soon a gentle cough made them separate.

Crys looked absentmindedly at Mane’s smirking face, surprised by her own action, but quickly came to her senses as she noticed there were few bruises on both of stallions.

“Does either of you need patching up?” she asked, worried they may have other, less visible injuries. When both of them shook their head, she breathed heavily, allowing herself a heartbeat to relax, before she reminded herself that the rest were in trouble. “Get closer, I will teleport us to the location of others’ Beacons.”

They nodded at once and did as she asked. Mane undoubtedly worried about Cloud, while Cant worried about everypony, as it was his nature. Crys concentrated, casting her teleportation spell. It was always harder when she tried to teleport others with her; not to mention that she wanted to move them all over such great distance. Luckily, the Beacons were all connected, and a unicorn like herself could use them in various ways, such as now.

Her teleportation spell worked, and they arrived... in the middle of the battle.

E grabbed his head as two of his duplicates got hit, badly, and disappeared before they could die. The migraine he was getting was unbelievable, and he had to once again become whole, else he would risk blacking out. Once he did so, the pain somewhat eased, but only for a bit. Still, it was enough for him to start paying attention to his surroundings, and realize he was about to become a non-vegetarian shishkebab.

“This is the might of Rovers!” the Dog shouted as the polearm descended... but never came close to its target.

A blast of energy, pinpointed at his foes chest, blew it all the way across the courtyard. The blast was strong enough to separate Dog’s limbs from his torso. Cringing a bit, E turned around, looking for next opponent. He saw to his pleasure that Crys, Cant and Mane have joined the fray. Wriggling the air with his front legs happily, he followed suit.

“They what?!” the Emperor shouted, shocked and outraged at the news he just received.

Almost entirety of the city’s walls has been destroyed.

For few long moments Huang Li was speechless. He had posted almost all of his warriors on those wall, so that the pack leaders that came to him would know just how numerous his army was, and now it came back to bite him. The realization that it would take him years to rebuild his forces before his conquest could begin, dawned hard on him.

But the shock didn’t last long. Soon, it was replaced by a completely different emotion: fury. Those weak, pathetic creatures dared to embarrass him?! To hinder his path to glory?! They dared to defy a god?!

He rose from his throne, and gathered the power around him. He looked through his mask at the battlefield, which was now covered by corpses of the supposedly mighty packs’ Dogs. Those that still fought, those pathetically few that were left, also deserved in his mind to die.

Few of those ponies looked at him, confused, as his body glowed with the power he stole - nay, he took, for gods did not steal - from the stars, and the air cracked.

“Enough of this farce!” Huang Li shouted, and the fight immediately ended, the faces of Dogs whiter with terror. “Fall beneath the wrath of the Emperor!!!”

And with that, he unleashed the power of stars at the courtyard, causing an even louder explosion than the one that destroyed his army, but concentrated. As furious as he was, Huang Li did not want to destroy himself or his palace.

Once the dust has settled and his eyes adjusted again after the blast, the Emperor looked at what was left of the courtyard, and of those that stood there.

A giant hole, so deep and dark, that light of the city’s crystals could not pierce all the way down.

13. Unexpected

“Can somepony explain to me what the buck just happened?!” Crys asked, feeling a slight headache and bruises all over her body, as she looked up.

High, high above them, there was a spot of light. A spot of light that, as Crystal realized with a gulp, was where they were just few seconds ago. She recalled the huge blast of magical energy, stronger than anything she experienced before, that was shot at them by the Emperor of Diamond Dogs.

“No wonder that his own warriors are afraid of him.” she mused, glancing around at others.

Save for some bruises, a few worse than others, they appeared to be all fine, despite that... whatever had happened to them, except for E, who lied unconscious next to Filly who tried to nudge him awake. Understanding that they’re all alive thanks to the young colt, Crys rose and staggered to the pair.

“E, come on, wake up!” Filly was begging, as she shook him, her voice broken with despair. “Please...”

As if to crown all the weird stuff they went through today, the pegasus mare started to cry, here and then, within gigantic crater under the city of Diamond Dogs.

“Please...”

Crys cast a quick spell, to check if E was alright, and sighed with relief once she found out that he just passed out of exhaustion.

“Filly,” she began, trying to get the other mare attention by placing a hoof on her shoulder, “E’s fine. He passed after he saved us... although what he did exactly, I do not know...”

“I think I can tell you that.” Trot said, coming closer to Crys, and, as she observed, limping, as one on his legs had a nasty cut near the hoof.

She nodded to him to continued, while using her magic she unpacked the first aid kit and began to treat his injury, signaling to those in better state - Cant among them - to do the same.

“When that bugger tried to... I dunno, crush as with a star or something, I stopped time before it hit us.” the light gray pony began. “I wanted to get all of you away from the blast, but E again hooked up to my ability, said that there wouldn’t be enough time. The chum didn’t even let me crack joke at that. Even if we had more, then the Dogs would just go after us, so we had to make it appear as if we were dead.”

“So what exactly did he do?” Crys asked, finishing cleaning his wound and now bandaging it.

“He grabbed all of our remaining explosives, placed them between us and that magical bolt - I know, that was my reaction, too.” Trot said as the other agents looked at him with confusion. “E then closed his eyes, and I think that he reached to you unicorns, because your horns all lightened, probably adding more power to his own, which he used to form a barrier around us. It also weakened the floor beneath us or something... I’m not really sure what happened next, when my ability time limit was expended...”

“I can pretty much guess.” Crys interrupted him, recalling the sensation of falling down among the pieces of floor and rocks. “Thanks to him throwing those explosives, the explosion itself happened slightly above us, which made it possible for his barrier to endure the blast, but it was still strong enough to push us through the weakened floor. Luckily for us, the dungeons system was spread a dozen or so meters beneath the courtyard, which made it much easier to burst so far down.”

“No wonder I have a headache.” she mused, and noticed that Balti and Hoof were also rubbing their heads. “E must have used a lot of our magic to do all of this... even though it seems that he took the worst of it...”

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of fighting, but, as she realized once her eyes tracked the source of them, it wasn’t fight between ponies and Dogs.

“It’s our fault, you idiotic, perverted asshole!” Filly screamed as she pounded Hoof’s head with her hooves.

Crys quickly shook off her surprise and lifted the angry mare away from the other agent with her levitations spell, which, despite Filly’s wiggling ferociously, held.

“Let go of me, you stupid bitch!” she screeched, her words filled with anger and pain, and only because of that Crys stayed her hoof from knocking her out.

“She became too dependent on E.” she realised. “With him in such state, she cannot control herself.”

Luckily - for everypony, as Crys wasn’t sure if Filly wouldn’t find some way to break free - a silent moan took the attention of them all, but most of all the pegasus mare. Relieved, Crys let her go tend to her lover, and in the meantime, she began planning what to do.

“Cant, scout the area. I want to know if there is any exit other than the one above us. Cloud, fly up and try to find out what are Dogs’ next plans. Don’t get spotted. Hoof,” she turned to the other unicorn, while the two she gave their orders saluted and went on with them, “why did Filly try to beat the living crap out of you?”

“Well...” he started uncomfortably.

Crys sighed few moments later when the two agents returned. Hoof stupidity aside, things weren’t looking that bad for them. True, there were about as far below the Diamond City as the Diamond city was below the surface of Equestria, but according to Cloud, the Dogs were convinced that they were all dead. Their emperor send out many of the warriors he had left (most of them being his elite guards) out to search for new tribes, which meant that the palace would be less guarded, and they had once again the element of surprise.

What’s more, they all recovered, although casting healing spells wasn’t easy for Crys, and E had still a migraine, despite taking the medicine Project Eclipse’s doctors made for him. Although, due to that, they were all awarded with an amusing and worrisome sight of Filly caring for him.

However, all of that was overshadowed by one major problem - there were no exits, besides the obvious one.

“We cannot go up, not with just three pegasi.” Crys murmured more to herself as they sit around, discussing their next move and having some quick snack. “Not to mention that they would see us... What about the dungeon’s system?” she turned to Cant and Mane. “We haven’t scouted them too deep. Do you think that maybe the go all the way down here?”

“Maybe.” Cant replied with a shrug. “It’s worth to check out, if you ask me. But we would have to go through the wall, provided it reaches down here. Not to mention that we would have to find where the dungeon starts.”

Everypony shifted their gazes to Mane.

“Crap.” he cursed, more annoyed than angry. “You do realize that if my ability would run out while I’m still in those stones I will be dead, right?”

“Of course we do, lad.” Trot replied with a nasty smile.

“Alright, time to get going. Is everypony good?” Crys asked rising from her spot, and after hearing few confirmations, she glanced at one that worried her. “How about you, E?”

“I’m fine.” he replied, running his head. “Although for some time I will have to spare myself.”

Crys nodded. After what E pulled, she was amazed that he could walk, let alone fight. If he would ask, she would let him sleep it off.

It didn’t take them long to find the part of the wall that seemed to be the closest one to the palace. Mane, although reluctantly, phased through the stone, and the other agents waited for him to return. It lasted a few moments, but the earth pony returned well before they could start worrying. However, they did so once they saw his face.

“Well, that’s definitely dungeon alright.” he gasped once he reached them, his eyes darting back to where he came from - or through.

“What happened?” Crys asked him, fearing she would not like the answer.

“There is some bizarre creature bounded there.” he replied, confirming her thoughts. “I have no idea what it is. Its body is long and sleek, like a snake’s, but it has four paws, and his head has two horns sprouting from the back. But... the weirdest part about it is its coat.”

“What do you mean?”

“It... It was like that of an Ursa. It seemed to look like map of the night’s sky: various constellations, shining with their own light. That’s how I was able to see it and its wounds. It is covered with them, the worst on its chest. I was shocked to see that it’s still breathing.”

Crys stared at him for few moments, and then turned to Cloud.

“Was he drinking just now?”

“Hey!”

“Aside from the fact that no other creature has a coat like Ursas, the description of the body you just gave matches only one creature, but it lives only in legends.” Crys explained slowly, as if talking to a foal.

“Then clearly we have a legend on the other side of this stone, because there is one of those things living in there.” retorted offended Mane. “And besides, in case you forgot, we - a group of ponies with freaky powers - are in - excuse me, below - an underground city full of dogs made out of diamond, not to mention that one of them tried to hit us with a bucking star. Don’t know about you, Crys, but I kinda stopped thinking that some things are impossible.”

“He does have a point, you know.” she whirled at the sound of Cant supporting the other agent. “It wouldn’t hurt if we prepared for this creature of legends, as we do need to go through here.”

Crys scowled, knowing that the two of them were right, but she was still reluctant to accept that such creature could actually exist.

“This creature that Mane described is called draconequus.” she began. “The stories about them were considered by ponykind to be mere legends even before the founding of Equestria, although there are few notes in history books that would indicate that Star Swirl the Bearded once researched the subject...” Crys shook her head to snap herself out of talking as if this was some lecture. “Anyway, they were supposedly creatures of great power, so great that they could even compete with alicorns in that term.”

After saying the last word, she had to pause. She hoped that everypony would think of it as stop for breath, but Crys knew that she could not fool Cant. She didn’t even have to glance at him to know that he saw that something was off with her. Making a mental note to talk to him about this later, she continued: “The legends don’t mention much other than that. If Mane isn’t delusional and there is really such creature on the other side, then it would be best if we not woke it up.”

“But what if it is intelligent?” Cloud asked. “If it is, then wouldn’t it agree to help us with our mission if we would free it?”

“Considering how fast that bastard finished - bow chicka bow wow - us, I think we could use some help.” Hoof supported the idea in his unique way, apparently not frightened by what the Director could do to him once Crys would give him her report.

The others nodded their agreements, with Los growling as well, and Crys could not help but to go with this plan.

“If this doesn’t work, it could still prove to be a good distraction.” she mentally decided.

“Fine, we will try to talk to it. But before that, twins, do your job.”

Hoof and Balti nodded, and the stallion moved to the wall while the other agents backed away. His energy sword emerged from his hoof, allowing him to cut a big door-like shape in the stone. Once it was made, Batli spit her acid into the crevices, causing the block to dissolve. Swiftly, the two siblings pulled what was left of it away with their magic, and repeated their process. After fourth time they did so, their eyes were welcomed by the sight of dark room, illuminated by a soft light.

Everypony entered after them, and, to her amazement, the source of light proved to be the creature Mane described.

“Impossible!” Crys, who until now didn’t believe this to be true, thought. “A real life draconequus.”

Although life was subjective here: its beautiful covered in stars coat had many cuts on it, exposing bleeding flesh. Two were on its back, and, judging by how they were in line with each other, Crys assumed that it used to have wings there, which was debatable by lore researches. The draconequus was chained to a pole in the middle of the round room, and it lied in a pool of blood.

The agents exchanged uncomfortable glances. To see such beautiful creature in state like this was almost painful. They all wanted Diamond Dogs to pay for it as well as for what it did to them, but would this mean the draconequus would help them.

Gulping nervously, Crys stepped forward to the creature. She intended to wake it up gently, but when she was few paces away from it, the draconequus’ eyes snap open. Crys has never seen anything like those two eyes: both of them shone, although with somewhat dimmed light, the right one golden, the left white.

“Hello there.” Crys finally said, shrugging of the shock and wonder from her mind. “I’m Crystal. My friends and I are here to defeat the Diamond Dogs. If we free you, will you lend as us ho- I mean, paw?”

It stared long at her, so long that she began to think that it didn’t understand her, but soon the creatures’ jaw parted - and it spoke.

“For two thousand years I have waited in darkness, in silence, my dreams a waking nightmare.” it - probably a he, judging by the deepness of his tone - said in strange, radiating voice, laced with anger. “Then he and the others came, the descendants of those I called friends, until they treacherously imprisoned me within city. He reduced me to this. He took my power. You think I will trust you?” the last word were uttered by him in icy calm tone, as he rose up on his hind paws, towering over ponies by good few meters. “You shall soon know my agony. This twisted world is beyond redemption... beyond the reach of deluded heroes... The only answer to corruption... is destruction. And that begins now!”

It just now hit Crys for how long the chain is that this being was bind into, and she hastily moved away as he swiped his tail at her. Joining the other agents, she looked at this new enemy, and realized that if they wanted to get out of here, they would need to get past him, as the exit was on the other side.

“Wait!” she shouted, attempting once again to speak to it. “We are the enemies of Diamond Dogs! There is no reason for us to fight!”

The draconequus just growled, and pointed at them, while magic gathered around him.

A very familiar magic…

“Scatter!” Crys gave the others order, and she herself teleported away before the much weaker version of the magical projectile that the Dogs’ emperor tried to kill them with.

He took my power.

“So the powers the Emperor wields came from this being...” Crys concluded as she fired her own attack at him, while on the other side of the room she saw Los fly at the draconequus.

He responded by emitting energy around his body, sweeping everypony away and bouncing off her magical beam.

“Be burned by the fires of the sun!” the draconequus shouted as he began gathering magic for...

“Oh, crap!” Crys thought as she realised what he is about to do.

She swiftly teleported near other agents, caught those few that were further away, and she formed protective barrier around them. In a heartbeat later, she is aided by the other two unicorns, just in time before inferno of flames erupted from the draconequus.

“Remind me, whose brilliant idea was it to wake him up?” she asked a bit angrily, and heard Cloud mutter ‘sorry’, despise that the other agents also thought this to be good idea.

Crys returned her attention to the draconequus. While his powers were great, she was certain that they could defeat it... but not without taking some damage. And since they already had an unplanned detour, Crys would prefer to solve this quickly and painless.

An idea formed in her head, and she shared it with others.

As their opponent stopped his attack, they dropped the barrier, and took the offensive, spearheaded by Filly, who managed to hit in right in the wound on chest, making him screech with pain, before he blasted her away. The draconequus then jumped away from attacking Los, while Hoof...

…had cut off the chain that bound him to the pillar.

Confusion appeared on the draconequus’ face, but it swiftly returned to the previous angry state. Seeing this from her position near the hole they used to enter and understanding that there was no chance to convince him that they weren’t his enemies - not with E so weakened, otherwise he would just showed him mentally - Crys put her plan into motion. She took the shape that she knew would get draconequus’ attention.

“Pitiful serpent.” she spoke with the voice of Huang Li, the cruel subduer of the draconequus.

His starry head turned at once, and it twisted even further with anger, as the draconequus lounged at Crys in the Emperor’s body... only to discover a second before they collided that it was a pony, who teleported herself away, while he flew through the hole.

“Now!” Crys shouted to Balti and Hoof, and three of them shoot their magic beams at the wall above the hole, causing it to collapse, trapping the being at the previous room they were in.

“I guess that’s that.” Cant said, and few others sighed with relief.

“Don’t rest yet, we have a long way up from here.” Crys told them, but she herself crouched near the center of this chamber, where the draconequus used to sleep and were his blood still soiled floor. “The Director would like to examine it.” she said out loud to few curious gazes as she took few test-tubes out of her saddle back and filled them with blood.

“So...” E asked nopony in particular. “What do you think will happen to the draconequus? I mean, it would be impossible to for him to get out of there...”

“If he managed to live with such injuries, I’m sure sooner or later he will figure out how to climb up.” Crys responded, her task complete. “We came here to do stop Diamond Empire, not rescue lunatics.”

Even though it was true, she did felt pang of regret for the mysterious being. Trapped in this city for two thousand years, then wounded so badly and locked underground... but they had their orders.

“Let’s go. We have a long way up.” Crys said, and all ten agents marched onwards.

Author's Note

Hey... would you mind if I started another story, that will also be a prequel to Rebirth of the Damned? I just had this awesome idea that cannot leave my head...

14. Break in

The two guards, both from the Steel Muzzle pack that gave birth to the new Diamond Empire, stood in attention by the entrance to the dungeon, in which were locked some stupid Diamond Dogs that thought about undermining the Emperor’s authority. While this was an important duty, befitting Imperial Guards such as them, both of them felt like there could be something else they could be doing. They didn’t know all the details, but they felt the huge explosion that took out most of the Imperial Army, and the next one, that was caused by their Emperor to punish those responsible for it. After that display of power, which cheered everydogs heart, Huang Li had sent out scouts to find new tribes.

But they had to keep watch over the entrance to the place filled with pathetic low lives.

The guard on the left had sighed and turned his clad in metal helmet with mask head to his partner.

“Hey?”

The other guard turned his head, also bearing mask, to him, slowly.

“Yeah?”

“Do you ever wonder...” the first guard began to say, but never got to finish.

A huge explosion erupted from directly behind, blasting away the doors they guarded (along with the wall), and killing both of them.

“Well, we are out of the dungeons.” Crys commented as they walked over the debris and, for E just now realised, two corpses.

The journey up was long and tiresome, and the presence of few non-diamond Diamond Dogs didn’t ease it. Thankfully, most of them were in chains, so they weren’t much of a threat. And the agents, fresh with the memory of what could happen to those who ask for help around here, didn’t bother this time with talking.

And besides, they began attacking them first.

Once they finally reached the top, Crys quickly explained them the rest of her plan: make a big noise...

“Check.”

… let a few guards come, kill them, and then, before the rest would come, split: one group to create diversion, while another would go to the Imperial Vault, grab the two Orbs, and then they all will be on their way out.

“We had crippled their military might.” Crys explained as to why they were running away. “Equestria is no longer in an immediate danger. I know that Huang Li is still a threat, but he is too powerful for us to handle on our own. We will need to discuss with the Director how to take him out.”

Unfortunately, they were still too deep underground for their Beacons to work properly, and were still unable to contact command. E sighed as he waited patiently for some guards to show up - they could all already hear the alarm - when he was hit by another migraine attack.

“Still not feeling better?” Filly asked him when he hissed from pain and rubbed his temples.

“It comes and goes.” the colt replied, looking into her eyes.

He could see pain in her eyes, caused by her worry for him. He hated that he’s making her suffer like this, but there was no helping it. If he hadn’t acted back then, they would all be dead, and the thought of losing anypony - especially Filly - was unbearable to him. His headache would pass eventually, anyway.

Noticing that the painful look she was giving him hasn’t gone away, E darted forward and pressed his lips to her. At once, the hurt was gone, replaced by shock, as they didn’t usually show this much affection for one another with others around. But she wouldn’t get away with saying that she didn’t liked it, as E saw clearly her wings spring up at his mere touch, let alone the kiss.

It lasted less than a couple of seconds, but it was enough for now. The earth pony pulled his head back, only slightly, and stopped it so that their noses were touching.

“I thought I was the one supposed to worry all the time.” E teased her, glad that this time she looked at him happily.

His comment made her smile, but the moment they heard few of their friends snicker, it turned into a scowl.

“After this is all over, you won’t leave my bed for a month.” she whispered threateningly, and E, who remembered what happened last time they did such marathon, gulped nervously.

“My poor pelvis...”

Huang Li gripped the arms of his throne so hard that the diamonds that made up the arms cracked.

“Your Imperial Grace,” said Guan Yu, the Captain of his Imperial Guard, who kneeled before his in his throne room. “There are intruders within the palace.”

“Do you think me deaf, Captain?” Huang Li growled quietly, which is barely hearable over the sound of the alarm.

“It’s impossible!” he tried to defy inside his mind what was happening. “They couldn’t have survived!”

But apparently, they did, for there was no other explanation for the alarm. Somehow, those ten ponies manage to live through his attack, and were coming for... what, exactly? Even if they did survive their last encounter with him, those ponies were still no match for the power of god, and they should know it. Why, then...

“The Orbs of Harmony!” Huang Li realized with a jolt.

That’s right! Two of those ponies were the ones he encountered within one of the Diamond Dogs old temple. They must be searching for them; why, he did not know. But nonetheless, it made his heart burn with rage. Those Orbs belong to his kind! Ponies had no right even attempting to claim them!

“What are your orders, my liege?” Guan Yu, still kneeling, asked, his eyes firmly held on the floor beneath him.

“Am I surrounded by incompetent fools?” the Emperor wondered out loud, and paused, to let it sink. One of the guards gulped, as he and everydog else understood what could happen to them if they would disappoint him. “Do I have to spell everything to you? I want those ponies dead... no.” he stopped, this time to ponder. After everything they did, simple death wouldn’t be enough for them. “Bring them to me, roughed, but alive.”

Guan Yu nodded and raised, prepared to carry out his order.

“Head for the Vault.” Emperor called after him. “That’s where they will be. Bring me them alive, or don’t bother to return at all.”

“Damn, that’s one complicated locking mechanism.” Mane muttered to himself as he tried his best to open the doors from the inside of the vault. “Whoever designed this was a genius...”

He trailed off abruptly as he heard something click. Instinctively, he activated his ability, just in time to let small arrows pass through him.

“A trap inside the vault?!” he shouted in surprise of either idiocy or foresight of Diamond Dogs. “I take that back - whoever designed this was an asshole!”

Finally, he managed to break the damn lock, and the door opened; allowing Crys, Filly, Los and E to walk in.

“What exactly were you doing here?” E asked him, glancing at the arrows that were now stuck in the floor.

“Don’t ask.” Mane muttered in reply.

“Okay, Filly and Mane, you two go and secure our way out.” Crys ordered. “Los, E, help me look for the Orbs.”

Mane stopped paying attention to the rest of what she said, instead immediately focusing on his new objective. As he and Filly trotted towards the end of corridor, he pondered if the reason why Crys haven’t made him help look was for his reduced eyesight.

“Spread out and search thoroughly.” Crys continued as she and two stallions walked deeper into the vault, while Filly and Mane made their way out. “There may be other things we can use.”

E nodded to her and trotted deeper into the vault. Its contests were... beyond imaging. Everywhere he looked, he saw tons of treasures: mountains of strange gold coins, gold cups, jewels of any kind, and many weapons, one of which seemed to catch Los attention.

It resembled to E a halberd’s blade, that somepony broke and joined with another identical blade, leaving a handle in between them. The pegasus picked it up with relative ease, despite its size being too big for a pony to lift, let alone wield in battle. But it seemed to suit Los somehow.

“That’s a good look.” E commented when the other agent glanced his way, and Los replied with appreciative grunt, before both of them returned to the task at hoof.

Crys looked at the two agents when she heard them talk, but rolled her eyes when she noticed that the object they found was some weapon.

She continued to search through the hordes of valuables hidden here, but not finding the two Orbs, when after few minutes her Beacon activated.

“Cant to Crys.”

“Crys here.” the unicorn immediately lifted her foreleg to her mouth and responded.

“We secured the escape route, but we’ve encountered less resistance than we expected. Also, one of the patrols that we’ve run into was actually going in the opposite direction, and its leader mumbled ‘Imperial Vault’ before he died, so you should expect some company.”

“Shit.” Crys commented in her thoughts, “As if we didn’t have enough problems as it is.”

“Understood. Hold the exit and wait for further orders.”

“Got it. Don’t make me wait too long.”

She didn’t miss that Cant said ‘me’.

“Pick up the pace, ponies; we are going to have company soon.” Crys told E and Los, and then contacted Filly and Mane. “Some Dogs might start coming. Keep them off our back if you can, warn us if you can’t.”

The two agents confirmed their orders, and Crys returned to searching for the Orbs. She preferred to find them before this place would get hot, but as the contents of the Vault were regarded by her, their main objective remained to be unseen. The unicorn was about to growl in frustration, when she noticed that E was approaching her. Hoping that he had good news for her, Crys turned to regard him.

“Boss, I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“Hit me. And don’t call me ‘boss’, it’s annoying enough when Mane and Trot do that.”

E spared a split second to grin, and while Crys was glad to see him grow more confident in comparison to his beginnings, she was kinda impatient now.

“We checked the entire area, and there is no sign of Orbs.”

“Buck!” she cursed. “Where in Tartarus are they, then?!”

“What’s the good news?” Crys asked

“We found the control panel to the traps around the Vault’s doors. I figured we could-”

“Shh!” Crys quickly silenced the younger pony.

She listened intensively at what she hoped was her imagination, but unfortunately was proved wrong: somepony was coming.

Somepony who wasn’t walking on hooves.

“Why didn’t Filly and Mane warned us?” E asked her, noticing that sound as well, and his eyes slowly widened in terror. “They didn’t...”

“We will worry about them later.” Crys interrupted him. It might have seemed heartless of her, but the time was of the essence. Closing the doors shut with her magic, she added: “Show me to those controls.”

They didn’t have much time to prepare, and even if the whole mechanism wasn’t that complicated, the Diamond Dogs began battering the doors down as Crys finally got the hang of it.

The doors gave in, and crowd of Dogs wearing full body armors of Imperial Guard stormed in... and was welcomed by valley of arrows, with magical beams, energy blasts and various thrown objects mixed among them.

Neither armor or their diamond hides could protect them from this attack, and in a matter of seconds, the floor was covered in bodies of the guards. It was good, considering that the trap mechanism had just run out of arrows shortly.

Crys, E and Los stopped their attack and came out into the open area of the Vault, to see the littered in corpses entrance... and one enemy that was left.

The bulky Diamond Dog wasn’t only different from others by his more adored armor (and the fact that he was still alive), but also he had long pipe-like things attached to his plated gloves, with tubes coming out of them and joined behind his back.

“What the buck is with this guy?” E asked Crys, confused by this strange... whatever it was.

As if to answer his question, the Dog, who walked a bit forward dramatically and pointed those pipes at them. In a heartbeat, a river of flames shot in their direction.

“Whoa, that’s hot!” E commented as they all ducked for cover behind the treasures.

He noticed that Los attempted to throw a warhammer made out of solid gold at the Diamond Dog, but their enemy simply aimed his flames at it, causing it to melt before the weapon reached him.

“That’s Guan Yu, Captain of the Imperial Guard.” Crys informed him and Los, glancing from her hiding spot. Her horn was charging with energy. “I’ve got thi- the hay?!”

E also glanced and saw, to his relief, two ponies attacking the Dog from behind - Mane, and more importantly, Filly. He was gravely worried about her when they didn’t warn them earlier.

Guan Yu was on the ground in a matter of seconds, disarmed and legs-broken, but alive. The trio trotted towards them, with Crys leading the way. She was a bit pissed.

“You were supposed to warn us.” the unicorn told them sternly.

The dog made an attempt to raise, but Filly pressed her hoof harder on his neck, and they stopped paying him attention.

“Once we realized how big the group was, we realized you would be able to hear them well before they would reach you.” the pegasus mare replied calmly. “We didn’t want to risk giving away our position. Mane and I followed them, hoping we would get a chance to capture this cocksucker, in case we would need some intel.”

E made sure that Crys (who was grimacing as she realized that Filly’s defiance of orders was valid) wasn’t looking at him, and shoot a quick smile to his marefriend, earning himself a subtle wink.

“You have a point.” the top agent finally said, and then turned to him. “Find out the location of the Orbs.”

He nodded and stepped forward to Guan Yu. E wasn’t excited about prospect of reading through somepony’s mind, especially after he already taxed himself greatly, but this was the fastest way of finding out the information they needed. Lowering his head to Diamond Dog’s level, he gazed through the eye-holes of his mask, meeting Guan Yu’s gaze.

His mind was like no other he’s seen so far. It was so... orderly, and yet wronged, alien, but with traces of familiarity, vast, and yet confident...

E pulled himself away from Dogs mind as soon as he got the location he searched for. And despite being glad to be out of there, he had suspicion that nopony would be happy.

“So?” Crys asked him as E shook his head.

There was only one reply he could give.

“They are with the Emperor.”

For few heartbeats, there was silence.

“So, are we gonna pack it in?” Mane asked,

Crys shoot him a glare, making him immediately back away.

“We are not leaving without those Orbs.” she said in a voice that silenced any dissents. “I guess we will deal with the ‘Emperor’ while we’re at it.”

“Deal with him.” Mane repeated, “With the guy that tried to fry us all with a star.”

“He won’t risk destroying his Throne Room.” Filly said. E had to admit that she probably was right. Courtyard was one thing, but the Throne Room was much more important.

Crys rubbed her chin, musing for a moment as how they could possibly beat the Dog that shoved them as far below underground as couple of Ursa Majors combined were high.

“I think I might have an idea.” she said after few seconds, glancing at their prisoner.

Author's Note

Well, I'm almost done with exams and such.

I planned to continue writing only "Project Eclipse" chapters until I'm done with this arc, but I decided that next comes "Rebith of the Damned", for various reasons. Expect it within a week.

16. Rest between storms (mature)

“Congratulations, Director.” the Counselor said, taking his eyes off from his clipboard. “Another successful test.”

The Director smiled to himself briefly hearing that. All tests they’ve conducted so far ever since the team came back were successful. And that meant that they were ready for the next phase...

“How’s the status of our agents?” he asked the Counselor, looking away from the illusionist outline.

“Agent Eastin was released from the infirmary today.” the other unicorn replied. “His condition seems stable, and the doctors came to a conclusion that it was safe for him to go back to his living quarters. His body’s reactions, however, are still duller than they used to be, as is his coordination. It’s unsure when he will be again fit for duty... and considering your plans, Director, his recovery-time might be extended.”

“Leave that to me to worry about, Counselor. What of agent Los Pegasus?”

“He’s still in the infirmary. Or if you mean this precise moment, he’s at the gym. It would seem that when one of the doctors tried to stop him from leaving his bed, agent Los Pegasus threw him across the room. His body’s condition is once again stable, and all of his vitals check out, but an exertion like this could prove to be too much. Do you want me to send security to the gym and escort him back to infirmary?”

“No, leave him be.” the Director replied, and ignored the slight surprise Counselor’s gaze. “What of the other agents?”

“They’ve all been resting since they were released from the infirmary. All of their wounds have healed. As for the mental status of agents...”

Mane moaned as Clouds tongue caressed the tip of his pride.

“Oh, you like that?” she asked him teasingly, stopping her efforts. Instead, she rose up to the level of his head, and now moved her hoof up and down his business. “You know, I cannot help but wonder: how come I am serving you here, when you dropped down on the Leaderboard, while I got higher?”

The earth pony glared at her, who in turn smirked. He hated when she made fun during sex, not because it was hurtful or anything, but because that made her pause. So instead of answering, he pushed Cloud back and pounced on her, pinning her to his bed. Before the pegasus mare realized what happened, he rolled her on her belly; and with practiced ease, Mane slid into her. Cloud gasped, surprised by his brutality, but didn’t make any effort to stop him as he began to thrust his hips, resulting in sloppy sounds that could be heard across his quarters.

“Somepony’s impatient here!” Cloud commented in between moans.

“This sucks!”

Trot and Balti glanced in annoyance at Hoof, and then returned to look at the cards each of them held.

“I would hazard to guess that’s what Cloud is doing right now.” the earth pony told him, putting one card away. “Same with Filly, and Crys-”

“This is just un-bucking-believable.” Hoof continued to rant, as if he thought they cared. “The Pegasi Armada had equal number from both genders in their ranks. Equestrian Army was more or less the same, and so is the royal guard currently. Why the buck this flying piece of rock has only four mares onboard, with three being taken and the last one being my sister?!?”

“Pipe down, mate, at least you don’t get kicked out of your own room when somepony wants to rut.” Trot said absentmindedly, still feeling a bit offended on how he was forced to leave his quarters.

The room they were currently in was Balti’s and Cloud’s, as the group play cards. It didn’t do much to lift his spirits, however, as soon he began losing to Batli. Hoof was also technically playing, but the unicorn colt was far too concentrated on cursing his ‘cock-blocking fate’, as he likes to put it.

“Hey sis, how come you haven’t tried to get with somepony?” Hoof suddenly asked, stopping his previous activity - bashing his head against the floor - to look at her.

“Just because you have some sort of obsession with the opposite sex, doesn’t mean that I do too.” Balti replied briskly, putting one of her cards away with magic. “Seriously, if it weren’t for birth certificates, I would doubt that we are actually related, let alone that we’re twins.”

“Ditto on that, sis.” her brother said, picking up his cards, but without much enthusiasm. “Is it possible to for ponies’ twins to have two different fathers? That could have explained some things.”

“Your family reunions must be charming.” Trot commented.

“And besides,” Balti continued, exchanging one card for another, “the only stallions left are Trot and Los.”

…

“And?” Trot asked after ten seconds.

“Oh, sorry, was that not self-explanatory?”

The earth pony rolled his eyes, ignoring the snicker that escaped Hoof.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I don’t think about you in that way, then.” he said, wanting to at least to make that clear. “Changing subject: I was passing by the infirmary earlier. Los went off to train in the gym.”

“Crazy pegasus.” Hoof commented, putting one card away and taking a new one. “He could at least wait until he’s fully healed.”

Los growled as he continued to lift weights. His muscles yowled in protest, but he ignored them, concentrating on the exercise.

He knew he shouldn’t be doing this. He knew he should be resting while his body healed. But he couldn’t just lie in bed and do nothing. That way, he would be forced to relive his battles with the Diamond Dogs. Relive his defeats...

His forelegs finally gave out, unable to bear such heavy thing in his condition. Los quickly rolled away from it, before the weights fell down, leaving cracks in the floor.

“Damn it!” he thought, voicing his displeasure with himself in a single roar.

Even before he joined Project Eclipse, he wanted to be the strongest he could be. In kindergarten, he was the first one to start fights, while at the same time defend his classmates from older bullies. Later on, he did whatever he could to increase his strength; he even took a job on a rock farm for some time. After he came to Project Eclipse, with the Augmentation Process making him even more physically strong, he was really happy. But despite all of his might, and all of his training, this... mutts’ Emperor nearly killed him, twice!

“I need to be stronger...” he thought, brushing the scar on his throat absentmindedly.

E sighed as Filly kissed him on the neck. Seeing her questioning gaze, he said: “I could barely feel that.”

Her face immediately took on a disappointed expression, as she lied next to him on his bed. E turned to her as she hugged him, her wing wrapping around his body while she rested her hooves on his chest.

The earth pony presses his lips to them while looking into her eyes. He didn’t like to see her in pain as she was now. The doctors said that in time, his nervous system should return to its previous condition once it was given enough time. The fact that he was released from infirmary was enough of a proof that all he needed right now was rest. However, that knowledge alone couldn’t make Filly feel less guilty over this.

“It’s not your fault, and you know that.” E told her.

She didn’t reply, not with words. The pegasus mare nuzzle his cheek instead, planting soft kisses now and then. Despite his lack of complete control over his body and decreased sensitivity, E tried his best returned the affection. He wrapped his hooves around her, moving them down as he kissed her-

Not for the first time, Filly’s action took him by surprise. But instead of rolling them over, so that she was on top, E realized - once his head stopped spinning - that he was the one on top. Surprised, he lifted himself up on his legs, glancing down on Filly’s body, not sure if this wasn’t some sort of mirage conjured by his mind. But no, she was there, looking at his seductively, her legs and wings at her side.

E couldn’t help but smirk at the irony of this situation. “For two years you never let me be on top, and now when I’m practically paralyzed you do?”

“I figure this will make you much more... contributed in this effort.” she said, smiling at him in a way that made him much more aware of one particular organ of his body. “I know how much you want this, to be in control...”

She let the sentence hung over them, while she stretched out. Her hind legs spread wider, with the left one moving to the other side of E’s own leg. E, unable to hold off his suddenly renewed urge, pressed down; his lips finding Filly’s without problem. As their tongues were for a moment occupied, their front hooves wrapped around each other, and they began to move their bodies. E felt his tip brushing against his marefriend’s nether lips, and in a short time, he noticed how moist they were. Not wanting to waste much time, he slightly pulled back and brought down his right hoof to help himself.

“Be gentle.” Filly instructed once the tip of his stallionhood rested right before the familiar entrance. With a sultry smile, she added: “I regenerated most of those parts recently. But who knows, maybe I’m a virgin again?”

Normally, E would ponder if such thing was possible, but as he was now, his mind barely registered ‘be gentle’. Slowly, very slowly, he pushed himself deeper-

“Okay, scratch what I said earlier.” Filly told him after few heartbeats. “Fuck me like there’s no tomorrow!”

E glanced at her briefly, to make sure she wasn’t joking, and complied.

If anypony would find themselves near their quarters, they would be able to hear screams of pure ecstasy.

Crys glared angrily at the wall of her and Cant’ quarters, still unable to believe what happened days ago.

Filly became Number One.

How could have that happen?! Why?! She was the best agent here, and the most experienced one at that! She was going on real missions years ago, when that little cunt was still doing training! Why-

“You really shouldn’t-”

“SHUT UP!” she screeched at the stallion on the other side of the room. Few sparks escaped from her horn as her anger rose. “Don’t tell me what I should or shouldn’t do! You never cared about your position on the Leaderboard, so don’t act as if you have any idea what I’m feeling right now!”

Crys continued to stare at him, daring him to say something. Cant, however, stayed quiet. Resigned, the unicorn returned to look at the wall, wanting to continue her moping-

“Then tell me.”

Her jaw dropped slightly at the sound of this simple question.

“Tell me why this matters so much to you.” Cant continued, rising from his bed and trotting to her. “Tell me why you need to be the best.”

The unicorn looked away. She couldn’t tell him. Not this. How could she tell him?

“Is it because of your mother?”

Crys turned her head to him so fast that she felt dizzy from the motion. Ignoring it, she stated and Cant with wide eyes, unable to comprehend how he figured this out.

“H-how...?” she mumbled.

“You talk in your sleep.” he replied her unfinished question, looking at her with nothing but love and compassion. “I also noticed how you paused for a moment when you mentioned them, back before we faced that draconequus. And I might be a country bumpkin, but my family did read newspapers from time to time.”

“So...” she mumbled, not sure how to react to this, “you know that...”

“It doesn’t matter to me... Twilight Star.” she glanced up, both at the first part of his sentence, as well as sound of her real name spoken. “I love you for you. That doesn’t matter to me, and it shouldn’t matter to you as well.”

Crys looked down again, not sure what to think of any of this. Could Cant be right? Was she wrong all those years thinking that she should be the best there was because of...

… because of...

“But it does.” she finally said, her eyes, full of resolve, met his again. “It matters to me. I need to be the best. If you cannot understand that-”

What she was going to say next was cut off as her mouth became suddenly occupies with another activity. Despite her previous near-furious mood, she returned the kiss, and did not oppose Cant as he made her move back to her bed, with him following closely.

Once they both lay on the bed, the earth pony finally pulled his head back, letting them both breathe air. “I didn’t say that I don’t understand.” he told her. “I only said that... I wish you could let go. But I understand that you cannot, not now at least.”

Crys gazed into those loving orange eyes, wondering how a failure like her could possibly have such coltfriend.

“I love you.” she whispered.

“I love you, too.” Cant replied, kissing her once again.

Soon, his kissed traveled to her neck, then her chest and further down, and for this night, Twilight allowed herself to forget about everything besides the stallion between her hind legs.

“I hope you have a very good reason for waking us up, Counselor.” Filly said, with her tone spiced with a hint of threat, as E stood besides her.

If the Counselor caught that, he masked it well. Or maybe E’s perception was failing, one or the other. The brown unicorn came into their quarters shortly before the time the Canterlot’s Astral Council usually lowered the moon and raised the sun, essentially waking them both up. And while E could live with it, Filly clearly had a different opinion.

“And I would advise against this reason being that: ‘you have been chosen to undergo further Augmentation’.” she added, this time with more than a hint of threat.

“You don’t have to worry about that one, agent Fillydelphia.” the Counselor replied, still calm as ever. “The Director decided against Augmenting furthers either of you. He did, however, come up with another idea; one that you could find potentially... likeable.”

The next day after her talk with Cant, which was followed by very passionate love-making, Crystal stood in the Briefing Room. She gazed intensively at the Leaderboard, burning the image into her mind.

She had to be Number One again.

“Our next phase is ready to begin, Crystal.” the voice of the Director sounded coming from behind her. Crys lowered her gaze, waiting for what was about to come. “We will be asking you to do a great, many things.”

I wish you could let go.

“I’m ready, Sir.” she replied, ignoring the voice in her head.

“Some of these things might be... questionable.”

“What’s this... worry? That’s new...” she mused, detecting the slight change in his tone, but even despite that, she turned around at once, looking at the dark-coated unicorn, her eyes determined.

“I'll do whatever it takes. You've given me everything. I would do anything for you.”

Author's Note

And this ends second arc of Project Eclipse, "Diamond Threat".

For those of you who might be confused at Crystal's real name, I remind you that action of this story takes place in a distant past.

Project Eclipse goes now on a short break, due to few reasons. The main reason will be obvious once the next chapter of this story comes out, trust me.

17. Worlds Collide

Filly waited a while after the Counselor left before turning to E. “Do you want to do it?” she asked, frowning.

“I’m… not sure,” the colt replied, frowning. “I mean, this operation sounds very dangerous, but you heard what the Counselor said; it might help me recover.”

She snorted. “Right, that’s their only reason for doing that. That’s why they-”

E interrupted her. “Yeah, I know, I’ve figured out that it’s another experiment for them, too. But it might be my only chance of getting back to top form.”

As if to substantiate his words, he shook and had to propel himself with a hoof to not fall down on the bed. “You seemed to do well during the night,” Filly said, worried, as she wrapped her wing around him.

“My grip on my own body seems to come and go,” he explained weekly, blushing. “So… what do you think I should do? I mean, it’s kinda your decision as well.”

Filly snorted again. “In case you forgot, the operation doesn’t pose any risk to me, not with my regeneration power.”

“But it means that they won’t be able to sedate you, as none of the drugs work on you,” E pointed out for her.

“That diamond fucker cut me in half and burned me. I’m pretty sure the operation will be like acupuncture compared to that. You, on the other hoof…” Filly trailed off, searching for the right way to describe what the Counselor had told them. “They are going to go knife happy on your back.”

E shuddered at the mental image. “But the Counselor assured us that the risk was minimal… after all, they wouldn’t want to lose either of us, right?”

“I suppose…” Filly replied after pondering a few seconds on that. “And they certainly wouldn’t like what I would do to them. So… does that mean you’ll agree?”

E sighed. “I… I’d hate being useless. Back when we fought the Emperor and I saw you fall, I was more scared that I ever remember being. I know your wounds can heal almost instantly, but still…” Filly hugged him a bit tighter. “I know you’re strong. Very strong, Number One,” he added, smiling. “But I want to be able to keep up with you.”

The pegasus kissed him on the cheek. “If that’s how you feel, then okay. And hay,” she added, smirking, “I’ll get to say that I’m inside you.”

They both snorted with laughter.

Cant didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

As soon as he woke up, he realized that Crys wasn’t in their quarters, but before he could set out to look about her, all the agents were called in to the Briefing Room.

Now he was there, as well as the others… except for Crys.

She wasn’t the only one missing. Absent were also Filly and E. However, Cant hadn’t put much thought into their absence; E was still recovering from their fight with the Emperor. While Los, who was also recovering, and still technically confined to infirmary, was present, Filly was a different kind of stubborn. Knowing her, she probably had told him to ignore the call.

Crys, however…

Their argument from last night echoed in Cant’s mind. He knew how much it mattered to her to be Number One. “Did she go to the Director?” he mused, recalling that he still hadn’t decided which three among the agents would undergo further Augmentation. Did she go to him to ask if she could be chosen? Cant knew her; if further Augmentation would help her resume her spot as Number One, she wouldn’t care about possible consequences.

Even though it’s been years since the agents had been Augmented, Cant never forgot how painful it was. Nor did he forget about the three worst cases; that of Filly, Trot and E.

He glanced at his fellow earth pony, the only one of those three currently present. After his Augmentation Process, he had suffered several panic attacks for a few days afterwards, had trouble eating, had been dizzy, couldn’t sleep well and had a few hallucinations.

Cant was about to ask him how he would react if he was offered a chance to get further Augmented, but at that moment the door of the Briefing Room opened. Along with everypony else, he stood up at attention as the Director entered.

“At ease,” he told them, trotting towards the center of the Briefing Room.

“Sir,” Cant quickly spoke up as everypony else sat down, “agents Crystal, Eastin and Fillydelphia are missing-”

“I am not blind, Agent Canterlot,” the Director cut him off.

Cant clenched his jaw tightly to stop himself from uttering another word. Since the Director didn’t appear to be surprised about the absence of three agents, he already knew about it beforehoof.

He didn’t like it.

“Agents,” the Director started, looking at them attentively, “as you might recall, prior to this whole incident with the Diamond Empire, you’d been told that we’ve discovered a way to further enhance the abilities you’ve been granted by Augmentation Process. We also told you that we have the resources to perform this operation on only three of you, and that those three who will receive this offer will be chosen based on your performance during the mission.”

“So does that mean that Agents Eastin, Fillydelphia and Crystal were chosen?” Mane asked, frowning.

Cant knew he thought the same thing as he did. That after what E and Filly went through during their Augmentation, neither would agree to undergo whatever this operation entailed.

“Agent Crystal had been chosen, indeed,” the Director replied, “and is now being prepped for the operation.” Cant cursed inwardly; why didn’t she come tell him? He knew he couldn’t talk her out of this decision - which, after some of the Director’s actions, he began to believe might be a wrong one - but he still would have wanted to wish her good luck. Worried and angry, he resigned to listening to the Director’s further explanation. “Agents Eastin and Fillydelphia, however, were not. Their absence is related to Agent Eastin’s recovery, that’s all you will learn at this point.”

Mane, Trot and Cloud’s expressions mirrored Cant’s own. Even Balti, Hoof and Los looked worried, and they weren’t as close friends with E as they. Why couldn’t the Director tell them?

“The other two agents that were chosen to get further Augmented,” the black unicorn continued, ignoring the looks they were giving him, “are Agent Los Pegasus and Agent Baltimare.” Cant frowned, surprised, as the others congratulated them quietly. Why did the Director choose them? “You have time until midnight to decide whether you will accept this chance or not,” the Director continued. “If you do, we will schedule your operations for the day after tomorrow. Now, moving on to another matter,” he said, flaring his horn. An image of the Diamond City appeared on the table, just like the previous time when they had gathered in this room. “We’ve finished securing anything of scientific or military value from Diamond City. There weren’t many of such objects; a lot had been destroyed in your battles with the diamond dogs. As per Agent Crystal’s suggestion, we’ve given the hole where you’ve buried the draconequus a wide breadth; the blood samples she had brought are enough to learn about his species. But more importantly, between the Harmony Orbs, and several other magical artifacts, the Counselor and I had decided that we are ready for the next step of Project Eclipse’s goal.”

Cant hoped he hid his worry well when the Director turned to look at him. “As some might recall, Agents Canterlot and Crystal were sent out to scout a certain location. That location will be where your next mission will take place. The Simulation Room is ready with a basic mission scenario, you will go to train as soon as Agent Canterlot gives you a description of that location, along with its inhabitants. Do I make myself clear?”

That last part wasn’t directed to all of them as the others probably thought, but to Cant. He understood that the Director had just told him to not tell anypony anything else. Like, for example, that those inhabitants were the source of the essence they used to Augment all of them.

Or that this location wasn’t on Equestria…

“Yes, sir!” he replied along with everypony, full of bad feelings.

“I must go oversee the operation of Agent Crystal,” the Director told them, turning to leave. “Agent Canterlot, you’re in command.”

Resigned, he nodded reluctantly and moved to the table. “The location is a city in a desert,” he started, pressing runes and gems around the table. The enhancements reacted to his thoughts and conveyed his thoughts, conjuring an image of a crude stone city, with several levitating crystals scattered through it and some more elegant buildings that Crys thought must have been built by somebody else. “It, along with the surrounding area, is populated heavily with insectoid beasts and insectoid people.”

He watched with mixed emotions as the ponies he’d came to call friends looked at the images of the very creatures that he and Crystal had captured and brought back. That each of them had been augmented with their modified essences. Each was of a different shape and size, even those that weren’t beasts. Though the strange race was divided into several types, they were similar to ponies in that regard. Except where the difference between pegasi, unicorn and earth pony was minimal…

One type had a lithe build, similar to some other two-legged creatures he and Crys had observed. However, unlike them, they had long insectoid wings. Cant wasn’t able to tell where its clothes ended and where chitin began, but he didn’t want to ask the Director what the necropsy results on that matter were. Also, every single bug from this type seemed female.

The other was massive, towering over ponies, and had pincer-like claws, a horn, and was the most common.

The last type was the one used to augment E.

Cant spared the strange tall being with multiple legs a long glance before he continued. “They are also able to use magic, and have used it to create defenders of stone to guard their city.”

They didn’t get to know them as those insects, but he and Crys got a good look at them; tall and huge constructs with faces similar to that of diamond dogs, and four legged cat-like things made of obsidian with wings.

“This is the location of our next objective,” Cant said, wondering just what that objective was supposed to be. “The city of Ahn’Qiraj.”

Slowly, consciousness returned to him. E opened his eyes. Almost immediately, he found himself staring into Filly’s eyes.

“Hi,” he muttered weakly. She kissed him on the nose. “How long was I out? And was the operation a success?” he asked, raising his head.

“Only a couple of hours,” Filly replied. “As for the operation… you tell me.”

Realizing that he was lying on his stomach, E turned his head to look at his back.

A scar ran above his spine, ending somewhere below his ribs. And on the opposite side of it where two new appendages.

Filly’s wings.

E forced himself not to panic. He knew what he was getting into. He knew when he agreed that he was about to be inevitably altered, even more than when he underwent the Augmentation Process. But the Director and Counselor had come to a conclusion that transplanting a part of Filly’s body into his was the only way to stabilize his nervous system after the trauma it suffered during the fight with the Diamond Emperor. A piece of her spine was the most obvious choice, but since there was a risk that his body would reject it, due to his earth pony magic, they had to ensure that his body would also posses a pegasus magic.

So they gave him her wings as well.

“How do you feel?” he heard Filly ask him.

How did he feel? E closed his eyes. He felt… better than during the last few days. He regained ‘consciousness’ of his whole body, he didn’t feel that any part of his body was numb or anything like that. He could even feel his new limbs on his back, even though he hadn’t yet figured out how to move them.

Turning to Filly, he smiled. “Better.”

“Agent Crystal?” he heard the voice of the Counselor ask her as she woke up. “How do you feel?”

“Worried, intrigued,” she almost replied, but then blinked. Why did she feel like that? Shaking her head, she replied instead, looking around, “Good.”

She was in the infirmary. The clock on the drawer told her that she had been here for only three hours. Crys was relieved; the Counselor and the Director were the only ones in the room. She was worried that Cant wasn’t here, but considering the time he must have still been training.

Almost as soon as she thought of Cant, she suddenly became increasingly worried. She was afraid. She was determined; felt annoyed, felt loved-

“Agent Crystal, what’s wrong?” the Counselor asked her as she grabbed her head, but she wasn’t listening to him.

What was wrong with her?! Why was she feeling as if she had thousand different emotions all at the same time!?

Author's Note

Surprise! You didn't expect this to update, didn't you?:pinkiehappy:

Sorry it's not my best work, returning to this fic after such a long break is kinda hard:twilightsheepish:. I'll try to do better in future chapters.:twilightsmile:

2. Day off

Eastin quivered under Fillydelphia, too terrified to look into her eyes.

"Soldier Fillydelphia," Counselor said, "While the Director, as well as I, prefer to not interfere with the partnered soldiers' relationships, I'm afraid he would be most unpleased if he found out that you traumatized soldier Eastin in less than a minute after being introduced to him."

The pegasus glanced at the Counselor as he spoke, and snorted when he finished, but nonetheless, she jumped off Eastin. E picked himself from the ground, moaning slightly from pain, as the Counselor continued to address Filly.

"Remember, soldier Fillydelphia, that you two have been partnered together to help you deal with your... flows, so to speak. In your case, we are hoping that being partnered with soldier Eastin will make you... calmer."

"I'm always calm." Filly replied.

"Didn't she slam Hoofington through a tree during training today?" E wondered.

"You make a good point, Fillydelphia." the Counselor admitted. "Perhaps it would be more correct to say... less violent?"
Filly snorted again.

"If you and the Director didn't want me to be 'violent', you shouldn't have partnered me with that pig Hoof."

"Perhaps, but before I leave the two of you alone, I would like to remind you about tomorrow free day, and the joined training with one on one matches day after that."

Both E and Filly nodded. At the same moment, a scroll appeared out of nowhere in front of the unicorn. He quickly grabbed it with his magic, unrolled it and read the message.

"It would appear that I have more news for the two of you." the Counselor said after few moments. "Both of you have been scheduled for Augmentation Process."

E perked up as he heard Counselor's words, feeling a built conflicted. On one hoof, he felt excited at the prospect of going through augmentation, seeing as everypony got amazing powers from it, but on the other, he was scared.

"What if it hurts? What if it doesn't work? What if I end up exploded?!?"

Filly didn't seem to share his concerns.

"About time." she snorted. "Although considering how well I managed past month and a half, I would dare to say I don't need it."

"You’re scheduled for augmentation in three days, the day after the joined training and the match, solider Fillydelphia." the unicorn said, no reacting to her comment. "Soldier Eastin, you’re scheduled for the process a week later. Well then, I believe that's all. I will see the two of you in two days."

Eastin and Filly saluted, and the Counselor's horn flashed. In a blink of an eye, he was gone.

Eastin glanced at pegasus, who glanced back at him. Afraid that she was going to attack him again, he jumped back, uttering a single 'eek' sound by accident, much to his dismay. Filly rolled her eyes and turned away from him, entering his - theirs - quarters, beckoning him with her tail to follow. E swallowed hard and went in after her.

Immediately he noticed few changes in his standard three roomed 'home', which composed of living room/bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, so he could make himself a breakfast evening meal if he didn't feel like going to the dining hall. There was now another bed, as well as some Filly's private things.

"Let’s set up some ground rules." the pegasus said, jumping unto her bed.

"Ground rules?"

"Do not try to walk in on me when I'm taking shower, don't make any sex jokes, don't try to..."

"Err... Fillydelphia..." E interrupted her.

"What?" Filly asked him, causing him to cringe. She rolled her eyes again.

"Um... are you just going to tell me to not do the things Hoofington kept doing?"

"Yes." Filly replied, and then added: "I thought you haven't met him yet."

"I didn't, but Batli mentioned to me how exactly he... acts." E explained, poking the floor with his hoof uncomfortably.

"Well, I guess Balti's brutal honesty has its good sides." she said, shrugging. "Hard to believe they are twins, isn't it?"

"They're twins?" Eastin asked, surprised. "She didn't seem concerned that you slammed him into a tree today at all."

"Considering the joke he made, I'm not surprised. Maybe Los will do everypony a favor and murder him."

"He's partnered with Los now?"

That was even bigger surprise. Until now, Los was the only pony besides E who wasn't partnered with anypony, due to his asociality.

"I guess they want to improve Los social's skills - which will work great, as everypony can already tell - and they probably hope Hoof will tune down if he's stuck with a pony who says about three words a day."

"So... I take you're glad to no longer be partnered with him?"

"That's an understatement. Although, I will miss punching him in the face as he slept during the night."

Eastin's eyes went wide.

"Err... you're kidding, right?" he asked nervously.

"No. Why?"

"Um... No reason." E replied, looking at the ground.

"This is going to be the worst, night, ever. Of all time."

Crystal yawned as she woke up, and stretched her forelegs, wrapping them around Canterlot.

"Good morning." she said sleepily, nuzzling his cheek.

"Good morning." Cant replied, being completely awake.

Crys yawned again. She could easily guess that he woke up at least few hours earlier, as he always did when something worried him.

"You're still worried about E?" the unicorn asked him, rubbing her eyes.

Canterlot sighed.

"Not only he is going to have that thing's magical essence and hormones injected into him, but he was paired with Fillydelphia. Of course I'm worried."

"She's not that bad as you colts make her to be." Crys defended her fellow mare, poking Canter with her hoof.

"Au!"

"E will be fine, as long as he doesn't act like Hoof." she added, smirking.

They both giggled, imagining shy Eastin acting like juvenile Hoofington.

"But still..." the earth pony said, trying to get back to the subject.”If they're going to be augmented with that..."

"The Director wouldn't order it if it was too dangerous. Stop worrying."

"Sometimes, I wonder about that..." he muttered.

"What do you mean?" Crys asked, faster than she intended.

Cant sighed again.

"Nothing." he said and he stretched. "I'm guessing you want to go for some training, huh?"

Crystal smiled as she nuzzled him.

"No not really."

The stallion's eyes widen as he looked at his partner.

"Excuse me?" he asked after the shock passed.

"I figured that after previous mission, and the stressful field report, we deserve a day off."

Canterlot continued to stare at her, and finally asked:

"Okay, who are you, and what did you do with Crys?"

"Very funny." the unicorn, replied, poking him with her horn.

"Au!" the earth pony exclaimed, chuckling. "Fine, it's you. But since when Miss Number One, that always have to be perfect, takes a whole day off?"

Instead of answering right away, Crystal rolled over, so that she now lay on top of Canterlot, and kissed him. He was surprised, but in pleasant way, and he wrapped his forelegs around her as they both opened their mouths wider, deepening the kiss. After few moments, Crys broke the kiss and pulled up.

"Since I found out that spending time in bed with you can be much more enjoyable." she purred.

"Well, I guess that answer is good enough for me." Cant replied, smirking.

"So..." Crystal said, brushing his chest with hoof. "Do you want to do something specific? Maybe play 'slave and master'? I always wondered how it was like to be a slave."

Canterlot chuckled and rolled them over. Now he was pinning her down.

"As much as idea of THE Crystal being my slave is amusing, I would find it too hard to treat my princess like slave." he murmured as he began to kiss her neck.

"You're no fun." Crys giggled.

She liked when he called her 'princess', even though he originally meant that to be an insult when they first met. Crystal moaned as his hooves caressed her body, and she whispered in singing voice:

"This day is going to be perfect..."

E woke up, and, to his surprise, he didn't feel any kind of pain. He immediately risen, and looked for Filly. She was nowhere in sight, but guessing by the noises coming from the bathroom, she was taking shower.

Eastin checked his body, just to be sure. He sighed with relief; if Filly didn't punch him, then maybe she wasn't going to be so hard to live with as he first thought. He rubbed his chin as he pondered about what he could do to make her friendlier.

Fillydelphia walked out of the bathroom, toweling of her mane, when a very tasty smell attacked her nostrils. Throwing the towel back, she looked around for the source of it. The scent appeared to be coming from the kitchen. She trotted over there to find E putting pancakes on the table.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

The earth pony cringed and jumped away. Filly once again rolled her eyes. She recalled Cloud telling her that E was very shy and nervous, but this was ridiculous. He got scared of her so easily she couldn't even get any joy out of it.

"Um... I thought that you might want some pancakes for breakfast." E replied when he got a hold of himself, although he still shook a bit. "You don't like pancakes?"

Filly giggled, despite herself: the look of pain on E's face, mixed with his fear and nervousness...

"He's just too adorable." Filly thought as she fought to return to her usual seriousness.

"I-I could make you something else if..."

"Pancakes will be fine." she interrupted him, sitting by the table. "Thanks."

"You’re welcome!" he replied, brightening up, as he joined her, although somehow sheepishly.

They continued to eat the pancakes the colt made for next several minutes. Filly had to admit, that was quite good. She made a mental note to ask him someday where he learned to cook this well.

"After we finish, we're going to the Simulation Room for some training." Filly told him.

E cringed.

"But... today is our day off..."

"I want to know what you're capable of." she cut Eastin off. Noticing the hurt on his face, she sighed, and said in a much softer tone: "Look, how about this: we're going to train for few hours, eat dinner, and then I'll show you something cool. Sounds good?"

"Is he really older than me?" Filly wondered as the colt brightened and nodded, although he was still scared.

"Okay, ready?" she asked the earth pony.

Eastin nodded, shifting his weight from one hoof to another. The runes in the Simulation Room were enchanted so they could be used by everypony, not just the unicorns, so Filly managed to set the room to look like the usual training terrain.
She was thankful that E made the breakfast. If they went into the dining hall, they would probably bump into the others, and some (most likely Mane, Trot and Cloud, his closest friends, and maybe Cant) would insist on joining them out of fear what she would do to him. Filly preferred for now if it would be just the two of them, so she could get to know how good his fighting skills were before tomorrow.

"Guessing by how he is behind everypony on the Leaderboard, they probably aren't high." she mused. "If what I heard is true, his main strength lies in intelligence and perception. He is quite good at coming up with battle strategies, but then there is the problem with his nerves..."

She shook her head and focused.

"Now, take a moment to think everything through, and attack me."

"A-attack you?" E sutured, swallowing hard.

"Oh, for Pete's sake..."

"You would still have to fight with somepony tomorrow, you know." she reminded him. "You might as well get used to the idea. Either way, you have a minute - if you don't attack by then, I will. But, if you will make me wait that long I won't go easy on you. Got it?"

E nodded, and closed his eyes.

"Well this will take some time..." Filly thought as she started counting, but in about five seconds, the colt opened his eyes. "Already?!?"

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she taunted him, hoping this would give him some boost. "An invitation, or...

She quickly stopped talking as E jumped at her unexpectedly. She flapped her wings and flew up a meter into the air to dodge, and was about to turn around, when Eastin grabbed her tail with his teeth and pulled her back. Filly was so astonished that she couldn't overpower him in time, and instead of flying away from him, she head to whirl in the air, so her head, instead of being punched by his hoof, slammed into his head, leaving him dizzy.

"That was quite good." Filly commented after she pinned him to the ground a second later. "But I hope that you have more than just an element of surprise on your side. It won't work again."

She wasn't being exactly honest. His trick was more than 'quite good'. If it wasn't for the experience from the previous one on one match, where she was fighting Los, and had to resort to using agility due to stallion's ridiculous strength, she wouldn't have dodged E's hoof in time.

"This could be interesting..." she admitted in her thoughts, looking into Eastin's yellow eyes.

"I thought that the key to victory was the element of surprise." the colt said in pained voice, still dizzy from the blow.

"True, but you can't always relay on it." Filly told him, wondering if she hurt him more than she intended.

Suddenly, his eyes focused on her.

"Surprise!" he said as he spit right into her eyes.

Filly quickly closed her eyes and backed away, trying to wipe his saliva from her face, when she felt that E hit her knees, causing her to fall. Now it was he who was pinning her to the ground.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed almost at once, as if he woke up or something. "Are you okay?!?" he screamed as Filly kicked him away.

Now, she was pissed.

"Okay, I may have overreacted." Filly admitted as they left the infirmary, although she didn't sound too sorry.

They training went on for few hours, although it mostly consisted of E running away from enraged Filly. He was thankful for her that she set up the Simulation Room to have some trees, otherwise getting away from a pegasus would be plainly impossible. They did managed to exchange few blows, hence the infirmary. Thankfully, Project Eclipse's medical team was composed of unicorns that were great with healing spells, so soon all that remained of his injuries was just aching in some places.

"It's no big deal..." E said, moving his hindlegs carefully; his groin took most of the Filly's attacks.

For some reason, his comment made her frown and look around, as if she was searching for somepony. She sighed.

"Let’s go eat something."

They trotted over to the dining hall, which was empty, save for one very big and muscular white pegasus with orange mane, whose cutie mark was two big weights.

"Hey Los." Filly greeted him with a nod. "Where is everypony else?"

Los Pegasus shrugged in response. Filly sighed.

"Where were you all day?" she tried different approach.

"Gym." he replied.

E glanced at Filly and noticed that her eyelid twitched.

"So, are we going?" Filly asked him when they left twenty minutes later.

"Where?" E asked her, feeling nervous again.

"I told you I will show you something cool, right?"

E completely had forgotten about that.

"What is it?" he asked, jumping up and down like a little foal, until Filly glanced at him.

He immediately ceased and looked at the ground, blushing with shame. To his surprise, he heard her giggle. He looked up, but she was staring calmly in front of them.

"Did I just imagine it?"

"You will see." Filly replied to his question.

"But... isn't that the boundary of the compound?" E asked as he noticed that they were heading towards the perimeter fence.

"Yes, what I want to show you is on the other side."

"Wha... outside of the compound?!? That's against the protocol! We can't leave the compound unless we are on a mission or on a leave!" he tried to protest.

"Actually, it doesn't say anything about the compound." Filly corrected. "We just can't leave."

"But..." E said as he recalled the words from the protocol. She was right. "Still, I wouldn't want to get into trouble."

Fillydelphia rolled her eyes.

"Fine, if they catch us, you can tell that I forced you." she snorted as she flew up into the air. "Now don't move."

Filly grabbed him around his forelegs and she lifted him over the fence. They landed on the other side, and Filly guided him in between the trees.

"How far is this 'something cool'?" E asked her as he ran to catch up with her.

"Actually, we're here." the pegasus replied calmly, stopping him with her hoof.

Eastin's eyes shifted from her face to what was in front of him... only to realize that there was nothing.

He shouted in fear as he jumped back from the edge, causing Filly to laugh.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself." she said, pressing hoof to her mouth.

E shook and crept closer. He glanced over the edge carefully, gazing at the white clouds below them with eyes wide open.

"I figured that you've never been to the edge." Filly told him, still giggling. "So, do you like it?"

"Yeah." E answered, mesmerized by the sight of clouds being below them. "I was here so long that I've forgotten we're on a flying island. Do you know over which part of Equestria we are right now?"

She shook her head.

"Those clouds are supposed to hide the Floating Island from the sight of the ponies on land, remember? That means they're obscuring our sight as well, all the time."

"Yes, but you could fly down and look." he suggested.

"Are you saying that you want to stay by the edge by yourself?" Filly asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Err... no, I don't think I want that." E admitted.

"Thought so." she replied, and laid dawn, stretching her forelegs over the edge. "I like coming here. It's peaceful and quiet, and Hoof can't get here to bother me."

E smiled at that; he didn't take her for a pony that enjoyed peace and quiet. E laid down next to her, although he didn't stretched the slightest part of his body over the edge. They stayed like this for few moments, when a chilly breeze swept over them. Eastin cringed.

"Cold?" Filly asked him.

"A bit." E admitted, looking at the clouds below them. wondering how far away from the land they were.

Suddenly, he felt Filly moving up closer to him, and something warm wrapping over his back. He glanced and saw that she stretched her right wing.

"If you tell anypony I was this nice, I will hit you in the balls again." she told him, although she didn't sound to threatening at the moment.

"My lips are sealed. Thanks." E said, smiling. "You know, you're not as bad as Mane and Trot made you to be."

"Oh really?" Filly got interested at that. "And what did they say, exactly?"

"Um... nothing." he lied, beginning to fear her again.

Fillydelphia turns her head to regard him. Looking into her angry moderate cerise eyes, he could tell she know what they said.

"What. Did. They. Say."

"Um... that you are very strong, and..." he mumbled as he moved away from her, keeping an eye out for the edge.

"What. Did they. Say about me." she repeated, still calm, but growing more frustrated, as she followed him.

"They... um... they..." the earth pony staggered as he felt his flank bump into a tree.

"E." Filly said, stopping few centimeters away from his face.

E gulped.

"They called you bitch." he said and turned his head away, afraid she would hit him.

For few moments, there was silence. Curious, E glanced at her. She was still gazing at him.

"Well then." she said, surprisingly calm. "Somepony is gonna get kicked in the balls to death tomorrow."

15. Fallen Stars

Huang Li awaited impatiently the return of his Imperial Guard’s Captain. He wanted to extract his vengeance on those ponies, that were unworthy of just being near his presence, let alone of trying to put an end to his plans or steal his property. For a brief moment, he wondered if he should have went after them himself, but quickly pushed that notion away. He was the Emperor of Diamond Empire; he shouldn’t dirty his paws with grunts work.

“Inflicting pain on them is a different matter.” Huang Li mused, as he fought off the urge to take off his mask rub his eyes.

Luckily, thanks to his mask, none of his guards saw the expression his face bore. Truth to be told, Huang Li overdid it at the courtyard, and was now slightly tired. Not enough to not be able to deal with those troublesome pests if he had to, but enough for him to wish he could go to sleep already.

Absentmindedly, he rubbed both Orbs that were embedded into his Throne’s arms. Pushing away the wrath at the thought of the ponies’ attempt to claim them, he pondered why they sought them at all. Those two he fought in the Temple of Orange Star, as well as their companions, had some strange abilities for ponies. Normally, such powers could be seen used by only the horned ones, but only three of those ten had those. Was there a... connection?

Emperor musing was interrupted when doors to his Throne Room opened. His gaze lifted up, and a second later did so his spirit. Guan Yu approached, an in his paw was set of chains, each bound to a collar on pony’s neck. All of them were only half alive. At that sight of them captured, Huang Li had to control himself to not show through his body language how excited he was at the prospect of slowly torturing them.

“Your Imperial Grace,” Guan Yu said as he kneeled before him...

… on his left knee.

A growl escaped Huang Li’s lips as he realised that even his strongest follower has failed him.

“Do you think me stupid?” he asked as he sent a bolt of celestial energy at the pretender, while at the same time raising and reaching for his polearm, Hàirán.

Crys dropped her disguise as she quickly put on a defensive spell around everypony. Knowing better than to try and block this astral bolt, she merely changed it trajectory, resulting in one of the guards getting hit.

“How did he know...” she pondered, while letting the illusion spell drop.

The chains that bound her friends, as well as their injuries and her double all disappeared. The guards around them quickly raised their weapons, as did the Emperor, who was now approaching them.

“Stand down.” he barked at the Diamond Dogs, who immediately stepped back to their posts. Huang Li pointed his polearm at the agents, mystical energies crackling around him. “You have earned my ire.” he said to them quietly, but still threateningly. “For that, I will flay your skin, and-”

“Yeah yeah, you’re pissed, we get it.” Hoof interrupted him. As Huang Li armored head shifted slightly to regard him, Crys grinned despite herself. “Can we get to the part when we fight? I kinda have a thing to do later.”

“What, with that rock behind the compound?” Mane teased him.

“Your sister name is Rock?” Hoof replied with question, pretending to be surprised.

They stopped their bickering at the outraged howl. Apparently, ignoring the Emperor wasn’t such a good idea, if the energy orbs of gold and silver that rushed at their direction were any indication. Crys concentrated and shoot one with her magic, as did Balti and E, Hoof blocked another with his sword, while others dodged. This gave enough time for Huang Li to charge at them, his weapon high in air as he attempted to strike down at Cloud. The blade of polearm went through the duplicate, while Los leaped at him with his new toy. The Emperor swiftly moved his weapon and the two were about to clash, when suddenly the Diamond Dog yelped in pain.

“At least that part of the plan worked.” Crys thought with satisfaction as Cant, now visible, raised a dagger from the vault for another strike at Huang Li’s back.

Despite the pain, the Dog still managed to block Los attack. He then lifted his left paw from the weapon and reached behind him, faster than they could react. Before Crystal could even begin to fear for her coltfriend, he was sent flying against the wall. She quickly dropped the spell sustaining his illusion duplicate and rushed to his side, wanting to make sure he was okay.

Judging by the cracks on the wall his body made upon the impact, he was not, but nonetheless he did stood up by the time Crys got to him. He shook his head, no doubt feeling dizzy.

“Are you good?” she asked him, while at the same time casting spell on one of the guards, making him lunge towards the Emperor.

“More like just okay...” he mumbled, as he once again became invisible.

Crys sighed with relief, and focused solely on the battle. She saw Huang Li still managing to fend off all agents, be it with his powerful strikes with polearm, or with his magical power. Los was the target of most physical attacks, as he’s the only one able to withstand them, both with his enhanced strength and his double-bladed weapon. The magical attacks were mostly intercepted either by E or Balti, or by Filly, who could easily heal every damage it made.

Just when Crys joined in again, bombarding the Emperor with spell after spell and thinking that this might proved to be a lot easier than expected, Huang Li lifted both of his forepaws into the air. Immediately, magic aura appeared around him, pushing away all ponies.

“Stars, burn my foes!”

Several orbs of pure energy appeared around them, and within next heartbeat, they all surged at agents. Crys conjured a shield around herself, and was about to do so for others. But then, to her utter shock, the miniature stars phased through her barrier.

And exploded…

E cursed as the blast carried him away from others. He attempted to stop those stars, or whatever they were, by simply grabbing them with his powers, but that proved to be impossible. The explosion, thankfully, wasn’t lethal, but it was strong enough to break several of his bones and burn his coat in few places.

He shook his head to search for the Emperor, and saw him... with his weapon raised above knocked out Filly.

“No!!!” he shouted, and disregarding the pain he was in, he blinked to stand above her.

He knew that Huang Li was too sturdy to be simply pushed away, like he did so with the Diamond Dog in the courtyard, but it was not his plan. As the weapon descended, E used his power to change its course, making the Dog thrust it into the floor. The Emperor glared angrily at him, as the earth pony agent took the opportunity to attack him mentally.

They were everywhere.

His subject, all dead, marched upon him, staggering on their half-rotten legs. The weapons they held against him as they approached all bore mark of time, being practically all red, not with blood of their enemies, but with rust. Blight poured from their muzzles, or in few cases through the crevices in their masks.

But that wasn’t the only source of terror that Huang Li was now beholding. The whole area around him was equally terrifying. The entirety of his kind’s accomplishments, the Diamond City, the Five Temples, the deep underground passages... all in ruin.

And above him, the air was filled with ghost. Ghost of his ancestors, all frowning at him, looking disapprovingly. He failed them.

Huang Li was about to react, when he felt something to pick him up and twist him brutally aloft, as if he weighed as much as doll. He looked to see who was responsible for that... and found himself staring into the eyes of the god he defeated and humiliated not so long ago.

“This is the price for defying the gods!” the draconequus, bigger than ever, shouted. The paw that held him began to burn his flesh which, as he realized, was now back to its original state.

The draconequus’ jaw parted, and was about to descend upon him...

And then Huang Li decided he had enough.

He twisted his paw easily from draconequus hold and grabbed it by its throat, squeezing tight.

“Impressive imagination you have there, pony.” he spoke, truly being impressed with the detail his foe put into this nightmare. The silvery light of the moon crackled around him, adding to the pain of the creature in his grasp. “But you cannot trick a god.”

He then crushed the draconequus throat.

When Filly rose from her short break, the first thing she noticed was her coltfriend and the masked Diamond Dog having a staring contest. The next thing - that happened too fast for her to make her wonder how ridiculously that looked - was E, falling down without sign of live.

“No!!!” she screeched as she lounged at the Diamond Dog, hitting him right on the armored face, pounding it furiously with her hooves having nothing but murder on her mind.

She could feel her flesh being hit by fists and fire, but every attempt of the Emperor to push her away failed. The red haze that clouded her eyes made it difficult to see, but Filly could tell by the feeling in her hooves that there was now quite the number of dents in the helmet. She continued to attack him, not paying attention to the damage she was receiving, until she heard a sound air makes if something sharp cuts through it... and found herself falling towards the floor.

Los finally got his act together, just in time to witness Filly getting cut in half. If by half one meant that the part with her head had only left part of the chest, foreleg and wing.

Letting out the growl that made all his foes today quiver in fear, Los brought up his weapon (which he decided to name Brute Slash) and charged at the Dog, aiming at his neck. The Dog once again blocked it, and twisting his polearm around attempted to impale him. Los shifted his position and bounced the blade with the side of his weapon, at the same time slashing it through Emperor’s leg.

He was rewarded with short grunt of pain. Grinning, he moved Brute Slash to his left and was about pierce within Huang Li’s kidneys, but then felt an immense pain at the back of his skull, no doubt from the paw of his foe. The strike was so powerful that it sends him flying and made him lose the grip on Brute Shot.

Falling down on the floor few paces away, Los looked back, expecting to see that motherbucker attack him with his magic or something, but instead saw Hoof and Balti pressing on him. Being dizzy from the blow, Los was resigned for few moments to look at the action, as the mare’s acid melted the blade of Dog’s polearm, while her brother slashed with his energy sword, leaving few marks on torso and mask.

But just when Hoof was about to attack an opening for his throat, the Emperor grabbed him and threw him at his sister, knocking them both out. Los would curse if he still could, but as he attempted to finally stand up, he saw, to his horror, that Huang Li was pointing at the twins with one paw. The air around him crackled with energy.

Realising that he was about to unleash a powerful blow, Los hastened. However, the very moment he was finally back in action, Huang Li released the astral beam. Not having time to do anything else, the bulky pegasus flew up to Hoof and Balti, taking the brunt of the attack.

He could feel every part of his body, from his hooves to outstretched wings, screaming with pain. What was left from the black clothing he, like everypony else, wore for this mission, was destroyed. The force of the blast was even pushing him back, despite standing firmly on the ground, but Los refused the give up and let his friends get hurt. Soon, the onslaught of pain ended, and agent opened his eyes. All around him the floor of the Throne room was scorched or blown away, except for behind him. That part was untouched by Emperors magic. Los managed to shield it, along with (more importantly) two agents, who were staggering to their hooves.

Hurt, but satisfied, Los gazed at his enemy cockily.

“Yeah, that’s right...” he thought, panting, “I can take on anything you can dish out-” he stopped as he noticed the sharp pain coming from his body. “Oh alicorn, there go my organs.”

Huang Li watch with satisfaction as the bulky pony once again fell before his might. Assured that this one was down, he turned around...

… and was met with pair of hooves once again hitting him right in the armored face.

“How many times I’ll have to cut this pony for her to stay dead?!” he pondered as he hit grabbed her by the hoof and called upon the heat of sun to reduce her to ashes.

Before he could finish, however, a magical bolt struck him. Normally, he would barely paid attention to that, but now, with all those injuries, sharp sting of pain erupted from the spot it hit. Turning around, he chucked the half-burned pony at the one responsible. He wasn’t given time to caught his breath after that, as he found himself under attack from three ponies, all having his guards weapons in their hooves. Using what was left from his Hàirán to fend them off; he concentrated on increasing the temperature around him...

The hoof of the tan one went through his right lung as if it was nothing, and heartbeat later a yowl escaped from his throat. Huang Li backslapped the pony away, and saw the hole in his chest he left. Fury erupted in him, and redirected the energy he gathered to strike him down. The Emperor outstretched his paw at him, but as he was about to release his power, a dagger pierced it. He punched the orange pony away, and at the same time, he felt both of his kneecaps shatter.

Falling to the ground, he got a glimpse of the dark blue pony that kept healing her wounds. Growling in anger, he lifted himself up with his good upper-paw, but then another pony jumped on his chest, pressing him back down. This pony’s head hovered over his masked one for a brief second, before everything was covered by the green acid she spit at him. His mask melted, and the acid poured through the crevices for his eyes.

Huang Li was in greater agony that he ever felt in his entire life, and it was all because of ponies!

“No!” he screeched through pain, the adrenaline letting him punch the pony away and stand up again. However, he immediately felt dizzy. Huang Li realized that there was only darkness around him. “I am the Emperor of Diamond Dogs! Ruler of Diamond Empire! You are-”

He never got to say what they were. He was cut off by a pair of daggers piercing his neck, and another one at his back. Once again, he fell to the ground, knowing that this time he wouldn’t get up.

“Why? I sought only...” he murmured, his speech broken by the injury to his face. “... to return my people to glory. Why... why did the a-ancestors... let this...”

He wasn’t even allowed to finish his question. His strength left him and he descended further into darkness.

Deep below the Diamond City, within the crater created by powers not meant for mortals to wield, the draconequus paused in his pathetic attempt to climb up. He could feel that.

“So, he’s dead.” he murmured to himself, growling at the mere memory of one that reduced him to this measurable state. “Good. Never before there was one so deserving to die... not since Serpentera...”

“You all look like shit.”

Crys glared at Filly from her bed. It was the day after they’ve returned from mission, and everypony was still confounded into the infirmary. Filly was the only one to get released so far. Crys briefly wondered why they bothered checking her at all.

“She can regenerate more than half of her body within seconds. What could be wrong with her?” she thought bitterly.

Her own injuries weren’t severe, not when compared to Los, but still serious enough to make medics force her to stay one more day. Most of other ponies were in same situation as her, aside from two.

Los received serious damage to his organs. While his skin, flesh and bones were also hurt, they were used to it from all the training that the pegasus went through. However, it is impossible to make organs more resilient to damage. Only this morning the medics finally decided that his life wasn’t in danger, much to everypony’s relief. Crys though briefly how weird it was that for the second time straight, the most sturdy of them all was in the worst condition.

“Well, maybe not worst...” she pondered as she glanced at E.

Apparently, at some point of the battle, E tried to hurt the Emperor mentally, but it somehow backfired at him. He woke up soon, thankfully, which was about the only reason why Filly didn’t go on the rampage. But the true extent of damage has yet to be measured.

Even if Filly, who was currently sitting beside E, was a giant pain to her, Crys couldn’t help but smile at the thought how close those two were. She quickly turned her gaze away before they’ve noticed, not wanting to look weird. They were just so young, and yet so happy, despite their profession.

“Don’t pay attention to what she says.” Cant whispered from the bed beside hers. “You know she is happy that we are all okay, even if she is still worried about E.”

“You’re just saying that because you get released today.” Crys said, pretending to be angry.

“And you tomorrow.” he replied, shrugging. “Not my fault I was more careful in the battle.” her coltfriend smirked at her, but for his joke he got splashed with water.

Cant shook off the water from his face and looked at her angrily, but soon his frown turned into smile when he noticed that she winked at him. Crys was about to ask if he thought he could find an excuse to stick around after visiting hours, when out of nowhere...

“Excellent work, agents.” the Director announced as he and the Counselor enter the recovery room. As they all attempted to raise and salute, he waved at them to not bother. “We’ve checked the records from your beacons, and now we have full grasp of what happened down there. Once again, excellent work. You’ve managed to crush the threat to Equestria, recover the Orbs, and most importantly, get back alive.”

“Well, you know us, Sir, we’re hard to kill.” Mane commented, making few ponies chuckled.

“Indeed. As you might remember, before this whole mess with Diamond Empire started, we’ve announced that we plan to augment three agents further. After a long discussion, the Counselor and I came to conclusion as to who those three will be. However, we’ve also decided to approach those ponies personally, so that they might hide it from others for some time, if they so choose.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Crys mused. “Some ponies might not be happy about getting left out.”

“Also, bear in mind that those chosen by us are free to decline the offer.” the Director continued. “You will be approached within a few days, which I hope will be enough time for each of you to recover. Now then, with that over, there is also the matter of the Leaderboard before we leave you to your rest. Counselor?”

“Yes, Director.” the other unicorn replied, and beamed his horn at one of the runes.

Crys waited patiently for the list to form and change accordingly. When it was ready, she glanced at it...

1. Fillydelphia

2. Crystal

3. Canterlot

4. Manehatten

5. Los Pegasus

6. Eastin

7. Baltimare

8. Trottingham

9. Cloudsdale

10. Hoofington

Author's Note

The raid has ended, but this arc has still one more chapter to go. Warning, the next one is going to be mature, although I would advise you to read it to the character development, like previously.