> Mechwarrior: Equestria - Living Legends
>  by ReachNetwork
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue - Evacuation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue - Evacuation

“How much longer is going to take?” Casey asked. Water dripping down the outside of his 'Mech cabin. Condensation forming on the inside of it. 'Mechs ran so hot that even in freeze your ass off environments the pilot seat would still get drenched in sweat. Northwind may have been an ice ball in the northern regions but it sure didn’t feel like it when piloting a 'Mech.

“Delta 3, this is Delta Actual, please keep COM’s chatter to a minimum.” Planners said over the communications channel

“This is Delta 1, what is the ETA on dropship powerup? It’s getting a bit hellish out here.”

“Delta 1, this is Delta Actual, approximate time to dropship powerup is fifteen minutes. One of the APU’s has been destroyed. It will take longer if anymore are destroyed.”

“Alright gentlemen... and lady. Current objective is to prevent loss of any further APU’s. Elizabeth, discourage the curious around the dropship. Connor you’re on cleanup duty, destroy any incoming missile carriers. Casey, you’re on me. We’re taking out these Steiner sons of bitches.” Ethan ordered.

Casey was already off engaging an incoming Steiner scout 'Mech, an Uller. That terribly annoying scout class ‘Mech that looked suspiciously like a miniature Daishi. The poor bloody Steiner 'Mech had already lost an arm to the Thor’s light gauss by the time Ethan’s Uziel had shot it with his twin PPC’s.

    Fifteen minutes before they could evac Ethan thought to himself. This entire operation had gone to hell. But with Steiner anything could possibly happen. Those sorry sons of bitches would rue the day they made their entire lance retreat, all friendlies in the entire region had been ordered to pullback. In his own defence, no one expected the Steiner’s to have three Atlas ‘Mechs waiting for them just inside Northwind’s capital in this province. Whoever did their intel needed a smack in the face. ‘Expect mild resistance.’ It was an urban area, but that was ‘urban’ for this province, small fry compared to the actual capital. Fortunately all the 'Mechs in Delta lance were faster than any Atlas could ever dream to be. They easily outran them when they were issued orders to retreat.

The capital city of Jerome’s Basin was a mildly industrialized city. Which is why Clan Wolf, Kuritans, and the Highlander’s  wanted it back. However what neither faction expected was that the Steiner’s would put up five lances of assault 'Mechs simply to deny either of them the minimalistic rewards of the city. This winter hellhole of a planet was only fought over because of it’s place in the Inner Sphere, two jumps from Terra and an easy way to get a foothold of the entire sector. Anyone controlling Northwind, which had been fought over for nearly the last two centuries, could defend an entire quadrant of planets within the Inner Sphere. The Highlanders had done a job defending it, but they were two stretched thin trying to fight across several planets. Only 20% of their entire military force had been stationed on Northwind when the damn Steiners showed up. Wolf’s Dragoons had been plundering the planet for themselves to see if they could find anything, and they did. An old, but still functional Hyperpulse Generator. The Dragoons and Kuritans had been on very good terms. The Dragoons happened to show up at the right time on Thestria to help repulse a planetary invasion. Since then, the groups had been pretty buddy-buddy with eachother. Among other rumors including they found a data-cashe but that was unlikely. The Dragoons had been fairly popular talk as of late.

Ethan couldn’t tell, for the most part who was the good guy and who was the bad guy anymore. None of the factions, houses, and merc groups seemed to lean to either side. Sure Steiner’s were conquesting asshats, but the worlds under their control blossomed into massive centres of industrialization, material output and profit. Comstar had long since fallen from their path of “preserve the lostech.” Was no one really a good guy anymore? Ethan supposed he was trying to find a needle in a haystack with a blindfold on, it’s just not gonna happen. The squabbles of the Inner Sphere both internally and externally was ripping the cosmos apart, he just wanted to get away from it all. But something had to pay the bills; and he was a damn good 'Mechwarrior. As a merc you got to choose the jobs you do, that was probably the best part. The worst part about this mission wasn’t the freezing cold of Northwind, the poor visibility created by whiteouts and the like, or even the under par cheque he would be might receiving at the end of it. The worst part was they had been ordered to retreat. Even as mercs you still had to follow the orders of whoever was paying you, and now they might not be paid at all.

“Delta lead, please be advised, I’m picking up 3 'Mechs on the Long Range.”

Ethan snapped out of his stupor. He hadn’t even noticed he scored the killing shot on the Uller. “Shit that must be those Assault 'Mechs we evaded. When will they be here?”

“In approximately 12 minutes, lead.” Planners replied.

“Is that good or bad?” Ethan asked.

“As long as we don’t lose another APU we’ll be able to get this dropship off the ground in 8 minutes.”

Wow, six minutes had passed already. Had it really been that long to kill the Uller? Elizabeth was shooting down the last of the scout helicopters, and Casey had destroyed all the missile tanks coming into the area. Looks like there was nothing left for him to destroy. The advancing Steiner forces hoping to pick off easy to kill fleeing targets got more than they bargained for.

“Delta 4, assist Delta 2.” Ethan barked into the headset.

“Roger that, assisting Dela 2.” Ethan heard come from his headset.

“Boss, should we go try and slow down those Atlases?” Casey, Delta 3 asked.

“Negative, negative. We might not be able to make it back in time.”

“This is Echo lead, does anyone copy? Is anyone out there?” A new, female voice popped into the COM’s.

“Echo lead, this is Delta Actual. What’s your status?” Planner’s asked.

“We’ve been ordered to retreat, however our dropship was destroyed when we got to our evac zone. Can we get a lift with you guys?”

“Echo lead, what’s your location?”

“Approximately five kilometers south of your position.”

“Copy that Echo lead. Haste is advised, we have three assault class 'Mechs inbound on our position. ETA seven minutes. If you move now you can make it. We take off in three minutes.”

“Five kilometers in three minutes? Negative on that, my lance contains an assault class 'Mech. We’re not going to make it there in time.”

“Echo Lead, this is Delta Lead. What does your lance consist of?”

“Delta Lead, this is Echo Lead. My lance is one assault, one heavy, one medium and a light. Copy? We can make it there in five minutes.”

“Copy Echo. Delta Lance.”

“Yes sir?”

“What’s up sir?”

“Delta Lead?”

“I hope you guys are feeling lucky. We’re about to kill three Atlases.” Ethan said.

“Awww yeah!”

“Stow it Casey.” Elizabeth said.

“We don’t leave people behind Planners.” Ethan said.

“Affirmative Delta Lead.” Planners acknowledged.

The wait for Echo Lance to show up was greweling. Even with eight 'Mechs, taking on three Atlas’ would be a challenge. He just had to work out how to execute this correctly. Visibility was getting worse so his Heads Up Display had taken over and outlined the ground infront of him and specified friendly units. He was staring at Casey’s Thor. He had taken a double laser round to the left shoulder during the fight with the Uller. It wasn’t a damaging shot so to speak, the only thing wrecked was his paint job.

“Sir how we gonna take down those Assault 'Mechs?” Casey asked.

“Not sure yet. But we need to see them before they see us. Delta 4, Connor you there?” Ethan asked.

“I’m here sir. What’s up?” Connor asked.

“I’m giving you a nav marker. Make sure your Beagle Active Probe is on. You’ll need the extra radar range.”

Connor was looking on his HUD, it showed him a nav point five hundred meters north. Connor had chosen the Beagle Active Probe to decrease the long lock on times of his missile packs. Not that he really needed that, CSTRK6’s had pretty much no lock on time; it was point a shoot and the missiles would track somewhat. What mattered though is BAP linked into the radar system, giving you better range. Standard radar on a 'Mech could keep track of everything within a kilometer, unless you extended the range. Most pilots didn’t unless they had to, extending your radar range would make you easier to track. BAP gave extra distance without the cost of giving yourself away. Connor’s Cougar had been a gift to him by his uncle years before the clan invasion of the inner sphere. It was outfitted with an array of lasers and missile packs. It had been built to hit and then run away. It also had two sets of machine gun arrays installed but those weren’t much use outside of lightly armored vehicles like APC’s or jeeps.

Connor’s 'Mech lower torso self aligned with the upper portion, which had been looking at the navpoint. Capable of pushing speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour, the light 'Mech moved through the packed snow with ease. Though it hadn’t been repainted for snow camouflage the olive-grey colour blended in surprisingly well to the rocks that stuck out causing ragged formations across the never ending blanket of snow. The 'Mech accelerated fairly quickly, crossing the gap to the nav point in only a 7 seconds or so seconds.

“Elizabeth, I need you watching out for Echo Lance. Head south and link up with them” Ethan ordered.

“On it Ethan.” Elizabeth complied as she turned her Stiletto 'Mech to the south and took off, pushing her 'Mech to a staggering 85 kilometers per hour.

Unfortunately the Stiletto was designed for speed rather than firepower. At least Ethan’s Uziel could mount a pair PPC’s, the Stiletto had a single ammunation based spot that could house a Light Gauss Rifle. Fortunately, she had packed it with three times the standard ammo cap. Letting her fire almost 100 times before it needed to be resupplied. Her missile packs, that came pre-outfitted with SRM4’s were also filled with ammunition. Leaving a single spot open which she had opted to put a flame thrower in. Nothing quite blinds a pilot then having the front of their 'Mech on fire for a few seconds. Even with alternate viewing modes through their helmets, Infrared or low light was thrown out the window, thermal was also thrown out the window seeing as you can’t see through the heat created by fire. It effectively left the pilot blind. A very good tactic if she got up close and personal with an enemy 'Mech. The other weapons systems on her Stiletto was based around long range. The LGR she mounted was useable when closed in on your targets, but it was really a job more meant for the Auto-Cannon sets.

Elizabeth was worrying about Ethan again, he normally talked more in missions. Which generally was frowned upon by their advisor. Then again, they were mercs so long as they got the objective done it didn’t really matter. In this case they had failed on a colossal scale. Maybe that’s why he was quiet, they might not get paid. They had cleared the way relatively easily until they walked through the city limits and three Atlas 'Mechs did a cold start up. What she didn’t get is why the damn Steiners put Assault 'Mechs to defend a tiny (relatively speaking) industrial centre. That didn’t add up, something was going on and they hadn’t been told.

Elizabeth continued to watch her radar, when new contacts appeared on it she opened up the COM’s. “Echo, I hope that’s you I’m seeing on radar else I’m in big trouble.”

“That’s us, no worries. Whom do I have the pleasure?” Echo 1 asked.

“Delta Lance’s second, Elizabeth Winters.” Elizabeth replied as she halted her 'Mech and waited for Echo to show up.

“Sara Price, Echo lead.” Said Sara, “I’ve got your location on radar. We should be coming over that large hill 700 meters south of your position any moment.”

Elizabeth looked up from her radar over to the white landscape. Depth perception was nearly impossible, snow was everywhere and visibility hadn’t improved much. Still, when the familiar outline of a 'Mech showed up over the invisible hilltop, she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Delta 2 here, I’ve met up with Echo.”

“Delta 2, this is Echo 1. We may have been followed. Keep an eye out.”

“Sir did you get all that?” Elizabeth asked.

“Yeah, I got it.

“Echo 4, here, I just got a radar contact. It’s big enough... wait now it’s gone. Anyways it was big enough to be a 'Mech.”

“Echo Lance, we’re being followed. Spread out, stay loose.” Price said.

Elizabeth did a once over of Echo Lance, it consisted of a Shadow Cat, which pinged as Echo Lead, Sara’s ‘Mech, a Loki, which registered as Echo 2, and a Cougar which was Echo 4. She recalled that Sara said they had an assault ‘Mech in their lance. Where was it?

“Echo Leader, Delta 2 here. Where’s Echo 3?” Elizabeth asked Sara.

“Good question. Lauren’s dropped off radar. Echo 3, report position.” Sara broadcasted.

Another female voice, though this one sounded a bit less urban emitted from Elizabeth’s headset. “Right here boss. Radar’s off. Sorry, can’t push this Blood Asp any faster than 45 kay-pea-aitch on ice.”

A Blood Asp? That was an assault ‘Mech if one ever existed. The Blood Asp was perhaps the meanest assault class ‘Mech in existence, though it was even slower then an Atlas because of its leg design. The chassis Blood Asp was built on at the cost of speed made up in stability, it was nearly impossible to knock a Blood Asp over.

“Need a really big gun?” Echo 3 said. Her Blood Asp was painted red.

“How the hell did you get your hands on that?!” Elizabeth asked.

“Star Adder boys won’t miss it.”

Elizabeth let out a laugh, they had stolen it from Clan Star Adder. The Blood Asp was a feat in itself, having stolen it an outright achievement.

“Echo 4 here, I just got three major radar contacts, forming up behind us. Incoming enemy ‘Mechs with tank support.”

“This situation is getting seriously out of hand!!” Casey shouted over the radio.

“Elizabeth haul your ass back here, Echo you gotta speed things up a bit.” Ethan ordered.

“Echo you heard the man, MOVE!” Sara yelled, “Avery get up there, we’re going to need every last bit of firepower we have available to take down those assault ‘Mechs.”

“Sara, with all due respect, with eight ‘Mechs this is a still a heavy weighed fight. I’ve only seen an Atlas once and it was on our side. Those DO NOT die when they should.” Demetri, Echo 2 complained.

“Not to mention those bringing up the rear.” Avery interjected.

Elizabeth brought her Stiletto about to see a Cougar run past her back towards the dropship, although she couldn’t keep up with the Cougar across the ice pack she couldn’t help but notice her ‘Mech was faster than Sara’s Shadow Cat. In it’s defense, the Shadow Cat was built to be a ‘Jack of all trades’ it had weapon slots for everything.

“Ethan, Echo lead here, what’s the plan for the stragglers coming up the rear?” Sara asked.

“I’m open to suggestions. How many are there? Elizabeth are you getting anything on radar?” Ethan asked.

Elizabeth was getting a headache, there was too much COM chatter going on. Sara was going on about something else.

“Echo 4 have you met up with Cascade yet?”

“Not yet boss, almost there.”

“I got him on radar.” Casey said.

He was a hundred or so meters further south than Ethan. Ethan’s radar picked up a contact and emitted a ping, it registered as friendly.

“Confirmed, Echo 4 on station. Glad you could make it.” Ethan said to Avery.

“Yeah, no problem. I see you haven’t started the party without me.” Avery said.

Ethan couldn’t tell if he was making a crack at the current stance of his lance, scattered, unorganized or if he was just joking around. No matter. Connor started speaking again.

“Lead, those assault ‘Mechs have to have me on radar by now. What do I do?” Connor had the clear sound of worry in his voice.

Ethan’s mind was racing a mile a minute. So much to worry about right now. His radar pinged, four contacts coming in from the north one thousand meters out. Elizabeth and Sara were less than four hundred meters from them, what he assumed Echo 2 at a little over six hundred meters and Echo 3 at eight hundred.

Sara was starting to formulate a plan. “Lauren, you think you could take an Atlas by yourself?

Lauren was unsure, could she attack an Atlas by herself? Definitely, could she come out on top was questionable at best. A Blood Asp was a mean ‘Mech, but the Atlas could be just as mean.

“I think I could definitely last a bit. That’s not confidence inspiring is it?” She replied.

“No not really, but I think you’re gonna have to suck it up. Just be smart about it, you’ll be fine.”

Casey jumped in. “Hey, I could take on an Atlas... with a tiny bit of fire support.”

“Da, I could as well. With a ‘tiny’ bit of assistance.” Demetri said.

Ethan jumped on the opportunity, “You think you two could take on an Atlas?”

“With comrade Stalingrad over here, no doubt about it.”

Demetri ignored the remark. “Just point me to the enemy, and stay out of my way.”

        Ethan was still sweating. What about the last one? An Atlas was a hell of a tough nut to crack. He still didn’t understand why there had been three of them waiting there for them. What was worth protecting in that city?

“Looks like it’s you and me Liz.” Ethan said nervously, “We better get lucky.”

“Hey, what about us?” Avery called out.

Sara interjected. “We gotta cover the rear. Enemies inbound. Echo 4, you’re on me. Delta 4, form up.”

“You heard the lady Connor, get going.” Ethan ordered. “Everyone from up, we’re going to hit them all at once.”

        The terrain was fairly flat as it was required for the Talon class dropship they had been deployed out of to land, they were on the interiour of a large basin, with two open ends, an extremely large bowl almost. The basin stretched for a dozen kilometers or so east and west, north and south were the only easy ways in or out, though it was still fairly rough terrain for ‘Mechs because of the permanent ice pack.

“Echo 3, you’ll be on your lonesome. Delta 3, Echo 2, you’ll have to work something out. Elizabeth, you’re on me. We’re splitting into three groups, designate Alpha, Bravo, Charlie. Delta 3, Echo 2, head to NAV bravo, you guys attack first on my mark. Echo 3 get to NAV alpha. You attack second, don’t want them hatin’ on the Blood Asp. Sara, you’ve got command on the rear. Connor do as the lady says. Elizabeth, we attack last. I’m bold but not crazy.” Ethan assigned, “Anything else anyone want to add?”

“Drinks on me when we get back?” Casey asked.

Elizabeth was already standing on the NAV point her display said ‘New NAV point’ then immediately followed up with ‘NAV point reached.

“Incoming!!!!” Casey yelled into the microphone on his headset.

“Casey, Echo 2 you’re clear for engagement, I repeat GO now.” Ethan ordered.

Casey and Demetri had set up behind a pack of freshly dropped snow. Demetri’s Loki had been repainted with a snow camouflage, Casey’s Thor had been painted an urban grey as they expected to be fighting in the city. With their radar’s off the first Atlas which had been the furthest to the east. Demetri had attacked first, his Loki was outfitted with: two Particle Projection Cannons, or PPC’s for short mounted to the arms of his ‘Mech, two Clan Machine Gun Arrays, four guns per array attached above the PPC’s on the arms, two Medium Laser’s on the ‘Mech’s left torso, and a single Clan LRM 15 pack that was attached above the ‘Mech’s right shoulder.

“Engaging Atlas now.” Demetri said over the radio as he first both PPC’s in unison followed by a non-locked missile barrage. One of the PPC shots missed the other impacted on the Atlas’ left arm causing it to turn slightly to the left. Three of his six fired missiles hit the Atlas, one in the left arm, two in the left torso. The already weakened and superheated plating on the left arm was softer when the missile impacted which burned through some more armor.  The enemy pilot was experienced but overconfident when he broke off in the direction towards Demetri. The lance lead also broke off towards Demetri, the one Demetri had attacked first shot what looked like an Auto-Cannon 10 at him followed by a Light Gauss Rifle shot. The incredibly accurate gauss shot impacted right in the centre of Demetri’s Loki, shaking the ‘Mech violently causing the corrections systems to put a leg back for stability.

“Echo 3, here engaging target.... wish me luck.” Lauren said, the fear in his voice apparent.

“Ethan, the leading Atlas is heading right for us, we can’t hold our own here for long.” Casey spoke louder usual. “I’m attacking it now.”

“Casey, ignore it. We’re moving in on it. Elizabeth, lets go.”

        Lauren caught the Atlas that hadn’t broken formation off guard as well. It had continued towards the drop ship. Her Blood Asp wielded as deadly set of six machine gun arrays, 3 guns per array, one on each arm and two on the left and right torso. She also had two LRM 10’s on the shoulders of her ‘Mech above the MG arrays, a vast set of laser’s including: one heavy laser on each arm, four Clan Medium Lasers on the cannons above the cockpit, and four Medium Pulse Lasers, two each below the MG arrays on the left and right sections of the ‘Mech’s torso. She had so many energy based weapons that it took an ungodly amount of heat sinks to manage it all, before the OP Lauren had torn most of them out because of the freezing environment they would be fighting in and had upped the amount of armour she had on her ‘Mech by a few metric tonnes she now regretted that choice now as those were her main weapons and hadn’t been expecting to go toe to toe with an Atlas.

        The Blood Asp unleashed a rainbow of colours green, blue, and red mostly when Lauren fired all of the laser banks at once, her target, the west Atlas was four hundred metres away and only got scratched by the Pulse Lasers but had otherwise been hit by the full force of everything else right in the right arm. The pilot clearly flinched when their targeting computer identified what was attacking their ‘Mech. Most cringed under the words Blood Asp, the pilot failed to be intimidated however. The pilot turned the Atlas and charged fullspeed towards her stationary Blood Asp. Lauren cranked the speedometer to as fast as the ‘Mech would go, which slightly increased the already moderate amount of heat build up that had only just peaked. It was enough for the AI in her ‘Mech to say ‘heat exceeding recommended levels.’  the thermometer read that her reactor temperature was over 4000 kelvin above running temperature which was indicated as 0 kelvin on the thermometer. The Blood Asp lurched forwards at a speed of 45 Km/h, which wasn’t unrespectable for an Assault Class ‘Mech. The distance closed between her and the Steiner Atlas, which had already shot two sets of Gauss rounds at her, both of which barely dented her ‘Mech and had followed up with a PPC shot that missed. The distance between the two behemoths fell below 200 metres and Lauren veered to the left trying to circle strafe around the Atlas, which was slightly slower than her at the moment. Firing all 6 MG arrays at once Lauren pelted the Atlas in armor piercing ammunition only to have the HUD chime in with a notification ‘Target Atlas appears to be using Reactive Armour, Ballistics Weapons may be ineffective.’

“Shit!” Lauren shouted, but hadn’t activated her radio so no one heard her say it.

Firing both LRM 10’s brought the reactor temperature up, it was over 4000 kelvin again, she followed up with both sets of medium lasers and pulse lasers, which were fairly effective at the range she was in now at. This further pushed reactor temperature up over 5000 kelvin. ‘Heat exceeding recommended levels’ Lauren however ignored this looking at her HUD showed that she had done a substantial amount of damage to the Atlas’ right arm and torso. The Atlas retaliated by firing it’s gauss rifle again and a set of pulse laser packs out of its torso, it then fired a single PPC out of its left arm which impacted right after the gauss rifle. The Blood Asp shrugged off the gauss round but her electrical systems were interfered by the PPC blast. She wasn’t able to aim properly but fired the pulse lasers again hitting the Atlas in the left arm, and fired again a few more times hitting the left arm repeatedly.

        The Atlas suddenly reversed when it fired a set of LRM 20’s out of it’s torso and a medium laser out of it’s head. Lauren’s AMS system did it’s best but she was struck by 8 of the 16 missiles that had been launched, 6 missed 2 eliminated by the AMS she had installed. Her HUD status showed that her the left arm of the ‘Mech had gone from blue to green. There wasn’t that much armor on the arms as they only contained 2 weapons across both. She returned fire from the right arm firing the heavy laser, which missed. She continued with both LRM 10’s which now had a lock on for the right arm of the Atlas, the impact threw the pilot’s aim off because the PPC shot missed by at least a dozen metres. Lauren noted nothing had been fired from the right arm of the Atlas yet, so there probably wasn’t any weapons in that arm, and therefore no armour either. She was wasting her time shooting the right arm. From what she could tell, there was a gauss rifle on the torso by the hip and a light version on the left arm. Those and the missile packs were the main threat. The pair were now over 400 metres apart again, the Atlas had backed off enough and fired it’s PPC again, which hit Lauren’s ‘Mech in the right leg. Lauren smiled, the chassis the Blood Asp was built on made it stable because of the design of the legs, which had also been made extremely heavy accounting for 30 metric tonnes of the entire ‘Mech’s mass in just the legs, this meant they had literally tons of armor on them. The shot did little more than burn the paint off.

Casey had stepped out to help Demetri after he reactivated the radar only to see two targets coming towards them, Ethan had ordered them not to engage the rouge Atlas. Casey’s Thor was outfitted with two heavy lasers, one on the torso and one on the left arm, one of which was a clan version. Two Clan Medium Pulse Lasers on the torso and left arm. A single light gauss rifle on the right arm, and a Clan Streak SRM6 or C-Strike6 for short on the missile pack which was mounted above the left shoulder. Having been told to ignore the second Atlas, Casey fired both the light gauss and both heavy lasers at the approaching Atlas, which was still concentrating on Demetri.

“Taking a lot of hits here Delta 3, need assistance!” Demetri was shouting over the radio.

“Roger that.” Casey replied as he stepped in between the Atlas and Loki.  Firing the CTRK6 all of which impacted, “Oh, great now I’ve got it’s attention.”

        The Atlas turned around then fired a PPC out of it’s right arm followed by an LRM 15 barrage out of it’s right torso and three medium lasers, one from the left torso, two from the left arm. The missiles missed, but the PPC and lasers hit Casey’s Thor directly in the torso.

“Keep him off of me for a few more seconds! PPCs recharged almost!” Demetri yelled over the radio.

Loki which had come up beside him fired both PPC’s and then continued with machine gun arrays.

“‘Mech heating up here. Delta 3, sticking to missiles and machine guns.”

“Affirmative, comrade.” Casey joked.

Demetri’s Loki kept the machine gun fire constant, with the occasional barrage of missiles LRM 15’s which were fairly accurate. Firing a single PPC to keep the damage going the AI voiced ‘Heat exceeding recommended levels.’ the Loki’s temperature read 5700 kelvin, but was dropping fairly quickly, 5400... 5000... 4500... he had heavily invested in heat efficiency and armour rather than firepower. The twin PPC’s on his ‘Mech accounted for 70% of the damage output, the next 25% coming from the LRM’s and the remaining 5% from the machine guns. Casey on the other hand had sacrificed a large immediate damage output for durability, having the maximum amount of possible armour. His energy weapons weren’t heat heavy either, as he had enough heat sinks to manage the build up so long as he didn’t spam the weapons constantly, the reason why he had the light gauss rifle installed.

Casey shot another round of SRM’s and continued with laser fire. The heavy laser set doing it’s job as he scored the shot that brought the Atlas’ torso into the orange that his HUD indicated. Demetri had gone around to the rear of the Atlas where the armour wasn’t quite as tough, reigning hell with his machine guns. Casey shot another light gauss round whilst strafing around in a circle in front of the Atlas, the round ricocheted right off. Demetri only heard part of what Casey had said over the radio, but he did see the round reflect off the armour. Casey had said something along the lines of. ‘Oh that’s Bul...’ but Demetri had fired another set of LRM 15’s which had muffled out the noise.

“I can’t stand toe-to-toe here much longer Echo 2!” Casey screamed into the radio, his ‘Mech status was reading yellow to orange on almost every part of his ‘Mech. “I suggest you do something!”

Demetri’s fusion reactor had finally passed below 3000 kelvin, he fired both PPC’s in unison again, both of which smashed into the Atlas’ left leg, hitting it in the joint.

“He’s immobilized. Finish him off.” Demetri ordered.

Casey fired another light gauss shot, which had hit right where the AC 10 that was mounted on the enemy ‘Mechs lower right waist, the autoloader exploded and ripped the side of the Atlas open. Casey finished it off with a full pack of missiles with laser fire. Casey watched the pilot eject. The Atlas was engulfed in flames then fell to the ground with a large THUMP.

“Target eliminated, but Delta 3 isn’t suited for any further combat.” Demetri said.

“We’ve got the situation well in hand. You guys stay out of it.” Ethan said.

        Demetri had no arguments, his Loki didn’t have as much armour as Casey’s Thor. The few shots he took at the very beginning had reduced his torso to less than 50% armour, as indicated by a solid yellow on his HUD, he targeted Casey, his Thor was a mess. It came up to be yellow in both arms, and right leg. The left leg was orange, along with the torso and shoulders, the left arm was green while the other was red. Most of the paint on the ‘Mech was blackened from the weapon impacts. The only part of his ‘Mech that wasn’t damaged was the cockpit which showed blue.

        Lauren wasn’t doing so bad, but she had her back to the wall. The enemy Atlas had charged again, and Lauren didn’t have any choice but to back up until she had reversed into a hill which was too steep for her ‘Mech to climb backwards. The Atlas had her beat at long range, as it had two gauss rifles, one on the lower torso and one on the left arm. The left arm also contained the PPC, while the right arm continued to appear weaponless. The Atlas had closed in on her and was less than 300 metres away. At this range Lauren didn’t have any choice but to continuously fire the medium pulse laser banks and standard medium lasers, which were pushing the reactor temperature up at an alarming rate. After dumping the remaining coolant into to fusion core, the reactor temperature still read 2000 kelvin, down from the 6100 kelvin it was at previously. The damage each assault ‘Mech was doing to eachother was taking it’s toll, according to her HUD, her Blood Asp’s torso had less than 40% of it’s original armour still on its torso, mostly because of the gauss impacts that had shattered it all off. The Atlas on the other hand was damaged as well, but still had about 60% of it’s torso armour on it. She was losing... slowly.

        After firing both packs of LRM 10’s, Lauren dropped both heavy lasers right into the torso of the Atlas, following that with continued pulse laser fire. The Atlas retaliated with it’s PPC and gauss rifles, the PPC hit her dead in the torso again. This caused the gauss rounds that had followed right after to do full impact damage.

“Need some help here!” Lauren called over her radio.

“I’m on my way. Just hold on!” Casey replied.

“Neit, Delta 3, you are no longer fit for combat. Disengage.” Demetri ordered.

“You’re not the boss of me!” Casey retorted.

“Do as the man says Casey.” Ethan ordered.

“Ethan, she’s getting pulverized by that thing!”

Sara chimed in. “Demetri, go give Lauren a hand.”

“Echo 4 here, south flank is secured. We’re on our way.” Avery said.

“Affirmative, south flank is clean.” Connor said, “ETA two minutes.”

        Ethan and Elizabeth had brought the lead Atlas over from Demetri and Casey who had already beaten on their Atlas pretty badly. Elizabeth attacked first, firing her Stiletto’s light gauss hitting it in the leg, Ethan backed her up, firing both of his Uziel’s PPC’s. Ethan and Elizabeth both ran circles around the slow Atlas in their medium ‘Mechs. Avoiding the majority of it’s shots, and clearly pissing the pilot off. Until Elizabeth accidentally overheated her ‘Mech when she got in close and started burning the Atlas with her Stiletto’s flamethrower.

Elizabeth’s Stiletto had overheated, the reactor automatically shutdown to avoid it from overloading, that could have caused a meltdown. She had pushed her ‘Mech to over 7000 degrees kelvin, and the AI had said ‘Heat levels critical shutdown imminent.’ Ethan had been behind her, flushing some coolant as the PPC’s on his ‘Mech were the only weapons he had capable of doing damage to the Atlas. Elizabeth’s Stiletto hunched over, as the reactor shutdown temporarily. Her radio still worked though, the Atlas had turned around and was staring right at the inert ‘Mech.

“Ethan!!!!” Elizabeth screamed into the radio.

Ethan turned his Uziel to look right at the Atlas dead on, with Elizabeth’s Stiletto in front of it and pushed his ‘Mech to the fastest it would go, 89 Km/h. Firing both sets of PPC’s and the LRM 15 mounted on his ‘Mech. The Atlas took the bait and had retargeted the incoming Uziel. The Atlas failed to react when the Uziel took off the ground and sailed right over Elizabeth’s Stiletto, hitting the Atlas in the upper torso with it’s full 50 metric tonne mass.

        After the massive CLANG caused by metal hitting metal, the Uziel dropped to the ground upright. Even though the airtight pilot seat of Ethan’s ‘Mech, he could hear the Atlas’ gyroscopes screaming to keep the ‘Mech upright as it leaned further and further back after he had hit it at over 100 Km/h near the top of the ‘Mech. Gravity overpowered the Atlas and brought it crashing down into the ground on its back where it sunk into the hard snow at least three metres. Ethan’s Uziel was fine, but the cockpit glass had cracked in several places, making it difficult to see. Bringing the ‘Mech around, Ethan’s line of sight brought Elizabeth’s Stiletto into view as it finally powered back up, she shot her light gauss rifle right into the head of the Atlas, Ethan followed with his PPC’s hitting it in the same place. The head of the Atlas blew clean off, and the ‘Mech shut itself down.

Casey who had been watching, cheered over the radio. “Oh that salvage!”

Ethan let out a laugh, as Elizabeth was speechless at what he had just done. Knocking over an Atlas by flight his ‘Mech into it.

“Are you freakin’ crazy?!” Elizabeth yelled into the mic, “You could have gotten yourself killed.”

“Yeah, whatever. Oh and dibs on the LRM 20.” Ethan remarked.

“Fair enough, if that LGR is a clan make, I’m taking it.” Elizabeth said.



“Echo 2 on station.” Demetri said.

“Just shoot the damn thing! I can’t take much more of this.” Lauren was struggling to hold it together.

The AI advisor chimed ‘Weapon destroyed’ she had lost all the weapons on her left torso, both the pulse lasers, MG arrays, and the LRM 10. She hit the Atlas again right in the left arm which blew the bottom portion off completely, bringing her reactor temperature up to over 3000 kelvin again. The Atlas had lost one of it’s gauss rifles and it’s PPC cannon. The right arm continued to be silent. The Atlas had reverted to using it’s remaining gauss rifle and it’s laser packs, it had ran out of missiles to shoot at the Blood Asp, her AMS system had taken out over a quarter of it’s available missiles, and ones that missed accounted for another quarter. Lauren was pushing the maneuverability of her assault ‘Mech to it’s limits, now that she had finally gotten away from the really steep hill she couldn’t drive up.

        Demetri approached the Atlas from the rear slightly more off to the right and fired a single PPC into the ‘Mech hoping to hit it in the arm, it missed and traveled right into the remaining hip fired gauss rifle, frying the electrical components and effectively neutralizing it. Leaving the behemoth with only a few medium laser batteries on it’s torso. Lauren shot the torso again with her medium lasers, as the Atlas was now basically a 100 metric tonne paper weight, it had no more functioning weapons. The pilot ejected from the ‘Mech, leaving it for the taking.

        Lauren moved her Blood Asp backwards from the Atlas, and let out a sigh of relief. She had almost started crying during the fight.

Lauren’s voice cracked as she radioed Demetri. “Thanks... I owe you one.”

“It was nearly dead anyway, you just didn’t know it, did a good job. Respectable work. Looks like it’s... ahh it’s nearly in one piece. Good salvage if you didn’t damage any of the weapons systems beyond repair.”

“Aww looks like you guys had the party without us.” Avery said.

Lauren was at her wits end, she nearly had just had her ‘Mech ripped to shreds by an Atlas and Avery was joking around as usual. But she was too relieved to tell him off for being a jackass.

“Lets get the hell off this iceball.” Sara said.

“Planners here, I’ve notified the guys upstairs, we’re to launch and meet up with the jumpship for repairs.” Planners was the mission advisor that handled intel and ground operations for Ethan and his lance. They had been told they were only going to meet mild resistance, if a city filled to the brim with Atlas’ was considered mild, he would have hated to had dealt with heavy resistance.

“Planners, get on the horn with the idiots that gave us bad intel. Better you deal with them then my self.” Ethan said, “I knew military intelligence was shoddy at best but whoever looked at the radar scans and said ‘mild’ resistance for what clearly was assault ‘Mechs needs to have his teeth ripped out individually.”

Elizabeth was listening to what Ethan was saying, he was normally fairly chilled out when on duty or on an OP, but he was clearly very upset at the moment. She hadn’t seem him this mad in a long time, and they had been working together for nearly half a decade now. Elizabeth walked her ‘Mech which was still running hot, she assumed some of the heatsinks had burnt out entirely, into the bay of the Talon class dropship.

“Roger that Delta lead. Notifying salvage teams to come clean the area out.” Planners said

“Delta Actual. Echo lead, get some people to take a look at the south flank, we messed up some ‘Mechs back there and a few tanks. Still might be some usable stuff. And make it fast, snow will cover it up in a matter of hours.” Sara said.

“Copy Echo lead. Even out the weight on boarding. Port side holding bays, bow to aft: Delta 4, Delta 3, Echo 3, and Echo 1. Starboard side, same orientation: Echo 4, Echo 2, Delta 1, and Delta 2. I’m also going to report the area secure, the Steiner’s will think twice when they realize three of their toughest ‘Mechs are dead.” Planners replied.

The Talon dropship ‘Cascade’ had been designed to be able to launch with all eight ‘Mech bays loaded and both sets of cargo bays completely full. That was the extent of it’s lifting capacity. However each of the bays were considered ‘full’ at 70 metric tonnes each, with the weight evenly distributed throughout all eight bays. When they had gone from orbit to ground, Casey and Connor had been put in the middle two bays on the port side, and Elizabeth and Ethan had taken the middle two bays on starboard side. From what Ethan could remember, a Blood Asp by default came in at around 90 metric tonnes, but they had all used quite a bit of ammunition. It looked like Planners was trying to average out each of the ‘Mechs weights. If she did it wrong, the dropship could be bow to stern heavy or port to starboard heavy, which was the reason why she hadn’t put both heavy ‘Mechs on one side. After about fifteen minutes each ‘Mech was in designated bay and secured to the floor.

“Echo lead, reporting secure.”

“Delta lead, ready to launch.”

“Delta 2 here, I’m good to go.”

“Delta 3, Lets get the hell out of here.”

“Echo 4, ‘Mech is seat belted in.”

“I hate microgravity.... Echo 3 secured and ready for launch.”

“Delta 4 tucked in.”

“Echo 2, confirming ready to launch.”

The Jumpship had artificial gravity through gravity well generators, which allowed for people to walk normally through most parts of the ship, dropships however were too small to be able to sport GWG’s so they had to be designed to not let stuff fly everywhere once they made orbit, that including gripping the ‘Mechs into the bays with massively powerful electromagnets and huge clamps around the ‘limbs’ of the ‘Mech. With the rest of the crew which numbered around 20 not including the Mechwarriors had to be strapped to part of the ship to stop them from flying upwards at the rate of 9.9 metres per second squared (Northwind gravity 1.01 Earth g’s) once the ship made orbit. The Talon class dropship could do vertical lands and take-offs, making it technically a ‘VTOL’ but was so long that it needed to have a strip of open land for it to use.

        The airtight cockpit of Elizabeth’s Stiletto failed to stop the noise from coming through when the rockets fired, shaking the ship incredibly. After a minute or so, the noise dropped and the shaking lessened considerably. Loose items around her cabin floated up off the floor and ricocheted around the cabin of her ‘Mech.

“Entering the Jumpship’s Gravity Field in 5.” Planners informed the lances.

The floating items in Elizabeth’s cabin fell “down” a few seconds later. She unharnessed herself from the pilot seat of her ‘Mech which was drenched in sweat, and always was after an OP no matter what she did. Her ‘Mech pilot suit smelt terrible and needed to be washed. Popping the hatch on her ‘Mech she climbed out and saw that repair technicians were already out examining the ‘Mechs.

“Docking with the Jumpship Atlantis. Please stand by.” Planners said over the intercom. The dropship jostled a bit and the clang of metal on metal was heard.

Ethan was already out of his ‘Mech and was walking briskly towards the docking port, fists clenched. Sara met up with him, she was clearly just as angry as he was that they both got garbage intel on both of their operations.

Planners could be heard over the intercom again. “Repair teams, estimated time to completion: completion two days.”

“Sara follow me, lets go find Planners and then go find the idiot liaison officer that gave us bad intel. There’s no way you FUCK UP that badly. Mild resistance my ass.” Ethan was practically fuming.

Sara was quiet, which meant that she was pissed off. They were told light resistance with possibility of ‘Mech support, not lances of ‘Mechs defending a single target with tank support and artillery. Her ‘Mech had taken a few rounds before she got orders to retreat, just to find the dropship in ruins. Planners walked out of a door ahead of them.

“Ah, there you are Ethan.” Planners said offering an outstretched hand, “And Echo lead I assume? Pleased to meet you.”

Sara accepted the handshake. “ Sara Price. Thanks for getting my team out. Both of you actually.”

“It was no problem at all. Well you know other than the whole we had to kill three Atlases thing.” Ethan said, he had calmed down considerably.

“I’ve got three salvage teams contacted to go down and strip what they can. Words already buzzing about what you guys did.” Planners said, she was clearly impressed.

“Lets focus on the real matter here. Who handed you that mission briefing Ashley?” Ethan asked.

“Came down from upstairs. No name on it, but it was approved by the brass. I thought it was all accurate.” Planners explained.

“Seeing as my advisor is dead, I’ll have to assume they got the same garbage intel.” Sara said.

“Sorry, I wish I could help you out more. But to cheer you guys up, I’ve delayed the next time you’re being deployed, you’ve got some time off. Additionally, I just got word from the guys upstairs, Echo you’ve been transferred and are now under my advisory, you’ll be staying with us for the duration of the mission.” Planners said.

“Time off? How much? And where.” Ethan asked.

“You’ve got the lounge here, and any non-combat facilities on the jumpship. Might I note you also get access to the refreshers?” Planners joked.

“Oh thank god, it’s been a week since I’ve last taken a shower.” Sara said.

“Round up your teams, and relax, I’ll be getting our next mission ready. You have four days.” Planners said.

Ethan and Sara wheeled around heading back to the ‘Mech bay, when they arrived they found Casey and Demetri arm wrestling using a flipped over, expended Auto-Cannon shell casing as a table, Elizabeth and Lauren were watching with interest.

“Hey Ethan what’s up?” Connor asked, he had been absent during the battle so this was the most he had heard out of him all day. He was sitting with Avery who had been telling him a joke.

Sara spoke to get the groups attention. “Ladies, and the rest of you. Echo we’ve been reassigned, we’re now with Delta for the rest of the op.”

“RAAAHHHH!!!” Casey shouted as he was starting overpower Demetri, but Demetri held fast, but the shout was muffled slightly as the repair crews started their work on the ‘Mechs.

“Anyways, we’ve got time off...” Ethan trailed off.

The mentioning of time off got the attention of all of them as Casey unknowing lost to Demetri, and Lauren and Elizabeth immediately looked over. Avery and Connor had already been listening.

“We’ve got until the end of this business week. The lounge, bar, and dormitories are free for use as much as you want. We also have any of the fun places on the Atlantis. That being said, Delta I’m ordering all of you to the showers. Go clean yourselves up, then you’re free to do whatever the hell you want.” Ethan said.

“Echo you too, showers. NOW. You guys stink, I can smell you from here.” Sara insulted.

Sara barely heard it, or who said it for that matter. Avery whispered something to Connor, and they both instantly burst out laughing.

“Got something you wanna share Avery?” Sara asked, looking down at him.

Connor had his back. “Nope, nothing at all.” As the pair kept laughing.

Sara shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Get out of here. Both of you.”

Connor got up and Avery followed him they were off to the refreshers. Demetri had followed them afterwards with Lauren and Casey tailing him. Sara parted in the same direction soon after.

“You saved my ass down there, again. Thanks.” Elizabeth said.

“That’s six you owe me now.” Ethan remarked.

“Four. That time on Dante doesn’t count, and well you know...” Elizabeth retorted.

“Whatever you say, come on lets go. I have private quarters on the Atlantis.” Ethan said, grabbing her by the hand she blushed.

---
Ethan woke up the next morning, Elizabeth in his arms. He hadn’t slept well but that was better than what he normally slept, which was nothing at all. He took a cold shower and left a note for Elizabeth. Swapping out his pilot suit for his civvies, he had fallen asleep with her in his pilot suit. Ethan left for the dropship, making a stop at the galley on the way there for some food. Space food wasn’t all horrendous, just most of it. You had to know what to get and what to avoid. Ethan found Casey and Demetri there with Avery. Demetri and Casey were downing shots of vodka.

“Knock it off you two, it’s too early to be drinking rubbing alcohol.” Ethan barked.

“Don’t take orders from you.” Demetri said, downing another shot.

“Right, but Casey does.” Ethan retorted.

“Sorry boss.” Casey said as he drank what he had left in his shot glass. “We’ll pick this up later.”

Casey walked off somewhere, Ethan hadn’t caught them far into their contest, so he wasn’t pissed drunk, maybe a light buzz. Sara walked in after he left, and saw Demetri with the bottle.

“Dammit Demetri, lay off the sauce. It’s 9:00 in the friggin’ morning, Gee-Emm-Tee.” Sara barked.

“I just told him the same damn thing.” Ethan said.

“He didn’t listen to you?” Sara asked. “Well lets set this straight right now. As long as we’re working together you take orders from both of us am I clear? Avery spread that around to the rest of them once you get out of here.”

Avery nodded his head even though he hadn’t really done anything, but Demetri downed another shot. Much to Sara’s distaste, and Ethan’s annoyance.

“Am I CLEAR? Echo 2?” Sara barked again. The rest of the bar had gone quiet, staring at her.

“Yes ma’am.” Demetri was clearly annoyed, as he got up and left immediately.

“Jesus Christ, some time I wonder.” Sara said under her breath.

Sara and Ethan sat down beside Avery who was getting to the end of his meal. Sara got hashbrowns with steak, Ethan got eggs and toast. Surprisingly, Planners walked into the mess.

“Did expect to see you here. Whadda got for us?” Ethan asked.

“Mission plans, you’re due back down there in three days, before the break of dawn. We’re going after the same prize again. Capture the city, but we’re going in with reinforcements this time.” Ashley explained.

“Reinforcements?” Sara asked.

“Both of your lances are being tasked with capturing the city, along with a VTOL squad, armour brigade, and body armour backup.

“At least the odds are in our favour this time. What will our forces be like?” Ethan asked.

“On top of the eight ‘Mechs, two flights of VTOL’s for air support, three per flight. Four Rommel Mk II tank brigades, three per brigade, and five manned BattleArmour Mk. I’s.”

“BattleArmour mark one?” Ethan asked again.

“I’ll send you a dossier later today. It’ll give you everything you need to know. Nonetheless, the guys in charge of this operation send their apologies for the information screw up and also said if you fail to take the city with this force, you’re not getting paid.”

That was the one drawback to being a merc. Your employer can choose not to pay you. Had they been actual clan members, they would have huge rewards for the ‘Mechs they had brought down the day prior.

“Salvage teams are bringing up the loot tomorrow, hopefully we’ll get a good cut, or some good tech. Either way, we did some good work there yesterday.” Ethan said.

“Speaking of which, I need to go see what the repair teams are doing on our ‘Mechs.” Avery said, as he pushed his plate away from him and walked out of the galley.

“Free seat Planners.” Sara motioned her to sit down.

“Sorry, I’ve got a lot of work to do. You’d be best helping with the refit of your ‘Mechs.” She said.

Ethan finished up his own breakfast and left, Sara caught up to him a minute or two after he left the mess hall. She was shorter than he was, and had dirty blonde hair that was cut short, it fit better in the helmet that you had to wear when piloting a ‘Mech.

        The repairs were already well underway on their ‘Mechs, Lauren’s damaged Blood Asp was starting to look new again, all it needed was a new coat of paint. One of the techs approached Ethan.

“Hey, we salvaged a pair of Clan Extended Range PPC’s from another OP. We noticed your ‘Mech. It’s the Uziel right? We noticed that you’re running older versions. Do you want us to replace them with these or leave it? The ER PPC’s have a further range, and more power output per shot, they also weigh a few tonnes less. But they run hotter faster and take longer to recharge the capacitors before they can be fired again.”

“No, it’s fine. I run a bajillion heatsinks anyways, I’d have to add more. Also, give me the salvage manifest.” Ethan replied.

“We’re not quite finished, we’ve got another haul to do before we’ve got everything up here. Also, we managed to use parts from one of the Atlases to repair two of the three. We’ve got plans to fix two of them, and sell them off to the Highlanders. Seeing as your team brought them down in mostly one piece you guys get 30% of the sale price on top the 20% pot on any salvaged parts you guys don’t use. After restocking fees on your weapons of course.” The tech said.

“Alright let me know when you’ve finished raking that stuff in, and I want it on a per Atlas basis on the list.” Ethan said.

“Will do. I gotta get back to work here. Drop by sometime tomorrow morning for the full list.”

This operation just might get better after all. 30% on two used Atlas’ that would be new parts and full restock. Put some wax on the shiny overhauled ‘Mechs and Ethan might just consider yesterdays engagement worth it. Casey was helping out with the repairs on his ‘Mech, he didn’t like leaving it alone or having it repaired without him there for everything. Ethan could tell he was lecturing one of the techs for something, he wasn’t entirely sure. The noise in the dropship bays was deafening, the welding torches adding new armour, or cutting off burnt remains of armour according to each of the ‘Mechs specifications stored on the individual technical readouts.

Elizabeth wandered into the bay, cupping a hand over her ears in an attempt to keep the noise out. Analyzing her Stiletto, one of the technicians came over to her shouting to try and talk to her over the noise.

“This one yours?” The tech yelled.

“Yeah! Why?” Elizabeth asked, yelling back.

“You did a number on your heat sinks, we’ve had to pretty much scrape what was left of them out with a chisel. We’ve replaced them and added a few more, you didn’t have your tonnage maxed out, so we threw them in. Any objections?!” Asked the tech.

“No, that’s fine. Just don’t replace any of the weapons unless you have to.” she said.

Elizabeth admired the handy work done by the repair technicians, when she was tapped on the shoulder. Spinning around on the spot, she found Ethan almost right behind her. He was a bit taller than her so she had to tilt her head back ever so slightly to look him in the face.

“Still a few days to wait for the leftovers on the surface to come through. Though, we’re all gonna be slightly richer.” The background noise of the bays drowning out most of his voice.

“You ever gonna tell me where you get your crazy ideas? Driving your ‘Mech into another one to knock it over, crazy bastard.” Elizabeth said.

“What else was I supposed to do?”

Elizabeth shrugged, “Idunno.”

Another day past had past, and Casey woke up hungover. He had picked up his drinking contest that night with Demetri. He had never seen anyone down that much pure alcohol straight up. He did manage to keep up for a while, but eventually fell behind. After admitting defeat Sara had to help him back to his bunk on the Cascade. Demetri on the other hand was only slightly dizzy, though he started complaining about random stuff.

“Hey, for record. You’re a pretty fun drunk.” Demetri said.

“Huh? Hey what? Oh hi. I feel like shit right now. Gonna go take a cold shower.” Casey said.

Demetri happened to bunk on the bed above him, god knows why. Casey didn’t care, his head felt like it was going to split open.

---

“Demetri, got a task for ya.” Sara said.

“Da what is it?” Demetri asked, slur in his words. Casey had given him a good run for his money.

“Make sure the poor kid doesn’t choke on his vomit while he’s sleeping.” Sara said.

“A...al...a Alright.”

---

Though he still felt like crap at least he was awake and alert now. Casey did a few laps around the dropship. As he ran through the ‘Mech bays, he saw Ethan with the ‘Techs. Casey used his lap time to think to himself. About the mission mostly. Why was that city so worth defending? No matter, they’d take it for themselves when they got redeployed on Friday.

“Casey! Get over here.” Ethan called over the noise.

Casey ran over, “Yeah what’s up boss?”

“Salvage just finished. Also, I got your cut. But can you get everyone else first? If they don’t listen tell them we have money to split up between the eight of us. On top of new weapons to choose from.”

Casey’s heart skipped a beat. New toys for his ‘Mech? That’s the best damn thing that’s happened since they got into this freakin’ mess of a war. Casey had been with Ethan for the longest time, aside from Elizabeth, no one had been with him longer than he had. Connor got sucked into the group of friends that he had been slowly assembling over the years on an op gone bad, almost like this one. Except this time instead of just one person they ran into an entire lance of new people.

Whipping the datapad out of his hands, Casey went down the list of stuff they got to access but only got a few parts in before Ethan grabbed it back.

“Hey hold on there, you and Demetri get the split on your Atlas,yours, and yours only until everyone else is done with their share of the pot. Now go get everyone.” Ethan ordered as he pulled out a few more datapads.

Ethan made it customary for his lancemates to keep communications active between them at all times. Casey favoured a standard pack radio which attached to the waist so he could take it off. Ethan preferred his headset, with an eye piece, which he wore at all times, it was waterproof so he could wear it wherever. Elizabeth had earpiece that just wrapped around the ear with a microphone, and Connor had hearing problems so he had to have a communications link implanted into his left ear which doubled as a radio, so long as he had the wireless microphone attached the collar of his shirt he could talk to everyone. None of that mattered when they were in their ‘Mechs because the helmets came with headset radios.

“Hey, you guys. Ethan wants us down in the ‘Mech bay stat. Just got the swag list in. If any of you are with Echo get ‘em down here too.” Casey spoke into his radio. It only picked up noise that sourced a few feet away from it so he didn’t have to yell over the background noise to get his voice through it.

---

Elizabeth had been in the rec centre with Lauren watching a bunch of guys play ping pong, the ball was traveling at blur like speeds when two ‘vets’ of table tennis showed up and started playing. She was getting dizzy watching it go from one side of the table to another with Lauren paying more attention to one of the players rather than the actual game itself.

“Hey you guys. Ethan wants us down in the ‘Mech bay stat. Just got the swag list in. If any of you are with Echo get ‘em down here too.”

The first few times Elizabeth had the ear piece and got a call on it had startled her, but after awhile you got used to a familiar voice popping in out of the blue.

“Hey Lauren.” Elizabeth said, but Lauren was clearly still watching the guys.

“Lauren.” Elizabeth said again nudging her slightly, failing to get her attention.

Elizabeth shook her by the shoulder to get her snapped out of her gazing trance. Lauren turned to her as if she barely even noticed.

“Hmm?” Lauren asked.

“Salvage manifest just came in, lets go look at what we got.”

Lauren simply nodded her head as she took a last look at the guys playing ping pong. Following Elizabeth, the two females got looks as they walked down the narrow corridors of the jumpship, mostly from men.

“Lookin’ good ladies.” said the lead of a group of men that they passed.

“Fuck off.” Elizabeth scolded.

The other men in the group started laughing at their lead, saying things like ‘Denied’ or ‘Shot down’. Lauren didn’t seem to mind being ogled by the idiot jocks onboard. Elizabeth remembered Ethan had stepped in on one occasion when some of the more sexist crew members or people they met in general got on her case. Though she appreciated the gesture, she had proven she was capable of handling herself most of the time, in the past. Casey had stuck up for her a few times, Connor as well. But he was just a kid, well he was fairly young, more so for a ‘Mechwarrior. At 19 he was the youngest of the group.

Making their way back to the dropship, they were the last two to show up. Sara, Ethan, Demetri, Casey, Connor, and Avery were already there.

“Thanks for coming out. Here catch.” Avery joked, he threw a tacpad at Lauren who caught it.

Lauren instantly dropped that shallow feeling Elizabeth had been seeing from her the second she had walked into the ‘Mech bay. “What’s this?”

Lauren scrolled down list of parts by swiping a finger from bottom to top on the pad. The list kept going and going. Out of her peripheral vision Elizabeth had done the same thing except hers had stopped a lot sooner than Lauren’s did.

“Lauren you pretty much single handedly killed an Atlas, all the salvaged parts from that one are yours for the taking. Anything else gets sold off, and goes to a pool. We get 20% of whatever they make and then split it evenly.” Sara said, Ethan had filled her in.

“I should probably get my pulse lasers upgraded. Those things are useless. Also, I had the ‘Techs reinstall my heatsinks. No more overheating problems. I don’t care how cold it is in the future.” Lauren said.

“Ethan, can I get that Clan Light Gauss? It would be REALLY helpful.”

        Ethan and Elizabeth had taken even share on their Atlas. Demetri admitted Lauren had nearly killed her Atlas by herself but she had started to panic. Casey and Demetri had very different weapon system tastes, so there was no problem there. Avery, Sara, and Connor had been dealing with a few ‘Mechs to the south. As it happened they scrapped a Madcat, an Osiris, and an Argus, plus some tanks. So they split their stuff up.



“Hey Demetri, I’ve been trying to convince Ethan to upgrade his PPC’s. Whadda you think? You use the ER Clan version right? He’s using inner sphere tech.”

“Yes, I recommending using them. HOWEVER, the Uziel shouldn’t because of the increase heat build up. Better off with inner sphere in my opinion. Heavier ‘Mechs should use Clan version yes.” Demetri commented.

“Shucks, I still think it’s worth it.”

“Hey Casey, you don’t even use PPC’s so shut it.” Ethan leered.

The group had a good laugh. Ethan had his ‘Mech refitted with Reflective Armour, and had the MG arrays replaced with Clan versions that weighed less so he still had his armour maxed out, which was better at resisting energy based weapons. Sara’s Shadow Cat got an engine upgrade, she could now move as fast as Ethan’s Uziel. Avery had another AMS system installed on his Cougar, bringing the number of point defense guns on the shoulders of his ‘Mech to four. Lauren swapped out her medium pulse lasers for clan variants. Everyone knew that in general, Clan was better than Inner Sphere or IS tech. Elizabeth’s Stiletto now had a Clan Light Gauss on it, which was the first Ethan had ever seen, the spare tonnage she put into adding heat sinks to the flamethrower, and mounted two medium lasers now beside the cockpit. Connor replaced his old CSTRK 6’s with ones that had better ammo capacity. Casey swapped out his CSTRK6 for two Clan LRM 10’s. Demetri left his ‘Mech the way it was saying ‘it’s the pinnacle of the Loki’. With that ended another day of their time off, they got redeployed the day after tomorrow.

---

The following morning, their reinforcements had started to arrive through the large docking port. A single flight of VTOL’s would be coming down with them, the others would be launched from space, as they brought their own fuel and oxygen to burn. Rommel tanks took up the cargo bay and the battle armour specialists squad came in fully suited up and ready to go. They were being sent down at night, so they had to be ready for combat insertion at 4:00 AM the next day. So in reality, they didn’t have another day, it was less than that now.

VTOL’s were mounted to racks that let them suspend from the ceiling of the bays, The Rommel Tank brigades were put in the cargo hold. The Talon dropship max load was being fringed upon with all the extra stuff it had to carry. It was rated for 700 metric tonnes of lifting power, fully loaded and fully fueled. Their ‘Mechs alone, not counting the ammunition in them came up to about 450 tonnes. Throw in three aircraft and a bunch of tanks, and Ethan knew they were well over 550 metric tonnes, at a 1000 kilograms a tonne. That was a huge amount of mass on board.

The pilots for the VTOL’s were nice enough, they had an Ace with them as well. Her name was Samantha, but went by Sam. Apparently, according to her she had dropped a handful of ‘Mechs single handedly, on top of the other kills she claimed that were hers. Her two wingmen were brothers, cocky as hell and made Avery and Connor look mature. Alexander and Zach were constantly finishing each other's sentences, they were identical twins. VTOL’s were popular for their ability to drop in supplies right into the battlefield. Most long term combat zones required the regular top up, whether it be: replacement armour plating, ammunition for missile and ballistics weapons, capacitors for energy weapons, mobile turrets, even explosive ordinance which turned VTOL’s into long range bombers as they could drop it on unsuspecting enemies from great heights.

The tank pilots were different, they mostly kept to themselves, save two of them. Nicole and Nick, they both when by ‘Nic’, they only approached the group because of the VTOL pilots. They had worked with them before, VTOL’s were capable of transporting tanks in and out of combat with it’s cargo lift. Nicole and Nick were specialists in hot LZ combat drops. Which is why they weren’t in ‘Mechs. Rommel Tank Mk. II’s were nasty machines, known for being ‘Mech killers when used properly. Their main cannons were energy based so they had no drop off over distance, the only thing required was a line of sight and a target within that line of sight to do damage. On top of being extremely accurate, Rommel Tank’s came with advanced zoom functions on their main cannons. Letting them use vantage points and distance to their advantage. Aside from the main gun, the Rommel Tank came equipped with a heavy caliber machine gun, which ripped most vehicles to shreds within seconds.

The BattleArmour soldiers were the weirdest of the new additions. Elizabeth said she heard one of them call another by name. ‘Garrett’ was one of them, he had stayed behind in the dropship to run some diagnostics on his armour as it was acting weird. The Mk. I Powered BattleArmour suit was an exoskeleton for infantry. This particular version came with a left handed claw specifically designed for climbing buildings, jump jets, a mortar launcher, and a multi-tool right arm which housed a variety of different weapons including: A small pulse laser, medium laser, a precision cutting laser, and a few other tools that could be useful in the battlefield.

An ensemble of most of the mercenaries, All the pilots, Sam, Zach and Alexander, Nic and Nick, and Garrett were in the Cascade’s ‘Mech bay getting ready for the mission. After all the preparations were done, it was already after 12:00 AM. Demetri had climbed into his ‘Mech and pulled out few bottles of liquor and a bunch of glasses. Sara gave him a look and he stopped dead before she said ‘Give me the first shot’ where the entire group had a good laugh.

Ethan had said not to bother sleeping as they were being deployed in less than three hours. Everything was fine until the question came up.

“Hey Ethan.” Sara’s voice sounded numbed a bit from alcohol she had drank.

“Yesh?” Ethan asked, he too had sounded a bit more than just buzzed from drinking.

“What was your objective anyway, back a few days ago.”

“Oh the Kuritans  we were supposed to go secure a nuclear plant in the city. It’s powering the entire region. What... what was your objectives.”

Sara laughed. “The Highlanders ordered us and a few other lances to go over run an old ground to orbit mass driver cannon. The guys upstairs said it had no power to it, but it looked like the Steiner’s were getting it ready.”

Sara was drunk enough she didn’t even put the pieces together. Demetri however who had built up a tolerance to alcohol dropped the bottle of wine the second he Sara had finished. Ethan stopped dead, and Casey spat out the wine in his mouth.

“Oh shit...”

“Planners, we got a problem!” Ethan yelled into his headset.

“I over heard everything, Casey forgot his transmit button sticks sometimes.”

---

Ashley was overlooking the dossier for the teams next mission, which was cued to start in just four hours. Everything had been going as planned, the repairs were finished and they had their reinforcements. When her headset started blurting out noise.

“Hey Ethan. Yesh? What was your objective anyway, back a few days ago.” “Oh the Kuritans  we were supposed to go secure a nuclear plant in the city. It’s powering the entire region. What... what was your objectives. The Highlanders ordered us and a few other lances to go over run an old ground to orbit mass driver cannon. The guys upstairs said it had no power to it, but it looked like the Steiner’s were getting it ready.” Said a jumble of voices, one of which she could tell was Ethan.

She got another message from her headset. “Planners we got a problem!”

“I overheard everything, Casey forgot his transmit button sticks sometimes.”

The Highlanders had years ago tried to set up a planetary defense grid, but had failed epically. They just didn’t have enough resources to supply it with, still a few had been manufactured and then put into service, only to be retired but not dismantled. The Highlanders and Kuritans clearly weren’t communicating on this one, as the Kuritans completely overlooked the fact there was an Anti-Orbital Gun that was almost functional, with a power station only a few kilometers from it. The Highlanders hadn’t overlooked that the second the Steiners had taken interest in the region, but forgot to tell the Kuritans. This would probably go down in history as one of the biggest military fuck ups of all time.

“Kuritan dispatch this is Cascade, we have new intel.”

“Roger that, please report.”

“Steiner’s have taken control of an Anti-Orbital Cannon near Jerome’s Basin. We believe it may be functional at this time.”

“We have no information saying any AOC’s are currently set up in that region.”

“A  MechWarrior lance that transferred from Highlander Command has informed me that their objective was to retake the cannon in that area from the Steiners.”

“Lance name?”

“Echo, they’re with us right now. Transferred over from Highlander Defense Command.”

“We’ll need to confirm this, please stand by Cascade.”

Minutes passed that seemed like hours. But Ashley continued to wait for a reply from the console she was working at.

---

“Captain, we just got some bad news.”

“Can’t be any worse than the deployment reports.”

“We’re in range of an active Anti-Orbital Cannon. Highlander’s just confirmed that.”

“Get my ship out of range. NOW.”

The Atlantis shook violently as it was hit with the first slug from the ground to orbit cannon. Alarms were blaring everywhere, and panicked crew were on the ground.

“Spin up the K-F drive, get us out of here.”

---

After the first round hit, the noise ensuing wasn’t enough to overpower Ethan’s shouting.

“MechWarriors, Mount up.” Ethan screamed at the top of his lungs.

Though damage reports hadn’t came through yet, the round had hit fairly close to where the Cascade was docked, he could hear the ripping metal whining and groaning in its struggle to hold together.

Sam order her wingmen into VTOL’s there were rated for zero atmosphere because they brought their own oxygen to burn. Garrett who was still in his battle armour running tests froze, not knowing what to do.

“Nick, what are we supposed to do?” Nicole cried.

“Only thing we can do. Get in the tank.”

Zach who had been close to Nick overheard them and knew they couldn’t make it out in one piece.

“VTOL’s cargo lift can get you out of here! Alex you hear that?”

“Yeah! Lets do this!!!”

The ‘Mechs were equipped to hot-drop which allowed them to be dropped from low orbit, and land safely, some ‘Mechs with jumpjets didn’t need the dropjets but were equipped with them anyway. Delta and Echo lances were mounted up. The cockpit managed to drown out some of the noise from the Cascade.

“Ethan, it’s Ashley, they’re jumping us out of here. Just hold on.”

“Roger that.”

K-F drives took time to align themselves for a jump, as they essentially used a gravity well caused by two stars any distance apart but inline with each other to ‘Jump’ up to 30 light years in any direction. Unfortunately, the jump took place slightly after the second impact from the Mass Driver. The resulting explosion from the round tore the entire Invader class Jumpship to pieces. The dropship ripped clean off the side of the Invader class Jumpship, the force put on the ship made the hangar doors rip clean off.

> Going Down Hard
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Going Down Hard

The rush of air eventually stopped, the entire dropship was depressurized. The poor bastards who were outside either got whisked off into space or suffocated. He wasn’t sure who had it worse off.

“Anyone else alright?” Ethan asked.

“Ethan, I’m fine, but I can’t say the situations any better we’re lost in space now. Atlantis must have partially jumped when it got destroyed. We’re stuck out here.” Planners said, “I’m locked up in the command room. It’s air tight.”

“Alex here, I’ve got Nick’s Rommel Tank with me. I hope that hatch was secured, else he’s got no air.”

“I’m fine. I’m fine. Now we get to suffocate from what I can tell.” Nick said.

“Actually maybe not.” Planners said, “Habitable planet in range.”

“We might have a chance after all. You guys seeing what I’m seeing?”

“What was plan B?”

Ethan couldn’t tell who was talking anymore, it was all just voices now. He only cared about getting his feet on the ground again. No matter how many g’s that planet had it would be better than nothing. Loose items in his cabin were in his way, floating in front of his HUD, and his helmet.

“I trying to find my pistol, but I can’t because all my shit is floating around in my damn ‘Mech.”

From where Planners was looking they were slowly drifting towards a planet it had a single moon, hopefully they wouldn’t get caught in the moon’s gravity. Even then, they could probably make orbit on the moon, if they could fix the engines. Ethan’s reactor temperature spiked for some reason. He wasn’t sure why. Hopefully the VTOL’s could make it down alright.

“Ethan, the dropship isn’t going to survive reentry not with the hangar doors gone. Get out of here!”

“You heard the lady, prepare for hotdrop.” Ethan’s ‘Mech was detached from the bulkhead that it was fastened too. They had entered low orbit at supersonic speed, they already had enough gravity to walk their ‘Mechs out. Ethan piloted his ‘Mech out of the hanger taking that set that lead to nothing as the dropjets engaged for a split second to stop the ‘Mech from tumbling forwards then shut off again.

Looking down on a planet was an exhilarating experience, but when the ball of fire that was the dropship went over head grabbed Ethan’s attention rather staring at the ground that was at least 20 Kilometres down.

“What the hell is she doing?” Someone called, it was a female voice.

“The Cascade is accelerating, Planners must be taking the dropship in manually. Is she crazy?”

“Falling out of.... rad... ontact. Something’s mess... the sig...l.”

“Radiation spike screwing up the radio! Don’t fire your dropjets too early or you’ll smash into the ground!” Ethan yelled into his headset. Hopefully everyone heard him.

Ethan’s instruments had gone dark, he still had manual but he wasn’t sure how many g’s the planet had. He assumed more than Terra, so he’d fire at 550 metres from the ground. His ‘Mech had jumpjets, so it was nothing to worry about.

A ‘Mech was an elegant machine, despite it’s intended purpose. Rugged, tough, and very intimidating. They could fall from nearly any height so long as they didn’t hit the ground too hard. The leg assembly on the Uziel gave it almost a bird like appearance, it was fast and the centre of gravity was fairly low for a ‘Mech of it’s weight; 50 metric tonnes of ferro-fibrous reflective armour including weapons and ammunition. The pilot was safe from deadly forms of radiation, but the falling paper weight burning through the atmosphere heated up the cockpit very quickly. Inside the cockpit the built in cooling system was fighting a losing battle as Ethan tried to keep his ‘Mech upright. Even the cooling pumps that attached to the pilot uniform some Mechwarriors wore did little to help the convection oven of a cockpit. Some of Ethan’s instruments had came back online, including the altimeter, and accelerometer which showed him accelerating at about 10 metres per second squared.

“If you guys can hear me, assume 1.0 g’s.”

“....Oger”
Ethan thought it was Elizabeth, but he couldn’t tell, too much static. They had drifted fairly far apart in space, as they had vacated the dropship at different times. Ethan was just thankful that they hadn’t been obliterated by the collapsing hyperspace field, not to count they just so happened to emerge part way through the hyperjump at a habitable planet. They got lucky, no other word could describe their chance. They could have been ripped apart in the hyperspace field, maybe an 80% chance of that, got stuck in space and died for whatever reason (suicide, suffocation, starvation, ramming into something, swiss-cheesed by high velocity particles, or torn apart by grav-distortions from the jump, maybe another 50% chance of any of those.

The Altimeter kept counting down, 1700 meters... 1400 meters... 900 meters. Eventually it passed 550 meters from the ground and Ethan fired the dropjets, which attached to the ‘Mech’s limbs and torso. The counter-acceleration shook the ‘Mech violently as it slowed down. 200 Meters from the ground, it was still descending faster than he would have liked. Ethan couldn’t fire the jumpjets quick enough as the ‘Mech slammed into the ground, throwing him forward and smashing his head on the consoles in front of him, knocking him out.

---

It was night out and Twilight had been practicing her set of spells, it was a quiet Friday, and nothing interesting had happened as of late. Twilight was left bored having only her quickly diminishing gold mine of reading material to go through. She had almost gone through her entire library.

“Hey Spike, find any books I haven’t read yet? I don’t care if it’s repeat material.” Twilight asked.

“Not yet, but I’ll keep searching.” Spike said.

Owlicious hooted, “Whoo.”

“You think you got one there?” Asked Spike, “Well lets see it.”

        Owlicious had pulled out a book, Spike recognized it. Twilight had read it before he had shown up.

“Sorry, she already read that book.”

“Whoo....”

“I’ll gladly read it again... Just not right now.” Twilight said, magiking the book onto a side table that had a tower of books building on it.

Spike was about to start searching another shelf. Twilight needed to stop reading as many books as she did. Equestria might run out of literature for her to read at this rate.

The crowd outside, which were normally fairly quiet, even on a Friday where it was bit-you-call-its at Berry Punch’s cafe/pub, were a lot louder than normal. Twilight’s curiosity got the best of her, going outside and looking up in the sky. A harvest moon had been out, but that’s not what everypony had been looking at, to the left of the moon was a light, to far out to be a meteorite, too close to be a star. When it suddenly exploded, and fizzled out before it exploded again, left the crowd baffled wondering what was going on.

Spike had come out to see what was going only, only to be as confused as the rest of the crowd, Owlicious landed on his head.

“Umm do you mind fillin’ me in here, Twi?” Spike asked.

“Spike, fetch me that book on astrological and celestial occurrences and events.” Twilight said.

Spike zoomed off backwards into the house so quickly Owlicious had been left in midair when he dashed away, forcing him to take flight and land on twilight, careful not to dig his talons into her fur. Spike’s scales protected him and allowed Owlicious to get a firm grip so he could land and not fall off.

“Whoo.”

“My thoughts exactly Owlicious.” Twilight said.

    Spike returned with the book, Twilight levitated it in front of her face scanning the table of contents and turning to a page.

Unexplained Astrological Occurrences,  Jump Nova.

    This strange anomaly has only been observed twice, in recorded history. The first of which was in 1101, exactly one hundred and one years after the banishment of Nightmare Moon. The second of which was recorded in 1701, seven hundred and one years after the banishment of Nightmare Moon. Strangely enough both were on the anniversary date, now more commonly known as the Summer Sunset holiday or celebration.

    The dates are clearly not a coincidence, however, this anomaly is normally associated with bad luck and misfortune. As terrible events have happened shortly after the Jump Nova is observed. Folklore implies that it is a warning and reminder of Nightmare Moon’s continued exile, and the unfortunate ‘accidents’ are in some way caused by her.

    Note: Most information on this anomaly, other than dates, are purely speculation or 2nd hand information. The validity of the information here is second rate at best. - Author and Researcher

        Subnote: For further information, please read ‘Lucky Card’s A Guide to Luck, or Bad Luck.’

“Huh, do you think Princess Luna can shed some light on this? Well that might be poorly worded but whatever.” Spike suggested.

        It had been about a year since Twilight and her friends had harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony.

“Spike, get me that other book it mentions. I don’t think I’ve read that, it didn’t interest me, for obvious reasons.”

        Owlicious had beat Spike into the house this time, and had returned with it. Spike sulking and feeling useless.

“Don’t be so down, Owlicious can’t right letters to the Princess.” Twilight said.

        Spike looked up at Twilight, a smile restored on his face, but he clearly didn’t get the hint.

“Umm... hint hint...”

“Oh sorry!”

        Spike pulled a piece of parchment and quill out of nowhere, ready to scribe for Twilight.

“Wait, how did you do that?”

“Pinkie showed me how to do it. Took a ton of tries though.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, Pinkie could be hard enough to interpret even without all the ‘how did she do that’ stuff. Now Spike could access an unlimited supply of parchment paper and quills that had ink on them already.

“Alright.” Twilight cleared her throat, “Dear Princess Luna. I have a few questions for you. Surely you have in your free time caught up in recent advances and new things that hadn’t been around when you were first... exiled. Hopefully you have read or at least heard about the occurrence of what ‘Jump Nova’ in Astrological and Celestial Occurrences and Events. I have just witnessed what is described here and request that you please fill in the lack of information in the book. According to Lucky Card’s A Guide to Luck or Bad Luck... it says that.”

Jump Nova’s, what are they?

    To be honest I’m not entirely sure what these are. I’ve only heard about them, but clearly these are bad omens. Shortly after such an event happened, and apparently only two have ever been recorded, whether more has happened is up to speculation. The events following this observation of a Jump Nova have been catastrophic. 1101, a large mass of land hundreds of kilometers in diameter was blasted with power so extreme that it is now uncontrollable. The area was a very prosperous and wealthy country which is now still home to ruins of the once great cities and ponies of Everfree. We now refer to this place as the Everfree Forest, which has uncontrollable amounts of magic that flow through even today. Any attempt at controlling the power has been unsuccessful.

    In 1701, the Zebra Republic underwent a brutal civil war that broke the great country in half. Why the war started is a mystery, however it’s notable that the war started shortly after (within a matter of weeks) of another sighting of a Jump Nova. Apparently over an argument if they were white with black stripes, or black with white stripes. (Personally it doesn’t matter, as it nets grey anyway)

        The resulting war broke the Zebra Republic in half. Although collateral damage was kept to a minimum, the Loyalists and Separatists still retain their high tension towards each other. For more information, find a history book related on the subject.

“This looks like a really bad sign Twilight.” Spike said.

“I don’t generally believe in omens, but the correlation between the events is compelling at best.” Twilight said, “Spike, I also need to write a letter to Princess Celestia.”

“Okay, so it the letter to Princess Luna finished?” Spike asked.

“Sign my name, your name and the date at the bottom.”

“Done.”

“Good to go!”

Spike sent it off to Princess Luna, his breath was blue instead of green, it’s was an ability for him so he could recognize who had sent it if they got a return response.

“Next letter, to Celestia? I’m ready.” Spike said, who had already got another piece of parchment out of no where.

“Ehem....” Twilight cleared her throat again, “Dear Princess Celestia: I have just witnessed the event known as a Jump Nova. As has most of the populus here in Ponyville. I request clarification on the matter, if you have any information my books don’t. Additionally, from what I have read leaves me worried that this may be a sign of ‘bad things to come’. I have already written to your sister, Princess Luna, on the matter.”

“Name and date signed. We good to go?”

“Yep.”

Spike sent it off with green breath this time, to Princess Celestia.

“Now what?”

“No sense standing out here. Lets go inside, I’m getting cold.”

Not two seconds after the pair stepped inside, Spike got a letter back from Princess Celestia. Spike started to read it.

    Twilight, thank you for bringing this to my attention. However I must reassure you that what you just saw and the events supposedly related I have assumed to coincidental. However, I will look into it. Please do not stress yourself on the matter, I have an assignment for you and it will require your full attention. As for your assignment, more details will come soon.

        Celestia

“See there’s nothing to worry about, Twilight.”

“I hope you, and the Princess is right. However! The Princess has an assignment for me, and I will not fail. I have some studying to do”

        Twilight returned to library and Spike followed her in, closing the door and accidently leaving Owlicious outside.

“Whoo!”

    Owlicious looked for another way in, but all the windows were closed. The noise in the streets were overpowering his attempts to get Twilight or Spike’s attention. Annoyed, Owlicious flew off. It hadn’t been the first time they had left him outside before, but it looked like the night-shift pegasi controlling the weather were mounting up for a rainy night, as they had already blocked out the moon. He had been living indoors too long and had gotten fairly oblivious to living outside.

    Owlicious had traversed the entirety of Ponyville in just a few minutes. He had an idea of where to go, Fluttershy was always home. Owlicious was nearly there when it had started to rain. His wings quickly became soaked which made it hard to keep flying. By the time he landed on Fluttershy’s window sill he was completely drenched from the rain.

    Looking in the window, it looked like Fluttershy was supervising the Cutie Mark Crusaders again. They were all in her bedroom, playing a boardgame. Tapping on the window repeatedly with his beak.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

    Fluttershy immediately heard it, looking over seeing the barn owl outside her window, cold and wet. She rushed over and opened the windows for him, pulling him inside, and closing it before too much rain got through the window.

“Whoo!”

“Oh Owlicious, I’m so sorry. How long were you there for?” Fluttershy said.

“Woot.”

“Twilight leave you outside again?”

“Whoo.” Owlicious said, ruffling his feathers in an attempt to get the water out of them. He only succeeded in spraying the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Hey do you mind?” Scootaloo pipped.

“He got my paper all wet.” Sweetie Belle said, as she had been tracing something out.

“Now girls be fair. He was outside in the rain.” Fluttershy said, “Sometimes I wonder why Twilight even bothers with a pet. This is the fourth time this month she’s forgotten about you.”

“Whoo, wooo.”

    Fluttershy got a towel and did her best to dry Owlicious, trying to avoid pulling any of his feathers out by accident. The winds outside picked up and the whistling sounded almost like he did. The group of fillies would have fun for a few more hours. It wasn’t late yet, only 10:00 o’clock. When the clock past 2:00 Fluttershy put an end to it.

“Girls it’s getting late. I think it’s time for bed.”

“Awwww.” All three  of the Crusaders said in unison.

“No arguments. I don’t want a repeat of last time. Owlicious you can sleep downstairs. They get my bed. If Angel gives you any trouble let me know.”

Even though he was nocturnal, he was completely worn out from his flight in the rain. At the mention of what happened the last time, the Crusaders complied. Best stop before something bad happens.

Owlicious flew down stairs, and surely enough Angel started with an assortment of problems. Angel jumped at Owlicious right after he threw a carrot at him, Fluttershy intervened.

“Angel. That’s quite enough. Um, if you don’t mind.” She said.

Fluttershy had just put the Crusaders to bed, and dealt with Angel harassing Owlicious. She jumped up on her couch. Owlicious had taken refuge on a coat rack and put a wing over his face to go to sleep. All the lights in the house were out, and Angel had been ‘persuaded’ by Fluttershy to settle down, she stared at him.

Upstairs, Scootaloo was in bed, next to the other Crusaders. Unlike them however, she never slept well. She lay there for hours, drifting in and out of slumber. She had been on the side where Fluttershy’s alarm clock was. It had glow in the dark hands on it so she could kinda tell what time it was. It was around 4:30 in the morning when the house shook ever so slightly. Like a thump in the distance that you felt through the floorboards. It had snapped Scootaloo out of her trance. At first she was confused, that maybe Angel had been downstairs and had pushed something over. Then it happened again, but it didn’t feel like it was coming from inside the house. Scootaloo sat up, the wind has died down a bit, but it was still raining, and the occasion strike of lightning lit of the sky, but it was too far away to make any serious noise.

Thump.

        Scootaloo was curious, she slowly got out of the bed. Careful not to wake up the crusaders and/or alert Fluttershy.

Thump.

Moving over to the window, looking outside showed that the rain had reverted to a mere drizzle. It was only a lightning storm now.

Thump.

As she looked out the window, the sound of trees moving and creaking could be heard. But there was no wind to do it, Scootaloo couldn’t tell but it was fairly far away maybe 100 metres.

Thump, thump.

    It was getting closer, not being able to see anything, whatever it was must have been in the Everfree. A strike of lightning lit of the sky for a moment, enough for Scootaloo to see the tree tops moving in the distance.

Thump, thump, thump.

A creak from downstairs got Scootaloo’s attention for a moment, looking away incase Fluttershy had woke up. She turned back to the window, whatever it was finally broke the treeline. But it was so far in the distance, and it was so dark out she couldn’t tell what it was. It was about 100 metres away from her, her heart began to beat faster. But the noise was so quiet it was still at the edge of hearing.

Thump, thump, thump, thump. Vvvvrrrr, hmmmmm.

Lightning struck behind the cottage, opposite side of where Scootaloo was looking. It lit up the entire field for just a split second. A split second, a single fraction of a second is all it took for Scootaloo to see the most terrifying sight in her entire life.

For that quick moment, a single fraction of a second Scootaloo saw the biggest creature she had ever seen. It was out of the Everfree, 100 metres away maybe more. It stood stories tall and walked on two massive legs and it was staring right at her. Scootaloo repressed the urge to scream. This monster was nothing of like she had ever seen or heard about. She bit her lip to stop herself from screaming, so hard it started to bleed. Another lightning flash and it lit up again, the monster's upper body turned around almost 180 degrees without moving it's legs at all.

        Vrrzzzs, thump, thump, thump... thump... thump... ... ... ... thump ... ... ... ... ... ... ... thump

    Another lightning strike and it was gone. As it it had never been there. Scootaloo found herself back in bed, confused. She had blanked out.

“Whaa?” She thought to herself. “Was it a dream?”

    Sweetie Belle who was sleeping beside her stirred a little bit, and Scootaloo convinced herself it was just a dream. She lay there for the rest of the night, sort of asleep, sort of awake.

    The next morning, Scootaloo had been the last to wake up, or so she assumed when she found the bed vacant of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. It was 9:00 AM. Heading downstairs, Fluttershy had prepared breakfast. Scootaloo sat at the table. She got confused when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle started looking at her funny.

“What are you guys lookin’ at?” Scootaloo asked.

Fluttershy had came over, put a full plate in front of her then stopped cold. “Oh Scootaloo are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. What are you talking about?”

“What did you do to your chin?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I didn’t do anything to it.” Scootaloo said.

“Yes you did.” Sweetie Belle said.

Fluttershy took one of the mirror’s she had in the kitchen down, passing it to Scootaloo she looked into it. She was shocked to the core when she found it covered in dried blood, and her lower lip scabbed over. Scootaloo immediately dropped the mirror as the realization hit her. The sound of the mirror breaking on contact with the floor didn’t even register with her. She fell out of the chair.

        Sweetie Belle couldn’t tell what she was saying, Apple Bloom instantly panicked.

“What’s wrong with her!?” Apple Bloom shouted.

“She’s in shock.” Fluttershy said, keeping her calm. "What could have caused this? Does she not like the sight of blood?”

“She doesn’t really like it that much. But she’s never freaked out this badly before.” Sweetie Belle cried. She wasn’t as worried as Apple Bloom simply because she had seen her sister, Rarity, breakdown a few times.

        Fluttershy tried multiple ways to get her to calm down, but her mumbles became shouts as she started to drool.

“I’m so soo sorry for this Scootaloo.” Fluttershy said as she gave her a good smack across the face.

Fortunately it worked, Scootaloo instantly snapped out of it. “Ow. Who hit me?” She said as she rubbed the side of her face.

        Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle pointed at Fluttershy who was very red in the face.

“I’m... sorry. I didn’t want to. But you weren’t responding to anything else and... and.” Fluttershy said as she tried not to cry over what she did. At least it worked.

“It’s okay. Not the first time I’ve been hit in the face.” Scootaloo said, staring at Apple Bloom.

    Fluttershy had tears in her eyes but fought them back. She went over to the sink and grabbed a damp cloth, then returned to Scootaloo.

“Look at me.” She said.

Scootaloo looked up at Fluttershy she was greeted with a damp cloth pressed heavily into her face. She shook her head around a bit because Fluttershy was pressing too hard. Apple Bloom was still sitting at the table, but Sweetie Belle had found a broom and a dust plan and swept up the broken glass from the mirror and thrown it in the garbage.

“What was that about?” Fluttershy asked.

        Scootaloo didn’t want to talk about it, she tried to think of an excuse.

“I do not like blood.” She lied.

        Fluttershy could tell that she was lying. Her tell was that she spoke formally.

“Well it’s alright now. Here eat something, you’ll feel a bit better.”

    Scootaloo wolfed down her breakfast, it failed to make her feel any better. One of the windows in the kitchen looked out the same direction as the one upstairs. Curiosity was getting the best of her. There was one final confirmation that needed to be made.

“Feeling better now?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes.” Scootaloo lied again, “I have to go do something...”

    Scootaloo had her repaired CMC cape on the coat rack that Owlicious was still sleeping on. Taking the cape off shook the rack and woke Owlicious up. Which reminded Fluttershy that Owlicious needed to go back. Normally she’d just let him fly home, but it would get the girls out of the house and into something they possibly couldn’t get in trouble for doing.

“Oh, Girls.” Fluttershy said.

    Sweetie Belle turned her attention to Fluttershy instantaneously, Apple Bloom was also going to get her cape. Scootaloo was putting hers on, it was the only thing that would comfort her at the moment.

“I have a mission for you.” Fluttershy said.

“Oh what is it? Time to do some crusading!” Sweetie Belle chirped.

“It’s not overly exciting, but can you escort Owlicious back to the Library. He’s needs to go home now.” Fluttershy said, she went over to the coat rack where Owlicious was still perched at, “If she forgets about you, just come on over.”

“Whoo.”

“Cutie Mark Crusaders, Pet escorts!” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle jumped on the opportunity, Scootaloo was clearly less enthusiastic about the matter. Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at her.

“.... Hooray.” She mumbled.

Fluttershy could tell something was bugging her considerably, since it was inhibiting her energy for Cutie Mark Crusades. Owlicious thought that riding with Scootaloo would be a smarter idea, she was clearly less energetic about the matter and maybe a bit less jumpy. He took off from his perch and landed on her back, he rubbed his head up against her as she was notably ‘out of it’. She returned the gesture with a slight smile. Sweetie Belle took off out the door, Apple Bloom hot on her hooves.

“C’mon Scootaloo lets go.” They both yelled back at her, as they had left the door ajar.

“You guys go ahead without me. I’ll be there soon!” Scootaloo yelled back, as she walked out the door and closed it behind her, “Owlicious, there’s something I have to check. Sorry.”

Scootaloo trotted off the beaten path in the direction of the Everfree, looking behind her she saw Fluttershy’s bedroom window, the point of where she had been looking through. Owlicious gave a hoot.

She thought she was getting close to the spot where she saw that ‘thing’ last night. She didn’t even realize it as she fell into a metre deep hole in the ground.

“Waaa!” Scootaloo screamed as her wings instinctively flew open and slowed her landing. Owlicious had taken off, but he was still just waking up so he couldn’t flap very well yet. He was out of shape for an owl, despite his book runs for Twilight.

Landing with an audible ‘Oof’ Scootaloo, all the water from yesterdays rain had filled in and it looked like the water had only recently drained, the ground was still extremely waterlogged. Squelching noises from her movement as she climbed out of the hole, except it wasn’t a hole. It was a large ring in the ground, when she actually bothered to look. Skirting around the outside, she finally realized.

That thing had turned around on the spot, leaving this huge ring in the ground. Paying attention to the Everfree, there was a gap in the trees, one just had to look for it. It must have been where that thing was walking, the vacant space was quickly being reclaimed by the forest. Scootaloo wasn’t stupid enough to follow, but there were some legitimate tracks not all stamped over one another. They were weird, each individual step had two pronged ends where she assumed toes would be, but it was symmetrical, prongs where on both sides, and a larger connection through the middle. The print itself was easily 2 meters long, maybe a bit less than half that wide. Reassuring herself that it had retreated into the Everfree was the only refuge.

“Hoot.”

“Huh?”

“Whoo... Hoot.”

“I don’t know, if I did I wouldn’t be worrying about it.”

“Hoot.”

“You weren’t even awake to see that.”

“Whoo.”

“Oh you heard what happened this morning? Well, I got a job to do. Oh and not a word to anypony. They’ll think I’m crazy.”

“Whoo.”

“Owlicious I’m serious. Pinkie Promise “

“... Whoo.”

“Thank you.”

Scootaloo set off, taking one last look back at the area, she shivered at the thought of that thing and picked up the pace.

---

“Hey where’s Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle realized she wasn’t with them finally.

“Huh? She was right behind us.” Apple Bloom said.

“I’ll bet she’s off doing whatever. She always gets distracted.”

“Didn’t she have Owlicious?”

“Yeah. So?”

“Well who’s gonna take him back?”

“He can fly. No worries. If he has to he’ll fly home.”

Passing the Library, the group was reduced to a duo. Not giving a second thought about Scootaloo, it wasn’t the first time she went missing for no reason.

---

Scootaloo finally made it to the library. Knocking on the door, she was met with Spike, which was unusual in that he normally slept in to un-celestial hours. He instantly noticed she had Owlicious with her.

“Found him Twilight!”

“Oh thank goodness.” She called from the back.

“Does she normally forget about him?” Scootaloo asked Spike.

“Oh yeah, she forgets about him all the time. I’m generally the one that looks after him.”

“Hoot!”

“I get that you can look after yourself. Still.”

“Hoot.”

“Yeah, fair enough.”

“What?” Scootaloo asked.

“He helped me with looking after Peewee. But that’s beside the case.”

        Twilight showed up at the front door, Owlicious looked at her. He was clearly annoyed with her.

“Hoot.”

“Look I’m sorry alright. Nothing I can do about it.”

“Hoot!” Owlicious landed on Spike’s head.

    Spike turned around and looked at Twilight, which had reversed the way Owlicious was looking, but he looked around with his head being able to turn it almost 180 degrees in either direction.

“Twilight, he has a fair point. You’d never forget about me, and he’s your number one assistant’s, assistant. I don’t forget about him.”

Twilight was getting annoyed, now both Spike and Owlicious were getting on her case. Scootaloo staring at them wasn’t helping.

“Scootaloo if you don’t need anything run along.” Twilight said.

“But I do need something.” She said.

“Spike, Owlicious inside. You can be mad at me later.”

“Hoot.”

“Hey, I didn’t say I was mad  at you.” Spike said.

Twilight rolled her eyes, jerking her head in the direction of the door, “Inside. Both of you.”

Reluctantly Spike retreated into the tree library, Owlicious on his head. They were talking to each other, probably complaining about her.

“Alright, come on in. What book are you lookin’ for Scootaloo?” Twilight asked.

---

Casey’s hard landing had done a number on him. His entire body was in pain from the smackdown, which fairly accurate as one of the dropjets failed at the last moment, sending his ‘Mech plummeting the final 50 or so metres to the ground back first. Fortunately the force of the crash was distributed throughout the entirety of his Thor, which had a mostly flat back and legs, so no permanent damage was done. Getting the ‘Mech back on it’s feet would be the challenge though.

A ‘Mech was a very stable machine, gyroscopes doing their job to keep it from falling over from weapons fire, particularly gauss rifles and auto-cannons, and as Ethan had shown a few days earlier, other ‘Mechs when applied appropriately. However when a ‘Mech got knocked over, getting it back up was a demanding task to say the least, and it was extremely hard on the bearing joints on the ‘Mech itself. The best way to flip a ‘Mech over was to pull it back up via VTOL, but that wasn’t an option. The next best way was to get the front facing down and keep the legs facing up right, putting them as close into standing position as possible and then pulling the torso up. Scout ‘Mechs could do this easily, a heavy ‘Mech not so much.

Casey put the cannons on the arms into a flat position parallel to the ground and flipped the ‘Mech’s torso over, at one point having the entirety of the weight on the left shoulder. Following the rest of the procedure was easy enough and went fine, the gyroscopes pulled the near 14 metre tall ‘Mech into an upright position. It was night time out, Casey flicked the switch to turn on the flood lamps, they lit up the area in and around his ‘Mech. He had landed in a desert, sand going on for miles, with mesa’s and mountain ranges around him.

“Hey, is anyone else out there?” Casey spoke into his radio only to be replied with static.

Talking to himself, “Damn. Must be out of range.”

Doing a quick recap in his head Casey ran through what he knew. He was alone out in the middle of nowhere, no allies within radio range or not responding, and had no idea where to go. Ethan lectured him on how to react in this situation.

“Don’t alert anyone to your presence. That means no radio, no radar, and definitely no engaging hostile forces. Assume everything locally is hostile until proven otherwise. Remain as stealthy as possible and look for friendly forces to link up with.”

Switching his radar off the onboard computer chimed “Radar off, passive sensors engaged.” The moon was fairly low in the sky, but looked to be rising meaning it was fairly early in the night. It looked like his compass was working fine so he wouldn’t be wandering in circles aimlessly. As a ‘Mechwarrior he packed extra rations, so he was fine for food and water at least for a few days.

Choosing to go west towards the mountains in the area so he could get some elevation on the entire region Casey set off in his Thor. Locking the speed in at 50 kilometres an hour, the ‘Mech lurched forward the mountains were off in the distance, 200 kilometres away, maybe more. He wouldn’t be there until sun rise that was for sure.

To pass the time, Casey did a full diagnostic on his Thor. Two of the heat sinks in the ER Laser in the right Torso were damaged, and the loading mechanism for one of the LRM 10’s he was now sporting was jammed. The heat sinks could be replaced easily, but the loader for the LRM 10 might be a difficult to fix. He hoped the rest of the lance made it down alright, but they were now faced with a new problem. They had no jumpship to take them home; Planner’s had taken the dropship in manually, but Casey suspected it crashed and burned all the same. Their dropship wherever the hell Ashley had landed the thing didn’t even have cargo doors.

As time went on, the moon finally made it’s decent in the west, but it had fallen behind the mountain range that Casey was heading towards a few minutes before. 15 minutes later, the sun crept up on the east and the badlands was fully lit up. It just went on, in every direction to the horizon line, and logically further than that. He had covered a lot of ground, the mountain range had appeared to get significantly bigger.

By mid morning, Casey was at the foot of the mountain range. His Thor was baked in the sun, that was becoming more intense by the moment. This caused his reactor temperature to be slightly higher than normal. That would be a problem if he was forced into any engagements. Checking the relative heat dissipation, it was below where it normally would have been. Absolute heat efficiency in his Thor was around 70%, which meant that if the reactor spiked up 1000 kelvin over five seconds, 700 kelvin would cool down in the same time frame, as it stood, relative heat efficiency was around 60%, just because of the temperature wasteland he was in.

Climbing up the mountain proved difficult, Casey’s Thor didn’t have jumpjets, which made it difficult to move vertically on anything 55 degrees or greater on an upwards slope. The mountains were ragged, but the material they were made out of crumbled easily adding that much more difficulty trying to take a step up. Not that it actually mattered much, he had just fallen from space a few hours prior. Upon reaching the top, about a thousand metres up from ground level in that area, the new field of view only showed more limitless desert or badlands.

Casey sighed, the AC unit in his cabin and his coolant supported pilot suit were fighting a losing battle against the slightly above normal reactor temperature and local climate. Casey opened up the survival set to fetch water, he’d have to ration it, at least until he found somewhere to refill. Immediately after looking up from some water, he saw it in the distance.

A single puff of smoke, not much but something; he set a nav marker for it. He threw the water bottle aside, it landed somewhere he didn’t see where and eased the 70 metric tonne ‘Mech back down the cliff face. Going down was a lot easier said than done. The rock cracked and turned to dust under the enormous weight of the walking giant. On occasion, rocks would seemingly explode when jostled or pushed around, after an hour of travel, the sand made a gradual change to desert pavement, which crunched under the stress of being walked on by so much weight.

Casey’s Thor didn’t blend into well, he had the techs repaint it to his favourite colour scheme; a Steiner Arctic paint job without that damned Steiner logo. Most of the rocks the pavement was made out of had undergone desert varnish which turned the upside black. His Thor stood out like a sore thumb. At least the colour layout he chose didn’t absorb light and turn it to heat like black would have; that was the only positive thought he could draw out from his current situation. He had reached the approximate location of where he set his nav marker, the computer chimed ‘Nav point alpha reached.’

To his surprise hefound a railroad track, it wasn’t smoke he had seen, but steam. It went off in both directions, north and south off into the horizon. The sand around the track was hard, it had been compacted down by the repeated stress of trains passing over it, which meant that it was commonly used, or had been just recently built. This was worth mentioning to the others, if anyone was listening.

“Delta three, we’re not alone out here be on your guard. Does anyone read me?”

Actually, this was good news. They might actually have a chance of getting off this planet now. Though, steam engines? That was ancient technology, maybe they used them for tours or something. That tech was prehistoric era, they hadn’t been actively used by anyone for more than a 1100 years. Casey shook the logical thought out of his head, at least that meant they weren’t stuck on an uncharted world. He was over analyzing.

“*Sckkkkk* Casey? My god is that you? This is Echo one, I read you. It’s Price!”

“Holy shit! Sara. Thank Christ. I thought I would be stuck out here alone for weeks. Where you at?”

“My radio’s... ucked up and my ‘Mech is... tuck... but I made it down alright.”

“Where you at? I need some coordinates.”

“Transmitting now.”

According to the nav point that just appeared on his heads up display, she was 17 Kilometres north approximately. Which meant he was going to have to follow the tracks in that general direction.

“What did you mean we’re not alone out here?” Sara asked.

“I’ve found something that hints we’re not the only smart people out here.”

“You mean, the only smart person out here?” She cracked.

“Oh, har har. Anyways there’s railway tracks out here. I’m following them north. Towards you.”

“Hm. Alright. That’s good.... I think.”

“If not. Well, we’ve got enough ammunition to supply a small army. So we’re up for anything if this goes sour.” Casey reasoned. In reality he was just telling himself what he wanted to hear.

“Anyone else make it?” Sara asked.

“Not sure. But if you made it down, who's to say no one else did.”

“Copy.”

“Anything else you want to add ma’am?”

“Yes.”

“... Well?” Casey asked.

“Where the hell are we?”

“That’s a damn good question.”

Stranded on an unknown world was the least of their problems. MechWarriors were trained to survive out in the field for months. The problem was they couldn’t get off planet, and had no means of contacting anyone off world. Their radio packs weren’t strong enough to break through em interference out of atmosphere, which is why they lost contact on the way down.

Casey’s Thor trudged along side of the railway, the sand was a lot more compacted in around the tracks making it easier for the ‘Mech to walk. He also noticed that another line of track forked off and went north east, the line he followed kept heading north. He pushed the ‘Mech upto 50 kilometres per hour, which was as fast as his Thor would go before it got too rocky in the cockpit for Casey to keep his lunch down. The Thor did it’s best to keep itself level while going extremely quickly by taking longer strides. This only worked up to a certain point, Casey figured out that was about 55 kilometres an hour; though he could if he wanted to push the Thor right up into the low 70’s if he needed to.

Casey also noticed the reactor temperature was rising faster than it usually was at this speed, most likely because of the local climate. It was now almost noon, the sun beating down on Casey’s Thor, relative efficiency dropped even further, now just 55%. That was very terrible for a heavy class ‘Mech, that would be something you’d expect from an Assault ‘Mech with no heat sinks. Which reminded Casey. Lauren was out there somewhere in ‘Mech that dwarfed his Thor. Her Blood Asp would stick out like a sore thumb, not even passive radar would be able to hide a ‘Mech that big if it was moving too quickly. But then again, Lauren was part of Sara’s lance, he wasn’t sure what her protocols were on the matter.

“Sara, what’s the stealth stuff for you lance?”

“Why do you ask? Also incase you’ve forgot my ‘Mech is trapped.”

“Firstly my ‘Mech is running hot, so your complaining isn’t helping. Secondly, Lauren’s Blood Asp can’t hide under passive radar if it’s moving at, well a good speed.”

“Hmm. Haven’t thought about that. The Highlanders liked the direct approach, I didn’t bother giving them a lecture on being separated from the lance. Anyways, my radar’s on so you’ll be able to pick me up when you get here. Believe me you’ll need it.”

What the hell was that supposed to mean? ‘Believe me you’ll need it.’ Casey’s nav point tracker showed her marker was less than a kilometre away. The landscape had changed from desert pavement to hard sand and mesa’s. It had been about twenty minutes since Casey set off in Sara’s direction.

        Arriving at the Nav Marker only showed what was left of the side of a canyon wall, and a huge pile of rubble, Sara Shadow Cat had it’s upper torso sticking out of the and the legs buried under the rock. The exit to the canyon had been filled in by the debris.

“How the fuck did you manage that?” Casey laughed.

Sara got annoyed, this wasn’t funny. It had been the worst ‘hot drop’ of her life. If you could count being dropped from orbit after your dropship went up in flames.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up fuck face. When I came down I smashed into the top of the canyon wall, damn thing collapsed and now I’m here, I can’t aim that low from this position.” Sara barked.

Casey noticed that the railway tracks had been covered over with debris from the canyon wall. She had taken a good chunk out of it, and fallen at least 70 metres from the top only to have the rockslide catch up with her and cover over her ‘Mech. That also meant that train he had seen had gone south, or it followed the north east route where it forked off awhile back. Either way, there was civilization in at least one of those directions.

“Hey! Can you hurry it up, It’s like fifty fuckin’ degrees in my cabin.” Sara barked again.

“What the hell do you want me to do? It’s not like I can just shoot them away. The majority of my weapons are energy based. I’d end up turning the stone to glass and fusing it to your ‘Mech!.” Casey shouted back through the radio.

“I was thinking more on the lines of missiles.” Sara suggested, “Blow the rocks away.”

“Yeah, that’s too bad the loader for my LRM 10 is jammed, also two of my heat sinks are damaged, you’re not the only one burning alive from the heat.”

“Yeah, but YOU’RE not the one that’s been buried with their cabin facing the sky so that the god damn sunbeams right through the glass. Now find some way to get me OUT of here. Please!” Sara begged.

Casey could tell she was getting upset, hesitantly Casey shot the pile of rubble with a gauss round. The rocks shattered and his reactor temperature spiked a bit, only an additional 100 degrees Kelvin, but it wasn’t helping either way. The heat slowly dissipated off from 400 kelvin back down to 300 kelvin. It was so hot out that the reactor was running 300 kelvin above normal. Which was alright, as it was designed to operate at temperatures that were upwards of 8000 kelvin above normal operating temperatures.

The round the light gauss rifle shot itself didn’t create much heat, it was the amount of energy the miniature railgun required to shoot an object out of it. The discharge from the capacitors was what created the heat. Nothing compared to the heat created when you fired a pair of PPC’s, Ethan had told him stories of times he had nearly melted his ‘Mech because of repeated PPC usage. If they weren’t cooling properly, they could add 1200 kelvin to your temperature dial in a single shot.

Another gauss round released the Shadow Cat’s left leg, which allowed Sara to kick the remaining rubble off. She followed with the not-so-pretty way of getting your ‘Mech back on its feet. Gyroscopes screeched as the ‘Mech righted itself. As it stood, Sara’s Shadow Cat barely came up past the Thor’s middle torso.

“Oh thank god. You have no idea what it’s like to be woken up by the sun blasting in your eyes. It’s terrible.” Sara said.

“Oh yeah, I can imagine.” Casey laughed, “You got word from anyone else?”

“No and... DAMMIT.”

“What’s up?”

“Diagnostic just completed itself, Shade’s busted up.”

Shade, that must of been what Sara nicknamed her ‘Mech Casey though. A suited name, even though it was coloured white and black.

“Alright, I’ll bite. What’s the bad news?” Casey asked.

Sara sighed, “Two of the MG arrays are busted, one’s jammed. One of my LRM’s isn’t even showing up as existing on my ‘Mechs loadout, wiring must be screwed up. Left arm took a number too. Also, I’ve thrown out my right shoulder. You have no idea how much it hurts.”

“Damn. I came down with some scorched paint, a busted heat sink, oh and a jammed missile rack loader.”

“Lucky. AH. Anyways, lets get OW moving. You... GAHH”

“Uh you alright?”

“Alright, so what’s the deal lead?”

Sara wasn’t sure what to do, “Sit rep?”

“We’re stuck on an unknown world, somewhere within colonized space. No idea where we are, separated from everyone else and we have no dropship at our disposal, or a jumpship to take us home.” Casey explained.

“So we’re fucked it what you’re saying?” Sara asked.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“Hmm... Lets go make contact with the locals. It’s not like this situation can get much worse. You said there’s likely to be civilization Northeast, or South? I say we go North, it might take us out of the desert, into a place where it’s not so fucking hot. But that’s just me bitching. No, I’m not in a very good mood.” She said sarcastically.

“Alright, you take the lead. I’m linking into your HUD. Designate as Delta 3.”

Casey wasn’t suited for lead... yet. Ethan told him he was a damn good pilot but better at doing what he was told to do rather than tell other people what to do. It was an honest opinion, Casey didn’t deny it. He’d rather help out then give direction.

Sara set off Northeast, the Canyon walls simply faded into nothing. It was weird how it did that, like it wasn’t natural. Unfortunately, after about two hours of heading north the random conversation Casey was bringing up was getting on Sara’s nerves..

“So how’d you end up as a lance lead? Or do I want to know?” Casey asked.

“That’s.... a long story.”

“You gonna share, or feel like sharing?”

“No. Not really.”

That was fair, a good majority of ‘Mechwarriors had a troubled past. Leaders generally had the worst of the stories to tell. Casey recalled Ethan’s story, it still sent chills down his spine to think that....

“Well what about you? How did the cocky as hell ‘Mechwarrior get into a lance lead by one of the best leaders I’ve ever seen?”

“Well you know. When you’re on a backwater rock and options are limited...”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s what I thought. He scooped you up from nowhere.”

“Whatever.” Casey shrugged.

“You know you should really come up with a better excuse.” Sara pestered, “Or that’s gonna get old real quick.”

“Sure, I’ll get *right* on that.”

The chatter was annoying the hell out Sara, she liked her lance quiet she remembered that one time...

---

“I am so sick of this crap.” Demetri complained.

“Demetri.” Sara said.

“I cannot believe we’re having to do this. This is bullsh...”

“Demetri!” Sara shouted.

“What?!” Demetri shouted back.

“Drink some vodka.”

“Why?”

“Because you get a little bitchy when you’re sober... ”

Avery and Lauren laughed, Avery who was still a kid by Sara’s standards could stay up until ungodly hours or better yet pull consecutive all-nighters. Lauren knew well enough to just shut her mouth.(There’s your damn snickers joke, I got tired of seeing these everywhere. Now I’m just helping put it in it’s grave.)

---

Ethan’s group on the other hand seemed to be having a box social whenever they jumped behind the controls of their ‘Mechs. Sara liked the idea of ‘No news is good news’ so she had her lance be quiet as much as possible, another bonus was there wasn’t much information to intercept from them if anyone was on the same radio frequency as them.

Sara considered that Casey was Ethan’s third in lance, and he also had the heaviest ‘Mech of his lance. She hadn’t seen him in action, but Demetri had made a few positive comments about his piloting, which was rare for him to comment anyone. That was after they had taken down the Atlas. He must be a hell of a pilot for Ethan to put up with him, or maybe different things irritated them, Ethan seemed a lot like her from their conversations over the last week or so.

The pair continued northwest for a few hours, Casey finally shut up after fifteen minutes, much to Sara’s relief. Sara was constantly checking to make sure they were still following the tracks, if they got off course they might start going in circles. After four hours, Casey had a ping appear on his radar.

“Lead, got a contact, coming in from the south east.” Casey said.

“Probably a train, lets break off. Find some cover.” Sara ordered.

That was the problem, they were in flatlands now, they could see to the horizon in every direction and there was nothing to take cover behind. They were completely exposed.

“Contact, 750 metres out. It’ll be here in a minute or so.” Casey said, “What do we do?”

“Looks like we’re gonna have to outrun it until we get some cover.”

Casey accelerated his Thor as fast as it would go, it was just after 17:00 according to his heads up display but the sun was still fairly high in the sky, Casey’s reactor temperature didn’t raise much although it was already running hot. Casey’s Thor lurched forward, quickly reaching it’s 73 Km/h top speed, Sara’s ‘Mech, her Shadow Cat which she nicknamed “Shade” could outrun Casey’s Thor. Being able to push 87 Km/h but made for an unnecessarily rocky ride, Sara locked the speed in at 75 kilometres per hour. Hopefully that train wouldn’t be able to catch up to them. The Shadow Cat’s leg assembly allowed it to move quickly without shaking the pilot up too much.

Sara’s Shadow Cat was running even hotter than Casey’s Thor, her weaponry wasn’t as energy dependant so she had little need for heatsinks. The few energy weapons Casey had made a lot of heat if repeatedly used. Shade’s reactor was running 650 degrees Kelvin above normal. Which cut heat efficiency from 72% to 60%. On her radar, Casey was keeping up, her HUD showed that he was moving at 73 Km/h.

“Casey, you’re gonna lag behind push your ‘Mech.” Sara ordered.

“73’s her limit. Can’t push her any faster.” Casey responded. “That’s the drawback of 14 Metric Tonnes of armour.”

Casey’s words were stuttered, unlike the Shadow Cat, his Thor got very rocky as it moved faster he was shaken around semi-violently. The leg assembly on the Thor was fairly human like, outward joints at the knees, and a set at the hips and ‘ankles’ of the ‘Mech. Sara’s Shadow Cat was an older style ‘Mech but used the backwards inner joint assembly that looked like a birds legs. It made for a smoother ride but that style couldn’t be used on any heavier ‘Mechs at the time. Recent Heavy ‘Mechs that came to mind for Casey right away was the Catapult and the MadCat, which used the bird joint set to move.

Turning the torso around 180 degrees showed that they were outrunning the incoming train, it wasn’t on radar anymore. But there still wasn’t any cover to move off to or hide behind. Flatlands went off in every direction off into the horizon. The shaking of his ‘Mech was giving Casey nausea fortunately he hadn’t ate anything in the last few hours so he wouldn’t be spewing his lunch all over his cabin. The loud thumping noises made by the ‘Mechs feet smashing into the hardsand and rocks around the track only made a growing headache worse as time went on. Casey put his ‘Mech into autopilot mode following a single vector until otherwise stated. He searched around the cabin for some pain relievers, or at least his bottle of water that he had discarded aside earlier. Looked like they would be running for the next few hours.


> Suffer The Silence
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Scootaloo had got a weird book from Twilight, she was able make up a tale while she talked to her about what she was looking for, apparently this monstrosity was the answer. Mythological Creatures and Beings, she knew it was silly; but there might be something that could help her explain what she had seen the night prior. She lied again to Twilight straight to her face about what she wanted the book for, she brought it back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders Clubhouse. She had her own dedicated work space there as well as some paper and some other things she would need.

        She decided it would be best to keep a journal of the stuff she was doing here. If only so she wasn’t repeating herself thinking about it later.

        The book’s table of contents didn’t provide much in the way of what she was looking for, it was just types of mythological beings so she’d have to guess what it was. She did know it was physical so it wasn’t a ghost or a revenant or anything along the lines of post-mortem beings, which was chapter 3 according to the table of contents.

The few moments she had seen it were burned into her head, every feature she could tell in the split second it was lit up, every detail. It walked upright, taller than most trees she had ever seen, and had this really weird set of two legs. It walked with almost bird like legs... almost. It had a pair of joints above and below the middle section of its legs.

“Where to start?” She thought to herself.

        This was something she had to do by herself as well, nopony would have believed her if she told them. Owlicious knew a bit of it... there was no way he’d be able to piece the puzzle together himself. Nopony else had seen it except for her. Hopefully this book would have some answers.

        Another thing that might help would be if she drew a picture of the thing while it was still fresh in her mind. Pulling up a notebook out of the drawers of a desk she tried to find one that was empty. There was other notebooks in here, filled with plans they had thought of like getting back at Babs or how they tried to get Big Macintosh and Cheerilee together, neither of those went too well. Most of their plans didn’t work exactly the way they wanted them too.

“Ah here’s one.” She said aloud, it was a green notebook. It looked like another one that Sweetie Belle had taken from class, she really needed to stop doing that. Then again, most of their supplies were ‘procured’ from the school house.

        She couldn’t remember exactly tall it was, she needed something to compare it to, a point of reference. It was taller than Fluttershy’s cottage that was for sure. She could do that though, draw the cottage, it would be more fun than having to sit there and read an old book. Scootaloo packed up her things, the book, a pencil, an eraser, and the notebook. It was a heavy load. There would be no way she could to carry that book everywhere constantly. She supposed she have to haul it around in the wagon that she attached to her scooter-skateboard.

Rainbow Dash was nice enough to get her a new one after the old was lost over the Winsome Falls. But this one wasn’t blue, it was green. She missed her old one; they never found the debris after it went over the falls, much to her dismay.

        She put on her helmet before she realized she had forgotten to get a new attachment for the wagon to fit onto. She sighed; the trailer hook-up had been in two parts, one for the handle on the wagon and the other part at the back of her old scooter. It was a simple link; an extension on the handle just slotted onto the hook at the back of the scooter, but she didn’t have the tailhook anymore. She also didn’t have any bits to get a new one, maybe Rainbow Dash could help her find the old one or get a new one. Scootaloo put the book, and the notebook she had away in the secret compartment in the clubhouse, the space under a loose floorboard. Thankfully Babs never found it when she temporarily hijacked the clubhouse with Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. Not even Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle knew about it, more secrets that she kept from the other crusaders.

        Scootaloo put her helmet on and then jumped on her new scooter, it was awesome, but it didn’t feel like her old one. It was like that feeling you got when you put on a new pair of shoes, they’re nice but they’re just not the same. With a strong kick she took off, the traffic in and out of the clubhouse had created a path that she could use her scooter on, it was still bumpy and would be until she got onto the main road.

“Where to find Rainbow Dash?” She thought, it was almost noon so she might be napping. It was also Saturday, so she’d most likely be having a nap or sleeping in if she didn’t have any work to do later. Either way she had a fifty-fifty chance of either. Finding her would be easy enough she normally slept over the park, in a tree or on a cloud.

        The dusty dirt road from Sweet Apple Acres went right into the cobblestone paved streets of ponyville. It was a 20 minute ride at most, she took the time to think to herself. What could that thing have been? That thing left footprints unlike anything she had ever seen. Definitely not a ghost. So what did that make it? That book had to have something on it, or maybe that book had nothing on it because it clearly wasn’t mythical. She might have to go get a different book. The initial scare it gave her was turning into a curiosity she couldn’t suppress.

        It was 11:50 when she made it into Ponyville, the streets weren’t exactly bustling with life or excitement but that’s how it always was on a Saturday, ponies taking their time off to spend with their families, it got busier at night on weekends then it did during the day in Ponyville. The park was just ahead, Rainbow Dash wouldn’t be out on a cloud it was clear today and she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she had the sun shining in her face.

        Surely enough there she was in the same old oak tree, she snored really loudly too. Scootaloo didn’t want to wake her up, but she needed that part.

“Um... Rainbow Dash?” She asked quietly.

Surprisingly she woke up, “Hey, something you need kiddo?” She said as she stretched.

“Whoa, how did you hear me?” Scootaloo asked.

“Oh... it’s um never mind.” Rainbow said, Rainbow changed the subject “What did you do to your mouth?”

“Ummm, it’s nothing don’t worry about it.” She lied. Her lower lip had scabbed over, it was itchy but that meant it was healing.

“So you need something?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh boy.” Scootaloo thought. She forgot to make up a story to tell her why she needed that part, she’d just have to wing it again.

“Uhhh.... A bit of both actually. See I was going to hook the wagon up to my new scooter you got me but I realized I don’t have the hook anymore. So I was wondering if you wanted to go back up to Winsome Falls and see if we could find the part?” Scootaloo said, she wasn’t lying... yet.

“Scoots there’s no way we’re gonna be able to find that old scooter, yet alone the parts. I like a challenge, but impossible is impossible, it’s not gonna happen. I’m sorry we couldn’t find it after the trip.” Rainbow explained.

        Scootaloo sighed, with a slight frown on her face.

“It’s why I got you that new one. I forgot about that though you do kinda need to hook the wagon up to your scooter don’t you? Come on lets go see if Big Mac can make you a new hook for it.” Rainbow said, “Is there any reason why you need it right now?”

Scootaloo’s stomach churned, now she had lie, “No, but if the other crusaders need to go anywhere in a hurry I’m the pony they count on.” She smiled afterwards. That wasn’t exactly a lie, that was a truth. But it wasn’t the real reason why she needed it at this moment.

        Rainbow Dash stretched again and then jumped down from the tree, her cloud pillow floated away when she got off of it. Scootaloo sighed, now they were going back the way she just came from. That was pointless.

“Hey Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Where’s Tank?”

“Oh he’s around. He may look like he’s timid. But he’s got a lot of energy built up. You just can’t stop that guy.”

        Scootaloo giggled,  but she still had that mish-mash of thoughts haunting her at the back of her head. Until she actually figured out what was going on here she’d probably be even more sleep deprived than usual.

        Trotting along her mind wandered to what was next, she wanted to draw a picture before she forgot what it looked like, after that she’d take a photo of the foot prints. Featherweight might let her borrow a camera again... maybe. She supposed she’d have to lie to him as well. After that, read the big book, maybe get a different book; Mythical Creatures and Beings probably didn’t have the answer she was looking for. Then what? She wondered if it was friendly... Scootaloo shook her head; how in Equestria would that thing be friendly? Menacing was more accurate.

“Come on kid, you’re falling behind!” Rainbow called out.

Scootaloo’s thoughts had slowed down her walking speed. “Wait for me Rainbow Dash.” Scootaloo called back as she picked up the pace.

When she caught up to Rainbow she asked. “You alright? You look kinda out of it?”

Now she had to lie again. “Yeah I’m fine Rainbow.” Scootaloo said with a smile.

Rainbow Dash shrugged, “Okay then.”

Backtracking along the road the duo passed the library, Twilight had just stepped out, Spike right behind her.

Rainbow Dash stopped, “Hey Twilight what’s up?”

“The Princess gave me an assignment!” Twilight seemed very pleased about more work. “It’s just a check up on the Crystal Empire, but things have been boring around here lately. I leave tomorrow but there’s some things I need to get before I go”

“Oh, uh. When will you be back? And what’s goin’ on with Spike then?”

“To your first question, a week at the most. To your second, Spike’s coming with me this time. Celestia’s message told me to take him along. I’m not sure why that would be. Last time we were there he had things just fine here. Isn’t that right Spike?”

“Oh yeah! It was all good!” He lied.

        Scootaloo laughed, that was a one hay of a weekend when Spike ‘looked’ after everypony’s pets. Spike’s face went red.

“What’s so funny?” Rainbow and Twilight asked in unison.

“Oh nothing!” Scootaloo pipped, then she realized she had lied again and stopped. Spike let out a sigh of relief.

“Oookay then. What are you two up to anyway?” Twilight asked.

Scootaloo went to speak up but Rainbow cut her off. “Scoots and me were gonna go up to Sweet Apple Acres to see if Big Mac could make her a new tailhook for her scooter.”

“Why does she need a new... oh right. I’m remember you telling me now. Sorry about your scooter, Scootaloo.” Twilight said.

“Nah, it’s alright. It could have been a lot worse.”

---

        A quiet walk home after work, late at night even, was relaxing. Being a security guard wasn’t exhilarating work, but it paid the bills. Plus he liked the quiet, just pacing around keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Night Watcher enjoyed his job. It wasn’t exactly glamorous, but every so often something fun would happen that would mix the job up a bit. Because the museum was doing renovations at the moment he had to do some other less than appealing jobs to keep a steady flow of income. Being a doorpony or bouncer, which was the more common term, had to fill the gap for another few weeks while the renovations were completed.

The luxurious VIP parties in Manehattan would take place on rooftops during the middle of the night, late Friday nights and all the way into early Saturday mornings were the worst. The rich ponies would always need some sort of bouncer to keep the bad apples out, or if they had common sense (most didn’t) anypony under age for drinking, or remove any unruly characters from the floor.

        Watcher couldn’t argue, the work kept a roof over his head. Fortunately tonight he had been able to get out early, it was only 4:00 AM. It would still be a half hour walk back home but it would be nice to get in while the sun was still down for once. Saturday mornings were quiet in this neighbourhood. It was partly cloudy but not even the light pollution from the city could drown out the moonlight if it wasn’t covered by clouds. Right now one of the larger clouds in the sky had hidden the moon behind it. A newspaper got carried down the street toward him in the wind, he stomped on it to stop it, then picked it up to read it in the street light.

        It was The Manehattan Observer, a weekly post. This one was from Wednesday prior. Doing a quick run through, he found there wasn’t much interesting. The was something about a tennis tournament in a week, a medical convention that had started yesterday, the upcoming election for a new mayor, and a Wonderbolts show. Aside from news, there was the comic strips: Batmare, For Better Or For Worse, and Krazy Kolt were the ones in this week's issue. The comics were pretty good this week, other than the typical cliches Batmare pulled, but you learned to love them.

        His home was just outside of the downtown area, where it actually got quiet at night. Street lights were on, and the occasional carriage would pass but other then that, nothing. It was as quiet as it could possibly get for a metropolis. The majority of lights in apartments were out. The odd amber glow from a window giving character to the cityscape even if the apartments here were only a few stories tall at the most. Unlike the new buildings downtown, Queens was one the older districts. The buildings here were old style and actually had alleyways between them. Every so often a trashcan might get toppled or a dumpster smacked against.

        Watcher was maybe a block from the apartment complex he lived in when one such noise came from an alleyway just ahead of him which made his ears perk up.

Clang. hmmmm.

        The hum was so faint you’d have to be trained to hear it. Watcher was trained to pick out the slightest sound. Normally he worked for the museum’s nightshift but they were doing renovations so he wasn’t needed at night for a couple weeks. Other jobs that he could do in the meantime, like being a door bouncer for the parties filled in the gap while he was out of work.

Hmmm. Clunk. Clunk. Vrzzz.

        He approached the alleyway, a warm gust of wind blew across his face. Something didn’t feel right, the light in the alleyway dropped off quickly from the opening to the street. The streetlights here were off to the left and right and any light going into the alley cut off fairly quickly. Not even the light pollution from the city background managed to find its way into all the corners of the metropolis, apparently this alleyway was one of such corners.

“Anypony down there?!” Watcher called into the darkness.

        Silence was deafening, the only thing that returned was a slight echo and not much else. Taking a step into the alleyway made his conscience scream ‘No! What the buck are you doing?’. Watcher hesitated, curiosity fighting a war with his common sense. He was about to withdraw when he rationalized what could possibly hurt him out here? This wasn’t a crime hotspot. In fact, no area even near here had high crime rates. Curiosity won out with that thought. He took a few steps in.

Clunk. Hmm.

        The light ran out after about four metres into the alleyway. Now he was blinded from a lack of light; he hoped that the clouds would be shifted, maybe shine just a little bit of light into the alley. He walked a few more metres in when...

Clatter. Twang. Tinkle.

Watcher bolted around, a pop can rolled into the light at the end of the alley. After that a shape jumped down from the side of the alley, maybe from a box. It also wandered into the light at the end of the alley.

        It was a cat, just a stray, there were lots of them around here. It looked over at Watcher; cats could see really well in the dark. It looked at him, the reflective eyes made the cat that much creepier because they ‘glowed’ in the dark. then it hissed, it was loud even from this distance and he was maybe 6 metres from the cat. Then it recoiled before bounding out of the alley. Watcher grinned, it was nothing to worry about.

Hmmm. Clunk. CLUNK. HMM.

        Or... maybe not. Watcher was still looking at the exit to the alleyway, but green light was creeping its way from up behind him, on the walls but it was on the ground as well. Watcher spun around on the spot and went back on his hooves. He was greeted with a large metal bat slamming into him right in the ribcage. The impact winded him and sent him flying out of the alley and landing in the middle of the sidewalk. Watcher landed on his back only to have that noise getting closer.

Clunk. Clunk. Clunk. Hmmm.

        He didn’t even know what his attacker looked like, everything he could see was just a blur. The faint green light emanating from the alleyway was getting closer to the street. He tried to flip himself around, but it felt like every bone in his chest was broken.

        His attacker had stepped into the twilight zone of the alleyway where it was just bright enough to make it out; Watcher had landed in the more intense area of effect of one of the street lights, his vision was compromised by the excess light. His pupils slowly adjusted themselves to the amount of light he received from the street. After a few moments he could see his attacker.

        This... thing was tall, at least three metres tall. It was bipedal, it stood on two extremely powerful legs. Green light emitted from its joints, lines across its body, and from two extensions on what he assumed were its shoulders. On its right shoulder there was some sort of extension attached to it. Its left arm ended in a huge claw, like a gryphon. Its other arm, had nothing, it ended in a stub. His mind went back to the attack, it wasn’t a bat that had hit him, it was its arm. The body was green, except in some places where it was scorched black. The head, or what he assumed was its head had no eyes, no mouth, and no visible ears, just a faceless, expressionless stare. How did that thing see or eat for that matter?

        The weirdest part about it was, it was metallic. Light from the street lights reflected off of the parts of it that weren’t blackened extremely well. The entire creature top to bottom was made out of metal. When it moved it sounded like a robot, but its motions were too fluid, too smooth to actually be one. Then it raised its right arm, and pointed it at him. It didn’t end in a stub like he originally thought, there middle portion was hollow. It almost looked like a cannon.

        He had managed to shuffle backwards a few feet, he was on the street now. The pains in his chest was suppressed by the adrenaline rush that went to his head. The thing pointed it’s right arm, using it’s claw to hold the right arm. What only lasted seconds felt like hours; Watcher didn’t know what was about to happen. The uncertainty would have made him panic if he could move without hurting so much.

Pew!

The sound it made was quiet, it broke the silence of the night, but was still very quiet. It shot some kind of magical green bolt, but it missed him and hit the cobblestone road at the base of his hooves. The stones that made up the street exploded outwards, crumbling when they hit the ground some came down on top of Watcher hitting him in the chest and spiked the pain again. He wanted to scream but he couldn’t get any air into his lungs. The creature took aim again before it hesitated, Watcher became aware of a new sound coming from up the street. It was a carriage. His ears were ringing and a few lights in the nearby buildings were turning on.

        The creature turned its entire body to look up the street, it couldn’t move its head freely by the looks of it. Before it turned around and bolted back into the alleyway. Watcher looked at it flee, its back was scorched black and there were dents in it just below the shoulders, down its back, and even parts of it looks to have been torn off. The sounds it made while it was running were bizarre; the clunking was its feet or hooves or claws, or whatever it had hitting the ground. But it hummed and sounded like mechanical parts moving otherwise.

        Thankfully the carriage stopped and a pony got out of it, the two other ponies that pulled it unhooked them selves. The one that had been in the carriage had already approached Watcher. Had he still been in the alleyway nopony would have seen him until morning because his fur was mostly carbon black, and he was only an earth pony, so he had no way of indicating he was there. He tried to yell but he didn’t have the breath for it. The pony that had approached him was older than he was, in fact he looked very elderly.

“You alright, son?” The old pony asked.

“Do I look like I’m alright!?” Watcher coughed. He was struggling to breathe and it felt like somepony had jumped on his ribcage.

“Hey be nice.” The older pony replied.

        Another pony had gotten out of the carriage at this point, and the two that had been pulling the carriage had formed up around him. This new pony was white, a mare, wearing a coat, and had a red cross on her flanks.

“Move aside!” She barked.

        The two that had been pulling the carriage got shoved away, she was a nurse.

“What happened here?” She asked.

“I got jumped.” He was barely cognisant at this point.

One of the ponies was examining the ground by him. “What could have done this?”

        There was a hole at maybe a foot deep into the cobblestone road, molten slag in the bottom of it, and the rocks around the rim were red hot. There wasn’t enough scattered material around them to fill in the hole, so a major portion must have been vaporized. The second driving pony had a camera and took a photo.

The mare rejected what he had said. “Pfft. Jumped? You’re a damn mess. Help me move him.”

“No wait!”

        The older looking pony had tried to flip him over by pushing his ribcage, which made Watcher shout in agony.

“GAHHH!”

        More lights in nearby houses came on, somepony even opened a window and shouted out.

“What’s going on down there?!” It was a male voice.

“We could use some help!” The elder pony called back.

        The pony from the window jumped out, he was a pegasus.

“What happened here?” He asked when he touched down.

“That’s exactly what we asked.” The older pony said. “Who are you?”

“I’m the superintendent of that building.” He gestured towards the building he had flown out of.

“Enough small talk, we have to get him out of here.” The mare said.

“We have a stretcher in the main office. Let me get it.” The superintendent left and returned a few minutes later with another pony.

“Ready to move him.”

The white mare found a stick nearby and put it sideways into his mouth.

“Bite that.” She said.

“One.”

        This was going to hurt... a lot.

“Two.”

        By Celestia, here it comes.

“Three”

        Watcher bit the stick as hard as possible but the HHERRMMMM sound he made only gave hint to how much pain he was in. They had pulled him onto the stretcher. The adrenaline was wearing off, which had numbed a bit of the pain.

“Alright, lets get him out of here. That wasn’t too bad was it?” She asked.

“Whadda you think?” He scoffed.

“Be nice.”

        The two ponies that had pulled the carriage grabbed the stretcher.

“I think the nearest hospital is Calvary.” The superintendent said.

“Do know how to get there?” The white mare asked.

“Yes.”

“Then tell them how to get there, you two.” She ordered, “Get us out of here.”

        The two driving ponies hooked themselves back in, after they deposited the stretcher in the back of the carriage and the older one took a seat upfront, beside the superintendent. Watcher’s trouble breathing turned into a complete inability to breathe. He wasn’t sure if it was the pain, or maybe his lungs had collapsed. The bumpy roads made it that much more difficult to breathe with all the jostling and the shaking.

The white mare looked at him. “What’s your name?”

He tried to speak but couldn't.

“Collapsed lung, or lungs. Just stay still.”

---

“There you are, good as new.” Applejack said, as she handed the upgraded scooter back to Scootaloo.

        Scootaloo would have complained about the colour, but she was too thankful to Rainbow Dash to say anything about it.

“Thanks Applejack, you too Big Mac.” She squeaked.

        Big Mac... the strong silent type, he simply nodded.

“Hey, thanks A.J.” Rainbow said. “Do I owe you anything?”

“Not at all. It was no problem at all.” She said, “Ain’t that right Big Mac?”

“Nope.” Big Mac said.

“You sure you don’t want anything for it?”

“Rainbow, it’s what friends are for. No worries.” Apple Jack replied. She could be pretty humble when she felt like it.

        Scootaloo gave the upgraded scooter a test run, it didn’t feel any different; but it still just wasn’t the same as the original.

“Looks good to me, c’mon lets get out of here.” Rainbow said as she opened the barn door.

        Scootaloo zoomed out of the barn, it was a green and orange blur to Applejack.

“Wow, that kiddo can go!” Applejack laughed.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac said.

“Whoa, Hey! Wait up for me.” Rainbow shouted after her before taking off, she laughed a bit.

Applejack sighed. “Maybe she’s more cut-out to be sister material then Ah thought.”

“Eeeyup.”

---

        Now that she had everything, she could finally get back to work. Scootaloo zoomed off, the crusader’s clubhouse was just down the road. Scootaloo couldn’t even hear the flapping of her wings over the wind going through her ears

“Whoa, Hey! Wait up for me.” Rainbow shouted.

        Seeing as she didn’t slow down, she probably couldn’t hear her. Wherever she was going, she was going in a hurry.

“Ah forget it.” Rainbow thought to herself, “She can take care of herself.”

        Rainbow touched down and yawned, she was still tired. She’d take a power nap before clearing the sky out for tonight.

        Off in the distance Scootaloo had already take then left down the dirt road to the clubhouse. When she got there, she found Apple Bloom was working on adding a rope and pulley to the side so they could haul big items up better. Scootaloo wished that had been there when she had arrived earlier, pulling that book into the clubhouse was no small feat.

“Oh, Hiya Scootaloo. What’s up?” She said.

“Rainbow Dash just got me a new tailhook for my new scooter.” Scootaloo said.

“That’s great. Now we can actually hitch a ride with you now.” Apple Bloom pipped.

“Yeah, but I have some stuff to do, so... I’ll talk to you later?”

“Sure. Ah was nearly done anyway.”

        Scootaloo went into the clubhouse, she looked out the window. Apple Bloom was still working on the rope and pulley looking away from the window. Scootaloo quickly pulled up the loose floorboard and pulled the book, the notebook and grabbed a pencil from a desk.

        She went back outside, Apple Bloom had jumped down and tied herself onto the rope and was hoisting herself up for fun. She tried to keep what she was carrying as concealed as possible. Fortunately Apple Bloom never said anything.

“Well that’s one way get up into the Crusaders Clubhouse.” Scootaloo snickered.

“Hey! It’s fun.” She retorted.

“Whatever you say.”

        Scootaloo hooked up the wagon to the new tailhook on her scooter, loaded the book, pencil, and notebook then took off. Her next stop would be the school. Hopefully Featherweight was there.

        The school wasn’t far, but it was still a 30 minute ride, 20 into Ponyville and then 10 to the school. She took the same way she had before, but took a right when she got to downtown instead of a left to the park where Rainbow may have gone back to sleep at.

        Even though it was a Saturday, Featherweight was probably around at the school. Getting ready for their ‘news’ coverage next week. Despite all the controversy they had done with the Gabby Gums column nopony ever denied that it hadn’t sent them to the top. She hoped he would look past that and would lend her a camera, even if it was only for half an hour. She pulled up to the school, there were some ponies on the playground, parents around them. Now that it was afternoon, ponies were starting to come out to enjoy the weather.

        The studio, headquarters, whatever you wanted to call it was under the school accessed by an external set of doors at the back. Scootaloo jumped off her scooter, which was still moving forward and bolted over to the doors. Giving a good tug, they were unlocked.

        When she went down the stairs, surely enough Featherweight, the current editor-in-chief was at the big solid oak desk, filling out some papers. Scootaloo approached the desk.

“Hey... uh Featherweight. I got a favour to ask.”

Featherweight looked up, he was still really skinny, even though it had been a few months since the Gabby Gums incident.

“Yes?” He squeaked.

“I need to borrow a camera, insta-dev would be good.” Scootaloo said.

        Even though she had been out of it for awhile she still knew the industry lingo.

“You’re not going to be doing anything you shouldn’t be are you?”

“No. Because you still have those photos.”

“Yes, you’re right.” He said, they were in the desk’s top drawer. “Okay, I’ll lend you a camera, but I want to see the photos when you return it.”

        Scootaloo gulped, but then realized he wouldn’t know what the photos she took were.

“I can agree to that.” She said.

        Featherweight pulled an instant developing camera out of the desk drawer. Shady Daze, who had been promoted to staff photographer came down the ramp.

“Hey Featherweight, any suggestions for ‘Postcards from Ponyville’?” Shady said.

“Yeah actually, I heard it was supposed to be really clear tonight. Can you get some good photos of the hills to the south. Maybe get the night sky in on it?”

“Postcards from Ponyville?” Scootaloo asked.

“Something had to fill in the Gabby Gums column.” Featherweight shrugged.

        Scootaloo picked up an issue of The Foal Free Press, it was from last week. Shady had taken a panorama shot of city hall. It actually looked half decent.

“Oh hey Scoots. What’s up?” Daze said.

“Just borrowing a camera.” She said.

        Scootaloo picked up the camera, it didn’t have a lanyard so she’d have to stow it in the wagon.

“Scootaloo, take this.” Shady said.

        Shady had the lanyard, but it looks like they had upgraded to removable attachments. He unclipped it and tossed it at her. She couldn’t drop the camera but fortunately it had wrapped around one of her wings.

“Hey thanks.” She said, her voice was muffled by the camera.

        When she got back outside, she put the camera down before attaching the lanyard. She wore the camera around her neck before speeding off towards Fluttershy’s house. The trip would take maybe 20 minutes at the most.

        Some of the ponies she passed recoiled when they saw she had a camera on her, clearly thinking she was up to no good again.

“No worries, not gossiping today!” She called out.

        Some of the ponies breathed sighs of relief, others just smiled. That was okay with Scootaloo last thing she needed right now is unwanted attention. Not that any of them would understand, but the less anypony knew about what she was doing the better.

        According to the clock tower on top of city hall said it was half-past three. Hopefully she could get some work done before sundown. Or maybe even after it? She couldn’t believe how much time of her day she had already wasted. The day just zoomed by.

By the time the cobblestone road turned into dirt she had reached the bridge and creek that were out front of Fluttershy’s house. She looked at the cottage, it was a very open view. You got to see how tall two stories was from where she was standing at. She continued on past and then left the scooter on the side of the road. Nopony would steal it, more so because she was at Fluttershy’s and almost nopony ever came out here.

        Scootaloo jumped off the scooter and trotted a bit faster than she normally would have off to the side of Fluttershy’s. The tracks were still there, but the Everfree had claimed that gap in the foliage within a few hours. The tracks had dried out, the soft mud at the bottom was cracked and the one she had fallen in earlier had her body shape still in it where she had landed.

        Taking a few good photos wouldn’t be too hard but she wanted a birds eye view, along with a few other views. The birds eye view would be difficult. Deciding to get the hardest over with first, she took the camera and jumped off of the ground, clicking the button once. The photo was ejected from the slot.

        Perfect. Just what she needed, on the first try too. A nice overhead view of the footprint, it was very distinct, it was impossible to not see it. She took some other photos one from inside the track print, another from the edge looking across and one looking in at it then took a photo of the entire area, and one looking towards the trees. Totaling six photos, a birds eye, one on the inside, one from the side looking in, one looking across the field, one of the entire area, one looking at towards where it went.

        They were all developed and not blurry, which was good. She’d return the camera later, but now it was going on four o’clock. She took a photo of Fluttershy’s house, then realized that might look too Gabby Gums like and tore it in half, but kept the photo parts. She’d draw Fluttershy’s house and then that thing she saw beside it, for scale. That image was burned into her brain, and even though she was concerned about forgetting about it, she knew she couldn’t.

        Going back to just before the tiny bridge that lead up to Fluttershy’s cottage. It was a good photo, that she had taken, but she’d draw it out instead. After a few hours, she had finished a drawing of the house in her notebook with her pencil. She figured it was about half-past six, then she remembered she had to return the camera and show the photos to Featherweight.

        She put the photos into the notebook and put the notebook in the wagon. The camera had stayed around her neck the entire time and it was starting to become a painful. Taking off yet again, back towards Ponyville; it was 7:00 on the clock at city hall, so it was later then she thought it had been. Going everywhere was really wearing her out. Hopefully Featherweight was still at the school. When she got there the school house was vacant, the playground deserted, but the external basement door swung open. Featherweight emerged with Shady Daze.

        Scootaloo jumped of the scooter and approached the press duo.

“Finally, I expected you an hour ago.” Shady Daze said, “I need that lanyard for tonight.”

        Shady took the the camera off Scootaloo, but didn’t bother changing cameras opting just to keep the lanyard on one. He flicked the flash button to check if it worked. He caught Featherweight with the flash.

“Oops, sorry!” Shady Daze said.

Featherweight shook his head violently. “Erhem?” Featherweight looked at her.

“Oh right.” Scootaloo said, she took the notebook and went through it like a flipbook, all the photos fell out, including the torn in half photo of Fluttershy’s cottage.

        Handing the photos to Featherweight, he skimmed them and raised an eyebrow.

“I have no idea what you were doing, but I don’t see anything wrong here.”

“You can keep the ripped photo if you want.”

“Uh... alright.”

        Without a second thought, Scootaloo put the photos back in the notebook and once again, hopefully the last time today took off. This time off to the Crusader’s Clubhouse.

“Time to do some reading.” She thought to herself.

---

        Orbiting was weird. Falling, yet never hitting the ground. Or so Samantha thought. Being able to stare down on a world was exhilarating, it really put how tiny you were in perspective. This world was bizarre, there were clouds of ionized gas surrounding it, which made it look the the entire upper atmosphere was in a permanent aurora.

After making it free of the Cascade when they were ordered out,  she had to navigate the debris field from the Atlantis. The ship hadn’t disintegrated, but tore into three larger pieces with thousands of tiny metal fragments flying everywhere. She wondered if any of the lifeboats made it free before the jumpship tore itself apart. There was definitely no atmosphere left the ship. Poor bastards either got exposed to vacuum or suffocated. She shook her head. When she had jumped in the pilots seat she had to jump the throttle to break the clamps securing the VTOL to the dropship.

        A VTOL may be capable of being an SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit) But it wasn’t built like an aerospace fighter. Armour wasn’t as thick, so it was lighter. Its purpose was ground to orbit lifting and supply runs. It was too bad she didn’t have the oxygen to keep orbiting, the view was breathtaking, as always, but it lost some of its shock-and-awe appeal after the first few times she had been into space. She had done four orbits in slightly less than 6 hours. Her altimeter showed she was slightly over 250 Kilometres from sea level, with orbital velocity at 7700 m/s, or around mach 23 had she been in atmosphere. She had seen the reverse sunrise and reverse sunset. Beating the planet’s rotation wasn’t a small feat in any sense.

        The oxygen levels in her cabin would still last another three hours, but needing to avoid too many g’s on reentry was the current problem. Fortunately, after a single orbit, the computer could calculate a survivable reentry angle and path of descent. Pilots were trained to withstand up to 8 or 9 g’s, 7 if you were doing combat maneuvers. The planet was very, very similar to Terra in diameter and effective gravity. At 1.001 g’s it was the closest thing to Terrain gravity without being Terra itself.

        Getting back down to the surface would require a retrograde burn. That meant she had to fire the engines in the opposite direction she was traveling. For most craft that required a spin around. Fortunately, the VTOL was designed to move its jets. Most VTOL’s had aerospike box jets which were more efficient in lower atmosphere, but doubled as rockets when in orbit.. The VTOL’s rocket jets, were on bearings, this allowed them to be rotated. Putting the vertical in Vertical Take Off and Landing. There wasn’t a need to spin the craft around for a retrograde burn. The stabilizer engines at the back, which were tiny and insignificant compared to the two box jets, existed to keep the craft horizontal when hovering, taking off, or landing.

        There were only four continents on this planet, the largest one is where she suspected most of the survivors would have landed. Maybe her wingmen, Alex and Zach made it down in one piece. Though they, unlike her, were carrying cargo. Each of them had a 15 metric tonne tank in the suspension lift. Plus whatever other cargo they had in the bay when they abandoned the Cascade.

        She wanted to come down in the middle of the largest continent, it was too bad long range radio didn’t work here, too much EM interference. She could have talked to anyone listening had it not been there. She activated the radio again, nothing but static on all channels. Given the coordinates she wanted to land at, her burn would start in less than twenty minutes, then half an orbit later she’d be on the ground again.

        The glass in the cockpit polarized when the local star came back into view. Four minutes until the burn, turbulence wouldn’t start right away but the hum of the engines would get progressively more annoying while reentry heating would warm up the cockpit like a frying pan over an open flame. Taking one last look stars, she rotated the aerospike jets 180 degrees and started the burn. The highly efficient hydrogen fuel mix with the internal supply of oxygen made superheated water vapor which instantly froze, making mist in the cold background of space. It would have been pretty to look at had she not had to concentrate on keeping the VTOL flat.

        The burn stopped within thirty seconds and orbit started to decay, the altimeter started to count down, slowly. The reentry angle was 23 degrees which was more than survivable, but the g forces could still be upwards of five or six, still enough to make any pilot woozy. Another forty five minutes and she’d be on the ground again, or at least in low atmosphere.

        Reentry effect could heat the external plating up to three hundred degrees celsius, the cockpit was supposed to be heat shielded, but it could still reach fifty degrees celsius in the cabin. Going that fast through even thin atmosphere was still like trying to swing a bat underwater. The polarized glass got steadily darker, after the first forty kilometres down speed started to drop considerably and the turbulence picked up. Keeping a hand on the control stick proved more difficult as the amount of g’s she was pulling got progressively higher. Three and a half g’s, most people would pass out by then. Speed had been cut, less than mach 15 now, and another 210 kilometres to the ground.

        Turbulence got so bad it was comparable to was an earthquake, grabbing the control stick with her off hand to keep the craft steady. It would have been worse had she been doing a cargo run, which required you to fall perpendicular to the ground, that could push g’s right up into the nines and tens. That was the point most people would black out, though you’d probably be physically unharmed at those levels.

        120 kilometres to go, she was over half way down now, mach 13. Turbulence had peaked, it was getting a bit less rough now. The polarization had also started wane, the important thing to do was breathe, don’t hold your breath like so many would. A lot of training was based around that, control your breathing, unless you enjoy passing out behind the joystick. Which would probably be followed by a clumsy pitiful death.

        90 kilometres to the ground. Once her speed fell below mach 12, the polarized glass lifted partially. The reentry heating wasn’t burning along the outside of the VTOL anymore. Reentry burning on the outside had disappeared, which allowed her to see. It was night time, the night sky around her was filled with stars, there wasn’t any light pollution this far up. From orbit she had seen several cities when she was on the dark side of the planet. There weren’t that many, she figured maybe at the best this planet had a population of a two billion at the very most.

        After another 10 minutes she was down to 30 kilometers from the ground, space planes could get this far up. Once she passed the 10 kilometer range she’d be able to apply the airbrakes, if the engines went horizontal at this speed they’d be torn clean off from drag. Still cruising along at mach 7, the polarization in the glass had left completely. 20 kilometres, in just a few more minutes she’d be able to stop. It was so exciting to go from ground to orbit or vice versa. A chance only a small percentage of people would ever experience.

        After passing the 10 kilometer mark, the atmosphere had become a lot more dense. This killed her speed going from mach 5 at twenty kilometres to just mach 2. She was slow enough to use rotate the aerospike engines horizontally. The intakes had been shut while in orbit, but now they could be opened and she didn’t have to use up precious internal oxygen anymore. There were intakes for air physically on the rotatable engine, and then were a set fixed just behind the missile packs to the left and right of the cockpit, the ones on the engines were for hovering purposes, the fixed pair were for actual flying.

There was enough hydrogen fuel left to make orbit several times, or fly for weeks, even months on end without having to refuel. What the problem would be was the oxygen needed. That would run out way before the hydrogen did, if she needed to make orbit again.

        As a VTOL you could be at pretty much any height off the ground. You didn’t even need a runway, just a flat patch of ground about 10 metres squared to land easily. So basic jobs for VTOLs crossed the gap between helicopters and transport planes from lifting things on the battlefield to delivering supplies. Each of these were at vastly different altitudes, from maybe a hundred metres to over eleven kilometres from the ground. The VTOL was the pinnacle of multipurpose use and tasks it could carry out. Even used as military weapons platforms.

        Samantha’s VTOL armament was fairly standard, two medium range missile packs, MRM 10’s, just behind the cockpit on each side, a mounted medium pulse laser under the cockpit and two sets of twin machine guns to the left and right of the medium pulse laser, though above and closer to the cockpit.

        It was enough firepower to rival some lightly armed ‘Mechs, though ammunition was the main problem. Only enough machine gun ammo for a couple minutes of firing, and just a few dozen trigger pulls for the missiles. The medium pulse laser wasn’t a sure thing either, unlike ‘Mechs which had a virtually unlimited source of energy, the medium pulse laser on the VTOL was powered by the an internal battery. A microfission battery could last for a few months before needing to be replaced, though they were larger than a set of car batteries and very expensive.

        Less than a kilometre up now, the aerospike engines fired vertically while the stabilizer engines moved their nozzles to bring the VTOL to a halt. She had stopped fairly close to one of the cities, it was four or five kilometres in the distance, probably one of the many she could see from orbit. It was built unto the side of a mountain, and was absolutely spectacular. The place was lit up, some parts appeared to be walled up, and if she could see properly there were turret towers which implied an old castle or fortress.

        The newer parts of the city expanded away from it, getting progressively more modern, though nowhere near as high as the skyscrapers she had seen in the Inner Sphere. These ones were maybe a dozen stories tall at the most. Definitely had a nightlife to it. What had surprised her was that no aircraft had been launched to intercept her, nor a communications attempt. It was way too quiet, maybe they hadn’t spotted her on the way down using radar?

        That was unlikely, it possible that they were going to shoot her down at moment, without a second thought. Shoot first and ask questions later was a way more common mind set then she would have liked. But the longer she waited the less seemed to happen. It was almost as if they had never seen her to begin with. She wasn’t sure how they could have missed the supersonic reading the display. Or the large blip on the radar with a weird IFF marker. In orbit she had nothing to worry about, here it was just way too quiet for her liking.

---

“It’s too fucking hot.” Casey complained, “It’s a million fucking degrees in my cabin.”

“Celsius, fahrenheit, kelvin, or rankine?” Sara asked, “Actually, wait. Don’t answer that. Because if that were true you’d be dead at a million degrees in any of those scales. So quit complaining!”

        Sara had no idea how Ethan could deal with Casey’s constant bitching.

“You don’t have busted heatsinks.” Casey retorted, “Also, what the hell is a ‘rankine?’ ”

“It’s like kelvin for fahrenheit.”

“And how’d you find that out?”

“My ‘Mech’s an omnibuild, literally. They accounted for everything, including being able to move the seat back so it’s flat. You know, for sleep.”

        Her Shadow Cat may have been old, but it was a hell of a lot more accommedable than the current era built ‘Mechs. The AC in her cabin was starting to win out now that the sun wasn’t directly overhead anymore. It have been at least four hours since they had started running. The badlands were flat in every direction. Fortunately they had been able to outrun the oncoming train within an hour and a half.

        Since then, Casey had been complaining about how hot it was. He made it sound like his air conditioner was blasting hot air into his cabin instead of cool air.

“Casey, where are you from?” Sara asked.

“Fletcher, most of it is an ice ball. I miss the skiing and snowboarding there.”

        That would explain why he was complaining so much, cold climate like Fletcher, you get used to it. It’s what you expect.

“Casey, you did change your AC over to cool didn’t you?”

“What a stupid question. Of course it di....”

        He hadn’t, their time on Northwind was a lot like Fletcher. He hadn’t moved the dial over to warm by much but it was still putting heat into the cabin nonetheless. He sighed, this wasn’t the stupidest thing he had done. Far from it, but it was still embarrassing.

“Problem solved.” He said.

        Sara laughed, Avery would have mocked him had been here. The duo continued to follow the tracks, they started to veer back to the north.

        Casey checked the radio frequencies before he answered her, other than Sara, who was literally right next to him everything was silent. Not a peep from anyone. Not even a friendly IFF tag on the long range.

“Why are the tracks going back north. Isn’t that where the canyon railway went?” Sara asked.

“Here’s my chance to redeem myself! They probably meet back up with the canyon set.” Casey explained, “Back on Fletcher, when they were setting up a cross country railway. They only made one set going from east to west.”

“That doesn’t make any sense, why not make two rail lines from west to east?” She asked.

“That would make sense right, but it’s not cheap. So when two trains are going different directions on the same line, they can break off and pass each other on the lines that veer off and reconnect later, freight trains do that. Passenger trains are the ones that get the right of way.”

“You’ve redeemed yourself. Anyways, looks like we’ve ran out of track to follow. Dead end.” Sara said, “Well, not exactly a dead end.”

        The railway went into a tunnel, presumably this was the mountain range that encircled the entire area. Casey had climbed over it. Oddly it had just gone from desert sand to rocky cliff face in less than a couple hours. This entire area was desert pavement, whereas they were just running on sand not twenty minutes earlier. They must have traveled further north east than they originally thought.

The rocky cliff face wasn’t on a shallow enough angle to be climbed by the Shadow Cat. Not that it mattered, even if they could the rocks were too ragged to get a good step anywhere Furthermore, the rock just crumbled because it was so brittle. A good smack would be enough to break these rocks into pieces.

“Still no signs of any cities, settlements, anything. Other than this damn railroad” Sara said, “ And those are supposed to be steam engines. Where are the water towers for them?”

“Maybe it’s just ghost trains and we’re hallucinating the railways.”

“That tunnel is as real as it gets.”

“Well it has to go somewhere.”

“How the hell are we supposed to find out? You wanna get out and walk through it?” Sara deadpanned.

“You know...” Casey thought about it. “That’s not a bad idea actually.”

“That wasn’t an order.”

“Hey you can stay here until I get back then.”

        Casey’s Thor knelt down, one leg going flat to the ground on it’s knee joint, the other moved forward and was perpendicular to the ground turning 90 degrees at the knee toward the ‘Mech. It looked so human doing that. A moment later the hatch to the cabin opened and a rope ladder was thrown out of it, followed by a backpack that fell 9 or so metres before hitting the ground.

        Sara thought he was nuts. Until she found herself powering down her own ‘Mech. There was no way they were driving the ‘Mechs over this mountain range. Paradise could be on the other side and they’d never know it. There were off to the right of the tunnel, and the sun was starting to set now. They could hide their ‘Mechs under the cover of darkness and be back for them in the morning.

The Shadow Cat’s leg assembly unlike the Thor was reverse jointed, when it powered down its left leg moved forward and the other had its foot stay right below the ‘Mech’s giant barring the torso spun on at the waist. The right leg had the joint at the ‘ankle’ and the one at the knee stick out diagonally, going towards the back of the ‘Mech  It looked pretty ridiculous. Bird leg ‘Mechs always had weird ways of sitting. At least when they were in the ‘Mech bays of the Cascade they could be standing upright; making her old ‘Mech look a bit less out of place and slightly less ridiculous.

Casey was already on the ground when Sara had popped the hatch on her ‘Mech. She took her helmet off and discarded it back into the ‘Mech. She could see her reflection in the polarized glass, she had a bad case of helmet hair.

Casey looked over to her. She was a head shorter than he was, but still had that aura of authority around her, intimidation, and that sense of demanded respect.

They were in the shadow of the canyon wall. The rocks here were all flat, having been buffeted down from the wind over a few years, perfect for skipping them across a pond. Had they actually had water. Speaking of which...

“Do you have any water?” Sara asked.

“Huh? Yeah.”

“Can... I uh. Barrow some.”

“You didn’t pack shit-all did you?”

“Not exactly.”

Casey groaned. “Give me a moment.”

        He walked back to his ‘Mech. Then he realized they had shut them down right in the middle of nowhere; they weren’t exactly out in the open but he was sure they could have found a better spot. He supposed beside the tunnel was as good as it got here. It was at least a 50 metre climb to the first ledge of this range, beyond that it was just flat everywhere else. Perfect for snipers to pick people off, had there been any.

        The dozen or so bottles of water he had were lukewarm, sadly. But water was water.

“Here catch.”

        Casey chucked the bottle from the top of his Thor, even in it’s kneeling position it was easily 10 metres from the ground to the top of the missile rack on the left shoulder.

Sara who had caught it was one hand watched him jump off the last two metres of ladder to the desert ground.

        She took a sip. It was wasn’t cold, but whatever. It was at that middle point of not being noticeably cold or outright hot.

        When Casey got over she had drank nearly all of it, then stopped at the last quarter and dumped it on her head. Her short dirty blond hair flattened. Helmet hair was a pain in the ass. Casey unlike her had given up and just buzzed his head a few weeks prior, he just had to be a bit more careful about sunburn. Unfortunately, she was clearly a woman with fashion standards, no hair was a no go.

“Ah, that’s awesome.”

“I’ll keep the the water bottle.” Casey said, he may be able to refill it later, if they could find water.

        Sara smacked the cap back on before tossing it back to Casey. He put it in his backpack.

“So why are you down here?” He asked.

“Not stupid enough to let you go alone.” Sara said, “But I reserve the right to the ‘I told you so.’ If we do go down there and a train comes blazing after us.”

“I’m okay with that.” Casey smiled. “Time for something fun, put some bets on the table and beat the odds.”

“You’ve done this before?!” Sara was unsure. But it wasn’t like they had accomplished anything in the last few hours lately. Hell, a utopia could be on the other side of this tunnel and they would never get to it because this damn mountain range looped around and came back.

“Uh, a few times yes.” He replied.

        Casey crouched at the train tunnel opening, looking at the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“Alright, looks like most trains exit from this side.”

“How do you know?”

“Look at the ground, there’s sand everywhere. But this side is all rocks. So it must be pulled through from the other side, another thing is that it spans out from the opening see.” Casey pointed to the ground.

“Couldn’t that just mean a train could be pulling sand from out there, going into the tunnel?”

“Fair argument. However, if that were the case it would be piling up at the sides, which it doesn’t.”

“Where do you learn all this?”

“I used to hike a lot. Then I got lost, then I had to go through train tunnels. And you learn things the hard way, only happened once.”

“How’d you get out of that one?”

“Ran my ass out of the tunnel, let the train pass, then ran after it and jumped on the back.” Casey let a good chuckle. Living life closer to the edge than most. Thought it cost him a few times, he maintained it was worth it.

“Sara where are you from then?” Casey continued.

“I’m Terrain born. Ex-Comstar affiliate. Father and I had some issues with my career plans, and other things.”

“You gonna spill the story this time?”

“... Later. That’s all you need to know for now.”

“Alright, lets get cracking then.”

        Casey peered down the tunnel, he couldn’t see the light at the far end. Connor would have made a joke about the light at the end of the tunnel here. But then again, they all had their brushes with death time and time again. He had never seen the light, and he didn’t intend to be seeing it anytime soon. The air coming out of the tunnel was cold. In fact it seemed damp. He unslung his backpack, and scoured through it.

“Where is it? Ah here it is.” He said before he pulled a flashlight out and flicked it on. It was incredibly bright, maybe 300 watts.

“You got extra supplies, we could be going a while.” Sara said.

“Yeah, it’s all in here.” He said as he gestured to the backpack, “Okay lets have some fun.”

“Why are doing this again?” Sara asked.

“Because it’ll take too damn long to walk around in the ‘Mech. Plus it’ll by nightfall in a couple hours.”

“Should we really be leaving out ‘Mechs unattended?”

“Who the hell is gonna find them? Besides, mines locked. Voice-print to start up, PIN to open the cabin. Why, isn’t yours?”

“Of course, that’s a few million C-Bill investment right there. Not that I actually paid for it.”

“Who bought it?”

“I like to consider it a final up-yours to my father. It was a generous donation to my ‘Sara wants to be a merc’ fund. I still have the C-Card, somewhere.”

        Casey laughed, her story wasn’t the weirdest he had ever heard. Not by a long shot, but he pitied her nonetheless, but not everyone had a happy family life.

“Alright, lets do this.” Sara said.

        Casey thought she seemed a lot more talkative than she was earlier. He welcomed the change of pace with open arms. The duo entered the train tunnel. It would be awhile before they got to the other end.

        Sara noticed condensation on the sides of the tunnel, she put a hand up against it. The walls were bored out, but had reinforcements lining once every 10 or so metres to stop the rock from collapsing in. The air was pleasantly cool, unlike the dry humidity deprived air where they just came from.

        The train tracks had been built over top of gravel, whereas the ones leading upto the tunnel had been built on sandstone or desert pavement. Casey’s flashlight scared critters that had taken up residence in the cave. Snakes weren’t uncommon; she checked her side arm. An ARC-14 laser pistol. Standard Highlander issue. The battery pack was fully charged ready to fire on demand. She also had her combat knife in its sheath on her belt. Casey had the flashlight in his right hand holding it next to his shoulder. His left hand was vacant.

        Her pilots suit was grey with stripes of white, Casey had a similar style but with matte black stripes instead. She regretted not packing anything. Her lance, Echo, were the last to be repaired when they were on the Cascade. She never had time to check what she needed to resupply, an explosion later she was here. Wherever here was.

        The environment in this area was brutal, she wish they had landed somewhere else. But it was by a stroke of luck she hadn’t landed in a large body of water, like an ocean or a sea, on her way down. ‘Mechs were water tight, but far from withstanding the pressures on the pilot; say she had landed in the middle of an ocean. What would it have been, a kilometre down, that was optimistically shallow. What would that have been? 1000 pounds per square inch? (Is there a metric way of saying that or another way. I’m trying to stick to one system here.) She hoped everyone got lucky enough to hit land or shallow water if they were in a ‘Mech.

        But still desert traveling ranked about as high on her list of ‘this thing sucks’ as urban ‘Mech battles. There is nothing to enjoy about it. At least in the middle of a snowpack you can melt snow for water. What the hell were they supposed to do here once they ran out? Melt the sand? That would end up making glass...

        This entire situation was a mess. Lost, stranded, and they would run out of supplies eventually. She put the problem out of her mind. There wasn’t anything they could do but keep pushing forward. She saw green on the continents during the drop, there were forests somewhere, just not here.

        Her wrist attachment, or ‘tacpad’, on her pilot suit came equipped with a clock, mission time hadn’t even been set, yet alone started. She would have sync’d with the rest of the team, but she hadn’t had time for it. Her 24 hour watch said it was 16:00 GMT, 4 O’clock on Terra at Greenwich. It was later than that here, or at least in this time zone. It was probably after 20:00 hours now. Another day lost, is what it was. The group was scattered, vulnerable, out of contact range, it was by a stroke of luck that Casey had been nearby. But she had no doubt at least some of the others had made it down in one piece.

        The tunnel was cold, which was a welcome change of pace from the scorching heat out in the open. They had been walking for at least half an hour. Casey was surprisingly quiet.

“Casey you’re not running your mouth off... what’s up?” Sara asked.

“Quiet down, I’m trying to listen.”

Instead of getting on his case for telling a superior to shut up.

“What are you listening for?”

eeee-eeeee.

“That sound exactly.” Casey said.

“It could just be wind.”

“You willing to stake a bet on that?”

“Uhhhhhh... no.”

eeee-eeee.

“Okay, maybe it’s not wind.” Sara was starting to panic, this was a bad idea after all, “Which way is it coming from?!”

“I can see the end of the tunnel up ahead. Run for it!”

        Casey took off at a sprint, Sara did the same. That better be the end of the tunnel like he said, else they were running face first into the train. Casey was on the left, running on the train track planks, Sara was on the left running on the gravel on the sides of the tunnel.

“Oh please be the end of the tunnel.” Casey said quietly. “That better freakin’ be the end of the tunnel.”

“What?!” Sara was sort of semi-panicking, she was supposed to be the leader.

“Nothing! Nothing!” Casey reassured.

        The two continued at their full tilt sprint, they were maybe one hundred metres from the end of the tunnel.

Whoo! Whoo!

        Sara never associated a train whistle as terrifying, but this was by far the scariest experience she had been through in awhile. Even getting behind a ‘Mechs controls was less unsettling than this.

        Casey looked behind them, there it was. A huge steam engine, the clackety-clack noise of the train wheels going over the sections of railing getting louder giving hint to how close it was getting. It had been where they had just been 10 seconds ago.

“Must run faster, must run faster, must run faster.” Sara thought, but she got wrapped up in her thought that she tripped. She hit the gravel instead of the solid metal train rail, which was much more preferable. But the fall knocked all the air out of her lungs. They were less than 20 metres away, Casey noticed after he had gone another few seconds, he turned around and pointed the flashlight down the tunnel. Sara wasn’t up yet.

        Casey sighed, before he took off back into the tunnel to go get her. She was fine, but winded.

“Come on, get up!” Casey yelled as he hoisted her back unto her feet. She took a big breath in. They had swapped spots now, she was on the left and Casey was on the right. The light at the end of the tunnel disappeared.

Whoo! Whoo! Chuff, Chuff, Chuff, Chuff.

        10 meters to go, come on, lets go! Casey wasn’t a very speedy person, that medal went to Ethan. The duo breached the tunnel exit, Sara was first, it was night time out, the sun had just set. Casey who was on the outside of the rails pulled Sara off to the right side. Diving into the ground as the train broke free of the tunnel. It was a large freight train, lots of cargo cars. Although the sun had set, it was still twilight out. You could see anything clearly so long as it was close.

        Casey took a deep breath. Phew. That would go down in history as the 5th stupidest thing he had ever done. The 4th stupidest thing was the last time this happened, back on Fletcher, 13 years ago. The shit he had done as a teenager. He brushed himself off and got onto his feet. His pilot suit was a bit worse for wear, but other than that he was fine. His flashlight had landed a metre away, it was flickering; Sara was on the ground, maybe a metre from him; he whisked her off the tracks fairly violently. It was that or being turned into paste on the tracks. She was face down in the dirt, which was strange because there was actual dirt here, not sand or desert pavement like on the other side of the tunnel.

        Casey pushed Sara over, she was out cold. Must have smacked her head on the ground, fortunately the ground was soft(er) here then where they had just been, but he found it hard to believe that just by moving through a tunnel the environment changed. This place was weird, the locals, whom they had just nearly made contact with (literally) must have terraformed large sections of the planet. That was an achievement even by the Inner Sphere’s standards.

        He picked up the flashlight, only to have the light go out completely. Shaking it achieved nothing. Feeling down the side of it, the on/off switch was still in the on position. Going down to the base, where the battery cap was, it was gone. Well that was just great. It was in the dirt somewhere, Casey groaned. He got down on his hands and knees and started patting the dirt, he found one of the three D-Cell batteries, and the cap. The others he probably wouldn’t be able to find until day break.

        He put the flashlight parts in his backpack, which had fortunately remained on his back during the ordeal. After that, he dragged Sara off the ground, she started to come too. She raised a hand and swatted him away.

“Urgggg, what happened?” She asked.

“We lived.” Casey replied, “That’s what happened.”

“Note to self, never follow you again. Oh and another thing...”

        Casey sighed.

“I told you so.”

“I’ll leave the leading to you next time then.”

“Hey, the grounds soft here.”

“Yeah, I think it’s dirt. But I can’t see, flashlight is missing its batteries.”

“And what the hell am I sitting on?”

        Sara moved over, before she patted the ground, it was another one of the batteries.

“Here you go.” She said.

        Casey reached out, missed her hand, but caught her arm, then he got the battery.

“Two down, one to go.” He said.

“It can wait until morning. Moons behind the cliff face, which would be why I can’t see shit.”

“So we’re back on the side I landed on?” Casey asked, he checked his radio again. He brought his pack radio. He check the frequencies, before he did a wideband broadcast. No one was within range.

“Still nothing?” Sara asked.

“Yup, we’re gonna have to suffer the silence a bit longer.” Casey replied, “Hope the ‘Mechs are okay.”

“Why did we leave them again? I’m still not entirely clear on that.”

“ 'Cus that fuckin’ rock wall goes on for ever.”

“It’s not a canyon wall, we... I landed in a basin. We just punched through it.” Sara said. There was no other explanation other than they had landed in a huge mountain basin that circled around the entire area, a few hundred kilometres radius.

Sara continued “Probably... but much further north. We’re going to have to find a breach in the mountain range to get our ‘Mechs through, or a really shallow path to climb. How did you get through?”

“I went over... very freakin’ carefully”

“So maybe you’re not that bad of a pilot after all.”

“Never said I wasn’t.” Casey retorted, “Any idea on how to get our ‘Mechs back on THIS side?”

“I’m sure there’s a passage somewhere.”

“That would be the canyon wall you took down?”

“I was thinking that too.”

“Locals, whoever the hell owns this planet ain’t gonna be too happy about that...” Casey smirked.

“Yeah well, they have excavation equipment. Right?”

“If they terraformed this entire area, I don’t see why not?” Casey shrugged.

“Maybe they’re just really good at agriculture.”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna get some sleep. I’ve been up since the sun came up.”

“I’ll stand guard then.” She said.




> Do You Ever Get That Weird Feeling?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Twilight had all the things she needed. She wasn’t entirely sure why the Princess had called her out to the Crystal Empire. She had told her she would get the second part of her assignment when she arrived. The only thing she knew at the moment was it was a ‘check-in’ but that wasn’t very specific. She sighed, the uncertainty could make her go haywire. If it was anything like the first time she had been sent out there she was better off taking nothing extra with her.

        Twilight however doubted that it would be a similar situation or anything comparable to the first time they had visited the Crystal Empire. The only weird part of the message, aside from not being specific about what she had to do when she got there, was that she was specifically told to take Spike with her.

        Her saddlebags weren’t nearly as filled to the brim as they were last time, but they were rather heavy regardless. Anything that fell out as they were walking Spike caught.

        The list she had made to keep track of what she wanted was nearly complete. Spike as struck most of the items off the list. There was only two things left.

“Alright.” Spike read from the list, “Two extra ink bottles and... something to keep Spike busy? Huh? What’s that about?”

“Well, this trip could be pretty uneventful, I didn’t want you getting bored.”

“When has ANY of these expeditions we’ve had been uneventful? And aren’t you forgetting something?”

“No, I don’t believe so.”

Spike simply said, “Whoo... Whoo.”

“Ohhhhh. Riiight. Fluttershy can handle him for the week.”

“You don’t wanna bring him with us?”

“No, there’s restrictions on what we can take with us on the train.”

“Pets aren’t one of them?”

“They don’t particularly approve... and by that I mean they charge you a leg and a hoof for it.”

Spike didn’t understand, most of her expenses were paid for... well royally funded. Literally, Twilight could have anything she wanted as her original assignment in Ponyville didn’t say anything specific about budget, or expenses, or however much it cost to keep them in the library. Speaking of which, she made a few of bits from working at the library, but she generally put that aside for her own spending leisure. It wasn’t like she hadn’t spent a lot and charged it to the vaults in the past, like six tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala.

“You’re paying for the entire trip aren’t you?” Spike deadpanned.

“I’m trying to show the Princess I can be totally independant from her.”

“Buy paying for the trip yourself? Twilight, I’m sure there’s a million other ways to show her that you don’t need her babysitting you. And for that matter, she doesn’t even do that anymore or ever for that fact.”

Twilight gave Spike a stare, she clearly didn’t approve of what he had said.

“But!!! I’m sure she’ll appreciate it, honest. But another question.”

“Yes?” Twilight said bluntly.

“Would you be bring me along if that letter hadn’t told you to?”

Twilight paused, she hadn’t really thought about it. “I would have had no problem if you didn’t want to come along.” That was a nice answer.

“And because I am here?”

Twilight sighed.

“Spike, if you’re looking to test whether I would have left you behind, you’re only succeeding in testing my patience.”  She deadpanned.

“Alright, alright. Sorry, I didn’t. I mean, I.” Spike let his frustrations out with a growl. “It was an honest question.” He crossed his front claws and looked away from her.

Twilight had been very frustrating lately; she had either been up to her ears in books studying, not that that wasn’t unusual, or off planning other events in on her calendar. Now they were going on a trip and that last item on the didn’t even so much as hint she wanted to spend some time with him.

“Spike, are you... alright?” Twilight asked, as if nothing had been wrong to begin with.

“It’s nothing.”

“Who are you really trying to fool here?”

“I’m not trying to fool anypony.” Spike held his head high

“Don’t say I didn’t ask later then.” She said then she waited a moment, “We’ll have some us time later, at the Crystal Empire, if it makes you feel any better.”

Was it that easy to tell what he wanted? Maybe she had became conscious about her lack of time she had spent with him lately? Maybe she just thought it would cheer him up?

“That would be awesome.” Spike said.

Admitting her shortcomings was a challenge, more to herself than anypony else. Twilight enjoyed the idea of perfect, and wanted to push as closely as she could to it, despite it not being possible the closer she was to being perfect the less likely she was to not be able to deal with something unexpected. Even the Princess had been wrong, on more than one occasion in the past, not even she was infallible.

Trying to be perfect would only drive her OCD habits through the roof, which usually ended up in Spike getting upset. And seeing as he was the only one who had actually tried to reason with her during that fateful week that she hadn’t had anything to send to the Princess, he served so many roles as assistant, from mundane tasks like cleaning, to well, saving the day like he did at the Crystal Empire, his own opinion had been a serious help on more than one occasion. She still remembered clear as day how he said “Snap out of it!!!”.

She’d look at her schedule for this week, the second part of her assignment could wait a day. It wasn’t going to hurt anything, have some fun and relax with him before she got to work. If it was that urgent Celestia would have told her what she was supposed to be doing prior to the trip.

They left tomorrow morning, 7:00 AM train to Canterlot and then the 10:00 AM from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire. Before that she needed to make a stop at Quills and Sofa’s and then take Owlicious to Fluttershy’s, as Spike had reminded her. It would be an early night tonight. At least for Spike, he wasn’t a morning guy by any sense of the word. She trotted along, it was after 3:30 now. Spike had jumped up on her back, making the heavy load from the saddlebags even heavier.

“Spike, could you not? These bags are heavy enough as is.” Twilight requested.

“Oh... sorry!” He hopped down and kept walking.

“Thank you.”

They approached city hall, and Scootaloo went zooming right by them, she had a camera around her neck, which caused some ponies to flinch.

“No worries, not gossiping today!” She called out. Some ponies let out sighs of relief.

“Hmm, wonder what she’s up to today?” Spike didn’t see Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle with her.

“Yeah... me too. I gave her a book this morning, I hoped she’d be reading it. Probably another failed attempt at getting her Cutie-Mark. I hope the book’s alright.”

“I’m more worried about what she’s doing, because the last time she had a camera...” Spike trailed off.

“I think she, and the other crusaders, learned their lesson.” Twilight reasoned, thought that tiny bit of doubt came into existence at the back of her mind. She didn’t like what-ifs.

Come on Twilight, have a bit of faith. She thought to herself.

“Lets hope for everypony’s sake, you’re right Twilight.” Spike replied.

The two continued over to Quill’s and Sofa’s

Twilight giggled, “Oh Spike.”

“Yeah, this town falls apart when you’re not around, Twilight... But I’m sure it’ll be here when we come back... Whenever that’ll be.”

Spike turned around looking in the direction of the library. Homesick anticipation, he fought it down. Wherever Twilight went he’d follow, that’s always how it was. Whether she would have brought him along or not...


---


The sun would be up in a couple hours, so she couldn’t stay here. If by some miracle she had evaded detection during her descent, she’d stick out like a sore thumb is she stuck around until daylight. Samantha had to move.

First objective would be find friendly forces, that would be difficult. Long range radio wasn’t reliable here. Her radar showed no friendly forces with active IFF’s on radar, or anything on radar for that matter. Everything was dark, the sky, her radar, IFF’s, the radio, and the cockpit. Lighting on the display had to be nearly non-existent to see where you were going at night; ships did the same thing.

It didn’t matter where she went, just not here. No one was in the area to start with, other then that city and she didn’t want to find out if they were friendly or not.. Her compass said she was facing east, might as well go north, far north. Go far enough north any you’ll come right back around to where you started. At least this way she was ‘searching’ for friendlies.

Samantha plotted a course, north it was. But the reality was she would have to set down at some point, to pick up supplies, scavenging for them or otherwise. She’d stop at day break and set the bird down, bunker down for the day and then wait for nightfall. She had a survival kit, but no extra supplies, not even a change of clothes. All hidden beyond the co-pilot seat behind her; Although it was technically against flight regulations, she had bypassed the pre-flight check because they weren’t actually Kuritan forces, just hired guns, they didn’t give a damn. They were given an objective and as long as it was completed they (The person signing their pay-cheques) couldn’t have cared less.

Not that it mattered much now, as much as she could tell, the only dropship docked at the time of the jump was the Cascade; Envrio, the dropship their flight group had been redeployed from had left a few hours earlier.

Unlike the Cascade, they hadn’t been given bad intel. They were supposed to have launched a joint operation with another jumpship, the Geddes, to resupply the lines east of where Delta and Echo had dropped. Unfortunately, the dropship from the Geddes that they were supposed to link up with, a Union class dropship called District, got taken out by aerospace fighters during the drop, no survivors. Kurita pulled the op immediately until they could clear the way for dropships in that sector. What a mess of a battle, sure the supposed ‘last’ of the succession wars were over, but history had a really bad habit of repeating itself, especially in the Inner Sphere.

Samantha tried to sort it out in her head.  2786, Star League under the Terran Hegemony collapses, first Succession War to see who takes over leading the Star League. Houses Kurtia, Marik, Steiner, Davion, and Liao are left ripping each other’s throat out. Everyone targeted infrastructure, widespread use of WMD’s, billions dead, which in the end crippled most of the Inner Sphere’s technological capability, communications network blackout no one can talk to each other, and ended in 2821, not because there was peace or a cease fire, because of exhaustion of resources, if that ends a war you know there’s another one coming... SOON.

Second Succession War, 2830 the same damn thing as the first war, as if everyone wasn’t crippled enough, but you know, just because his legs are broken doesn’t mean his arms don’t work, lets break those this time, and that of his doctor so he can’t patch him up either that’s a great idea! Yeah, that pretty much summed up the second Succession War. Maybe someone should have realized that all of our knowledge was just going down the drain after that, NONE of the Successor States bothered to keep a catalog of anything. We say it ended in 2864

Third Succession War... 2866 to 3025, two centuries of people throwing stones at each other because no one had any idea how to make ‘Mechs or Jumpships, or K-F drives anymore, and we basically forgot how hyperjumping worked, but you know that’s okay, so long as we have a single jumpship left we can still go attack the other guy.

Fourth Succession War, 3028, Steiner and Davion merged to become the biggest superpower ever seen. It wasn’t surprising that every other house suddenly agreed to stop pointing their guns at everyone simultaneously and deal with this new threat. This new faction... this “Federated Commonwealth” say what you will, Steiner had control of it and Davion was just a formality though the two’s military forces were managed independently. Liao and Marik were suddenly surrounded on both sides, though Liao took the worst of it. The raids would never stop everyone trying to gloat the other into taking the first punch. Mercenary groups were torn between siding with The Federated Commonwealth or the Concord of Kaypten; a loose agreement between Marik, Kurita, and Liao. This conflict ‘officially’ ended in 3030.

And here we are now, a raid that was clearly done by Steiner, or at least paid for by them on Northwind when they, The Highlanders, chose to contract themselves out to the Kuritans. Steiner broke the Geneva Convention, by attacking their Jumpship, those were listed as non-combatants. Not that anyone really paid attention to that anymore, medics were high priority targets, the Geneva Convention was a set of good ideas that nobody bothered to follow anymore. Warships, weren’t covered under the Convention, but the Atlantis was an Invader Class Jumpship, a civilian model. A crash later, and they were here. On a planet that was clearly inhabited but never had never fully recovered from the Succession Wars, seeing as they didn’t even have Radar to pick her VTOL up, there were hundreds of planets like this after the wars.

One thing was sure after 3, now 4 wars, over the last few hundred years. Humanity was very, very, VERY, skilled at wrecking a planet. Healing... not so much... Outreach being a prime example... nuked from orbit.

Would the fighting ever end? Sam wondered, how the clans managed to fund such massive operations was completely above her. But then again, it didn’t matter as much, because unlike the Lances they were assigned to work with, her flight group was employed to the Highlanders, not the Kuritians, who had offered to lend a hand at throwing the Steiner beachhead of Northwind.

It was the least Kurita could do after most Highlander Mercs agreed to do work for them, which was Northwind basically telling the Federated Commonwealth, ‘yeah, go fuck yourself.’ . With the cease fire in place... for the moment, the most the clans could do was throw pebbles from a distance at each other.

Turning north, or what this planet called ‘north’ Sam throttled up and flew off.

---

“What’s his condition?” Red Heart asked.

“Stable, for now. He’s suffered a lot of internal injury. Both of his lungs were collapsed, seven broken ribs, four fractured, three bruised. Worst I’ve seen in awhile, he shouldn’t even have been conscious.” Doctor Cross said, “But he’s out like a light now. What happened?”

“I’m not entirely sure, I was on my way back from the Black and Blue Medical Convention when we saw him on the road. We stopped.” Red Heart explained, “He’s lucky he’s even here, it could have been disastrous if he had been left there until morning.”

Doctor Red Cross shook his head, best physician in the country. He had taken Red Heart as an intern years ago while she was in college. They would share pleasantries later, for the moment there was a more pressing issue.

“Did he say anything before he went into intensive care?” He asked.

“Yes, his name. And he could barely say that.”

“What is his name exactly?”

“Night Watcher.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes, he said he’d been jumped.”

“As in mugged?” Cross asked, Red Heart nodded, “So it was an attack. I’m not surprised at his injuries then, I’ll have a officer called in. Your friends are going to have to stick around, this is a legal case now.”

Red Heart yawned, she’d been up all night. Cross had been up all night as well. They walked down the hallway, Cavalry General Hospital had the same paint scheme on the walls everywhere, sterile white with a different coloured stripe depending on the section you were in. It was going on 5:00 when Doctor Cross and herself had finally made it out of the intensive care unit, Night Watcher he had a respirator breathing for him and because of that they couldn’t put a cast on him yet. So for the moment he was pumped up on morphine.

“Before you go, was there anything else?” Cross asked.

“Yes, there was this ‘crater’ by the end of his hooves. I didn’t get a look at it, but one of the driving ponies did.” Red Heart replied.

“Could I please see it?”

“Uhh, sure I guess.”

The two medicine practitioners made it to the waiting room. All of the ponies that had helped Night were present. Red Heart’s father, who she was visiting while she was in town, both of the driving ponies for their cab, the superintendent pegasus and the pony that had accompanied him with the stretcher.

Cross spoke as he entered the waiting room, it was a relatively ‘slow’ night. Which in this case was good. The only the ponies present were affiliated with Night Watcher. “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I expect him to make a full recovery, the bad news is I’ve been informed this was an attack, and you’ll have to stay because a constable has been called in to investigate the matter further. Lastly, I was told one of you took a photo, may I please see it?”

One of the driving ponies stood up, he handed the photo over. Cross stared at the photo. “Hmm.”

“Mean anything to you?” Red Heart asked.

“No. Maybe. I’m not sure. Anyways, please stay here. The constable will be here shortly.” Cross replied.

Red Heart took a seat beside her father, he pushed the glasses up his muzzle and yawned.

“I’m tired.” He said.

“Yeah. So am I.”

“When is that cop going to be here?”

“I have no idea.” Red Heart set her head tilted to the side against her father’s shoulder. After closing her eyes for a second she fell asleep.

...

“Hey wake up!”

“Ahaa, what?!” Red Heart shook her head violently, it was her father.

“You’re drooling on me...”

“Oh... Sorry.”

...

“Hey wake up, Red.”

Red Heart sat up before she cracked her neck by tilting her head both ways.

“Bah...” She groaned, “What time is it?”

“Come on, the officer is here.” It was the Superintendent, you’re next.

Red Heart rubbed her eyes with her hooves, the officer was indeed here. Wait, did the Superintendent call me Red?

“Thanks... and don’t call me Red! It’s Red Heart, Nurse Red Heart.” She snapped before, that was a sign she was tired getting up there was a clock in the waiting room, it was 5:45, and the pony that had helped them other than the superintendent was gone, he must have been interviewed already.. The officer was a unicorn and had a notepad with him, he was standing in the doorway of the waiting lounge

She got up and followed the officer out, they were just off to the side of the waiting room.

“Hello, Ms. Red Heart, I am Officer Blueshift. I have understanding you were one of the witnesses that helped a Mr. Watcher after an assault on him?”

“Yes that’s correct.”

“May I ask what you were doing out that late at night?”

“Uhh, I was attending the Black and Blue Medical convention here in Manehatten. I’m actually from out of town, I’m staying with my father.”

“Where are you from?”

“I was born here in Manehatten, this hospital actually. But I live In Ponyville. I’m a Nurse at PVG.”

“Did you see the attack happen?”

“No. We found Night Watcher; myself, my father, and our drivers off to the side of the road.”

“Did you notice anything weird about the attack, anything out of place?”

“Well, for Manehatten no... Wait, yes. There was a hole on the road at the base of his hooves closer to the alleyway.”

“A hole? In the road. Are you sure it wasn’t a pothole?”

“No, It was blown out, recently too, it was still hot. The rocks around it were still red.”

“Hmm. Alright, so magic?”

“I’d say yes. Watcher might be able to tell you more, but he’s going to be out for the next while. At least a day, probably more.”

“Can you think of anything else that might help find the pony that did this too him?”

“No. Sorry.”

“Alright, thank you for your time. I’ll interview your father next and then your driver then you can leave.”

“Which driver?”

“The one with the camera.”

Red Heart gasped, and Blueshift looked at her weirdly.

“Uhh, he took a photo of the hole in the ground.”

“Thank you, Ms. Red Heart.”

Blueshift finished writing something down on the notepad, then walked around her and simply motioned at the one with the camera, he got up and walked over, Red Heart went back beside her father. She was so tired, she might have to take the rest of tomorrow off, she could hear Blueshift talking to the driver in the hall.

“Hello, I am Officer Blueshift. Can I ask your name?”

“Padlock.”

“Hmm. Weird name for a driver.”

“I work driving as a second job.”

“Ah, I see. Where do you work?”

“Pad’s Locks, my own business.”

“From my understanding you witnessed the attack on Mr. Watcher, is that correct?”

“Well, yes, sorta.”

“Could you please explain further?”

“I didn’t really see it exactly, I was just taxiing Red Heart and her Father, Scope, back from the convention hall here. He was out in the road, near an alley way.”

“Who noticed he was there?”

“The other driver, I think his name is Pathfinder.”

“Alright, so from my understanding, you took a photo of this ‘hole’ that was by Mr. Watcher.”

“Umm. Yeah.”

“May I please see the photo?”

Lock took the photo out, he had gotten it back from Red Heart earlier after she had given it too Dr. Cross, for whatever reason he had wanted to look at it for.

Blueshift stared at the photo, the rocks were red, slightly around the rim, they were very hot, and the bottom of the hole was glossy black. He was scribbling stuff down on his notepad using his magic.

“Hmm. I am going to keep this as evidence alright?”

“Sure go ahead.”

Blueshift pulled a plastic zipper lock bag out of a pocket and put the photo inside of it before pocketing it again.

“Is there anything else?” Padlock asked.

“Yes, what is your current residence.”

“Here, in Manehatten. I live in Bucklyn.”

“Are you from around here?”

“No, I was born in Fillydelphia. I moved here five years ago looking for work, and ended up starting my own business.”

“And how’s that been going for you?”

“Oh, it’s been great lately, I got a contract recently with Safe’n’Sound Storage. It’s going to be a good business relationship.”

“Thank you for your time. That’ll be all.”

Blueshift walked back into the waiting room with Padlock, Red Heart’s father, Scope was still sleeping, he pointed at him. Red Heart nudged him a few times, and he woke up. He noticed the officer and got up without a word.

“Hello, Mr. Scope is it?” Blueshift asked.

“Yes, that’s is I, Dr. Scope.”

“The same Scope that helped write the Gryphena Convention?”

“Uhhuh. That’s would be me.”

“Pleased to meet you, Doctor. I’m Officer Blueshift, I am looking into the assault of Mr. Watcher. Can I ask you some questions?”



“How did you end up finding Mr. Watcher?”

“I uh, we were, uh. Well I didn’t find him, our drivers did.”

“And where did you find him?”

“On the side of the road, near an alleyway in Queens. It was uhh, it was just after... just after 4:00 AM, I was on the way back with my daughter from the Medical Convention they’re running right now. It’s here in Manehatten at the convention hall in....”

“Please stay on topic Doctor Scope, this could help us find his attacker.”

“I live in Queens, so we were on our way through there, when we found him. This was the closest hospital so we brought him here.”

“Alright, did you see anything unordinary about the attack.”

“No, just that hole in the ground. Did Paddy mention that too you, we found this hole near the curb by him. It was still fresh when we got there, so the attack had happened pretty recently, I’d say within the last, oh, half and hour before we got there give or take.”

“Alright, thank you.”

“Was there anything else?”

“Not that I can think of... but I’d recommend searching that alley, it was the one between, oh where is it? I think it was between those two apartments that look the same. That Superintendent fellow could tell you which one.”

“Thanks for the tip. You’re free to go. If you can think of anything else, please let us know.”

Scope walked back into the waiting room, Red Heart was snoozing on the chair.

“Hey, Red, wake up.”

She jerked awake, “I thought I said to not call... Oh sorry Dad.” She glared over at the Superintendent who was still awake.

Red Heart looked over, Blueshift had called out their second driver pony, he was questioning him.

“Just a few more minutes?” She asked, she shook her head a few times.

“Yes dear. Then we can go home and finally get to sleep.”

“I’m not going to the rest of the convention tomorrow, I mean today! Look, I don’t care if it’s 6:00 it’s not tomorrow until I wake up, and to do that I need to be sleeping. Whatever, it’s a Saturday I’m sleeping in ‘till Monday.”

“Any other time, I would take you up on that offer. But I’ve got a meeting in the morning.”

“When?”





“Tomorrow morning.”

“That’s today you mean, and cut it out! You know what I mean.”

“Cut what out?”

“Urggggg, You know what? Forget it.” Redheart groaned.

---

“Did you see that?” Ardent yelled out, howling wind muffling his voice, the visibility might have been low, be he wasn’t blind.

“Yeah, I did!” Ivory yelled back, his scarf flapping in the wind. Snow came halfway up his legs, the area labeled ‘The Frozen North’ wasn’t an exaggeration on the maps they had received after the Crystal Empire returned. Not much had changed in the landscape, but they still wanted to see the ‘new world’ that they had missed out a thousand years on. It only felt like it was a few days for them, Sombra’s magic was head and shoulders above anything they had ever seen before, “Lets go check it out!”

To Ivory, this wasn’t any time to be straying from mapping project they had been given. There wasn’t much to go on, they had a world map and were told, along with 9 other teams, to go start mapping the Northern Mountains, it wasn’t an ideal job, but not much was known about anything this far north. It was barely even hospitable. Ardent wanting to run off on some wild goose chase didn’t make Ivory want to go any more willing then he had this Celestia damned expedition.

“What was that thing?!” Ivory shouted, the weather here had changed in an instant, within 15 minutes of it just being cold, it was overcast, windy and was snowing like there was no tomorrow. What had been a three day hike for them to get out here would be at least a five day return trip, from where they were, if not longer. They weren’t even at the coast yet, that was at least another week away.

“I don’t know, lets go check it out!” Ardent’s voice was starting to crack from all the hollering they were doing. The weather here needed to be fixed, or at least, the Pegasi hadn’t figured out how to control it within the last millennia. A thousand years? It felt like it wasn’t anymore than a week ago they had disappeared.

The two had been one of the dozens of teams sent out to start mapping the Northern Mountains, this wasn’t his, nor Ivory’s idea of fun on a Friday but they had a lot of work to do. The Empire was a military power at its prime, but everything they had was obsolete now, so much to be done. Before they had left, there was rumors they were getting an administrator to oversee the catch-up project, but that was just what was going around... and it was wishful thinking, Cadence wasn’t the best at keeping tabs on a dozen different programs going at once, there was no way she could micromanage leading and updating an entire empire at the same time, it just wasn’t feasible for her.

It was at least past Midnight, could have been going on two in the morning, they had lanterns so they could see, and they had a compass to keep them heading ever further north. Ivory carried all the survival supplies, while Ardent had all the mapping equipment.

They were crossing between two peaks and the wind and snow were starting to pick up again, then the sky lit up like it was day for a few seconds. They managed to catch sight of the fiery object, it went over to the north east before disappearing behind another mountain. This place was treacherous. What could possibly survive out here for more than a week, even with ample supplies, it wasn’t an easy task; navigating was proving difficult enough.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?!” Ivory questioned, He wasn’t sure.

“It’s not too far, and it’s a step in the right direction, sorta. Lets go!”

“I’m not too sure...”

The weather was changing again, the wind was still strong but the snow was starting to die down, visibility started to return to normal again. Ardent could finally see a hoof in front of his face. The two set off north east, crossing between the mountains, it was exhausting but they had started late today, both of the had been out for the last three days they needed to cover the extra ground, in which ever direction it took them.

“Isn’t this the direction that Map Team 6 went?!” Ivory asked, the wind still refused ease and all the yelling was making his voice hoarse.

“Yes, it is, they should be about five miles east. Maybe they saw it too!”



“Well, if we’re already behind does it matter if we don’t get there today?” Ardent argued.

“Yes!”

“That’s not the answer I was hoping for. Besides, you’re obligated to follow me in which ever direction we go. We’re not supposed to split up, and I’m going to go check it out. It’s not like this is the first needle in a haystack we’ve gotten on this expedition!”

        Ardent had Ivory in a corner, and Ardent was a very stubborn character if he was going north east, Ardent was going north east, and nothing would change that.

“Errrah, FINE. We can go check it out.” Ivory said.

“Yes! I knew you would...”

Ivory cut Ardent off mid-sentence, “Until daybreak, then I’m going North whether you’re coming with me or not! I’m carrying all the food remember?!”

“Well, let’s not waste anymore time then, lets go!” Ardent took off at a gallop, even though they were advised not to do anything more than a serious canter for extended periods in this environment.

Ivory sighed, before he took a deep breath in and took off after him, if only to make him realize that it was probably just a falling star, those weren’t uncommon around these parts. Ivory remembered from one of the catch-up classes he had taken after the empire had returned that it was estimated that 100 metric tonnes of space debris fell to Equis every day. So much had changed, all the crystal ponies had gotten a ‘free’ ticket into the future. Not that any of them would have chosen this, it was forced upon them, the question Ivory was asking himself now, was it worth it?

He bounded through the snow, it was crunchy, and supported the majority of their weight. He tried to run in the tracks left by Ardent as well as he could, but realized it was just simply easier to run in the untouched snow. The lamps they had dangled back and forth while they ran, Ardent’s flame went out and he skidded to a hault.

“Bucking... the door latch broke.” He said while he examined it.

Ivory stopped beside him, he was rummaging through his pack, “Here try some of this stuff.”

        Ivory had pulled out a silvery grey roll, Ardent was confused at whatever it was.

“What is it?” Ardent asked.

“They call it ‘Duct Tape’, I’ve tried using it, I swear this has magical properties imbued into it.” Ivory explained, “ It’s one of the few things that makes me happy we were gone for a thousand years.”

The words sent chills down Ardent’s spine, he found it best just not to think about it.

Ivory yanked on the roll giving that satisfying Ftzeerrrr sound, before he teared a piece off with his teeth. Ardent had already reignited the lamp, it’s flame was being thrown about in the wind, Ivory closed the hatch and taped it shut. Ivory was concerned that the cold would stop the, oh what was the fancy word for sticky glue stuff on the backside of the tape? Uhhh... Uhhh... It was... Adhesive! That was what they called it, would prevent the tape from sticking, but the flame had kept the majority of the lamp warm, not hot just warm. Sure it would be a pain to add more oil later, but they had been given an ENTIRE roll of the stuff.

        The two started off again, Ardent leading, he had directly seen where the fireball had gone off to. An hour spent and they crossed two peaks and three ridges, now going up one more peak if they had this ethic earlier they wouldn’t have been behind mapping the area they were given.

That’s when Ivory saw that faint glimmer in the distance, Map Team 6! It was them! They looked like they were on the move to. The snow had started to pick up again for the millionth time, Ivory slid through the snow, when he stopped he noticed Ardent still going, a few seconds later he realized Ivory wasn’t following him.

“Something up?” Ardent asked when he got over to Ivory.

“Yeah, over there.” Ivory gestured over to the east.

Ardent could see the light flickering but getting dimmer, being obstructed by the increase in snowfall.

“We should probably meet up with them. They shouldn’t be out this late.” Ardent proposed.

“And we should be out this late?” Ivory retorted.

“Well... yeah.” Ardent said with a smirk on his face, Ivory huffed in protest, being able to see his breath furthered his expressed frustrations to Ardent.

“Come on, lets just get moving.” Ivory took off towards the other light in the distance, Ardent following this time.

“So what’s the story when they ask why we diverted from our path?” Ardent asked.

“I thought you would have had one thought of by now.”

“No.”

“Celestia dammit, fine, just leave the talking to me then.”

        Ardent got quiet after that. This was probably a stupid idea. He was like a dog chasing a carriage, he wasn’t sure what he’d do if he caught one. They were getting closer, the light was just starting to flick out because of the snow when they were upon it.

Ardent wasn’t sure what to think. They had found a pack belonging to Map Team 6. Nopony around to be found though. What was going on here?

Ivory tapped the pack, it shook before it stood up out of the snow. There was the missing pony. It was... Night Knight, where was his partner?

“What’s going on here?” Somepony called from the distance.

Ardent turned to the south, it was Zirconic. He approached the group.

“Excuse me, Gentlecourts. Why are you here?” Zirconic eyed them both.

“I was about to ask the same thing.” Knight replied.

“I think you both know why we’re here.” Ivory responded.

“Well that was cryptic.” Ardent commented.

“You saw it too?” Knight asked, “We were bunkering down for the night, even though we’re behind. They can’t expect us to keep the scheduled pace they requested in this weather. It’s too random. When the sky lit up only for a few seconds, we couldn’t see it clearly, it was mostly obstructed by the mountain range in front of us, we decided we needed to catch up and we’ve been heading north for over an hour now.

“I concur, I thought it would be best to give up, but if you’re here then it must have been more than just some random event.” Zirconic explained, “I suggest we keep moving and keep this off the record. You gentlecourts are welcome to join us.”

“You guys didn’t happen to see where it landed did you?” Knight asked.

        Ivory thought about it for a moment, he remembered the peaks that the fireball had traveled behind. He looked north from where they were. This wasn’t it.

“Past the next mountain. Not this one the next one.” Ivory said, though he wasn’t entirely confident in his response.

“Then lets get moving chaps.” Zirconic looked up in the sky, there wasn’t any indication of where the moon was, beyond the snowfall were clouds that had refused to disperse since they had passed into the Frozen North. The Empire might have been cool, but they only got snow five months a year, but that was changed now, what was that place? Cloudsdale had covered them in this year’s weather budget; this weather here though was ridiculous.

Ivory sighed, “Alright lets go.”

Knight, Ardent, and Zirconic all took off at a gallop. Ivory followed behind at a mild canter. This didn’t feel right. He wasn’t entirely sure why. Space rocks, what were they going to do with it if they found it? He was sure somepony else had already done some serious research on one, in the last thousand years they probably found a couple of them. Plus the laypony’s terms, their explanation later would be that they stopped mapping to go chase a falling rock. That wasn’t a very solid foundation for a defense for either. Eventually, after a few minutes Ivory realized he was falling behind and following the first rule: Do not break up with your partner, picked up the pace to catch up. They had made it up another mountain side, this was the worst one so far, a 60 degree incline angle was nasty enough as it, throw snow on top of it and wind going in the opposite direction and you had the formula for slipping and going right back down, resetting your progress. This was one of the taller peaks, maybe 70 meters up from their last position.

Metric and Imperial, two very different systems. Ivory couldn’t figure out what he liked better, sure metric was base 10, easy to count, and their units almost aligned with each other, 30 cm to a foot, the difference between a meter - 39 inches, and a yard, three feet, was 3 inches. Rounding was pretty generous, but imperial was what he learned as a foal, they were redoing signs in the empire, and changing the speed limits for carriages... they traded one nightmare for another, when would the chaos end, when would he be able to sit down and look at the empire and say ‘damn, that’s a mighty fine empire’ and not ‘damn, that’s a mighty fine empire... IN PROGRESS.’

And another thing, these new weapons they had developed, who would have thought that instead of bigger swords, somepony thought of the idea to ignite a combination of charcoal, potassium nitrate, and sulfur and use the expanding gasses from those to shoot a iron ball out the end of a cast iron pipe, and then turn that into a weapon. Cannons. And automatic crossbows that don’t even shoot arrows; but instead bronze or steel darts called ‘bolts’. And all one had to do was wait for the spring loader to push the bow string back, that was now made out of a material called polymer plastic instead of whipcord from cotton or worsted.

All this new stuff absolutely fascinated Ivory, there was so much to catch up on. Was it still worth it? Being trapped up for a thousand years, weather control, medicine advancements, weapons technology, new magic. Celestia even managed to get the Zebras, Equines, and Gryphons to call a truce. This new world was fantastic.

You did nothing to contribute to that, none of you did, all this work was built upon the effort of millions of individuals, and here you are reaping the benefits of their work. Their LEGACY.

Ivory wasn’t sure if their imprisonment was a gift or a curse. Maybe it was both, but when you’re dealt a hand of cards and get a mixed bag, you make the best of it. And who knows, maybe this will turn out for the better.

The blizzard started to pick up again, even worse this time. What was with the weather in this region? Even if they mapped it out, what if this place was just another Everfree? Would the mapping really matter then?

Ivory caught up to the group. They had crossed the peak. Even with the snow picking up, they could still see the ridge they had to cross to get to the next mountain, another half click at least.

This whole mapping project was a mess, and so was the empire. Everything was just so disorganized, out of place. With all the work that needed doing Ivory was amazed they even had time to send out the three or so dozen mapping teams. And here they were adding to the chaos, how much had they missed, and when was the last time anyone bothered to right down coordinates to these peaks? This entire operation was going to tartarus.

A whiteout reached its climax so that if you were lucky, you could spot the lantern of the pony in front of you, with the exception of Ardent who had taken the lead awhile back. Ivory hoped he had a good sense of direction, else they could be running in circles.

200 Meters to go, then they had to climb another damn mountain to its crest and make it over the top. Everything was going as smoothly as one could imagine for a group running in a blizzard, while it was -30 degrees below zero.

Celsius, that was another new system, as it coincided with zero being the freezing point of water. What else was there? All these new ideas and ways of doing things started to pile up. The empire still used imperial simply because it was what they knew how to use. That was changing though, there was so much change going on he wasn’t sure he could adapt. But as they say, Adapt or Perish. Pick one.

        Ardent came slipping to a stop as he smashed into a solid chunk of ice.

“Ooooowww” Ardent shook his head violently he had collided head on.

“Glacier on this mountain, mark that down would you Zirconic?” Knight asked.

“Give me a moment.” Zirconic replied.

“Now what?!” Ardent asked, “What the hay are we supposed to do now?”

“We go around genius.” Ivory said flatly.

        Ardent looked down the glacier outcrop, it went pretty far. At least that’s what it looked like, the snow wasn’t as bad up against a flat surface.

“This could take awhile.” Ardent commented, it had been at least three hours since they started chasing this, this... whatever it was.

        Curiosity. What could be the best and worst trait of any pony that had ever lived in the history of forever.


---


        Of all the places she had to land, landing in the middle of another fucking snow storm had to happen to Lauren. Apparently being on Northwind, which a huge majority of the planet was snow, wasn’t punishment enough.

Her ‘Mech, a stolen Blood Asp from one of the merc clans, Star Adder, had too much forward delta v, and although she had managed to keep the 90 tonne behemoth upright during the ‘crash’, she skidded no less than 70 meters. She had smashed into a huge face of ice.

        All of her ‘Mech systems were offline, and the fusion reactor was refusing to turn over. It just kept on making that annoying sputtering noise. Frost has formed on the outside of the cabin window within minutes of the smack down.

“Come on, come on!” She begged the ‘Mech to power up. The dashboard flickered slightly before dying out again.

“Dammit.” She thought as she smacked the dash in frustration, “I did not survive an Atlas just to freeze to death.”

Her cabin was well insulated, to protect the pilots from the radiation from the reactor, but it could still get toasty in the cab if the reactor was trying to provide too much energy to weapons. She pushed the button down to ignite the fusion reaction. The thing with these large ‘Mechs is that a cold startup was incredibly strenuous on the core, maybe too many systems were asking for energy?

        Lauren unhooked from the harness that held her down to the seat. You could break the individual circuits to weapons from the co-pilot seat, instead of just shutting them down from the pilot seat.

        ‘Mech systems could be weird. Since ‘Mechs were designed to be piloted by just one person, but had too many systems to manage or micromanage by just a pilot alone, the pilot was given a streamlined set of control functions available to them for simplicity. As it was assumed, if you were in a ‘Mech you were going into a combat zone. The co-pilot display also had the options to turn over all functions to the pilot seat, which is what she was after. There was also the backup electrical generator to power electrical systems behind the co-pilot seat, incase the reactor ever went offline, that was what it was looking like here.

        Lauren climbed up to the co-pilot seat, it was elevated above the pilot seat because they needed to fit more display boards to the dash for the co-pilot to use. But first, she needed power. The electrical generator concealed behind the co-pilot’s seat was nothing more than a bunch of batteries. Pulling the CP’s seat back revealed the switch to the generator. Lauren flicked it up into on position.

        Lights in the cabin came back on immediately, as well as the vents, warm air started pumping into the cabin. Lauren pushed the seat back before sitting in it. She sighed, the seat reclined a bit before clicking back into it’s locked position. Power management normally wasn’t a problem, Fusion reactors could supply a near infinite amount of current, if they weren’t damaged.

        Unfortunately, from the looks of it some part of the reactor was damaged in the crash. She wasn’t entirely sure which, because she couldn’t run a diagnostic of her ‘Mech’s systems until main power was restored.

        Looking at the consoles available to her in the co-pilot’s seat. They looked similar enough to the pilot seat to use, but not familiar enough to know what she was looking for.

        Missile guidance systems, finite mechanical movements, drone settings, that weird console that she had no idea what it did. Ah, power control.

        Lauren looked at the console. Touch screen, that makes it simple. Break circuits to all non-essential systems. All medium lasers, and missile launchers. Both of the heavy laser batteries in the arms would remain functional, and all the machine gun arrays. Missile guidance wasn’t that essential so she broke the circuits as well. Firing without the guidance computers or a lock-on simply made the missiles go straight. So with some good aim, you could still hit something.

        Jumping back in the pilot’s seat she flicked the switch to prime the ignition. The button labeled ‘Ready to Start’ lit up green, which was further then it got last time. There was something wrong in power regulation for sure now. Pressing the button made the dash display flicker while the not so appetizing noise of the fusion engine trying to turn over flooded the cabin. Lauren noticed the activity setting was still in it’s ‘run’ position instead of ‘stand-by’, resetting back to stand-by  made the flicking lights on the dash glow brighter before the fusion engine decided to cooperate.

Lauren shook her head, “Oh thank god.”

        She had never thought that the annoying hum would be the most welcome noise she had heard all night. She sat back in the pilot’s seat before putting her helmet back on, which made the artificial HUD that looked like it was projected in front of you, but was on the visor instead, turn back on. Damage report.

        Both legs were yellow, not surprising, 90 tonnes hitting the ground and remaining upright while skidding... it was to be expected.

“ ‘Mech, run full diagnostic.” Lauren spoke.

“Running full diagnostic, please wait.” The computer voice chimmed.

The center field of view on the HUD was replaced with a schematical readout of the ‘Mech. While the computer was checking systems, it lit up the area it was checking. When it got to the rear torso, it was flagged red, the report appeared a moment later.

Central Power Regulator Damaged.
Cause: High velocity impact.
Effect: Systems may be unresponsive
Recommendation: Replacement.

        Power regulation controlled which areas of the ‘Mech got energy and when. If it was damaged, all systems asking for energy would get it on startup, with reactor not being able to supply that much current on startup, everything browned out, and nothing started.

        Lauren thought that was it until it pinged again, this time the center between the torso and the legs.

Torso Bearing Possible Damage
Cause: High Velocity Impact
Effect: Projecting difficulty moving torso separate from leg assembly.
Recommendation: Replacement

        That... could be a problem.  Great. Lauren sighed. One of the most basic strategies was circle strafing, now it looked like she couldn’t do that. Still, one problem at a time.

        Lauren moved the activity setting from stand-by to run. The fusion plant didn’t wince. Moment of truth. Ever so slightly pulling the throttle into reverse the lights in the cabin flickered then went back to normal, she held her breath. The sensation of the ‘Mech moving went to her head as the giant red behemoth took a step back from the ice wall she had crashed into, then another step, and another. That impact sound of ‘Mech’s feet hitting the ground started to become familiar again.

        Having backed at least 100 meters from the iceface she had plowed into, Lauren moved the joystick that controlled torso movement to the left. A horrible grinding noise vibrated the entire ‘Mech, Lauren pushed the stick even further. The Blood Asp refused to budge. Pushing the joystick over as far it would go the Blood Asp relented to the pressure and started to spin. Yeah, damaged bearing wasn’t even the start of it.

        At least the ‘Mech would move now. Pushing the stick to the opposite side the ‘Mech stopped and turned the otherway, albeit slowly. It was likely that one of the motors that moved the ‘Mech’s upper portion free of the bottom had ceased to function entirely. Fortunately, a ‘Mech this size needed no less than 3 for the torso and 3 for the legs, as they could also rotate in either direction, free of eachother.

        Her surroundings where just as depressing as Northwind. Snow, wind and cold. For someone from Epsilon Indi, where the temperature around the equator used to be around 40 degrees celsius, all year round, all this snow and cold weather was getting aggravating.

        Why must snow suck? Non-stop? All the time? For the last however many years she had left Epsilon Indi.

        The wind was blowing, but no clouds, yet it was snowing? Maybe it was white out from the high winds. But that didn’t matter, now that the ‘Mech was working again, what mattered was trying to find help. Lauren wasn’t sure how long the Blood Asp would hold together in this condition. At least the compass would work properly, sorta. Assuming that this planet had the same magnetic pole orientation as Northwind did.

        Looking at the electronic compass, ‘North’ showed that it was swiveling all over the place. Dammit, magnetic rocks in the mountains. That could be another problem. Heading would still work through,

        Heading 0 being set to where ‘Mechs torso was facing right now, increasing clockwise. Choosing to get as far away as possible from the crashsite, Lauren turned the ‘Mech to heading 180, opposite of where she faced. Well here goes nothing.

        Moving the throttle forward to 45 Km/h, as that was as fast as she dared pushing the 90 metric tonne behemoth on ice or snow.

Thump. Thump. Thump

        The shallowest incline which looked like it was scalable by the Blood Asp was dead ahead. Moving over into the next area and getting away from where she had crashed at was a good objective for the moment. No telling who might have been tracking any of them on the way down.

        Lauren’s in-console radio was off, flicking it on just filled the cabin with static. No one was broadcasting. Figured she might as well start. Automated message to any of her lancemates, she hadn’t caught the frequency that the other lance had been broadcasting on, as they were both ordered to change once they had docked with the Atlantis. So for now, the sure-fire thing was to send out intermittent long range radio calls, if they would even go that far.

        Up the side of the slope. Fresh snow that hadn’t been packed in yet broke off sending mini-avalanches down where the Assault ‘Mech had walked. At least there wouldn’t be any footprints from the ‘Mech when all was said and done.

        While she navigated the snow-desert, Lauren sent out a wideband S.O.S if anyone was listening they’d come a running. For better or for worse. Better for her, worse for them. She had a bunch of guns on metal legs. What could possible do any harm to that? So what if the ‘Mech was a bit damaged in the crash landing, it would take a hell of a lot more to put this monster out of its misery.


> Picking Up The Trail
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So there was nothing else in that letter?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, just under Celestia’s orders, we’re supposed to report to the Crystal Empire. Why I’m needed is beyond me. I mean, I wasn’t invited the last time. For the Olympics.” Spike replied.

“I’m not entirely sure why that was. It would have been like inviting me to the Canterlot Wedding, and saying ‘plus one, no reception.’” Twilight thought out loud, “It makes no sense.”

“A lot of things we’re told to do don’t make sense until AFTERWARDS.” Spike shook his head, “On the bright side, we should be there before mid afternoon.”

“Oh and another thing, we’re changing time zones, so go back to sleep tomorrow if you wake up and it’s still dark out.”

“Wait, so does that mean, mid afternoon OUR time, or theirs? And on that note, how far ahead are we going?”

“Off the top of my head.... 2 hours, I believe.”

        Spike promptly pulled out a pocket watch and started moving it ahead. Before he changed it, he noted the time. 7:12 AM.

“We should be out of here in a couple minutes, you can go back to sleep if you want.” Twilight said.

“Normally, I’d take you up on that offer, but I don’t feel like it.”

        Twilight gasped.

“Just kidding, wake me up before 10:00, OUR time.”

        Spike turned towards the window and dozed off, he got the window seat. Twilight prefered the aisle seat anyway.

“What in Equestria could I possibly be needed for?”

        That was a question with many answers, which ever one it might be, but to be honest, she doubted it was because Cadence wanted to see her. Royalty rarely had time for recreation.


***


“Hey, Scootaloo!” A voice called out in the crowd.

        Scootaloo stopped and looked around. Too many ponies in market square to tell who and where that voice had come from.

        Shady Daze suddenly appeared out from behind to mares bartering for tomatoes.

“Oh, um hi.” Scootaloo replied, “Nice to see you here. Something up?”

“Yeah, actually I wanted your opinion on the photo.” Shady Daze’s voice could almost be raspy at times. Like he had just inhaled too much smoke.

        Daze pulled out the photo, it was the hills to the south of Ponyville, at dusk, not a bad photo at all.

“It’s good.” Scootaloo reassured, “I guess you’re asking because Featherweight doesn’t take meh photos?”

Shady shook his head, “Top quality only. Sometimes it takes me a week to get him to accept a photo.”

        Scootaloo supposed Diamond Tiara wasn’t as picky as Featherweight was, not that she was nicer about it, she just wasn’t as professional in that particular field, and had a lower standard than Featherweight would.

“Is it worth it?” Scootaloo asked.

“Worth what?” Shady answered the question with a question.

“The Paper isn’t exactly in it’s golden age anymore is it?” Scootaloo knew the answer, but popped the question anyway.

Shady sighed, “No. At first I was excited to be staff photographer. But mom always said no prize is worth attaining if you can’t share it. There’s not really much of a point to sticking around anymore. No.”

“Then why do you?”

“Somepony’s gotta do it.”

        That was admirable. But once again, she didn’t envy Shady Daze in the slightest. Maybe it was because the time with the paper was more trouble than what it was worth. Maybe it was because none of her friends were there anymore. Maybe it was a mixture of both. Regardless, Scootaloo was happy she wasn’t part of the staff here anymore.

“This was from the instant developing camera right?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yes, I took two shots. I’m hoping the higher quality film will make it look even better than right now.”

        Smart, one to see how it would look right away and one for the paper later, once the film developed.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She reassured Shady. Was Featherweight really that tough of a boss?

“I was hoping you’d review it for me, the final photo I mean.” Shady was asking her to critique the photo he took once it was developed.

She didn’t see what not, “Um. Okay?”

---

“Hey wake up!”

“Urgg go away.”

“It’s 6:00.”

        *PUNCH*

“Ow what the hell?!” Casey demanded, “Okay, Ethan I’m up!”

“Thanks, but I’m not Ethan.” Sara said offering a hand, Casey who was now coherent reached and grabbed it, she yanked him up off the ground.

“Did you stand watch all night?” Casey asked.

“No, I just went to sleep around 2:00.”

        Casey started searching around for the missing battery, only to realize they were on the edge of an overlook. Two feet further when he had shoved Sara off the tracks and they would have fallen off.

“Lets get moving.” Sara ordered.

“Give me a moment...” Casey said while he was going through his backpack. He pulled out some energy bars, and tossed one at Sara.

“Nice.” She said.

“Yeah, Ethan always tells me to pack for a worst case scenario. I’ve even got a poncho in here I think.”

“Any spare batteries?”

“No unfortunately. You know, you lead a lot differently than Ethan does.”

“I’m not ordering you around as much because I don’t sign your pay cheques.” Sara reaffirmed.

“Fair enough. But I’ve been told by Ethan to listen to you for the duration of our contract.” Casey replied, “And he signs my pay cheques.”

“Really? I thought you guys were independent. We’re actually contracted to the Highlanders. They hired us, I thought you were working for the Draconis Combine.”

“Yes and no. Wonder why Planners ordered us to take off back on Northwind?” Casey asked.

“Ethan told her not to?” Sara asked.

“Exactly, Ethan pays Planners. He pays the entire crew. We’re not affiliated with any major mercenary contractor. We’ve done work for the Dragoons, Legion, Highlanders, some of the Clans even.”

“How does he fund it all? I can’t imagine...” Sara trailed off.

“I get paid more than you do. Trust me when I say that.” Casey bragged, “Ethan’s rich. VERY rich.”

“So why’s he out here on the frontier in the mud with the rest of us? I wanted to see the stars and get away from...” Sara trailed off once again.

“Your father?” Casey asked.

“Yes. How did you know?” Sara asked.

“You mentioned it yesterday.”

        Sara wanted to avoid the topic.

“I hope... Ashley. That’s her first name right?” Sara asked, “Made it down in one piece.”

Casey took the bait and swapped topics.

“Yeah, it could be our only ticket off this planet.”

“That’s not the only issue. I seriously doubt the Atlantis survived that G-O shot in one piece. Even if we can get into orbit. We’ve got no way home.”

“I’m hoping that traders still show up here on occasion, we’ll pay them to take us back to an anchor planet or station and then go from there.”

“You wanna pay for that?”

“Ethan would pay for it.”

“How do you know?”

“Well, he owns the dropship for starters...”

Sara gritted her teeth, “I seriously HOPE Ashley got it down in one piece. Anyways, we should scout around for a place to get our 'Mechs through, I really don’t want to go back to the desert.”

“Ditto. Where to next lead?” Casey asked.

“That’s what I wanna hear!” Sara’s attitude changed almost immediately. Now Casey could see why she was the lead and Demetri wasn’t. He was too negative, a pessimist. “Alright, so... wait.”

The sun was starting to come up, making shadows across the landscape evaporate and destroying the darkness that had once covered it.

“Whoa. Holy shit!” Casey said to the apple tree orchard, as far as the eye could possibly see.

“That... is impressive.”

“Dibs!” Casey called.

Sara groaned, “You did not.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Well, this is actually really good news...” Sara turned only to see Casey skidding down the cliff-face. Down and down he went. Sara couldn’t tell if he was brave or stupid. Or both. He was an action seeker. Kid had a lot to learn... Sara thought, wait, was Casey even older than her?

“Catch up!” He shouted on the way down.

“You know! I’m supposed to be in charge here!” Sara shouted down after him.

“You know, you’re wasting time, we need to find who owns this orchard and have them direct us to the nearest space-port!”

Casey had all the water, and the food. And the only source of more of that was down the cliff. So Sara scaled down as well, it was steep, not a free-fall, but close. Like she had said, this was good news. Anyone that could cultivate an orchard this size was totally capable of launching them back into space. You don’t irrigate something like this without cloud-seeding, or something like that.

Loose rocks followed Sara down, and Casey was waiting at the bottom. Casey had stayed upright through the slide, but Sara had opted for laying down and then getting up at the end. Not willing to risk a broken bone or something.

“How’s your ass?” Casey joked.

“The only person who should be concerned about my ass is me.” Sara snapped back, Casey reached out and helped her up this time, “If anything I should be concerned for yours. Not the other way around.”

“Do you think they’ll be mad if we steal an apple or two? It’s been awhile since I’ve ate fruit on the ground that wasn’t dried or packed full of preservatives... bleh.”

“I try not to steal. But seriously a couple apples? Couldn’t be all that bad could it?” Sara reasoned.

“So are you game or not?” Casey was already climbing up one of the trees.

Sara couldn’t actually tell if she was leading, or Casey was just off doing his own thing. Initiative was one thing, not listening was another.

“Sure, why not. Throw a few down.” Sara shrugged.

A few dropped and Sara caught them with one hand.

“These are bloody pristine!” Sara balked, “It looks almost too good to eat.”

Casey examined his apple, “I’ve never seen quality growing like this. They must pollinate and then make sure they’re in prime conditions ALL the time.”

“Can you see anything from up there?” Sara asked.

“Let me climb higher.” Casey moved up further and further through the branches, his backpack snapped off smaller twigs.

“Anything?!” Sara asked again.

“Uh yeah, now that we’ve moved away from the cliff-face, I can see a.. clock tower. Due... west of here.”

“I guess that makes sense, that’s the way the rail-road turned.”

“Yeah...” Casey sounded hesitant.

“What’s the matter?”

“Um. I know this is all good news, but seriously. If we were out in the middle of the desert, and we saw a building, do you think a clock tower would be the thing we find on colony that could get us back into space? I can just... just barely see the top of... that’s probably town-hall or something. Does this look like a space-faring colony to you?”

Sara hesitated, “... Uh... umm... no...” She admitted. This was both fantastic news, and terrible news at the same time, “That doesn’t change the fact, we have to go that way. Unless you want to go the other way out of spite.”

“I hope I’m over thinking this.” Casey smacked himself across the face, “Let’s go.”

Casey jumped out of the tree.

“Well, we might be able to get our ‘Mechs back over the mountains if we put them on a freight train or something. That or we’ll have to find a way around. That’ll be fun.”

“Yeah, I’m just starting to enjoy the shade...” Casey took a bite out of the apple, and it gave a very satisfying crunch, “And the top-notch food as well.”

“Let’s move!” Sara barked.


---


Scootaloo was sitting on a bench near town hall. A day had past, she still had that thing on her mind. The next issue of the Foal Free Press was going to be released, Scootaloo told Shady Daze she’d check out his photos. She wasn’t sure which one would get into the paper, if at all. During the summer, there wasn’t much else to do. It was just kind of boring. Both Cutie-Mark-Crusaders Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were off working with their sisters... Apple Bloom was probably shipping apples out, and Sweetie Belle probably accidentally gave Rarity another idea for a fashion line. Scootaloo’s kind-of sister, Rainbow Dash? She was probably off napping somewhere.

         For all Scootaloo’s fanfillying over Rainbow Dash, she was only awesome when she was awake. Although Scootaloo reasoned that being that awesome must take a long of energy, and therefore a lot of rest, she wished Rainbow Dash would pay a bit more attention to her. That’s not of course to say she was discontent with Rainbow Dash, she bought her a new scooter, had Big Mac fashion a new hook for the wagon for her. Saved her from the Rainbow Falls. She was there was she was needed and not any other time. Unless Scootaloo risked losing her life, Rainbow Dash seemed content to let her figure herself out.

Shady trotted past Scootaloo, then he paused and noticed her.

“Hey do you want to take a look. If you wanna keep it, you’ll have to pay though.”

“Why does the Foal Free Press even run during the summer?” Scootaloo asked.

Shady shrugged, “Iunno.”

“I suppose it’s something to do. Do you have any... oh wait. Right. I’m not allowed to do that anymore.” Scootaloo sulked.

Shady hopped up on the bench beside her.

“Hey no worries. You gotta remember, what you guys did was great. Horrible, but it was great.”

“I guess.” Scootaloo sighed, she stared at her continued to be, blank-flank.

Shady noticed.

“Go on say it.” Scootaloo nagged.

“Say what? You’re a blank flank? So what?” Shady shrugged, “It’ll show up eventually.”

“Yeah, well eventually’s taking too long!” Scootaloo huffed.

Shady chose to change the subject, and offered her the paper to look at.

“Diamond put my photograph on the front page. Nothing’s really worth throwing on their anymore.” Shady sighed.

“Aw come on.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes and grabbed the paper, “It’s...”

Scootaloo look at the photo Shady had taken of the hills to the south of Ponyville. The hills were extravagant, but that’s not what mattered, what mattered was the bi-pedal dark figure he caught at the far right and off into the distance standing on one of the hills, “Whoa!”

“It’s that good?!” Shady looked at Scootaloo in disbelief, other than Rainbow Dash, she was never impressed by anything.

“Um!” Scootaloo looked closer, ‘Yeah! Sure, it’s fantastic... Um, can I have this please?!”

“I’ll take your praise as payment. If Tiara asks, I dropped it on the way here in a puddle and threw it out.”

Scootaloo was off the bench, on her scooter, and speeding towards Sweet Apple Acres, “Thank you!”

Shady looked at her zoom off, with purpose, “What was that about?”

Scootaloo thought to herself, “So happy I kept that book.” Now that she had a picture on top her sketch, and its last known location, it was time to go through that book fully and in detail. She had hoof-prints, a sketch, some sounds it made, and an actual PHOTO. ACTUAL PROOF, sure hoof-prints were proof but, but they were about as much proof as... what was that one mythical creature she had read about... the Sander-Dog. Big dog like creature, kind of like Cerberus, but that wasn’t a myth. Big dog thing, made entirely of sand, ate rocks. Whatever, proof, kind of. The photo was a start, on top of all the evidence she had gathered, this thing was totally real. She knew it the first time she saw it! Maybe it was time to inform the other Crusaders? No! They, they were busy. Apple Bloom had a lot of work to do, Sweetie Belle was helping Rarity. It wasn’t right to take them away from Applejack or Rarity, each of them went through the occasional difficult business quarter. Flim and Flam, never again...

Until she had something more solid, and she was getting closer, this investigation needed to be kept secret.


---


“This is the place?” The officer asked, “I’m sorry what’s your name again?”

“Redsocks. I know, I know, baseball team joke.” Redsocks explained, “I’m the Superintendent.”

“Could you please show me where you found him?”

“Well, when I got out here, they had already moved him. But there was a hole in the ground... um, let’s see.” Redsocks searched the ground near the curb... it was around here somewhere... what did the road-crews have like Spidermare’s sense, a pothole appears and they all run frantically towards it with replacement cobblestones? Oh, no, guess not. Redsocks found the hole, “Right here. Um, I’ve got cleaning to do, can I get back to work?”

“Yes.” The officer replied, and waved over another pony out of the carriage, dressed in a slightly different outfit.

“Whoa is that a...”

“Officer Gazelli, Crime Scene Investigation. I want this area picked clean, immediately.” She ordered, a few more ponies got out of the carriage. Gazelli was striped and had wings, Zebra-Pegasus breed, “Secure the area!”

Wow this must have been much more serious that Redsock originally though, he thought simply it was a homeless pony try to mug a few bits.

“Hm.” Gazelli looked at the hole in the ground, and then pulled out a photo, “Ah, interesting. The dirt and stone is melted, and this char around the edges. Burned, not blasted, burned.”

Gazelli looked around, and then straight past Redsock and the other officer that was with him, and towards the alleyway. Gazelli looked back down at the hole.

“Angled, which means it wasn’t from directly above...” Gazelli talked to herself, “Hey! Crackers, can you come over here?”

One of the other CSI’s looked up from the garbage he was sifting through, he was a Unicorn.

“Yes Ma’am?” Crackers asked.

“Victim was on the ground, laying down, and on his back. So.. must have been thrown, injuries report says he couldn’t have moved much, and the witnesses say the found him laying this way...” Gazelli was speaking crazy fast.

Gazelli’s brain-gears were turning away.

“What are you thinking?” Crackers asked.

“The attack was random. This wasn’t premeditated, whoever put this here.” Gazelli pointed to the hole, “Was trying to kill, they could have done it easily. No... more like...”

“Mugging!” Redsocks shouted.

“Yes!” Gazelli cheered raising a hoof, “Why stop? Attacker throws victim, had to be a unicorn, nothing else could have caused this... but victim had severe chest trauma, so was hit with blunt force object... if Unicorn was capable of this...” Gazelli looked at the hole again, “Why not just grab victim with telekinetic spell and...” Gazelli looked up at the alley way, “Attacker waiting in alleyway, but victim was walking home, would have walked past alleyway... no, no, no, no... victim had chest injuries, would have walked broadside to alleyway, no doesn’t explain... unless! Unless Victim walked into Alleyway and was attacked in alleyway and thrown after victim reeled back in response...” Gazelli looked a bit stuck.

“Okay, so...” Crackers had his hooves to his head, “So that does make a lot of sense, but who’s to say that the attacker didn’t just attack the vic after he had thrown him back, wouldn’t that also explain the chest injuries?”

“I didn’t hear a thing last night, and I’m a light sleeper.” Redsocks tossed into the discussion.

Gazelli stomped her hoof repeatedly, “Chest injuries could have caused victim to have the wind knocked out of him, stopping him from screaming for help. Victim was found on the road after the attack happened.”

“So, the original attack had to have made him quiet.” Crackers looked back towards the alley. Couldn’t have broadsided him, undercarriage too low to the ground to get the force necessary to cause that kind of chest injury. I think you’re right, the vic reeled onto his back hooves in surprise. But who travels down a dark alleyway, that’s like something right out a horror movie.”

“Lured down the alleyway...” Gazelli pondered.

“Vic doesn’t have any signs of drug addiction, or other substance abuse, nothing illegal, back-alley deal gone bad? No way.” Crackers looked into the alleyway, “Hey Glasscutter, find anything?!”

“Yeah... actually, a shit-tonne of well... shit. Feces I mean, sorry boss!” Glasscutter shouted.

Gazelli groaned, “Professional language Glasscutter, what are you a high-schooler?” She scorned.

“Give him a break, he transferred here from Fillydelphia, very, very cruel place to be a cop.” Crackers defended, “Anyways, pile of crap. Why?”

“We have a bit of a stray animal problem around here.” Redsocks sat down, “Manehattan, what do you expect?”

“Vic sees a stray animal and enters the alleyway after it?” Crackers proposed.

“Possibly. I’m a sucker for cats.” Gazelli rubbed the back of her head, Redsocks hesitated, she wasn’t a crazy-cat mare was she?

“Okay, so Unicorn blast’s a hole in the ground, but the attack stops... because the witnesses in the carriage pull up, and that interrupts it, but the driver ponies never saw the attacker, not even at a distance. I know it’s dark out, but street lights. They only saw the vic that’s it. So either the attacker retreated long before they pulled up or...”

“Or the attacker never left the alleyway in full, or they would have been seen.” Glasscutter shouted.

Gazelli suddenly dropped to the ground, and Redsocks flinched. Crackers raised a hoof signalling him to relax. Gazelli got right up to the hole and looked at it.

“Like meteor impacts...” She said squinting at the hole in the ground, “The angle of impact... Bah! Crackers, you do this. Visualizations help.” Crackers traded places with Gazelli, he used his horn to draw a red line stemming from the hole and outwards at an angle, towards the alleyway, the line drew further and further off the ground. Gazelli went and stood in the alleyway and the line hovered at least a metre above her head.

“Oh...” Glasscutter looked out from the alleyway and the colour from his face drained, he looked sick, and so did Crackers, even Gazelli looked a bit distraught.

“What?” Redsocks asked.

“Um...” Gazelli struggled over her words trying to form a sentence without stuttering, “Either our attacker was Princess Celestia on her back hooves, a Unicorn on stilts some crazy-ass stilts...” Gazelli stood on her back hooves, still not even being able to reach the line where she stood, “Or whatever did... this stands at least three metres tall.”


---


Twilight sat on the train, it had started raining, fortunately, this train hadn’t broken down, so big strong Stallions weren’t called out to pull it the rest of the way like they had to originally on their way to Appleoosa over a year ago. Spike asked to be woken up around 10:00, but he sounded like he was enjoying his delusional male fantasy.

“Oh, of course Rarity, I’d love to take you to the Grand Galloping Gala...” Spike then went into an incredibly loud snore. Fortunately, nopony else was in their particular train car.

Twilight snickered, what a disaster that was, there was nothing grand about the Grand Galloping Gala. The only thing grand about it was the cost ponies paid to get into it. You know something is beyond FUBAR when not even the Elements of Harmony, or at least their bearers, could make it work properly. That being said, in the end it was alright. Sitting in Donut Joe’s having a bunch of laughs, and... well, Spike was right the whole time, the entire group should have just stuck together. It would have been much more fun that way, but no, all of us let our delusions of grandeur take us away and hype us up. Rarity spent so much time working on the dresses, twice as much as she should have actually. Everything leading up to the Grand Galloping Gala just smelled of disaster in the making, and everypony plugged their noses and stuck their head in the clouds.

Let Canterlot have their Gala, this year Twilight intended to have a good time back in Ponyville. With nothing better to do, Twilight pulled out her quills and parchment and began to write. Not a letter to Celestia, simply thoughts and ideas, and possibilities. All that studying lead to having ideas, and letting her imagination run wild. 2001: A Space Odyssey, what a fantastic piece of fiction that was! The monolith, the AI, PAL 9000, that... ending! Written over a century ago, 2001 came and past, and well, the future it described was not what came to be. 2001, we head to the moon and find the Mare in the Moon, and she gives us secrets towards space travel, and so we head to Duna, and then Wavelock, and then... the monolith signal. That was just... brilliant! The Mare in the Moon found us though... wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows like 2001 said it would be, in fact it was completely the opposite. The most we had done was make some architectural advances, got steam engines working, used polymer chains to make plastic. Awesome advances, but one could only ever dream of truly touching the stars.

Once upon a time...

Twilight immediately scratched that out, so... so cliche.

Once upon a time...

Twilight struggled to think of something to write, writing about events was easy, you wrote what happened, making up events. Well, if Twilight had been so fantastic at doing that, Lesson Zero, as Spike liked to call that incident wouldn’t have happened... no news is good news though. Sometimes that’s the truth.

Trying to draw some idea from somewhere to make fiction, didn’t need to be fanfiction, just... well, why couldn’t it be fanfiction, all the hard work is done. The Universe has already been made for you, just think of a story to tell, not a place to tell it, how it works, and what happens. Fanfiction, fanfiction. Twilight had previously tried to write a few, Daring-Do? Nah. Power-Ponies? Nah. Crime was too difficult to write about, and Romance, although occasionally enjoying the odd romance novel, just, always seemed too mushy with predictable results: The mare and the stallion on the cover fall in love, kinda, then something bad happens, they push through it, realize they’re each each others true love. Happy ending. Except for Catacombs, because Buck Catacombs. How about Science Fiction?

“Science Fiction is a way of exploring the Equine condition, to cause change, ideally, for the better.”

Ah, Hazel Gulf Wells, H.G Wells. Father of science fiction, fantastic Gryphon writer. Although your radio broadcast showed that Equinity can’t take a beakin’ joke! Although maybe it was an oversight to have the broadcast start with “We interrupt your current radio broadcast for a live news bulletin.” Making it sound absolutely serious and real. Then reporting Venomous Pod-Plants sprouting from the ground after a meteor impact and swallowing ponies whole for nutrients...

Twilight shook her head, One thing I know? Equine stupidity... limitless. That made Twilight lose her will to write anything, rolling the paper back up and saving it for later, she stuffed it back in her bags.

“Rarity, what’s that? You accept the ring I...”

Okay that’s enough! Twilight shoved Spike against the window, bolting him awake.

“Oh come on!” He complained.

“Not even in your dreams!” Twilight raised a hoof.

“Dream crusher...” Spike trailed off

“Make your dreams a reality, and they can’t be crushed. Not emotionally anyway.”

“Only physically, and metaphorically, and psychologically, and...”

“You did ask me to wake you up at 10:00, PVT. It’s going on Noon, CET.”

“Oh yeah! I forgot about that.”

“I think we should just switch over to twenty four hour format. That way you can drop the AM and PM.”

“Yeah, but then your favourite time would only happen in the hours when you’re sleeping. 3:14.”

“I suppose.”

“13:37 though...”

“Spike you know I don’t keep on track of that stuff. Whatever that’s for.”

“You need to read more comic books.”

“I will when you don’t read a comic book for a month.” Twilight sneered, “Take it as a challenge.”

Spike seemed to consider the proposal, “Nah I can live without you reading a comic book.”

“Yes, because you can’t live without reading one.”

“You know me all too well.”

“Speaking of which, that thing I brought to keep you busy?” Twilight turned and pulled something out of the bag, “Power Ponies, Issue Number Eight-Six-One, Dash, Oh-Two.”

Spike almost frothed at the mouth, the comic was like a jewel to him.

“Can I... can I... can I?” Spike reached for it, Twilight moved the comic around with her magic, Spike’s head followed it rhythmically, then Twilight threw the book at the window and Spike smacked his into it. Like a cat looking at a mirror...

Spike peeled himself off the window and dove into the comic immediately. That should keep him occupied.

“We should be there soon... actually.”

“Eh? Oh yeah whatever...” Spike wasn’t paying attention.

Spike read through his comic book with rigor. What was the Mane-iac up to this time?

Twilight had actually read the last issue before this one, although having little interest in comics, preferring to stick to the novels J.K Yearling wrote, until Spike practically begged her to read it aloud in her narrator voice. The story was surprisingly excellent... Twilight did her best to recall the events...

Into the Power Ponies’ Universe!

We all stumbled into the main street, ponies were walking around in circles, or trying and failing to use simple every-day items like a cart, or a fountain. What was going on?

“Um, did we take a wrong turn somewhere...” Arcing Amperage, Zapp looked around and went right up to one of the locals. The brown Earth Pony, with a parcel on his flanks failed to take notice, “Hey! Buddy! Equestria calls, do you read?!”

The brown pony shook his head, “I’m sorry, can I help you?”

“Yeah, could you tell us where we are?” Zapp asked.

“Um... no.” The brown earth pony replied, “Um... I’m just gonna go over here...” The Brown pony then proceeded to walk into the nearest wall and started walking around in circles.

Pretty-Zippy, Filli-Second, charged one of the locals, “Hey! Hey! Can you please tell us how to...”

The mare she was talking to walked away without even noticing her and then turned down a back-alley.

“Well that was rude...” Pee-Zee snorted.

Center Spotlight, Radiance, “It’s like they don’t even know what’s going on.”

Then a brilliant sleek looking mare, with a blue mane, pink fur, and blue eyes came marching up the street.

“How kind of you to join us...” She said, “Um, Everypony it’s high noon!” She rang a bell, “You should probably get something to eat! I know we’re running out of supplies, but do the best you can!” She turned her attention to the seven ponies in front of her, “Um hello. I know Bights Worth doesn’t seem like much right now, and to be honest, it isn’t, I haven’t seen you around here. Did you just wander into town like some ponies did? Do you need medical attention, I’ll do the best I can, but well, my memory’s a bit hazy at the moment.”

Aura Presence, Matter-Horn, approached her, “What’s going on here?” This seemed like the first pony that actually might be helpful.

“I’d love to tell you... but none of us really know, or remember anything.” The pink and blue pony said, “We’re not entirely sure what’s going on. Um... do you remember your name? Or will we need to think of one for you as well?”

“Um, no I know my name, thank you.”

“Oh well, that’s wonderful! What is it?”

“Aura Presence... and you are?”

“Um... I don’t know. The others have started to call me Latchkey though. So you can call me that I suppose.”

“Why don’t we... find somewhere more comfortable to sit around and talk?”

The group of seven, followed Latchkey into the town hall, where she sat them down.

“None of us have any recollection of anything before two weeks ago.” Latchkey explained, “We all woke up, I found myself outside this building.” Latchkey went to drink a glass of water, but dropped it, Humdrum ran up and caught it before it could shattered on the ground.

“Why... thank you...” Latchkey smiled, “I’m sorry what’s your name?”

“Humdrum.”

“Why, thank you, Humdrum.” Latchkey picked the glass out of his hooves and put it back on the desk, “We found several pictures of who’s supposed to be in charge here, but we couldn’t find them.”

Latchkey pointed towards a wall of photos, a gallery wall of all the previous Mayors and Town Authority, chief of police, firefighters, even mail carriers.

“The others have asked me to manage things until we can figure out what happened and put it back the way it was.” Latchkey rubbed her temples, “I’ve been doing the best I can. But well, supplies are low.”

“Why don’t you all just leave?” Arcing suggested.

“We would have, but none of us know any routes to any other towns nearby. Or at least, we don’t know if we do! So I’ve been managing everything from when ponies go to bed to how much water everypony is allowed to use in a day... wait where did you lot come from?”

“Out of town, we wandered in here, think we took a wrong turn somewhere. Trying to get back...” Arcing began before Seventh Clover, Mistress Mare-Velous, shoved a hoof into her mouth.

“We’re travelers, what we were doing before hoof doesn’t matter, what does matter is you’ve got a supply problem. I can have a supply caravan here in twenty-four hours. The problem is we got lost, and we’re not entirely sure where here is, so I was hoping you could have told us where here is in relation to some city. However that’s gonna be a problem if you can’t remember. So we best get to work. What’s the single biggest problem other than supplies?”

“I can see you’re a mare of action, as am I.” Latchkey jumped to give Seventh purpose, “Locals are jumpy, go befriend them, if they ask what your name is, just tell them I gave you your names. Most of them, even the one you’ve talked to already probably don’t even realize you’re not from around here, volunteers?”

Pretty-Zippy and Centre Spotlight stood up, “We’ll get right on it.”

“Do any of you feel like micromanaging, I could use somepony to take my spot telling ponies what to do while I’m in my lab. I’d be able to get much more done.”

Seventh Clover, Arcing Amperage, and Sierra Madre - Saddle Rager, stood up.

“Then I suggest you get to it, I’ve kept a bit of a log book since I’ve first woken up.” Latchkey handed the book over, “Do what you will with it, try to keep their routine in line, and play nice. We’re all scared here. Lastly, do any of you have and medical experience, I could use some help in the lab.”

“I do.” Aura stood up.

“I’ve setup a lab in the clinic we have here. I’ve been doing my best.. but... I can’t remember. Where did... that one go?”

Aura looked around, Seventh Clover was gone, “She does that; Let’s go.”

“Hey what about me?” Humdrum asked.

Latchkey looked at him, “I could use a lab assistant, if you’re okay with running errands occasionally and distributing messages between all of us. I know that’s boring work... but... somepony’s gotta do it”

Aura interjected, “He’s used to that sort of thing.”

Aura, Latchkey, and CC, all left the town hall after the others did.

“Latchkey, excuse me, I need to talk to my friend here for a moment.” Aura looked at CC, “Could you tell me where your lab is, and we can catch up?”

“Um...” Latchkey looked around, “It’s... uh, it’s two blocks up mane street, take a left, third building on your... left... no! Right. Third building on your right, it’s a clinic.”

“Thank you. We’ll be with you shortly.” Aura nodded.

Latchkey trotted off, Aura turned to CC and stared at him sternly.

“What have I told you about keeping your identity a secret? Yeah, that’s brilliant, tell her your Side-Kick name. That’s a real chip off the old block!” Aura scorned.

“Sorry Aura...” CC, Humdrum’s ears flattened.

“Try to be more careful in the future...”

Aura and CC followed the directions that Latchkey had given them. They found her watching P-Z and Spotlight trying to converse with the locals, with little luck. P-Z was being super energetic as usual, while Spotlight was being incredibly prissy.

“I hate to say it.” Latchkey giggled as she watched them try to talk with ponies that couldn’t even remember their names, “I’m beginning to enjoy this.”

Aura internally laughed at Spotlight’s attempts to chat about current matters, not remember herself that these ponies couldn’t remember when they should eat something. Then Latchkey took out a bell and rang it a bunch, that got a reaction out of the forgetful ponies.

“Um... sorry to interrupt everypony!” She spoke loudly, but didn’t yell, “These ponies here are... I’m sorry, um...”

“Centre Spotlight.” Centre Spotlight spoke and showed off her mane at the same time.

“Pretty!!! Zippy!!!” P-Z ran around a bunch.

“Um yes. Those names. They’re trying to help, anything you know could be helpful to them. They’re... what did you call yourselves... travelers?” Latchkey asked.

Aura nodded.

“Travelers from out of town. Unfortunately, they got lost, so they don’t know the way out of here either. But they’re going to help, promise. There are other ponies that have gone to manage the town while I try to figure out what happened to all of us. You are to respect their orders as if they were my own! Don’t expect results overnight! And once more, we don’t actually know where we actually lived before... whatever happened, so wherever you’re staying... keep it clean and be kind to the property. Do unto others, that which you would do unto yourself. That includes other pony’s things.” Latchkey’s voice spread across the area with clarity, she must have been used to giving these kinds of speeches, “Until we find a solution, please remain calm. Nothing good ever came out of panicking! Try to remember any loved ones you had, even if it’s just snippets of what once was, hold onto those thoughts, if any are present, and don’t do anything rash either! If we are careful and work together we can solve this problem without further incident and we can all return to normal!”

Latchkey took a few breaths.

“Excellent speech.” Aura commented.

“Thank you.” Latchkey shook her mane around, “I’ve been doing my best to prevent panic from spreading. Some days are easier than others. Now if you would follow me to the clinic, I do have some information on what went on here, I just don’t have a way to solve it...” Latchkey went and tapped Aura’s horn... “But maybe you do, or have more expertise in the field.”

“Why are you the only pony here who seems to be functioning properly?” CC asked.

Latchkey let out this laugh, “‘Functioning Properly’ are you kidding me? I’m on the verge of losing it here.” Latchkey looked around, “When I woke up, it felt like I hadn’t been awake in ages. No pony was around, I was alone, scared. Buildings I didn’t recognizes and a place I had never seen. I sat there... for... I don’t know how long, until I finally got up and knocked on one of the doors. The only thing I heard from the inside was crying, so I needed to get in. I didn’t want to break anything, so I looked around, and found a spare key under the welcome mat...”

“And that’s why they call you Latchkey!” CC cheered.

“Yes.” Latchkey nodded her head, “I found a pony much younger than myself. Not to say I feel old though! She was crying because she was lonely, and scared, and she couldn’t remember anything either. So I took her with me and knocked on the next door, and the next, and the next. None of us can remember anything... also there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask, what are the marks on your flanks for? I asked around, I’ll give you a guess to why I’m asking you and not them.”

“They can’t remember.” Aura rolled her eyes, and then realized that like Humdrum, Latchkey was a Blank-Flank, typically for somepony her age how old was she? Aura was about to ask and then remembered that she wouldn’t remember.

“Precisely. The odd thing about this, is none of us remember who we are, but we can still read, write, speak. The even odder thing is, winged ponies can’t fly and horned ponies, well I don’t even know what that’s used for.”

“Winged Ponies?” CC looked puzzled, “I think you mean Pegasi, or if you’re talking about just one of them, a Pegasus Pony.”

“Hmm... Pegasi.” Latchkey turned her head, “Singular Pegasus.” Then she shrugged, “Alright, if you say so.”

“As for the horn part.” Aura tapped her own horn. “Watch this.”

Latchkey looked at it, it lit up, and Latchkey’s eyes lit up and amazement as Aura grabbed the case that CC was carrying on his back. Aura floated it off up and around.

“Can you teach some of the horned ponies to do that?!”

“If we can find a way to make them remember, they won’t need to.”

“No, I mean, can you teach them how to do that. That would help with moving stuff around a lot!”

“I’m sure Ra...” Aura stared at CC with the intimidation of a Drill Sergeant, “I’m sure that Centre Spotlight could give some of the Unicorns a crash course in magic.” CC corrected himself.

“Unicorn...” Latchkey turned her neck from side to side making it crack, “Alright.”

Latchkey approached the clinic, Aura went to open it, but it was locked.

“Hold on. I’ve kept it locked so no pony can mess with the equipment I’ve set up. Safety you know?” Latchkey pulled a key out of her mane.

“What’s that?” CC asked.

“The key to the city!”

Aura laughed, she couldn't be serious, how could a skeleton key fit this lock? As Latchkey approached the lock with the key, it morphed into the proper shape and fit the lock perfectly. The lock clicked and she pushed the door open.

“I found it in the Mayor’s office.” She explained.

CC showed them in, and closed the door behind them. She turned on the lights.

“Wish I had a key like that.” CC huffed, then maybe he could accomplish something helpful other than mucking up the plan every time the City needed the Power Ponies.

But Aura Presence wasn’t paying attention, she was already looking at the White Board that Latchkey had filled out.

“How did you figure out this equipment?” Aura asked.

“Reading a manual is quite helpful.” Latchkey looked towards the assortment of lab tools she had assembled, “That there is an Electromagic Analyzer, it’s supposed to help determine if you’re under the effect of spell. It’s reading positive for all of us, but it’s also supposed to tell you what kind of spell, and it just says Unknown whenever I use it. So I can only conclude that whatever magic happened here is new magic.”

“I’m impressed that an Earth Pony was able to figure out how to use all this equipment.”

“Earth Pony?” Latchkey looked at herself, “Oh, so not a Pegasus or a Unicorn. Okay! And I guess I’ll take that as a compliment.”

CC jumped in, “No worries. Just take a look at me, I’m doing just fine.” CC had climbed onto the counter.

“Creative Commons, get down from there!” Aura shouted.

“Hey, let the kid sit. Just don’t touch anything.” CC looked between Latchkey and Aura. Then Aura and Latchkey went into a stare down.

“No, you don’t understand. CC has the reputation of being clumsy and occasionally down-right careless.” Aura lectured Latchkey.

“Yes, insult the kid right in front of him.” Latchkey snorted.

“I’m not a kid!” CC whaled.

Latchkey went over to him and grabbed him, then put him on the floor. Aura looked unimpressed.

“I have a job for you.” Latchkey changed the subject, “If you’re up for it.”

“CC reporting for duty!” CC saluted.

“I need you to go find Clinical Trial. He’s a Brown Earth pony with a parcel on his flanks.”

“That guy spinning in circles when we walked into town?” CC questioned.

“Oh dear. He said that stopped awhile ago. Why didn’t he tell me?!” Latchkey shook her head, “Regardless, go get him for me. I may have been onto something with my research.”

“I’m on it!” CC ran out the door with enthusiasm.

Latchkey looked at Aura and smiled. Aura wasn’t impressed.

“We need to have a chat about who’s in charge here...” Aura deadpanned.

Latchkey opened her mouth a bit.

Meanwhile...

Arcing Amperage hovered in mid air, which caught the attention of some of the local Pegasi. One of them jumped up.

“Can you teach me how to do that?!” He begged, in a rather annoying voice.

Arcing raised an eyebrow, a Pegasus that couldn’t fly?

“Why don’t you have one of these ponies teach you?” Arcing pointed to some of the other Pegasi.

“Um, we don’t know how to do that either! Could you teach us?!”

Fortunately, Centre Spotlight showed up. Maybe Arcing could think of an excuse to get away from these ponies.

“Spotlight could I have a moment please...” Arcing touched down on the ground only for Spotlight to run up to her.

“Hide me please!” She begged.

“Hide you from what? What is out here that could possibly us?” Arcing gloated, and then a small group of Unicorns came around the corner and silently followed her.

“They’re like zombies!” She shivered.

Arcing sighed, “They want you to teach them how to use magic don’t they?”

“How did you kno...” Spotlight looked around Arcing and saw the group of Pegasi watching in interest.

Then one of the group shouted, “She said you’d help us! Listen to them, they don’t want to help us!”

“Uh oh...” Arcing grinded her teeth, “Um... have fun with that Spotlight!” Arcing then rocketed up into the sky.

The Unicorns looked at Spotlight, who grinned, “Um... Chao!” She disappeared in a burst of light.

CC was walking by at the time and the group looked towards him.

“Hello.” He greeted, “Latchkey sent me to find Clinical Trial. Earth Pony, I mean wingless and hornless, has a mail parcel on his flank. Have you seen him?”

The crowd looked unimpressed, then all pointed in the same direction.

“Thanks.” CC trotted away.

CC found CT standing in the same spot where he was when they came in.

“Clinical Trial?” CC asked.

The Earth Pony’s head popped up.

“Latchkey needs you at the clinic...” CC explained.

The Earth Pony nodded.

“Um... now.” CC said.

The Earth Pony started to walk towards the Clinic, rather slowly... this would take awhile...

When CC and CT got back to the Clinic, they found Aura and Latchkey arguing.

“Listen you! I have all my memories in one piece. I have more medical training than you, and I can remember my own name! You are not qualified to lead here!”

“And you listen! These ponies are frightened out of their minds, they’re not gonna listen to you. You’re an outsider. If you think you can control these ponies, you’re wrong!”

“MYNEH!” Aura yelled.

“NYELH!” Latchkey yelled back.

“I uh... found Clinical Tria....” CC began, “Whahahhaha!” CC was ran over by Arcing and Spotlight.

“Help!” They screamed.

“What’s going on?!” Latchkey and Aura asked at the same time.

Arcing was reaching for the case that CC was carrying with him, she needed her costume! She needed to escape! She swore never to hurt the innocent, but are zombies innocent?

“The locals are crazy! EVERY PONY IN THIS TOWN IS CRAZY!” Spotlight howled, “THE HORROR, THE HORROR!”

Aura looked out the window to see the entire town’s population of Pegasi and Unicorns approaching the building.

“Teach us.... teach us!!!” The crowd moaned.

“They found us!” Arcing retreated into the corner. Spotlight began to rock back and forth.

“Uh oh...” Latchkey and Aura said in unison, “I’ll handle this... No I’ll handle this. NO I’LL HANDLE THIS!” They screamed at each other.

“Bah! You can’t even keep your city in line. You’re inept. Just do as I say and help me calm the crowd. You work for me now.”

“Pshhh. That’s coming from the pony whose friends are unwilling to teach them how to use their appendages. Some help you’ll be! Besides, you come into MY TOWN and think you can just start calling the shots? YOU HAVE NO POWER HERE! YOU WORK FOR ME!”

“QUIET!” CC screamed to the entire room, “There’s a horde of zombie ponies about to flood the building, and you two are arguing about who works for who!”

Aura looked towards Arcing and Spotlight, they were dysfunctional. If she wanted to calm the crowd, she’d have to suck up her pride and work with Latchkey, because she was probably the only one that could do it.

Latchkey looked at the crowd, the only thing they wanted was to learn. And since no pony from this town could teach them, she’d have to suck up her pride and work with Aura if she wanted them to function properly again.

“Alright...” They both said, “Let’s dance!”

Later...

“And that’s why we’re going to have to work together if we want to solve this situation.” Latchkey gave her speech that she pulled out of the ether on the spot.

“We would be honoured to teach you on flight basics and magical foundations, but for now we need to get settled in and solve the more pressing problems like supplies first.” Aura spoke with her Voice Amplification spell.

“Okay, that’s everypony calmed down. Wait... where’s the Earth Ponies?” CC asked.

“‘Sup?” Everypony turned to the right to see Seventh and an entire crowd of Earth Ponies behind them, marching along.

“Discipline is the only way!” The crowd of ponies were already marching perfectly in step with their leader.

“Right it is!” Seventh kept her straight face, then ordered with a deep booming voice, “Company... HALT!”

In perfect step, the entire battalion of Earth Ponies stopped.

CC whispered into Aura’s ear, “If Seventh, of all ponies, had the patience to deal with these ponies, and they learned that quickly. It should be no problem re-teaching the Pegasi and Unicorns.”

Seventh boomed again, “COMPANY... ATTENTION!”

The perfect ranks of Earth Ponies all snapped their hooves together.

“Not bad.” Seventh commented.

Aura was in awe, getting praise from Seventh was like trying to squeeze water from a stone.

“Awaiting orders!” Seventh blurted out, “What do you need us to do?”

Arcing poked her head out from the clinic, “I saw a bunch of fields to the south...” She pointed in the direction, “Farmland. Needs to be worked on, it’s been neglected.”

“VERY WELL!” Seventh ordered, “Let’s show these weaklings you don’t need no-fancy extras to get stuff done...” Sierra looked across her crowd she seemed to be waiting for something... “AM I RIGHT SOLDIERS?!”

“Yes.” The battalion replied.

“IS THAT HOW YOU REPLY TO A COMMANDING OFFICER?!” Sierra Screamed, “I SAID, AM I RIGHT SOLDIERS?!” Seventh screeched to her Earth Pony platoon.

“YES, MA’AM, SEVENTH!”

Seventh was thoroughly enjoying this, “Riiiiight I am. NOW. LET’S GET TO WORK! COMPANY... HALF-TURN!” Sierra turned the battalion around so they were facing south, “COMPANY... MARCH! AND I DON’T WANNA SEE NO HOUND MARCHING, YOU WILL ALTERNATE THOSE LEGS THAT HELIOS IN ALL HER WISDOM GAVE YOU, AND YOU WILL MARCH PROPERLY!”

The army of Earth Ponies marched off.

Aura turned to Arc and Spotlight, whom had crept out of the clinic to see what all the commotion was, “If you can get a fraction of Seventh’s results, you’ll have done more than fine.” That’s when Aura realized Clinical Trial was starting to follow them.

“Clinical no, we need you here.” Latchkey said, he stopped and turned around in circles a bunch of times, “Over here Clinical.”

Clinical turned around a few more times.

“What did I tell you?” Latchkey scorned, “I told you if anything abnormal happened to come see me immediately.” Latchkey lectured.

Clinical didn’t reply.

“What’s up?” Aura asked, suddenly in a good mood after the speech and seeing that the Earth Ponies had sprung to action after Seventh had whipped them into shape, “What’s wrong with him?”

“We call him Clinical Trial for a reason.” Latchkey’s ears flattened, “I’ve been here for two weeks trying to figure out how to fix this. I made some progress... it needed to be tested.”

Latchkey had experimented on Clinical. Aura, Arcing, Spotlight, and CC all stared at Latchkey.

“What was I supposed to do? Why are you surprised?! Didn’t the name Clinical Trial set any gears in motion in your head?!” Latchkey shouted, “I’m the one that gave the name to him!”

Arcing was the first to speak, “You’re lucky that Sierra isn’t here.”

The entire group, minus CT and Latchkey grinded their teeth.

“So... so lucky.” Spotlight sat down, and straightened her mane. It needed fixed after being chased around.

“Oh, give me a break!” Latchkey groaned, “He volunteered for it.” She applied both of her hooves to her temples again... “Aragh!”

The group looked at her puzzled.

“And I tried some of my concoctions on myself.” Latchkey turned her hoof around to reveal a patch of fur missing, and several puncture marks on her bare skin, “From the number 16, I haven’t gotten any sleep in the last three days.”

Latchkey walked over to CT.

“Talk to me Clinical. What’s been going on?”

“He’s been walking around in circles, constantly, not talking much, reclusive.” CC said, “Sluggish movement, doesn’t respond to questions at all.”

“Alright, that would be dosage number...” Latchkey groaned and applied her hooves to her temples again, “Dosage number... fourteen. I think I’ve got a reversal solution for it.”

Latchkey ushered everypony present, minus Arcing and Spotlight, who had gone off to try and teach their species how to be their species, into the clinic. Clinical went and sat down on a stool, like he knew what to do already. Aura was watching Latchkey very closely and CC had picked up on that.

“Give her a break, she’s been the only pony who has even remotely helped us since we’ve got here.” CC pestered, Aura didn’t take it kindly.

“She’d be thrown in jail under any other circumstance, medical testing on live specimens isn’t something you can just jump to in an experimental environment.” Aura eyed her closely, Latchkey took a solution and filled a syringe with it and then walked up to Clinical, he held out a hoof and she emptied the entire syringe into him.

“You stay here now. That’ll put you back to kinda-normal.” Latchkey ordered.

CT shook his head around and yawned.

“CT you in there?” Latchkey pushed his head around.

“Yeah... uh-huh.” CT seemed to be waking up, “Why’d you wake me up?”

“Do you remember anything?” Latchkey asked.

CT looked at the ground, “No.”

“What did you do to him!?” Aura demanded.

Aura looked surprised when CT answered, “Sleep Walking solution. We hoped putting ourselves into a deep state of REM sleep would help our memories come back. It... didn’t work.”

Latchkey marked some things down.

“Well, that idea was a bust.” CT groaned, "What's next?" He said holding out a hoof.

“Maybe it’ll wear off on its own?” CC proposed.

Aura seemed to consider the thought, “Maybe. Some spells do wear off with time, or become less effective. Maybe with something like memory, if it wears off a little bit, you can force yourself to remember.”

“Maybe it’s like induced amnesia, if they find something they recognize, it might bring other stuff back?” CC looked at CT.

“I like how you guys think.” CT said, “Unfortunately, we’ve tried both of those fields. We haven’t been sitting around for two weeks doing nothing. Not us...” CT pointed to Latchkey and himself, “...at least, Um... Latchkey, how long have I been out?”

“Since you failed to tell me it hadn’t worn off? I tried some others on myself in the mean time.”

“You said that was solution 14.” Aura tilted her head from side to side, “How many solutions have you gone through?”

“Counting the ones on myself right now... 19. I tried 5 on myself, and nothing’s worked.”

“Latchkey!” CT exclaimed, “You know you shouldn’t do that. You might be our only chance to get our memories back! I’m expendable. I mean, look at me.” CT pointed to his Cutie-Mark, “Parcel? Anypony can deliver mail... what did you try on yourself?”

“Number 16 has kept me awake for three days.”

“It’s been three days?!” CT had been sleep-walking for three days.

“You should get some sleep.” Aura pestered, “Your body can’t handle that kind of strain for that long, not healthily.

“Plenty of time to get to sleep when I’m dead.” Latchkey refused, “The one keeping me awake is number 16, and I haven’t found a reversal to it yet.”

“Okay...” Aura looked at Latchkey, “I’ll work on the reversal solution for 16, and you work on what... 20? Once I’m done, you have to take it. Deal?”

Latchkey seemed to consider the deal over in her head.

“Oh! You got help?! Finally?!” CT looked overjoyed, “Great. The more stuff we try on me, the closer we’ll get!”

CT looked all too happy to let Latchkey throw science at the wall, the wall being his body, just to try and see what stuck.

Hours passed, hours turned to days. It was clear that whatever Latchkey had given herself was starting to take its toll on her.

Aura asked, “Can you get me a graduated cylinder?” Aura turned around, Latchkey was still working, “... Latchkey, can you get me a graduated cylinder?”

Latchkey turned around, “Hm?”

“Graduated. Cylinder.”

“Oh. Yes!” Latchkey went over to the counter and planted her hooves on it while Aura had six or seven other things floating around with her magic. Latchkey fished the cylinder out of the cupboard, and when she got off the counter took a test tube holder and all twelve test tubes in it with her onto the floor. They all shattered. Latchkey shook while she put the cylinder back on the counter and went to clean it up.

“No.” Aura ordered.

         Latchkey stopped.

“CC!” Aura called, CC zipped into the lab area, “Clean it up.” And then she turned to Latchkey, “You’re done. That’s the third time.”

“We need to keep working. I think I might be on to something thanks to CT’s brain scans.”

“No. I’ll keep working. You are done. I don’t have an antidote for you, But I have sleeping pills which may knock you out. You’ve been awake for six days.”

Latchkey looked terrified at the prospect.

“And don’t think I haven’t seen you popping adrenaline to keep going either.” Aura grabbed a syringe she had previously prepared of concentrated, dissolved, sleeping medication. Latchkey backed up against the wall, and Aura placed the syringe down beside her, “You can either do it yourself, or I can do it for you.”

Latchkey and Aura locked eyes, Latchkey was out of it, it was obvious, she shivered and retreated away from Aura, the two were friendly rivals, Latchkey must have been pretty dead-beat if she had just backed down.

Latchkey closed her eyes, “Do it.” Latchkey then turned her head upwards so Aura could have a shot at her neck. Aura levitated the syringe and pierced her neck and emptied the syringe. Then she curled up on the floor, Aura stood over her.

“Shhhh. Shhhh. I’ll have an antidote for you soon.” Aura picked her up and brought Latchkey to the ER and placed her on one of the beds. When she got back to the lab, CC was done cleaning up all the shards of glass and put the test tube rack back on the counter. Aura sighed.

“What’s up?” CC asked.

“I’ve nearly got the antidote figured out for solution 16. But I don’t know how to fight their amnesia.”

“Maybe it’ll come back with time, or something will jog their memory, or maybe whatever did this will wear off?”

“I wish I shared your optimism.”

“Look if there is one pony that’ll figure it out, it’s you.”

“Thanks, CC.” Aura took her compliment with a bit of modesty, “Or her.”

“Her. Really?”

“I can’t deny without her around, work will be slower. She’s brilliant.”

         Aura was very careful about how she gave praise. Overconfidence was a seriously bad trait to have in their second line of work.

“I found something interesting.” CC pulled a set of papers up, “The clinic seems to have been doing some trials on Anti-Aging stuff. I don’t mean just like, Anti-Aging cream that makes you look younger, I mean, actually regress your age. They weren’t making much progress, but it does say that they were beyond just table-top results. They were able to to turn a newly spawned butterfly back into a caterpillar, but not much beyond that. They were looking for result in the months or years range, and they could only get a couple hours to a day tops.”

Aura skimmed the papers.

“You don’t think that had anything to do with their amnesia do you?”

“No. I don’t. They had the caterpillar go through a small maze to get to a leaf, they put the leaf in the same spot every time, and eventually it knew the pattern on how to get there. Once they turned it back, they put it back in the maze and it took the proper route.”

And this is why they brought CC along. Aura and CC were the only two ponies that really had patience for nitty-gritty work.The rest of the Power-Ponies, save maybe Seventh Clover, were go-getters with no tolerance for time wasting. Arcing was off training her new Pegasi legion, and Radiance was showing the Unicorns basic spell casting. Seventh had whipped her Earth Ponies into shape in a few days. They were off working the fields, with joy, oddly. Seventh commented on that, saying that they may have just been happy to have purpose again. Unfortunately, the group was so busy that even though they had found a map to the nearest town, they were maybe forty kilometres from Maretropolis, seventeen to the next nearest town, none of them could afford to leave their stations.

Aura had to give Latchkey props, she had kept the town together the best she could, given the circumstance, Aura couldn’t have asked for much more from her. She was micromanaging everything, and she did so with great motive. Respectable was the least she could say about her.

“Whatever.” Aura shook her head, “Let’s get back to work... Well, I’ll get back to work. I don’t expect you to know, or care about this stuff. Keep digging. Maybe you’ll find something. I need to finish the antidote for Latchkey. We can’t keep knocking her out with sleeping pills, they don’t have that many left, and I used twice the recommended dosage on her and IV’d it, she should have gone down almost immediately, she didn’t, and the best I can tell she’s only lightly sleeping.”

Meanwhile...

Sierra was directing ponies that weren’t being trained by Centre Spotlight or Arcing Amperage, this place was nice, quiet, an event like this was a once in a lifetime event. Unlike Maretropolis, which couldn’t go a night without trouble, trouble rarely reared its butt-ugly head here. She could tell from the way the locals reacted. They were scared, they didn’t show it, but she could feel it. And it made her angry. Very angry. She kept her cool because it was required of her, else she’d have punched a hole through something by now... that and she wasn’t wearing her costume, that Aura had recently enchanted to not tear when she powered up. She walked along the streets, the locals had told her that they were all in their homes at the time they lost their memory, that and from what she had heard from Latchkey, Helios bless her resolve and leadership skills, all the doors had been locked.

Whatever happened must have happened late. Sierra looked around and walked along back towards the city hall. What the odd thing was... all the ponies that were depicted in City Hall were gone. Dropped off the face of the planet. That was weird. Other than that, the population was, after Sierra and Pee-Zee had taken a census was respectably close to the population on the sign that was at the city limits... Sierra had originally thought it weird how Latchkey knew the name of the city, but she supposed she had simply found it elsewhere, possibly even on the sign Sierra herself had found.

    *Prink!*

“Ouch!” Sierra lifted up her hoof only to reveal a sharp piece of metal sticking out of it, good thing she had her tetanus shots renewed. Sierra pulled the piece of metal out of her hoof with her teeth, she was bleeding. The metal was twisted, and sheared, like it had been torn apart by somepony biting on it and pulling away. The odd thing was there was scorch marks, the metal had been burned, but even through that Sierra could see some of the underlying paint still clinging to the metal, dark navy. This was dangerous, so she went to a nearby dumpster and threw it in, it clanged and tinkled, that wasn’t normal dumpster noise... not that Sierra knew what classified as normal, but she expected a slight smack, like hitting a garbage bag. Sierra looked into the dumpster.

She found lots of pieces of metal, exactly the same as the one she had just thrown in, differing in size from rather large to only a few times the size of the strip she had stepped on. All the time though, twisted and charred, with navy paint. There had to be a fifty kilos of metal in there at least. One’s an anomaly, two’s a trend. More than that is something to mention to Aura... or actually, she’d ask Latchkey first... but first, off to clean this cut out. She needed to go to city hall anyway. Sierra limped off back towards city hall.

Elsewhere...

Pretty Zippy sat in the mayor’s chair at the mayor’s desk looking out the window. She had seen the mayor’s office in Maretropolis a dozen times over, the Mayor had a phone to call them when needed, so they dropped in for visits, or for whenever they saved the city from untold destruction. The mayor’s office in Maretropolis was lavished decorated, this one was a bit more sparse, but it made her appreciate what was here more. A nice solid oak desk, and an office chair that you could sink right into. It was comfy and made her want to take a nap, she had placed her hooves on the desk and reclined the chair back. Was this was civilian life was like? Just doing the same stuff every day? Nopony knew their ‘sonas but... well, Pretty Zippy couldn’t always keep her power in check so she was only out of uniform when she had to be. Aura reassured her with time came mastery, but it wasn’t happening quickly enough.

Next to CC, Pee-Zee was the youngest. That got her occasionally treated like a child by Aura even though she wasn’t even the oldest of the bunch, Seventh was! Pee-Zee shook her head, maybe this was why they treated her like a foal, she was sitting here arguing... internally, but arguing none-the-less over stupid things like who the oldest was. Back on the note of civilian life, Seventh was probably the most normal of the bunch, maybe aside from CC, but he didn’t count. Seventh owned her own R-n-D company that made money off of patents and new technologies, most of which designed by Seventh herself.

Sierra walked in.

“Hey!” Sierra barked, “Get your hooves off the desk, keep it clean, come on.”

“But we use our hooves to work with as well as walk, what difference does it make?!”

Sierra and Pee-Zee locked eyes, and Pee-Zee resigned from the argument immediately. She thought all the way back to when Aura had found her and asked her to join. Pee-Zee took her hooves off the desk.

”Kid, you’ve got to learn the rules... the first rule is... don’t get into an argument with Saddle Rager. The second rule is don’t make Saddle Rager mad, and the third rule is don’t break rules one and two.... am I clear?!”

“Have you seen Latchkey around?” Sierra asked.

“She is where she always is...” Pee-Zee said in a very irritated voice, “In the clinic getting buddy-buddy with Aura.”

“Thank you.” Sierra turned and walked out.

Pee-Zee put her hooves back on the desk... then in the doorway, she saw Sierra’s flank slowly reappear, along with the rest of her torso, and then her head she stared at Pee-Zee and inhaled very sharply. Pee-Zee grinned and slowly took her hooves off the desk.

[Author’s note: What Sierra did to Pee-Zee:[url= http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/015/713/luigi.JPG ] http://i1.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/015/713/luigi.JPG ]

Back in the clinic...

Sierra came walking through the doors around sundown. Aura was busy in the back, so CC was answering any questions any pony had.

“Where is Aura?” Sierra bluntly asked.

“She’s taking a nap. She’s been awake for nineteen hours.” CC explained, “I’d rather not wake her up. How urgent is it.”

“I was just wondering if she knew where Latchkey was.”

“She’s sleeping.”

“Ah, Aura found an antidote. Excellent.”

“Not actually, she pumped her full of sleeping pills to counteract her side effect of the solution she tried on herself. She was awake for over six days.”

“Ah. Well. I suppose it can wait. Um do you have any anti-bacterial sprays, I stepped on a piece of metal, I think I cleaned it out though.”

CC sat her down and retrieved a spray anti-bacterial.

“This is gonna sting if you’ve got an open cut.” CC cautioned.

“Oh... I’ll get mad if it stings.” Sierra looked at CC who went pale. “Just kidding. Clean it out please.”

CC sprayed her hoof and she winced.

“That good?” CC asked.

“Feels a bit numb.” Sierra commented, “Been like that since I stepped on it.”

“You sure you cleaned it all out?” CC asked.

“I was pretty sure. But well, let’s open it up just to be sure. If there’s any other metal in there, it needs to come out.”

“What happened?”

“I stepped on a piece of metal while walking back to city hall, I threw it in a dumpster, and I found more of the same metal in there. I was going to ask about it. Looks like something exploded and was cleaned uhhhh...” Sierra trailed off, CC couldn’t tell if she was stuttering or had stopped halfway through saying ‘up’.

“Something up?”

“Yeah, my hoof stopped being numb.” Sierra shrugged, “I’ll be back if anything changes. Come find me when they’ve woken up.”

“Yes Sierra.” CC replied, CC yawned, he was getting tired himself. Maybe it was time to turn in, Aura had slept in the clinic, but had found an abandoned house for him to stay in personally. Abandoned wasn’t quite the right word, whoever lived where he was staying couldn’t remember they lived there and was somewhere else, so Latchkey had opened up and had let him stay there.

CC returned to the home he was staying at and unpacked the case he had brought with him. He sifted through it, and found the security stone he had stolen from the Mane-iac’s building the last time they fought her. She got away, but now she was on the run, and in hiding. Unfortunately, the security stone played backwards, so more recent events played first, and they got progressively older. He had stolen it in a fluke, when he snuck into the building to save the Power Ponies, he had ran into laser mesh blocking the vent access, so he had to divert to the security office to shut it off, and had stolen all the records on the master stone while he was at it. That guard pony really needed to stop falling asleep while on the job...

He’d watch a few before he turned in. After it all, it might give him some idea about what the Mane-iac had been upto or other plans she may have had before they took the facility for themselves. It was the one piece of evidence they hadn’t turned over to the authorities, that was because the Power Ponies hadn’t know he had stolen it. Aura would spend a very long time lecturing him about how they needed to let law enforcement do their work, they were just there to help, although that actually made them vigilantes. However, the Mayor had essentially came out and said that because of the extreme threat that the Mane-iac and the other superclass criminals were a much bigger hazard to Law Enforcement than typical bad guys that the Power Ponies were given full authority to attempt to apprehend them with the minimal amount of collateral damage possible, and of course, minimal threat to equine life.

CC put the security stone on the table and tapped it, it began to playback its logs one by one...

“My mane!! AHHHHHAAAHHAHHA!!! MY MANE!!!” The Mane-iac screeched.

CC shook his head, shooting Sierra while she was enraged was a very poor decision... the angrier she gets, the stronger she gets.

Back in the clinic...

Aura was dozing on her hospital bed. There was no sense leaving the clinic, she hadn’t in the last few days. She had her solution brewing, well, distilling. After examining Latchkey’s solution number 16, she found she had tried to boost dopamine levels to try and provoke greater situational awareness, unfortunately, she kicked her dopamine production into overdrive in the process, she should have been cranky as all hell, but she was oddly calm. In fact, she seemed very compassionate, just had a no-nonsense attitude about it. She illuminated the clock on the near-by wall so she could tell the time, just after 02:00. She smacked her head back on the hospital bed pillow, something didn’t seem right.

Latchkey should have been up and about by now, yes she had given her twice the dosage, it wouldn’t actually hurt her, it would just maker her super dozey. But it wasn’t a solution to her problem, it just counteracted the effects of her attempted solution for a short time. Aura got up, that’s when she realized Latchkey wasn’t even on the bed she had put her on. She must have gotten up... and knowing her she’d be back in the lab working.

Aura peaked into the lab and still found it dark, where was she?


...


Latchkey closed her eyes, “Do it.” Latchkey then turned her head upwards so Aura could have a shot at her neck. Aura levitated the syringe and pierced her neck and emptied the syringe. Then she curled up on the floor, Aura stood over her.

Latchkey felt herself curling up on the floor. Will to move drained from her as the induced sleep state slowly took over, then she felt at the very edge of feeling being lifted up and moved. Aura moved her onto a hospital bed in the back room and covered her up the best she could, shoved an extra pillow under her head to lift her up a bit and ran a hoof through her mane.

They said ignorance was bliss. Aura looked at Latchkey and didn’t envy her, a blank-flank at her age? It’s not like the others lost their talents, but yet she didn’t seem to mind. But they could remember how to talk, how to communicate, how to walk, but they couldn’t remember talents, they couldn’t remember how to work, or fly, or use magic. And that still didn’t explain why they couldn’t find the authorities. The mayor, the chief of police, so on. Where did they all go? They had photos of them, and they were nowhere to be found. Some looked similar, but they were too young, Aura could only assume they were the missing authority’s children. Another thing that didn’t make sense was everypony was found in a house they didn’t recognize, with the doors locked. Aura could only assume they didn’t remember they lived there, but that was even odder. Why was Latchkey the only one outside?

Latchkey made some whimpering noises, she said she had been terrified, that and she had basically refused to get some rest even though she had been awake for so long that she couldn’t function properly. So, she left Latchkey on her hospital bed and went back to work.

Latchkey woke up a few hours later and went into the bathroom, she cleaned herself up, you still sweated while you slept. She splashed some water into her face and looking in the mirror and recoiled. She wasn’t smiling,  but her reflection was... grimacing.

“Let me out...” Her reflection asked.

Latchkey tilted her head sideways and opened the cabinet in the private washroom, that was marked staff only, then closed it again, “Let what out?” That’s when she realized the cabinet was filled with bottles of shampoo, that wasn’t right, this was here she had stashed her shots of adrenaline.

Who filled the cabinet with shampoo? Was this Aura’s idea of a joke? Latchkey grabbed a bottle and opened it, she put some on her hooves. The shampoo was an odd green goo It stuck to her hooves and became rubberized and tacky, like glue, it wouldn’t come off, she tried frantically wiping it off on the wall, but it only got stuck on that too, so she tried retreating back out of the bathroom hoping for it to snap away, instead it acted like a rubber band and pulled her back into the staff bathroom, the door slammed shut and the bottles in the cabinet all ruptured and more of the green goo flooded into the sink that quickly backed up because of how thick it was, overflowing the sink and spilling onto the floor.

“Aura! HELP!” Latchkey screamed, the goo had stuck her to the floor and the cabinet seemed to flood out an infinite supply of goo that slowly filled up the bathroom, “Humdrum! HELP!” That wasn’t his name, maybe that was his nickname.or something, it sounded familiar, “I MEAN CC! HELP ME?!” ANYPONY HELP ME!!” Latchkey bashed herself against the door of the bathroom hoping someone would hear, she couldn’t move from the spot she had been stuck too, she could only struggle and sway back and forth smashing into the door over and over again. The goo was  past her legs now, and continued to rise. Latchkey grinded her teeth, the goo was so thick she couldn’t move around anymore. The cabinet spewed out more goo, and it rose past her shoulders, Latchkey stretched her head up to get away from the waterline of goo, then she saw the wall outlet beside the sink, this building was older and didn’t have the new safety plugs, could electricity conduct through shampoo?

Of course it could, shampoo had water content in it and it was considered to have impurities from whatever ingredients were in the shampoo. The goo rose up to her neck and infringed around her face and covered the wall outlet. Electricity from the socket surged the entire room and the lights exploded sending Latchkey, being drowned and electrocuted into darkness, just as the goo covered up past her face...

“REEEAAAAAAGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”


...


Latchkey bolted awake. Ghost pains, the effect of being hurt while dreaming, her entire body felt like it was fire. She would have bolted to the washroom, but... not the staff one. Instead she looked around and saw the clock, just after 01:00. That sleep was supposed to be refreshing, and instead it turned into a nightmare. No, Latchkey got up and very quietly walked out of the clinic for fresh air. Not again, no sleep. Ever. “Solution 16” Ha! They actually believed that? No, try having nightmares every time you go to sleep and see how long it takes before you have hypnophobia. She had hoped that the sleeping pills would evade having dreams, no it just made them worse. She looked like a light sleeper, shifting and fidgeting, no, no no, she was trying to escape the nightmare. Everytime, everytime it happened, always started with herself doing something odd, this time she had spoke separately.

“Twilight...?”

Out of the Power Ponies' Universe

“Erm? Mah! Wahhh?! What?!” Twilight awoke from her partial snooze. And it was just getting to the good part too! “Yes?”

“We’re here.” Spike commented, “Oh, awesome. They must have added an extension to the rail line, because we’re way closer to the city this time around.

Spike must have not been paying attention on the way in.

Although the passengers to the Crystal Empire had numbered quite small, the number of passengers leaving was significant. There was a crowd of ponies waiting on the platform, and only twenty or so ponies actually got off the train. Spike looked around

“Looks like they’ve done some redecorating.” Spike shook his head around and belched, “And there’s your assignment... and half my lunch.” Spike began to read the letter to himself.

“I should really ask the Princess to not send you stuff after you’ve ate, I can’t imagine it’s appetizing.” Twilight had never really thought about it before, yes, his dragon breath sent it off to Princess Celestia, but that magic was then channeled through her horn. Dragons drew their power from a flame they kept inside of them, hence why they could breathe fire. Twilight had spent weeks studying Dragons to try and get more about them. Unfortunately the Ponyville library had a rather limited stock, so she had the Princess send her some material on it. At least to try and understand Spike’s species better. Bipedal dragons used their extra digits and limbs as tools, whereas quadrupeds had to rake things like a dog, or use their mouths or tails. Spike being a biped also was overall shorter than his quadruped counterparts. His tail was for counterbalance, not as much of a weapon like quadrupeds, because his spine wasn’t as perpendicular to the ground as some may have originally thought.

That being said, he’d still eventually grow taller than Princess Celestia, but not overly huge. Maybe ten or twelve feet at the most. So, 3 or 4 metres, under the new system. (Author’s fiction. Doesn’t exactly line up with the show, I’m aware.)  Twilight grabbed her bag of things, she was told that accommodations would be provided so pack lightly, but also expect to be here for awhile. She ushered Spike out onto the platform and found a pony with a sign above their head.


Twilight Sparkle


“I’d like to note my name isn’t on that sign.” Spike sighed.

“That doesn’t make you any less important to me. Besides, I did promise you we’d relax for a bit.” Twilight carried her luggage while the case she had packed for Spike was on her back.

“Ah, Miss Sparkle. I’ve been expecting your arrival.” The pony with the sign said when she walked up to him, “I’m Sand Arrow, I am to be your escort and advisor, and I’m also to tend to any needs you may have. I see you also brought your companion Spike with you.”

Sand Arrow folded the sign.

“Um... yes.” Twilight looked around, she wasn’t a big fan of crowds. Mostly because of the first time she was here the crowds almost went into a riot... that and King Sombra. He was dead now though, unlike Nightmare Moon, the evil presence that had consumed Princess Luna, or “Reforming” Discord, King Sombra was utterly annihilated. The Crystal Empire had been under siege for centuries before it had been time-locked. Death was something the Crystal Ponies had known for forever.

Rainbow Dash didn’t respond to well after the found out from Cadence that Sombra’s presence and harmonic magic didn’t mix.

“Wait! Wait, do you mean Sombra’s DEAD?” Rainbow had the the most terrified look on her face.

Cadence looked at Rainbow, “Yes. Why?”

“Erhem, Rainbow. I don’t see what the big deal is.” Applejack tugged at Rainbow’s tail to get her out of the Princess’ face.

“You...” Rainbow turned to Applejack, “She doesn’t see what the big deal is. Sombra’s dead AJ, DEAD. GONE. KABLAM. I came out here to protect, NOT... MURDER!”

“Surely he got what he deserved.” Rarity took Applejack’s side on this one, “Besides, this wasn’t our first rodeo.”

Cadence decided to try and put some depth of field into play, “And what would the alternative solution been, Rainbow. Dash?”

“Iunno. Why did we save Luna only to turn around and... Sombra?” Rainbow thought about it, “Wait, if you knew he was going to return, why didn’t we just use the Elements of Harmony on him? Oh, no because that would have made sense. In fact, for that matter, Where IS Princess Luna, or on that note, Princess Celestia. They could have just shot down Sombra’s party here without jeopardizing... you know, the ENTIRE EMPIRE! Now that I think about it, none of this makes a lick of sense!”

And then Twilight thought about what the Princess had said to her, it was a test. But... well, was a simple test worth risking an entire Empire for? What if she had failed? No wonder Rainbow Dash was putting up such a fuss, she’s loyalty after all. Her loyalty went to what she believed was the correct thing to do. And technically she failed the test too.

“Want to clear the skies for me Princess, because the line between friend and foe here is wearing thin!”

“We saved the Empire.” Applejack turned to Rainbow, “It all worked out in the end. Everypony made it out okay.”

Rainbow turned to Applejack, “King Sombra didn’t.”


Rainbow Dash had started acting weirdly around Cadence every time she had met with her afterwards. Twilight looked at it objectively, the good of the many or the good of the few. What was it worth trying to save Sombra... it wasn’t worth trying. The easier route was the one they had taken, and there was no changing that now.

“What was I called out here for?” Twilight asked, “The Princess was rather vague.”

“Hasn’t she given you the assignment yet? You’re here to uplift the Crystal Empire, we’re a thousand years out of date you know.”

The Princess sent her here to... MANAGE the renewal project?!


---


“Have you ever wondered why we’re here?”

“It’s one of life’s great mysteries I suppose. Are we some sort of product of chance? Or were we placed here by some divine being. I mean did somepony know we were going to have this conversation?”

“No. No, I mean here. In the middle of a snow storm chasing a rock that probably shattered into bits smaller than snowflakes.”

“This was his idea.” Ivory pointed to Ardent. The entire group froze and stared.

Ardent put on the spot snapped a retort, “Who’s the bigger fool. The fool, or the fools that follow him.”

Zirconic stammered, “I...” He exhaled a very deep breath, “I have failed to come up with any witty remarks within the valid comeback time frame. I submit to your superior wit.”

“I’m too damn cold to care.” Night Knight huffed, “We only kept moving because we were behind schedule. When the Empire calls...”

“You answer.” Zirconic sighed, “How they can expect anypony to keep up with their quote, schedule, unquote, is beyond me. Not only that, you left yours behind.”

“We can catch it on the way back.” Ardent defended, “Now... let’s go get some star dust or something. Or at least see a huge massive crater. That’d be okay with me.”

“It might be warm enough to bunker down near-by if it’s still hot. But out here, I can’t imagine anything would stay liquid for long.” Ivory commented, “Whatever. Can we just get over this last ridge? I’m getting... tired. That climb back there was rough.”

“Have you been rationing supplies by any chance. They said they gave us enough for two weeks. But this is the first expedition up this far north in what they told me was over four hundred years. I don’t think they realized how rough the conditions actually are.” Night Knight asked.

“I’ve heard this place compared to the... oh what did they call it... Um, this Forest near Canterlot. Completely uncontrollable, needless to say. That place from what I’ve heard can seem mundane compared to here.” Zirconic commented.

“How so?!” Ivory asked, “I heard they have century old dragons living in the Everfree.”

“Everfree! That’s the name I was looking for.” Zirconic shook his head, “Would you rather starve and freeze or be hot and and mucky?”

“Neither!” Ivory shouted.

“That’s cheating!”

“Says who? Apparently in the few hundred years, ivory has been banned. The only reason why I’m out here, is because ivory isn’t used as a material anymore. Apparently the Rhinos and the Elephants are going extinct. So, I’m here. If I could make Piano Keys, I would.”

“That and they said the weather would be mostly calm.” Night Knight looked around, “A thousand years hasn’t made weather prediction anymore accurate if Pegasi aren’t controlling it apparently.”

“Same old. Same old.”

“Did you hear that they have plays in theatre about Hearths Warming Eve? I went and watched one, they got it so wrong. And I know we weren’t around. But the whole Pegasus ponies controlling the weather with perfection thing was a load of bollocks. We know that it was just barely becoming a common practice when we were... left alone.” Zirconic looked around, “Between you and I. I honestly sometimes wish we didn’t get a free ticket to the future.”

“Have you ever thought it may have been better if we hadn’t been released?” Night Knight looked up at the sky. He got a bunch of nos from the group, “Everything is just so... foreign. It’s like we’re not even in the same country anymore. Yet alone the same continent.”

“History’s written by the victors. And seeing as everypony won that conflict... The Last Great Pony Conflict... I guess we shouldn’t be surprised they... hyperbole’d the facts.” Ivory turned to Zirconic who gave a sharp nodded.

“Apparently the Gryphon’s haven’t changed a bit. Stilling fighting with each other. They’ve gone through 200 rulers in the last thousand years. That’s average 5 years per Gryphon Ruler.” Zirconic shrugged, “I guess some things never change.”

“I’ll give props to the Princess...ess, building an Empire that’s stood for two thousand years and counting... impressive.”

“Empires rise and fall.”

“Not this one... obviously.”

“No, seriously. Empires rise and fall. Everything is doomed to fail eventually. Especially with this sciencey stuff I’ve been reading. I mean... do you like the sound of freezing to death? Because apparently, the Universe’s energy will be completely used up, and everything will be cold. Heat death of the Universe. So you can bet, that if by some act of chance, we’re still around, that that’ll be the be-all, end-all, of everything.”

“That’s... really inspiring. Thanks.”

“It’ll happen in a Gryphool years.”

“What the heck is a Gryphool?”

“Ten, to the power of one hundred.”

“I’m not good at math.”

“A really freakin’ huge number.”

“A million is ten to the power of six.”

“That still doesn’t help.”

“Okay, then. Draw 1 in the snow, and then put a hundred zeros after it. That’s how big it is it.”

Ivory looked to his left, envisioning all the zeros he’d have to draw.

“No... thanks.” He shook his head.

“Come on you guys!” Ardent yelled, “We’re here. Catch up.”

Finally making it to the top of the ridge after that long haul.

“We probably covered more ground in the last hour, than we have in the last three days. We were taking it slow, but you...” Night Knight looked up at Ardent, “You just wanna go on an adventure dontcya?”

“It’s why I signed up. Whether it felt like or not, we were stuck in the Empire for a thousand years. Isn’t any of this like a breath of fresh air to you? I never left the Empire when I was young, that and! And! And we got a ticket to the future. What’s not to love?! Look around, you may have thought we missed out on history, but seriously, I don’t think things could have turned out any better. The fact is, we WERE history. We’re living history. That’s not gonna last forever. So we need to grab what we can and hold onto it. I’m staking my claim, and nopony’s gonna take it from me.”

“Except the weather.” Ivory shook his head, “Take a look.”

Wind gusts whipped snow right off the ground in the valley they were staring into causing a white out that only seemed to get worse.

“I don’t wanna head down into that.” Night Knight retreated slightly.

“I agree.” Zirconic added.

“Good luck trying to find your crater in that. I’m done. We’re stopping here.” Ivory stopped and sat down.

“That’s right. MY crater. MINE. Think of that, I’ll have a crater named after me. And I’ll be the first Crystal Pony in a millennia to have their name in a history book.” Ardent took his kit off and pulled out a large sheet of plastic, “It’s called a Magic Carpet. Foals use them... and occasionally adults... for fun. Me. This is my ticket to fame.”

Ardent grabbed his kit again and hopped on the carpet holding the handle in his mouth and went over the side of the ridge.

“Fame?” Ivory asked, “I’ve never heard of a bigger load of... what are you doing?!”

Night Knight had pulled out the Magic Carpet he had as well, “Hey. Don’t wait around on my account! Where there’s fame, there’s fortune!”

Night Knight jumped down the slope.

Ivory turned around, “Well... I guess it’s just... oh you’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“Now that I think about it! The scientific pursuits might be worth my time!” Zirconic dove after Night Knight and Ardent.

Ivory turned around again, towards the slope.

Ivory sighed, and shook his head, “I’m gonna regret this.” As he pulled out his Magic Carpet and went hurtling over the side after the bunch as well, he shouted, “Arrrahhhh!!”


---


“This place is kinda nice.” Casey looked out around the orchard.

“Yeah...”

“Hey... Sara. You said were from Terra right?” Casey asked,

“Yeah... why?”

“Well. I was wondering. Other than whatever issues you were running from. Why’d you leave? I know you said you wanted to be a merc. But... why leave Terra? I mean... Terra’s perfect.”

“Yeah. That’s what they want you to believe. They leave out there’s not a shred of ice left on the planet though. Or that industrial pollution in certain areas has wrecked the environment beyond repair. Or in the last thousand years, two thousand species have gone extinct.” Sara sighed, “It’s not as cracked up as to be as you’d think. And I’m not just saying that because my father fucked everything up for me.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Do you actually care?”

“Not really.”

“I suppose I can talk about it a bit then. I mean, if you really don’t care. I doubt you’ll give a shit what actually happened... and I don’t anymore... so, yeah.”

“You gonna talk about it, or are you just gonna evade the topic?”

Sara sighed, “My father abused me. Alright? Whatever shred of humanity that was left in him before I left evaporated when I stole every credit he had from him and took off with it. I knew I wouldn’t be safe on Terra, so I left... and only Mechwarriors fuck with Mechwarriors... so I thought, hey, why not become one of them. I trained on Procyon, it’s kinda like... Earth. Found it deeply disturbing, almost.”

“Why’s that?”

“I thought the Inner Sphere would be filled with mystery when I took off... age... 18. We didn’t see eye to eye, and well...”

“How did he abuse you? If you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s fine.”

“He never put a finger on me. He just... he told me it was my fault Chase got killed.”

“Chase?”

“My... deceased younger brother. My father was out of the house, and I was busy with... something. He took the keys to the car, and he... wrecked it.”

“That’s rough.”

“Hmhmm. Mom left him after that. I was put in my father’s custody. But... he changed. I can’t blame him for why he changed. But I can blame him for what he did to me. He didn’t physically hurt me... at least not that I remember. It’s just kind of hazy, it’s a blur I don’t really remember that well. Also, since I’m not clear on the facts, I’ve never cried over it either.”

“Ever think about going back? You know, to see him.”

“I go back every year.”

“Well that’s good.” Casey smiled.

“No. You don’t get it. I go back to see my brother’s grave. And then I tell myself, in my line of work, I’ll be joining him soon enough.”

“I meant, do you ever think about seeing your dad again?”

Sara seemed to consider the thought, “I’ve never really thought about it. I mean, how is he gonna react to his probably disowned daughter showing up on his doorstep. He said I had taken everything from him. Apparently I meant nothing to him anymore... so I grabbed everything of value and took off with it. So if I wasn’t dead to him before that... I am now. That was... that was 8 years ago.”

“That’s cool. In eight years you go from a run-away to a Lance Lead.”

“I stole quite a bit of money. I still have the C-Card with all the C-Bills on it. It’s in my ‘Mech.”

“Ever think about settling down?”

“No. I go where my contracts tell me to go. Then I pick up another there, and move on. Wash, rinse, repeat.”

“How much did you steal?”

“About... 8 million C-Bills. I wasn’t careless with it either. The first million went towards training. They have an Academy on Procyon. That was tuition. I met my first lancemate there, and we did some cooperative contracting for a bit.”

“Demitri or whatever the hell his name was?”

“No. His name was Kayak. Like the thing you go white water rafting with. Who the hell names their kid Kayak?” Sara scratched the side of her face, “He got called back to his home planet, and we kind of split up there, because that’s when I found out he was from the Lyran Commonwealth, I kinda of stopped talking to him after that.”

“Not everyone under Steiner is bad you know. I’m from Fletcher. Trust me when I say, the Lyran’s do things a hell of a lot better than the fuckin’ Capellans. I was around to see 3 government restructures, Capellans to Tikonov, and then Tikonov to the Federated Commonwealth.”

“I hate working for both. It’s just a bad bag of apples. Just because one is slightly less rotten than the other doesn’t make it good.”

“I completely agree. That's why I’m a PMC. You can’t fight for your home world anymore, because you leave, come back, and realized you just helped the guys you were JUST fighting, back home... that and well Ethan. But... nevermind that.”

“What about Ethan?”

“He signs my paycheques, after he gets paid. I can’t say anything else. He’ll get upset.”

“If he survived the drop. No offense. We could be the only two that made it down. My ‘Mech needs an overhaul now. And I JUST had it fixed.”

“Nothing’s ever fixed. It’s only repaired until it breaks again.”

“Where do you come from?”

“Fletcher, I told you that already. A couple times actually.”

“No. No. You know what I mean.”

“Oh fine. I owe Ethan a debt I’ll never be able to pay back.... so here I am. Workin’ with him. I’ve wrecked seven ‘Mechs in my three year career. Two of which to Ethan. That guy can work miracles with PPC’s. He’s twenty seven years old, and he has more hours in the hotseat than your entire lance combined. Yes, I checked.”

“I’ve got over a thousand hours logged on mission.”

“Ethan has somewhere around four thousand hours in the hotseat. If you’re wondering why he can challenge an Assault Class ‘Mech in a Medium Class ‘Mech, that would be why. He also claims that he’s only ever had one ‘Mech. That bloody Uziel of his.”

“No wonder you said he’s rich. He must work like 9 days a week or something.”

Casey would have corrected her, but maybe she just got used to a nine day week at some point?

“Nah, He was rich before he got into freelance work.”

“You said you owed him something you couldn’t ever pay him back for. If he’s rich was does he care?”

“I... we’re not that far yet. I don’t wanna talk about it. Besides, we're almost there.” Casey pointed through the trees, Sara could make out the shapes of buildings through the edge of the rows of trees.

“I just told you my life story.” Sara huffed, “Could I get a hint at least?”

Casey sighed, “I guess that’s fair. But I’m sure I haven’t heard all of it yet so... let’s just say I had a bad night at the betting tables... then I found out it was rigged from the start. But well, a man with no money has no say.”



---


Scootaloo looked over the hills to the south. The photo may have been taken at twilight, but the silhouettes of the hills were still distinguishable, she was pretty sure she had matched the photo to where she was standing. Time to put theory to the test...

Scootaloo had done some more research in the C-M-C clubhouse, written a few things down, found another copy of the Foal Free Press, and took the photo Shady had taken out of it, and kept the one he had given her on her. Even then still couldn’t find anything in that book she had got from Twilight. She had also gone back to the library to find it vacant. She was gone, and then found out Owlicious had been staying with Fluttershy. When she asked about it, Fluttershy said she had been called out for quote “Royal Business”. Great. The one pony she might have been able to talk to about this... thing, was gone. So now she really what on her own.

Silly, why don’t you ask the crusaders for help?

The fact remained, they were busy throughout the summer. That left Rainbow Dash, and well, going on a wild goose chase probably wasn’t awesome enough for her to even consider getting involved. Well, now she had this thing’s previous location within the last twenty four hours. How it had moved from the Everfree to here without crossing out in the open was beyond her. That thing was HUGE... kind of hard to miss. Unless it really wasn’t there, but no, no! This was proof. This was PROOF it was there. Now she was just trying to pick up a trail.

Down the grassy hills she went, only to climb up another. If she could have flown she would have, but that ability had yet to manifest itself. Rainbow Dash told her it was about what you could do that mattered. And she believed her... but flying would have been nice... instead of the gliding... falling with style... that she could occasionally pull off. Not that pulling a bit of air time on the scooter wasn’t awesome... obviously... it caught Rainbow Dash’s attention... it had to be awesome!

Scootaloo looked around the grassy hills and kept comparing where she was to the picture she had taken out of the paper. She’d have to give props to Shady Daze later... he deserved at least that much, it was random luck, but Rainbow had told her, “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”. Scootaloo kept bringing the photo up to her face... she kept checking the photo, from the angle that she had originally started from, the thing in the photo was more south west... so she had to compensate accordingly.

She was veering quite close to the forest... no wait. That wasn’t the Everfree, the overgrowth here was untamed, but not crazy, and she could smell it, even from here. What was this place again? Scootaloo wasn’t paying attention when she fell into a hole, the bottom of was dried mud, thankfully, so at worst she got a bit dusty and dirty... not anywhere near as bad as pine needles and tree-sap... and much easier to clean out later. She pulled herself back out of the hole again, and noticed the familiar shape, the weird two prongs with a connection in between them that lead to another two prongs...

Identical to the one she had found at Fluttershy’s. Oh yes. Score! That picture that had burned into her mind on that night she was at Fluttershy’s. That thing was massive... she wasn’t surprised it left depressions this deep in the ground... it stood on two legs. The biggest Dragons had to walk on four legs to support their own weight, ponies walked on four legs... Diamond Dogs... they were indifferent to it. But most of the other species on this planet walked on four legs, if they were mammals, including Zebras. Gryphons were the odd ones out... no wait they’re half lion, so that makes them part mammal. Scootaloo thought about what little she had seen from Gilda. At first it was Any friend of Rainbow Dash had to be awesome. But that’s when she found out that well, Rainbow Dash wasn’t perfect in who she chose as friends... but in the end she made the right decision and told her to get lost. Of course Scootaloo would never say stuff like that openly... else ponies would find out how much of an egg-head she could occasionally be. No, she needed to keep her public image awesome! She didn’t want to water down Rainbow Dash’s overwhelming awesomeness too much... the fact Rainbow even recognized her at all was... well the reality was it was long overdue, but of course, she had to screw up before Rainbow really sat down and paid attention to her. That could have turned out a lot worse... but wouldn’t have happened at all if she could have flown.

But she remembered what Princess Luna had told her! You have to face your fears head on! And now she was chasing this one head on as well. She’d conquer this fear, and THEN she’d tell Rainbow Dash about it. Because then she’d get some sort of reaction out of her, even if it was next to nothing... a simple “Good for you.” would suffice. Scootaloo had followed the foot... hoof? footprints? hoofprints? Whatever, she’d figure out what to call them later, all the way up to the edge of what was this place. Scootaloo pulled out her map of Ponyville, she picked it up from the town hall. Foggy Bottom Bog, was the closest label to her location. A while back, Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight and Pinkie Pie had wandered in here, they came back alright. And she had always been told that the Everfree was dangerous. So other than this place being a swamp, it couldn’t be anywhere near as bad. She was already dirty from falling in the hole back there, a bit of mud couldn’t make her much worse. Fortunately the thing she was chasing had left a huge gap in the trees and other foliage, tracking it would be easy! And then she wouldn’t get lost on the way out either.

What was that Twilight had told her? Something along the lines of Once More Unto The Breach... it sounded cool.

“Once more unto the breach.” Scootaloo looked at the edge of the bog.


---


Rarity was sketching a new idea for a pattern design down on a piece of paper. She had to be innovative, but still in line with current trends. Had to stand out, but not be out of place. Had to be flashy, but not clashy. She threw some rough ideas down onto the paper and got frustrated... Sweetie Belle was working on something that she said she might appreciate. It bugged Rarity slightly that she wouldn’t tell her what she was doing, the only thing she asked for was an unused ponyequin... maybe Sweetie Belle could take a shot at figuring a new design out.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity called into the next room, “I’ve got a job for you.”

No response from the next room... maybe she’d check on what she was working on... then Sweetie Belle would get irritated because she was interfering with her work... and all it took was one interference to derail somepony’s train of thought. She might be on a critical moment of... whatever she was working on. What was odd was, she asked for a ponyequin, but no fabric, no tools other than a few markers... and some... wait... markers and a ponyequin... oh no.

“Sweetie Belle. What are you doing?!” Rarity got up from her chair and took her glasses off.

“Um. Don’t come in please!” Sweetie called back.

Finally a response. But well, she asked her not to come in, and therefore she was going to enter regardless. Rarity moved into the next room and found the Ponyequin lit up with bright light and covered in marker ink.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity shouted, “You! That’s... that’s not whiteboard material, it doesn’t work like that!”

Rarity turned to Sweetie who was on the far side of the room and picked up a piece of transparency and then pointed back to the ponyequin... it was clean now.

“I wanted to see if we could draw on the figures for life size ideas... so I set up a projector and... I’m sorry. I should have asked.”

Sweetie Belle put the transparency back on the projector and lined it up again, the Ponyequin was covered in an assortment of lines that she recognized as seams, folds, or cuffs. She had coloured some of the areas in and drawn some patterns on the projector transparency what was then cast onto the Ponyequin without actually doing anything to it. No wasting fabric to try out a pattern drawn down and then upscaled, no messing around with big bulky pieces of clothing like hats or scarves, you could just... draw them on.

“I’m sorry!” Sweetie Belle looked at her sister who was still frozen in the doorway.

“That’s...” Rarity tilted her head from side to side, “That’s genius.”

“I should have asked for permiss... wait what?!”

“That’s... I don’t even have words for how smart that is. Do you know how much time that would have saved me for all the designs that looked good on paper but didn’t turn out well in practicality!” Rarity turned around, “I’ve got an idea.”

Rarity returned to her previous sketch and grabbed a part of scissors and cut out what she had, a nice hat, and a set of boots. She cut the pieces out of the paper and returned to the projector and let the silhouettes cast onto the Ponyequin.

“Not bad... it’s a start.” Rarity looked at the Ponyequin, then realized Sweetie Belle was working on it as well.

“It’s also good for drawing Mustaches.” Sweetie added a huge handlebar mustache to the Ponyequin.

Rarity turned to Sweetie Belle, who returned her a guilty grin. Ingenuity like this needed to be praised, being silly with it was just something Sweetie Belle did. Make an easy way to draw mustaches on ponies, in the process cut the upscaling and all the extra design work out of the typical system.

Rarity nodded, “An excellent piece of work.” Rarity grabbed the marker that Sweetie had been drawing on the transparency with and added more swirls to the handlebar mustache. That inturn got more giggles from Sweetie Belle. The moment would have lasted longer if the bell to the shop hadn’t been rang. Rarity jerked her head at Sweetie Belle which motioned her to continue whatever she was doing. “I’ll be with you shortly!”

Rarity looked at the blank ponyequin, boots and a hat, and it’s the middle of the summer. She grabbed the marker and drew an umbrella on the transparency.

“Not bad actually.” Rarity commented.

“How about a rain outfit?” Sweetie added a quick sketch of a raincoat to the mix, similar in design to the one Zecora occasionally wore. That sparked a look of consideration from Rarity.

“Hold that thought. I’ll be back.” Rarity said, Sweetie looked a bit disappointed, “You know what go with it. We’ll see where this leads. If all else fails, we wash the transparency and start over.”

Sweetie Belle flicked her hooves towards the doorway, “Go, go.”

“Hi. Sorry about the wait... how can I help...” Rarity stopped dead in her tracked, Rainbow Dash was looking around, “Oh. Hello.”

Rainbow stopped looking at one of the bretton hats Rarity had made from scratch.

“See anything you like?” Rarity asked.

“No.” Rainbow said bluntly.

“Why do I even bother asking?” Rarity shot back.

“That’s a good question. Only you can answer that.”

“So... what brings you here?”

“I got a bit overheated kicking out clouds. It’s too hot. Plus, you’ve got air conditioning. So... nice cool air.”

“Are clouds made of water?” Rarity asked, “Why didn’t you just get a drink from one of those.”

“Reservoir's almost dry, we’re on water conservation. And we can’t make it rain if there’s no water, unless we ship it in... and that costs extra... we’ve already passed out budget for this month. We’re hoping something’ll blow in from the Everfree. She opened up her wings to air them out, Rainbow had been breaking a serious sweat... Rarity could smell it.

Rarity picked up a bottle and walked over to her.

“Hey!” Rainbow looked at the bottle and pump that Rarity was holding with her magic like it was a some abomination of nature, “I don’t care what fragrance you shipped in from whatever exotic lands. I can’t stand the smell of perfume.”

“First of all it’s scentless. Secondly, you aren’t. Lastly, it’ll cover it up a bit.” Rarity puffed the perfume near Rainbow’s face and she took a whiff, “You... need a shower. But this’ll tide you over.”

Rarity wasn’t going to make her use it. So she put it put it down beside her and stared at her. Rainbow took a whiff of her own wings. She conceded.

“Spray me.” Rainbow opened up her wings fully, “But not a word to anypony!”

Like ponies were going to think less of her for not smelling like a stallion after a hard days work.

“Nice and cool in here.” Rarity offered, directing them to the back room, all the work and the few machines she had, plus all the fabric, which only held onto more heat, and the high powered lighting in some areas, made the back room almost unbearable during the summer if she hadn’t had Twilight install a Cooling Capsule. It needed changed once every week or so, but Twilight just wrote it off to the Princess and gave her more. Unfortunately, Twilight was gone, and this was the second last one they had. Twilight would have given them to her other friends but well, Applejack’s barnhouse was too massive for a single capsule, and Twilight had said it would have taken three or four to cool the entire place. Pinkie Pie whom rented with the Cakes, well, ovens on all the time, it was going to be hot whether or not they had a Cooling Capsule. Fluttershy’s cottage needed the heat for some of her critters she kept... and Rainbow. She cooled her own house with a geothermal arrangement, pumped water from the ground throughout each cloud compartment, and then let it take the heat away, before dumping it.

“Sweetie Belle!” Rarity called.

Sweetie Belle poked her head through the curtain they used a doorway to the front of the shop.

“Yes?”

“Get her some water would you? Cold water, not the jug I just put back in the fridge.” Rarity ordered, Sweetie Belle gave a small nod, “And then you can go find your friends.”

Sweetie hadn’t been complaining with the amount of work she had been putting on her recently... which was odd.

“Wait.” Rarity said, “Why haven’t you been with the Crusaders recently?”

“Applebloom’s busy with Applejack. They’ve gotta work overtime if they don’t want anything going bad in this heat. And well, the heat.” Sweetie replied, she retreated to the refrigerator.

“What about Scootaloo?” Rainbow shouted after her, “She’s been all by herself recently. I’ve been too busy to do anything with her. I don’t even know where she spends most of her days. I thought she was with you. She said she needed her scooter fixed.”

“Fixed? Didn’t you just get her a new one?” Rarity asked.

“Yes. It didn’t have the link and hook that Sweetie Belle came up with to pull them around.”

“That was her?” Rarity looked towards the next room, and then considered the Ponyequin idea she had just made pop into existence. That... wasn’t surprising all things considered.

“You don’t give her enough credit.” Rainbow shook her head.

“Yes, and praise from you comes once in a blue moon. Especially towards Scootaloo.”

“Do you really want to get into a flame war in this weather?”

“No.” Rarity looked outside, she could see the wavy distortion coming from the hot cobble stones.

Sweetie Belle came back with two glasses of water.

“Both of you looked thirsty.” She walked away and went upstairs to the second floor of the boutique.

Rarity sipped her water... Rainbow... chugged her glass.

“Have you let Scootaloo into your house to keep cool? No pony should be out in the afternoon in this heat.”

“I saw her downtown this morning.”

“I’ll take that as a no. She’s probably burning up. Go find her and bring her back here. Sweetie Belle’s not saying it, and she’s not complaining because it’s cool in here, but she’s bored.” Rarity considered that Sweetie Belle only had these moments of genius when she was... bored. Her mind jumping on an idea and taking it to the extreme. In this case it was good, and in other cases it had been good as well. Colour coding, organizing by alphabet, and a list of other good ideas that Rarity molded into a practical workable solution. But, there’s always a but. But Sweetie Belle could occasionally go off on an idea, and she recently tried to improve the cooling capsule. Twilight had been very specific about it, DO NOT TOUCH THE CAPSULE UNLESS YOU ARE SHUTTING IT OFF FOR THE NIGHT.

Scootaloo wasn’t the working type yet, she was probably just as bored.

“I’d have no idea where to start.” Rainbow shook her head.

“I thought you liked a challenge.”

“Not in this heat.”

“Try the Clubhouse, lots of shade, plenty of room for her to practice stunts.” Sweetie called down the flight of stairs.

“I also think I saw her with Shady Daze this morning.” Rainbow thought about it, “What was she doing with him?”

Rarity and Rainbow heard Sweetie from upstairs, “Scootaloo and Shady, sittin’ in a tree...”

“Okay, that’s enough, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity shouted up the staircase.

“I thought it would have been cute though!” Sweetie called back.

Rarity shook her head, “Go find her before Sweetie Belle breaks something out of boredom. Because she’s done it before... admittedly, she put the sewing machine back together and it worked better... somehow... but that’s not the point!”

“Alright. I’ll go find her.” Rainbow shook her head, “I wasn’t supposed to be working today anyway. All the other guys took the day off. And since I’m supervisor, nopony can complain if I take a day off, because I’m the one that says who can have the day off.”

“Wait, so you let them all take the day off, but you’re complaining about it.” Rarity’s ear twitched.

“I’m not making them work in this weather, but having no help sucks regardless.”

“I guess that’s fair.”

“I’ll be back.” Rainbow stepped out into the blazing hot sun, Rarity was right, Scootaloo shouldn’t be out in this weather.


---

CLASSIFIED: TIER 0