//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Dis-Utopia // Story: Mane Effect // by Quillery //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Dis-Utopia “Smoke is spreading all over Equestria, and its from something far worse than a Dragon.” Paradise. Is it the perfect organisation of ecological and environmental variables, or is there really some divine influence overseeing each divergent molecule of existence and perfection much like an artist who manipulates his canvas? Maybe the idea of paradise is just a pony-made allegory, to give ourselves the hope, even the potential to create paradise for ourselves, not find it. Ponies said that Earth was supposed to be paradise too. Sure it was a paradise, albeit a dirty, fearful and oppressive paradise. I spent everyday of my life on the run, or hiding under a rock. Even despite the chaos that surrounded me then, it was strangely...pristine, in its imperfection. I guess in that regard, paradise is too subjective to really understand it properly. Equestria Prime in all its glory, was as Quartermane put it, supposed to be paradise. Our greatest achievement as a species in the space-faring age, a testament to what we could accomplish with the hard work of our own hooves despite what any other races thought of us. An unspoiled world treated with care and attention, love and affection. Built with the help of neither magic nor wings, just good old fashioned Earth Pony labor. Whatever facade built within my mind by the stories I had heard or from the Captain of this so called utopia were quickly crumbling before me. I found myself lamenting on this as I surveyed the situation I currently found myself in.The colony was ablaze and falling rapidly into ruin. All around me ponies were being killed, lives were being destroyed, and I was busying myself with the origins of perfection. My mind snapped back to reality to see the Lieutenant beckoning me towards a rocky clearing. I gazed out to my left, out over the plateau which the Normanedy had just moments ago dropped us off. I could see pillars of fire and smoke littering the landscape into the distance. To my right, I could see down a gentle valley decline, dotted with small buildings and other similar constructions. For now they had escaped the destruction, but I could hear the screams of civilians and the explosions of gunfighting. Soon the fate of the outlying areas would reach them, and I hoped that I could help them in time. “Shepard, I think we can get down to the excavation site this way. We’d better hurry.” Dexter called out as he disappeared behind a rock wall into the canyon beyond. I released a breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding, my forlorn sightseeing had wasted enough time. I galloped down the ridge to rejoin with my companion. I dashed around the corner to catch up to Dexter only to run into something soft and spongy. The object in question bounced off my face and steadily floated away from the impact. It was round and bulbous, hissing slightly as it drifted aloft in the wind. My eyes became transfixed on this aerial oddity, among others that came listlessly into view over the plain. It was strangely peaceful in light of the goings on around me. Peaceful until a certain tan pony decided to laugh at the situation. “Gas bags, perfectly harmless as long as you don’t hit them too hard.” Dexter observed. “Smaller colonies like this harvest them for methane.” I blinked for a moment, confused. It wasn’t the floating sponges in front of me that were weirding me out. I mean yea, the floating squishy things were odd, but it was the other floating sphere just behind Dexter that had caught my eye. It floated quietly in the air among the gas bags, and seemed extremely out of place in the group of flying sponges. It was a perfectly round, metallic orb hovering silently in the air. A glass lens darted around its shape, peering between me and Dexter, who was still completely oblivious of its existence. He eventually caught notice of my fixed gaze, turning his head to see what I was so interested in. “What on Earth is-” He never got to finish that sentence. The lens began glowing an ominous red, and the orb began to hum loudly. Bweeeeee! That was a very bad sound. Years of military training told me so, years more of living a life of petty crime and gang wars told me even more so. Even my legs agreed , because with little regard for my conscious commands I launched forward, tackling the Lieutenant. Zrrrt. Zrrrt. Zrrrt! Dexter and I tumbled over each other, narrowly avoiding the hostile response that quickly followed. The three blasts shot out in rapid succession. I could feel the heat as the beams narrowly missed me, only partially rebounding off my shield. As I attempted to shake myself free of Dexter, I struggled to regain a grasp of the situation through the smell of my singed mane and spiking heart rate. I rose my head to see the assailing orb turn about for a second attempt. Its ocular device began glowing again, readying itself for another attempt on our lives. I could see the smoking earth on the place myself and the Lieutenant were standing just moments ago, glowing red of heated earth and stone. It drifted closer towards me, the droning noise once again filling the air. I scrambled to aim my gun, but I was shaking too much for a steady shot. I closed my eyes, realising my end was near. Zrrrt! A second passed. Then another, and another. After a few moments of silence, I realised I could still feel my heart beating, and the clamminess of my sweat drenched fur. I felt no pain at all. I tentatively opened my eyes, which fell upon a smoking wreckage before me. The drone-like thing had been shot clean through. Did I do that? I examined my sidearm, no shots fired. Then what? I turned my head to see Dexter standing, his rifle floating aloft, its barrel smoking through a hazy shimmer. His face was set in concentration, the implants in his head were glowing brightly. His eyes peered intently at the former threat, not breaking sight of it for a moment. He moved cautiously beside me, edging closer to it, the floating gun still aimed squarely at what I hoped was its corpse. “Are you ok Shepard?” he asked, still advancing on the drone. “Y-yea, I’m fine.” Dexter stood above the drone, delivering a swift kick with his foreleg. Its solidity thus determined, he turned to deliver a crushing blow with his hind-leg. What life that remained in that metallic shell fizzled and spurted into nothingness after being thoroughly flattened. Dexter turned to me, extending a hoof to help me up. I accepted the aid, and righted myself to my hooves. I took the time to dust myself off while Dexter trotted in our intended direction, intent on preventing any further incidents. I trotted towards the metal carcass, peering over it intently. We had barely been on the ground for ten minutes and we were already encountering hostilities. My excitement in this endeavor was steadily starting to dwindle. My funk was interrupted by my omni-tool buzzing to life, a familiar voice crackling over the radio. “Shepard. I just did a flyover of an encampment ahead of you, no sign of movement. The dig site should be just ahead, I’m going to check it out. Nimbus out,” and the radio faded into silence. “Ok Nimbus that’s cool. It’s not like we nearly got vaporized or anything,” I groaned to the empty air. That Pegasus had certainly broken my depression, only to replace it with a rising frustration. Her by-the-books assessment of the situation with nary a concern for well being of the civilians or her companions was wearing on my patience.. Anger was not my preferred emotional state, so I decided a swift kick to my recently downed foe would serve as an adequate outlet; One I immediately regretted. After a few moments of spastic hopping and cursing to abate the throbbing pain in my hoof, I heard a burst of faint static from the drone, indicating it still had a small amount of power left. Out of curiosity, I activated my omni-tool, interested in some further information as to its origin. My tool beeped excitedly, revealing the drone’s transmitter was still barely working. It was sending out code in a computer language I was unfamiliar with, but it gave no sense of urgency or alert, so I assumed it was not a distress call. As its power reserves steadily dwindled, the transmission died, only leaving its husk to examine, but that would have to be an adventure for another day. I stored away the new information I had earned, and went to rejoin my friend. Dexter had not gone far. He was standing at the crest of yet another pathway leading deeper into the valley, staring carefully at every possible angle. I could tell in his stance that he had no intention of lowering his gun for the remainder of our stay here, and I felt the same as well. He looked back to me, nodding his head forward. “Let’s keep going, there’s bound to be more of those things on the way.” “Yea, good idea.” I agreed. I stepped down the ledge without a second thought of doubt. We had been attacked, nearly killed even, but I could not turn back now. There were still innocents down here and I was going to do my best to help them, orders or not. My pace felt quickened by either noble intent or adrenaline now, giving me the strength to endure. Whichever it was, I was grateful for the surge of will to continue. “And Shepard?” Dexter's words were quiet, almost apologetic. I turned to see him still standing on the ledge, his hoof frozen in hesitation mid step. “Thank you, for saving my life. I owe you one.” A small smile crept onto his face, a smile of respect and admiration. One which I returned. I grabbed his hoof, pulling him forward. “No problem LT,” I replied plainly. It seemed that we both had a similar leniency for strict military protocol, and he was certainly friendly enough. Maybe we could be friends? He seemed easy going enough for it to be possible, and I wasn’t the perfect model of a soldier anyways. “ Now let’s get going, we have a colony to save.” He nodded, his smile widening into a grin. “You’re right, let’s go Shepard.” After minutes of steady climbing, we made into the central valley without further incident. We entered what I assumed was the encampment that Nimbus had mentioned earlier, but it was far worse than I was expecting. The camp was pieced together primarily by portable lodgings and shelters, put together into makeshift homes and other community buildings. This section of the valley was narrow, the buildings lined up along either side much like a makeshift neighborhood street. Scorch marks marred the dirty metal sidings of the abodes, and deep ashen craters lay scattered about the ground before me and my companion. Fires were ravenously eating through any flammable material nearby, the heat radiating through my armor and drenching me in sweat. The air was nauseatingly acrid, smoke billowing from the burning buildings all around us and dowsing the land in an eerie haze. No words were spoken by either myself or my companion, none were needed; something terrible happened here, and we missed it by mere minutes. I drifted my eyes skyward, following the endless towers of blackened ash and raging flames. The sky was turning a dark red, as if the entire planet was in pain at what was happening to it, and I felt like a tiny speck upon it with nary a thought of what to do. My upward gaze quickly spun out of control as I suddenly fell forward, feeling my hooves catch on something. After another delightful tumble head over hooves, I shook my head clear and looked to my hind legs to see what I had tripped over. It was exactly what I expected, and exactly what I hoped to never see. Through the black veil of smoke and ash I could see a very fresh, very blackened, scarred and scorched corpse in sickening clarity. Fate was not kind enough to send the body of another attack drone from earlier. It was a biological being, that of an equine, an Earth Pony. It, she, was amber colored, or perhaps a fainter yellow if not for the smoke dulling my vision. Her lime green mane lay haphazardly tangled about her head, almost covering her face. Despite being dead for, at my best guess, less than an hour, her eyes were wide open, transfixed in horror staring squarely in my direction. My stomach churned in disgust, as I frantically scrambled free of its death grip on me. I escaped in a panicked lurch, only to roll over and land face to face with another freshly killed colonist. I stood upright in stark fright, regretting the decision immediately. Now standing, I could clearly see that I was in the middle of an open grave. Bodies of ponies of all shapes and sizes lay scattered around me. Some large, some small, some old, and some far too young for the fates they received. Dexter stepped carefully around the bodies towards me, his face paling steadily in horror. He looked around, not making eye contact with me. “Who could do this to unarmed civilians?” he asked sombrely. My eyes fell on the body of a young filly, still gripped firmly in the arms of what I assumed was her mother. She had escaped the weapon fire that took the life of her parent, only to be apparently crushed by a stampede of panicked ponies running for their lives, or from their pursuers. My mind descended into rapid depression. I thought I had escaped this sort of depravity on Earth after I had left the gutters, but what I came to realise here on Equestria Prime was just one more fact that was universally constant; monsters exist anywhere, even in the depths of space. My grim thoughts became distanced by an approaching sound, just beyond the valley ahead of us. My ears perked upwards to gain a better read on what it was. It quickly became closer and more coherent, and it was not long until I recognised it as weapon fire. I wheeled around towards the opposite side of the encampment, Dexter following suit with weapon drawn. Flashes of light blazed on the valley walls, massive silhouettes plastered on them like grim portrayals of impending doom. Drawing ever closer, the shadows slowly gained cohesion. They were pony shaped! “Survivors!” I cried, lowering my gun-hoof. I ran forward to offer any help I could. “Shepard wait!” Dexter yelled after me, but I didn’t listen. No more ponies were going to die if I could help it. I rounded the corner of the camp walls, coming into a wide clearing. Laser fire whizzed waywardly over the plains. A shape darted into view, and was galloping madly towards the camp. As it got closer, Inoticed that it was clad in heavy white armor. She, was clad in heavy white armor. The armored mare kept coming closer, and more details became visible. She appeared to be a ranking officer of the local forces, and bore a set of sapphire blue saddlebags swaying madly astride her in her full gallop. Her face was plastered in panic, only partially covered by her scarlet mane flailing in the wind behind her. Behind her, I saw more ponies come into view around the corner, being pursued by more of those floating drones. I waved madly to gain her attention, beckoning her towards me. “Over here!” I shouted. She glanced in my direction, only to trip and fall forward in her mad dash. She stumbled over a few times, but quickly recovered, leaping behind a nearby rock across from me. I did the same, taking cover behind an adjacent rock. I watched her as she recovered from her ordeal, then she glared at me in angry confusion. “What are you waitin’ for!? Shoot em’!” She screamed at me. I peered over the rock, the other ponies were still a long ways from cover, but the drones were gaining fast. There was no sign of Dexter, it looked like it was up to me. I took hold of my weapon sights, aiming shakily at the looming spheres, only to be distracted by more yelling. “What are you aimin’ at them for? Aim at those!” she shouted through ragged breaths, pointing her hooves wildly at something much lower than the floating orbs. I looked through my sights again, and my eyes widened in terror. What in the hell? Those were not earth ponies. I mean, they certainly had the same shape as earth ponies, they ran like earth ponies. By all accounts, they were shaped exactly like earth ponies, but they were not Earth Ponies. White steel plating was molded around an equine shape, hiding wires and tubing underneath like muscles. Their heads were much smaller than that of an earth pony, shaped like rounded armor plates circling a single brightened spherical light. A light glowing a very bright red. Saddle-like appendages hung from their sides, equipped with weapons of indiscernible but matching origin. Weapons they were firing at us. I dove back into cover, narrowly avoiding a shot to my head. I looked back to the mare, who was still bobbing forward in shallow breaths. “ What the hell are those things?” I shouted to her bewilderedly. She glanced in my direction with annoyance in her eyes. “What does it matter? They’r shootin’ at us. Means we should be shootin’ at them! Now git yer gun out and blast the damn things!” She reared up, brandishing her assault rifle expertly in her hooves, and began to fire at our attackers from her cover. Some of her shots rang true, striking one of the creatures on the front leg. It wobbled and lurched sickeningly, feeling the force of the heated slug digging into its limb, but still it continued its advance unhindered. I sat behind the rock, trying to formulate a plan. If an assault rifle wouldn’t slow those things, my pistol would be more than useless. I needed something a lot bigger. I peered carefully over the rock, catching sight of those damn orb things again, which floated loyally aside their masters. Very loyally, I thought. I activated my omni-tool, an idea forming in my head. The mare continued firing while I began searching for the rogue signal I had acquired earlier from the downed attack drone. My tool bleeped joyfully at the acquisition of several new signals that were very nearby. I smiled a wicked little grin, one I utterly failed at hiding. This was going to be good. “What in the hay are you smilin’ at?” my cover buddy shouted. I flicked madly at the new functions my tool had gained access to. The code was unified in origin, and hacking into one allowed access to all of them. I watched as the drones began to spasm wildly, fluttering up and down like humming birds on caffeine. Then I looked back to the mare. “Just watch this.” One last button press, and the orbs seized suddenly, plummeting to the ground aside the pony look-a-likes. Even though they were clearly inorganic, they paused briefly in animal-like confusion at the display of what I assumed were their pets. Pets which began humming and whirring very loudly, and shone like erupting stars. “I’d get down if I were you.” I warned the soldier, ducking down and covering my head. She shot one last panicked glance at the scene developing before her, before comprehension sunk in. She dove into the dirt, mere seconds before the impending- BOOOOOOOOOM!!! The sound was far more deafening than I anticipated. Even with covered ears I could hear a faint ringing in my head. I steadily rose to my hooves, watching debris rain down over the valley. Dexter showed himself at last, his eyes as wide as dinner plates. He hobbled towards me, apparently sharing the same effect from the blast as I was. I saw his lips moving, but it took several tries before I could hear the words. “What the hell was that?!” I grinned. Activating my omni-tool again, I showed him the flashing signal and the words OVERRIDE in flashing letters. He started at it incredulously, then back to me. “Science!” Did I really just say that? “And who’s that?” He asked, pointing at the mare behind me. “Oh that’s, um..” I started, not realising I had yet to actually have a real conversation with the mystery mare. Me and Dexter approached her carefully. She too was carefully regaining composure from the explosion, dusting herself off and checking her equipment. She withdrew something small and leather from her saddlebag and shook it of any other debris that may of sullied it before placing the white hat securely on her head. Her cowpony hat. Oh boy, she was going to be fun. She tipped her hat up, and finally acknowledged our existence. She wandered over to us, shaking her head every few steps. “Next time ya’ll do that, a bit more warnin’ would be much appreciated.” Her accent was thick with the dixie like drawl that I came to expect from natives of the Prarieland territories back on Earth, along the attitude. “Not that I don’t appreciate the help an’ all, but mah ears are ringin’ somethin’ fierce.” She looked at us both, and noticed that we were sharing the same side effects of the explosion. “What platoon are you from?” she inquired. “I ain’t seen y’all around before.” Her head cocked sideways towards Dexter, her inquisitive gaze stopping on his Lieutenants badge. Her eyes widened slightly, and her hoof shot up to her head in an automatic salute. “Um, what Ah meant to say was-.” It was amazing how quickly that sassy attitude shriveled away in the presence of a superior officer. Dexter held up a hoof to stop her sudden stammering. “Calm down, this isn’t the time or place to worry about the chain of command. Can you tell us what happened here, miss...?” The mare relaxed, but I could still hear her rapid breathing. She glanced in my direction, and I noticed a strange look in her eyes before she looked back to Dexter. Her scarlet hair cascaded over her mahogany features in gentle whispy motions, shielding her eyes from my sight. I watched her carefully, examining for any wounds she may be ignoring out of stubborn pride. I saw no blood, or any armor damage of any kind. Her shield took the beating like a champ, making me feel inadequately protected in my light armoring. Her tail flicked about nervously as she told her story to Dexter, drawing my attention to her Cutie Mark on her armor; A pair of brass bells tied together by a red ribbon. “Belle,” she began slowly, her breaths steadily improving. “Sergeant Major Southern Belle, Security Detail. And honestly Sir, Ah ain’t got no earthly idea what is goin’ on. Just this mornin’ everything was just peachy. We were getting ready to move the relic they found to the loading docks when these, things, show up and everything goes straight to hell.” She cast a sidelong glance at the massive crater that I caused, before she hung her head down in shame. I looked as well, noticing that something was hanging off the edge of the crater, motionless. I let the conversation continue without me and drifted towards my hoof-work to investigate. “I lost half my squad in the first hour, an’ we’ve been losin’ steadily since then. I ain’t never seen this kind of pony before, or with this kind of firepower.” Neither did I. I arrived at the edge of the crater just as Belle had finished speaking. The thing that had caught my attention was a mostly intact shell of whatever these things were that attacked us. Few new details became clearer from standing next to it than what I saw through my scope. This thing was not definitely biological in origin, but was very much equine in shape. Its silvery white armor plating ran along its frame like sections of skin and bone, protecting the sinewy cords of muscle and coolant that leaked from its severed limbs. Its fore body hung mangled in a heap over the lip of the crater, its rear body was nowhere in sight. I called back to Dexter. “Lieutenant, you might wanna come see this.” Dexter and Belle trotted slowly towards me, their eyes locked on the same thing mine was. Belle looked away in disgust, but Dexter stared wide eyed and drew closer. “I think it’s a Geld,” he said with disbelief. Both Belle and I did a double take each, looking at eachother, then back to Dexter. Our voices found unison in the concern that the Lieutenant may have lost his marbles. “A WHAT?” The story of the Geld that Dexter explained was as complex as it had sounded. Council Space, much like Stable, had put a sizeable limitation on Artificial Intelligence research based on the fears of its dangerous potential. Certainly the idea of a self thinking computer could solve countless problems but then the AI asks questions it shouldn’t be asking; why do I exist, what is my purpose, do I have a soul? Then it all goes to hell from there. Rebellion, refusal, reclamation, the three R’s of why A.I’s are inevitably dangerous, and unquestioningly illegal to research. One of the Council races took exception to this, claiming it was some sort of ‘divine calling’ or something like that, Dexter wasn’t very sure on the details. Inevitably, all of the fears came true, and the Geld rose up against their creators in a bloody skirmish, exiling from their own homeworld. I wished Dexter had remembered the name of the race that built them, but they were incredibly elusive in their exile, and were not popular topics in polite conversation. I’d watched a lot of old movies from the archives back in training during down time, and the Termineightor was one of them. As ancient as the film was, it scared the hell out of me. It even cropped up as key examples as the Lieutenant carefully explained what he knew about the Geld, what little it was, as we continued our trek towards the excavation site. “Other than the fact that they are a rogue AI, there isn’t much more that I can tell about the Geld. They succeeded in conquering the homeworld of the race that built them, and then they just kept to themselves after that.” I just wanted to know why somepony would call them Geld of all things. Has no pony ever taken an anatomy class before? I suppose being robots they had little reason to care what they were called, but being an AI, their sense of existence is something they should care about. Even Belle was shocked at the use of that word at first, but her curiosities soon shifted to other subjects to ask the Lieutenant after he asked her to come with us. Belle was more than happy to join us, if not out of gratitude for saving her, but out of a need of revenge for her platoon. She was feisty, and still had a sour disposition towards me for my little fireworks display despite my saving her life, but I was grateful for the extra gun. The fact that she knew the exact layout of the surrounding colony didn’t hurt either. We left the ruined encampment behind us, continuing deeper into the descending valley network. While the persistent sound of battle raged all around us, the canyon seemed eerily calm. Too calm, I thought. Belle on the other hoof continued inquiring of the nature of the Geld, intent on understanding their motivation. “Why exactly is the Geld such a surprise to you LT? You seem to know an awful lot about ‘em.” Dexter did not respond immediately. He led the party, with Belle just behind him, and both took great care in surveying the land before us with guns drawn. I kept an eye on our rear, watching for any potential ambushes. “Because they haven’t been seen out of their territory in over two hundred years, and that’s pretty much all S.T.A.B.L.E was able to explain to us. The Council has been hesitant to reveal much about them to us, and I can see why.” “Why those stuck up, feather brained no good-” the soldier mare grumbled. “If they actually bothered givin’ us useful information, we might not be in this mess!” Her frustrations settled into quiet muttering as we continued forward. It had been nearly twenty minutes since the incident in the plains, and I realised we had not heard from a certain somepony in some time, and despite my earlier anger with her, I was starting to worry. I activated my radio, and attempted to hail Nimbus. “Captain Nimbus, do you read? This is Shepard. We are approaching the last known whereabouts of the relic, do you copy?” The radio was silent at first, buzzing with the same ominous static that I had grown to despise by now. Dexter and Belle both looked at me as I continued hailing the radio. Dexter seemed to show understanding as to what I was doing. Belle, on the other hand was less restrained in her inquiries. “Who’s this Nimbus you’re tryin’ to reach? Friend of yours?” As if on queue, my radio grabbed onto a faint signal from a location towards the north. A voice garbled through white noise, but I managed remove some of the interference to hear the message clearly. “Shepard, Dexter. I flew over the excavation site, no sign of the relic. There appears to be loading equipment scattered over this part of the valley, maybe there is something more ahead. I should see you soon. Be careful, this area is way too quiet....” and the radio returned to static. Once again Nimbus’ one sided conversation had struck a nerve in me. I groaned loudly as I vainly attempted to retune my omni-tool to reconnect with her and have an actual conversation, ignoring the further inquiries of Belle. “You have air support down here? Why didn’t you say so earlier? Woulda saved us a lot of trouble if you ask me.” “I would hardly call one pony viable air support Sergeant,” I shot back out of anger. I was in desperate need of another outlet for my nerves. “And Nimbus is a bit preoccupied with her task to babysit us.” “Well, then who is this Nimbus that she’s far too busy flying in a fighter or what have you in the sky than fightin’ down here where the real battle is?” “She’s a Council Sleipnir, Miss Belle. Sent to oversee the acquisition of the relic you dug up down here, and evaluate Shepard’s field skills,” Dexter replied matter-of-factly. Even though I was more focused in getting my radio to work through all this static, I could not fail to notice the wide eyed stare of disbelief that Belle was giving me. I chuckled lightly at her demeanor only to watch it turn into a scowl directed right through my heart. “Why a Council Sleipnir would be interested in the likes of you, ifin’ you’re gonna pull stunts like the one you pulled back there and- Wait an apple bucking minute here!” Now I looked up to see what she was going on about this time. Her head swiveled wildly to Dexter, but even staring at the back of her head, I could feel the shock on her face. “A Sleipnir? A Council Sleipnir? You mean those hoity toity, too-good-for-Earth-Ponies-private-soldiers that the Council parade in front of us, and tell us that we ain’t good enough for their club? That’s who’s leadin’ you? A non Earth Pony? Lemme guess, a Pegasus?” Her voice faltered noticeably, almost a choking gasp at the utterance of the word Pegasus. She faced forward, and I could see her face contort in sadness. She was fighting hard to keep her emotions in check, a fight I could tell she was losing. “Is there something you want to tell us, Miss Belle?” Dexter asked calmly. “I’m no stranger to the prejudice most feel towards the Pegasi.” She shook her head, slowly lifting it to face the sky. Her eyes twinkled in the approaching twilight on the horizon. “We don’t have the time to listen to my sob stories, we need to get goin’ if we’re gonna save anypony.” She seemed to snap back into her disciplined stance with nary a thought or fleeting farewell. She righted her gun, and trotted ahead of the pack, only stopping to berate us for standing about and wasting further time. I gave up on fixing my radio, and Dexter gave on leading us forward. It was clear that Belle had more than revenge on her mind; she was aiming to prove herself to somepony, but I couldn’t be certain who. “An’ stop callin’ me 'Miss Belle'. Just call me South.” Her head twisted in a short little huffy motion that signaled to me that she was finished talking on the subject, and remained silent for the rest of the trek through the valley. Dexter and I exchanged worried looks, but decided wordlessly that it would might be best to let the matter drop for now. Like he said earlier, few were strangers to the prejudice and animosity towards the Pegasi, many of my instructors saying few kind words in their regard. My experience so far with Nimbus was my first and only interaction with a Pegasus so far, so I really had no solid basis to outwardly hate an entire species just because we fought a war with them. Earth Ponies fought thousands of wars between ourselves before we even made it to space travel, and grudges were natural, but this was just silly. What made this different? What made it so hard to forgive? One of the many reasons I preferred dealing with machines, not ponies. I had a feeling that I would get along with whatever race had build the Geld, just to have some common interests. The valley sharply opened into a wide clearing that did not appear to be natural stone, but recently disturbed earth and rock. We had arrived at our destination, and it was a disaster area. Storage equipment and containers were tossed about the site, most of which, if not all of it was covered in scorch marks and blaster scars. Small handfuls of surveying gear was left sitting on what appeared to be a large stone dais in the middle of the dug earth. Nopony of the group spoke as we carefully approached the ruin, still wary of potential ambushes in the eerie calm that blanketed the area like lead. Both Dexter and South focused their attention upwards at the cliffs above us, while I stepped forward onto the shaped stone platform of the dais. It looked ancient, and yet was skillfully worked and carved with precision. I ran my hoof along the section that I assumed was the center, which was smooth to the touch, and strangely warm. Perhaps this was the exact spot where the relic stood, and the earth radiated with the heat of its power. Or maybe it just radiated radiation. Either way, this was the closest I’d been to functioning Alicorn technology so far and I was going to savor the moment. My companions eventually joined me on the dais, lowering their weapons in satisfaction that we were not being watched. Dexter busied himself with a nearby terminal, while South observed the dias as I was. I could see anger in her face as she paced back and forth, her eyes never leaving the center. “The relic was right here this mornin’ and we weren’t even close to getting ready to move it.” She glanced around, as though she was looking for something. She paced about looking behind containers and around the scattered equipment, becoming more distressed by the second. Eventually she wandered slowly back to the dais beside me, her head hung low in sadness. I could tell she was distraught, but experience so far with her far told me it was best to let her begin talking, lest I risk the chance of personal injury. “Mah platoon was stationed here.” She spoke slowly, sadly. “We were in charge of watching the relic before we got separated. I’ve been tryin’ to get back all day, only to get ambushed and lose more of mah friends.” She cast her head side to side in a vain attempt to see what wasn’t there. “But they ain’t here, none of them. Not even the bodies.” Her last words dripped with righteous anger.” What the hell did those monsters do to them?” I thought carefully of what I could say to comfort her. Everything I thought I knew of this soldier pony was falling apart at the sight of her distress. She was on the outside, a capable and well trained soldier through and through, but on the inside, she was just as vulnerable as anypony else in this kind of situation. The military trained us to view our units and platoons as family, a family we fight alongside and die alongside. A metaphor South appeared to be taking to heart. “Shepard, can you come here for a moment?” Dexter called to me. I hesitated a moment, not wishing to leave South alone in her depression. I placed a hoof on her shoulder to offer what little comfort I could, only for her to brush it away. She looked at me with emotionless eyes, rose to her hooves and trotted away without a word. So much for that idea. I shrugged at South’s uncanny ability to convey conflicting emotions and confuse the hell out of me, and walked over to see what Dexter wanted. “What do you make of this, Shepard?” Dexter was standing in front of a strange looking device. It appeared to be a portable terminal, but it bore no markings that I recognized. It was unique compared to the other equipment scattered around the camp, differing in color, shape, and interface. I pressed a few buttons on the alien screen, only hearing a strange beeping noise in response. The alphabet on the terminal was unrecognisable too. Whatever this thing was, it did not belong to any Earth Pony scientist, which left one alternative. “Maybe it belongs to the Geld,” I remarked. “It certainly does look like they share the same origin.” Dexter bore a thoughtful expression on his face. “Then this is far more than a random invasion.” “What do you mean?” I asked, military strategy not being my forte. “If this was a simple invasion, there would be no need to bring any equipment like this to the surface. They would bring ordinance and weapons, but not computer terminals like this, unless they were actually looking for something.” It didn’t take long, even for me, to make the connection. “They’re here for the relic.” I looked to the spot where the object in question most likely sat mere minutes ago. “And they probably already have it.” “You better tell Nimbus, i’ll get South ready to go.” Dexter said, readying his weapon and trotting away to the quiet soldier. “Good luck with that one, Lieutenant,” I muttered under my breath as he left me alone. I brought out my omni-tool, attempting to reconnect with the elusive pegasus. Once again I was met with irritating static, and a new sound that I did not expect, a painfully loud screeching. My tool started to freak out at being in close proximity to an exceptionally powerful jamming signal. My eyes narrowed on the strange device that lay before me, the pieces neatly falling into place in my mind. I waved my hoof at the offending object, my tool responding by translating the Geld’s language into something readable. With the gibberish turned to something useful, it was no challenge to turn off the cause of my days irritation. “Please, somepony, anypony! Please help us!” my radio screamed at me the moment the static dissipated. The voice was wrought with panic, and I could hear a faint thumping noise drowning out her heavy breathing. “They are just outside, trying to break in. I don’t know how long the door will hold. Is anypony out there?” “Ah recognise that voice!” I turned around to see Dexter and South both right behind me, listening intently to the distress signal. South was wide eyed, mouth agape. Before I or Dexter could say anything, South ran past us towards the ascending path out of the valley without us. There was a moment of dumbfounded silence before the both of us realised our new companion had ran off into a no doubt dangerous situation, and we charged immediately after her. We caught up with South at the peak of the hill, as we stumbled into a grim scene. Bodies lay scattered around the narrow clearing, many of which were piled alongside a portable bunker on the far side. We stepped carefully around the dead as we made our way through towards the building. South moved with haste ahead of us, taking less care in walking over the recently deceased. Whoever sent out that distress signal must have had some importance for her to show such little respect for the dead. Dexter at the very least showed the restraint I knew him capable of as he surveyed the area for potential threats. My attention was drawn to the strange spike like protrusions that stuck out from the rest of the materials I had seen so far on the planet. At first glance, they appeared to be symmetrical metal rods attached to a tri-pod base. The legs appeared claw-like, and the entire thing did not look like anything of Earth Pony design. Perhaps it was more of the Geld’s technology, maybe a different style of transmitter? As I got closer, I noticed a fluid dripping from the base of the spike and pooling in the earth beneath it. From my work with machines, I remarked that some cooling fluids came in unique colors, but I had never seen it in a shade of red. I dabbed a small amount of it on my hooves to sample it. It was unusually warm for any coolant I was familiar with, and reeked of iron. My omni-tool beeped at me with a statistical analysis of the liquid. Blood. This was blood? My hooves trembled slightly as the reality began to suffocate me like a torrent of ice cold water. My stomach twisted violently, feeling much like my first hour aboard the Normanedy. It seemed to me that even Dr. Chalkdust’s ‘treatment’ would not work for this level of horror. I looked up at the length of the spike, noticing that the entirety of it was dripping with the sickening red liquid. I backed up slowly, each step a separate battle of mind vs body to avoid losing what little of my lunch I had left. I looked to the nearby bodies, confirming the sickening truth to my weakening resolve. Many of the bodies had been violently impaled onto these horrifying spires, then discarded into piles for a purpose I hoped to never discover. “What the hell are you doing South?” I heard Dexter shout from across the field. I turned to see Dexter staring at South in anger. From the distance I was from them, I could only see South kneeling before the bodies, moving them in an unkempt manner. I started to walk towards them and the bunker as they continued shouting at each other. “One of these ponies had to be from mah squad,” South yelled back at Dexter, not showing the slightest bit of remorse of what she was doing. “I have to know if any of them made it, or if any of them are....” Her voice choked on the final words, as she continued turning over the bodies. Dexter just shook his head in disapproval of South’s actions, and trotted away loudly. I felt sympathetic for South’s situation, but even I had to agree with Dexter that she was allowing her grief to overcome her judgement. I kept moving towards her as she continued her search, when she suddenly leapt back in fright. “W-what the hell is this?” she stammered in horror. I dashed over to her to see what was the matter, following her eyes to the object in question. What the hell indeed. It appeared to be another body of a recently killed colonist, but its body was colored a disgusting ashen grey that tarnished its original color, whatever it may have been. Grooves appeared to be carved into its flesh that pulsated a bright blue. Its face was frozen in a blank expression, the strange grooves running the length of its face, even boring the eerie blue into their eyes. Eyes that I could not break away from. What had been done to this colonist was horrifying, a crime against nature, but I could not tear my gaze away from those eyes that had been drained of what life it once had. I felt that I was staring into the abyss of death itself, and that I could be sucked into it at any given moment as if I stood on the precipice of oblivion. Then the eyes looked back at me. Whatever thought processes I had left in my brain came crashing to a cataclysmic end. It was all I could do to watch in a mix of frozen terror and disbelief as I watched the body, no, bodies of several colonists twitch and spasm with the throes of renewing life. One, three, five was the count as the pile in front of me and South began to stand up shakily. They wavered, stumbling like zombie ponies, but who was I kidding? These things were zombie ponies! What was left of their flesh and fur was taught, emaciated, and spotted unevenly with black char or those pulsating blue veins. They lumbered forward, moaning and growling in low hushed tones like predators awaiting the instinct to pounce. I stood frozen in fear, while South slowly but shakily brought her gun to bear. “They’re still alive!” she snapped in a hushed whisper. I couldn’t even respond vocally. Whatever the hell these things were, they were not alive, they were not dead, they were not even ponies any more. They were monsters, and the Geld had done this to them. As they stepped closer, I could hear South attempt in vain to steady her weapon, only to hear it rattle louder in her quivering hooves. I doubt even S.T.A.B.L.E trained its soldiers in preparation for a zombie uprising. I glanced over to Dexter, who was on the far side of the ridge investigating the way forward and completely oblivious to what was unfolding behind him. I could have called out to him, but that would most likely be akin to disturbing a hornets nest of hungry predators. A feat South took it upon herself to instigate anyways. The first volley struck the closest husk soundly, causing it to topple forwards in a slump, never to rise again. A point to note was that these things were not very resilient, but they were incredibly fast when agitated. In the time for the first one to fall, the rest charged us en masse, punctuating their anger with a bloodcurdling roar. I saw South deftly bash two away with the butt of her rifle, while the other two tackled me to the ground. The smaller one stumbled over the other, launching over me and landing squarely on its head beside me. I could hear the sickening snap of its neck as it hit the ground, twitching slightly before settling to the earth. The one on top of me gnashed its teeth wildly at me, thrashing me with its hooves, and I was barely able to dodge its feeble attempts to bite me. I held its head back with my hooves around its throat, but its attempts to strike me continued unabated. I heard more gunfire as South dealt with the creatures encroaching upon her, and galloping hooves in the distance that hopefully belonged to Dexter. I realised that if I didn’t do something soon, I might soon become a zombie initiate myself. As my grip on its neck was beginning to weaken, I shifted my hooves for a better hold, giving me a visual reminder of the weapon attached to my blasted hoof! Somehow I managed lift my hind legs to buck the creature off me, giving me a precious second to ready the gun. Time seemed to slow as the husk lunged on top of me. Two previous attempts on my life within the same hour taught me that hesitation will get you killed, causing my mind to piece together every moment of weapon training I had ever taken in my mind in crystalline clarity. With little pause for thought, I aimed, and proceeded to fire endlessly into the monster’s head, only stopping when my omni-tool locked my weapon to prevent a damaging overheat. It wobbled slightly at the force of the gunfire, pausing briefly in what appeared to be shock at my audacity of actually shooting it. It slumped forward, landing directly on top of me with a painful thud. I struggled to move the carcass on top of me, only now realising that despite the emaciated and gaunt look of these things, they weighed an abnormal amount. I twisted and grunted, but to no avail as I started to notice a difficulty in breathing from the crushing weight. With weakening resolve, and fading air supply, I managed to choke out a faint, “help!” before I noticed a sudden silence all around me. South’s gunfire had ceased, but I could hear her labored breathing not fifteen feet away. The galloping I had heard had stopped, and I desperately hoped it was really Dexter. My prayers were verified as I felt the warm glow of his telekinesis wrap around the felled husk and gently lifted it off of me. I was able to sit up a bit, not just yet ready to get to my hooves. I breathed steadily, as I looked around at the changed scene around me. Dexter stood in front of me, his focus directed at disposing the zombie like being that was just moments ago crushing my lungs. I looked behind me to South, who was doing the same, breathing heavily and slowly regaining her color. I wondered idly on how much excitement she could possibly handly before simply collapsing, because it was becoming an increasingly appealing decision on my part. I steadily rose to my hooves, taking great care not to overdo it. I lifted my head to take a deep relaxing breath, and slowly opened my eyes. In front of me was the bunker, who’s door had opened during the aftermath. A mare poked her head out tentatively, looking around nervously before she looked straight at me and my companions. “I-is it over?” “Shepard, I found the loading docks just north of your position. I think the Geld moved the relic through here. I’m going to make sure it’s clear, then wait for you here. See you soon.” I didn’t even feel anything for Nimbus’ communications anymore. Sure she was professional, and probably had killed quite of few of these things herself, but if she was really so close, she could have bothered to help us. I was certainly going to give that mare a piece of my mind once this was over. I turned off my radio and trotted over to Dexter and South, who were in the middle of listening to the two scientists we had rescued from the bunker. The mare was frightened, but stable, while her companion seemed much further detached from reality. He was skittish, and spend most of the introductions spouting nonsense and end of the world gibberish. We managed calm them down, and secure the bunker for the arrival of legitimate retrieval while we continued with our task. I managed to sit down as the mare was finishing her tale. “And that’s when Professor Twidget and myself barricaded ourselves in here while the guards held them off,” she recounted calmly. “Those soldiers gave their lives to protect us.” “There is no protecting us!” Twidget muttered. “This is the end times! The age of the Equine races is over!” “Twidget, please! Now is not the time for your nonsense.” The mare turned to Dexter. “I’m really sorry about him, we’ve been through a lot.” Dexter waved his hoof dismissively. “It’s all right Dr. Terra. Once we get you safely out of here, we can get him the help he needs.” The mare relaxed a bit more at Dexters words, before he continued pressing for information. “Now, is there anything else you can tell us about what happened. Anything about the relic that you found?” “The beacon of our doom has been brought before the eternal judge!” Twidget shouted.” Our fates are now in his merciful hooves!” Terra hushed Twidget again, before returning to her thoughts. “I can’t remember much else, I’m afraid. Those things were pounding on the door for nearly an hour before you arrived. I thought I heard some of the loading equipment move by, but I can’t be certain. Dexter looked to me and South. “I guess they moved the relic through here to the loading docks. Looks like Nimbus was right.” “Hmph, lucky guess,” South said, disinterested. It was my turn for a question. “Did either of you see our friend pass through here? She’s a Pegasus Sleipnir sent with us to secure that relic.” Twidget screamed and backed himself into a corner at the uttering of the word Pegasus, and whimpered loudly for several moments as we all gawked at his display. He appeared to be muttering to himself, which steadily got louder until we could hear it clearly. “He walks among them, the winged harbinger of our doom! He lords over the indoctrinated, and will force his will on any who defy his purpose!” “I’m no expert on Pegasus physiology, but I’m pretty sure I can recognise a female Pegasus when I see one,” Dexter commented. “That can’t have been Nimbus.” “Twidget, hush! You don’t know what you are saying.” Terra snapped at the whimpering stallion, the looked away from him to us again. “I’m really sorry about him, but I have no idea what he is talking about. I saw no Pegasus out there, male or female.” “Nimbus was on the Normanedy with us before the attack even happened,” I remarked. “She couldn’t have been here.” Dexter nodded in agreement, while South’s indifference remained unchanged. Twidget quieted down eventually, and Dexter continued his questions. “Even if you didn’t see the relic, where could they possibly move it from the loading docks?” Terra thought a moment, before shaking her head in confusion. “The only trains that were moving today were between the loading area here and the spaceport in the center of the colony.” “Spaceport?” Dexter said quickly. “Then they are trying to get the relic off planet. We should get going.” Dexter and South moved quickly to the door, while I lingered for a moment. Twidget had passed out, but was still mumbling in his sleep. “Harbinger! Harbinger! Harbinger!” Terra trotted softly towards him to keep a close eye on him. “Once we are out of this horrid place, he can get his medication. He will be fine.” I nodded in feigned agreement, as if I knew the inner workings of a crazy pony. “I’m sure he will. Just stay in here, I’ll leave the door locked and send a message to the security clean up so they know where you are.” I stepped outside and padded on the keypad to seal the door behind me. Just before I did, I glanced at Terra, who had moved Twidget to a makeshift bed. She looked at me with relief in her eyes. “Thank you Commander.” The door slid shut quietly, while I stood staring at empty space for a moment, thinking on what Terra had said. Commander, heh. That will be the day. “Shepard, come look at this! Now!” I returned to reality and dashed towards the source of the shouting. I found Dexter and South standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking the loading docks we were told about. I noted the ramp that would take us there, failing to understand what the matter was. I looked to my friends, and realised that they were staring at the sky, not down into the valley. I looked up and was met with a sight that would no doubt haunt my dreams for many nights to come. Towering at what had to be no less than a kilometer high and was no less than the same distance away from us was the same metallic monstrosity that I had seen in the distress video. The difference now was that the obscuring cloud of smoke and dust was gone, and I could see this thing in perfect clarity against the velvet red sky. Its serpent like hull stretched into the sky, with long tendril like appendages acting as mooring lines tying it to the earth. It glowed with a field of crimson energy, the entire surface covered in a red electrical current. The beast, if that’s what I could call it, swayed slightly in various directions before leaning towards us. At the peak of its height, I could make out a long set of protrusions, much like a snout and horns of a mad and frightful creature. I could not be certain that it saw, or even acknowledged our insignificant presence, as it loomed over the valley between us. The ground began to shake, the tendrils holding it down began detaching from the ground, and the behemoth steadily rose to the sky. A loud booming roar echoed over the planet as it broke free of the earth, sending us to our rumps in terror. The noise it made cut through me like a wave of fear, leaving me gasping for breath and quivering with each inhale. The massive metal serpent rose beyond the clouds and vanished from our sight with a speed that defied its colossal size. We sat on the cliff for a long while in perfect silence. South was the first to break the calm, collapsing to the earth in panicked breathing. “What in the hell was that thing?” she panted. “A ship or a monster?” “I don’t know,” Dexter said quietly.” But I don’t think I want to stick around and find out.” I agreed quietly, my mind still dwelling on the whatever the hell that thing was. There was countless things it could have been, and I doubt any of them were pleasant. But it was gone, for now, and we had to hope that we could continue our mission before it returned, and worry about what it was and what it wanted then. I gazed into the valley below, looking for any signs of movement in the docks. There were several rows of large crates and containers, turning it into a maze, making it difficult to see anything. Hopefully, Nimbus was indeed down there waiting for us before proceeding. I felt that South would have loved to meet her face to face, and I probably would have enjoyed the ensuing conversation. The devious little grin I developed at that thought quickly evaporated at a sudden sound that shattered the calm of the area below us. It sounded like a gunshot of a very powerful weapon, much like the one Nimbus was carrying. “Nimbus may be in trouble,” I shouted, galloping down the ramp into the valley. “We’d better go help her.” Dexter and South quickly followed suit, South giving a contemptuous guffaw as she cantered alongside me. “A council Sleipnir, needing our help? That’ll be the day.” South’s constant show of disdain for non Earth Ponies was beginning to wear on me. Whatever reason she had to have such dislike in the Pegasi, she could have at least done a better job keeping it to herself. I paid no further attention to her as I approached the base of the canyon. We kept our speed as we approached the metal catwalks of the loading area, slowing to a trot in the midst of sharp corners and wide openings. We split up silently, fanning across the veranda and weaved through the containers looking for any sources of danger, or our elusive companion. I found more strange equipment that looked to belong to the Geld, at least confirming that they had moved through here recently, but I found no evidence of the relic, or Nimbus. “Shepard, you’re gonna want to see this.” Dexter’s voice was quiet, sombre. I navigated out of the containers with little difficulty, and found Dexter and South standing next to each other, staring at something around a corner. I approached carefully and peered around the corner slowly, noting the upset look in Dexter’s eyes as I neared him. What lay around the corner was a pony. A Pegasus, rather. A familiar Pegasus. A dead Pegasus. “It’s Nimbus.” I kept my distance from Dexter as he examined the body of our fallen friend and South secured the perimeter, hopefully looking to find out who had done this to Nimbus. I remained silent, thinking of how I was going to explain this to Quartermane once we returned to the ship. If we returned to the ship. I looked to Nimbus, her eyes were thankfully shut, but her beautiful golden mane was tarnished by the pool of her own blood that she laid in. I examined her weapon, an elegant rifle that had seen much use here on the surface, but no shots were fired recently, the barrel being ice cold. She never saw it coming. “Somethin’s movin’ in there!” South shouted. I immediately raised the rifle in the direction that South was pointing, fumbling slightly with the configuration meant for a Pegasi. Dexter did the same with his weapon, carefully stepping around Nimbus and stepping beside me. “Ya’ll got five seconds to git’ out here before I toss a grenade in there for good measure, ya hear?” I heard a crate fall over and smash on the ground, as a panicked stallion stumbled out of the mountain of boxes, his right hoof raised in submittance. “Please don’t shoot! I’m one of you!” He was in fact an earth pony, a dock worker by the looks of his overalls. He twitched and fidgeted nervously as he trotted tentatively towards us. Dexter and I both lowered our weapons, which was starting to get awkward to hold anyways, but South kept hers drawn. He stopped several feet from us, and collapsed to his rump. Dexter approached him, offering an emergency ration from his saddlebag to calm the poor fellow down. “Thank god this nightmare is over!” the dockworker gasped. “Ever since that mothership landed, everything has been going to hell!” “Mothership?’ I inquired.” You mean that giant snake like thing that took off a while ago?” He nodded. “Yea, that the one. It landed sometime this morning, right before the Geld showed up. It was scary as hell how it broke through the clouds, casting a shadow over everything. I’ve never seen anything so massive.” “Can you tell us what happened here?” He took a deep breath, before nodding hesitantly. “Yea, I can.” He looked around at his surroundings, taking in what was there to jog his memory. “We were moving everything around to get ready to move the relic through on to the colony for safe keeping. Then that mother ship shows up and everything falls to pieces. Our communications were hit first, then the Geld started showing up in droves. They hit this area hard, If I wasn’t hiding behind the boxes, I’d be dead just like the rest of them.” “Did you at least see anything useful hiding back there?” Dexter asked. The dockworker thought a moment. “Yea, I saw what happened to your friend there,” he said, pointing to Nimbus. “She was moving through the boxes all quiet like, when she came across another Pegasus like her, even called him by name, ‘Artemis’ I think it was. They seemed to know each other, so she lowers her guard. Then Artemis walks behind her and shoots her in the back of the head. Just like that. Then he left towards the trams, you just missed him.” Why would another Pegasus be here, how could anypony else be aware of what we were doing down here? This whole endeavor was starting to stink of foul play. “If you managed t' hide behind those crates, why did nopony else do th' same?” South inquired, finally lowering her weapon. “They didn’t even have a chance, the Geld were already on top of us when the attack started.” “Then how did you get there in time?” South’s eyebrows were raised in confusion. “I…I was already behind the crates when it happened,” he admitted with shame. “What were you busy doin’ back there? Spyin’?” South snapped poking the dockworker with an accusatory hoof. “No! Nothing like that,” he explained. “Its just that….I work such long shifts, sometimes I can barely make it through the day. So I was busy….napping so I could get through the afternoon.” “You survived because yer lazy?” South shouted. I swear she was about to pull a gun on this poor pony when an explosion drew our attention to the train tracks. Smoke rose from the platform below, and it did not take long for the dockworker to realise what was happening. “They’re blowing up the tracks! Thats the last way to the inner colonies. If you want to catch the one that did this, you’d better hurry!” Instinct took over as we left the civilian behind and dashed down the final ramp to the tracks. I almost tripped trying to hold onto Nimbus’s rifle, and decided to fold it away into my saddlebags for later. We saw a small group of Geld soldiers working their way past the remaining trains, carrying what appeared to be a very large storage crate. “They have the relic!” I shouted. South roared with anger as she ran ahead of Dexter and I, engaging the Geld. They appeared to be surprised at the sudden ambush, but did not return fire. Instead they sped up, racing towards the final tram. They boarded quickly, and the tram steadily began to pick up speed, leaving the station without us. South continued firing as she galloped astride the moving tram, and bounded aboard. Dexter and I galloped as fast as we could to catch up with our overzealous friend. The Lieutenant managed to jump on the train, narrowly missing the guard rail. He turned back to me with a hoof extended. “Jump, Shepard! I’ll catch you! I maintained my speed, but the train was steadily going faster, and I was running out of platform. “I’ll never make it!” I wheezed through ragged breaths. I was already exhausted of the day’s events so far. You would think five years of P.T day and night would give me more than ten seconds of sprinting time. “You can, you just have to try! Trust me!” If there was one thing I learned from today, it was that Dexter was somepony I could depend on. Whatever doubts I had, Dexter’s reassuring smile drained them away. I looked for an opening in the guardrails, and upon seeing one, I threw out all rational thought from my mind and dove towards the speeding tram. I saw it approaching ever so slightly, before I noticed I was falling too fast. I shut my eyes in panic, and awaited the inevitable plummet to the earth below. When it never came, though, I eventually opened my eyes to see that I was still in the air, floating in tandem with the tram. I looked down, and saw that I was covered in a glowing blue aura, as I slowly drifted towards the tram car. I saw Dexter struggling to stand, his eyes tightly shut in strained focus, his implants shining brightly. He set me down gently on the car, before wavering slightly, nearly collapsing from the effort. He stood there for a moment, panting heavily, before he looked up at me, smiling. “Now we’re even.” “I guess so,” I panted. “Now let’s go save South before she gets herself killed.” Dexter nodded, and we both stood and leapt from car to car in the hopes of reaching the lead car before South did something foolish. As we approached the front, the sound of exchanging gunfire put me at ease to the fact that South was at least still conscious, and firing at the Geld at the front of the train. We finally made it to the front car, and found South crouched behind cover, ducking out to fire at the single remaining Geld from the four we saw earlier. I peeked out myself to see that the other three were dead, lying beside the crate they had brought on board. I saw the fourth Geld, duck in and out of cover, glancing at the three of us. I heard a series of beeps and tones come from its head, apparently attempting to communicate in its strange language. Then all of a sudden, it keeled over with a loud thud. There was no way of us could have hit it from its cover, but yet it fell over, and was clearly dead from where we sat. South jumped over the crate she had been using for cover, and moved carefully towards the crate, trotting slowly around it to investigate her kills. She appeared satisfied with what she had accomplished alone, when the giant crate shook violently beside her. I watched her aim her gun at it, Dexter doing the same. I readied my pistol redundantly, remembering the effectiveness of my companions weapons versus mine. The crate shook again and again, each motion accompanied by a loud thud. The lid of the crate blew off, flying overhead and landing far below us under the tracks. The sides of the container groaned and grinded, as they slowly fell away from each other neatly. Inside the crate was another Geld, but this one was easily two, if not three times the size of the rest of them. It rose to its hooves, towering over South who was still standing right beside it. She stepped back slowly, but was not quick enough to avoid the massive synthetic swiping at her with its giant hoof, sending the cowpony flying over us. She landed with a loud thud, but groaned loudly hinting that she was still partially conscious. Dexter and I immediately began firing at the machine, as it simply stood there, taking the punishment. It did not take long for both of us to overheat our weapons, but the Geld was still standing unfazed by our onslaught. I stepped ponderously towards us, each step threatening to rattle the tram off its tracks. “Shepard,” Dexter whispered to me.” I have an idea, stand back.” “What are you going to do?” I asked fearfully. “You know what they say.” He grinned. “The bigger they are…” His voice trailed off as he began to glow his trademark blue. The Geld kept coming closer as Dexter concentrated. It was mere feet from us when the Lieutenant opened his eyes, glaring at the approaching beast. His pupils had glazed over white, and I could feel the power radiating off him. He lifted his hoof slowly, pouring all his energy into it. The Geld halted, and rose its front hooves high in the air in preparation to trample us. But before gravity could take hold, Dexter screamed, throwing his hoof into a punching motion towards the towering Geld. The energy built up in his hooves flew out in a wave of force, catching the machine square in the head. It lurched backwards, before toppling over and landing onto its back in a glorious crash. As it lay helpless on its backside, I watched it flail its hooves in vain as it tried to right itself up like a downed turtle. Me and Dexter laughed at the display, when we noticed that South was standing just behind us, brandishing something in her mouth dangling by a pin. It looked like an apple, but it was rainbow colored. She shook her head upwards, relieving the apple from the pin. As it sailed upwards, she spun around gracefully with her tail aloft. She paused, waiting for a proper moment, before swatting the apple deftly with her tail. It flew over my head, and landed precisely in the exposed rib cage of the Geld’s underside. I looked back to South, who was smiling a familiar grin. “I’d git’ down if I were you,” she crooned, mocking my voice almost perfectly. “Oh crap.” I muttered, knowing exactly what she meant. BOOOOOM! The car shook and swayed violently from the resulting explosion, sending crates, debris and synthetic body parts raining over the tram and nearby canyon. The way the car was now rocking suggested that the tram was no longer securely fastened to the rail, but was holding course all the same. The speed of the vehicle cleared the smoke quickly, revealing a blackened section where the giant Geld once stood as a whole. The smaller Geld shells had been tossed off the side as well, leaving very little left on the lead car in way of supplies and cargo, aside from the singed control panel at the front of the car. After observing in the new scene before me, I steadily got up for what seemed to be the millionth time today. It would have been nice to escape from a near death situation without getting knocked to the ground, but that felt like a fool’s hope at this point. I shuffled slowly to my hooves, looking around to see if my companions fared any better. South, being the instigator of the situation at hoof, was fully prepared to deal with the consequences of what she had done. The explosion didn’t seem to have affected her at all, only knocking off her precious hat. I watched her snatch it off the ground and hold it dexterously with her tail and plop it back onto her head. Her smirk conveyed an air of superiority and I didn’t much care for it as she pulled what I hoped to be a real apple from her saddle bag. She inspected it carefully, and gave it a thorough polish before biting into it loudly. “Now,” she garbled through her chewing. “That’s how we settle things back on the farm.” Dexter, on the other hoof seemed to be the middle of painful suffering, with the way he held his head and rubbed at his temples. He had not risen to his hooves, choosing the remain on his rump while nursing what appeared to be one nasty headache. His mane was matted, and slightly parted in a way I could see his implants. The circuitry throbbed with a low humming sound, and fizzled slightly. I saw blood dripping from his ears and nose, which he wiped away nonchalantly in his dazed state. “Are you ok Dexter?” I asked with concern. It took time for him to acknowledge my presence, let alone my question. He swayed weakly, shaking his head over and over to clear his head of the dizzyness. “I’ll be fine, j...just give me a minute,” he breathed. I glared at South, intent to tear her ear off before Dexter stopped me. “N..no, Shepard. It wasn’t the grenade. I just over exerted myself.” I grunted in compliance. I focused my attention to other things, choosing the fact that this train was still moving, and we had no idea to where. “So,” South began. “Does anyone know where this boat is headed?” “I don’t know.” I replied without looking at her directly. The tram veered around a wide bend, before it began to noticeably decelerate. Around the corner I could see what appeared to be a station, and no further track to abide us. It appeared that we had arrived at the end of the line, wherever the hell it was. “But we’re about to find out.” The tram groaned to a stop at the end of the rail, the brakes squealing in protest at any further punishment. The station and nearby area were dead silent. It seemed the further into this hell we traveled, the quieter the world became, as if we truly were walking along the razor’s edge into the firey pits of Tartaurus itself. The calm made me feel uneasy, having grown accustomed to the sounds of battle since my time here. South and Dexter stepped off the tram first, weapons drawn and focus set. The Lieutenant had recovered quickly, or so it seemed. His head twitched occasionally, and I don’t think he realised I was noticing. He was still in pain, but I guessed he felt this particular brand before and was accustomed to dealing with it. His attention was unfaltering as he scanned the station with South carefully, slowly. If this wasn't the climax of our day so far, it certainly felt close. I left the train after South silently signaled ‘all clear’, as the two of them continued forward. I lingered behind, taking my own readings of the situation. The station ramps climbed upwards from the tram cars, perfect places for an ambush. My companions went upwards level by level, while I stayed at a careful distance. Nothing seemed out of place, no disturbed containers or even more of the Geld’s strange terminals. This area was seemingly untouched by the battle in the surrounding hills. Seemingly of course, and I wasn’t about to let my guard down just yet, not until I was off this blasted planet. After we navigated the series of ramps and boxes, we made it to the top level of the station. This particular level appeared to connect to many adjacent areas that fed into the nearby colonies, with their own transfer points and loading areas. The scaffolding of this floor was very high in the air, and looking over the opposite side we could see a wide veranda looking over a lake, ripples gently forming from a calm breeze rolling over the hills. It was not, thankfully, so high that we could not easily miss the five or six Geld troopers patrolling the platform. Many of them were standing attentively on the far side, standing next to a stone pillar formation that glowed an ominous green. Even from up here it could tell it was important to them to protect, therefore, it had to be important for us to get to it. “Is that what I think it is?” I asked, pointing out the obelisk to the others. “Eeyep,” I heard South reply. “That’s the relic they dug up. Looks like they took good care of it.” “But, why did they stop here?” Dexter remarked. “That platform is a dead end.” He came up to the railing next to me, and leaned over to get a better view. “And what are they doing there?” he said pointing at three Geld I had not noticed right below the catwalk we stood on. They were interacting with a set of cylindrical objects. They appeared innocuous enough from up here, but experience told me it was no doubt bad news for us. “Let’s get down there and put a stop to this.” I said decidedly. “This has gone on long enough.” Dexter chuckled slightly, smiling and nodding at me. He pointed towards the closest ramp down. “After you Shepard.” I felt that the Lieutenant was humoring me, but as I recalled it was me that Nimbus was interested in. It only seemed natural to me that with her gone, I should at least try to lead for the remainder of the excursion. I paid no attention to his teasing and made my way down the ramp. Dexter and South followed behind me as we quietly trotted down towards the bottom. The Geld continued their appointed tasks as we moved from cover to cover, little as it was along the catwalks. They were completely oblivious to our presence, I hoped at least as we moved from the last section of ramp to a large wall that divided the platform tangentially from where we stood. From the bottom of the ramp, we found ourselves closest to the three Geld that were focused on their cylinders. Down here, I could see that the things I thought were containers were, in fact, not containers at all. They each had computer interfaces, which the Geld were in the middle of accessing. They were also the first piece of technology that did not appear to belong to the Geld, the casings matching much of the excavation equipment from the relic site. I turned my focus towards the relic and its guards, not dwelling further on the cases, before my omni-tool bleeped noisily in my ear. I ducked my head behind cover, hoping the troopers did not hear it, while Dexter and South looked to me expectantly from their respective cover. After gauging that our cover had not yet been ruined, I looked to my tool to see what was the matter. The screen showed a high concentration of unstable materials nearby, materials I recognised as incredibly explosive, and popular components of.....excavation charges. I facehoofed at not realising it sooner. Used properly in solid earth, an excavation charge causes a minimal explosion under pressure and simply loosens, or even disintegrates stubborn earth and rock without damaging worked stone. But if used in open air, and with purposeful sabotage, they could annihilate the nearby area with no trouble at all, including ancient alicorn relics. I made quick gestures to Dexter, remembering what little I did from training to convey that these Geld had to go now. He seemed to understand, as he raised his rifle in preparation, as did South. They both nodded to me, awaiting my signal. I looked around the pillar, and still the Geld saboteurs were still heavily focused on their duty. The Geld near the relic too, were not paying any particular attention to the area we were hidden behind. This was as good a chance as any. I nodded to my companions, and I leaned around the corner, gun ready. I took aim at the closest Geld I could, and fired, praying I would hit its unprotected backside and not the explosive device next to it. The Geld fell to the bullet in its back, and toppled onto its side. The other Geld were too slow to realise the situation at hoof, and both perished at the synchronized shots of my companions. The true challenge here would would lie in the four brutish troopers that were descending upon us from their places by the relic. They charged at us with reckless abandon, firing at us with little regard for aim or tact. Their task was clear; nopony was allowed near the relic. It was a task that I was looking forward to ruining for them. I ducked back into cover that was closer to the bombs, while South moved forward firing madly at the brutes. I had lost sight of Dexter, but I had far more immediate and troubling matters to deal with. My omni-tool had not shut up since I approached the explosives, and I finally realised why. The tool wasn’t screaming merely because of the dangerous nearby materials, those blasted things were armed and counting! This certainly was going to spice up an otherwise dreary gunfight. “South, I gotta deal with these bombs, keep those things busy!” I shouted. “Guh!” South grunted, taking a blast right to her shield, but not slowing down an inch. “Easier said than done!” I ran to the bombs, bringing up my omni-tool’s interface. Thankfully the bombs were mundane equipment, the Geld’s tinkering only making it marginally more difficult. I pried off the manifold off of the first one and revealed a rainbow of wires and circuitry inside. I tugged at the loose cables, searching for the one I remembered from my training. It wasn’t difficult to diffuse a bomb, but it being in the middle of a firefight always made things interesting. My omni-tool blurted schematics and circuit diagrams at me, but it was proving difficult to concentrate on anything useful with bullets flying over my head. I looked over to the battle that was progressing without me. South appeared to have taken one of them down, and was busy wrestling with a second, while Dexter had flattened one with an enormous storage crate. But where was the fourth? A mystery quickly resolved by a metal hoof punching me square across the face. I think I flew a good ten feet before I reconnected with solid ground, but not in the reunion that one would considered pleasant. I coughed and groaned, while I struggled to regain my balance. I heard loud hoof steps approaching me, the loud clanging of metal on metal ringing in my dazed head. The Geld stepped towards me, its head twisting with curiosity. It looked at me, but even with a face devoid of ways to show expressions, I could tell that it was conflicted about which method it should employ to kill me. I scrambled away from it, making little difference as it continued forward. My companions were still busy with problems of their own, and the likelihood of them reaching me in time was shrinking fast. None of this was helped by the fact that my blasted omni-tool was still yelling at me about those bombs! Wait, my omni tool! I didn’t know much about the Geld, but they were still machines, and no machine enjoys a heaping dose of electromagnetism. I scrolled hastily through my tool, finding a suitable command just in time. With no hesitation, I aimed the device at the encroaching synthetic, and fired. A bolt of energy flew from my hoof straight through the Geld, causing it to pause momentarily. A loud crackling noise filled the air, as static erupted from the metal plating of its armor, much like water seeks to be free of a confining dam. The creature twitched and jerked madly, swaying to and fro like a broken top as the excessive energy poured out, tearing its shell to pieces. It gave one last profound seizure, before it flashed like an erupting star, and an explosion that matched. When the light cleared, the Geld was on the ground in a heap and smoking slightly. It crackled with latent energy but remained still as I moved towards it. I glanced to the bombs, which also appeared to have suffered from the explosion and were now useless pieces of wiring and metal. Finally, I could breath a sigh of relief. “Shepard, are you ok?” I saw Dexter, standing next to South in the center of the platform. The remaining Geld had been dealt with, and we were finally free to accomplish our goal. I walked over to meet them, as they turned to face our prize. The relic was far more impressive close up, as we moved towards it. It was not as monolithic as I was led to believe but it was still a marvel to behold. It was a masterfully cut piece of metal and stone, fused together in a process that was tens of thousands of years old. Inlaid grooves glowed an effervescent green, and it hummed ever so quietly. “I can’t believe this, actual working Alicorn technology!” Dexter exclaimed. It seemed he was more ecstatic about this discovery than I was. South moved closer to the relic, her head bent sideways in awe. “It wasn’t doin’ anythin’ like that when they dug it up. Ah wonder what turned it on?” “Maybe it was that ‘Artemis’ the dockworker mentioned. He probably got what he wanted from it and took off. We can worry about that after we get it onto the Normanedy.” Dexter turned on his radio, and began to hail for our ride out of here. I prepared my omni-tool to send the data of everything we encountered on the surface to the Captain, who was no doubt expecting a full report of everything; the Geld, Nimbus, the mysterious Artemis character, and our recovering of the relic. I nearly finished when I heard a loud throbbing sound. Dexter appeared to have heard it as well, and looked around for the source as did I. I glanced behind him, and saw that the sound was coming from the relic. South had gotten closer to it, and it appeared to be reacting to her proximity to it. I could see South being dragged towards it by an unseen force, as it began to glow brighter and brighter. I pushed Dexter aside and ran to South, grabbing her tail with my mouth. We both struggled against the pulling sensation, but were steadily losing ground to it. I managed to summon what little strength I had left, and yanked as hard as I could. I managed to throw South up over top of me towards Dexter with a loud thud. Unfortunately this momentum propelled me straight into the middle of the invisible force. My hooves left the ground as I was suddenly picked up into the air, hovering several feet off the ground. I felt a strange sensation wash over me, my body ached as if something was attempting to pull me apart, each of my limbs being pulled in different directions. All of this pain was just a minor inconvenience compared to what was happening to my mind. I felt my brain being filled with information that was most definitely not meant for a single pony. I could feel the experiences of all kinds of different lives being forced into my head. I could feel the emotions, memories, experiences, thoughts, and dreams of thousands if not millions of lifeforms being forced into my head; I could feel them all, and they all conveyed the same things: Pain, anguish, terror, misery, panic, hysteria, and fear, pure and unbridled fear. Images flashed before my eyes, but of what I could not tell. I saw glimpses of monsters, machines, and equines, mish mashed and mismatched together. I was witnessing a civilisations worth of pain and sorrow, and I was not certain how much more I could take. The visions steadily slowed, but the throbbing pain that threatened to tear my head apart did not abate in the slightest. I could hear the relic pulsating louder and louder and it kept shining brighter and brighter, each undulating pulse adding to the cacophony of information and anguish that was being done to my mind, until it could impart no more knowledge to me. I would not remember what happened next as the relic overloaded, sending me flying through the air. My last thoughts were of the crimson sky, as it melted all around me into darkness, and I slipped into blissful blackness. Engineer Skills Unlocked: Hacking, Decryption, Overload, Marksman Codex Entries Added Race: The Geld