Cold Scales

by Konatra


A New Leader

After nearly 10 hours of debate and design by multiple androids and Spines, they came to a conclusion about the look and functionality of this new super suit. During that time the Research and Development wing of the ship was fully repaired and new androids were being constructed at a slow rate due to the low power output, this and lack of proper resources made it so only guardian class soldiers could be created. No heavy units or spy units of the sort could be made until proper harvesting stations could be produced so for now an average of 5 guards could be made daily. This made it so all non guardian class androids were considered important resources and heavy losses would not be tolerated.

In other news, a platoon of drilling units carved out a wide enough hole on the mountain peak to be able to fire satellites up into orbit. The recon operation was well underway. Already ten heavy androids and one elite commander were making their way secretly into the edge of the Everfree forest. Orders are to survey and lockdown the barrier of all Void threats and assist any non-hostile presence. It is suggested no one reveals themselves to the public but if the need arises they are instructed to either escape the area or make friendly contact with the creature. Spines ordered this because she knew the citizens of Ponyville were prone to getting themselves in messy situations and something like this would be a beacon of odd that would attract any one of her friends.

Part of her predicted Dusk to stumble across them and hunt them down so responding in a friendly manner would hopefully snuff out any unforeseen consequences...at least that's what she hoped. Honestly she wanted to go back home and tell every one of these ever increasingly shocking events but she was terrified at the thought of exposing her home to the true horrors that lurk just beyond the boundary. Yes her friends were strong and capable in handling powerful threats in the past but this was just a whole different monster of danger they would certainly jump themselves into despite her protest.

The plan Spines had was more or less simple; establish an army strong enough to defend her home, find the source of this evil and study the cause if possible wipe it off the face of the planet. Easy on paper but even Spines knew that may be an impossible task, her ideology comes from the fact that Tendrix by himself managed to oppose a whole legion of darkness and despite Tendrix's impressive and otherworldly abilities he was still just one man. She hopped an army could finish what Tendrix started and put an end to this madness once and for all.

For now, Spines chose to remain dead to almost everyone until the world was rid of this bile. It wouldn't be the first time she held the mantle of saving a population...it's just that this was on a far grander scale than last time.

In the meantime, she studied briefly on battle tactics and weapon management from the holo-library that was recorded in a convenient datapad she held. Unfortunately, a wide majority of the information stored was corrupted beyond redemption so any advanced information or lore on the history of Unity and Void were lost. In the very least she felt these very easy instructions had made her at least the bare minimum capable of leading an army.

She sat at the head of the metal round table with a hologram of the planet before her. If she just gave the word then this whole planet would be transformed into a war zone unlike anything it has ever seen before, that kind of power made Spines tingle in some odd new emotion that could be listed under either fear or giddiness.

To her left Bek stepped forward and bowed. "Lady, your suit is almost complete. Shall I escort you to the equipment room?" Spines nodded and followed him out.

___

No later did Spines find herself strapped to a table bench that fits perfectly around her form. The room was lit well with red lights and was actually quite small as compared to everything else in the ship. A group of lesser armed androids were behind a control panel and pushing buttons. Yes she was a bit nervous at the whole picture but chose to trust these advanced robots to do their job without slicing off her head in the process. One of them gave a thumbs up to her and another panel enclosed around her suddenly. Now in complete darkness did she let her suppressed fear leak out. A sounding of a small tip-like pattern filled her ears, she could feel small tile-like pieces slide over her body and connect together like some kind of three-dimensional puzzle. Then just like that, it was over.

The encasement unlatched and pushed her out, Spines didn't feel any different from before though. But oddly the androids from behind looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "Did it work?" She asked while waving them over. They hurriedly came over to her side and began inspecting around her form. She would have felt bashful were it not for the fact they were a bunch of faceless metal men.

"How do you feel Lady?" The lead technician asked. This one actually had some way of expressing emotion with his one eye that was shaped like a microscope that zoomed on her in interest.

"I feel pretty normal...am I supposed to be feeling anything?"

The bot leered around at her some more. "It varies from person to person but for a wide majority of users they tend to feel either sharp pains from the joints or heavy migraines...assuming what kind of DNA type they have..." He looked around her in higher intrigue. "Very few users experience no after-effects from the suits and thus are able to achieve even greater feats of power...Lady I believe you may be the 1% in that aspect, how interesting indeed." Despite this knowledge Spines still didn't know anything on how to use this suit.

"That's pretty cool, but how do I use it though?" She asked politely. The other lesser technicians walked back to their designated post and went back to their monitors. The leader pocked lightly at her sides.

"Yes, I suppose I've taken enough of your time as it is I regret to believe. Simply focus on the idea of it turning on and it will do so." It sounded simple enough.

Spines closed her eyes shut and concentrated on the thought or armor...nothing happened.

"I hear the activation process can differ from person to person, I suggest you try not thinking about a material but a natural response not unlike moving your arms." Spines didn't exactly understand what that meant but she tried a different approach. Instead of thinking about armor, she thought about her scales.

Her scales were a natural armor of sorts but she wanted something stronger than her still growing scales. '...Protect me.' Then a surge of energy pulsed in Spines like a hit to the head. Her eyes opened to see the same world before her only slightly tinted in a vibrant green glow. She moved her eyes to see a small recital to her lower right with a small circle that showed several green dots. One dot was in the middle of the circle and one was right in front of it, four more were grouped closer together just a bit away from the two. I didn't take her long to figure out it was some kind of enemy locator and her and her friends were marked as friendly.

To her lower left she could see two thin bars stacked upon one another, one black and the one below it dark green. "What am I seeing?" She asked while taking a breath in...oddly breathing seemed much easier than before. It was like inhaling in the freshest air in the world and her nose was devoid of any natural stuffiness the dank ship caused her.

The technician moved back and seemed to study her even closer despite the gap in proximity. "It appears the suit is operating at peak efficiency." Spines found this odd since she didn't feel like she was in a suit. She peered at her hands to see jet black claws, each joint of her body gave a different edge to her armor with intricate engravings on every section. She looked down further to see her whole body had this same black slim armor on. Her suit was slim and form-fitting but her shoulders and arms were installed with extra padding to better defend in hand-to-hand combat. Her legs ended in small metal platform boots that gave her a few extra inches in height. The chest piece appeared to be the most armored thing on her that jutted out the top sides like small sharp wings.

Her suit had thin lines across it all that shined a green light every few moments. "Oh wow, it looks even better in real life. She felt around her form. It was odd that she didn't feel like she was wearing a suit, it felt exactly like her skin always does. "The suit-up appears to be a tremendous success." Two guards came out from behind him holding up something each "Here are your first weapons." One of them came forward and handed her a long-bladed sword. It seemed to be eastern-inspired since it resembled a katana almost to the point. The droid unsheathed the blade from its black holster to show off the void black metal. The grip had a similar color but with more green lines pulsing off a light.

"What about its secondary function?" She asked knowing her request in a unique weapon, the R&D team seemed to be able to do whatever they wanted since they asked her if she wanted the sword to shoot plasma blades or have a magnetic pull and push ability and so many other functions. In response, the droid pushed a button on the hilt and a sharp noise sounded from the blade. It seemed to unlatched by every centimeter. It flopped to the ground while all still being connected.

The droid demonstrated by whipping around the now whip-like blade with perfect precise moves. The reach of the weapon extended four times its two-footed length. "Very impressive guys." She awed at the cartoonish weapon, it was like something out of one of her video games. The droid pushed another button that brought the sword back to its normal size and re-sheathed it and handed it over to her. The encasement of the sword had the image of a purple dragon engraving that was placed in a heroic pose. bottom of it had green metallic tassels that moved around with the slightest bit of force. "Thank you."

The droid bowed and walked back to its post. As requested she knew her back was where the sword would be. She placed it on her back and with a clang the sword stuck to her back. The next droid walked up and handed her a small box-like pistol. It was simple enough in design but it had the same black and green color scheme. She held it up and inspected it for a bit and then placed it on her left waist side. "Thank you." He did the same as the last.

The tech droid pointed her to a mirror to inspect the final product. Only then did she notice her helmet over her head. The head fitted around her like a glove and had a cover for her head spines. Her visor was thin, pointed and green but her eyes were hidden behind the glow. Overall she looked like some kind of futuristic ninja, both intimidating and stealthy. "I think I love it." It was surely something the young girl never expected to have in her life.

The androids around her bowed, taking that as thanks for their work. Bek appeared from the entrance and came over in a semi-hurried manner. "Lady General, you look fantastic but we have some immediate manners to discuss." He lead her back to the command deck.

___

Spines surveyed the globe that was zoomed in on Ponyville. To her horror, she saw a large surge of Spawns making their way over from the Everfree. "Our defense brigade is still too far away to intercept this force in time. We can send a few hell jumper units but we can only send two mid-class units since we have not begun development on extra pods or ones large enough to fit heavy units." By her glance she counted at least fifty spawns of varying sizes. Ponyville would not survive something like this. She could not, would not accept casualties of any type from her home. They would reach her home in less than three minutes it seemed.

It didn't take that long for Spines to make up her decision. Looks like the war for Ponyville has just begun. "Bek send me and your best mid-tier right now!" Bek nodded and ran to the back rooms. She followed close behind. As they ran one armed guard appeared from an open panel and met their pace.

"Unit 5V, Lady General request your assistance in defending the nearby civilian settlement."

5V nodded. "It is an honor." He said while putting his hand to his chest.

The trio made their way to a large docking room with many large capsules. Only two were lit with green lights. "Get in and we'll jump you over in no time." The two nodded and went inside the pods. Inside Spines grabbed on to two latches and held them firmly. The pod closed and the last thing she saw was Bek giving her a thumbs up. "Good hunting Lady!"

It was quiet for a moment and Spines for a second wondered if this was a good idea or not. This was met with a very quick elevating sensation. It was like going up a roller coaster at 5x the speed. Spines couldn't help but scream. Then it stopped for a moment but this second of rest ended once she felt the dreaded sensation of falling. Spines screamed even louder this time.