The blaring sound of a klaxon somewhere above me snapped me out of what was already a fitful sleep. I jerked awake, screaming and flailing around in a panic before quickly trying to take stock of my unfamiliar surroundings.
I was in a small, but surprisingly homey room with soft tan walls, a hardwood floor and a large bay window complete with potted plant on the window sill. Off to one corner was one of the terminals I'd seen in the main hub and both a long counter and some small dressers built into the walls. Aside from that, a single small desk and chair, and an empty bookshelf at another end of the room, there wasn't much else to see.
Aside from the entrance, there was another door that led to a bathroom just large enough for a toilet, a standing shower, and a small sink built within. All in all, it was a nice room, if a little spartan in appearance—though that would most likely change with some time. Looking down I saw that I'd been sleeping on a simple but comfortable low profile bed next to one of the walls, and that was when it all came back to me.
Right, this is my room...
Once I'd found Applejack at the party I had her unlock the door to my room, after which I'd taken all of ten seconds to look around my new lodgings before falling into bed and blacking out almost immediately. I didn't even bother to retrieve my bag, unpack or undress from the outfit I wore when I arrived. I hadn't seen Fluttershy, Vinyl or Seeker on the way so I'd just assumed they'd either left before I did or stayed behind at the party in the rec room.
The realization of what had happened before I woke up would've done much to calm me down had it not been for the alarm blasting loud and repetitive in my ears. That told me something somewhere had gone wrong and it wasn't really something I needed right at that moment. Pressing my ears down against my head and slapping my hands over them, I looked over to the window and saw that it was still fairly dark out.
What in Celestia's name is going on?!
Seeing as I was now wide awake, I resolved to find out, but as I threw aside the blanket and prepared to roll out of bed, the urgent sound of Cheerilee's voice came floating through the walls via an intercom somewhere in the building.
"Attention all available Daeus Hunters, facility staff and any visiting civilians, there has been a breach! The Outer District of Ponyville is under attack by avidaeos! I repeat, a large pack of Vargren have surrounded and are trying to scale the wall! Some have gotten through and are assaulting the Outer District! The Retaliation and Defense Teams have already been deployed with the Reserve Team on its way to defend the wall and the Outer District, but we need everypony else awake and alert in case of a full invasion!"
"A pack of... what?!" I cried, clumsily stumbling the rest of the way out of bed in my haste to leave the room, "oh, no. Nonono, not now. Not now!"
It was dark, as I'd neglected to hit the light switch and it was still very much night outside, but I managed to regain my footing and was about to head out the door when there was a sudden and urgent knock on the metal door. I blinked in surprise before backing up a step.
"Er... come in?" I called out hesitantly, "the doors open, I guess."
At that, the door slid open, revealing the unfamiliar silhouette of a pony in the doorway. Before I could ask who it was, the pony flipped the switch near the door and in the light I could see it was a mare I hadn't seen before as of yet.
The mare, a magenta coated, violet maned unicorn, wore both an armlet and a standard cobalt blue Daeus Hunter military jacket complete with black wool pants tucked into black knee high combat boots. Oddly enough, what made me take note of her outfit was the fact that I'd noticed she had another set of clothes and boots under one arm, a set that looked suspiciously like her own.
"You're Twilight Sparkle, right?" the mare asked, her tone both hurried and curt, "one of the new recruits?"
"Um, y-yeah, that's me," I replied, moving my gaze from the outfit to the mare herself, "what's goi—"
"No time, here," the mare interjected, throwing the set of clothes and the boots at my hooves, "get outfitted and make it quick. The Doctor is waiting for you and the others in the prep room."
"The others? Wait, what—" I began, but the mare was already rushing out and down the hall, leaving the door to automatically slam shut behind her, "...the hay is going on?"
Well... so much for my day off, I thought with a quiet sigh, I'd hoped to meet with the Doctor and introduce myself to the rest of the researchers, but I guess that'll have to wait...
I frowned and turned my gaze downward towards the outfit I was given. I glanced at the combat boots with a small amount of distaste. In most cases, hoofwear was worn as more of a fashion statement than anything else. Ponykind had evolved in such a way that the keratinous material of the hoof on its own was far tougher and more durable than what most shoes could provide, so there was no real need to wear shoes of any kind for protection unless you worked with hazardous materials or traveled often, which most ponies didn't given the state of the world.
I'd had to wear safety boots often whenever I worked in my lab back in Canterlot, but used to it as I'd become, I still wasn't particularly fond of having to do so.
I guess it makes sense for Hunters to have some sort of protection against the elements for their hooves... but then again I've seen ponies both with and without hoofwear. Maybe it's optional?
With a small huff, I decided to put that issue behind me for now and move onto the next one as I leaned down, picked up the jacket, and looked it over. I stood there eyeing it for a moment before my gaze fell on the armlet attached just above my wrist.
I frowned.
"How am I even suppose to put it on with this in the way?" I mused, my frown deepened, "how am I suppose to put any kind of shirt on with this in the way?"
Now that I thought about it, that had actually been the reason I'd opted not to change out of my clothes before I went to bed, I couldn't figure out how to get around the armlet. The fabric of both the jacket and the pants felt like it was a sort of thick nylon and cotton blend that mostly certainly didn't feel like it had the tensile strength to stretch over the rather bulky armlet just above my wrist.
I puzzled over the matter for a good minute, all too aware of the still blaring alarm and the others waiting for me in the prep room. Then my eyes wandered over to the terminal in one corner of the room, narrowing with a sudden suspicion.
"You can't be serious," I muttered, quickly moving over to the terminal, "are they expecting us to..."
Activating the terminal, I sorted through the list of available options until I came to 'LOADOUT'. Hitting that brought me to another list with every option greyed out except for the one at the bottom labeled 'APPEARANCE'. I chose the option and a familiar teal light erupted from the flash crystal embedded in the console before enveloping me momentarily.
When the light show ended, the screen then changed to reveal a 3D render of me wearing the clothes I'd arrived here in. Next to the image was another list with clothing options for both tops and bottoms. I checked and sure enough, all of the clothes I wore currently were listed, though they too were greyed out, no doubt because I was still wearing them. My brow furrowed and my mouth dropped open slightly in disbelief.
"Are you kidding me?"
A few minutes later I was heading down the elevator that led to the first floor, fully outfitted in my own apparent uniform and frowning at both the absurdity of what I had to do to get dressed and out of nervous tension regarding what was going to happen next. It turns out I had to register the uniform to the terminal and, much like the satchel, essentially 'teleport' the ensemble onto my body. It was admittedly very convenient and yet another marvel of magitech engineering to be sure, but at the same time I thought it might've been a bit much for a workaround to the issue of the immovable hunk of metal above my wrist.
Thankfully the klaxon had finally been silenced, though Cheerilee's voice would still occasionally come over the intercom giving regular updates on the situation. I'd expected to see other Daeus Hunters rushing past in order to get to the prep room, but there was hardly anypony around save for some of the non-Hunter staff of the Branch that occasionally hurried by on some errand or another. As I reached the first floor and stepped out of the elevator and into the main hub I nearly ran into Seeker, who happened to be passing by at that very moment.
"Oh!" I cried, stumbling back a step, "sorry about that, Seeker. I'm kind of in a rush and didn't see you... there."
I trailed off at Seeker's irritated scowl and smiled sheepishly. Before I could say anything else, the stallion took off towards the prep room without a single word. I watched him go with a frown, noting that he was also wearing a uniform, though he neglected to wear any kind of hoofwear.
"I guess it is optional," I muttered, "or maybe he's breaking protocol and just doesn't care?"
I shook my head and followed after him, my thoughts turning to what the Director and Doctor Whooves had in store for us. As I passed through, I could see that the main hub was practically empty save for the shopkeeps and a few non-combatants idling around the hub with nervous looks or speaking to each other in hushed, worried tones.
Cheerilee was nowhere to be seen, and I assumed she was off coordinating the teams that had already been sent out to the Outer District. A knot of worry formed in my gut as I thought about the citizens in the Outer District and the horror they were probably going through even now. From what I'd read of the avidaeos in the surrounding area, I knew that the smaller, wolf-like Vargren were native to the Everfree Forest, and rarely if ever left.
Cheerilee had mentioned there was a large pack of them, something I found odd given their usual habits and habitat. The Everfree was close, but it wasn't that close. They would've had to travel a good ways out of their territory to come here, but why? Why were they attacking the town, and why now?
Guess I'll find out soon enough...
I made my way over to the entrance of the prep room and stepped through the doorway as the metal doors slid open. The prep room itself was far larger than I was expecting, but that may have just been both the lack of ponies and vehicles, the majority of which had probably already been deployed to the Outer District.
The garage portion in general was fairly empty save for a massive table attached to the wall and bearing mechanical odds and ends for repairs, what might've been a massive tool shed in one corner, and a single armored truck not unlike the one I arrived in parked before an open garage door that led outside and towards the center of town. Something I took note of the was the fact that the engine was running, and another were the sounds of screams, gunfire, and other more indiscernible noises beyond the garage door and the Inner District.
That and the bright orange glow and black smoke rising against the night sky in the far distance made me shiver involuntarily and I quickly turned away from the sight, trying to distract myself with something else. Just from a mere glance I think I knew where all of this was going, and I didn't like it one bit.
To my far right over where the storage area was, I could see row after row of large, mostly empty stands similar to what I'd seen in Derpy's lab. Next to each stand was a terminal and what looked like a huge metal locker. With the terminals in place I wasn't quite sure what the lockers were for, but that was hardly important at the moment, so I ignored the thought.
By their design I figured the stands were meant to hold a Hunter's Daeus Arm, and was proven right when I saw Derpy herself looking over a stand that still had a short blade docked to it.
Derpy? What's she doing here?
Standing altogether not too far from her were the others. Fluttershy, Vinyl and Seeker were already talking to the doctor. Though I was still a bit too far away to hear what they were saying, it was clear at least that Fluttershy was worried, if her frequent furtive glances towards the distant town outside the garage were anything to go by. All of them were suited up the same as I was, and none of them looked happy to be here, not even Vinyl.
As I was about to head over to join in the conversation, I heard the doors to the prep room slide open somewhere behind me, causing me to start and whip around. My eyes widened in surprise as I saw none other than the purple drake from earlier walk through the doorway, sans bandages and with a properly fitted Daeus Hunter uniform to boot.
"Oh, hey Twilight!" the dragon greeted, waving amicably as our eyes met, "fancy meeting you here."
"Spike?" I asked, completely baffled, "what are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be recovering back in the lab," I looked him over, a frown of bewilderment on my face, "you look... fine. What happened?"
"I got better. When I told you I heal fast, I wasn't kidding," he replied with a simple shrug. His friendly smile fell into a serious frown as he looked towards a point past me, "more importantly, when I heard what was going on, I couldn't really just sit and wait in that stuffy lab. I wanted to help," he turned back to me and raised his right arm, showing off his black armlet, "I'm a Daeus Hunter too, y'know."
"Well, I mean that's all well and good," I replied, still somewhat taken aback by the turn of events, "but what about your Daeus Arm? Wasn't it heavily damaged out in the wastes?"
"Derpy fixed it for me," Spike replied. He glanced past me once again and his bright green eyes lit up, "oh, and there it is!" he began walking past me, but stopped and glanced back at me, "hold that thought."
And with that he hurried off towards where Depry stood. I looked from him to the Daeus Arm stand and realized that the weapon was indeed the same short blade with the jade green steel restored in its entirety.
"When did Derpy have time to fix that?" I wondered aloud, "and just what the hay is that dragon made of?" as I thought about his healing capability, a theory began to form and I furrowed my brow in thought, "wait a minute... could he have been injected with some sort of advanced Bias Factor?"
It was certainly a possibility.
The Bias Factor was essentially the solution Wendigo had come up with to stop Daeus Arms from devouring their own users. Regular injections were fed into Hunters via a self-generating serum within the armlet itself, and without it, things would get real morbid real fast. There were other ways of obtaining a Bias Factor, but injections by armlet were the most common amongst Hunters.
Maybe Spike's Bias Factor does more than keep the Hive Cells within his body and the weapon at bay. Is that why they were sending him from the Dragonlands to Canterlot?
"Evidently the dragon was just born with a strange Bias Factor," came the response of a familiar deep rasp, "Doctor says it's one of the strangest things he's ever seen."
I turned just in time to see Lieutenant Spitfire walk into the prep room, the metal doors sliding shut behind her. The pegasus mare was wearing her trademark aviators and hefting a sleek and rather simplistic looking charge spear over one shoulder. Judging by the many nicks and scratches in the amber shaded blade, the spear must've either been really old, or horribly cared for, and with Derpy's skill, I doubted the latter was the case.
"He was born with it?" I asked, turning from her to the drake in question. He was giving his short blade a few practice swings and talking to Derpy about something or other, but my mind was running to the only possible conclusion to what Spitfire was saying, "but... how? I know certain traits are sometimes passed down to a Hunter's offspring, but this kind of rapid healing has never been observed in any race. Even dragons and changelings, two races who are well known for that sort of thing don't exhibit ridiculous traits like that, at least not that I've heard of."
Come to think of it, that might've explained why Vinyl and her family were so compatible with Hive Cells. It might've been a trait inherited by her family line somewhere along the way, perhaps some kind of Bias Factor mutation or adaption that occurred at some point over time. My own dad was a Daeus Hunter, but I'd never heard about him being particularly exceptional when it came to his own Bias Factor.
Makes me wonder how I ended up with a high compatibility with the new Arms...
"I don't know what to tell you," Spitfire replied, stepping past me and heading towards the others, "we don't know who his parents are, and neither does Spike himself. The Doc made an inquiry to a genealogist he knows, but nothing's come back yet. Until then I allowed him to come with us," she stopped a little ways away and turned back to me, "it looks like we'll need all the help we can get, and the kid is a certified Daeus Hunter."
With that said, she turned on her heel and walked the rest of the way to the others. There were still tons of questions left unanswered and my interest in the drake had only increased with the mystery surround his origins and unnatural capabilities. I wanted to delve more into the matter, but I'd already wasted enough time and after a moment, I followed after the Lieutenant and made my way to the rest of the group.
"...unsure of the actual cause, but we may have an idea," I heard Doctor Whooves saying as I reached the others, "as we've already seen, the... oh, Twilight Sparkle," the doctor cut himself off as he spotted me approaching, "glad to see you've finally joined us."
"Yeah, sorry. I... got a bit distracted," I replied somewhat awkwardly. I looked around at the gathering with a worried frown, "so what's going on? Why are Vargren attacking so far from the Everfree? And why now?"
"That's... just what we were talking about," Vinyl answered with a slight yawn, "the Doc thinks he might know what's up."
"Indeed," Doctor Whooves confirmed with a nod, "you see, while the Vargren normally—"
"Hate to interrupt, Doc," Spitfire cut in, gesturing to the running truck with a grim frown, "but now that everypony's here, we're moving out. I'll take over the explanations from here. The longer we stay here, the longer the Outer District suffers, and I don't know about you, but I've got a few ponies in town I'm worried about."
"Er, y-yes of course," the doctor replied sheepishly. He cleared his throat before calling out to the dragon near the weapon stands, "Spike? Are you ready over there?"
"Yeah, I'm coming!" Spike called back, waving goodbye to Derpy as he ran over to where we were. Derpy gave a small wave and smile in return before retreating back to the prep room entrance and the main hub beyond. The drake slowed to a stop before Doctor Whooves and the rest of us, short sword in claw and a determined grimace on his face, "so we're good to go then?"
"That we are, my draconic friend," the doctor replied as he began ushering all of us towards the truck, "the Lieutenant knows of the situation and what may be causing the Vargren to attack the town, and since we are rather short on time and ponies, I'll let her explain everything on the way."
"Oh, so you're not coming then?" Spike asked, sounding oddly disappointed.
"I'm afraid not," Doctor Whooves replied with an apologetic smile, "I'd be more of a hindrance than a help in this case."
"U-Um, excuse me?" came the soft and slightly terrified near whisper of Fluttershy. We all turned to her at once, causing her to wince at the sudden attention, but she pressed on nevertheless, "I... I know we don't have our Daeus Arms yet, but... a-and you did explain how dire the situation is... but we won't have to do anything... too dangerous, will we? I mean, w-we're still new after all. We don't really... have any experience... um..."
The pegasus trailed off at that and quietly stared at her boots, her face growing red with embarrassment. We all looked at her in silence for a good moment before Vinyl pulled her into a one armed hug, causing the awkwardly shifting mare to 'eep' in surprise.
"Eh, I'm sure we'll be fine," Vinyl chirped with a confident grin, "we got Lieutenant Spitfire and the little guy to keep us safe," she turned to the two in question, "ain't that right?"
"That's what I'm here for," Spitfire replied, adjusting her grip on her charge spear, "I've been tasked to protect the lot of you while you do what you need to do, and since Spike here volunteeered, he'll be doing the same."
"R-Right," Spike replied with a small nod. He looked resolute, but I could tell the young dragon was reluctant by the look in his eyes and the tightening grip on his blade, "I screwed up on my own last time, but those were... different circumstances, and I won't make the same mistake again," a confident smile suddenly crossed his face, "you can count on me."
"Well, there you go!" Vinyl replied, patting Fluttershy on the back and moving to follow Spitfire, who'd already began heading the rest of the way to the truck, "plus we have all the other Daeus Hunters already on the scene, so like I said, we got this."
"Y-Yeah... I guess you're right," Fluttershy muttered, "I just hope it's enough..."
It was clear she wasn't entirely convinced, and I didn't blame her. She muttered something else under her breath, but I couldn't catch it, and before I could ask, she quickly moved to follow Vinyl, as did Spike, leaving me alone with Doctor Whooves.
"Wait," I began, turning to the remaining pony, "so what exactly are we doing? Why are we heading out into the town when we have no weapons?"
"Ah, my apologies, Miss Sparkle," the Doctor replied with another sheepish smile, "in all the excitement, I forgot to tell you the reason we pulled you out of bed," his smile disappeared as he turned away from me and towards the town, "regardless of the fact that the lot of you aren't yet fully fledged Daeus Hunters, we still need your help, and the Director believes this is a prime opportunity to get some real life experience."
"Before we've had any kind of formal training?" I asked incredulously, "what does she expect us to do?"
At that, Doctor Whooves turned back to me, his expression both understanding and apologetic.
"In this day and age, life is wrought with unexpected danger, and she wants you to understand that," he replied softly, "and yes it's a risk, but we need all the help we can get. While the Hunters are out there fighting, there's going to be some townsfolk in need of help that they won't be able to provide, and that's were you all come in."
I blinked.
"Wait, so we're... on rescue duty then?"
The Doctor nodded and gestured to the truck that everypony had already gathered in.
"Exactly, now if you would, Miss Sparkle? As we've already established, time is not on our side and I have certain arrangements to make," he gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "you... all of you will come out of this stronger for the experience, and besides..." his warm smile turned mysterious, "...I think you in particular will be able to provide more for us than just a helping hand if my hunch is correct."
"You're... what?" I asked in bewilderment as he stepped away from me, "what do you mean? What 'hunch'? Doctor, what are you talking about?"
"Never you mind for the moment," Doctor Whooves replied, already turning to head back to the main hub, "I'm sure you'll understand once the Lieutenant explains everything to you. I wish you and the others good luck, Twilight Sparkle. Be safe and remember to watch out for your comrades as well as the citizens."
And just like that, he was gone, disappearing behind the large sliding metal doors leading back inside the facility and leaving me to stare after him with a whole host of emotions I wasn't prepared to deal with this early in the morning.