//------------------------------//
// Flashback: Double-cross Pt. 2 
// Story: Dan Vs. The Magic of Friendship(Season 1) 
// by Barrobroadcaster 
//------------------------------//

Recovered from EarthGov Research Blue Site Aegis VII
Science Team Report

Unfortunately, what we know about the Markers and the necromorphs is still very limited. Dr. Earl Serrano's studies were more focused on the aliens of Tau Volantis and the Machine they built there rather than the source of the problem.

There are threats and we understand that now, perhaps a bit too late. The Moons have been awakened and they're not going to be satisfied until we're all gone, all a part of them. But again, this is only a symptom of the problem. We keep looking at the necromorphs, the wars, the plagues, the disease, the shortages and these are all stemming from the same source.

We may have to accept that the Unitologists might have been right about a few things.

I believe the Markers are the key. If these things are going to keep threatening us, there may be something we can do about them individually. We might be able to change it so that the destructive forces in our reality don't have to threaten us. They could be something else. It may even be possible to change the necromorphs themselves.

The signals the Markers emit are a more powerful version of the electromagnetic resonance that all life emits. If there were some way, if there was some place to harmonize these frequencies, we might be able to, well, change the way the game works so to speak. This could be the hope for saving us all.

If it works, maybe the multiverse has a chance to be more than just Dead Space.

End Science Team Report





The stormtroopers, although they weren't able to hit much with their trademark accuracy, were in fact able to provide plenty of suppressing fire. This allowed the Rebel Alliance marksman, fewer in number but lethally accurate, to line up shots and take down Rice's troopers with deadly precision. The dogs were armed with energy weapons themselves and would have been very deadly against the lightly-armored Rebel and Imperial troopers. But under constant fire, they weren't able to use them.

The few Metal Dog squads that were deployed were stuck on the defensive, unable to repel the attackers. They shouted over the sounds of blaster fire, their communications completely jammed by the Empire's patented scrambling technology. The automated defenses popped up, deploying from hidden positions to open fire on the invaders... but they never got the chance. AT-ST mortar fire hit them before they could deploy, spreading fire and destruction about the base as the weapons exploded. They had been identified by long-range Alliance scouts equipped with macrobinoculars that pierced the snow.

The joint attack combined the strengths of both the Rebels and Imperials, overwhelming the base's defenses. Even with fewer numbers and lacking Rice's technology, they were pushing the canines back. They could have taken the base.

But they weren't there for the base.

"Sigma Base to Bravo-Leader, the exit is clear."

"I copy, Sigma!"

"Secure the package and extract your team, then proceed to the rendezvous."

"Copy Base. Bravo-Two, hit the door! Carver, Ulrand, up the center!" Bravo Team's leader was a veteran. Real name Aran Nomante, he had been a basketball coach before joining the Galactic Empire and then defected to the Rebel Alliance. He looked over his shoulder. Imperials were cutting a larger section of the fencing open. Just beyond them, far in the distance, he thought he might have seen the lights on Alpha-One but with the snow it was hard to tell.

His back against the side of the hangar, he looked forward again. And he saw Rice.

"Bravo Team, secure the objective!! Go!!"

Rice was pissed. His soldiers, his personally-trained and equipped soldiers, were falling back. They were being slaughtered like dogs, the opposite of what he made them to be. He spotted several of them huddled by the hangar, not firing as much. The leaders. With the twist of the right gauntlet button, he activated his energy shield and walked towards them.

More of the troopers' fire came in his direction. He'd made himself a target. Wounded Metal Dogs limped and crawled back to the entrance to Stable 5, bleeding and battered. Blaster bolts bounced off his bubble shield as well as if it had come from a unicorn's horn and not his shield. Or an alicorn's horn.

Grenades came, a couple of mortars. They hit the top of his shield. Heat and thermal energy were deflected by the barrier, but raw kinetic force still bled through. The mortar that hit his shield had been expertly-fired; without the shield, it would have killed him. His ears rang loud but he hadn't been deafened.

In that brief second, Rice was reminded of his pony biology. His ears were pressed down, his eyes were wider and his heart was racing. His natural equine instincts drove him to thrash whatever was around him, teeth barred, lungs sucking in burnt, smokey air. He wiped the smoke away with his free hand and continued marching to the hangar.

From their positions around the hangar, the Rebels and stormtroopers had formed a loose but coordinated perimeter. Stormtroopers in front with Rebel marksman behind them. But when they saw Rice, they changed tactics.

"It's him!"
"Leader identified!"

The leader of the Imperials, a thin man with a handlebar mustache named Vern To'Novar, signaled for the rest of his squad. "Swarm maneuver, go! Take him down!"

The stormtroopers broke from cover and charged at Rice, firing.

"Concentrate your firepower!"

The troopers hunkered down and fired at Rice. At such close range, even their notorious accuracy wasn't a factor, though because of the shield it also wasn't effective. They tossed grenades, a thermal detonator and a concussion bomb at his feet.

"Worthless," Rice said. With a sweep of his hand, the explosives flung out and exploded, sending the stormtroopers flying. One of them Wilhelm screamed as he hit the side of the hangar. The remaining stormtroopers charged at Rice and tried to tackle him or knock his shield down. Worked about as well as expected; the two that actually touched his shield were electrocuted. Rice stepped over their bodies.

The Rebel marksman attacked, sniping for weakpoints in his shield. Rice rose his hand and the snipers were lifted from the position. Rice then flung them about like rag dolls. Two females slammed against the edge of the hangar and fell to the ground hard. An alien and a stormtrooper both hit the perimeter fence so hard they flipped over it.

"Armor support, take point NOW!"

Rice saw Bravo Team's leader, not knowing or caring who the short-bearded man was. It was just then he noticed that behind him were a pair of other humans, doing something to the crease in the hangar door. The three of them quickly retreated to the side of the hangar with Bravo's leader keeping an eye on Rice. It all took place in a matter of seconds, barely enough time for Rice to ask:

"What in the hell are you doing?"

The satchel charge exploded, blinding Rice for a moment and sending smoke and debris spilling out through the area. There were no aircraft in the hangar; what were they after?

*Chi-choohh!*

Laser blasts, more powerful than the rifle blasters, exploded in front and behind Rice. He turned and raised his shield again in time to block the next blast from the two AT-STs approaching them.

"Really? Just two legs?" Rice said. He reached out with his gloves and telekinetically gripped the legs of the walkers. Another new thing: his gloves had their own magical aura when using tech spells. His own technology was based on magic, so this wasn't a full surprise, but it had never had its own aura before. Now, his telekinesis had its own amber glow to it, a strange development.

He yanked forward and both walkers fell backwards. Bashed against the ground, the metal cockpits crumpled like tin cans.

Now, there was nothing standing between Rice and the hangar except for the short-bearded man. He felt like TKing the man's neck and separating his head from his torso. He could've pressed the man's eyes into the back of his skull, pulled out his beating heart, tickled him until he wet himself, any number of things. But Rice wanted something first. He wanted to know why.

"There aren't any ships for you to steal in that hangar," Rice said to the man. He said nothing back. "No Magic Gears, no Swords or munitions. What are you here for? Data?"

"I'm waiting on a ride."

That was enough for Rice. He grabbed the man's neck and lifted him up like a Sith Lord he was all-too familiar with. He brought him closer, the amber glow rigidly wrapped around him like a glowing scarf.

"I'm sorry, what was that? A ride?"

"Hmmm... hennggggg..."

Rice gripped the man harder. "Tenacity, that I'm beginning to expect. Being stubborn and dumb enough to attack my base, that again is something I expected. Teaming up with your sworn enemy?" he said, kicking a fallen stormtrooper in the helmet, "that was a surprise."

"Then I've got... hnngg, ano-another one for ya."

The back of the hangar exploded. The roof of the building collapsed, the ground rumbled and shook as the hangar's back wall was destroyed. Out from it walked two Magic Gears, the last two of the original line, AMP and AXE. Rice lost his grip briefly on the Rebel soldier and he dropped to the ground.

"How? Those... those idiots! They told me they moved them already!!!" AMP and AXE were supposed to be at the moon base. Clearly, they were not.

Rice lifted the man up again with both hands intent on pulling him apart slowly. "Another surprise, yes? And now, here's one for you- I'm going to give you that ride you wanted."

The man cocked a tiny grin. "Y-you... first." And that was when the speeder hit Rice.

Alpha-One, a speeder unit, had been packed full of explosives originally meant for the Y-Wings, slammed into Rice so hard it sent the pony flying and didn't even slow down. Dazed and in pain, flat on his back, Rice was able to turn his head up to see the speeder crash through the barricaded mine entrance and enter before it exploded.

Another thing the Rebel Alliance was really good at was suicide strikes. But, this story isn't fond of those kinds of extreme terror tactics, so the pilot of the speeder was able to activate his ejector seat just before the speeder enter the mine.

Prosperity Base, at least on the surface, lay in complete ruin. The exploding speeder caused a cave-in and an avalanche at the same time, burying the top half of the base in rubble. An hour or so following the attack, Rice began using his TK to dig out the rest of the base. He was able to unearth the entrance to Stable 5 to get the rest of his soldiers out. Despite their failure and the loss of the last two Magic Gears, he did not punish any of them.

Rice ordered his soldiers, being dogs, they were expert trackers, to follow the trail the Rebels had used to retreat. This turned out to be another mistake as the Rebels and Imperials had laid mines along their exit route. He lost six more dog troopers before he finally gave up.

Writhe N. Payne got the frozen ponies out of Stable 5 using the underground train. This left very few active ponies left on Equestria. With Twilight and her friends in Tartarus, the Director trapped in stasis and Barro doing his bidding in space, there was only one pony left for Rice to take his anger out on: Michael Hay.