//------------------------------// // Enter the Nemeton // Story: Cryo-7 // by Metal Pony Fan //------------------------------// Blueblood sighed as he cranked up the water pressure as far as it would go. His hair was full of shampoo, and the proximity alarm was sounding. It sure would be nice if emergencies followed cleaner timetables. After a quick rinse, he stepped out and shook off. Then, it was back out to his office, in a rush, to grab a headset from his desk. "This is Blueblood, sit-rep?" He asked as he slipped it around his ear, metal cold against wet fur. "We have an approaching shuttle, at the extreme edge of sensor range, moving slow. It appears to be an official Galactic Assembly vehicle, registered to Canterlot." Walking over to his window, Blueblood chewed his lip. How did they learn of this station's coordinates? It was supposed to be one of the best kept secrets in the galaxy, known only by a few trusted pilots. "Have they made contact?" "Negative." There was a slight pause. "They appear to be damaged... Wait, we are picking up a signal. It's weak, but it it seems to be repeating, I'll see if I can get anything usable out of it." Blueblood listened quietly, waiting. "It's an audio signal, sir. The computer's extrapolating a clean version from the repeats, I'm going to patch it through." The next voice the prince heard was young, male, and scared. "Please... help me." There was a wavering breath. "M-message repeats." There was silence for a moment. "Please, if anypony's out there, my name is Rider, I'm the son of a Galactic Assembly Ambassador. There was an accident. We hit... I don't know... Something. The pilot's gone, and Tombs is hurt. It's getting cold in here. Please, my father will pay anything! Please... help me... M-message repeats. Please, if anypony's out there-" "Sir, the shuttle is off course, and not directly approaching us. There appears to be an asteroid lodged in the cockpit. They are venting air, and I am only reading one life sign." "Then this is a rescue operation." Blueblood headed out of his quarters, issuing orders into the headset. "Scramble a fighter with tractor beam capabilities and get a medical team down to LP One. Move the docking clamp and the extraction shuttle out of the way, we'll set this shuttle down directly on the platform." "Understood, sir. Should I contact a maintenance team in case the door needs to be forced?" "Negative, I want as few personnel on deck as possible. Fire Brand is on duty, he can get it open, and so can I." He started down the stairs. "I'll be on the platform. Tell the fighter to hurry and get that shuttle in here before we lose that last life sign, and scramble a few more, in case whatever the shuttle hit wasn't naturally occurring." "Attention, all landing bay crew." The control voice echoed through the station. "We have a damaged shuttle in-bound and transmitting a distress call. Nonessential personnel, clear the area. Alpha squadron scramble for recon. Rescue unit Charlie-three stand-by to receive coordinates and sensor data. Medical team and Lieutenant Brand, please report to LP one." Blueblood hurried down the stairs as the bay doors started to open. The first fighter took off the moment it could squeeze through. The rest, a full squadron, twelve strong, waited until the doors opened fully, and left in formation. They split up shortly after exiting, and would scour the asteroid field until ordered to stop. It was a long way down and across the landing bay to landing pad one. It took him a few minutes to get there, and the med team had beaten him there. So had Fire Brand. "Blue!" The steel-blue unicorn, clad in only the basic uniform vest, raised his hoof as the Prince approached. "What the hell is going on? First Iron Hoof, then somepony connected to Norland, now this? We haven't been this busy since taking down that magic artifact cartel." "Wasn't that only a month ago?" Blueblood looked out the bay doors, into space. Asteroids littered the area, far more densely packed than they should ever be, held in place by the unique gravity fields affecting this area. "I put you in for a commendation, by the way. Mind delving is hazardous, even when there isn't a murderous gemstone involved." "Heh." The stallion shrugged, running his hoof through his muddy red mane. "What else was I supposed to do? Poor filly was twelve, the thing would have eaten her whole." "It almost ate you." Blueblood looked back at him, catching sight of his blazing, ruby eyes before he looked away. They used to be green. "If I hadn't been there..." "Are you still blaming yourself?" Firebrand scoffed. "There's no way you could have known that an artifact would react to you." "I should have suspected, at the very least," Blueblood countered. "Still, containment may have been possible if I hadn't been there." "You kept the thing from taking over my mind," Fire Brand reminded him. "And it only got part of my body." "Only by a miracle." The Prince sighed. "Any new changes?" The unicorn shook his head. "Not really. Oh, except the eyesight thing. It isn't just seeing in the dark. I can see through illusions and stuff as well. Give you one chance to guess how I figured that out." Blueblood chewed his lip. He could think of two possibilities. "Cookie?" "Scared the shit out of me," Fire Brand admitted. "Screamed like a foal in the middle of mess." Blueblood nodded. "She has that effect. And, me?" Fire Brand shrugged. "A blur? A shadow? I don't know, but it terrifies me. What is it?" "Hell, if I know." Blueblood suddenly pointed out into the distance. A speck of light, approaching fast, resolving into two distinct shapes. "There! Charlie-three, he's got the shuttle." "Took long enough," Fire Brand muttered. "And, Blue, Charlie-three's a she." Blueblood glanced over. "Frank transferred?" "Promoted, copiloting the Raft now." The unicorn chuckled. "New girl's amazing. Just as skilled as Frank ever was, cute as a button, and handles a blaster as well as she can a ship." With a smirk, the lieutenant added, "too bad you refuse to date fellow crew-members." "It would be inappropriate," Blueblood snapped. "I can't enter a relationship with somepony I can issue orders to." "With all due respect, Blue, you kind of exist outside the chain of command." Fire Brand winced as the fighter craft entered the landing bay, atmospheric retention field spraying its light across its hull, then again over the damaged craft that followed. He had never seen a craft that damaged remain in one piece. As the two vehicles apprached the landing pad, the lieutenant waved the medical crew back. Charlie three would need room maneuver if she was to set the shuttle down gently. "As Prince, you hold authority over even the Civilian population. Nopony would blame you for letting yourself be a pony, and everypony knows you would never misuse your authority." Blueblood straightened up, watching the gentle manipulation of the shuttle's position by Charlie Three's tractor beam. The shuttle looked like it was about to crack like an egg at the slightest touch. "They know that because I adhere to rules, and show the proper discretion when it comes to personal matters." "By never having personal matters," Fire Brand quipped. "That's a lonely way to be, Blue." "We can discuss it later." Blueblood sighed in relief as the shuttle settled softly on the landing pad, remaining intact, such as it was. The front half was crumpled, a small asteroid, roughly pony sized, wedged where a pilot should be. Hairline cracks covered the outer hull, hissing like snakes as air escaped. The sound caught the prince's attention. "Why is it hissing?" Fire brand frowned, and concentrated for a moment. There was a flash outside the shuttle, and a small pop as the air he teleported out of the shuttle expanded rapidly. "It's been pressurized. Several atmospheres, at least." "Again, why?" Blueblood's eyebrows furrowed as his expression turned to a frown, matching his lieutenant's. Things had just gotten much more complicated. "Environmental requirement for the species?" Fire Brand suggested. "No, Rider and Tombs sound like pony names." The Prince shook his head. "And this is a standard shuttle. I don't like this. Med team?" "Scanning now, sir," called one of the crew of three medical personnel behind them. She was tapping the control panel built into the side of an anti-grav stretcher. "One life sign, definitely a pony. A pegasus. Heartbeat is slow, but steady. Unconscious, perhaps?" She made a few adjustments. "Holy shit! The air pressure in there is over twenty times ambient. "Med team, take cover." Blueblood brought his hoof to his ear, and the comm device there. "This is Prince Blueblood, I need a tac-team to LP one. Shadow protocol." "Shadow protocol? On one pony in a damaged shuttle?" Fire Brand scoffed. "Overkill much?" "There's no body in the cockpit," Blueblood pointed out, "no blood, no sign anypony was in there when that asteroid impacted. "A trap, then," Fire Brand conceded. "But, air quality sensors haven't detected harmful airborne agents, or we would be shouting over the alarms right now. So, why pressurize the shuttle? One pony. There doesn't seem to be a spoofed scan going on, since we have confirmed the shuttle is under pressure, and the lifesign has been detected by two separate scanners of different makes and models. This makes no sense, maybe the life support systems got toasted?" Blueblood snorted. He didn't like this situation at all. "We can't teleport in while it's pressurized, can we? That may be why." "And they can't teleport out," Fire Brand mused. "Of course, a pegasus won't be teleporting at all. Are you sure there's a plan here? Twenty atmospheres is survivable if life support changes the air mix, but they would have to wait a long time for pressure to equalize, and they have to know we wouldn't leave the shuttle unguarded. A dragon might be able to shrug off the pressure difference, if they were tough. But a pony? We'd be scraping bits of them off the deck with shovels. Not a chance. Not even a pegasus." "Wearing a pressure-suit ,or deepwater diving equipment would mitigate the issue." The sound of boots and hooves pulled Bluebood's attention for a moment. A dozen black-armored soldiers approached quickly, weapons and magic at the ready, and dozens more would be hidden throughout the landing bay, including snipers. "Defensive positions," the Prince ordered, "we don't know what's going on. Charlie-three, cover us from the air." "Med-team, evacuate the area," Fire Brand added as the winged fighter craft pulled into position, anti gravity systems distorting the air below with a bone-rumbling buzz. "Prep for decompression sickness just in case the-" "Sir," the medic who scanned the shuttle interrupted him, "a medical scanner on board the the shuttle just booted on. It's the same type we use, and is interfacing with the gurney." "Disconnect it!" "I'm trying, sir." She tapped several commands, but was answered by buzzing sounds and odd chirps. "It's not easy, medical equipment is designed to link together for efficiency, you can't just-" "Step back!" Fire Brand wrapped the stretcher in magic, and the second the medic was clear, he crushed it into the ground so hard it caused a shockwave. The screen, shattered, but still flickering, displayed most of an error code for a second or two before going black "What was it doing?" The medic stared at the pile of debris a moment, before finally lookng up and answering the question. "Sir, it was scanning for lifesigns." Behind Fire Brand, the shuttle doors blew open, an explosion of air and wind, and debris that rolled the lieutenant, and spit out a rainbow-colored blur. It was little more than a streak as it shot past the fighter craft, a colorful light that looped around above it, faster than anypony could follow. Then, it crashed down like a meteor, smashing the fighter's nose into the landing pad. An angry looking pegasus stood atop the grounded craft, hooves embedded in the sheet metal. He stared at the troops in front of him as he pulled his hooves out, one by one. Metal squealed as he tore free. "A colt?" Blueblood muttered as he looked up at the young pegasus. He was unarmed, unclothed, sky blue in color, and had rainbows for a mane and tail. "Sir," Fire Brand whispered, moving to Bluebood's side as he shook the dust, and bits of plastic, from his body. "I don't know if you can see this, but he's glowing bright, like someone packed a star into pony shape. And, he's holding his breath." Blue didn't see it, but he trusted Brand's instincts and new-found sight. "Then we take this seriously." Blueblood touched his comm once more, switching it to command mode. Everyone in the landing bay would hear his orders as he said them, and he wasted no time giving the first one. "Charlie-three, engage." Behind the colt, an energy blast shredded the cockpit of the fighter. Crackling blue energy, dissipated before reaching him, but several more blasts followed. He dodged one, two went wide, spun and ducked another that came close, before shouting, roaring with the force of all the pressurized air he had held on to. The shockwave rattled the pilot, and shot Radio backwards. "Alpha group, fire," Blueblood ordered as the colt fell. Radio twisted, unfurling his wings as weapons were raised against him, aiming, not for him, but for the spot he would land. He took a breath, short, fast, preparatory. He would have less than a second, but that would be more than enough. The moment his hoof touched ground, he kicked off with a battle cry, dashing forward as energy bolts ripped past him, aimed where he had been. He charged at his attackers faster than some of them could see, faster than most could react. He felt magic slip past him, trying to grab him, trying to latch on. He juked left, away from it. He glanced back as soldiers adjusted their aim. He saw the fading edge of golden aura. Looking back at his foes, he picked out a yellow eyed unicorn in the back of the formation. He dove for the nearest soldier as they all resumed firing. He tucked in low, sweeping the hapless humans legs out from under him. A quick twist and sweep of his wing let the him point the human's weapon straight at the unicorn that tried to grab him, and the falling soldier did the rest, clenching his fist, incidentally pulling the trigger as he hit the deck. The fired energy bolt struck the unicorn in the face. A stunner bolt, luckily for him, but he would be numb for a while. Two down, but no time to rest. Radio leapt over somepony else's stunbolt, meant for him, and charged at the next soldier in line, another human, before the stunned unicorn even stumbled. Body in past the barrel of his rifle before he could fire, Radio grabbed the human's sleeve in his teeth, and jumped. He got his front hoof on the human's shoulder, and his rear hooves airborne. He jerked back suddenly, aided by a flap of his wings. His rear hooves swept the soldiers legs out as the momentum sent them both crashing down, bouncing the human's face off the deckplates. Another stunbolt, aimed at the colt, struck the downed soldier. Radio was already rolling away from him, with a weapon dropped in pain and confusion. From the ground, he fired twice, catching two more soldiers squarely in the face, the only target to be sure of a knockout through body armor. The colt then twisted his body, using the momentum to dodge a stunbolt. The air was filled with energy blasts, the enemy was firing constantly, and he was watching all of it, every last blast of energy, if it wasn't aimed straight at him, he didn't waste the energy to try dodging it. Twisting back to dodge another bolt, Radio arched his back then launched himself up. He barely had one hoof on the ground before jumping again, back flipping over a concentrated volley of stun blasts fired by the remaining soldiers. They were getting used to his movements, getting used to the fact he didn't behave in a manner they were trained for. He ditched the rifle mid-leap, and dove into the fray. The soldiers had tightened formation, which was better for him. The earth pony closest to him went down with a hoof to the back of the head, and the silver skinned biped beside him crumpled after a blow to the knee. Another human brought his rifle to bear, but the colt got his hoof on it first. He pushed it off target as it fired, electricity ringing in his ears as the bolt passed his head. His wing hooked around the human's knee, and pulled as a hoof to the gut forced the rest of him back. Radio somersaulted backwards as the human fell, launching himself over a short, metallic humanoid that tried to sneak up on him. A kick in the back of the head sent him sprawling over his human comrade. A medic reached for one of the fallen weapons, and Radio dove forward. He smashed the pistol under hoof. "Stay out of this," he warned, before flinging the useless weapon at the nearest soldier, forcing him to duck and disrupting his aim. Radio hopped over the medic, rolling over the flattened gurney. He pulled it up with a hoof, and used it to shield himself from stunblasts from two more soldiers as he took a deep breath. As their comrades fell, they didn't have to worry so much where their stunblasts fell, making them far more aggressive than just moments ago. Bracing himself against the floor, and spreading his wings, Radio dropped his shield and kicked off. He launched forward, under the power of legs and wings both. He was behind them before the gurney hit the ground, and turning before they even knew he was behind them. It was only the crackle of energy beside him that kept the colt from knocking out both of them. Radio twisted, bringing his hooves up to block a punch from a white unicorn. It sent the colt tumbling across the deck. There was a lot of momentum behind that strike, more than could be explained by the short time the unicorn had to throw it. Radio scrambled to his hooves. And the unicorn, the only other pony present with no armor or weaponry, stood in place and bucked his legs out. At the last moment, there was a flash. The buck connected with the back of Radio's head when the Prince appeared behind him. The pegasus pitched forward, knocked off his hooves and tumbling by the unicorn's strength, but twisted, righting himself to face this new threat. They looked each other in the eye. "Sierra, fire full." Blueblood growled. A large energy blast, many times the speed and twice the size of the stunbolts impacted the colt's side. He staggered, arcs of electricity dancing around between him and the deck as a million volts of attenuated plasma grounded itself, with him as the conductor. Smoke rose from his coat as he growled. "That would have taken down a dragon," Blueblood observed. "Which, I'm not." Radio launched forward, twisting midair as he aimed a punch at Bluebood's face. The Prince twisted out of the way, throwing up a hoof to block. He teleported away, and reappeared in nearly the same spot, but at a different angle. The defensive movement became an offensive action as his hoof cracked against the colt's jaw. And he could have swatted him with a piece of paper for all it slowed the pegasus down. Radio rolled past the Prince, and kept running for the edge of the landing platform. "All units, suppressing fire! Weapons on max!" Shouted the unicorn, commanding every standby soldier waiting in the wings and walkways of the landing bay to join the fight. Radio took flight amid a storm of energy blasts, filling the air between landing pads with a maelstrom of light. He dodged and dove, fighting multiple gravity fields and inertial arrestors as he built up speed in the middle of the storm. "Are you bucking kidding me?!" Fire Brand ran to the edge of the platform as several seconds, and hundreds of energy blasts passed without results. Radio twisted and turned in carefully practiced patterns, each movement allowing him to shift away from danger without sacrificing speed. He broke pattern though, and dove straight down after catching an orange flash out of the corner of his eye. The fireball missed him, but the second one wouldn't. Radio twisted, batting the ball of flame away with his wing. It's altered trajectory slammed it into a walkway holding several soldiers. They dove to the side in time, but the damage to the walk way forced them to flee as the flames ate away the support. On the landing pad, Blueblood stopped Fire Brand before he could launch another fireball. The red-eyed unicorn didn't protest, they couldn't risk giving the enemy another weapon, not when he was doing so well without any. "I've got one more thing to try, Blue. But you might have to step in for real if it doesn't work." The Prince nodded solemnly. "Understood." Radio swept up under the sniper that hit him earlier. He struck the catwalk support with his hoof as passed it, denting the metal pipe. A quick loop brought him back around, and he struck it again. The pipe bent further, kinking, and shaking the catwalk. The sniper ran as Radio looped around a third time. This hit tore the support free. The catwalk lurched, and the sniper dropped his weapon so he could run faster. Radio caught the weapon as it fell off the catwalk. From below, he flew past the sniper with ease, then barrel rolled over the railing and onto the catwalk. He spun, skidding to a stop as dropped prone, bringing his stolen weapon to bear. The same blast that had staggered the pegasus launched the sniper back several meters, but the safety rail caught him so he couldn't fall over the side. Radio quickly dialed the weapon's power back and pointed its barrel out the side of the catwalk. Both eyes open as he looked through the scope, he started picking off the enemies below. Many returned fire, but as high, and far away as he was, only other snipers were much of a threat, and he was able to neutralize them with his first few shots. Still, stunbolts hit the railings around him. The blasts pinged off the metal around him, static tingled on his fur as the catwalk started building up an electrical charge. And more than a few bolts were coming very close to hitting home. Radio dove from his hiding place before too many soldiers could dial in on his position. He continued to fire as he fell, every shot hitting its mark, none wasted. By the time he ditched his weapon and entered another climb, enemy numbers were down to nearly a dozen or so stragglers. They bravely held formation, sustaining as much of a fire curtain as they could, as Radio swooped down, targeting groups first. He would attack the nearest one, and use their weapon to stun the others. Back on the landing pad, Fire Brand glared at the colt who so easily penetrated their defenses. "Are you sure about this?" Blueblood asked him. "No." The unicorn looked down at his chest. He had stepped back from the edge and taken his vest off, revealing the evil amulet that had fused with him, bonding to his skin over his heart with ugly, veiny scars. He tapped at the ruby colored gem at its center. "But, if I'm stuck with this thing, I'm going to make use of it." Screaming, Fire Brand ran forward. He dove off the edge, flames forming around him. Radio was diving after the last straggler when he was blindsided by a wall of flames. They slammed him into the wall, and he crashed to the catwalk below. He looked back as the flames looped around. It wasn't a wall at all, it was a pair of wings. The other unicorn from the platform was flying on wings of flame. His eyes and the gem on his chest blazed the same bright color. Watching this new enemy, Radio lost track of his previous target. The human, last of the soldiers, had stopped running away, and was charging at Radio. The colt saw him coming in time to duck a kick, but the human snapped his leg down. He hooked his leg around Radio's neck, and pitched forward, tucking into a shoulder roll that lifted the pegasus before slamming him down to the catwalk with a clang. And he wasn't given a chance to recover from that hit. The human had managed to draw his sidearm mid-roll, and grabbed the colt by the mane as his other hand pressed the stunner to his temple. The energy blast slammed the colt's head back to the catwalk, and numbed the human's hand. Fight over, the human breathed a sigh of relief, and started to untangle himself from the leg-hold. Then, Radio bit him. The human screamed as teeth sank into his leg, and brought his stunner back down, bashing the colt in the face. The impact, and the second, and the third all failed to dislodge the grinsome, snarling colt. And Radio managed to grab the stunner after hit number four. Radio took another stun bolt to the chest before wrestling the weapon away, but it only took one shot to the unfortunate human's crotch to put him down. Radio pulled himself away from the unconscious human, and stumbled down the catwalk. The blast to the chest wasn't too bad, but that one to the the head had him rattled. His ear was ringing, and his balance was off. Getting beat in the face with the blunt end of a stun gun didn't help any. And the flaming unicorn was hovering beside him. Breathing heavily, Radio looked over. "What do you want?" Fire Brand snorted angrily, horn lighting up brilliant red. "Time's up, kid." "Thought so," Radio sighed. With a shout, Fire Brand unleashed a massive fireball. It broiled the air, and melted catwalk, but the roaring flames masked Radio's answering scream as he leapt straight through it. He was singed, but barely, as he used Fire Brand's head as a springboard. He could have taken flight then, but didn't. Without full balance, he would be at a disadvantage if he tried compete in flight now. Instead, he dove at Fire Brand's tail, grabbing it in his teeth as he started to fall. Completely unprepared for that, Fire Brand was pulled down quickly. And Radio turned last minute, managing to get himself out of the way before they both slammed into a catwalk below. Radio, prepared for the landing, was running again in less than a second, but Fire Brand was left groaning in pain. Blueblood watched with a sour look on his face as Radio leapt off the catwalk and flew towards him, the only other pony left standing in the landing bay. With a sigh, he issued one final order into his comm device. "Control, kill the lights." The main lights dimmed, but there was still enough to see by, most of it from harsh, directional emergency lights. "You can't hide that easily!" Radio shouted at the unicorn as he stepped into a dark shadow cast by the shuttle. "I don't intend to hide," the Prince whispered in his ear. Radio turned, swinging at, and hitting, nothing. The last of the lights around him dimmed, obscured by strange mist as shadows began to move and grow. Not wasting any time, the colt flew towards the brightest light source he could find. But, he passed under a shadow on the way, and was plucked from the air like a fly. He struggled against the claw of living shadow that wrapped around him until it hammered him down into the landing pad like a cudgel. The mist overpowered him entirely, a living thing, growing around him. It tightened as it wrapped around his body, hooves, even his head, all while he struggled and kicked. It very quickly managed to hold him still. A powerful thing, tendrils of dark smoke holding him. A touch at his neck, across his throat, caressing him with just enough strength to let him know it could snap his neck any time it wanted. He could hear it whispering, to him, to itself, to everything, to nothing. Faint, meaningless whispers. Indecipherable gibberish. Harsh, profound truths. Quietly screaming in his ears He screamed as a tendril of shadow clamped itself over his mouth, and the voices became thoughts, memories, visions. A figure was appearing in the mist, coalescing from the shadows, and it wasn't the unicorn. It walked over to him, slowly, gracefully, secure in the knowledge that it had won. And with a warm smile full of sharp teeth, she whispered to the colt. "Welcome, to the Nemeton."