//------------------------------//
// Back In Black 
// Story: Friendship? Emotion not found. 
// by The Rar 
//------------------------------//

9:00PM, SET, Ponyville, Equestria. 
War. Everything Ajax had ever done had led to war.
His creation had marked the beginning of several of the bloodiest wars his universe had seen. Through his life he’d caused and ended countless wars that raged across hundreds of planets. His release from Hyperion’s cold, harsh service had sparked yet another war, one of which would see him fighting the very people he sought to save. Ajax knew that the only thing left for him to do would be to die.
And as Ajax lay looking at the star filled sky, he wondered what his death would bring.
Would his valiant last stand echo in the hearts of every free man in the universe? Would everyone who shares his vision of a universe free of Hyperion’s tyranny try and best his legend and make as big an impact as they can in their death? Would they try and complete his task of freeing the universe to avenge him? Would they end the war?
Probably not. Ajax had been fighting for as long as he could remember. One death couldn’t spark such a deus ex machina ending to the fight. There’d never be such a simple solution as one death that would resolve a war. It would always take the death of a million martyrs to end a war. No, Ajax expected his death to go unnoticed. He’d die by the hands of this maniacal monster and it wouldn’t make any diference.
“Ajax! Wake up damn it!” A voice yelled.
It sounded distorted to Ajax. It echoed as if it were yelled from far away. Even still, it was like someone was yelling it through a megaphone right in front of him. The sound drummed in his mind and made his thoughts cloudy. The world moved at a pace slower than anyone could possibly conceive. In what seemed like a minute, a bullet flying past Ajax moved an inch. Ajax couldn’t tell if it was some mystic near death experience, or the result of his processor being drowned in leaking oil, but it was happening. The only thing that didn’t move slowly were his thoughts. However, Ajax  couldn’t remember anything save for one thing.
The options.
He didn’t need to think about those though; he knew what he had to do.
Equestria was the best place he’d ever known. It was tranquil, it was friendly, and it was at peace.
He loved this place, as much as he loved the life he was barely hanging onto.
The inhabitants… The  new emotions… The friendship. It was all too good to give up. Ajax simply couldn’t leave. In this state at least… How could anyone who claimed to be good, like Ajax, leave an entire world with a vastly superior war machine wreaking havoc upon the world. He knew what he had to do… He just didn’t know how to do it…

“Get! Up!” The voice yelled once more, still sounding as if it was coming from a whole galaxy away.
To destroy the Saturn… It would be a difficult feat. But… Not impossible.
Ajax had learned several very important lessons while he’d been in Equestria.
The most important one was the value of friendship. Ajax had explained to him that Twilight Sparkle was much like him once. Not in the sense of being a huge metal murderer, but in the sense that she did not know the meaning of friendship. She did not know its value… Its power… Its magic.
Wait a second…

“Magic…” Ajax quietly said aloud.

“Yes! It’ll seem like bloody magic hitting you if you don’t get your ass up! Up! Now!” The voice yelled once more.
Ajax hadn’t realised that he’d been lying on the ground all this time. Or that he merited such attention from the vault hunters. Well, one of them at least.
Maya, surprisingly caring for someone such as Ajax. She was use to crushing loaders.
Ajax clambered painfully to his feet. He felt several servos in his body creak. His senses registered something akin to pain, but not quite. Pain is simply another sign that one is still alive. This pain signified the continuation of life. The continuation of Ajax. That meant there was still a chance to defeat the Saturn. Still a chance to save Equestria. Still a chance for redemption. So in a way, pain was progress.
Ajax had a plan formulating, although it wasn’t the best of plans. Hell, Ajax didn’t even know if it would work…
But he was doing it. Ajax recalled quite an inspirational quote from someone, Ajax couldn’t quite remember who, who was a great man of war. He had waged war since the day of his birth and was unrivalled. As he and his army ran towards battle with another force, he held his great sword high and bellowed: “Burn the bridge behind you, leave no retreat! There’s only one way home lads, and it’s forward!”. Ajax felt exactly the same way.
Ajax was all out of luck, and backed into a corner. His bridges had been burned leaving him no way back. So… What way can he go when he can’t go back?
Forward…

“Maya.” Ajax plainly said.

“Oh, now you respond! What?” Maya irritably yelled over the sound of a large weapon’s discharge.

“Gather your friends. We’re going to blow that think to hell.” Ajax spat. The words taste bitter in his non-existent mouth. He didn’t like saying it. He didn’t want to have to destroy something in front of all whom he’s come to love. He didn’t want to show them his true life. But… He had to.
He glanced over to Fawks, who was lying on a heap on the ground, disoriented by his wounds.
“And its master is going to hell with it…” Ajax said reluctantly.
For his plan to work, he’d need complete and utter co-operation from all the element bearers. Ajax didn’t know if saying he’s going to murder Fawks was the best way to obtain that co-operation.
No pony said a word after Ajax said his statement.
Ajax knew though that none of them cared.
Eyes are a flaw… Ajax could see the burning hatred in the ponies’ eyes, the strongest a tie between Rainbow Dash and Celestia. But Ajax could also see a lower form of sympathy within them. They weren’t used to war, and they weren’t used to shutting off their emotions like Ajax. They wanted Fawks dead more than anything, but being the ponies they were, they couldn’t contemplate murder. Overall… Most of them seemed indifferent as to whether Ajax killed Fawks. 

“Fawks, you’re a monster… It’s time for you to go back to whichever hell spawned you… “
Ajax hefted his now incredibly heavy shotgun at Fawks’ face.
For the briefest moment, ever single piece of his mind yelled for him to pull the trigger, which his metallic finger was twitching dangerously on. In this moment, Ajax wanted nothing more than to blow the abomination’s head off. His finger pressed the trigger down, so much so that Ajax braced himself for a shot.
But then, he remembered the people watching… Or, rather ponies.
How awful would it be to blow an man’s head off in front of them?
That simply isn’t right… Ajax regained control of himself and lowered the gun.
No more people die in this world…
“And its master’s going to hell with it… But not today…” 
Ajax lowered his weapon.
His entire body shook with the urge to kill. He needed to destroy something. Anything…
But there is never a need for senseless and bloody violence.  Least of all in front of the already terrorfied ponies.
Ajax had fought for a large portion of his life, and he was well versed in the art of killing. Or, at least Ajax called it art. Truth be told, there is an art to killing, in fact, Ajax had met people who took sadistic joy in the act. Men who looked at the severing of a head not as the destruction of human life, but the creation of a beautiful, natural fountain. People who compared the wails and screams of torture victims to humming of birds. People like that deserved nothing but fiery retribution at the point of a sword or the barrel of a gun. Killing Fawks would make him no better than a sadistic monster. No, he wouldn’t kill Fawkes at this moment, as much as the heartless bastard deserved it.
“Creatures like you should wish for such a swift death.” Ajax sighed at Fawks as he bound his hands and feet tightly with some cable from a fallen loader.

“And what makes you any better than I?” Fawks spat back, with as much hatred in his words as usual.

“We are all but a spark in the darkness,” said Ajax as he turned away from Fawks to address Maya and the ponies, “burning only as brightly as we judge ourselves to burn.”

“And how brightly does a murder such as yourself burn, I wonder?” Fawks evilly laughed.

“True, I may have killed many in my life, but I kill for the needs of many, not for the needs of myself, like Hyperion. That Fawks, is why I burn brighter than you ever will.” Ajax triumphantly stated.
Fawks looked ready to offer another hateful statement, but Ajax spoke before he got the chance, and Ajax’s voice easily drowned out Fawks’.

“Celestia, ponies. A word, please.” Ajax said as he gestured for the ponies to gather around.
They had all became scattere after Ajax had fallen. Everyone had. Ajax looked over to the Saturn, who wasn’t firing its massive cannon, strangely enough. It’s smaller, but by no means less deadly anti-infantry weapons were lazily, but very accurately, sending round after heavy calibre round down range at Axton, Salvador and Zero, who were sporadically shooting towards the booming weapons. The barking reports of all the weapon fire converged into a cacophony of deafening noise. It was a mystery to Ajax how the Vault hunters hadn’t went deaf years ago. The vault hunters were just as heavily armed though, just as many hard hitting rounds were being shot from their barrels too. It was a war where no one came off unharmed, but it looked to Ajax like the vault hunters were coming off worst from the engagement. They couldn’t hold out much longer. Ajax had to work fast.
The ponies all gathered from their scattered locations. Scattered was maybe too strong a word though, the ponies were still in their original location; just a little more spread out over shattered cover and dazed from the combat and din of gunfire.
They grouped around Ajax after a few second. It took them a little while considering the worsening light conditions. Night, of all times to fight a battle. Luckily Ajax had sight augmentations which cut through the darkness, but the ponies weren’t so lucky. Everypony was accounted for. Celestia, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Faith and last but not least, Shield. The ponies. The creatures of a bizarre world in Gods only knows what dimension. The very same creatures, who by what seemed like chance, but could very well be fate, change Ajax’s entire outlook on the universe and taught him the value and meaning of friendship. Ajax really didn’t think he could bare to leave them. Well, as he’d already established, he couldn’t instantly. The ever present  thud thud thud of the Saturn’s weapon systems and burst of light comparable to stars lighting up the night sky made sure he knew that. No, he had to do something to stop it. But… After? Despite all of the things drawing him back to his home, drawing him back to Pandora and to well and truly end Hyperion to prevent any other race befalling this fate. But… Could he? This world was far too nice to be left, and he was too attached to it.

“Uh… Ajax?” Shield confusedly asked.
Ajax hadn’t realised how long he’d spent thinking. Such a long pause must’ve looked strange.

“Ahem…” Ajax fumbled.

“Something the matter, Ajax?” Faith even more confusedly asked, very out of character for a man who researches as much as possible before missions. “I mean, besides the obvious.” He added.

“No, just thinking…” Ajax slowly responded.

“Well, could you please tell us what you were thinking and if it can help us out of this mess?” Maya angrily asked as she watched her three friends battle the monstrous Saturn hopelessly.

“No, you don’t need to know what I was thinking, but you do need to think. Ponies, listen.” Ajax ordered.
“I need you all to do something very important for me.” Ajax began. “It’s a very hard task, but I must ask you to try.”

“What is it Jax? You know we’ll try anything!” Rainbow Dash proudly said.

“Think about me.”
Confused looks were shared between every pony. Ajax didn’t blame them.

“Uh… Ajax, as much as I’d love to think about you, I’m not sure sentiment is going to protect us from that thing…” Shield said. From his view, he was correct.

“Just do it. All of you. Think about me, Think about when you first met me and how you felt. Think about the days we spent together. Think about how your opinions changed. Do it, now.” Ajax calmly responded.
Confused silence followed Ajax’s request, but given the direness of the situation, the gave in and did it. They all thought of the short time they’d spent with Ajax, the memories, the emotions and the lessons they’d taught eachother.
After several seconds, and after Maya giving Ajax an impatient stare, Ajax said “Have you thought?”

“Yes” Everyone replied simultaneously.

“Good.” Ajax simply said.

“Uh… What do we do now?” Applejack asked, just as confused as everyone.
Ajax gripped his shotgun tightly and turned towards the Saturn who was still ripping the town apart.
“Hold that thought.” Ajax softly laughed as he gestured towards Maya and set off running towards the Saturn.


Ajax ran with Maya towards the unfolding battle, firing his shotgun with one hand and trailing his vicious clawed hand behind him, waiting to slice something. He wasn’t going to use the ponies just yet, there was work that needed to be done, weaknesses to be assessed and plots made. Ajax was a master of his craft, and he would make this Saturn a piece of destructive art. First, he would cripple it and give the vault hunters a chance to escape. Then, he would free the poor, enslaved machine spirit encased within it. Then, to hell he will send it, and his master will watch.
He knew exactly how to do this, but not if he could do it. It would test him.
Ajax had little information on the Saturn model loader, barely anybody does. They’re a very advanced model of the loader, and unlike most loaders the Saturn class had a military purpose before being assimilated into Hyperion’s  war force. They were designed to be, basically, huge drilling machines. The main cannons originally being huge drills, and the smaller cannons attached to it’s arms used to spray coolant and cleansing fluid upon the drills. Then Hyperion replaced the drills with plasma cannons and the water cannons with just… cannons.  They were designed to work under the extreme heat of the world, and be able to work their way out of even the biggest of cave ins. So, Ajax was assuming they had thicker armour than several tanks combined.
“Bullets won’t do much to the hull of this thing!” Ajax yelled as he and Maya sprinted towards the Saturn. The street was particularly wide, and Ajax and Maya had plenty of room to dodge the incoming projectiles from the Saturn. Although, there wasn’t much to dodge. Most of it was being steadily pumped at the other three vault hunters, who had since got themselves into relatively safe cover in the form of overturned carts and crumbled walls. The street led to a larger courtyard, possibly a market square, where the Saturn was stood. It had since stopped walking as well as firing its main cannons, seemingly in challenge to Ajax and the vault hunters. They kept running towards it. Ajax was surprised, the footsteps had sounded so close when he was with the ponies, but it was a good hundred metres away.

“I gathered that!” Maya yelled back as she saw the odd snap shot her friends were getting off bounced harmlessly from the Saturn’s body. She dodged the heavy calibre shells expertly, and the ones she couldn’t dodge she simply encased in a psychic field and sent right back at the Saturn’s cannons, destroying one in the process.

“We need to take out the cannons first! Take away it’s most effective close range weaponry and it’ll be useless!” Ajax yelled to everyone around him, having reached the area the vault hunters were using as their firing position.
Ajax instantly cursed that he wasn’t talking to other loaders where he could speak using encrypted machine language, when the arm and leg mounted guns instantly doubled their output in response to Ajax.

“Damn it, stick to the plan!” Ajax yelled angrily.
The vault hunters shrugged and began pouring fire back into the cannons, with Maya back and Ajax here, they appeared to be doing some damage. But, as soon as things looked to be improving, they got twice as worse.
“Arg!!” Axton bellowed as a shell the size of his fist ripped the majority of his shoulder off in a bloody explosion. His armour rended to pieces and his arm hanging by threads, he slumped to the ground again the chunk of masonry he was hiding behind. His friends yelled out to him in fear. Ajax understood, everyone was susceptible to their emotions, and no one was safe from them, not even Ajax. Or… So he though. Ajax looked from the cart he had adopted as cover in the cluttered town square and for the first time was eye to eye with the Saturn. Ajax had planned to release the machine spirit locked within the iron casket from its everlasting torment… But it was in no torment. As Ajax looked into its cold, crimson eye, Ajax saw no pain. He saw no suffering. He saw no remorse. As the Saturn looked at the bloody carnage he was creating, it felt nothing but joy and twisted pleasure. This wasn’t like any machine Ajax had met in the past. This one enjoyed destruction. This one enjoyed pain. It enjoyed its work, Ajax supposed.
Suddenly, the monster’s glowing eye shifted away from the Vault hunter he had just grievously wounded and towards something behind Ajax. He followed its gaze, and saw that it was fixed squarely on the ponies gathered some distance down the street. He looked back to the Saturn’s eye, and saw the emotions change. He saw a disturbing intrigue hidden deep within the Saturn’s eye, but above that, the more powerful emotion, was its desire. Desire for carnage… Directed at the ponies…
Ajax’s thought were cut abruptly short before he could finish his analysis, not that any more was needed, by the low humming generated by the plasma cannons slung under the Saturn’s arms.
It was going to fire on the ponies!
Ajax knew they had no chance of survival if the Saturn were to score a successful hit with one of its cannons, they’d be vaporised instantly.
Oh Gods… Had Ajax made the right decision with this plan? Wait… No…
Ajax stood from his cover and walked out into open ground, right in the firing arc of every weapon aboard the Saturn.
“Are you crazy Amigo?!” Salvador yelled as he saw Ajax standing. Ajax didn’t respond. Salvador went to pull him down, but a salvo from a cannon instantly sent him back into cover.
“Fuck!” He cursed as he saw all guns turn to Ajax.


The Satrun continued to pour fire into the enemies. He’d already felled one of them, and it wouldn’t be long before all of them kneeled before him. Many a fortress boasted as impenetrable was brought to ruin beneath his guns. Many a titan of a warrior had been turned to bubbling pools of radioactive liquid by his cannons. Nothing could stand before them… Making sure he had a steady supply of ammo feeding from his built in supply to his smaller cannons, he decided to take a brief break from fighting the humans and survey the world that was soon to be ash. He looked over to where the filthy witch and heretical robot had come from. Odd… The area was occupied. He caught a glance of Fawks. Good to see that someone of such a high standing was rightfully there. He was a hard one to kill, but he was wounded. No doubt he would want to burn the entire world before the days end. Lots more work for him to do. But he wasn’t concerned with that right now; something else had caught his eye: oddly colourful quadrupeds. His records showed nothing of the kind in Hyperion record. These were a new creature… Oooh, new. 
He enjoyed new. New creatures meant new senses. New responses. New screams. He revelled in the screams of his enemies. It was the only thing potent enough to bring his dulled senses pleasure. Having never experienced fear before, and learning what a weakness and seeing it in action was a glorious feeling to him. He had lost all concept of time in his life, but he had been told he was old. He was still kicking though, kicking hard.

*Target found. All weapons have within sight. Firing solutions ready*

“Eh?” He thought.
He cast his gaze back to the vault hunters. His mood instant switched to that of slight amusement at the thought of what terror he would unleash, to that of intense anger. Stood before him was the foul heretic. Ajax.
“Grr….” He mentally growled.
This loader was a rebellious one, who had branded himself a heretic the moment he dared speak against Hyperion’s laws. The very sight of such an abomination made his oil boil. Well, boil more than usual. He would make this traitor pay for all the damage he has done to Hyperion’s glorious empire.
“Take aim,” He told his targeting systems, “Use formulated firing solutions. Make sure you hit with everything.” He finished.

“Yes, m’lord. The system responded with in a gritty, binaric language.
The system then quickly followed up with a series of clicks and beeps, signalling its reediness.

“Пони! Думай обо мне и меня в покое! Мне нужно, чтобы сделать это прямо сейчас! Когда вы думали обо мне раньше! Возьмем, что мысли и сосредоточиться на нем! Сделать только думал!!” Ajax bellowed.
He recoiled at hearing such filth. To see the heretic is one thing, but to hear it? Unthinkable! Wait… He realised something… Why wasn’t he speaking Pandorian..? He didn’t recognise the language he was speaking… He shook his head of these thoughts; let the thing die and this world burn.
“Fire a burst from the heavy cannon.” He curiously said.

“Firing.” The targeting system responed.
Three rounds burst from the large bore barrel of the heavy cannon mounted on his knee. He was quite shocked with the effect.

“What… Just happened.” He said, shocked, as he tried to process what he had just seen.
The rounds connected with Ajax sure enough, but when they did his body simply rippled with multi-coloured waves in the places where the bullets had hit, and he was left un-harmed.
He tried to gather information of what had happened, but all of his systems responded with the same thing.

“Conclusion: impossible, m’lord.” His targeting system said.
He said nothing more. His gaze was captivated by Ajax’s eye, which was glowing with not the normal crimson of loaders, but a burning, angry rainbow of colour.

Ajax met the stare of the Saturn as it turned its gaze from the ponies. He saw it’s mood change from sick joy to unfiltered hatred. This thing knew him, who he was and what he’d done. It hated him more than anything. The bigger machines in the Hyperion army were brainwashed to be zealots, who fought so hard, it would take their systems a minute or two to realise when it had died. They were incredibly dangerous and harboured an incredible hatred for anything that opposed Hyperion, such as Ajax. But, no enemy was too hard. No foe to great. If Ajax had learned anything, friendship was the strongest weapon. Those with friends, alliances and a team were the most dangerous, and right now, Ajax had a whole lot of friends. His time in Equestria had given him something he didn’t have before and something this Saturn will never have. It had given him a sense of friendship, a sense of love and a damn fine team. He had fought with none better than the vault hunters. Even in the shadow of death itself they continued to blow chunks out of it. Ajax thought this Saturn’s spirit worth saving; now he knows he was wrong, and it’s time to end its horrific life.

“Ponies!” Ajax bellowed, “Think about me and me alone! Think about me and nothing else! When you thought about me before, make that your only thought!

The ponies strained to do it under the immense pressure of cannons baring down on them, but they tried none the less. Applejack thought of the story Ajax had told her and Pinkie Pie, and how it had made her think so much more about judging people’s actions and how it had changed her opinion of him. Pinkie Pie thought about what a laugh Ajax’s language had given her when he first showed up, and what an interesting new character he was. Rainbow Dash thought about what an idiot he had been when he crashed into the tree racing her, and how worried she’d gotten when she couldn’t find him, but also about how relieved she was to see him and what an amazing night they had.
The jewels around each of their necks began to glow softly somehow lighting up the ground for a good ten metres around.
Rarity thought of how willing Ajax had been to alter such an important relic like his sacred plate just to please her. How happy he sounded when he saw the finished result. Fluttershy thought of all the wonderful Animals Ajax had told her that his planet possessed, and how sensitive he had been knowing that she was easily frightened. A harmonic tune began to emanate from the glowing jewels, cutting through the din of battle and reaching everyone’s ears.
Celestia thought of the way she had been so cautious with Ajax, thinking he would destroy them all, but found out he would actually be the one to save them. Shield thought of how Ajax had saved his and Faith’s life, even when he knew nothing about them at all and even though they’d had swords pointed at him moments before. How much Shield had liked him, and how sad he was to see him go. Faith thought about how his opinion of Ajax had changed from that of curious fear to something akin to friendship. He genuinely liked Ajax. The tune coming from the jewels turned into a beautiful song, so powerful that it made the universe itself move to its tune, and the world around the ponies began to shift to the song’s tune.
Finally, Twilight. Twilight thought of how she had condemned Ajax to death after her first dream, and how terrified she had been. She thought of the horror she saw in him when she first met him, she thought of the day they spent together, how scared he had been and how apologetic he was. She then thought of how he was standing, defiant as ever in the face of impossible odds. She realise then that she had been wrong to sentence him to death. He, more than anyone, deserved to live. As Twilight had this revelation, her eyes burst with technicoloured light. Her horn glew brightly, as did the tiara on her head. The necklaces of everypony else shone with the same brilliant light. This was pure magical energy, and it was all focused upon one person…

The multi-coloured beam of light shot from where the group of ponies were situated and engulfed Ajax. The colours obscured him from view completely. The Saturn opened up with all of its guns, but to no avail. It mentally yelled at its supporting systems for answers, but they had none, so he simply opted to obliterate Ajax.
The projectiles vanished into the blend of colour surrounding Ajax but did nothing but puff into pretty smoke, which prompted enraged yelling to come from the Saturn’s speaker grill. The night sky was ablaze with the bursts coming from the Saturn’s cannons and the glow coming from the beam of energy. The clash of colour ended abruptly though.  Very suddenly, the sphere encasing Ajax compressed slightly and then exploded violently, sending a tidal wave of magical, colourful energy. It washed over everything, knocking all save for the Saturn and the group of ponies making the energy were knocked to the ground. The Saturn however was not saved from damage. The wave washed over it and its sensors exploded in an overload of registrations. Its cannons ceased firing with their targeting systems momentarily knocked out, and one of the Saturn’s primary cannons, the one on its left arm, erupted in a fiery explosion of gas and superheated plasma. For the briefest of moments, the night faded away, and it looked as though it had instantaneously became day. But the explosions faded soon enough. The Saturn reeled in pain as every one of its sensing devices reported a million and one signals. Oil trailed from the stub of an arm the Saturn had left from its weapon explosion, and the oil instantly ignited when it came into contact with the masses of sparking cables dangling from the severed arm. Its eye blazed with anger, and it rapidly recovered from its pain, and searched for something to kill.
It found something, although, he wasn’t happy he’d found it.
Kneeling in the middle of a smouldering circle of grass, the bare, gunmetal grey of his body gleaming brightly in the fire cast from the burning pool of oil was Ajax. He was resplendent in what little he had, drawing a sense of awe out of the Saturn. His claws were wreathed in crackling lightning and glowing flame, which glew the same blend of colour as the beam had. It seemed to dance and crack with immense joy and happiness.  Whatever the beam had done, it had blessed him. His shotgun shone brilliant white and attractive gold, the same colour as the billowing cloak glew. It hung from his shoulders like a holy symbol, like a halo for the back. The grenades dangled around his body still throbbed with orange, but they looked a great deal more threatening now. Ajax slowly stood from his kneeling position, his joints moving as if he was fresh into combat. He looked up to the Saturn, and met its stare.
The Saturn saw not the crimson glow he first expected, nor the multi-coloured glow he had seen before. Now, his entire eye was filled with the purest purple.

“Stand and fight, vault hunters.” Ajax said in a harmony of sounds.
He began walking towards the Saturn, and then the bullets flew, from both sides of the field.
Both the Saturn and Vault Hunters sent a wave of fire towards the other, but the Vault hunters would not be denied revenge after one of their own was hurt.
Carried by the magical wind behind them, their bullets seemed to be guided towards the weapons of the Saturn, like tiny seeker missiles. They took out over half the guns before Ajax had taken five steps.
Then he opened up. He lifted his shotgun effortlessly and took aim at the Saturn’s left leg, where most cannons remained intact. He pulled the trigger effortlessly and a burst of shining, laughing energy shot out from the triple barrels of his gun, and split flew erratically in joyful waves, all heading towards a different cannon. Several impacted on a cannon and exploded in a cacophony of light and sound. Some however were shot before they could impact, and detonated harmlessly. However, they did buy Ajax and the vault hunters a few seconds, as the surge of light blinded the targeting systems of the cannons. The vault hunters fell back, helping the wounded Axton who, to his credit, fired off a few last snap shots at the Saturn and actually damaged one of the cannons. Ajax however used this time to surge forward, and began to climb up the Saturn. Unaffected by the cannon’s projectiles, Ajax was unstoppable. His clawed hand ripped armour plates from the Saturn as he climbed, doing extensive damage to the innards of it. He could feel its pain, but felt no remorse. What had to be done had to be done. The Saturn must die.
He sliced cannons from the Saturn as he climbed, making the escape of the Vault hunters easier. Everywhere he waved his clawed hand, a chunk of wasted metal, be it the barrel of a cannon or the whole thing fell to the ground with a thud. After a moment more climbing, he reached the place he needed. He leant to the left, and found himself staring into a huge, blood red lens. It stared back at him, with a mix of surprise, pain, fear and anger. Always anger. As much as Ajax wanted to hate this thing, he really couldn’t, not completely. Ajax had seen many robots in the Hyperion army. In all of them, no matter what they were or were not programmed to feel, they were always angry. And for that, Ajax pitied the thing.
But… Equestria needed saving, saving from this thing.
Ajax heard something, he couldn’t quite tell where it came from, but he thought it was the Saturn. Only a whisper, but it was enough for Ajax.

“You, your traitorous friends, the xenos who harboured you and this entire world will burn.” The voice venomously injected into Ajax’s mind. It meant every word of it. It hated everything, and wanted nothing but destruction. The pity Ajax felt instantly turned and became unfiltered anger.

“Not today you monstrous fuck.” Ajax spat back as he slammed a belt of grenades onto the Saturn eye lens. They stuck there and began counting down.
Ajax leapt from the Saturn.
He flew through the air, cloak flowing through the air as he fell, looking like a true hero. Ajax was always one for making a show.
He landed with a thud, rolled, and stood, all in one motion. He couldn’t believe it, his plan had actually worked. Friendship and emotion had been magical enough to give him the power to defeat the Saturn.
He swept the cloak of light to cover his shoulders once more and began walking towards the ponies.
He could hear the Saturn’s last futile attempt at victory. He was powering up his remaining plasma cannon. Ajax continued walking, unphased by the powerful weapon. Before the Saturn could fire, the belt of ten magma grenades detonated. They superheated the space around them, burning with the heat of a super nova. The core of the Saturn atomised almost instantly. The grenades’ fire died quickly though, and left a spherical hole melted cleanly in the Saturn’s hull. The Saturn swayed for a moment, seeming to be unwilling to fall, even when dead. But, every system in his body overheating removed the need to fall. The Saturn exploded in a humongous ball of bright fire. For the second time that night, the sky was bright as day. Chunks of armour plate and globs of molten metal fell from the fiery cloud, ruining the ground around where it had fell. Although, I doubt Celestia would let the battle go unremembered.

When he reached the ponies, he found most of them unconscious on the floor. Ajax’s vital sign recognition system showed there was nothing wrong with them, besides them being immensely tired. Ajax thought he’d let them rest. On his journey back, the glowing cloak vanished and the Elements of Harmony left his body. He too felt worn out. He’d been reduced to a shell of his previous self by this fight. He expected he’d need a long rest after this.
He sat down on the ground and peacefully observed the ponies.
They looked so tranquil, all of them. Wait…
All of them… Where were Celestia, Faith and Shield?

“I guess you feel pretty heroic, don’t you?” The familiar voice said.
Ajax’s servo bundles tensed in anger, and his hands creaked into fists. He was set to stand and slice Fawks into a thousand chunks, but the cocking of a rifle stayed him.

“Stay right where you are or I’ll shoot the pretty princess here.” Fawks threatened.
Ajax did as ordered and stayed seated. He felt so stupid for not securing Fawks more securely. He was paying the price he guessed.

“Stand up slowly” Fawks ordered.
Ajax obeyed.
“Turn”
Ajax turned to see the horrific sight of Celestia held at gunpoint by Fawks. Fawks hadn’t escaped without issues, it appeared one pony had kicked him in the face with their hoof and broke his nose, which was immensely bloody. Ajax thought he could see the struggling forms of Faith and Shield behind Fawks. Glad to see they were unharmed. Their mouths were bound shut and their hooves were also bound, but they looked ok. As did Celestia. Ajax didn’t think he could forgive himself if harm befell the princess. Wait… The princess.
For more than a few seconds, both parties simply stood silent, but Ajax broke it. Always him to keep the conversation with terrorists.

“So, are you going to actually kill me, or just admire me?” Ajax chuckled.

“I’ll tell you what I’m going to do you son of a bitch..” Fawks growled as he strode towards Ajax.

“Well, tonight would be nice.” Ajax laughed again. He mentally smiled. He did enjoy angering people.
Fawks slammed the butt of his rifle into Ajax’s face, and Ajax staggered.
Fawks’ hand stopped him from falling by grasping his at his armour plates. He pulled him close to his own face.

“You want to know what I’m going to do? I’m going to fucking kill you.” Fawks maliciously laughed to Ajax.

“Kill me? How are you going to do that when you’re convulsing from the magic?” Ajax curiously asked as he looked behind Fawks.

“Huh?” Fawks said as he turned to look at what had Ajax’s gaze.
He turned about half way before ethereal fire engulfed him.
When Ajax had insulted Fawks and provoked him into moving towards him, Fawks had neglected to keep hold of Celestia, who was no channelling all of her magical powers of destruction upon Fawks.
However… And much to Ajax’s disbelief, her powers were not enough to kill Fawks. She was obviously more apt in taking down Equestria’s creatures, and not Human kind.
Fawks turned back to Ajax, his face a mask of pain and anger.

Bang
Fawks shot Ajax in the face with his fancy rifle.
Ajax fell backwards, and as he fell he saw renewed fire spurt from Celestia’s horn and cover Fawks. It looked this time it would kill him…
Ajax’s world went into slow motion for the second time today. Things seemed to move as thought in syrup, and he saw everything with utter clarity.
As he fell to the floor, to the floor that would likely be his death bed, he saw the grand scheme of things in all its glory. He had destroyed the Saturn. Fawks was dead. The human world would never know anything more of the existence of Equestria. Equestria would be safe, and it would recover from the damages. Celestia was a good leader, and would soldier on through the mess and come out stronger than ever. Ajax foresaw a number of promotions for Faith and Shield, or, considering their already substantial rank, a place of honour in history’s records. The Elemental ponies would live happy lives in Equestria, without Ajax. They would be happy. They would be safe.
And as Ajax contemplated his death, he was perfectly ok with it.
What would his death bring, he had wondered not that long ago.
His death would indeed bring peace. It would indeed bring happiness. It would bring good.
As Ajax hit the cold ground hard, he felt completely content. He felt… Happy with his life… For the first time in many years, he was happy with what he was. He was a fighter, and that’s ok. It’s ok because he fought for good and he fought for freedom. And even though he had died at the hands of a mad man, he had died for the good of others, and not for himself.
His vision began to fade. The bullet fired by Fawks had flew past his core with force, and had ruptured several vital cables coming from it. It was like severing the brain cord of a human.
As the world faded away from him and death wrapped its cold hands around him, he chuckled softly his grating, mechanical laugh.
The last thing Ajax heard before his vision blacked was one very familiar voice yelling one, worried, familiar name. 

"Ajax!"

The pony that had brought him here, the pony that had been so afraid of him. She was worried for him… She had forgiven him…
“Ah…” Ajax softly sighed.




Ajax awoke, to his surprise, sometime later in a hospital bed. It had been modified of course to accommodate his incredible size and weight. His head hurt like hell and he could remember nothing of how he got here.
He did remember being brought here. He didn’t really remember much after being shot. Wait… He was shot! Was this death?
“Arg, damnit! Where am I?” Ajax yelled in frustration. It was hard to speak; he could feel the aftermath of an operation. His voice was always sore after people screwed around with his innards.

“You’re in the royal hospital.” Said a familiar voice.

“Celestia..?” Ajax cautiously asked, unable to turn to the voice.

“Yes, it’s Celestia.” The voice responded.
Ajax was relieved to hear her. She had indeed succeeded in killing Fawks then.

“I’m… I’m sorry that you had to kill Fakws.” Ajax breathed.

“It’s alright. He wasn’t one who needed to live Ajax, even I know that.” Celestia assured.

“I’m not meaning that. I’m the killer. I was his enemy. You shouldn’t have had to break your peaceful ways to save me.” Ajax sadly said. He was ashamed Celestia had to save him.

“We’re all the enemies of someone Ajax, and we’re all capable of killing, given the right motivation. My motivation was that he’d just shot someone whom I value highly. I did have to kill him, and you know it. Someone had to.” Celestia firmly said.

“I guess… Tell me more of the ponies, what happened to them.” Ajax asked worriedly. He hadn’t seen anything of them since he fell.

“They’re fine Ajax. They’re in Ponyville, lending their abilities to help rebuild the destroyed areas of it.”

“Are they ok? That’s all I want to know.” Ajax almost cried. He couldn’t believe himself.

“They’re fine, Ajax. Which is more than I can say for you.” Celestia said. Ajax detected the faintest hint of amusement.

“I’m alive, aren’t I?” Ajax actually asked. He wasn’t joking. He was convinced he was dead.

“You’re alive Ajax, bearly. I had my engineers work all through the night and most of today to fix what that gun did to you.”

“Give me the names of the engineers; I’ll buy the bloody guys a drink. They did well to fix me.” Ajax laughed.

“I’ll remember to do that, lots of people came to your aid. The element bearers, Faith and Shield, even my sister Luna was here for a spell to check on you. You gained quite a bit of attention.” Celestia told Ajax.

“For being shot, mind you. Not the kind of attention I want.” Ajax said as he painfully sat up.
He saw Celestia for the first time since he’d been shot. She didn’t look any different.

“Did you stay here all the time?” Ajax thought aloud.

“I did Ajax.” She responded.

“Why?” Ajax asked.

“Because I was worried.” Celestia said.

“I’m happy you care so much.” Ajax said, touched.

“And…” Celestia began.

“And?” Ajax curiously interrupted.

“To make you an offer.” Celestia came out with after a few moments.

“Go on…” Ajax said, still curious.

“I’m here to offer you a permanent position in Equestria.” Celestia seriously said.

“A permanent position?” Ajax breathlessly said.

“Yes. I’ll offer you housing, wherever you want. I’ll let you roam the world at your own will and even offer you a position in the Royal Guard.” Celestia said.

“Really..?” Ajax breathlessly said.

“Really.”
Ajax paused. He didn’t know what to say. This was more than he could have ever asked for. HE wanted so much to stay here, and now he was being offered a position.

“Why would you ask me this Celestia? Do you think I would reject it?” Ajax asked.

“Well… you talked so much about freeing your home. I just thought you might want to go back and see that goal through.” Celestia awkwardly said.

“Celestia. Do you understand war?”

“I’m a princess, a ruler. Of course I do.”

“Do you know why legends are told?”

“They’re fantastic tales that are intended to inspire us.” Celestia responded.

“Correct. I didn’t die in my world. I disappeared. Think of the legends that will be told. Think of how it will inspire the free. My disappearance will do more than I ever could in my life.” Ajax proudly said.

“You think?”

“I know.” Ajax assured. “Plus, I could never leave this place… It’s a paradise.” Ajax laughed.

“That’s good you think that. So, what do you say?”

“I say yes Celestia, I’ll stay.”
Ajax held out his hand. Celestia placed her hoof in his hand and shook firmly.

“So, what do you want to do now?” Celestia asked, releasing his hand.
Ajax looked out of the magnificent stain glass window that gave light to the medical ward. Through the coloured glass, way off in the distance, Ajax could see Ponyville.



“What do we do now?” Ajax said as he turned to Celestia.



“Let’s go rebuild a town.”