//------------------------------// // 'Ghosts' from Beyond // Story: Cybernetic Wanderers // by Echo Derp //------------------------------// 'Ghosts' from Beyond It has now been fourty minutes after the unidentified engagement with Shining Armor and his team. The security level has increased, and nopony or guard was allowed to travel on their own by the risk being attacked by these "metallic creatures" they have classified. Shining Armor was waiting by the room where Cloud Star was for any news on her condition, but Wind was pacing uneasy as he waited. "Captain, is she going to be alright!?" he nervously asked. Shining Armor still had the same expression; not gloomy, concerned or saddened, but a blank stare remained. "I don't know, Wind... her head was slammed against the ground violently. We'll just have the wait for what the doctor has to stay," said Shining Armor. Wind went back to maneuvering impatiently while Lightning and Stone stood there vigil. Lightning watched Wind as he was in distress, and rolled his eyes thinking he was taking this situation a bit too far. Stone looked down the hallway seeing that they were unusually the only ponies in the hallway. "Weird..." "What's weird?" asked Lightning. "We're the only team in here... where is everypony?" "Probably just around the corner," replied Lightning, not having much concern whether or not they were the only ones in the hallway. Stone observed the features of the hallway; the solid wooden doors, the white paint color on the walls, the chairs and small tables that were placed on each side to be used while waiting. But the one thing that stood out of the rest was a tan vase that had a rose towering from the opening, but slightly drooping. Stone made a slight smile at the unusual sight, yet very likable. Perhaps I should get that for my wife, she'll love it... he thought. But the rose was suddenly taken out of the vase and dropped to the floor, then the magazine that was placed by the vase was opened, and the pages being flipped. "What the?" Stone was surprised by this very odd anomaly. The magazine was then floating in the air being spun in random directions. "Hey, Stone is something wrong?" Lightning asked, noticing he was troubled by something. "Yeah! Do you not see-" The magazine was gently placed back down on the table, as if nothing happened. "Forget it... I think saw something." Stone began to walk towards the area of disturbance. Lightning accompanied by his side to investigate. "Shouldn't we tell the Captain about this?" suggested Lightning, looking at Shining Armor watching Wind. "No, I think we'll just scare it off," replied Stone, making a serious stare. "Umm...okay, but what exactly is this 'it'?" asked Lightning, confused. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." Lighting and Stone were now by the table with the magazine and vase. Stone scanned his surroundings for any signs of the anomaly. Everything remained calm and silent, not a trace of any trouble, Lightning was still confused why Stone was acting suspicious about this area of the hospital. "Are you sure your imagination didn't just play some trick on you?" "No... this-" Stone put a hoof to his forehead that was protected by his helmet. "I saw this magazine and rose move by themselves," he explained, embarrassed. Lightning stared at him bewildered, then trying to hold in his laughter. "Pppfftt...You think you saw these two things move! You're just getting paranoid that's all!" "I'm being serious! They moved by themselves! What the?" Stone noticed behind lightning there a was figure leaning outwards from a turn down the hallway staring at them; the figure gave off a red glow from its head, it then disappeared by retracting itself from leaning. "Hey!" Stone shouted at the figure. Lightning stopped laughing by the sudden outburst from Stone, "Hey what's wrong with you!?" he asked. "I actually just saw something! It looked like a creature with a glowing head or something!" Stone shouted, galloping where the creature was. Lightning hesitated to proceed with Stone, he looked back at Shining Armor, and decided to inform him of the situation, "Captain!" he shouted at him. "What is it?" asked Shining Armor, taking his eyes off Wind. "Stone is chasing after a thing he saw down the hall! I think he's just paranoid!" Lightning explained. "Uuugghh... it better not be those things again," Shining Armor groaned, remembering the two figures in metallic suits. Both him and Lightning began to gallop after Stone. Stone was persuing this 'creature' that stared at him and Lightning for a few seconds, then withdrawing from sight, he slid around a turn and saw the creature walking down the hallway in a surprisingly calm way; almost appearing if it wasn't bothered or had an idea it was in trouble. The creature stopped at the end and turned around to face Stone head on, Stone came to a halt, and stared into the glowing red visor of this thing - a red visor and metallic suit was the body of this thing. "What are you?" Stone asked, suprised. The metal creature stood there, not reacting or making a sound to his question. Stone saw the creature instantly vanish from sight, now he was by himself left completely dumbstruck. "Woah! How did it... Huh?" Stone noticed a red scorpion tail symbol on the wall behind where the metal creature was, he cautiously approached the symbol to make sure the creature wasn't around. Stone saw red paint drip from the symbol, meaning it was still fresh. "What is this...? It's a scorpion tail, but what does this mean?" he asked himself. "Unity..." a voice whispered to his ear. Stone yelped and jumped away from the voice. "Okay! Who are you and what just said that!?" "Over here..." the voice mischievously whispered from behind. Stone immediately turned around at the voice, but there was nothing in sight, he frantically moved his eyes left and right to find the source of the voice, but it kept talking to him, "There's no one here but you. Are you in the right mind? Hehehahah!" Stone looked down at his legs that were trembling by the fear he felt, his heart was beating rapidly, beads of sweat began to drip down from his head, but then the voice of Shining Armor shouted from behind, "Stone! What's going on?" Stone slowly turned around at the captain still shaking and sweating, "C-Captain... I-I-I think that ghost is in here..." Lightning rolled his eyes at the belief of the ghosts, "Stone, there are no ghosts! What makes you think that there is one on here?" Stone took a step to the side to reveal the marking on the wall. Shining Armor and Lightning's eyes went wide as a marking they had never seen before was painted on the wall. The marking depicted a scorpion's tail within a chamfered triangle. "Captain... why is there a scorpion tail on the wall...?" asked Lightning, confused. "I don't know, but... Stone, when was this here?" Shining Armor asked. Stone turned back at the marking, then looked back at the captain, "Well, this is how it goes... I saw a thing in a red suit and its head was also glowing red. I followed it here and...this where we are now." Shining Armor realized the meaning of the 'thing in a red suit', he commanded Stone and Lightning to alert the hospital of this threat, "Go and tell everypony about this! We cannot risk any more ambushes from this thing! And make sure that thing in the room is secured!" Lightning and Stone galloped at the loud commanding voice of the captain. The two guards eventually disappeared from sight leaving Shining Armor by himself, he looked back at the symbol; the scorpion tail felt it meant something dark, beyond, the unknown. Why would this metal creature paint this on the wall? It doesn't make any sense, but what does it really want? Shelter, money, or is it just here to- "Shining Armor..." a ghostly voice called his name. Shining turned his at the voice, and again, it was an empty sight. "What do you want!?" he yelled. A chair was lifted up and thrown against the wall, "Do not dare to speak in that voice...for it will only cause suffering for all," the voice announced. Shining Armor clenched his teeth when another chair was lifted up and thrown. "Fine! But what is it you want? Why are you attacking us!" he yelled again, but the sound of footsteps were approaching him. "We are from the beyond, a world you cannot imagine," the voice said. "Beyond the heavens and cosmos," a second voice added. "We come in great news—we are peace, we are unity," the main voice calmly explained. Shining Armor shook his head in disagreement of the voices' preachings, "You're lying! You have only attacked and damaged our guards, but why are you here?" "Did we just not explain? We come to bring unity and peace to this world, but you defy it. We are nothing but shadows unless your kind accepts us, then we will arrive in true form," the second voice announced. Shining Armor closed his eyes as he took in the words of these things. They bring unity and peace? That's sound great, but are they lying or exaggerating? I better inform princess Celestia and Luna about this... "Captain Shining Armor, we are departing from you. But remember, we bring grifts to the families of this world and to yours also. Farewell," the main voice said, the same exact echoing wobbling sound rang off the metal surfaces of the hallway. Shining Armor opened his eyes as the sounds faded away from being heard. Stone and Lightning came from around the corner down the hall. "Captain, we heard voices! Were you talking to somepony?" asked Lightning, concerned. "...I wasn't talking to anything. You probably heard other guards talking...yeah," Shining said in a low voice. "Captain, are you alright? You don't look too well," said Stone, noticing Shining Armor was troubled for some reason. "I'm fine...I'm fine just thinking about something...something beyond us." ******* "Uuugghhh..." The GDI Jump Jet Trooper a.k.a. 'Mammoth' was awakening from a rough p after the encounter with the unique Cyborg Reaper. He slowly opened his eyes, the brightness of the room was slightly blinding him, but he began to adjust to the brightness. He realized that he was in a hospital room laying down on a bed. Please tell me I'm back home and not in a land where reality detaches... Mammoth began to move his right arm, but felt pain when he moved it. "Nnngghhh! What the hell happened to me!?" Mammoth went back through his memories trying to remember the recent events that led to this. All he remembered was the Cyborg Reaper painfully strangling him. Damn, that Reaper almost killed me! But- The sound of hoofs approaching the room came close, Mammoth played to be unconscious. The door opened up, and revealed a pony that was white as snow with a pink mane and tail and a nurse cap. Mammoth observed this pony without being noticed by the tinted visor that was on his helmet which was luckily still placed on his head. Dammit! I'm still screwed! I'll just wait for the right moment, and I'm out of here...! The pony placed a tray loaded with medicine onto a table by the bed, then came up next to Mammoth observing him curiously, "I wonder what you are? But you surely did help the Wonderbolts escape from that spider thing like they said." The nurse pony then went to the window and adjusted the curtains to dim the room a little. Mammoth recognized a red cross symbol that had hearts in the inner corners of it on the flank of the pony. Ok...weird symbols or logos on the back of them... A unicorn entered the room, but was in a purple metallic armor with gold on the rims, it was also appearing troubled. "Nurse, we have to ask you to please keep your guard up for there is a possible threat in the hospital." "What is the threat, Captain?" the nurse asked concerned. The unicorn looked around the room, as if it was suspicious of something. "Nurse, there is some sort of metallic creature that is able to camouflage with its surroundings. There is a symbol that was somehow painted on the wall!" the unicorn explained. Mammoth thought of the words of the unicorn, but the most that sounded familiar. A metallic creature that blends in with its surroundings? Weird, but- wait a minute! That means its a... "Brotherhood..." Mammoth groaned weakly. The nurse and the unicorn immediately turned their heads at the 'thing' that was supposedly unconcious. "Brotherhood..." he groaned again. The two ponies rushed to the bedside to aid this creature. "Are you alright? Can you move?" asked the nurse pony. The creature slowly raised itself from the bed, and faced the nurse, then the unicorn, "Names? it asked. "Names?" "What do you mean...oh! My name is Captain Shining Armor and this is..." "Redheart...Redheart," she explained. "Well, my name is Mammoth, but Captain Shining Armor and Redheart, I may have an idea who are these 'metallic creatures' are," Mammoth announced getting out from the bed without interference of the two ponies. "Who!? Who are these metallic creatures!?" Shining Armor desperately asked. "I don't have a exact clue, but when did you encounter these 'creatures'?" Mammoth asked. Shining Armor closed eyes remembering the things that attacked his team and the voices, "They attacked the guards on my team and there was a wierd symbol on the wall that was painted." "What was this 'symbol' on the wall?" Mammoth suspiciously asked. "It was scorpion tail painted red and inside some sort of triangle," Shining explained. Mammoth made a fist and slammed it on the table looking away from them, "Dammit! Just as I feared...Nod!" he shouted loudly. Shining Armor and Redheart winced at the loud voice of the Mammoth, he calmed himself down, and faced the two ponies again, "I'm sorry for what you just saw...it's just that I am enemies with Nod." "That's what there called; those things that spoke to me?" asked Shining Armor. Mammoth approached Shining Armor, and crouched down to his height ; putting his hands on Shining's shoulders making him uncomfortable, "What spoke to you? Mammoth desperately asked. "Who spoke to you!? Where they wearing suits in a black and red design, or were they completely machine but half human!?" Shining Armor was lost as Mammoth roughly shook him to get an answer. "I-I don't know! They were in red metal suits and they were able to turn invisible!" Shining yelped. Mammoth took his hands off him, and approached the exit. "Where are you going! You're not allowed to leave!" shouted Redheart. "If you don't let me leave...you're all at risk," announced Mammoth. "At risk of what?" questioned Shining Armor. "Your lives and your Equestria," menacingly explained Mammoth. Shining Armor and Redheart were stunned by the shocking information. "What do you mean we're all at risk? asked Redheart. Shining Armor was confused by the explanation of Mammoth, but also by the words of Nod, "That can't be true! They promised peace and unity!" Mammoth shook his head in disappointment. "Why would you believe them! They only bring destruction and death of millions!" "Death...?" Redheart said suprised. "Anyone that doesn't believe in them! They'll kill if you don't believe in their 'god'!" Mammoth placed a hand on the doorknob and turned it to step outside; mutlple guard ponies stood outside in the hallway. One of them turned around at him, and stared at him surprised, "Woah! Hey, you better stay right there!" he commanded. Mammoth rolled his eyes as the guard tried to stop him. "Get out of my way! I got some Nod to take care of!" The guard pointed his spear at him to threaten him, "Stop right there! What makes you think you can leave?" the guard sharply replied. "Yeah, this!" "What the- Ah!" The spear of the guard was smacked out of his hoof, and punched in the face by Mammoth—all the other guards surrounded him. "Oh you've got to be kidding me! You're all going to get ambushed by Nod!" Mammoth yelled. Shining Armor and Redheart came out of the room at the commotion. "Mammoth, stand down! Or else we'll have to put you under arrest!" yelled Shining Armor. Mammoth made a fist wanting to punch every guard in his way in order to stop Nod. "Captain Shining Armor...you must let me go, or else-" "Ah! Its got me! Its got me! a guard cried out. All of them looked at the guard, but it shockingly turned out to be Wind. He was being dragged across the floor by the invisble enemy again. Mammoth maliciously approached the invisble threat, and shoved any guards in his way. But a guard stood infront and pointed his spear. "Hand it over," Mammoth ordered, motioning his fingers towards his palm. "Give it to me." "You're not going anywhere!" the guard shouted at him. "Fine...think fast!" "Wait, what? Hey!" Mammoth grabbed the spear and shoved the guard to the side. He aimed the spear where the unseen figure was, and raised it in the air to throw the lethal weapon. "Not so tough now..." Mammoth threw the spear at the figure, and had impacted impact. But only a piece of metal that released electrical static was caught by the tip. "Nice try trooper...work on your aim, then maybe you can kill me," a voice mischievously taunted. Mammoth made a fist, then pointed a finger at the direction of the voice. "Stop hiding and be a man, Nod!" "Your words are false, no affect, no meaning...we will meet again, GDI. But is that Captain Shining Armor among you?" the voice asked. The guards stared at Shining Armor confused; he became very nervous. "Captain Shining Armor, do not be troubled by us, but this is to all! We are Nod, we bring gifts from beyond your world which is: unity and peace. We will arrive with prosperity for you and your families. But for now, farewell." Footsteps began to walk way from them, and Wind was released from its grip. Mammoth turned back at the ponies who were shocked by sudden event, "Don't believe them! They speak lies! They'll only cause destruction and death!" he cried out loudly. "Captain, you have to believe me!" Shining Armor was speechless and could not find a way on who spoke the truth. Wind got back up sweating, then galloping towards the guards for safety. "Mammoth, I know how you're troubled, but just calm down and let us think this through," replied Shining Armor." "You're right, Captain. I regret my behavior, and let us start anew, it's just I hate those type of soldiers of Nod: Chameleon Spies." "Wait! They're not ghosts!?" yelped Wind. "No, they are soldiers who are weapon less, but that doesn't mean they're dangerous. They can easily infiltrate the most heavily defended areas unseen and cause chaos in the blink of an eye thanks to their stealth suits," Mammoth calmly explained. The ponies were surprised by the stunning explanation of these Nod soldiers. "But if they bring unity and peace... Why did they attack us?" asked Wind, in a irritated tone. "They are really mischievous, that is one of their tactics to cause damage," replied Mammoth. The guard ponies were mumbling with each other about the explanations of the Chameleon Spy soldiers. "But, Captain, where did you take my jet pack and my weapon?" Mammoth asked, wanting his equipment back. "Your items are in this room. Come on, I'll show you," said Shining Armor. Mammoth approached him, the guards moved out of his way as he came close. Shining Armor and Mammoth walked down the hallway where his equipment was. "So, Mammoth...you said this word called 'man' what does that mean?" Shining asked, curiously. " 'Man' is another name for my race called Human. But is there any species like us on the planet?" Mammoth asked, in hopes there were humans dwelling in the area. "I'm sorry, but no...there is nothing like you. It's just you and those Chameleon spies like you said, but there was also that spider thing we got notified about," replied Shining Armor. Mammoth realized what the 'spider thing' was, "Captain, do you have any info on where that spider thing went to?" "Umm... No, we just got a message from the Wonderbolts saying they were attacked by it, and some of them got injured. Wait, you were there! Do you know what it is?" "Yeah, I do, that spider is called a Cyborg Reaper, it's a soulless killing machine! But the one I got in a fight with was very...different than most Reapers," said Mammoth, looking away a bit confused on the unique Reaper. "Are they armed with weapons? Are they heavily armored?" asked Shining Armor, desperately wanting more information on the Cyborg Reaper. "Cyborg Reapers are part of Nod, but they are half-man, half-machine: a true nightmare. They have missile launchers that replace their- or what was their arms, and they can fire nets to capture any victims so they can easily be eliminated or captured. But the one I encountered was way different; slightly more human and acted differently, yet it has the darkness of machine in it," Mammoth explained. "Wow... That's kind of disturbing, actually. But why would Nod do this?" Shining Armor asked, bothered by the dark actions Nod commits. "It's Nod, what did you expect? But, please do not listen to them. They'll only betray you!" Mammoth pleaded to prevent Shining Armor from becoming a victim of Nod. "Hey, don't worry! I won't listen to them since you told me about their ways, and I don't think my wife Cad- Mmmppphhh!" Shining Armor felt a gloved hand on his mouth. "Don't say anything that's important to you... Who knows if 'they' are still around," warned Mammoth, then letting him go. "Phew! Well, thanks for the heads up their, but this is where your equipment is." Shining Armor opened a door with his magic, and Mammoth's equipment was placed in a corner of the room with other medical items surrounding it. Mammoth immediately entered the to recover his weapon and jet pack, he strapped his jet pack on and attached his chain gun under his right forearm. "Thank you, Captain. Now, I'm ready to fight Nod, but I ask for your permission to stay with your guards to prevent another Nod intrusion if they show up again," said Mammoth. "You may, I'm glad that you're actually the good guy and not the bad one. But I guess I should take you to explain all of this to the rest of the guard to make sure they're not influenced by Nod. Oh, and tell me more about this weaponry you have and Nod's, too," said Shining Armor. Mammoth explained the arsenals if both factions while they exited out of the room, and proceeded back to the rest of the guard before anything else happened. ******* Outside of the hospital was a clearing that was nicely trimmed and well maintained. The grass gently swayed with the air, the sun brightly shined upon this clearing, birds sang their song in the shaded trees—'peace' traveresed in the area. A ripple of electricity formed above the grass, then an outline of a figure came to view: a Chameleon spy revealed itself, then another spy also became visible. The two observed this unknown environment, the thoughts of wander flowed through their minds. "My brother, what is our next step into these bizzare lands?" the second spy asked. The main spy sighed, then looked at his 'brother', "I do not contain the answer. Gaining support from the populace is likable, but Captain Shining Armor was almost within our grasp." "It is the GDI soldier that blinds him from Kane's light. We must eliminate him in order to continue our purpose, but we must locate our cybernetic brother, he has the trust of the unicorn, but we must also find a way to gain their trust just like our brother," stated the second spy. The main spy looked up to the sky, and saw a pegasus fly across at a high speed, but suddenly a object was chasing after it; a smoke trail was coming from the object. The object turned out to be a missile, and was nearing the pegasus. Fly away you mythical creature that deserves not to exist with man... Boom! "Aaaaahhh!" "Ooh, is that the second unlucky pegasus today?" mischievously asked the second spy. "Perhaps, but let us continue on our journey." The main spy cloaked himself from sight with his partner commencing the action, as well. The two trailed off into the region unseen and quiet. "Through the technology of peace..." said the second spy. "Peace through power, my brother."