//------------------------------// // 25.5. The Warhorse // Story: Metroid Equis // by Flammenwerfer //------------------------------// Metroid Equis Chapter 25.5 The Warhorse [Starfall Fortress] Time: ~1 hour after events of Chapter 24 Samus was safely tucked away in bed after the successful rescue of Luna's remaining troops. Unbeknownst to her, or any others though, Luna immediately requested the aid of those four soldiers, including a fully recovered Starry Night. They did not have much time, as the sun was due to rise within a few hours but nevertheless they had a mission personally sanctioned by the Night Princess herself. After easy travel due to targeted, long range teleportation, the group of five found themselves at the entrance of the once mighty Starfall Fortress, almost identically where Samus passed through several days prior. "I apologize for drawing you away from your return home, but something important came up and I would trust no others to assist me," Luna was the first to break the ice, fully clad in her battle armor, as were the remnants of Vector Squad. "Officially fused with the humans in a joint task force and you've already separated us, Princess?" Constance joked. "Indeed, but nopony else can know about this. You'll be returned to joint jurisdiction upon mission complete. Let us get moving," the Princess instructed and lead the way forward into the massive fortress. Constance, Starry, Windfire, and Radiance armed their Federation Rifles that they were issued to use before falling into step. "Use your horns, soldiers. Human weapons will be of no use here," Luna craned her head backwards, not losing her step. The four looked at each other and inwardly shrugged, attaching their rifles to their backs and moving onward. Starry took her place right next to Luna as they continued down the first corridor in pitch blackness. Luna lit her horn with a light spell. "It appears Samus passed through these exact walls... but our path shall differ right here," Luna thought out loud, taking a left turn where she had sensed the Hunter had instead turned right. Windfire brought up the rear, ensuring they were not followed, before rejoining the group. "Princess," Starry piped up, "Forgive me for asking, but why exactly are we here?" Luna chuckled a bit. "I did not really tell you all much, did I? Well, I suppose I owe you that much. In hindsight, I need your help in looking for something." "What are we looking for?" Radiance asked. "While ponydom descends directly from the Alicorns, in hindsight we know almost nothing about them. Even Celestia and I, under the rule of our Father, did not have exposure to the true majesty of what was the Alicorn Empire of eras long past. Father was well over ten thousand years our senior and there was still so much he did not tell us. However, upon searching royal archives of recovered ancient texts... something is here in this fortress..." The four continued through the fortress, although it took nowhere near as long as Samus to navigate, as Luna appeared to know exactly where she was going, as evident by her predictable and calculable movements. There were large lulls in conversation as the group listened to the quiet... almost too quiet... ambiance of the long abandoned stronghold. "What exactly?" Starry urged on, even more curious now. The group entered what appeared to be some training chamber. "A weapon. The final battle of the Draconic War was fought at the Second Battle of Starfall Fortress. The First Battle, we were barely able to hold our own... but in the Second... we shattered the back of the Dragon Hordes. That was all thanks to what is something known as 'The Warhorse,'" Luna explained. "What is it?" Constance asked. "I do not know. Discovered texts only described it as monstrous in design, composed by Metal of the Visitors, and held together by Magic of the Alicorns. It is of Alicorn design, but the Visitors helped refine and produce the materials of greater quality than we could ever have achieved at the time. Whatever it is, it was enough to warrant the Dragon Horde's scattering at Starfall that day." "But that was many thousands of years ago... How do we even know it's here, let alone it actually being functional and not rusted to time?" Windfire questioned. "Notice how much of the remaining devices here are still somewhat functional. The Alicorns had used spells to prevent metallic and stone decay... or prolong its onset, rather. Even if such technology is barely useable, it is relatively simple to apply restoration spells, so long as the object in question has not decayed beyond repair. Texts describe that the Warhorse was enshrined here, just in case the Dragons mounted a desperate counterattack. None came, and the lack of any major conflicts did not necessitate its use, so here it supposedly remained. Whether it was salvaged is the real question," Luna lectured once more. The four stayed silent as they fell in closer by Luna. By then, the group of five had come to a very large entrance to subterranean catacombs. Honestly, with what they were able to see with magically casted light, this aperture to the unknown was easily thirty feet wide, and combined with how high the ceilings normally rested in this fortress, it was pretty big. "We're making excellent timing... let's continue on..." Luna was interrupted when a ghastly whine sounded throughout the corridor behind them. Everyone jumped and got into battle ready stances, horns pointed to the pitch black path where they came from. "Go! Into the catacombs. We have little time to deal with Alicorn Spirits," Luna ordered. Everypony complied immediately, and Starry was the first one leading the charge down. Paranormal activity gave her the chills. After about an entire minute of stairs and more stairs, the squads hooves finally met level ground. Shining light around the area revealed that only the ground was paved, while the walls and ceiling seemed more natural, like an underground tunnel. However, said catacombs kept the length and width of the original entrance, so it was not crowded by any means. "I think we lost 'em..." Constance broke the silence. "For now, so it seems. We must keep moving though," Luna affirmed, taking point once more and amplifying her generated light. "Forgive me for the continued questions, Princess, but why exactly would we need such a device with a questionable existence?" Starry pointed out, a little bashful at her desire to know. Radiance would have piped up with a friendly insult for her best friend, but Luna was known for not tolerating any snide comments between comrades in her presence; she was purely business in battle. So, she kept silent and laughed to herself. "While this Galactic Federation has proven most amicable and helpful, and Celestia and myself are wholly grateful, I do not like relying on a foreign entity. Celestia has been in talks with the Griffons about the crisis and they have expressed interest in a united front, but even so, it is different with the Federation. We're now involved in a much larger-scale war than I have ever seen in my life and I wish to make sure we have the ability to adapt. In order to do so, we have much to catch up on in the ways of technology," the Night Princess again lectured as she lead the group down further into the catacombs. "What about our magic? The Federation soldiers do not seem capable of utilizing or producing it," Constance asked. "Magic should be used as an aid, not as a crutch. That being said, our magical ability will enable us to advance relatively quickly technologically. As well, taking inspiration from our mighty ancestors will only help... exactly what we are trying to do now." They had been walking for who knew how long. Starry had lost track of time since the scenery never seemed to change around her. What wasn't illuminated by their horns was pitch black by every definition of the phrase. What was visible was merely a different rendition of rock and dirt, held together so perfectly and composed of many--albeit drab--colors. Her thoughts followed a surprisingly linear track, which was even odd for her, considering the eccentric mare's mind tended to bounce around (though not as much as Pinkie's, of course). For such a powerful and revered race, the Alicorns never gave much thought to the underground. Well duh, who was gonna see it? Riiiiight. She continued the mental conversation with herself, having tuned out the others a decent while ago. She was certain that this tunnel went on forever at this point... or they were going in circles. Nothing seemed to change to her. I'm bored already. Starry rarely got bored on missions, but when she did, it was usually because of too much walking. Then again, she and the Magickakorps as a whole had not been called up fully until very recently. Nathan would have something interesting to say... There was that thought again... the one that made the powerful, gray unicorn-mare under all her intimidating armor feel so small. Ugh... what the hell is... "BOO!" "AAAAAHHH!" Starry jumped almost two feet vertically before reflex made her jam her horn into Radiance's face, who began busting out laughing. The other three were startled out of their minds, and all eyes were on the pair. "Starlight! Calm yourself, you need not be this spry. And Radiance, that will be all..." Luna spoke in an authoritative tone, subtly communicating "knock it off." The walk continued, albeit with Starry a bit shaky in her steps. Radiance gently made her way to her best friend and fell into step with her. "I think I know what youuuuu're thinking about..." she spoke softly, as to not draw the ire of Princess Luna, although she was already drawing Starry's ire by the millisecond. The latter opted to ignore the former. "When he rescued you and picked you up in his biiiig strong arms...." "Radiance, if you don't shut the fu..." "We're here," Luna spoke loud enough to get everypony's attention. Looking ahead, the single catacomb tunnel (however large) spread out into something even more enormous... so much so that none of their lights could reach the end. All that was seen was just pitch black. "This is the Preparation Chamber. It must be around here somewhere. Let us search, for we cannot miss it in direct light." There was no imagery for their brains to process, as they could not see anything but the oddly neat floor beneath them. They were trotting blind as they attempted to shine their lights in every-which direction in hopes of finding their prize. For several minutes, no luck was had. Windfire happened to kick a small stone into the darkness, only to have it collide with something metallic sounding, and immediately being followed by the sound of a large spell dissipating. "What was that?" Constance asked, as she was the closest. Windfire was already on the case as he shined his horn in the direction to where he kicked the rock, only to be met with an enormous metallic-gray (most likely silver) mass. His head traveled upward, his horn following suit and consequently the light, and soon enough, he was met with the face of intimidation. As his gaze ascended, his eyes widened and his jaw descended. It all made sense: the reason they had not been able to find anything, as well as the mysterious magical sound, was because it had been perpetually camouflaged. "Ummm... uh... I think we found it..." his voice sounded out to everypony, uncharacteristically shaky. The others who were away immediately grouped by his side and shined their lights to meet his own. Luna, once again, took the forefront. "Whoa..." Radiance finally got out "Oh my Celestia..." Starry added. "I... wow..." Constance even had few words. Luna did not speak immediately afterwords, just studying the gargantuan object in front of her. The only immediate reaction was the smile slowly etching its way onto her face, turning into a full-fledged, teeth-bearing grin of determination and enlightenment, especially when a few rudimentary magical scans revealed that it was still very much operational. Only then did she speak: "The Warhorse lives..." Luna gazed behind her and motioned for her troops to back up, so they could get a better view of the monstrosity before them: the object had four enormous legs, so definitely quadrupedal, and it was completely covered in some unknown, hyper-refined metal alloy coated with a distinct crystalline sheen. There was a torso... and a head... "It's... it's an alicorn..." Starry commented, finally seeing the distinctive shape and features. Standing between forty to fifty feet high was indeed a giant, metallic-looking alicorn. The forelegs were connected to the upper-legs via magical joints which were inactive (so stiff and rigid), and likewise for the upper-legs and the torso. Most was anatomy was correct, including a proportionally large pair of metallic "wings" attached to the back. There was no mane or tail to be seen, and Luna was not quite sure why that was. The four eyes, two in each 'socket,' were large, grayed out orbs of nothingness that stared lifelessly everywhere at once, and as if the intimidation factor was not enough, the fact that there were two mouths with two rows of metallic teeth sent chills down their collective spines. To them, the entire fortress catacombs seemed to drop twenty degrees as the metallic face stared deep into their beings. To top it all off, there was a single horn, quite elongated compared to alicorn standards, and if size estimates were accurate, was easily twenty feet in length. Nothing was said for several moments as the five silently gave reverence to the machine of war in front of them... one which had been so decisive in making an aggressive and ruthless horde turn and run completely. All anypony was certain of at this moment, was that Equestria now had an ace up her sleeve. A game-changer.