//------------------------------// // Titan Squad // Story: The First S.P.E.A.R. OF ORION Colony // by Silver Centurion //------------------------------// "Hold up." the lavender soldier said as she raised a metal hoof to halt the group. "What is it Twi'?" the seafoam green soldier asked as she surveyed her dark surroundings quickly. "I don't know... but I... I can feel that something is close by." replied Twilight. "Vinyl, Octavia, go up ahead and see if anything is there, me and Twi' will cover our rear." Lyra ordered as the two soldiers in question plodded up ahead, a soft glow emanating from their armor. As Titan squad continued to move, a voice that wasn't hers began talking from Lyra's helmet. "Lyra?Are you there? This is General Stone. I have some info for you." "Go ahead." replied the unicorn as she halted and signaled the rest of her squad to do the same. "Alright, it's been confirmed that there is a large cave system spanning the whole Everfree. We don't know what's down there, but we need you to find out. Forget about the ARM assault, we need you to find out what the hell is going on, and more importantly Centurion. I've got an exact fix on him, patching it through to your H.U.D. now." General Stone said, stopping for a second or two every sentence. A small white blip appeared and began flashing on all four of the soldiers' radar. "Also, there's a hatch that appears to lead down into the cave system not far from your position. Oh and one more thing, find that hatch and get inside we're napalming what's left of the Everfree shortly. Stone out. The four ponies stood there silent for a few seconds before Lyra broke the silence. "Well, you heard the man! Let's find that hatch before we end up like... him!" Lyra said gesturing over to a charred soldier who had been lit on fire during the first napalming and had probably limped here right before he died. "I didn't even see that... Yea, Lyra's right lets get going." Twilight responded before the group put away their weapons and galloped through the forest towards the hatch, breaking tree branches and flattening bushes as they went. Only seconds later the group arrived at the hatch and all four stood up and began heaving at it ferociously. Slowly, inch by inch, the hatch came up ever so slightly until Lyra was able to get her hooves underneath the hatch and lift it up with the help of her squad. Finally the door swung open and came to a stop as it remained upside down. "What are you waiting for let's go!" Vinyl said as she tried to grasp the ladder to no avail. "Colt-dammit! I think you need those hand things to use this." Vinyl said getting frustrated. "No time for that. Just jump!" Twilight said hastily as she gestured to a formation of distant bombers that were fast approaching. Lyra was the first to act as she hopped down into the hole and began to plummet. As she plummeted she held her hooves out to stop her, or at least slow her, before she hit the bottom of whatever the hatch led to. Her hooves touched the walls all around her and she rapidly began slowing down, so much that she had to jump down a few feet to reach the bottom. Overhead she could hear her squad coming in fast. The screeching of metal against concrete hit Lyra's eardrums like Hulk hit Wolverine. Hard. As Twilight touched down right behind Lyra, she was able to un-clamp her hooves from her ears, as the noise level was now bearable. Seconds later Octavia and then Scratch reached the bottom following the same technique as Lyra. As Twilight was about to reach for her helmet light, Lyra swatted her hoof away with a low metal clang. "We don't know whats down here, be qui-" Lyra whispered before she was interrupted by a bright flash of light that illuminated their surroundings. Or rather what surrounded them. As Lyra regained her sight she noticed something strange. Tall figures stood around her and her squad, at least a dozen of them. As her sight un-blurred, she realized what the figures were. Machines. Standing 8 feet tall, the T-70's were an imposing sight to the ponies who were only half as tall. Hell, they would've looked scary to necromorphs. But that's another story for another time. "W-What are you?" Octavia stammered with a twinge of fear in her tone. Promptly, one of the T-70's lowered its mini-gun and with one great stride, it bridged the gap between them and picked Octavia up by her throat. The machine raised the small equine up to his face so that she could stare into its lifeless red eyes. As Octavia looked into the machines eyes, she recoiled with a sudden realization. 'This thing doesn't care if it... or every single one like it die, as long as we die with them...' Octavia's face twisted with fear underneath her helmet as the terminator raised its free arm to her head, and removed he helmet with one great yank. The helmet was ripped from its place and wires on the neck guard jutted out as a strange viscous liquid poured from a tube underneath the chin piece on her helmet. The terminator lowered its arm and as it did so, crushed Octavia's helmet and let it drop to the floor. The rest of Titan Squad watched in horror at the scene that was unfolding before them. Although they were now soldiers, their pony instincts still applied and were proving to be a great hindrance to them. As the T-70 lifted its mini-gun up to Octavia's head once more, she closed her eyes and resigned herself to her fate. At least it will be quick she thought... and then she'd be able to sleep in bliss for eternity. But seeing as how life like's to be a troll, the shot never came. Instead hundreds of loud explosions shook the base, knocking several terminators onto the floor, including the one holding Octavia. As he fell he released her and she smacked the ground with a loud thud. Seeing her opportunity, Vinyl reached for her assualt rifle quickly, snatching it up in one hoof and taking aim at a still standing terminator. She fired a quick burst into its head. No effect. Another burst. No effect. Another one. Finally the bullets pierced its metal armor and burrowed its way into the terminator's head as various liquids began to leak out and spill onto the floor. The terminator began to fall and face planted hard with a loud crash. "KILL 'EM!" Lyra shouted over the shrill noise of the bombs. Coming to their senses once more, the rest of Titan squad quickly shouldered their weapons and began unleashing a hail of bullets on the terminators that were still standing. One by one the terminators fell until only three remained, struggling to get to their feet. Vinyl approached one of the terminators, drew her pistol and fired a single shot into the back of its unprotected head as it stopped moving. Twilight did the same with a nearby T-70. Just as she did so the sound of bombs overhead could no longer be heard, and only an eery silence remained. "Celestia-damn, what were those things?" Octavia said as she caught her breath. "I dunno, but I've got a feeling that's not the last we'll see of them." Vinyl replied reloading her assault rifle. Just as Vinyl finished her sentence a loud clanging of metal could be heard some distance away. All four ponies looked in unison to face a long, well lit hallway. With a T-800 slowly making its way down it. Although noticeably shorter than the T-70's, the T-800 struck fear into all who gazed upon it. Including titan squad. As it reached the halfway point of the hallway Lyra began to rally as she handed Octavia her helmet. Octavia's gray hair flowed freely behind her back as she took her helmet from Lyra. She examined the helmet for a second before she threw it onto the grounds and crushed it with a single stomp. Rubbing her face with a metal hoof, Octavia examined the terminator and readied herself. Nodding, Octavia, along with the rest of Titan squad lined up, shoulder to shoulder, weapons at the ready as the T-800 came ever closer. "Hey, if we die, don't touch my stuff." Vinyl said without emotion. "Shut up! No one's dying!" Lyra said as she gave the signal to open fire. In that instant, time seemed to slow as Twilight focused on two things. Aiming, and squeezing the trigger. Her mind went blank as if this was all she knew. All she had ever known. Just as quickly as it had come, it left, and Twilight once again regained her senses as her machine-gun beeped, awaiting a fresh magazine. Twilight obliged as she opened the side of her gun, and replaced the large circular clip with a new one. As soon as she locked her ammo in, all hell broke loose. Less than yard away, the terminator charged the four ponies. Expecting the machine to fall over, Titan squad braced for impact, Octavia shielding her face. They were sadly mistaken. The terminator barreled right through the tightly packed ponies and grasped Vinyl's forelegs as it held on to her as it smashed into a metal wall. Dazed and in sever pain, Vinyl blacked out as the terminator continued its assault. It literally grabbed her hoof and picked Scratch up with one arm, and then proceeded to slam her repeatedly into the wall, snatching up her assault rifle as it did so. Meanwhile Lyra tried to regain her hoofing, but found this to be extremely hard. Her vision blurred in and out of black as she stumbled around until she finally decided to stop and let her conciousness slip. Her vision faded to black as she let her eyes close. Across from Lyra, Octavia lay limp and motionless as blood trickled from her nose and a cut across her left cheek. The blood slowly pooled around her head and stained her gray hair a dark red. The terminator continued slamming Vinyl into the wall repeatedly until finally her shields flared and her armor began deteriorating. In another corner of the room, Twilight lay, barely able to see the tragedy that was occurring. She just watched the horrific sight, unable to do anything. She closed her eyes as she pondered what she could do, and something sparked in her. Something that ponies hadn't known for as long as she could remember. Rage. Rage and blood-lust fueled her as her eyes shot open, her usually round pupils narrowed into predatory slits as adrenaline coursed through her body. She bolted to her feet and as she did so, she pulled her helmet off to reveal her face. A manic grin spread across her face as wiped the blood off her face and lapped it up with astonishing speed. As soon as she had finished, she darted over to the terminator, every hoofstep leaving an imprint in the floor.... which was made of titanium. She raised her front hooves up and wrapped her forelegs around both of the terminators arms as it dropped Vinyl and her assualt rifle as Twilight lifted up the terminator and threw it behind her back, not letting go as she did. As a result both of the terminators arms tore off of it's body in an explosion of sparks and fluid. Twilight dropped the arms before the terminator even had a chance to land, and bolted over to it with astonishing swiftness. The terminator landed on it's back as it burrowed a dent into the wall. As the terminator fell out of it's dent, Twilight was right below it, ready to continue the onslaught. The terminator fell and Twilight caught it, before smashing it into the floor face first. She whirled the terminator over and for a second, she stared into it's fear imbuing red eyes... before placing a hoof on each one and yanking on them hard. The two spheres of red light disconnected from the terminator's face and went dark as what remained of the T-800 squirmed around violently. Twilight's pupils regained their normal shape, but her manic grin remained as she wrapped a foreleg around each side of the terminator's neck and yanked it. With an explosion of electricity, sparks and fluid the terminator's head detached and the body stopped squirming and became motionless as Twilight's smile receded. She dropped the machines head and fell over onto her back. Lyra regained consciousness and tried to stand up. After stumbling around for a few seconds she got to her feet and walked over to Scratch as she regained clear vision. After examining Vinyl's body for only a few seconds she could tell that she was dead. Blood poured from her front left leg and her helmet was dented and destroyed. As Lyra turned to check on Octavia, she felt something grab her left back leg. Lyra spun around only to see Vinyl removing her helmet with one hoof, and grasping her bleeding leg with the other. Vinyl stood up, her injured leg wobbling a little as she did so. The two ponies had tears in their eyes as they embraced eachother in as tight a hug they could with power armor on. "I thought I lost you..." Lyra said as she let her tears flow freely down her cheek, staining her coat as it did. "Yea.... me too..." Vinyl replied in as calm a tone as she could. She tried to fight back the tears, but they continued to gush forth as the two shied away from the hug. "OH MY CELESTIA OCTAVIA!" Vinyl gasped as she noticed Octavia lying on the floor, motionless, and with blood polling around her. The smell of blood filled the air as Vinyl with hobbled over a to a battered grey earth pony and knelt down beside her, clutching the backside of Octavia's head. As Vinyl checked on Octavia, Lyra walked over to Twilight to check on the damage. She expected her to be unconscious too, but when she came close enough to her she found that she was wide awake. Twilight's expression was blank and her eyes seemed to stare off into forever. Lyra had seen somepony like this a while back. Twilight had the thousand-yard stare. It occurred for various reasons, this case of it most likely mental trauma. Lyra waved a hoof in front of Twilight's expressionless gaze and gave a sigh when she didn't respond. Knowing there was no way of doing anything about the thousand-yard stare, Lyra simply trotted away after making sure no severe injuries were afflicting Twilight. "Octavia! Wake up!Please wake up!" Vinyl shouted into Octavia's face desperately. As Vinyl continued kneeling by Octavia's side, her head in her hoof, Lyra put a foreleg over Vinyl's shoulder and waited for her to turn around. As Vinyl slowly turned her head to face Lyra, Lyra closed her eyes and shook her head with her face to the ground. "No, s-she can't be dead. She just can't!" Vinyl said as she jerked Lyra's hand off of her. "I'm sorry Vinyl, there's nothing we can do. As it is you and I are both pretty banged up, and you need to get medical attention! Look' I'm sorry, but there's no way we're gonna be able to carry her back up that ladder. We have to leave her." Lyra responded calmly and with as little emotion as possible. Vinyl began shaking her head slowly as the occasional tear slipped off of her cheek and impacted the metal floor. Lyra sat down against a nearby wall in her usual human-like manner and waited for Vinyl to finish her goodbyes. With a deep breath and a lot of courage, Vinyl unclasped her hoof and stood up, gently letting Octavia's head slump down on the floor into the pool of blood. "What about her..."Vinyl said in a shaky voice motioning to Twilight who was no longer there. "Where'd she go?" Lyra said in a frantic tone. "I dunno, she was here a second ago!" Vinyl said starting to panic. She looked around the small room frantically, looking over every dead machine to see if she was hiding behind one. Just as Vinyl was about to start panicking again, a loud rumble could be heard overhead. It became louder and louder until finally, Vinyl and Lyra turned to a wall, which had opened up to reveal Twilight standing by a large control panel which presumably controlled the lift she stood upon. "There you are! Is that an elevator?" Vinyl said hopefully. "Sure is, come on! Grab your guns and Octavia and let's get out of here!" Twilight replied as Vinyl and Lyra gingerly balanced Octavia on their backs. Shortly after placing Octavia on the lift, Vinyl ran back and examined her assault rifle before scooping it up and clipping it to her back. "Everypony ready?" Twilight inquired as she began fiddling with the lift controls. "Yea, lets get out of here now!" Vinyl said as she gestured towards a small group of incoming aerostats. "UP WE GO!!!" Twilight yelled as the lift ascended at an astounding pace, as the aerostats below began to give chase. The small hovering machines began firing at the lift from below with built in sub-machineguns . Bullet after bullet embedded itself in the bottom of the lift as it rose ever higher. "Shoot them!" Twilight ordered Lyra as she opened up a small portion at the center of the lift, revealing 3 small aerostats shooting at Titan squad. Lyra quickly brought out her shotgun and took aim. *Plink* An aerostat plummeted to the ground below as debris fell off of it in mid-air. *Plink* Another machine out of commission. Just as Lyra began lining up her next and final shot, the lift stopped abruptly and a large door overhead slowly began to open up, letting Titan squad breath sigh of relief. "Get her out of here! Just go! I'll meet you in a second." Lyra said before turning back to the aerostat, which was now no less than two hooves in front of her. "Fuuuu-" was all Lyra could say before the aerostat unleashed a flurry of bullets, killing Lyra within seconds. Vinyl planted Octavia firmly on her back as Twilight pulled out her pistol and shot the aerostat right in it's single sensor eye. It dropped to the ground like a rock and exploded in a small orange fireball. Twilight promptly rushed over to Lyra and placed her hoof on Lyra's jugular. She waited for it to move, but it remained still. Twilight retracted her hoof and merely shook her head before placing Lyra on her back and walking out into the vast expanse of the Everfree where Vinyl was waiting with Octavia placed beside her. "I-Is she ok?" Scratch asked nervously, afraid of the answer. Again, Twilight merely shook her head and placed Lyra beside Octavia. "Well that's it then? There's no way we're getting out of this mess...." Vinyl said glumly, slumping up against a tall tree. "No, we are..." Twilight said as she pointed to a convoy of drop-ships that passed by overhead. As one by one the drop-ships passed by, finally one stopped, and began hovering, until it began descending upon Twilight and Vinyl. As it touched down, the bay doors opened up to reveal a large group of armored ponies, donning standard USIF power armor. "Need a lift? We've only got enough room for 2 though." A pony near the front of the seating said. Twilight and Vinyl looked at each other pale, both knowing what had to be done.Vinyl's face twisted with every emotion from anger to sadness. She looked back to Lyra and Octavia before closing her eyes and letting a single tear slip down her cheek. Vinyl turned back to Twilight before boarding the drop-ship with the lavender unicorn close in tow. As the bay door sealed, Vinyl and Twilight caught a last glimpse at their fallen comrades. They almost looked peaceful. Happy in a way. The drop-ship didn't take long to get right back in the air. Twilight had managed to get a window seat, and as she peered out her window all she could see was small patches of green forest amongst a smoldering landscape where skeletons of trees rose from the scorched and blackened ground. But as the drop-ship, began to turn around, heading back to Zulu company, Twilight noticed hundreds of small human-like figures marching through the incinerated forest. She continued to observe them until she noticed even larger figures, they literally crushed entire trees underneath them, as they marched in the opposite direction that the drop-ship was flying. The huge machines cut paths in the forest for the huge column of terminator infantry to march through. Bringing up the very rear of the army were several huge HK-TANKS, which crushed tress underneath their massive treads as they held their formation. Twilight soon realized this wasn't going to be just an invasion. It was going to be an extermination. Far below the convoy of drop-ships, a small creature stalked 2 immobile targets. A seafoam green unicorn, and a grey earth pony. As the figure crept out of a bush and came closer to the 2 still ponies, the soft glow of the moon shone down upon her grey and white stripes. Her golden jewelry sparkled in the moonlight as her mohawk mane blew gently in the breeze. Various markings adorned her light grey body as her cyan eyes observed Lyra and Octavia. After quickly examining the two ponies, the zebra scooped both of them up onto her back and disappeared back into the largest chunk of the Everfree that wasn't on fire. Miles away from the Everfree, Thorne stood atop a large platform, gazing out at his massive army, ready for the assault on the SPEAR HQ. As he walked back into his command center he came to face to face with a human-like endo-skeleton. There standing nearly 5 feet from him was one of SKYNET's most dangerous killing machines. The T-X.