//------------------------------// // [P] As Fast As It Came... // Story: Armored Core: A Nine Breaker's Ponies // by Xymeiu //------------------------------// Leos Klein slowly lumbered his black fighting machine into the massive section of his home he refers to as his 'garage', his beat and battered armored core barely operational due to its last conflict with the Nine-Ball Seraph, or so he dubbed the monstrosity. Sparks lit up the dark paint of the walking giant from the various slash marks and bullet holes sustained in the fierce battle. A loud and high pitched beep rang out from within. "Alright, Raven, you're in position," a voice called out. "Please exit the AC so we can get it back into stable condition." The back of the massive core hissed as the large amounts of air joined the rest from four vents around the center. A section of the centerpiece emerged from the back, and Leos stood up from his pseudo habitat and vaulted over the railing of the catwalk behind him. He looked around the very spacious hangar-type enclosure littered with vertical supporting girders to which the elusive man still questioned, as it limited available space to only one armored core. He had enough parts by now to create more than five of those mechanized fighting machines of varying types if given the space to hold them all. The garage was more than bland and undeniably monotone, its gray-green walls and surfaces giving it an atmosphere of mixed results. A sound of an opening door caught Leos' attention, curiosity overtaking him as he looked toward the source of the noise. An engineer draped in a blue uniform approached quickly towards Klein with a slightly bewildered expression on his face after taking a glance at the once perfect machine, now nearly in a state of standing wires and bevels. He averted his gaze away from the unit and towards Klein with a slightly more dignified look adorning his surprised expression. "What did you do to that thing?" he questioned, gesturing at the damages as if Klein never noticed. His tone swapped from confusion to flat, turning to face the object of question. He paused for just a mere moment before he spoke again, "Judging from the looks, I'd say that'd run you up about ten or fifteen thousand. Who'd you fight?" "Nine-Ball," Leos replied in his usual tone of uncaring disregard. He neglected to tell the truth to him about the Nest, the AI of the establishment, and the secret of elusive red and black fighter . "Send me the bill when you finish," Klein started for the doorway behind him, taking off his combat helmet and holding it at his waist. "Hey! One thing before you go," called the worker from his position behind the armored core, "you got a mission request an hour before you came back. You might want to look into it soon." "Noted," Leos replied before closing the door behind him. The whirring of various machines and tools followed soon after his departure. Silence filled the hallways of white and gray with only the sound of footsteps echoing throughout the bland tunnel of his home, or what the Ravens' Nest offered him as a home of sorts. Leos simply walked straight. Any turns that could have been made, he passed by without a second thought. He finally reached a single door at the end of the bland environment. He sighed as he opened the door and flicked on the lights. Leos ignored the decorative features of his office, focusing on the computer to his immediate right. The screen was black except for a bright yellow notice in the center reading 'New Mission'. ▬♦▬♦▬ The blanket of night's shadow lay dormant over the near desolate-looking town of Ponyville. All of the small community's inhabitants had closed up every shop and retreated to their quaint homes to rest and recharge for the dawn of a new day ahead. No light ever dared to threaten the ponies' quest for sleep by nightfall. All but one particular place of residence. A very peculiar tree stood near the end of the small town outfitted with various balconies and signs shown brightly in the dark like a haven for moths. A window opened up, and a lavender unicorn with a dark purple mane adorned with pink highlights appeared with a telescope the size of two other ponies stacked upright on their two legs. She sighed happily as she mounted the massive scope onto its tripod and angled it toward the night sky, now at this point dotted and littered with multiple white blips that sparkled in the dark. The magical pony could hardly contain herself due to the excitement of the task on hoof. She had only one objective on her mind, which her fellow baby dragon companion questioned the importance of. Earlier that day, she had received a letter, sent through a less-than-formal belch from the purple-scaled being, that the princess of the night had formed a new nebula in the vast expanse of space. The night princess also issued a challenge for the purple pony stating that if she were to find the newly created cosmic dust cloud, she could name it herself. This alone compelled her to gather an insane amount of quills, scrolls, ink containers, and the silver and black object that stuck out two meters from the library she used as her home since her coming the past year. "Twilight, is all this really necessary for looking for just one ball of dust in the middle of nowhere?" complained a small figure coming up the staircase with an oversized mound of scrolls and writing utensils that somehow managed to stay in their place despite the laws of physics at play. "I know Princess Luna challenged you to find a nebula, but this is ridiculous," he nagged as he finally reached the makeshift station that the unicorn had constructed before collapsing over himself, throwing about various materials in every direction. "Spike, be careful!" started Twilight as she stopped the fall of office materials with a simple mass levitation spell and righted their direction onto a desk next to her. "And it is important," she said, dragging the sentence to show emphasis, "Do you know the reward for finding a new discovery like this?" She reverted back to her excited self as she began to imagine the awards ceremony and prize money to buy even more books. Before the smaller being could respond, a near transparent blue ripple passed through the walls and shook the foundations of the structure. Both the pony and dragon rushed to the window in an attempt to seek out the cause of the anomaly. Spike just barely managed to reach the window before he was stopped by a feeling in his stomach, stumbling for a moment before belching loudly. The loud belch released a green flame that became a rolled up piece of parchment. Twilight was already at the window hastily searching for the source of the magic wave. "Read it to me, Spike," Twilight said without giving a glance behind her. The dragon had recovered from the sudden message and had already opened up the scroll to reveal its contents. Spike cleared his throat before finally speaking the message aloud. Dear Twilight Sparkle, I assume you felt the wave of energy that passed over to us in Canterlot, correct? It was enough to wake my sister up, so I am certain that it must be serious. Judging from the direction of the wave, I would say it originated from the Whitetail Woods. Princess Celestia and I will be arriving to accompany you to the source of energy. I am sure that wave awoke your friends as well. Gather your friends and we will meet at the entrance to the woods. Signed, Princess Luna Twilight just caught a glimpse of a white-blue disk in the sky over the nearby forestry as it closed up in itself. A miniscule red dot cast a streak of neon in the air above it, heading toward the ground. Something had been dropped, but nothing else could be seen. The young mare had trouble deciding whether or not she should be amazed or fearful in circumstances like this. The red streak stopped abruptly just above the tree line, dipping slightly before righting itself. Only a red dot remained. A thump soon reached the ears of the purple unicorn and dragon, who was moving to pick up a scroll and quill, but had stopped in his tracks when the sound was heard. The stunned pony was the first to break out of the fear's trance and issued a command to the young dragon. "Spike, send a status report to the princesses. I'll go get the others to see what this thing is." the horned pony said as quickly as she made her way for the curved stairs and door of the tree.