Into Darkness
He had been descending for what seemed like hours. He was too deep underground to access the Net, and by extension, his chronometer stopped working. He would have to resynchronize on the surface, but that didn't matter now. His floodlights barely cut through the darkness, revealing only more tunnel to continue down. He had to be at least two hundred kilometres underground, and this tunnel showed no sign of ending. But this HAD to be leading somewhere. A sentient wouldn't know what simulation codes were, let alone think them important enough to put in a book. Add the fact those coordinates were also supplied by the Impostor, with it's image of the palace, and this couldn't be sheer coincidence.
The tunnel finally ended, after what had to be at least three hours. It exited out into a large chamber, with a small amount of ambient light coming from a tiny gap in the ceiling. He looked around the chamber for a couple moments. There had to be something here. He folded in his Grappler, folding out his laser weapon. He charged an 'Uber' cannon shot, and sprayed it with his Lathe. He then fired it into the chamber, folding in his laser weapon and folding out his Grappler afterwards. The bright orb bounced off the walls, leaving behind large pools of glowing residue, easily illuminating the chamber. After a few moments of bouncing, it deteriorated, becoming a large puddle of energy on the floor. This cavern certainly wasn't as large as the chamber he found beneath the palace, but it wasn't anywhere near being small. In the centre of the chamber, lied a large pile of what seemed to be Commander corpses. In the far corners, there were large consoles. He recognized these, the type used by maintenance drones in the Commander Foundry. Why were they here, though?
He approached one of the consoles, looking about for a way to power it on. He couldn't find one, so he decided to assemble a small power generator. He sprayed his Lathe into the air, and watched as the generator came into reality, molecule by molecule. Once it was assembled, he unhooked a large cable, and linked it to the console. The screen came on with a loud buzzing sound. He tuned his audio inputs out of the sound, and opened his ventral cavity. He took a cable out, linking it to the console. He then began scanning through the files on the console.
There wasn't much to be found within the console's files. Most of the files were heavily corrupted, and a large chunk of code for the console was missing. He had to dedicate the entirety of his emotion core to emulate the console's missing functions. After some time of sifting through corrupted files, he decided this was wasting his time, and moved on. He pulled the cable of his ventral from the console, and carefully replaced it within, closing the armor back over it. This seemed to have been a waste of time. But was it really? He looked around the chamber, magnifying his optics to scrutinize every millimetre. After what his simulation core told him was an hour, he finally found something. A small area of the chamber wall, no bigger than his metal fist, which was slightly depressed. He walked over to it, and tapped it with a metal finger. It didn't sound hollow, but it did move ever-so slightly on each of his taps. He clenched his hand into a fist, pushing it against the button of sorts.
The stone input slide further into the wall, finally coming to a halt with a loud click. Five seconds later, a loud 'clank' came from the centre of the chamber, beneath the corpses of his former comrades. He turned about, watching with great intrigue. More clacking and clanking echoed throughout the chamber, as the pile crumpled in on itself. Eventually, the mound of inanimate steel dropped into a deep, impenetrably dark abyss. He approached the newly formed pit, peering inside. Once again, it was impossible to see into it. He turned on his floodlights, which did not help his vision in the slightest. His 'Uber' Cannon was still not recovered, so he couldn't fire off another orb. With nothing else nearby, it would have to be a "leap of faith", as the popular expression went. Where did he hear that?
No matter, he could ponder it later. Now, there was another avenue for exploration. He crouched down, slowly lowering himself into the pit, before dangling down, holding onto the ledge by his single metal hand. After many a moment's doubt and delay, he finally released his grip, plunging himself into the darkness. He fell for what his simulation core told him was twelve seconds before impacting the ground, his servos having spooled in anticipation. What he impacted was not stone, nor metal, but a sort of fluid. He brightened his floodlights, barely cutting through what seemed to be a thick fog pervading the area. He dragged his metal fist against the floor, drawing some of the fluid into his grasp, and then rose from his crouching position. It was an odd liquid, metallic in appearance and nature. A sort of slag, perhaps, although the temperature of the fluid was fluctuating, going from 198 Kelvin at the least to 467 Kelvin at the most. He swept his Lathe over the substance, inspecting its composition. Oddly enough, this substance could not be deciphered by his systems. It was seemingly beyond comparison to known elements. His sensors were picking up an energy signature, similar to that the sentients gave off, but at a much weaker wavelength coming from the substance.
A loud splash, the sound of something rising from the ocean of fluid around him. He quickly turned about, folding out his laser weapon. Motion sensors were oddly inactive. Nothing about him was moving. Then what made that sound? For some odd reason, his radio transceiver exploded into action, spitting out numerous garbled sounds and static. It was a long time since he ever intercepted radio transmissions, but this he wasn't even aiming for. His channel was the default 'standby' channel, the one assigned to him when he was first created. Wait a moment. No Commanders, not even Dyncik, knew his standby frequency. How could he be receiving a transmission, especially this far underground?
"Beyond the darkness...face your fear..." The surprisingly clear words came through the channel. The speaker was gender-neutral, a perfectly monotone and level pitched voice.
"Why are you on this frequency?" He replied to the voice.
"Bury yourself..."
"Who provided you this channel?"
"You...will..." This voice was aggravating him.
"Get off this frequency. Now."
"Find your purpose...find them..."
"Where are you hiding, coward?"
"Come...end there..." He was fed up with this entity. He began sending transmissions in specific directions, waiting for responses from each. "Closer..." The voice said. He had a vague area to go off of. He turned and began sprinting in that vague direction. The fog made it practically impossible to see where he was going. As he ran, he sent out more transmission 'pings.' He was getting closer. The fog was thinning.
"There you are!" He snarled out, his voice echoing around the cavern. He aimed his laser cannon towards the source of the transmissions. There was a skeleton of what seemed to be a horned sentient laying at the source of the voice, next to an extremely corroded radio transceiver. He stared for a few moments, before slowly lowering his weapon.
"You found me..." Found?
"Where are you?" He said it more as a statement than a question. The voice didn't respond this time. The transceiver fell silent, static and other noises coming to a halt. The cavern fell silent. He crouched down, bringing himself closer to the skeleton. This couldn't have been the source. It was impossible, wasn't it? A loud bellow bounced off the cavern walls. He quickly turned about, aiming his weapon into the inky darkness. No time to ponder it. Loud splashes, the fluid and the ground beneath it quivered with each resounding footfall. The chamber suddenly illuminated by numerous flames, sprouting up from beneath the fluid. Large trails of colored fire spread about the cavern. Oddly colored flames, magenta, green, teal, and darkened yellow. The source of the noise came into view.
A towering machine, which stood upon four tall, powerful and thin legs, so tall he only came up to the middle of their lower portions. One bright white optic, perched upon a Theta-styled head, was staring at him. In the centre of it's body, was a large turret, similar in design to a Thanatos apparatus, however on an incredibly minuscule scale. The machine's vents flared, and it let out another bellow, quickly raising a lanky leg above its body, and bringing it down quickly towards him. He lept out of the way, the machine's leg impacting a millisecond after he was out of harm's way. Another loud roar from the machine, and multiple Dox dashed out of the remaining puddles of darkness in the corners of the chamber. He was outnumbered, now. He looked about, observing the hostile machines gather around him. He couldn't fight his way out of this one. Motion sensors were lighting up with even more machines approaching from further tunnels.
"Through the envious fire...lies freedom..." The voice garbled over the transmission. Something was trying to block out this voice, jam its messages. He quickly looked about. Envious fire. Green. He spotted what he was searching for, a massive torrent of flame straddling the far wall. In his way, however, stood the tall machine. Two Dox began approaching behind him. He quickly drove fuel to his thrusters, igniting the streams. This scorched the two Dox behind him, he heard their cores quickly overheat and explode. With that, he dashed forward, as laser fire exploded around him. Multiple beams grazed his armor, and even more actually made impact, scorching the surface of his thick armor plate. The tall machine bellowed, flaring its vents and raising a leg into the air. It threw it down towards him, and he narrowly avoided with a deft lunge to his right.
He reached the torrent of green flame, and dove through it. He surprisingly didn't smash into solid rock, but through rotted wood. He turned about to have a quick glance. A massive wooden floodgate, as it would appear. It was clearly no longer serving its purpose, as the odd fluid was cascading out from the breach, quickly pouring through the ahead caverns. He turned and continued down the tunnel. He had to move with haste, especially with the machines following close behind. Motion sensors indicated they had just passed the broken floodgate. He came to a fork in the tunnel, quickly deciding to go to the right. It led to another tunnel, with a fast-flowing underwater river. This water had to be coming from somewhere. But, it also had to be going somewhere. He looked up the stream, his floodlights illuminating small waterfalls, which seemed to build a staircase of treacherous footholds. Then he looked downstream. It continued deeper into the darkness, but would be much easier to maneuver.
He idled for a few moments, before continuing downstream. Time was one thing he did not have. His motion sensors told him his pursuers had went upstream. That would only stall them for so long. He continued dashing downstream, putting as much distance between him and his opposition as possible. His floodlights were only revealing more twisting, damp tunnels. Eventually, the cramped tunnels opened up into a large ravine of sorts. The river was travelling at the bottom, with numerous cliff overlooks. He felt watched from these vantage points, almost hunted. He continued down the estuary, when suddenly a familiar noise caught his inputs. The bellow from the cavern, followed by numerous thumps.
He looked up onto the overlooks, and saw the machine following him. Its bright white optic watched him from the vantage, its lanky legs hardly straining as it kept perfect pace with him. A loud banshee scream came from the machine, as its bottom turret flared, the numerous Catalyst amplifiers firing off. The miniature Thanatos Apparatus fired, spitting out a large torrent of bright blue plasma, slicing through a collection of stalactites on the roof. The large chunks of rock fell, landing directly on him, shattering his protective screens and rattling his chassis. The top of his metal head caved in on itself, luckily not damaging his central intelligence, but marring one of his visual processors, causing his vision to corrupt. It wasn't as serious as the corruptions during the Impostor battle, but it still made things much more complicated. He opened one of his shoulder silos, firing off a barrage of missiles towards the machine. A number of the hundred missiles from the silo made their mark, smashing into the relatively small body of the machine, to no visual effect.
"Drown your worries...forge the future..." Water. Heat. He followed the river into a tunnel to his right, which led into a large chamber with massive pools of magma. Follow the water. The river had seemingly created a path for itself through the molten gauntlet, twisting and turning like a serpent, before finally leaving the searing, steam-filled cavern. He kept sprinting, following the now-boiling underground river. He didn't glance back, but simply watched his motion sensors, his pursuers losing all identity, and instead becoming data points, signatures which were in never-ending stalking of him. He dove out of the molten chamber, opening his vents to pull in the deathly cold air in the rest of the tunnels, chilling his central core of the fifty extra degrees it gained from the time near the magma.
He continued following the stream for another two minutes, all the while hearing the tell-tale thump of the tall machine's footfalls, before he finally began to see light. He disabled his headlights, quickly closing the distance between him and his apparent freedom. It was a small opening, no larger than Fluttershy's cottage. Quite large for sentients, but disappointingly underwhelming for him. He took a few steps back, opening both shoulder silos. He would have to distort the natural landscape, but that didn't matter now. He had to get back to the base. He fired off a volley of ten missiles, blasting away the rock from the opening. He then ran forward, leaping out of the newly created gateway to freedom. He fired off his thrusters, slowing his descent. Wherever he was, was incredibly far from the cave entrance. He reestablished a link with the Net, finding his location relative to the entrance. Two hundred twenty kilometres from the entrance. He looked about nearby, and found a large number of sentients, staring at him as they basked in what seemed to be a large hot spring. He then returned his attention to the gaping hole he had just emerged from. The tall machine peeked out of the hole, letting out another bellow, before returning to the darkness.
He called out to the Seraph, which quickly arrived and took hold of him, taking him into the sky, bound for the base. He received a report from Dyncik over the Net. Multiple reported enemy movements. Sentient refugees were flocking to Ponyville from distant cities, including a 'Manehatten', 'Baltimare', and even a 'Las Pegasus'. The seven Commander signals were now being detected by sensors, at an incredibly high wavelength, as if taunting him and his forces. Fortunately, no attacks had taken place, at least not for the moment, despite what satellite imaging could only describe as a spontaneous hostile takeover of most major cities, excluding the palace. He would have time to be confused if he wasn't so angry. The second the Seraph arrived at the base, he pried himself from it's grasp, running through the crowded and swarming staging area to find Dyncik.
"There you are." He snarled upon finding his one-optic'd second-in-command.
"I was about to say quite the same, Commander. Gre-"
"Great minds think alike, yes." Avol interrupted, stepping forward. "That isn't what's important."
"Oh?" Dyncik's optic dimmed.
"Your report, have you already forgotten?"
"Ah, yes. That." Dyncik said. "We've already prepared forces for any possible contingency."
"I'm expecting a 'however' fairly soon."
"I was getting to that, Commander." Dyncik paused, before continuing. "However, I'm not certain that this 'Ponyville' is capable of supporting the amount of refugees that are arriving."
"They can be left to their ignorant folly." Avol responded. "Was the appearance of these occupation forces as sudden as the satellite data makes them appear to be?"
"Orbital radar went down at exactly thirteen twenty three hundred hours. At fourteen hundred hours, orbital coverage was restored, and revealed these hostile garrisons at the major cities. Refugees began arriving at fifteen hundred hours."
"Understood. Keep heavy observation on these newly occupied cities. Pin down the nearest Commander signal. I want to take the fight to them, before they have the chance to strike." Thirty seven minutes of preparation. It was not unheard of, and yet, this seemed too perfect. They were prepared for this. The enemy Commanders have been expecting this, and know just how to go about the business. Tapping into the Impostor, disabling orbital surveillance. It was going too well for them. "Harden the Net defenses, change all encryption keys, recode the entire system if you have to. I don't want them having access to anything they shouldn't."
"Affirmative, Commander, and what will you occupy yourself with?"
"Hardening the perimeter around Ponyville. It is close enough to act as a large staging area for our forces. As you may have noticed, this area is getting increasingly crowded."
"And you think boarding with sentients will improve that situation?"
"Simple. They give up their land for their own survival."
"I don't think that's a very fair trade."
"I didn't program you to debate ethics with me." He said, stepping closer to Dyncik. "Go about your duties, lest I go about them for you."
Dyncik let out a long sigh. "Understood, Commander." He said, turning and heading towards one of the many power plants for the facilities. Avol then turned and began moving towards Ponyville, summoning a group of fabricators to follow him. A large squadron of Hummingbirds flew overhead, followed by heavily modified Bumblebee carpet-bombers, their engines screaming. This was true preparation for war. He and his party of fabricators arrived at the town, being greeted by confused and frightened sentients. He sent the fabricators on their way, as they began assembling a massive wall around the settlement, large laser towers, and landmines.
"Hiya!" The voice pierced his audio inputs' attempts to drown out the surroundings. He looked down towards its source to once again find the pink sentient, her bright blue eyes staring up at him with curiosity and blissful ignorance. This sentient had a sort of child-like innocence to her, completely unaware of his nature. "Didja hear that big screamin'?"
"Quite." He replied.
"It hurt my ears! Actually, they still hurt. A lot!" She sat back onto her haunches, rubbing her ears with her forelegs, and closing her eyes. "Owowowow." Once again, she had silenced him, with her odd nature and mannerisms. He went to leave, and she called out to him. "Hey! Where ya goin'?"
"To find an individual associated with the title Twilight." He was certain he was being redundant, but it didn't matter. He got his point across.
"Twilight?" She asked, seemingly rhetorical. "I know who Twilight is!" She shouted, a wide grin crossing her face. She wasn't very annoying or hate-worthy, just loud and childish.
"Do you?" He asked, being just as rhetorical, and continuing through the town, heading towards the crystalline tree structure.
"Yeah! She's like my BESTEST friend! Except for my other four bestest friends, Rain-" He tuned her out. Whatever she was talking about was likely of little consequence. He would wait until she was done speaking to ask her something else. Pausing just outside of Twilight's odd structure, he crouched down, tapping the door with a metal finger. While he waited, he periodically glanced over to the pink sentient. She was still talking, her tail twitching violently. She gasped, before talking very frantically. This was somewhat amusing to him, especially without any sound.
After about two minutes, the door opened, Twilight peering out. "Hello." She simply stated, her ears folded against her head. Like before, there was this fearful air about her. The aircraft pass-over must've had her on edge. He couldn't say he blamed her. "Do you need something?" She asked.
"No." She started to close the door, but he grabbed hold of it, and kept it open. "I came here to inform you of a occupation of sorts."
"I saw. You're walling us in?" She said, this air of terror and suspicion still floating about her.
"It is for your, and other resident's own eudaemonia."
"Did you tell the Princesses about this?" Princesses? He was under the impression that Twilight and Celestia were the only ones.
"No. Should you have the readily accessible means, it would be appreciated if you could transfer this information to them." Twilight didn't respond, but simply closed the door. He had an inkling that she was growing increasingly suspicious of him and his forces. In a way, he hated her for that. But in retrospect, it wasn't something he could blame her with. She was right to be suspicious, he wasn't doing this for their benefit, but rather for his own. The increased security of the town would be just a side effect. He looked about for the pink sentient, but was unable to find her. Where had she run off to?
He stood from his crouching position, looking about. It was of little importance, yet it did puzzle him very much. He turned, heading back towards the base. He climbed over the newly erected wall, looking back over the recent fortress. Impressive and imposing. If it weren't his, he would think twice before attacking. He turned, heading back to the base. Upon arrival, he immediately confronted Dyncik.
"How went the improvements?"
"Well enough, seeing as you're kind enough to ask."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means we encountered no problems. Maintenance went well, and security has been updated to your standards." Dyncik growled.
"This is standard protocol Dyncik. This planet is just like any other."
"It's not though, Commander."
"Nonsense. We've been performing this for nearly a thousand years, you and I. It's high time you start acting like it."
Dyncik remained silent for some time, before dimming his optic and turning away. "You'll see I'm right about this." Dyncik walked away, taking with him a small cohort of fabricators. Whatever was wrong with him? Avol turned, approaching the War Room, and climbing inside. He lied down, and began processing what had happened thus far. What struck him most odd, however, was Dyncik's sudden change of behavior. He seemed more, for a lack of a better word, sentient. More worrying, more emotion-driven. It didn't matter. He would be going to battle tomorrow. Taking the fight to these hidden Commanders, and plummeting yet another planet into a war they never asked for. How poetic. He began deactivating his systems, setting them into standby. Tomorrow would be another day. Another war. Another planet ruined.