The tunnels under the capital of Manducat Tertius contained that magical combination of elements, dark, damp, and echoey, that made for a depressing and creepy environment. The cannon high water running down the middle of the passage did little to improve the atmosphere and muffled the other ambient sounds in the enclosed space. The smell was predominantly one of dampness and mold, with hints of engine oils and motor fuel. Light was provided at random intervals by luminators that had miraculously clung to life despite decades of neglect. They managed to illuminate very little aside from the water and the decaying walls. Four ponies made their way through the gloomy space. Two were trudging through the water in the middle while two members of the group shimmied along the thin raised platforms to either side.
Leading the slog through the water was a unicorn mare with a pearly white coat, a mauve mane and piercing aquamarine eyes. Most of her was covered by a dark grey cloak that trailed behind her in the water. She moved with alertness and purpose that spoke of her vast experience with Inquisition field operations. She ceased her progress and held a hoof up, motioning for the others to stop as well.
She turned to face the red-robed earth pony stallion behind her. "Hypodermic, do you see anything?" She asked in a hushed tone.
The pony brushed a tangle of wires out of his face with one steel hoof and his two glowing red artificial eyes surveyed the length of the tunnel. Most of Hypodermic had been replaced over the years, enough so that his original coat color was now a mystery. Instead of a mane and tail he sported a mass of cables of various lengths. This led to a look that mimicked the style of, although with more functionality than, normal pony hair.
The tubes that had replaced the lower half of his face shifted as a tinny voice came from the vox speaker that acted as his mouth. "I detect zero point zero entities ahead, Sophic."
The look on Sophic Fortune's face tightened as her brain processed the information. "Everypony be careful. I don't like there being nothing at all in these tunnels. We should be fighting off rats at the very least."
"Maybe you two have been wading in poison for the last hour." Mused the jet black stallion who had been quietly stalking along the left raised section. Sophic leveled an annoyed glare at the unicorn. He returned the gaze with an amused look in his cat-yellow eyes. When her annoyance visibly shifted towards genuine anger he nervously ran a hoof through his shock white mane. He turned so that his cutie mark, apparently of an eclipsed star, was clearly visible. He looked like he was about to speak when Hypodermic interrupted him.
"Devoid, your fear is unwarranted. I can only detect thirty-seven distinct toxins in this water flow and all are within acceptable exposure levels." Droned the tech-pony.
If it hadn't already been white, the color would have drained from Sophic's face. Hypodermic was an expert at ignoring anything that was not immediately harmful to a pony. "Within acceptable levels" meant that she was going to probably need her blood completely filtered out. Again. For the fifth time this year. She could swear that Hypodermic did this to her on purpose so he could spend what he probably considered "quality time" with her. She released a weary sigh and turned towards the final member of the group.
"Tracks?" She asked the young purple unicorn on the right raised section. As Tracks whipped his head around to face her his cloak's hood fell away, revealing his raven black mane. His crimson eyes were wide and darting around, even with his attention focused mainly on her. She regretted that Tracks was still too skittish during missions. A little paranoia was helpful to one's survival, but Tracks looked like he was having a minor mental break.
"Y-yeah?" Was Tracks' stuttered response.
"Are we still following these ponies?" She asked. "We've been trotting through these tunnels for over an hour and I'm having a hard time believing they would have holed up so far from their stomping grounds."
Tracks hoofed the metal bracer on his left cannon and its green light faded to be replaced with a red one. He then closed his eyes and screwed up his face in concentration. His horn lit up with the crimson glow of his magic. The crimson glow pulsed a few times before quickly expanding with a loud PING down both directions of the tunnel. As the light traveled the way they had come, their own hoof-steps were illuminated. In the tunnel in front of them there was ―
"Nothing?" Sophic said, with no small amount of incredulity.
"T-that's im-im-impossible!" Tracks blurted out. "W-we checked at t-the last int-intersection! T-they came this way!" Now he was visibly shaking. His eyes were now flitting around, searching wildly for non-existent threats.
Sophic sighed. Again. Tracks was really starting to lose it, poor kid. She looked at Hypodermic and tapped her hoof against her arm twice then gestured at Tracks. The tech-pony got the hint, for once, and a mechadendrite snaked out of his robes. The tip consisted of a grabbing mechanism and a syringe of phobia inducing size which, coincidentally enough, looked exactly like the cutie mark etched onto his metal flanks. Tracks caught sight of it and tried to back away, eyes wide. Luckily, he only managed to back into the wall.
The metal arm shot forward and grabbed the now fully panicking Tracks by the neck. He gasped out a strangled string of graphic profanity―Sophic made a mental note to reprimand Devoid for teaching Tracks such language―as the syringe lodged itself in his carotid artery and delivered a dose of sedatives. Within moments the medication had kicked in and Tracks' features relaxed.
"Feeling good there, champ?" She asked the now swaying unicorn. Tracks replied by grinning like an idiot and giving a hoofs-up. Hypodermic released him.
Devoid, whom nopony realized had left, returned from the tunnel ahead of the others. "Tracks was right―" He began, then stopped for a second to look at the swaying pony. "―there's nothing ahead of us for about a hundred meters or so, but I spotted some glowing hoof-prints about fifty meters up." A feral grin came to his face. "Looks like our friends know how to fly."
"That is an absolute impossibility, Devoid." Hypodermic offered. "Not only were we tracking two ponies of earth classification, but the vertical proportions of this tunnel would not permit proper flight even if they were of pegasus classification."
"Like I said, they were forced to land after fifty meters." Devoid retorted. The tactfully added. "Say, what classification are you, cog-head, Marechanicus Stupidicus?"
Hypodermic responded to the insult in kind. "While I understand your unenhanced intellect has a limited repertoire of responses available, your name calling is both uncalled for and -"
"Shut up! Both of you!" Shouted Sophic, gesticulating wildly. "Royal throne! It's like I'm foal-sitting instead of running an Inquisitional operation here!" The outburst left her panting and in a state of semi exhausted rage. She then seemed to realize what she had done, quickly composed herself, briskly turned around and then stormed off down the tunnel, a stumbling Tracks following in her wake.
Hypodermic looked at Devoid and held up a hoof. Devoid looked at the proffered hoof and quietly swore. He reached back into his saddlebag and produced a small pile of bits. He hoofed them over to the tech-pony, whom he was sure would be smiling if he still had a face.
"You win this one, but mark my words, this isn't over, Hypo." Devoid promised in hushed tones.
"I will enjoy taking more of your bits, friend." Came the reply.
Devoid watched the quickly retreating forms of their companions. "You think she'd be angry if she found out we were betting on getting her to flip out like that?"
Hypodermic regarded him with his glowing red eyes. "I estimate that probability to be ninety-three point seven six percent in the affirmative."
Devoid grinned as they both started trotting off after the Inquisitor.
* * *
The Equilla landing craft is a ubiquitous sight across Equestrian controlled space. Designed in ancient times to resemble the symbol of The Equestrian Empire itself, the vessel is capable of operating inside or outside of an atmosphere with a decent degree of maneuverability. They are most often designed to carry a single pony in luxury and seat up to six other ponies in spartan conditions. Some Inquisitors, such as Sophic Fortune, use a common configuration which allows the shuttle to be used instead as cramped living quarters for up to six ponies.
Somepony had painted this Equilla a light grayish mulberry with moderate sapphire blue borders and moderate violet and brilliant rose highlights. Everypony knew the color scheme and would recognize it as the holy colors of Saint Twilight Sparkle, founder of the Space Mareine chapter that eventually became the Twilight Avengers. It was the same color scheme as the Space Mareine that stood immobile on the rear loading ramp as the Equilla banked around the festering boil that claimed the title of planetary capital.
"This waiting is intolerable." Rumbled the giant into her power barding's comm system.
"Tell me about it." Replied the cyan pegasus mare piloting the Equilla. A stray ray of sunlight flashed across her bright green eyes. She made a minor correction to their course. "Hey, Sister Radiant?"
"Yes, Free Fall?" Replied the Battle Mare while continuing her visual survey of the bloated, overpopulated, overbuilt, decadent city.
Free Fall brushed away spring green and sky blue strands of mane that had fallen into her field of vision. Something had been on her mind for a while now. She didn't know why she suddenly felt the need to voice this question to Radiant. "Do you, um, y'know, ever worry about the others?"
"One should never fear death in service to the Princesses, dear Free Fall." Radiant boomed. "If our allies die in service to Their Divine Will then they will have given the greatest of gifts to Equestria."
"I still worry, Radiant." Free Fall said, giving a forlorn look over the capital as the Equilla continued its slow turn. "I worry that―" She paused a moment to gather her thoughts. "―that one of these times, everypony will die down there and I―" her voice would have broken had she not stopped. She wiped a hoof across her face, smearing away unwanted tears. "―what will I do if everypony but me doesn't make it? What will I do?"
Radiant inclined her head in thought for a moment before responding. "I know what I would do."
"Yeah?" Free Fall asked expectantly.
Radiant's reply did very little to comfort the worried pegasus. "whoever did it ― I would make. Them. Pay."
* * *
Another thirty minutes of stumbling through dark tunnels had led Sophic Fortune's group deeper into the undercity. The path of intermittent hoof marks had led out of the storm drain system ― not soon enough for anypony's tastes ― and into a maze of interconnecting brickwork tunnels of ancient construction. Hypodermic had offered a calculated estimate of the age which placed the structural stability of the area at well past its expiration date. Sophic took mild consolation in the fact that she wasn't knee deep in toxic waste anymore.
Tracks had also ceased stumbling as his system got used to the drugs he had been injected with. Sophic was glad that she didn't have to worry about him flipping out again. She recalled the last time Tracks had freaked out and the resulting uncontrolled devestation. Sophic spared a glance at the magic nullifier strapped to Tracks' right cannon. Its light was glowing red, deactivated. Tracks would be of much better use to the team with it off, she hoped.
Devoid was ranging ahead of the group now. He occasionally returned with information about dead ends or branching tunnels before fading back away into the gloom. Sophic had long ago given up on figuring out how Devoid saw in the near pitch blackness or how he himself could vanish from sight, even while being watched. What made it all the more impressive was that he was wearing a nullifier cuff on his left foreleg as well. She had tried wearing one before and the added weight had made her stomp around like somepony in heavy combat horseshoes. Devoid just padded away silently like he always did. If she hadn't seen his horseshoes with her own eyes, she would have sworn on the Princesses that he was bare-hoofing it.
"Movement, thirty meters." The monotone voice belonged to Hypodermic. Sophic thought it was just Devoid again but her horn flared and she drew her laspistol when she saw that Hypodermic had two of his more wicked looking mechadendrites out. One was tipped with a rotary saw of some odd design, the other was the familiar grabber / injector.
She saw that Tracks had used his magic to draw the comically oversized plasma pistol he adored so much. Sophic checked her own weapon's clip before replacing it. This wasn't right, Devoid was ahead of them, nothing should have been able to ―
The figure that stumbled was obviously a pony. The blue coat and green mane were not out of place on a normal pony. But the monstrosity was shambling forwards on only two hooves. All three were immediately repulsed by the bipedal motion. The thing's back was bent at an unnatural angle and the forelegs in front seemed to be reaching for something just out of grasp. The head was at a slight angle to the side, the mouth slightly agape and slavering. The worse part was the eyes. The pupils had dilated to the point where the irises were no longer visible.
Sophic used her magic to steady her weapon and fired a single shot at the abomination. The whip-crack of the shot was deafeningly loud in the tunnel and the echoes continued long after the corpse dropped to the floor. Positioned directly behind where it had stood was Devoid, knife in mouth and an uncharacteristically exposed look on his face.
"Devoid!" Sophic hissed. "How did this thing get past―" She stopped when she saw that Devoid's ears were turned backwards, twitching.
The look Devoid's face changed to one that Sophic knew too well. Eyes widened and alert, jaw clenched, pupils fully dilated. He had kicked into fight or flight mode. And he chose. The knife dropped from his mouth as he shouted. "Run!" Devoid's actions matched his words and he bolted in their direction. The four ponies galloped for all they were worth away from ―
"Why. Are. We. Running?" Sophic managed between breaths. She didn't doubt that Devoid had an extremely good reason for this retreat, but knowledge of what would give them a needed edge. Devoid opened his mouth to answer but then stopped as his ears flipped backwards again. Sophic's own ears flipped back to listen ― and she immediately wished she hadn't. She had heard that low droning buzz before and she never wanted to hear it again. New-found reserves of adrenaline coursed through her veins and she picked up the pace.
"What? What is it?" Yelled Tracks as he ricocheted off of a wall in his stagger-gallop.
"Sound file analysis identifies the sound as a para―" Began Hypodermic.
"Brrrreeep!" Chirped the tiny winged sphere that had flown into their path from one of the multitudes of pipes that seemed to be everywhere.
The pink thing had sparkly compound eyes and a cute smile on its face. And then it was consumed in a blinding white burst of fire that had come from Tracks' now steaming weapon. "Luna on the moon." Tracks swore. "Parasprites." This was followed by a string of some much more ungentlecolt-like profanity.
They hadn't stopped, but their pace had slowed down. It just wouldn't do for them to gallop headlong into a swarm of the accursed cute devouring machines. One parasprite was not often a problem, but if there were more ― and there were ALWAYS more ― they would have their work cut out for them just getting out of here alive.
"Brrrreeep!" "Blip blip!" "Burrrrrrr!" The chirping of dozens of the things was heard.
Sophic and the rest stopped dead in their tracks. More purestrains. And infected. This was going to be interesting. She floated out an extra clip for her pistol and screamed the only thing she could as the things surged towards them. "For Celestia!"
* * *
"Something is happening." Boomed Radiant from her perch.
"Oh?" Free Fall strained to see anything interesting out of the main windscreen but was only rewarded with more view of the capital's sprawling form. There seemed to be some kind of multicolored fog rising, probably exhaust from the industrial sector, she mused.
The Mareine responded with anticipation in her deep voice. "There has been a sudden increase in citywide vox usage. It is to such a degree that several of the networks are failing under the strain."
"That's crazy. What is causing―" She stopped mid question when she saw the multicolored cloud change directions. Against the wind. "―Oh ponyfeathers." She grabbed the yolk and swung the craft hard to avoid flying through one of the clouds. They came close enough that she could see what they consisted of though.
Tens of thousands, no, millions, of parasprites. This city was dead. Had been dead. Maybe even this planet. Her thoughts continued to spiral ever downward until they reached her greatest fear. They were dead. Not her and Radiant. The others. How dare they. She had always thought she would cry if this happened. How dare they. She had cried earlier just thinking about it. How dare they. But now that the moment was upon her, she was seeing red. How dare they.
"How dare they." Free Fall growled through clenched teeth.
"Parasprites! Radiant said excitedly. "Fly us closer so I can shoot them!" Free Fall responded with an unintelligible scream of rage as she sharply banked the Equilla into the nearest swarm of adorable death.
She fired the nose mounted multi-laser and was barely satisfied as dozens of the endlessly ravenous creatures were brutally torn apart. She continued to fire, even as the Equilla flew headlong into the parasprites, impacting hundreds of the tiny things. As they rocketed through the cloud she could hear the distinctive bark of Radiant's bolter firing even over the high pitched whine of the engines. Within moments her view had been completely obscured by the splattered remains of dozens of the horrid little beasts. The windscreen wipers proved inadequate to the task of clearing the corpses fast enough to maintain visibility. Suddenly, they were clear of the swarm, although there were several alarms going off regarding clogged ports and thruster vents.
"―tune. We need―gency evac―Free Fall do you co―" The voice coming over the vox was Sophic's.
"Sophic! Oh thank Celestia! Where are you?" Free Fall tried to speak through the tears now freely flowing down her cheeks. The machine spirit of the Equilla was trying its hardest to zero in on the transmission, but one of the auspex antennae was malfunctioning due to having a parasprite impaled upon it like a grotesque ornament.
"I repeat, this is Inquisitor Sophic Fortune. We need emergency evac, Free Fall do you copy?" Free Fall heard a series of weapon discharges and shouts interspersed with Sophic's words. She might not even be able to hear over that commotion, Free Fall realized.
"Where are you? Where. Are. You?" She repeated the mantra as she tried to triangulate Sophic's location. "There! There!" She swung the Equilla into a precariously sharp nosedive turn towards the pinpointed coordinates.
"Free Fall." Radiant's voice sounded in her ear.
"Yeah?" She felt elation that everyone was OK. They were going to make it. They were all going to make it.
"We have a bunch of the things following us. Free Fall's heart sank at the news. She knew they couldn't pick the group up now, they'd be swarmed the second they set down. It was all her fault for not thinking, for flying through the cloud and kicking the proverbial hornets' nest. She was shaken from her thoughts as Radiant spoke again. "Inquisitor."
"Radiant? Radiant, thank Celestia, we're almost to surface level, tell Free Fall to home in on our signal and―"
"Inquisitor, we have multiple parasprites on the Equilla's tail―" There was a momentary pause in the giant's rumble. "―I will cover your escape." Free Fall was sure she had heard that wrong. How could Radiant cover their escape from on board the―
Even over the vox, Free Fall could make out the sadness and the regret in the Inquisitor's voice as she spoke. "Understood Radiant. Walk with the Princesses." Walk with― But that could only mean―
"Radiant NO!" Free Fall yelled as she struggled to pull back on the yoke hard enough to offset the change in the Equilla's center of gravity as nearly a tonne of armored pony threw herself off of the rear loading ramp. She heard the barking of the Mareine's bolter fading away as she got closer to the spot where Sophic would be breaching the surface. She could feel the tears streaming down her face now as she sobbed uncontrollably. She wanted to go back, but she knew she couldn't.
"Do not feel sorry for me, child." Came Radiant's voice over the vox. The sound of bolter fire and the screeches of dying monsters filling the background as she spoke. "This is my choice. It is better to die for The Sisters, than to live for yourself."
The platitude was of little consolation to Free Fall. She continued to weep freely as she landed the Equilla in the middle of a seemingly deserted street. Radiant had been her friend. She hadn't been the most personable of ponies, but they had worked together for years. She had felt that she was just getting to know her. "What do I do?" She sobbed, not realizing that she had left the vox line open.
"Simple." Radiant's voice was laced with pain but had lost none of its conviction. "Make. Them―" The transmission suddenly cut out in a burst of static. Free Fall stared at the vox console, hoping it might suddenly transmit again. She held her head in her hooves. She knew it wouldn't
* * *
"Move it ponies!" Sophic yelled in what was left of her voice after shouting orders for the past half hour. "Last one to the surface gets to stay behind and entertain the locals!" She tried firing her laspistol at an approaching purestrain but when it clicked empty she settled for magically pistol whipping it to death instead. That had been her last clip. She winced as a spike of pain shot through her head. She had been overtaxing herself with magic use. The scratches and bites from the parasprites
Tracks had run out of ammunition long ago, not that it mattered, he was busy half-carrying Hypodermic. The purestrains had swarmed them pretty bad a few minutes ago and a bunch of them had taken some pretty big chunks out of the aged techpony. He was leaving a trail of hydraulic fluids everywhere they went and the glow of his eyes was becoming more sporadic. He had already pleaded with the young unicorn to leave him behind several times. Much to Sophic's pride, Tracks had responded. "Never."
Tracks was wounded as well, a few circular bites having been taken out of his barrel when he had, heroically or stupidly, jumped to attack the Parasprites that had dropped Hypodermic. He had lashed out with his magic, but thankfully had not lost control. That would have been the last thing they needed.
"Ladder up!" Devoid yelled. He was standing under a shaft of natural light. Unscathed. Sophic never understood how he did it. He had been in the thick of most of the fighting, had more parasprite kills than the rest of them combined. To top it off, he wasn't even carrying a weapon. The knife he had accidentally dropped was the only weapon he ever carried. Well, that and his now gore soaked hooves.
He practically shoved Sophic up the ladder. She found herself in the middle of a street. She inhaled deeply, like she had never been so glad to breathe in surface air before. Then Devoid was suddenly next to her. "Hold me." He said before throwing his upper half back down the stallion-hole, his rear hooves barely bracing him at the opening. She wrapped her front hooves around his hind ones and pulled when he grunted for her to do so. Together, and with Tracks pushing from below, they managed to drag Hypodermic out onto the street. Hypodermic's eyes were no longer illuminated. He was unconscious―or worse.
The Equilla was less than a block away. It was the most beautiful thing any of them had ever seen. They moved as fast as they could for the shuttle, but now both Devoid and Tracks were carrying Hypodermic. Sophic gathered as much magic as she believed that she could without passing out and unleashed it at where they had just exited. The magical energy detonated, it collapsed a good portion of the ground around where the hole had been and sent dust flying from storm drains for quite a distance up and down the street.
Sophic had not misjudged, but she still felt herself sway as she galloped towards the salvation of the Equilla. The clop-clank of her hooves on the boarding ramp told her she had reached her goal and she collapsed, exhausted into one of the seats at the rear of the vessel. "Free Fall, we're on, go!" The ramp closed and she could feel the shuttle lift from the ground.
"Go where?" The voice of the pilot sounded choked somehow. Sophic winced. She didn't have time to console her ponies yet, there was work to do.
"Orbit, the cruiser we came here on, the Glorious Dawn, should still be there. Open a priority channel and demand landing access and an armed escort to the bridge." Sophic leaned to the holo-viewer in the center of the seating space and slotted her Alicorn Inquisition rosette into the data port. "I'm sending you my magenta level access codes now. Make sure they know it is Not a request." She looked over to where Tracks sat. He was staring with a pained expression at the extra large seat where Radiant normally stood. Devoid was in front of Hypodermic's bunk, working to keep the old tech pony alive. She let out a single humorless nicker-laugh that Devoid's training in equine anatomy was equally at use healing wounds as it was at causing them "And we need a crash team, with expertise in dealing with techponies."
She wanted to say more, she wanted to console everypony over the loss of Radiant. She had heard the pain in Free Fall's voice. She saw Tracks, saw the line of damp fur that ran down from the corners of his eyes. She saw Devoid, the look on his face one that she had only seen one other time before in their years together. Despair. Hypodermic probably wasn't going to make it.
She blinked her own dry eyes once. Where are my tears? She thought. Have i been doing this so long that losing those close to me is "just another day at work?" She looked at the empty seats. The seats had so many previous owners that she couldn't even remember them all anymore. She blinked again, slower this time. She was tired. Perhaps too tired to mourn. She blinked again, now opening her eyes was a serious effort, like getting Radiant to admit being wrong. She smiled at the memory of the Mareine and her eyes closed to blink again but did not open. She had passed out.
* * *
She woke up to Tracks smacking her in the side with his hoof. Hard. "What the―" She started
"I repeat, Brace for impact!" The voice was Free Fall's and it was filled with panic. Once Tracks saw Sophic was awake and bracing, he dove back into his own seat and pulled the straps tight with his teeth.
The impact came quickly and the cabin lights immediately cut out. Sophic was aware of a loud grinding sound and a rattling that felt like it would jar the fillings out of her teeth. The shuttle came to a halt with the floor canted at a slight angle. She sat motionless for a moment, mind still partially asleep. A harsh flare and a series of sparks appeared at the back of the craft. The line of sparks quickly cut the outline of the loading ramp, which then promptly fell away from the rear of the shuttle. As a squad of crash rescue ponies pulled them from the wreckage, Sophic idly thought how angry Free Fall would be that they had ripped off the back of her ship.
She looked around at the fracas of a landing bay. The Equilla had apparently crashed just inside the entrance and slid over a hundred meters of steel deck plating. Naval rating of every shape and size were moving to spray fire retardant on everything just in case all of the shuttle's promethium decided to go up.
"Is the Inquisitor safe?" Bellowed a pegasus wearing the dark blue carapace barding of naval security. His posture was rigid and he carried a holstered Tartarus-pistol and a chainsword strapped across his back. He was flanked by a dozen other security officers with full sized Tartarus-guns.
"Right here!" Sophic called to the security officer.
She wanted to watch the medical teams fix her team, but there was no time. "Tracks, with me!" She shouted to the disheveled purple unicorn. "You." She said to the security officer. "Take us to the bridge, now, there's no time."
The pony's professionalism was exceptional and he did not miss a beat saluting, turning on a bit, and marching towards the exit of the wreckage filled hangar. The naval security team escorted Tracks and herself in the direction of the bridge.
"Why are you bringing me?" A very haggard looking Tracks quietly asked.
"Because, some day, you too will need to be able to do this." She whispered back.
Tracks looked at her with a confused expression. She would have found it extremely endearing had she not been focusing most of her thoughts on exactly what she was about to do. What she had to do.
The doors to the bridge of the Glorious Dawn opened. The room was extremely large, the periphery occupied by rows of servitor ponies. Closer to the center were the control consoles for the various ship systems, each stallioned by a pegasus officer. Sophic strode to the base of the raised dais in the center of the room, upon which sat the captain's throne. The captain was a light brown stallion pegasus with a khaki mane. His cutie mark was not visible from where he sat and regarded them with brown eyes. The expression on his face was one of irritation. Obviously he didn't like being forced to meet with someone like this. Sophic didn't give a flying feather about how he felt.
"Inquisitor." He began, his voice was controlled but held hints of his annoyance. "How nice of you to―"
"Captain." She cut him off. "I do not find this visit nice, but necessary." The captain sat in his chair, shocked, as she continued. "This planet has a class six parasprite infestation. I―" She paused a moment, her expression hardening, before she continued. "I hereby declare, by the authority granted to me by The Royal Pony Sisters, that Manducat Tertius is beyond redemption and must be subjected to the most extreme of sanctions." Gasps were heard from just about everypony on the bridge. She could see a single bead of sweat begin to work its way down the captain's head.
Tracks just stood there, his jaw dropped wide open in amazement. But he didn't say anything. He knew she wasn't kidding. Exterminatus. The most extreme, final sanction that could be levied upon a world. Tracks looked at the slowly rotating globe in the bridge's massive holo-sphere. Sophic was condemning the entire world to death.
"I refuse." Said the captain bluntly. A profound look of shock and disbelief made itself known on Sophic's face.
"That was not a request, captain." Sophic said icily. "You will execute my order."
The captain's expression grew smug. Right or wrong, he felt that this was his ship. He was in control, he was in command. "I will not consign over ten billion ponies to death if there is even the slightest―"
There was the loud whip-crack of a laspistol being fired. Many ponies jumped in surprise, though the more well trained officers kept their seats. The captain's eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell forwards out of his chair, the back of his head smoking. An orange earth pony mare in a black greatcoat and a fancy hat was standing behind the captain's chair, a steaming laspistol in hoof.
"For dereliction of duty and high treason against The Royal Pony Sisters, I, Crimson Sash, do hereby give notice that captain Head Strong has been found guilty and was executed for his crimes on this day." Stated the commaresar. "May The Sisters have mercy on his traitorous soul." She then looked at the gunnery officer, a green pegasus stallion with yellow hair. "Lieutenant Longshot, you will carry out the Inquisitor's orders."
Longshot nodded his head rapidly up and down before punching in the string of commands required to prepare the cyclotronic warheads. After a few minutes he looked up timidly. "I need your authorization codes for the launch, Inquisitor."
Sophic walked slowly towards the console and inserted her rosette. A panel on the console opened, revealing a hoof scanner for final confirmation. Sophic looked at around at the bridge crew, the commaresar, and finally at Tracks. She saw the look on his face. "I do this in the name of The Royal Pony Sisters." She said. And then she placed her hoof on the scanner.
* * *
Tracks watched from the observation deck as the planet burned. The lights of the atmospheric fires reflected in his crimson eyes. His eyes were red and raw, from a mixture of both tears and exhaustion. He wasn't sure he would ever sleep again. He wasn't sure he would be able to stop watching. He didn't want to. Over ten billion ponies. The thought repeated in his head as another wave of flame washed across one of the continents.
He was alone. Sophic had left to procure them some quarters for their stay. Tracks was pretty sure she just wanted to be alone now after having sentenced billions to death. Radiant had died buying them time to escape one of the parasprite swarms. Hypodermic hadn't survived his wounds. When Devoid found out he had run off and vanished into the enormous ship. Tracks released a shuddering sigh as he continued to watch the devastation.
He suddenly felt a hoof on one of his shoulders. He looked up to see that it was Free Fall's. He remembered that she had joined up with Sophic around the same time he had. They never really talked to each other, she stayed in her ship and he did ground work. He was fairly surprised to see her. If it were possible, he thought the pegasus looked worse than he did. He had at least managed to splash some water on his face and hoof his mane into some semblance of order. Her face was still streaked by tear lines and her mane was a mess. "Need some company?" She asked in a voice that was hoarse from sobbing.
He gave her a weak smile. "I would like that."
She sat next to him and the two of them spent the next few hours watching the planet die.
"What did you say?" Tracks asked her when he heard her mumble something under her breath.
"Oh. It was something Radiant said." Tracks noticed a tear working its way down her cheek. "We made them pay, right?" More tears began to stream down her face as she looked up into his eyes.
"Yeah." He said, holding her close as she began to sob uncontrollably. It was all he could do to keep himself from crying with her. He looked out at the smoldering husk that had been Manducat Tertius. "We made them all pay."
END