*Huntress POV*
"Lotus," I said, "what do you mean by that?"
Twilight gave me a confused look, "Um, Huntress, who are you talking to?"
"Tenno, it might be a good idea to project this transmission," The lotus offered.
I nodded, taking out a small, handheld holo-projector and placing it in the center of the room. The image of the lotus faded winked out of existence on my hud, as her hologram appeared for the ponies to see.
"W-What--" was all Twilight managed.
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle," the Lotus calmly replied, "you have no need to fear me, I am here to help."
"Wha--h-how do you know my?"
"I learn through my tenno, as they learn from me" Interrupted the violet guide of the tenno. All twilight could manage was a confused look, which unfortunately, was directed at me
"In other words; the Lotus can "see" what we see, and "hear" what we hear," I explained, "it helps her direct our attacks and movements."
"Oh" Twilight said, still looking baffled.
"I can explain the relationship better," the lotus chuckled, "but right now we have more important concerns"
"Correct," a unfazed Celestia affirmed, "you said you could offer information on how to construct a warframe for a pony?"
Another chirp sounded as the Lotus displayed a blueprint.
"Tenno operatives discovered this in an Orokin derelict," Our mentor informed, "it appears to have been oriented for a kubrow but I believe it can be modified to fit our needs."
I studied the design. It appeared to have the same basic layout as an excalibur warframe, except, of course, it had four legs and no arms. In each of its feet there were electromagnets, supposedly to allow the much bulkier, heavier kubrow or pony to scale walls, and add power to a jump.
"Very interesting," Celestia murmured, "can you create a functioning prototype?"
"I have just recieved the resources required to finish the system components," the Lotus said. She turned to Chaser, "Chaser, your Liset is nearest to your location, I am sending the blueprints and materials to your ship's cephalon."
"I will tell him to begin work immidiately, Lotus" Chaser replied. She turned and left the room, tapping her commlink as the doors closed behind her.
"H-Hang on!" Everyone turned to a panicked Twilight, "how can we be expected to fight!? Ponies, with the exception of the royal guards, don't normally receive any combat training!" Upon uttering the word 'combat' I could've sworn I saw everyone in the room stiffen.
"Hmm..." Avalon 'said', breaking the silence, "While that may be the case, it doesn't mean that there won't be ponies willing to fight against the grineer." He paused before adding, "And if there are any who are willing to fight we will help to prepare them for the fight ahead."
For what felt like the thousandth time that day, silence blanketed the room. Everything was silent, save for the sounds of fires and tenno abilities. Chaser was the one to break the silence.
"The new prototypes are being crafted, they should be done in about seventy-two hours," the mirage announced. I was about to thank her when I caught on to one detail of the statement that piqued my interest.
"'They', Chaser?"
"Yes, The Lotus apparently had four prototype designs made based off of both the original design and other warframes." She informed.
Then I remembered something.
"By the way Chaser," I said, "I have a present for you!" I pulled out the Stalker's dropped blueprint from before and tossed it to the stalker fan.
"No. Freaking. Way!" She breathed, "damnit Huntress, now I owe you one!"
"Nah its fine" I said, waving my hand dismissively, "besides cage-boy and cyclops-girl are all the primes we need at the moment."
Avalon and Shift, who had been locked in a conversation about who could kill more corpus, turned to me with a confused "huh?"
"We should begin recruiting ponies who want to fight," I continued, "if there are any who want to fight the grineer, they will need training in and out of their armor."
"Huntress, as much as I like the idea of my little ponies being able to protect themselves," Celestia began, "I do not want a citizen in an un-tested prototype armor"
I thought about her concern for a moment. She had a good point, this armor had never been used, as far as we knew. I could have been full of deadly malfunctions, or it could explode suddenly. But we needed to act, we couldn't just sit around, but who would be willing to go against their princess's wishes and enter the prototype?
The answer was closer than i had originally thought.
"U-um, e-excuse me everyone?" A small voice asked cautiously, "I-I would like to volunteer for testing the prototype, I-If that is okay with all of you"
Silence was becoming very, very, very, VERY annoying now. But this was a shocked silence that was deserved. For out of all of the few ponies I knew, I had not expected Fluttershy to even want to come close to battle armor.
"F-Fluttershy!" Twilight gasped, "Are...Are you sure you want to?!"
The yellow mare shrank back a little, but I could see that her mind was made up.
Fluttershy would go down in two histories as the first pony-tenno.