//------------------------------// // Assault on Rainbow Factory // Story: Night Patrol // by Foxgear //------------------------------// Night Patrol ch 18 By Foxgear The nobles gathered in what they consider a less than a luxurious room. Of course, anything was less than extravagant in their opinion, but the majority of them held their tongues. They were so close to their goal, immortality, and a lack of more exceptional necessities would not have them jeopardize that goal by annoying the ponies providing it for them. Yes, they knew they could be insufferable at times, and they had no qualms about it. After all, what pony would dare speak against them? Well that all changed with their impromptu self-exile from Canterlot and for the first time in all their lives they had some insight to those in need. If Hoofenstein and Madhoof went back on their deal, they would be left with nothing, no money, no social status, and no home. They had bet it all, and now it was time to see if their gamble paid off. Some were even more skittish. Shirker Yellowblood was perhaps the most paranoid of all. After all, his friend Blueblood had betrayed them, and he had been one of the most trusted ponies of their group. How could they trust Hoofenstein and Madhoof? How could they trust each other? What if only one of them could become immortal? What then? What would happen? In the far corner of the room, Vi Violetblood watched the other nobles with suspicion. She knew better than to let anypony here have her back, which was why she kept hers close to the wall. Despite their common goal and the fact she was the one that pulled them into all this, she never felt any trust or companionship for any of her fellow “Nobles.” Really why should she? She was so much older and wiser than any of them, having lived many more lives than they could even dream. She knew their fathers and their grandfathers and their fathers and so on and so on. She knew them better then they knew themselves. Such as the fact if things came down to a fight, Redblood and Orangeblood would team up against the rest of them, their familial relationship binding them stronger together then the loose thread that tied their so-called “Friendship.” Then there was Greenblood, he wasn’t much of threat, all hot air and poise. He usually paid somepony to do his dirty work, but well, he had no money to bribe with, so he was a goner. Finally there was Yellowblood, the pony nobody trusted, he’d be the first crack if things got hairy. Right now he was probably panicking in fear and already thinking of what he would do if he had to choose between them and himself, which is why he didn’t sleep and why they didn’t either despite how tired they were from their trip. The door of the room opened and revealed Madhoof, “We are ready for you, please follow me.” They followed the Doctor to a large room. Inside a group of ponies were putting the finishing touches on what looked like four life-sized models of Saddle Arabia ponies, tall, slender, and sturdy looking with a few extra features, such as horns and wings. “This is project Sleipnir,” Madhoof announced, “The key to your immortality. These armors are made of the strongest alloy ever discovered, Orichalcum, nothing can break it.” (Well almost nothing.) “And how are these armors going to make us immortal?” Yellowblood skeptically asked, “You were supposed to be finding a way to make us into Alicorns!” If Madhoof was imitated by the noble’s tone, he didn’t show it. “A valid point Lord Yellowblood, however, we have yet the means to do that, so this is the next best thing, no, the better option. Think about it, my dear noble ponies. Once your soul is transferred into the metal skin of this armor, you will never know sickness, hunger, the feel of old age, and you’ll be immune to the passage of time! Think about it! You won’t simply be immortal, you’ll be invincible!” “Yes, yes, that does sound rather… ideal.” Yellowblood said memorized approaching the armor. “But there are only four, which one of us will be left out?” Greenblood pointed out. Each noble began eyeing the other, looking for the weakest link, this Vi knew, was her chance. “I will opt-out. I prefer to enjoy life’s pressures with my own hooves, or rather real hooves. Besides, unlike you all, I already have a way to cheat death. I can wait a little longer for true immortality.” They stared at her like she had grown a second head. Not that she minded, these youngsters could never really understand how boring life could be when you lived for as long as she has. Indulging in everything life as to offer was the best way to strive off that boredom. Being made of metal made enjoying said things hard and there was a second purpose, but that would have to wait. Vi patted the budge in her saddlebag discreetly, to assure one more that the items she had cared for all these years were indeed safe and sound. “Well go on, get on with it!” She gestured excitedly. The nobles seemed to shrug off their skepticism and entered the circles surrounding the suits of armor. “Are we prepared to begin the process,” Hoofenstein asked, entering the room. Vi took a few steps back to give the Doctors room to do their work, but not too far. Silently she unbuckled the strap of her saddle pack, ready to act in a moment’s notice. Madhoof and Hoofenstein took up their positions, their hooves touch the ground and the room filled with a pinkish light activating all four circles at once. Vi watched as the pink stars rose into the air and slowly descend upon the nobles and their new bodies. It was in this critical moment, she struck! “Catch!” She shouted, grabbing the items in her saddlebag with her magic and tossed them at the nobles, who dumbly turn towards her out of reflex, giving her the perfect shot. Hoofenstein gasped as four Alicorn amulets flew through the air, each one a different shape and color, and as powerful as the one they had given to Sombra. Each charm attached themselves to a nobles’ chest just as the transmutation completed, merging flesh with metal. The light diminished and revealed the four suits ablaze with ethereal fire, each one barring a different color, green, orange, red, and yellow. The suits moved and bowed before Vi. Something was wrong, something was very wrong! Thought the scientists. “How may we be of service,” Said the Green maned suit. “Oh Greenblood, glad to see you finally know your place,” Vi rubbed the metal horse’s snout with her hoof, the other three eagerly join in, all of them wanting a touch. “That’s a good pony. Don’t worry, you’ll enjoy being my servants, it’s not like it’s much different than before.” Hoofenstein stepped back fearfully from his creations. They were supposed to be under his control, the nobles were only supposed to provide the life force for the armors, but to add in Alicorn Amulets. How? How did Vi have so many? “Where did you get those? It took us years to find one in ruins beneath Canterlot! How could you have four?” “Well, let’s just say I have a lot of time on my hooves and I had plenty of bits to spend over the years. I guess having some knowledge of their whereabouts what kind of handy too.” Vi answered, her four new metal knights lining up behind her. “I am a lot older then I look after all.” Hoofenstein narrowed his eyes at the mare, “How old?” “Now that’s a rude question to ask, you never ask a mare her age, you know.” The two stared down one another, each one waiting for the other to make a move, but before anything could happen, the entire factory shook. “What was that?” Madhoof demanded angrily to the other staff members. None of them could provide answers just as a second explosion rocked the factory. “Sirs!” A beaten-up pony yelled, bursting through the door! “We have an intruder! It’s number 088, and he’s disabled the camouflage shield!” “How is that possible? How did he get in undetected?” “There’s no time for that Madhoof,” Said Hoofenstein sharply, “All hooves prepare for battle! It won’t take long for the princesses to find our location. Now go, go, go!” “Yes, sir!” The ponies saluted scrambling around in a frenzy. Hoofenstein marched up to Vi, staring the mare in the eye, anger burned throughout his entire body at what he was about to do. “I don’t know who you really are, but you now control my trump card against the princesses, so in favor of our mutual interests. I must ask for your help in this grave hour.” Vi waved him off, “Oh, don’t be so dramatic. You still have to make me a better body. Think of these guys as my trump card, so that you don’t try to betray me like you did the others. Deal?” “Deal.” “Good, now, I think it’s time I got put little Tia and Lunie to sleep, for good!” Vi laughed, leaving the room her knights following her. The Moon Cutter sailed across the cloudless sky at a steady pace. Up ahead, groups of Rinin and Pegasi scout for clues high above in the air, while patrols of earth and unicorn ponies combed the landscape for clues. Thanks to Luna’s forward-thinking they managed to cover a lot of ground already searched by the earlier patrols. Now as they caught up to the advance scouting party, their progress slowed. Reports had to be given, troops needed to be rotated out and informed which area had been searched and which ones weren’t. Among all the chaos, Luna was missing two of her best commanders, Fury, and Sixes. Seemed they had gone ahead of everypony else after the nobles, along with Nico Vega. While she admired their dedication, they didn’t leave an easy trail to follow. “Don’t worry Luna, we’ll find them,” Celestia assured from her chair. Despite being the Princess of the Sun, Celestia wasn’t much of morning pony and didn’t recover from all-nighters quite as well as her sister. Her eyes were haggard, threatening to close every second, opening and closing against her will. Even the sun seemed much duller than usual, reflecting the Princess’s lack of energy. Luna hoped she would be out if by the time they found the ponies responsible for their troubles. A tired princess was not an intimidating princess. “I know sister,” Luna replied, feeling equally tired, but managing to do a better job at hiding it. At least the black bags under her eyes were obscured by her coat. “Gadget, any word yet?” “None yet princess, the forward scouts have yet to return, and no signal flares have been sent as of yet.” “I see, continue to the search and keep me updated.” “Of course,” Gadget bowed. Luna sank back in her chair, wondering what has become of her three ponies. She swore when she found them she would punish them severely for making her worry so much. They better hope her hair didn’t turn silver because of them. The sound of an alarm went off, jolting everypony out of their seat as they scramble to figure out what was going on. Luna flew out of her chair, Celestia at her side as she peered over the radar. Only a moment ago there had been nothing, but now there was something, and it was BIG! “What is that?” “I don’t know princess, but it looks to be a mountain, its magnetic pull must have bugged the equipment or something.” Luna rubbed her chin with thought, “Stay on course, I want to investigate this mountain. Reduce speed and have weather teams two and three provide us with some more cloud cover. Get in contact with our ground forces and tell them to rally at position Bravo and be ready for anything. I got a bad feeling about this.” Her mind was running so fast that Luna barely registered Celestia tapping her shoulder, until the older princess dropped her helm on her head, covering her eyes. She lifted the offending thing from her view and glared at her sister for such silly games in a time when they need to be serious. The words died in her throat though, as she saw Celestia strapping herself into her golden armor. “I think you’ll need that,” Celestia smiled levitating the rest of Luna’s armor to her. The younger sister pawed the bits of steel with her hoof. “A prediction?” Celestia shook her head, “No, just a gut feeling.” “I see, so you feel it too?” “Indeed,” Celestia answered, pointing ahead, “I feel a massive about of energy coming from that direction. I believe we have found our enemies.” “More than likely,” Luna agreed, equipping her armor. Checking to make sure every piece fit right and didn’t bind anywhere. Quietly she muttered to herself as she inspected her weapon. There was going to be another battle, like before in the Crystal Empire, this time though she was ready. She had her patrollers with her. Everypony outfitted with Gadget’s latest weapons and prepared for action. Still, the feeling of unease would not leave her. She had no doubt the enemy would be excepting their arrival and would be digging in for a long siege. Time would be the most significant factor. The Moon Cutter could only carry so much fuel and ammo, and they had no way to resupply. Everypony was here, with the few exceptions still at the castle, but this was it. The full force of the night patrol would fall upon the ponies of Rainbow Factory. She intended to make the ponies who dared to snatch foals and play them for fools to understand what happened when you make an Alicorn Princess angry. “Object in sight!” The radar pony announced. Luna and Celestia flew to the front of the control deck to get a closer view from the deck's window. What they saw amazed them. It was a factory alright, a factory-built atop of floating mountain! A smart idea really, if it weren’t for the fact she was going to send it plummeting back to the earth. “Cannons insight, princess, their preparing to fire!” “Arm all cannons and make a hard right and fire a full broadside, followed by a turn left with another assault! All fliers are to take off after the first barrage!” Luna commanded, the ship swung right sharply, tossing anypony not prepared for it. A few blasts flew past them, they narrowly avoid contact, moments later the sound of their cannons firing sung in the air. Half a dozen of the ships forty four gem cannon hit the factory. Explosions blanket the outer steel shell as several dozen Pegasus and Rinin squads took flight, each one armed with two Hoof Mounted Gem Cannons (HMGC) on their front hooves and one rocket-propelled gem projectile or missile as Gadget called it. Luna wasn’t sure when he designed the weapons or when he had the time to manufacture them, but this would be their first battle test. She hoped they work as well as he claimed they did. The ship took a sharp left and the second barrage fired. More cannons found their mark this time, but the enemy was firing back with greater fury. Long flaming beams shot out from the base of the factory. Luna called for the telescope. “Thank you,” She said, taking the spyglass in her magic. Zooming in she spotted a familiar sight, stone cyclops, the very same she fought when she first met Applejack, acting as anti-air gunners. Their beams offering a controlled and precise attack that already claimed a few of her fliers. “Squad three Captain Odds, Squad four Captain Evens, launch your missile volley at the cyclops! Take them out know! Captain Ace Spades, fly under and see if there’s any way to take out their engines if they have any. Send word to Commanders Applejack and Rawhide to begin their ground assault once the factory touches the earth.” Chatter filled the channels as ponies scrambled to full fill her will. “Night Hunter Overheat, you are to a company the ground forces, Emerald Cutter join up with the triplets and squad two and prepare a boarding party. I want you to get inside the first chance you get. Killing Perfection you’re on standby with Rinin unit seven.” “Aye ma’am,” They all shouted over their gem coms. “And be careful,” She added, “All of you, be careful, don’t get yourselves killed.” A few of them chuckle over the coms, more than likely it was the Night Hunters, “Should we consider that an order ma’am?” “Yes, yes you should,” Luna replied, smiling faintly. Squads three and four fired their missiles at the cyclops, a few hit their mark, others didn’t, and close-quarters combat quickly ensues. Through her spyglass, Luna watched helplessly as Odds and Evens' squads faced off against the cyclops. Her stomach twisting as more creatures, this time ogres, come to the cyclops’s defense. “Have squad five support three and four,” Luna ordered solemnly, “Spades, what’s your progress?” Aces Spades, a black Pegasus with a green mane, looked warily at his situation. In front of him were four big rocket-like engines similar to the Moon Cutter’s only on a more substantial scale before him and he was at a loss at what to do. His missiles have proven ineffective against the engines, they were simply too big. “Progress is at a grinding halt, ma’am. We gave her everything we had and didn’t scratch it. We either need a bigger projectile, or we need to manually shut the engines down from the inside.” “I see, what do you think, Gadget?” Luna asked, looking to the mechanically minded pony for answers. Gadget hummed collecting his thoughts, “We’d need to power down the engines generator, blowing up the fuel source would be the most effective method. We’d take out the engines and a good portion of the factory all at once. The problem is we need to get in there, and you see how well that’s going.” “I think I can be of some help in that regard,” A voice said over the coms, Luna, Celestia and Gadget all turn to the radio pony, asking who spoke. The pony points to the 088 icons. “Nico Vega?” Celestia questioned remembering the Rinin from the battle for the Crystal Empire. What was he doing inside the factory? “That’s me, came in looking for Commanders Fury and Sixes, haven’t found them yet, but I did find their cloaking device thing and took it out. Glad to see you all showed up right away. I’ve been ducking tail for a while now. I don’t think I made them too happy with my little stunt.” Luna gasped, “Sixes and Fury are captured?” “Afraid so, I’m trying to locate them, but it’s not easy. Ponies are running everywhere, and I don’t really blend in very well. Hold on connections getting bad.” The com went silent for a solid minute; there is nothing but static. “Alright, I’m back, sorry about that, coms been going in and out for a while. What are your orders, Princess? Should I keep looking for the Commanders or do I go for the engines?” Luna bit her cheek, wishing Nico hadn’t asked her that. Logically there was only one choice to make, but she didn’t want to say it. “Disable the engines, Nico Vega, Sixes and Fury will take priority after that,” Celestia said suddenly, surprising Luna by how calm and composed she was. She smiled down at her, a tight smile that was forced but meant to reassure Luna that she knew what she was thinking. “Roger that, I’ll get right on it,” Nico confirmed cutting off the transmission. “Thank you, sister,” Luna whispered, “For saying what needed to be said.” Celestia smiled softly, “It’s what I’m here for.” With a slight nod and smile, Luna returned to coordinating her troops. They need to get the enemy’s attention off a Nico, so he could succeed in his mission, and there was only one thing that could possibly do that. “As of now Celestia is the primary commander of the Moon Cutter, I’m going out to take field command.” Luna declared, earning a few gasps, “Killing Perfection, you’re my wing pony.” “Understood,” The white Rinin saluted, “I’ll meet you on the flight deck.” “Luna,” Celestia said, causing Luna to pause in her steps. “Be safe.” She nodded, “I will trust me.” Celestia sighed as Luna walked away, her stomach a twist of knots. “I do, little sister, I do, but I still worry.” She whispered under her breath. Steeling her heart Celestia took the reins of the Moon Cutter once again, “Attention all squads, princess Luna is entering the battlefield. Keep an extra eye on her flank for me.” “Roger that!” A herald of voices called over the coms with earnest, warming Celestia’s heart, her sister had befriended a lot of wonderful ponies. “Thank you, my ponies, now let’s get these villains!” Nico Vega ran for all he was worth, ducking in and out of the shadows passing by without a notice. Stealth was his best bet at getting to his objective as quickly as possible. He was ever so thankful, more than ever, of his dark colorings. His black and grey skin and hair blend perfectly in with the shadows. Quietly he crept along the side of the wall pass a pair of ponies standing still in the chaos. He wondered what their purpose was. Lowing himself down, he hoped to catch wind of some Intel, but they were simply standing there, silent. Looking left to right for anypony nearby, he debated taking them down and interrogating them. The risk verse reward was questionable. They COULD know where the engine room and prisoners are, but if he could ‘convince’ them to tell him would be another story. There was also the fact that once he took them out, he would have to kill them, hide the bodies and hope no pony noticed them gone from their post. He flexed his claws, going back and forth on what to do. Looking around again for anypony, he saw no pony around. It was now or ever. He let go and fell on top of the guards before they could react, he knocked both upside the head dropping them to the ground. Quickly he grabbed their hind legs, dragging them into the room they were guarding. Inside Nico took a moment to inspect the room, mainly for anypony else, but also out of curiosity. Really what could so crucial that two ponies remained on guard even during a battle? The answer was the two HUGE test tubes with two strange-looking beasts. They look like ponies, while their lower bodies did. Their upper body was something he’s never seen before. Maybe it was a gorilla? They sure had the muscles of one, but then they also had bull horns on their head, so perhaps they were part Minotaur? “Tirek and Scorpion, huh, quite the names. Hmm, what’s this?” On pedestal behind the tubes, there was a sort of boot with claws on it, underneath was a plaque that read, “Use in case of escape. Well, that sounds important.” Putting the boot on Nico was surprised to find it fit rather well, giving him a little more reach with his claws to boot. “I’m keeping this.” “Now, what do to do with you two?” He wondered aloud as he shook the first guard awake. The pony groaned, gradually coming back to the land of the living. He snapped away when he got a clear view of Nico, but before the guard could really act, he was grabbed again and forced into a chokehold, with five razor-sharp claws against his throat. “Time to spill some beans buddy, tell me where the engine and prison block are, and you might get out of here alive.” “Go ahead and kill me now, I know there is no reason for me to live once I tell you, so go ahead and do it!” The pony yelled as he struggled, awaking his partner. “My respect for your loyalty buddy,” He said plunging the metal claws into the poor stallion’s throat, nearly taking his whole head off in the process, but more importantly the blood sprayed onto the awakening guard, who screamed in horror at what probably had to be a pretty horrible sight. Dropping the dead guard, Nico caught the other before he could get more than a few inches away, maneuvering other guards, so he was looking at his dead friend. “Ten seconds, you have ten seconds to tell me where the engine room and the prison cells are, or you end up like him.” “I-I- ddodont” “Eight.” “Theiereir” “Four, come on buddy not much time left.” “The engine room is-is at the base of the factory at the lowest level. The prison is located in the middle section on the far north side where the factory connects to the side of the mountain.” “Thanks, buddy and I’m sorry.” Nico plunged his claws into the pony’s throat ending him quickly. He then dragged the bodies to the very back of the room finding a mat to place over the blood, it wasn’t a perfect cover-up, but maybe it would buy him some time if somepony stumbled inside. Now how to get down to the lower levels? Better yet, where was he even at? There was no number on the walls or anything to really indicate if he was in the higher levels or lower levels. He hadn’t been paying attention after he stumbled upon the cloaking device and blew it up. They were giving a good chase and did manage to corner him… for a few seconds. He wondered how long it would take for another squad to pick up where their comrades left off. “Maybe I can find some stairs or…” “There he is!” “Crap…” Looking around for anything that could help him, Nico spotted a vent and dived right in. The vent was big, big enough for a pony of his size to fit. Sometimes being on the smaller side had its perks. “Well, at least I’m going down,” Maybe he’ll stumble on to the engine room like he did with the cloaking room. He seemed to have a strange sort of luck for this sabotage stuff. After traveling downwards for what seemed like forever, Nico finally came to the end of the tunnel, literary and low and behold the engine room. The vent must supply air to the lower levels, kind of like in the Moon Cutter. Peering, through the grates, Nico examined his target, which from the size of it would take more than some lightning breath to destroy. If complete destruction wasn’t possible, the next best thing was disabling. A machine this big had to have a lot of working parts, parts that needed to work, or nothing would. Gadget said something about generators… like those over there! Breaking the grate, Nico flew up to the ceiling to get the overview of the engine. There were four big generators, all set on a grid from the looks of it. From what he could tell the generators were set up in a vertical style verses the Moon Cutter’s horizontal. None the less it seemed they too use gem powered engines. He’d have to bring that up to Gadget after this was all over. Whatever the case, the best way to take out a gem engine was to take out its cooling system. Once again going off the Moon Cutter’s design would most likely be a blue set of gems. “That looks about right,” Nico flew over to the large tower engines, ducking below the giant gem spinning at high speeds and came to a stop at the smaller head-sized blue gems below, which sure enough were producing a large amount of artic air to keep the jewels above cold. Reaching in Nico snatched one of the blue gems and ate it. Instantly he felt a chill down his spine as the cold spell was absorbed into his body. Expanding his chest, Nico felt the stinging sensation of glacial ice travel up his throat as he unleashed a stream of subzero ice breath upon the machine. Everything came to a grinding halt, frozen in ice, and with a little tap of his claw, the device shattered to pieces. Immediately the other engines began working harder, trying to make up for the lost motor, but this caused the rotating gems to spin faster, making them hotter, so hot in fact that the cooling jewels couldn’t keep up. Wasn’t long after that a second engine blew and then the third, and now everything felt like it was falling. “Time to go!” Nico took off just as the factory-made contact with the ground. Outside on the ground, Applejack and Rawhide were huddled in their foxholes with every unicorn and earth pony in the heavy infantry and scouts. Attach to Applejack’s hoof was Gadget’s newest toy, the hoof cannon, the thing was made with the same idea as Celestia’s grieves. By merely focusing their earth pony magic, she could create a small orb of magic and fire it. The hoof blasters didn’t have the stopping power of the ship’s cannons, but it would take a pony down. The downside was it took a full five seconds to charge a lethal shot, anything less was just a love tap. This made the rate fire pretty low, and if fired it too often and too fast it overheats. Still, it was nice to be able to attack from afar for once. She kept her grieves on through knowing eventually things would get up close and personal. “Look alive! We got incoming!” Rawhide shouted as the factory fell to earth. Nico did his job. Hopefully, he and others inside were alright. The factory landed hard. Dust kicking up from the landing obscured their vision, and for a moment, everything was silent. Applejack peeked up out of her hole, her cannon humming softly as she powered up a blast. All around her ponies emerged doing the same. Through the dust and smoke, they spotted figures rising up off the ground. Moments later, beams of fire slammed into the defensive positions. “Return fire!” The sound of hundreds of hoof cannons going off at once was deafening. Glowing orbs of magic flew into the figures, creating screams of pain. It wasn’t long that the enemy returned fire, beams of light, blasts from unicorn horns and cannon echoed, and then there were the howls. Peeking over the defenses, Applejack spotted the familiar sight of artic timberwolves charging at them. Their white bark skin cover in ice sent chills down her spine as she remembered her last encounter with them. “Don’t let them get close! Use alternating volley fire!” She ordered taking a shot at the wolves, only to miss. That was the third problem with these things, it was more guessing than actual aiming at anything farther than twenty feet. Sure enough, once the wolves were close enough, they were quickly taken out by the barrage of cannon fire, their wooden bodies bursting into flames. Now they were back to the start, firing blindly into the enemy ranks, unable to advance due to the enemies more accurate fire, but the enemy wasn’t willing to push into their fighting range. “We need air support.” Applejack grumbled into her gem communicator, only to get a bunch of static, “Every damn time! You got any ideas?” Rawhide peered over the battlefield, on top of the factory there was a barrage of anti-air fire, which what was probably keeping their units from descending. Of course they could fall back and join up with them from behind, but that would only ground the air units. In the middle section of the factory more stone golems lined up, firing into the sky at the Moon Cutter. There was also a horde of ogres forming at the base of the factory. They would be in tight pinch very soon if they didn’t do something. “Well, we could dig a tunnel.” Rawhide suggested, anticipating Applejack’s ‘are you kidding me’ look he shushed her, picking up his pickaxe and infused it with his magic. With one mightily swing, he dug five feet into the ground. “Dirt’s pretty soft, I used to blow through two feet of rock back in the day. I’ll have us under them in no time.” “Alright then, you get digging I’ll keep things going up here. Signal me when you get to the enemy line. Hopefully, the Moon Cutter can get low enough for Overheat to jump down and join us.” “You just keep your head down and keep those monsters at bay, I’ll be right back.” Rawhide grinned giving Applejack a quick peck on the cheek. He dug into the earth with vigor, disappearing into the darkness of his tunnel in only a few seconds. “That’s very unprofessional!” Applejack called down, blushing. “Stupid stallion never serious when he supposed to be.” She grumbled firing at the enemy. Sixes got up with a groan, if he were to guess, Luna and the others arrived. They could have waited a little bit longer to send them crashing to earth, preferably after they got out of here. Speaking of which, these walls were sturdy, solid mountain rock made excellent prison walls. “That would be our friends,” He looked to the elected leader of the imprisoned ponies, Shadow Specter was what he calls himself. Shadow claimed to be a sort of ghost pony but was unable to validate his claim do to the collar blocking his magic. “Are you still hesitant about escaping?” Since their reintroduction with their former cellmates, Sixes and Fury had learned a lot about the factory. Such as how long they had been operating and the many experiments they’d conducted. The 150 Rinin ponies that he and Fury had been a part of were one of the few mass production experiments. Most ponies here in prison were specialized experiments, some were variants of regular ponies, like the giant pony, P-Rex, and the Shadow Specter himself, along with a few more monster ponies similar to Overheat and Emerald Cutter. Altogether they numbered about a few hundred. Their numbers varied from as low as 004 to as high as 9989, other than the 150 Rinin, and the ponies here, all other experiments were failures, in which the subject died, leaving a rough total of four hundred and fifty successful trials, well four hundred and fifty-one, now. With maybe more in labs. “It’s not that we don’t want to escape Sixes, of course, we do, but…” Shadow Specter hesitated, “We tried before and failed. These collars don’t just block our magic, they also act as a sort of anti-riot device. We get loose; it only takes a single charge of a horn to have us on our knees. Let me tell you from experience, it’s not pleasant.” “So if we get these collars off, you’d fight?” Fury asked, making Sixes wonder what his friend had in mind. “We’d follow you with vigor right into the mouth of hell itself.” “Well then,” Fury said, expanding his chest, “Guess it’s up to me then.” “Fury, what are you doing?” Sixes demanded as he watched his friend try to summon up his fire breath. Steam blew off the red Rinin’s body as his scales crack, at this rate Fury would explode! “Fury stop, Fury!” Liquid fire fell from Fury’s mouth as he smiled, his entire body engulfed in flame. “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” He said, “Make sure you move the collar, I’d hate to do this again.” Right before Sixes very eyes, Fury erupted into a column of fire and crumbled into ash. The metal collar ringing as it rolled across the stone floor. Luna led the charge with Killing Perfection and the Rinin triplets, Trifecta (#301), Trinity (#302), and Thrice(#303), they were called the triplets, well because they all look the same. All three sported the same grey-blue coat color, silver mane, and stood at the same height. Overall they made a capable team. As she and Killing Perfection flew in to try and enter the enemy stronghold, the triplets providing cover fire with their hoof cannons, blasting away at the line of stone cyclops. Ogres quickly filled the voids, swinging clubs and such at them. Luna wasn’t in a mood to play and grabbed the ogres with her magic and threw them off the side to the ground, it was a long way down. With her hooves on the enemy base, Luna felt a brief moment of triumph. Working quickly she and Killing Perfection sent the rest of the monsters on the platform to a quick and timely demise viva pushing them off the side. They were about to clear the other platforms when half a dozen unicorns rushed them. Pulling her star blades from their holster, she met the unicorn head-on with Killing Perfection, quickly finding out something was different about them the moment one slipped through her defenses and got a hit on her breastplate, denting it. Luna wheezed as the dented metal pushed on her lung, restricting her breathing. KP rushed from the side tackling the pony that dare hit her and sent him flying off the factory. The shuttering hiss of her swords being drawn filled the air as the white Rinin mercilessly craved her way through the five remaining ponies. “Are you alright, princess?” She asked dragging Luna to the corner of the platform. Keeping one eye trained on the door leading inside as she worked to get the princess’s breastplate off. Luna pushed her away before she could though, Perfection stepped back allowing the princess to stand on her own hooves as Luna used magic to remove the dent in her armor. “I’m fine. They just took me by surprise is all. I never expected a unicorn to hit that hard, it was almost like taking a kick from Applejack.” Though Applejack never tried to kill her, if not for her armor and the sturdy material it was made out of, she’d be breathing through her chest right now. “I fear I may have underestimated them. I thought they were the science type like Gadget and would be lacking physical department, but I was proven wrong.” “I’m sorry, princess,” Said Killing Perfection, “I should have paid better attention, it’s my fault they got so close to you.” Luna waved her off her concern, “Think nothing of it KP, one should guard their own life on their own. Relying on other ponies to do it for you only weakens one's own survival instincts. Let us take this lesson with a grain of salt and move on from here.” “Understood.” Luna nodded and retrieved her gem commutator, “This is Princess Luna, we have secured a foot hold, I repeat we have a foot hold, send down the assault teams.” “Roger that, Emerald Cutter and her squad are on the way down,” The radio pony replied. “Shall we secure the other platforms then?” Luna grinned mischievously lighting up her horn. “Already got them done, princess!” Luna and Killing Perfection ran to the edge of the platform to see the triplets each holding their own cleared platform. A few moments’ later diamonds rain down from the sky, wiping out the enemies on the platforms above, announcing the arrival of Emerald and her team. “Sorry we're’ late princess, had to drag this lug with us.” Emerald joked pointing at Overheat. The fiery monster pony gave a salute before jumping off the crystal pathway Emerald was making for the land units to travel on, hopping down to the lower platforms, and leaving a fiery trail in his wake as he made his way to the ground to support the Rawhides and Applejack’s forces below. “Alright, let’s move out!” Luna commanded once every pony was on the platforms, together they entered the enemy stronghold. Once inside they broke off into three teams, one lead by Luna, one by Emerald Cutter, and one by Killing Perfection. Their mission was to subdue all enemy combatants by whatever means and take the upper, middle, and lower levels. Luna took the middle, while Killing Perfection took the upper, with Emerald taking the lower, each one with their own five pony unit at their command. As the hoof steps of others disappeared in the distance, Luna prayed for their safety. More ponies would be joining them soon, the triplets would keep their foothold secured for the other units. Yet, despite everything going their way, the twisting knots in her stomach did not leave her. In the corner of her mind she knew something was wrong, very wrong, she just didn’t know what. “It’s kind of quiet,” one of the ponies behind her said, making Luna stop in tracks and take a look around. There was nothing here, no ponies, no monsters, nothing! “Princess?” “Shoosh,” She demanded with her hoof. Closing her eyes, she stomped her foot on the metal floor, using earth sonar to find anything, anything at all. For a long time she felt nothing, when suddenly at the very end of the sonar's range, something appeared and it was getting closer. Its hooves clang on the metal floor, loud like thunder, the noise deafening in the silence of the darkness. From the darkness emerged a pair of glowing yellow eyes, followed by a long metal horn, the thing was massive, at least a head taller than her. It was a horse, a metal horse. “Hello again, my dear Princess of the Night, how are you today?” “Yellowblood,” Luna gasped, recognizing the noble’s voice. “What, what happened to you?” The metal monster laughed, “I have given up my fear and have ascended to the higher plane! I now no longer afraid of you and your sister, or the insignificant power you hold. I am beyond you now. I will prove it two you now, by killing those slacks for flesh behind you.” “You will do no such thing!” “Really,” Yellowblood chuckled darkly, his horn engulfed in yellow flame, “Try and stop me!” Luna lurched forward with her star blades posed to attack as Yellowblood’s magic flowed around her, only when it was too late did she realize her mistake. Her blades bounce harmlessly off the metal stallion's coat as his magic attacked the ponies behind her. She turned, foolishly giving her back to her enemy as she saw all five ponies fall to the ground with spears of light buried in their hearts. Tears stained her cheeks as she faced to the metal pony laughing behind her, the shadows dancing around her in an angry frenzy. She screamed at the top of her lungs, magic gathered around her hoof as she struck with all her might. Yellowblood met her, their feet slammed together, creating a shock wave so powerful it ripped the floor beneath them apart. They fell into the darkness below.