Tthe deserts of Saddle Arabia...
"Open fire!" A Saddle Arabian commander ordered.
Several tanks and a few Knight-Mares fired upon the enemy squadron. The enemy went through them without batting an eye. Two Knight-Mares especially, slashed through and destroyed two units each.
"Gloucesters!?" He said in surprise.
"It's supposed to be in Seruphoof." A second soldier stood beside him, talking into a radio.
The Saddle Arabian numbers were slowly crumbling, and so, they tried to mount a counterattack.
"Shoddy oversized imitation Knight-Mares. Correct, Mandible?" One Nymphian soldier, a green eyed changeling drone with a scar running across his face and right eye, said scathingly as he blocked a barrage of bullets.
Another, a changeling drone with a red mane and tail and green eyes, smirked upon hearing that. "Indeed, Decas. They would've been wise to surrender from the start."
A resounding explosion behind them caused the Saddle Arabians to whirl around. The base, destroyed in a fiery inferno.
"What?!" One commander exclaimed. A single Knight-Mare appeared out of the flames and sped towards them.
Clenching his teeth, the commander thought, 'So Chrysalis, a single unit did that?'
Decas and Mandible used the moment to attack. Striking through the Saddle Arabians with their lances, there were soon none left to contend.
"Another victory. Colony 18 has been established." Chrysalis stated.
A message went over the Knight-Mare communicators. "My lady, about our next course of action..."
"Sorry to have you clean up after my foolish cousin."
"Please don't apologize, my lady. We live to serve and our place is with you."
"Hmph. Do you think that Colony 11 needs our usual treatment?" Chrysalis asked.
"Yes, my lady."
"Good."
She cut off the communication line. Her eyes flashed as she hissed, "I'll drive you into the open, Zero. Xirex will be avenged."
Stryker walked through the door. "I'm back, Moth."
"Welcome home, Stryker." A voice that was definitely not Moth's said.
Stryker froze, suddenly very happy that he'd put up his emotion guard before coming in. 'That mare... That shouldn't be possible. The bullet went right through her head! How-?!'
Yet the alicorn was sitting before him, next to his sister, folding origami with a pearl necklace around her neck and a bow in her mane. A cloak covered her wings, but he'd recognize those slitted cerulean eyes anywhere.
"I'm so glad. I was worried." Moth said, oblivious to the situation.
"I'm assuming you ate out tonight." The alicorn mare stated. Stryker still couldn't make a comprehensive thought.
"Thank goodness. I thought maybe you'd gotten caught up in all the uproar caused by that pony, Zero. I tried calling you but you didn't answer your cellphone and the hivemind was quiet. I wanted to tell you Miss S2's been waiting as well."
Stryker finally managed to speak. "S2?"
Moth giggled. "Your friend goes by such an unusual name."
"Yeah..."
"I was just wondering, is S2 your marefriend?" Moth asked.
Stryker blinked. "What?"
"He made a promise about our future together. Right?" S2 looked up from her origami and fixated her gaze on Stryker.
"Huh?" Stryker took a step back in confusion.
Moth tilted her head. "A future together? You mean marriage?"
Stryker processed that for a second before frantically saying, "No! No, that isn't what she was talking about. It's like a- she's kidding around!"
"No, I'm not." S2 said in a flat tone as she resumed her origami folding.
Stryker used his magic to lift a teacup from the table as Moth said, "Well you're certainly doing this sooner than most. But everyone's different, aren't they? So I suppose it isn't that strange. And if you feel like you're ready for-" He dropped his teacup onto the floor. "Oh!"
Stryker grabbed S2's hoof and dragged her out the door. "Oh, S2. Look what you've done, you're soaking wet. Come on, let's get you to the bathroom so you can clean up. Moth, stay here and I'll clean it up in a minute." He called over his shoulder, "And she was kidding before. Kidding. Just a dumb joke. That's all."
Moth simply tilted her head in confusion. "Huh?"
"Who are you?" Stryker demanded as his door closed.
"She said my name. I'm S2." The mare said, turning away from him to survey the room.
Stryker scowled. "That's not I meant. Why aren't you-"
"Supposed to be dead?" She finished.
"Hmm..." Stryker narrowed his eyes. 'How come I can't read her emotions? She's a pony, not a changeling. She shouldn't be able to do that, alicorn or not.'
S2 fell back onto Stryker's bed. "So, do you like the power that I gave you?"
"As I thought, it was you." He said as he thought of the power he held in his left eye.
"Dissatisfied?" She asked.
Stryker smirked. "On the contrary, I'm grateful. It allows me speed up my schedule tremendously, which is a huge help."
"Your schedule?" S2 raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. My schedule for obliterating Nymphia. I would've had to wait much longer before I could've made the initial move."
"You believe you can destroy it simply by using that power?"
"I intended to do it without this power." He clarified.
S2 smiled in a ghostly manner. 'I just knew that he'd turn out to be a fascinating drone.'
"But what'll you do now? I'm sure the military is after you." Stryker asked.
"Not the entire military, only a small faction of it. So it shouldn't be difficult to find hiding place. I can make do here." S2 took off the black cloak and bow she wore, throwing it on the floor messily.
"What? You expect to stay here?" Stryker exclaimed.
S2 pulled the blanket over herself with a deep sky-blue aura. "A gentlecolt would sleep on the floor."
"Don't joke around." Stryker said.
"Me being caught would cause trouble for you too." She pointed out.
"It's dangerous to stay together."
"If I wander the streets, they'll find me." She countered.
Stryker scowled. "This isn't about you. It's my situation."
"I hate stubbornness." She turned away.
Stryker sat down on the floor with a scoff. "You sure take things casually, don't you? How did you manage to survive before this? What did you do before now? And what's the deal with that so-called contract you spoke of-"
"Goodnight, Stryker."
Stryker clenched his teeth. "Grr."
"Fukushoofa, Koucanteri, Hireinshima. This has been the seventh occurrence since that pony, Zero, raised his head." Azure said.
"It seems the other groups are following his lead and putting up a valiant fight." Gear commented.
Azure turned to Gear. "And now, suspicions about that 'Calico' thing have cost Margrave Crescent his command."
Gear shrugged. "Maybe he wasn't good enough. Thanks to him, connections between the police and the administration are screwed up. It's made a fine mess for us as well."
"Help them Taiyang! Zero has thrown the Nymphians into chaos. Now is the time for us in the Japone Liberation Front to make our stand!"
Taiyang answered calmly, "Calm down, Slit. The information of Sythi giving the Guren Mark-II to Zero hasn't been confirmed. If we pay too much attention to Zero, we may trip ourselves up. And I'd rather be the one tripping others up, not the other way around."
"So, what did 'Calico' turn out to be anyway?" S2 asked as she adjusted her bow.
"Hm."
She looked up at him with her slitted eyes. "Well?"
Stryker looked at her in the mirror. "You know, for somepony who isn't willing to answer any questions, you certainly do ask a lot of them."
S2 shrugged. "If you don't want to answer my questions, you don't have to. Just as I don't."
Stryker scoffed and focused his attention on fixing his uniform. "Hmph. There is no 'Calico'. It's something I made up when I saw his eyes. But, the more they claim to be comrades of like-mind, the easier it is to divide them with the thorns of suspicion."
S2 looked at the many magazines with images of Zero on the front cover. "...Everyone on Equus is looking for you. Because of you, the world is going through an upheaval. So, is this it?" She looked up. "Is this what you wanted to see?"
"No. This uproar's simply a means to an end." He finished tidying his uniform and turned around to S2. "The world is destined to descend into an even greater chaos."
"Case No. 107 Private Greymane, Colony 11 Military Forces. In the murder of His Highness Prince Xirex you are no longer a suspect, and are hereby set free due to lack of evidence."
Greymane, in a pair of sunglasses to be less conspicuous, recounted what happened as he walked down the sidewalk. 'What happened? I'm free.'
"Out of the way, please!" He looked up in time to see a cream pegasus mare jump out a window. "Look out below!" She flapped her wings, but gravity pulled her down quicker than she planned. With a less than graceful fall, she fell onto Greymane, making the both of them crash to the ground. "Oh!"
"Uh, are you all right?" He asked from beneath her.
The black-maned mare quickly stood up. "Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't aware you were down here until I had leapt."
Greymane stood up, wincing and rubbing his head with a hoof. "Well, don't worry. I wasn't expecting a mare to come falling out of the sky either."
"Oh, my..." She murmured, looking down at the ground.
"Huh? Is there something wrong?" He asked, concerned.
Her head snapped up. She exclaimed with a little too much glee, "Yes! There is something wrong."
Greymane blinked. "Huh?"
"The truth is bad guys are chasing me. So considering the circumstances could you help me, please?" She smiled at him.
Greymane raised an eyebrow, but accepted.
"We must get rid of this 'Calico' character before Princess Chrysalis assumes her new post." Kiquy said to the purebloods, excluding of course, Crescent.
One narrowed his eyes. "Now the loyalty of us purebloods is being called into question."
"Are the reports we've been hearing true? Lord Crescent was bribed?" Another asked.
"Do you know what this 'Calico' means?" Kiquy asked them.
"Uh..." No one did.
"In any case, Lord Crescent is definitely hiding something. Saying he can't recall anything, Acadis offered the same excuse. Both were scanned for magic tampering, and nothing came up, both times." Kiquy scoffed.
Ember said nothing, keeping a stoic composure. 'Lord Crescent's memory is muddled, but there's no sign of any magical influence. Exactly like those of the soldiers in Shineighku whose Sutherlands were stolen. And...' She thought back to when her Sutherland was stolen. Her eyes lit up. 'That school-drone!'
"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, have we? My name is... Mirage." The mare said with a smile.
"Mirage?" Greymane repeated.
Mirage nodded. "Yes."
Greymane starts to introduce himself. "My name's-"
Mirage stopped him. "Don't tell me."
"Huh?"
"Cause I already know it. You're a celebrity, son of the last Prime Minister of Japone, Private Greymane."
Greymane looked away. "Hmph. You lied before. There's no one chasing you at all, right?"
"Hello there."
"What?" Greymane turned to see that Mirage was playing with a phoenix, a rare blue-fire one.
"Aww, does the phoenix's wing hurt? Oh..." She cooed at it a bit more.
Greymane sat down beside Mirage as she let the phoenix perch on her hoof. He extended a hoof to pet it, but the phoenix bit it instead.
"Aargh!" Greymane flinched.
"Oh my..." Mirage said, her face morphed into a surprised expression.
Azure and Gear paused at a stoplight. Gear let out a sigh. "We're running late. I hope he's still waiting for us."
"Considering the charge, did they really release him?" Azure asked.
"Yes. They had no evidence. I'm sure they put him through the third degree because of that Zero incident." He looked out the window to see Greymane and Mirage. "Huh? What? Why is he...?"
"Do you have trouble with phoenixes or birds for that matter?" Mirage asked Greymane as she finished bandaging the phoenix's wing.
"I like them fine. However..." He extend a hoof towards the phoenix. It in turn tried to bite his hoof. "...The attraction isn't mutual." He finished, withdrawing his hoof.
"I think unrequited love is a mark of a kind pony." Mirage smiled. The phoenix then spread its wings and flew away, albeit a bit unevenly. "Aww... the phoenix flew away."
Greymane then remembered. "Oh, Mirage, why did you tell me that lie when we met?"
"Do you ask because you're concerned about me?" She asked with a hint of a tease.
"Huh? Um... of course."
"Good! Then you can accompany me some more." She exclaimed, clapping her hooves together.
"Alright..." Greymane shrugged.
"Come on. It'll be fun!"
"You know, being here is just like being in Nymphia. I feel right at home." Mirage stated as they went around.
"Are you from the homeland?" Greymane asked.
She nodded. "Uh-huh. I was a student there up until last week."
"Last week? So what're you doing now? By student, do you mean high school? You can go sightsee anytime, can't you?"
Mirage giggled. "Hehe. You ask a lot of questions."
"Ah, sorry." He rubbed a hoof behind his head.
"Oh! No, I don't mean it like that. You see... today is the last day of my vacation. I wanted to see as much of Colony 11 as I could because I'd like to know what kinda place it is." Mirage clarified.
"Well, you didn't need me for that."
"No, I'm glad I could see it with you."
Greymane raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"
"Greymane, would you mind taking me to one more place, please?"
He bowed to her in a jest. "Your wish is my command, my lady. Where to?"
"Take me to Shineighku." She said calmly.
Greymane's eyes widened. "Uh..."
Everything from her posture to her tone was uncharacteristicly serious. "Private Greymane, please escort me there."
"Stryker."
He looked up from his laptop to see Sirocco. "Hmm?"
"Do you have a minute?"
"Uh-huh. What is it?" He hid the tab about Greymane's release.
"About that phone call the other day." She started to say.
He decided to play dumb for a minute. "A phone call?"
"Yeah, you know, when you and I were in the bathroom."
"Uh-huh?"
"Can you find out what the caller ID was? I want to contact that pony again." She said uncomfortably.
He shrugged as he shut the laptop. "It was a school phone, so I'm not sure I-" He looked up and started as he saw S2 leaning against a tree trunk in her usual attire. "Eh!?"
"I see. Makes sense. I should've known." Sirocco muttered.
'That bitch...' Stryker narrowed his eyes.
Sirocco looked at him weird, then began turn around. "What? Is there something wro-" Thinking quickly, he used his magic to grab her face and pull her closer to him instead of S2. "Woah!"
Amber gazed out the window to catch them in that awkward moment. She backed up with widened eyes. "No way..."
S2 raised an eyebrow when she saw him but left nonetheless. ...Not before flipping a middle feather at him though. Stryker watched as she trotted away.
"Um, excuse me. What are you doing?"
He almost forgot that he still had Sirocco in his magic aura.
"Ahh... what indeed." He said, letting her go.
Acadis, in a prison garb, flew aboard a plane headed for Nymphia. 'To think I return to the homeland like this... I wish I'd never been involved with the damned mare.'
"Are you insane? You can't go walking around." Stryker hissed at S2.
"Don't act strict with me. I can wear a disguise." To demonstrate, she lit her horn, and in the next moment, a white pegasus with a long, straight mauve and navy-blue mane and tail, bangs, and normal pony eyes stood in her spot.
Stryker still wasn't buying it. He asked her, "What about when you need your magic?"
She rolled her eyes. In a flash of blue, a white unicorn stood in front of him, with the same colored mane and tail, but in a shorter, more curled manestyle without the bangs.
Stryker still looked at her with a deadpan look. "Your cutie mark gives you away. It never changes."
S2 scoffed as she transformed back into her natural self. "I'd never leave the school-grounds anyway, so it's fine."
She walked towards the window, an irritated look on her face.
"It's not. You can't do as you like here, you don't belong."
'I don't belong anywhere.' S2 thought bitterly. She saw a nymph scratching a line on the wall. "Hmm? What's with her?"
Stryker walked up behind her. "Oh, is she doing it again today?"
"Again?" S2 raised an eyebrow.
"She's going to be marking that wall like that everyday, because I used my Geass on her to make her do it."
"Geass?" She asked him as she sat on his bed.
"The name of the power I have. That's what I heard when we first made contact."
"You're testing how long it lasts?"
Stryker shrugged. "I need to know the specs of my weapon, don't I? So behave or I'll try it on you."
S2 smirked in turn. "Would it work on me?" She asked innocently. Stryker glared at her.
She rolled her eyes. "Oh relax, you and I are in this together, I won't do anything to endanger us or our unique partnership."
Greymane and Mirage gazed upon the remnants of the ghetto.
"The Shineighku Ghetto... ruined again. The residents were starting to return too." Greymane sighed.
"Dang, they didn't use RG on the Elevens. I figured they wouldn't."
The two of them turned around to see three Nymphian drones on the hilltop, taking pictures of the destruction.
"Hey, look! Those are marks of Hummer rounds. Get a clear shot of it."
"Say cheese! Got it. Okay, me next."
Greymane scowled as Mirage narrowed her eyes.
"This is accurate? This information about Zero?" Crescent narrowed his eyes as he asked the operator. His Sutherland was headed towards the location that Zero had been reportedly spotted at.
"Yes, sir. Lord Kiquy contacted me."
"Right. Set up a cordon around Shineighku Ghetto Sector 4 at once." Crescent ordered.
"Cordon Sector 4. Roger." The operator cut off the communication. He sighed to his partner. "Okay, ball's in your court now, Lord Kiquy."
A sword came between the two. "Ack!"
They looked behind them to see Ember Ash. She narrowed her eyes. "I wanted to be put through to Lord Crescent. But it appears that you're too busy now."
Greymane and Mirage looked on as a black pegasus stallion with a silver and white mane flew in with a changeling behind him. "Get out of here, you damn Nymphian bastards!"
"Huh?" Mirage blinked in confusion.
"Stay here." Greymane told her as he walked up the hill to them.
"How dare a lowly Eleven speak like-"
"Don't call me Eleven! I'm Japonese!" The pegasus yelled, knocking the Nymphian changeling's camera off.
The changeling Eleven whispered to him with her blue eyes narrowed, "Calm down, Eclipse. You're gonna cause a scene."
Eclipse turned back to retort. "How can I, Syphilis?! These bastar-"
One of the Nymphians stepped forward. "Wrong. You seem to forget you creatures lost. You're nothing but a beaten dog!"
"Grrr... you racist hog." The pegasus growled.
Greymane came in between them. "Stop. Please, no violence!"
"Stay out of this!" Eclipse whirled around and used a wing to smack him. Greymane's sunglasses were knocked off by the sudden attack.
Both sides gasped.
One Nymphian murmured, "You're that-"
"Are you Greymane?" Syphilis asked with narrowed blue eyes.
"The pony who killed Xirex?" Another Nymphian said.
His friends corrected him. "No, it was Zero who killed him."
Eclipse snapped out of his shock and scowled. "This pony's nothing more than a slave. Big deal. You're an honorary Nymphian. Nobody cares. You sold your pride, your kind, yourself, yet you call yourself Japonese?!" Eclipse yelled.
"No! You're wrong!" Greymane stated.
"I am not wrong!" Eclipse leapt at him. "You stinking Nymphian lapdog-" Greymane flipped the pegasus over with his quick reflexes. "Ah!"
The others gasped.
"Oh!" Eclipse hit the ground face-first.
"Stop, please!" Greymane said.
Eclipse slowly got to his hooves with Syphilis's help.
"I warn you, I've been trained for military combat. Don't make me fight against my own kind." Greymane stated with a shake of his head.
"Like Tartarus, we're your own kind!" Eclipse yelled.
"Come on. Just let it go." Syphilis said, buzzing her wings and flying off.
"Hmph, lousy traitor." Eclipse muttered before lifting off himself.
Mirage flew up towards Greymane. "Greymane! Oh, my... Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm alright." He said distantly.
"Well I'm not okay. Just look at my prime-G and my elex-4." One of the Nymphians chittered.
"Why did you wait? Damn it, some honorary citizen you are." Another piped in.
The third changeling stepped in. "Why'd you let 'em go? You should have killed 'em." Mirage frowned. "What's a few dead Elevens to a pony like you!?" She began to walk up to him. "Who do you think's been taking care of you all these years anyway?" And slapped him with a wing as hard as she could, causing him to drop the camera. "Ack!"
"I'll not allow you to insult this pony any longer, you parasite." She said calmly, her eyes narrowed. The changelings could sense it though; she was riling mad. They buzzed their wings and quickly left.
"To use my Geass, I need to have direct eye contact with the subject. Transparent objects like eyeglasses present no problem. The effective range is approximately 270 meters. And a subject appears to have no memory of events before, during, or after the power is used. I think this is due to damage caused by the Geass interfering with the brain of the subject. Also if the signal's optical, I can reflect it."
"In the short time you had it, you've learned a lot." S2 commented.
"My opponent is an empire that controls more than 1/3 of the entire world. There's no such thing as being too careful." Stryker said.
"I'd understand if you were an Eleven, but you're a Nymphian, aren't you? ...This opponent may be too large and strong to fight with only Geass for a weapon." She said with narrowed eyes.
Stryker sighed. "Is it good to be strong?"
"Is it bad to be weak?" Greymane asked. "Back then when I was ten, the world seemed like such a terribly sad place. A world without any hope at all."
"Starvation..."
"...disease..."
"...filth, decay..."
"...racism..."
"...constant war and terrorism..."
"Living in a never-ending cycle of hate."
"Rats running in a wheel."
"The cycle must be broken. Somebody has to do it." Greymane finished, turning to Mirage.
"How idealistic." S2 said.
"Of course, it's doubtful if the one who does it will make all the bad things go away." Greymane stated.
Stryker looked at S2. "I'm not that arrogant, and so..."
Greymane shook his head. "No one should lose more of the ones they love. At least, not in a world devasted with war."
S2 looked at Stryker. "And to have this utopia you'd...?"
"How would you do it?" Mirage asked tentatively.
Stryker inclined his head. "It's simple. When somebody wins, the fighting will end."
"Somebody?" S2 said.
"I don't know how I would do it. But if I stop trying, then my father's death will have been in vain." Greymane clenched his jaw.
"The Prime Minister's death?" Mirage asked.
"My own father died, because he had to sacrifice his life in that war." He said bitterly.
"Oh..." She looked down at her hooves.
"Crescent! You're going to pay for letting Prince Xirex's murderer go free!" Kiquy screeched as the purebloods surrounded Crescent's Sutherland in their own Sutherlands.
Crescent darted his eyes around in confused fury. "Kiquy! You dirty coward. That sighting of Zero was a lie, wasn't it?!"
"We have to wipe away our disgrace before Princess Chrysalis takes up her post here. This is how we keep our officials honest." Kiquy said.
Crescent clenched his teeth.
Greymane and Mirage whipped their heads around as they heard an explosion in the background and a plume of smoke rose not too far away. A truck pulled up. The window went down to reveal Azure. "Greymane!"
Greymane widened his eyes. "Miss Azure."
"It's dangerous here, get in."
Gear explained, "The purebloods are having a silly squabble. Let's get out of here. Oh, and by the way, what a shame about your acquittal. Because now you'll have to work for me again." He smirked.
"Wait, please!" Greymane frowned. "Isn't this an opportunity to gather battle data for the Lancelot?"
"Oh?" Azure raised an eyebrow as Gear had a thoughtful expression.
"Greymane..." Mirage started to say.
Greymane turned to her. "I'm sorry, Mirage. We have to say goodbye here. I need to do this. I think I can stop them with the Lancelot. I have to try. I- I must!"
She stared at him for a moment before nodding.
Crescent's Sutherland got a beating as the four purebloods attacked at once. "Damn, it's four against one. Cowards!"
He blocked a lance with a stun-tonfa.
"Don't worry Crescent. We'll say you died in battle. Your family's name won't be disgraced." Kiquy said mockingly.
He deflected the lance, only to come face-to-face with a Sutherland gun.
"You're serious then?" He used the left arm stun-tonfa to knock it away. "You actually intend to kill me?! Kiquy!"
The four Sutherlands surrounded him. Kiquy yelled, "Silence, Calico! We serve the Imperial family. Why else would we be here? All Hail-"
"-Nymphia!" All of them charged. Right before they could strike, two slash harkens blocked them off.
"What the...?!" All the purebloods looked up towards where the slash harkens retracted to. The Lancelot stood in the dying light of the sun.
"Stop it! You're all Nymphian soldiers!" Greymane exclaimed as he came between them and Crescent. Mirage watched from outside of their sightline, her expression troubled.
Crescent murmured, "That's him, it's that Honorary Nymphian. And the advanced weapon, Lancelot."
"What business does the Special Corps want here? Interlopers will die." Kiquy stated.
"No! I can't stand by and ignore this senseless battle."
Fangs bared, Kiquy shot a slash harken at the Lancelot. It deflected off a shield easily.
Kiquy's widened his green reflection-less eyes. "Oh my God. They've perfected the MVSes." He clenched his teeth. "Too late, I won't back down."
"We're on the same side!" Greymane yelled as the purebloods, sans Crescent, began to attack him. With his shields and advanced Knight-Mare, Greymane wasn't deterred much.
'Greymane... is saving me?' Crescent thought in confusion.
"We can at least kill Calico." Kiquy said. As he charged Crescent, another Sutherland appeared and rammed his Knight-Mare away.
"Lord Crescent!" A familiar voice called.
"Ember! Thanks." Crescent said.
"Still wanna fight?" Greymane asked the purebloods.
"Drones, stand down." Kiquy commanded. They complied.
Greymane loosened the Lancelot's stance. "Y-you understand then?"
Kiquy smirked. "I'm using a chaos mine."
"Huh?" Greymane's eyes widened.
"What!?" Crescent exclaimed.
Mirage flew across the field. "No, stop it now!"
Greymane widened his eyes and covered Mirage as the chaos mine went off. The shield activated. Mirage cowered behind the Lancelot as the chaos mine fired millions of bullets at the Lancelot.
In a matter of moments, the chaos mine fell with a resounding thud as smoke rose from its depleted storage. The Lancelot was untouched.
Everyone gaped in awe.
Ember murmured, "That Honorary Nymphian. He risked his life for that mare..."
Mirage flew towards the center of the field. "Everyone, lower your weapons at once. In my name, I command you."
With that, she closed her eyes, and blue flames whipped around her form. Once again, everyone was stunned with shock.
Kiquy gaped. "It... can't be."
The flames died down to reveal a young changeling queen with a cerulean mane and tail, sky-blue wings... and one heck of a temper. All the changelings could feel the anger that was coming from her. She opened her eyes to reveal two sapphire slitted eyes of pure outrage.
"I am Masquerade Mirage li Mirren of the empire. And the fourth princess of the royal family." Her chillingly calm voice projected across the entire field.
Greymane gaped. "Mirage..."
"I'm assuming command here. Now fall back." She commanded.
"It's her, it's the princess." Crescent gaped.
Azure looked wide-eyed at Gear. "Did you know it was her, Gear?"
He nodded in turn. "Uh-huh, but she's been a student up until now and hasn't made her public debut yet. Harder for her to do especially since she was adopted into the family after her hive was wiped. Clever disguise though, took me a few moments to figure out it was her."
Kiquy stammered, "We, we're truly-"
"-We're truly sorry, your Highness!" The purebloods bowed.
Masquerade lighted down.
"My lady!" Greymane got out from his Knight-Mare.
"Hmm?" She turned around to see Greymane bowing to her.
"I had no idea who you were. Please forgive me, Princess."
"Greymane, you and I bear a similar deep pain." He looked up at her serious expression. "You have lost your father as I have lost my cousin."
Greymane flinched a little, but she didn't notice.
"Will you let me help you in your quest to ensure that no one ever again has to suffer the loss of a loved one on the battlefield?" She extended a holed hoof.
Greymane stared in surprise, but after a moment, he accepted. "Yes, I'm unworthy of your kindness."
"I heard what you did, Mirage. You shouldn't be so reckless." Chrysalis said with a hint of a frown as she caressed Masquerade's cheek.
"I know, sister. Forgive me. But-"
"You will address me as Viceroy here, Sub-Viceroy Masquerade. Because we're sisters, we need to follow a stricter protocol."
Masquerade nodded, albeit hesitantly. "Yes, I understand."
Chrysalis smiled at Masquerade before turning to an changeling officer. "Hmph. Now then, give me your report."
"Yes, my lady. The first order of business is a welcome party we've arranged for your Highness and-" She pointed a sword-rifle at him. "Oh!"
Masquerade blinked in surprise, as did many of the soldiers there.
Chrysalis mocked him. "Sloppy, senile, corrupt. Where is Zero? I want the enemy of the empire caught! Get Zero!" She yelled.
Stryker narrowed his eyes. 'I understand I'm lying. To Amber and Fallout and the others. I'm even telling half-truths to Greymane and Moth. But there's no going back now. I can't turn back. As long as S2 and I are bound by our contract, I have to keep at this.'
"Huh?" Stryker refocused his attention to the front of class. Greymane stood there beside the teacher. 'Speak of the devil...'
"I'll be joining the student body here at Tempus Academy beginning today. My name is Greymane. It's a pleasure to meet you."