• Published 20th Jun 2013
  • 9,164 Views, 760 Comments

Technicalities - BionicBrony



After being forced from their home, a master engineer and his AI end up in Twilight's basement, their only desire to rebuild what they lost. Although not everything is as straightforward as it seems...

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Run Like Hell!

“So it’s a duel you want, is it? A battle between leaders? To the death, I assume?”

Twilight sucked in a breath at Alex’s words. Biomech armor or not, this was still a duel with the changeling queen they were talking about! Was this somehow a part of his plan? Did he actually expect this?

“That’s exactly it,” Chrysalis scowled back at him.

Without warning, a message flashed across Twilight’s HUD: “DISTRESS BEACON TRIGGERED.

As soon as it appeared, the message flew to the bottom of her HUD. Almost instinctively, Twilight’s eyes drew up to Alex for some sort of explanation. Instead, his gaze lingered on her for only a moment while he continued speaking to Chrysalis. Glancing at her friends who were standing with the Liandri by the Leviathan, Twilight gauged that they had received the same message as well, purely by their shared look.

“In that instance,” said Alex from his perch atop the Leviathan’s cockpit, “let me make myself clear: this is not a scenario you are going to win…”

Far away, in Ponyville, the distress signal arrived, and Rose give an imagined sigh. I really wish he would stop testing these prototype systems in such uncontrolled circumstances.

“...I’m young—Only twenty eight years old. I don’t know how old you are, and I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me because you don’t know what I know…”

Immense power flowed through the Liandri facility towards storage.

“I’ve learned many things that I’ve engrained into my very being, but one such things I’ve only learned recently…”

Row after row, unit after unit, the oculi of the stored cybernetics blazed to life.

“...and in those twenty eight years of mine, it has become one of the greatest truths I’ve ever discovered. It is that truth that dictates my victory and your death.”

As a single cohesive unit, each Liandri in storage reached over their back and withdrew their weapons.

Chrysalis narrowed her eyes at him. “And just what sort of truth is that?” she demanded.

Electricity crackled around each cybernetic as the machinery around them powered up.

Alex went silent for a moment, and then his gaze met her’s. “That flesh is a design flaw.”

As those words were spoken, his neural interface sent a command for the nearest commando to destroy Chrysalis’ throne with an AVRiL. The unit stepped forward without question, aimed its shoulder-mounted weapon, and let loose its payload. The anti-vehicle rocket shrieked through the air and slammed into the throne completely unobstructed, obliterating it into a cloud of dust and rubble in an instant.

“Twilight, now!” Alex called out over the radio.

Verbally shaken back into action, Twilight shouted to the changeling next to her: “Thorax! It’s Rainbow Dash!”

Having been briefed by Twilight earlier, Thorax burst into green flame to change into the pegasus in question. Although all he had to go on was a rough description of her and her armor clad figure from a fair distance away, he still managed to pull off a decent replica.

A buzzer suddenly sounded from the Leviathan, and a new message flashed across Twilight’s HUD: “ATTENTION: MASS TELEPORT IMMINENT.

The buzzer sounded a total of four times before Twilight’s visor went opaque, blocking out an intense flash of light. Thunder drummed gently against her ears: an apocalypse muted to distant rumbling by her armor. When her vision returned, Twilight found an army of Liandri where there wasn’t before. Without any chance to realize what was going on, Novas that had appeared in front of her focused their link guns on her, burning away the goo keeping her tethered to the ground with a steady stream of plasma.

An ungodly screech erupted from the cybernetics. Then the chaos began.

Queen Chrysalis blinked her eyes again and again in an attempt to restore her vision, her ears still ringing from the two deafening blasts that destroyed her throne and blinded her. As her senses began to return, she found her vision obstructed by a large object - legs. Her strained gaze followed them up towards their gargantuan owner, only to meet the dead, empty sockets of an inhuman skull staring down at her. Its jaws hung open, revealing an orange glow from within. The mechanical giant clenched its fists, raised them high in the air, and sent them careening down on her.

Once the new Liandri arrived, Alex turned on the spot and sprinted across the back of the Leviathan, calling out over the radio: “Time to leave! Let’s get the fuck out! Leviathan, initiate Protocol Omega; admin authorization tango gamma sigma dash two one zero zero four!”

At his words, a pulse raced out from the Leviathan at the speed of magic, and a page on the book of history was turned.


Violet light snaked its way through the blinds covering the windows of Carousel Boutique, a by-product of the shield surrounding Ponyville. Several fabrics of marginally differing shades of blue floated alongside a ponyquin wearing a half-made dress. Rarity squinted through her glasses at the varying fabrics, making every effort to be sure that the fabric she was looking at was actually the shade the believed it to be. Despite every effort to block out the colored light from outside, she could never convince herself that she was one hundred percent certain of her fabric choice.

As satisfied as she could feel, Rarity settled on a fabric and levitated her choice over to the sewing machine. After making a quick measure, she levitated the scissors over to herself, but paused when they reflected a violet flash. Her eyes trailed over to the streak of violet along the wall, and the idea behind the colored light’s presence forced a sigh from the seamstress as she lowered the scissors. Try as she would to distract herself, she couldn’t manage to get her mind off of the fact that her friends were off fighting changelings—creatures who have proven to be far more vicious than she could even anticipate. Sure, the Liandri were the ones leading the charge, but that still didn’t mean they were out of harm’s way.

She walked over to the window, threw open the blinds, and glanced toward the town center, where the shield projector continued to form the brilliant tree of pure magic that surrounded Ponyville. As beautiful as the sight was, its presence only meant trouble.

Without warning, an invisible wave assaulted the unicorn, or more specifically, her horn. Rarity gasped, keeling over while holding a useless hoof to her horn to nurse the growing discomfort. It was the same feeling as a leg falling asleep, but easily ten times worse. She shakily raised her eyes, searching for the source of this debilitating sensation.

Where in Equestria was this coming from?


Pinkie’s chin sat flat against a table in the middle of Sugarcube Corner, her eyes following a ball that her hooves knocked back and forth. Since the Liandri shield went up, business had dropped like a rock, leaving the pink pony with nothing to do.

It was weird! She would have thought that everypony would have felt safe with the shield up, but for some reason, it only made ponies want to stay at home until the whole changeling thing blew over. She tried visiting a few of her neighbors and invited them to come outside, but everypony said they’d rather not leave their house! The only ones who weren’t home were the Liandri Novas marching in the streets, but they weren’t any fun to talk to. In fact, a couple of them ordered Pinkie to stand still while they pricked her with a needle. That definitely wasn’t fun.

Huh. Maybe that’s why everypony’s staying home.

A sudden spasm seized Pinkie as her hooves locked up and the ball she had been playing with tumbled to the floor. The shaking started in her back legs, then rapidly moved up to her tail, her back, and then the rest of her body.

Hearing all the commotion, Mr. and Mrs. Cake bolted into the room from the kitchen to find Pinkie seizing on the floor. Yelping in alarm, the bakers ran to her side in an instant, though her full body tremors left her almost as soon as they did, leaving her lying on her back with her legs sticking straight up.

“Oh my stars, Pinkie, are you alright?” Mrs. Cake implored.

“Mhm!” Pinkie nodded, before quickly flipping herself over and dusting herself off. “Thanks for asking Mrs. Cake, but I’m fine.”

“Was that a doozy…?” asked Mr. Cake, a sense of dread coming over him.

“Yup,” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically, before turning her head to look out the window. “I wonder what it’s about?”


“Captain Shining Armor, your highnesses,” the royal herald announced to the princesses in their throne room, only a moment before the aforementioned unicorn entered after him.

Shining Armor marched up to the thrones and bowed. “Princess Celestia. Princess Luna.”

“Captain,” the two acknowledged him with a nod before Celestia continued. “I trust the situation in Ponyville is under control? We’ve received word of quite a bit going on in the valley.”

“The report of a giant changeling was most distressing,” Luna added. “Was there some measure of exaggeration in this?”

Shining Armor shook his head. “That report is true. Whatever it was, it was far bigger and angrier than what we were prepared to handle.” He sighed and looked away. “To be honest, if it weren’t for the Liandri, Ponyville would have been completely destroyed by that thing.”

“Give thyself more credit than this, Shining Armor,” said Luna, turning her head up at his suggestion. “Thou art a formidable pony in thy own right. Thou would not be captain of the guard were this not the case. We have no doubt thou would have quelled the beast just fine.”

Shining Armor bowed. “I thank you for your confidence, princess, but I don’t think-”

A wave felt by all those present cut off the captain’s words. The stallion choked as his horn came under attack by an unseen threat. His training kicked in, and he raised his head back up to look for the source. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”

“I do not know!” Luna gasped, holding a hoof up to her horn. “I’ve never felt a sensation such as this!”

“I have,” Celestia answered, just as distraught as her sister. Without hesitation, her mind zeroed in on memories of Ponyville, the summer sun celebration, and the flick of a switch…


The Overseer glared at his screen, watching the events at the hive unfold. Chrysalis had done well in capturing Twilight to use her as a lure. Xan’s arrogant confidence led him to drive his mobile fortress into a cramped space where it could no longer fight, accompanied by only a fraction of his army. And now Chrysalis had managed to coax him out of his shell. She need only kill him and everything would eventually return to normal. Peace and harmony would soon be restored to the world and beyond. No one else would need to be sacrificed, although his remnants would still need to be removed.

That’s when his screen flashed white, and a fresh army of god-forsaken machines appeared out of nowhere.

The Overseer sighed and shook his head. Of course. Xan was arrogant, but he wasn’t a fool. He had plans to put the boot down, one way or another. Chrysalis never stood a chance, but her mission was too important for it to be left solely up to her. Matters would now have to be taken into his own hands, and the Overseer drew up a command prompt. Less than forty eight hours ago, Phayder squad had planted a thermonuclear warhead beneath the hive. A bomb whose detonation was now imperative.

As the Overseer began to type in the required commands, his mind wandered to what Chrysalis really thought about Xan and the threat he posed. Did she really understand it? In that moment, he hoped that, if she really understood it as well as he did, she would forgive him for what he was about to do and the sacrifice she was about to make.

Searing pain wracked the Overseer’s hands, and he drew them away from the keyboard as quickly as a breath. Alarms blazed through his monitors; systems all over Equestria and beyond complained of the sudden magical disturbance as the pain sent his hands into convulsions. With a grunt, he gripped his right forearm and stared at his gauntleted hand, using all his willpower to form it into a fist. His breathing deep and quick, the Overseer’s gaze screwed back up towards the screen, peering through the chaos at the Leviathan sitting in the middle of it all.

What the hell has that madman just done?!


“Time to leave! Let’s get the fuck out!

Twilight bolted in the direction of the behemoth tunnel almost as soon as she was freed. However, she promptly collapsed to the ground, nearly flipping over as she did, screaming as an unbearable, white hot pain jolted through her horn and coursed through her body. The unicorn shrieked in agony, completely ignoring Evie’s warnings: “Leviathan core protocol Omega initiated. Power Core overload in progress. Immediate evacuation advised.”

An unarmored Rainbow Dash stopped dead next to her, speaking in a voice that didn’t belong. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?!”

Alerted to Twilight’s distress through the network, Alex quickly stopped to look at her as Liandri stormed passed him to join the chaos. “Twilight! Get the fuck up! We gotta go now!

Taking executive action, Twilight’s armor began to move for her, and she shot back to her hooves. Despite the pilot’s pains and protests, the armor’s priority was to get her to safety. Still confused, the copy of Rainbow Dash followed after her. Though when Thorax realized that he couldn’t keep up with her on foot, he took to the air. His own senses felt strange, though in the moment, only his wings tingled.

Changeling and Liandri clashed throughout the atrium. Twilight weaved around changelings throwing themselves against Novas, ducked under flying bolts and plasma, and leapt over entire brawls of gnashing teeth, claws, and flame. A behemoth came thundering down her way, roaring as it trampled and crushed cybernetic and changeling alike, until a commando threw itself around one of the creature’s tusks, throwing it off balance and sending it charging straight through a rocky column. The ground trembled at all the commotion while boulders and other debris tumbled from the ceiling. Discord was dangerous in his own respect, but of all the chaos he could produce, none of it could have reached this level of pure lethality.

At the mouth of the behemoth tunnel, a changeling made a beeline for Alex’s head as he ran. Without a second to spare, he caught it by the throat and directed its momentum straight into the ground. His HUD pointed out the ponies running towards him and he ushered them all with an urgent wave. “Move it! Move it! Go go go!” He followed as they zoomed past him, instantly bursting into a sprint.

Red warnings flashed across their HUDs, a droning alarm ringing in their ears. “Alex! What the hay is goin’ on?!” Applejack shouted over the collective sound of bestial roars, buzzing, screeching, plasma fire, and explosions, even though it wasn’t necessary over the radio.

As if to answer her question, Evie announced: “Warning: Leviathan Core containment breached. Core overload imminent. Evacuate the area immediately.”

Fucking run like hell!” Alex shouted back, making every effort to speed up.

Tears streamed down Twilight’s face as she conjured every ounce of willpower she could to keep her eyes open and her legs moving, or at the very least, not inhibit her armor from moving them for her.

As they all sprinted through the tunnel, changelings poured out of side passages, speeding towards them in an attempt to stop their escape. Twilight dodged and weaved around them, not even bothering to acknowledge the ones that tried to give chase. Applejack did the same, though didn’t hesitate to knock a few changelings that got in her way with a brief shoulder check. Rainbow Dash, being the most agile, eagerly went after the ones that tried causing too much trouble for the others, catching up to her friends afterwards with little difficulty. Enforcer in hand, Alex didn’t hesitate to execute changelings that got too close for his liking.

“Just a little further!” Alex called out as outside light became visible. The three ponies, disguised changeling, and human shot out of the hive at top speed, zooming out into the badlands as fast as their legs and wings would allow. Alex looked around and up, making every effort to find their escape. Much to his relief, he didn’t have to look very long, and pointed skyward. “There’s our ride! Just keep running!”

In a long, banking arc, a Raven dropship that had been flying toward them made a complete U-turn while descending behind them from a much higher altitude. The aircraft quickly sped ahead and then slowed to match their speed. As the Raven bobbed up and down to avoid hitting the uneven terrain, the dropship’s rear whirred opened, exposing its empty cargo hold.

“Get in! Hurry!” Alex shouted as the real and fake Rainbow Dashes zoomed into the back of the moving aircraft, then immediately turned around to help the others in. Applejack leapt in with little difficulty, though Twilight lost her stability when she tried. The unicorn nearly fell out of the back until Thorax grabbed onto her hoof. Barely able to hold onto the weight of both the pony and her armor, the disguised changeling struggled to pull Twilight back in until the other two ponies pulled on his hind legs, bringing them all safely aboard.

After taking a moment to execute the last changeling that had followed them out of the hive with a swift bullet, Alex stored his side arm and leapt onto the Raven’s ramp, landing on his front so as to carefully drag himself in. Before he even got to his feet, he shouted: “Fucking floor it!” and the aircraft’s tarydium boosters took off.

Inertia pulled the equines towards the opening in the aircraft as it lurched forward, forcing them all to grab onto something to avoid being thrown out the back end. Twilight, still bemoaning the feeling in her horn, suddenly found herself lifted up by Alex and placed onto one of the seats lining the side of the aircraft’s hold. The human reached up and lowered a restraining frame over the unicorn, locking it and her into place. Despite the fact that it was meant to hold a humanoid cybernetic with a much larger build, it kept the pony secured to her seat easily enough.

“Everyone pick a seat and strap in!” Alex called out as he made his way to the back of the cargo hold to close the ramp. “This ride’s gonna get bumpy!”

As the ponies and changeling each locked themselves into a seat, Alex stared out the back of the Raven; first towards the changeling hive, then downwards at the old foothold as they sped over it, the communications tower, and all the other equipment that was left behind.

Evie relayed a final message to them all: “Emergency: Leviathan Power Core integrity failing. Core overload will occur in T-minus: 10. 9. 8. 7…”

“Alex, what’s happening?” Rainbow Dash asked, genuine worry washing over her face for the first time in her life.

Without wavering, he answered: “Wait for it…”

3.

Inside the hive, the fighting raged on around the Leviathan, now covered in red electrical arcs. Unbeknownst to all around it, the super tank, with all its reinforcements and hardy engineering, had already begun to crumple in on itself. Within its power core, a fierce swirl of energy cackled and grew. The energy’s restraints, metal plates held at specific angles on robust arms, bent inward under the intense force of the singularity.

2.

The pieces snapped away altogether, absorbed and instantly ionized within the storm. With nothing left to hold it back, the singularity grew, its hurricane of raw energy consuming everything around it. The screams of every soul damned to hell pierced the air as the whirlwind of raw energy grew violently unstable.

1.

All eyes lay on the changeling hive. A bright light burst from the mouth of every tunnel, and a grin formed on Alex’s face, his eyes blazing emerald. No more than a second later, the entire mountain fragmented and expanded like a balloon in the stretch of a moment before being swallowed up from the inside by a rapidly expanding ball of light. The explosion tore through the badlands, ripping up and annihilating huge swathes of earth at impossible speeds as easily as a breath.

The glow in Alex’s eyes evaporated, as did his grin. Blood drained from his face as all of his thoughts left him, save one. “Oh shit… Oh fuck…!” When the ever expanding tsunami obliterated the communications tower and infantry portals, Alex slammed on the button to close the rear ramp and bolted across the Raven’s cargo hold and into the cockpit. “Fucking fly faster!

The ponies all looked to each other, gripping their restraints with both hooves as if to grip onto their own lives. None of them found words through the adrenaline and constant shaking of the aircraft, though all of them held the same hope: that they’d each make it out alive and hopefully take a long vacation.

The aircraft’s jostling escalated, shaking them around in their seats like the worst amusement park ride in the world. Each of their screams were drowned out by the sound of the Raven being torn apart.

Author's Note:

Short chapter, I know, I know. I was planning on publishing this MUCH sooner, but we all know how that turned out, don't we? Yeah, this ended up in editing limbo, but the ball got rolling again. Doesn't mean I slacked, though! 3.8k words into the next chapter. Not as much as I'd like, but I'm satisfied with it so far. It's looking to be a long one, too. As for this chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed it! :pinkiehappy: