Hecate's Orphanage

by BlackRoseRaven

Machine Against Machine

Chapter Nineteen: Machine Against Machine
~BlackRoseRaven

Hecate calmly stood with her hands behind her back in the Gathering Hall, surveying the teams that would be accompanying her to Fyrverǫld. Thorn stood on one side of her, making notes over the group before them, while Seneschal fidgeted on the other in an upgraded Clockwork Titan construct.

Team 0-0 stood directly in front of her in full equipment, Cadence with her head proudly raised and standing at military attention at the front of her group, almost burning with her need to prove herself. To one side of her group was Luna Brynhild and her partners, the sapphire mare grinning widely up at Hecate even as her eyes glowed with a seriousness and willingness to obey that the mechanical mare had rarely seen in the Valkyrie.

Lastly, there was the team that Hecate and Thorn had picked themselves from a pool of candidates provided to them by other worlds. One was from Heaven, one of Valhalla's newly-trained Valkyries, while the other three were from what was known as Looking Glass World, and who had been sworn to secrecy. They weren't the ponies that Hecate had originally wanted, but she supposed they would do for the mission. And admittedly, the ponies she had wanted for the mission would have provided an undue distraction, and would never have kept their mouths shut.

Hecate looked over the groups coldly: all of them were fully outfitted, and past them, she had a small army of Dogmatists standing at the ready to act as their escort and to provide cover for when negotiations broke down and hostilities began.

The Empress of Decretum smiled thinly, and Thorn glanced up at her from his clipboard before he asked quietly: “Are you sure you want to do this? We might be able to make progress civilly.”

“No. This needs to be taken care of here and now, and whatever the Jarsongildi is, it needs to be shut down.” Hecate said contemptibly, shaking her head briefly as her eyes roved back over the teams in front of her. “We will make contact with them. We will discuss each other's stance. And once they give me even a passing reason, we will engage them as I have laid out and our strike teams will cripple them while you and I ensure that Valthrudnir is no longer a threat.”

Thorn nodded briefly, and his gaze was loyal even as he said, his tone serious and disapproving: “I don't think this is the best idea.”

Hecate was quiet for a moment, and then she turned around and smiled, drawing her eyes over the massive portal ring just waiting to be activated, power thrumming through it as Worker Drones finished hooking up its power cables and energy providers. “I am not disagreeing with you there, Thorn. But sometimes stupidity and brute force are far more effective weapons than subtlety and negotiation.”

Thorn glanced towards Hecate, drawing his eyes mildly over her: although most wouldn't recognize the differences, Hecate had switched her body again, from her usual mechanical armor to a slightly larger suit with heavier plating and a silver coating, although all the average pony likely noted was the fact she was wearing a flowing, fur-lined crimson cape. Thorn, however, knew every detail of every one of his mother's mechanical bodies: this one wouldn't hold a charge for quite as long as her standard armor, but it packed a far-heavier punch.

“I know. But you aren't looking to end this quickly. You're just looking for an excuse to start mayhem.” Thorn turned his eyes towards Luna Brynhild, nodding towards her and remarking: “You remind me of Móðer.”

“Don't insult me, Thorn.” Hecate said irritably, and then she started towards the portal, ordering: “Finish the preparations.”

Thorn nodded quickly, turning back towards the three teams and floating his clipboard to the side before he announced in a cold, professional voice: “You have all been assigned code names for your teams and designated coded communicators, as we do not know what Fyrverǫld may or may not be capable of interfering with in terms of our technologies. Team leaders, activate your communicators now.”

Luna looked both cranky and proud of her son as she lifted a square device in front of her, Cadence and the mare leading the third team doing the same. They flicked the simple switch to activate it, and Thorn ordered: “Sound off.”

Luna rolled her eyes, and then said grumpily: “Gamma.”

Cadence smiled slightly, then said clearly: “Alpha.”

The last mare finished calmly: “Sigma.”

“Excellent. Hecate, Seneschal, and I will all be able to communicate with you through these, as you will also be able to communicate with each other. Specify your communications by codename, and use your assigned callsign if you need to contact someone specifically. If you need to make a report to Hecate or myself, the callsigns are Summer and Winter respectively.”

“Aye, 'tis perfect for thee both.” Luna loudly complained, and then she huffed when Thorn only looked at her and Seneschal glared, the mare asking: “What if I must speak to the Clockwork King? Or have I simply answered my own question?”

“There is no reason to communicate with Seneschal. His duties in Fyrverǫld are separate from your own missions and we should avoid overlap at all costs.” Thorn replied without missing a beat. Luna grumbled more at this, but the stallion only calmly rose his head, asking: “Does anyone have any questions regarding the mission?”

Immediately, the commander of Sigma rose her hoof, and Thorn gestured to her before the Valkyrie asked quickly: “Sir, why is such a small force being deployed? I don't understand how we can possibly achieve any of our mission objectives if we're going to be surrounded by the enemy, with no real knowledge of what we're up against or the locations of our targets.”

“Each of you were given a Mission Drive for this reason. Once information becomes available, it will immediately be downloaded to your Mission Drive. You will have access to all of Fyrverǫld's maps, passcodes, and archival information, as well as the location of each other and your progress pertaining to mission objectives.” Thorn replied calmly, and Cadence grimaced a bit as she glanced back at the device strapped to her body under one wing, which was hooked up to the visor over her eyes by a long cable. “Three small teams are being deployed because this is not going to be a war. This is going to be a strike, assuming negotiations fail.”

Cadence shifted a bit, biting her lip before she leaned forward and said quickly: “I'm not disagreeing with you, Thorn, but I really don't like our chances of success, either. When my team ended up in Fyrverǫld, we were nearly torn apart. We still haven't fully recovered.”

Thorn looked meditatively at Cadence for a few moments, and then he said calmly: “When you entered Fyrverǫld, your team was alone, already wounded, and working under a completely different set of parameters. While your fears are understandable, you will neither be alone nor operating in the dark. Furthermore, once the strike is complete, there should be no further hostile interactions.”

Cadence grimaced a bit at this: she wasn't so sure about that part, either, considering how the Kirin had acted, but she also knew didn't really have a lot of choice but to do what she was told. She glanced at her father, but Sombra only nodded to her reassuringly.

Her eyes shifted towards Luna, who caught her gaze and looked back at her challengingly, and the ivory mare gritted her teeth as the Swan immediately twisted inside of her in anger, hissing silently. Thankfully, she was distracted by Thorn clearing his throat to get everyone's attention again, the sapphire stallion saying quietly: “Remember that our success depends on each and every one of you completing your assigned tasks. We work together, or we do not get through this.”

There was silence for a moment as Thorn allowed that statement to sink in, and then he said calmly: “You have ten minutes of free time. I suggest using it to familiarize yourself with each other.”

Luna blew a loud raspberry at Thorn, and the sapphire stallion blushed only slightly as he quickly turned to stride away, even as the mare shouted: “Thou art turning out far too much like Hecate, strange little blue stallion whom I have never laid eyes upon afore in mine entire life!”

Scrivener sighed at this as Cadence smiled despite herself, before the ivory mare turned towards the Sigma team. She studied them for a few moments, then smiled lamely when the leader of the group of odd-looking ponies turned towards her and smiled.

“Well, thou does not seem to hate her. That is strange, I thought thou hated everyone.” Luna remarked loudly as she approached, and Cadence scowled horribly at the sapphire mare, resisting the Swan's immediate urge to punch her in the face.

“Luna.” Morgan said dryly, and Luna looked at the purple pony innocently, before Morgan rolled her eyes and said in a softer voice: “I apologize, Cadence. I suppose you can understand that... emotions kind of run high at times like now, though.”

“We've all learned to kind of ignore Luna ourselves.” added another voice, and Cadence turned to see the leader of the third team was now standing nearby, the Valkyrie bowing her head respectfully. “Cadenza Danzsöngr, it's an honor to meet you. My name is Prestige Luster, and this is my team, from what we call Looking Glass World. We're looking forward to working with you.”

Cadence smiled a bit as she surveyed the group: the Valkyrie was a strong, athletic-looking mare, with a gorgeous green coat beneath her golden armor. Her eyes were silver, a faint red flaw in one of them, and the unicorn seemed... confident, in a word, Cadence thought. She envied how self-assured the Valkyrie seemed.

Her friends, meanwhile, all smiled and nodded: they were a strange assortment, Cadence reflected, since two of them weren't exactly your standard pony. One of them was shaped like a Pegasus, but her mane and body didn't seem to be entirely solid, flowing and ebbing like ink or smoke. Her eyes were glowing pits of green, but filled with kindness, and the only thing she wore was a simple woven braid around her neck with a small rawhide bundle hanging from it.

“Atamiskâtowin, friends. My name is Tender Trust.” she said softly, bowing her head politely. “Okâwîmâw decided that I should go as a gesture of friendship between our tribes. For even across worlds, we still fight for the same ends.”

“And I guess I'm just lookin' for a fight.” added the next pony in line, a distinct twang in her voice as she grinned, which Cadence admittedly found a little unsettling. She had piercing green eyes, and her statuesque, strong body seemed like it was made of coarse orange-brown bark, her hay-colored mane and tail both tightly braided. A rawhide cowboy hat sat jauntily on her head, and a bolo tie shaped like an obsidian apple was tightly done up at her throat. “Y'all can call me Applejack. Pleased to meet you.”

The last mare in line smiled at them and bowed her head, adding softly as her hazel eyes shifted to La Croix almost knowingly: “We're here to help, as much as we can. Just like we know you're fighting for our sakes as much as your own.”

Cadence's eyes flicked to the side, and she noted La Croix had his eyes locked on this Pegasus intently: Cadence couldn't see a lot out of the ordinary with this mare, though. She looked young, her mane a mix of chestnut and black and tied tightly into several braids hanging around her shoulders. Her coat was a deep red, which made the dark, tribal-looking tattoos over her neck and along her back stand out all the clearer. And she was also the only one with a visible cutie mark, which looked like a notepad and quill: not exactly anything mystical or magical, Cadence thought.

“My name is Meadowlark. I have a message for you, Baron La Croix, from... someone you know, but don't at the same time.” the mare said gently, and La Croix frowned a bit before the Pegasus opened the pack at her side, then pulled a bundle free from it to hold it out to him.

La Croix took it nervously, frowning a little as he carefully unwrapped the bundle to reveal some kind of armlet, Cadence thought. It looked like it was made of leather, bone, and polished gemstone, and the mare really had no idea what to make of it.

But La Croix was staring over it with disbelief as he tilted it back and forth, before he looked up and whispered: “Vodunsi.”

Meadowlark only smiled and shook her head, saying softly: “I wouldn't consider myself more than a... lucky initiate, still. But I have been learning from a... very talented priestess. One who said you could use a bit of a reminder of who you are, Baron.”

“Just... La Croix.” the zebra laughed a little, shaking his head briefly before he looked up with a faint smile at the Pegasus mare, whispering: “Merci.”

Meadowlark simply shrugged, and then Moonflower leaned up and asked curiously: “Jewelry? Why would you want jewelry, La Croix? Are you reminding him that he's just a parlor magician?”

The Loa groaned at this, then he glared over his shoulder at Moonflower, slipping the bracer on over his foreleg before he tossed the cloth it had been wrapped in over the one-winged unicorn's face, saying dryly: “They're remindin' me 'bout all the reasons I put up with your mouth, rein de la nuit, but I'm startin' to think we should just glue it shut.”

Moonflower huffed from under the cloth, then he snatched it off his face and threw it back at La Croix. The zebra quickly pulled his hat off and scooped it out of the air before it could hit him, and Moonflower snorted before remarking dryly: “Nonsense. Do you have to keep every scrap you can find in there?”

“Hey, I saved our life more'n once with them scraps, so you should watch yourself, Moony.” La Croix grumbled, and then he winced when a hoof slapped him on the back, the stallion flinching as Luna cheerfully shoved herself between Cadence and La Croix.

“Hello, ponies I have clearly never seen before! Thou may not know who I am, but my name is Luna Brynhild and I am the greatest of all warriors here!” Luna said positively, opening and closing one eye in what looked more like a spasm than a wink to Prestige Luster. The unicorn only looked back at Brynhild with the air of someone who had been through this too many times before for it to faze them, although Applejack visibly rolled her eyes and Meadowlark sighed a little.

“Hello Luna Brynhild, who I have also not seen before. It is very nice to meet you for the first time.” Tender Trust said politely, and Cadence honestly couldn't tell if the strange pony-thing was trying to play along with Luna or was making fun of her. Either way, though, Luna looked pleased by this, even as Scrivener muttered something about not encouraging his wife.

But without looking, Luna kicked a hoof back into Scrivener to knock him over before she added loudly: “Now that we all know one-another, let us invite that strange, handsome young stallion who is such an oddly familiar shade of blue over to greet the rest of us, shall we? Strange blue stallion! Come speak to us!”

Thorn looked up moodily from where he was working with Hecate on something, and then he returned his eyes to the holographic screen in front of him as Applejack, Meadowlark, and Prestige all looked at the stallion, before the wood-hided earth pony frowned and started slowly: “Wait a minute, that pony...”

“Oh, that is Luna's son.” Tender Trust said almost absently, and Luna Brynhild grinned proudly as Prestige, Applejack, and Meadowlark all stared in shock at the mare. “Also, congratulations upon having another child, although I have never met you before and have no way of knowing that you already have three, one of whom is among my dearest friends.”

“You. You don't have to keep up the act, Tender Trust, it's okay.” Scrivener Blooms said tiredly, before he added sourly as Morgan glared at Luna: “Also, no one is supposed to know about that, remember? Especially right now, when-”

“When he is walking into danger beside us.” Luna said with sudden seriousness, raising her head and looking calmly back at both of her partners. “I shall not hide his identity when 'tis right in front of everyone, and I shall not lie to our friends, our family. Thorn is old enough now to make his own decisions, and no longer need we fear that others will try and take advantage of him. He is strong. He is smarter than I or thou, Scrivener Blooms. It is time for him to meet his family.”

“That's his choice to make, as hard as that is for me to say.” Morgan said softly, and Luna grimaced a bit, but then the purple mare sighed and lowered her head, nodding a little as she murmured: “But you're right about... some of those things, at least.”

“Yeah. And... keeping secrets is hard.” Scrivener admitted, before he sighed and called: “Thorn, could you come over here?”

Thorn looked up uncertainly, and then Hecate kicked him hard in the rump, sending him stumbling a few feet before the mechanical empress said shortly: “Two minutes.”

Thorn lamely smiled over his shoulder at his adopted mother, before he turned and quickly hurried towards the group of ponies. He looked much more uncertain now as he approached, much of his professionalism lost to the same amazement and wonder that most of Sigma team was looking at him with, before Luna announced clearly: “Prestige, Tender Trust, Meadowlark, Applejack... this is my son, Thorn Blackfeather. It has been an intensely difficult secret to keep, but... I think the time for keeping such secrets is nearly passed.”

“Wow... Antares doesn't even know, does he?” Prestige laughed after a moment, before she cleared her throat and smiled warmly, bowing her head towards Thorn and saying: “I'm your brother's marefriend. I uh... I guess you're kind of almost my brother-in-law, if-”

“If Antares would simply ask thee to marry him, aye. Damnation, how many years has it been?” Luna complained loudly, and then she slapped Scrivener Blooms firmly on the back. “Scrivy and I were married but a few months after the beginning of our relationship!”

“Yeah, but we knew each other for a while before then. As in I spent every day dealing with you at your absolute worst, so marriage wasn't really a big step up. Particularly because I no longer needed to worry about you firing me or anything.” the stallion said dryly, and Luna glowered at him before leaning over and whacking him between the ears with her horn.

“Holy hell, Luna. I can't believe it.” Applejack whistled loudly, as Meadowlark smiled warmly and Tender Trust bowed her head politely to the sapphire stallion. “Just wait until Rainbow Dash hears about this.”

“You've all been sworn to secrecy. I don't care if when you go home, you're interrogated by your priest, your goddess, your spouse or your own reflection, none of you will reveal any of what you've found out while here. That is not yours to discuss or decide.” Hecate growled as she approached them, and Luna glared balefully as Thorn shifted awkwardly. “On all official records, Thorn is my son. That is what you will tell anyone if they ask.”

Luna began to open her mouth, but Hecate steamrollered her, turning towards her son and saying shortly: “Thorn, marshal the teams into position. We have business to attend to.”

“This discussion is not over, Hecate!” Luna shouted uselessly at Hecate's back, and then she sighed when Thorn looked at her, the sapphire mare grumbling under her breath as she gestured to Scrivener and Morgan. “Come, come. Before our child yells at us again. Damnation, of all our children only Innocence has not grown up terrible and stuffy and bossy. Even Antares lectures me, can any of thee believe that?”

“We'll stay in contact. Please do the same.” Prestige nodded to Cadence as she began to lead her team away, and Cadence smiled briefly in return before she finally looked at her father, who had remained oddly quiet.

But Sombra only smiled gently when she looked at him: he looked healthy and ready, and like he had been learning more about their allies from the brief conversations they had shared than Cadence had from the briefings she'd received on each of these team members, and why they were important.

“Applejack seems to be a Benevolent, although I sense more in common with the demons. And Tender Trust is half-Phooka, but very different from those that I knew... of course, in the old days, half-Phooka were not usually allowed to stay with their tribe. But that is a long story for another day.” Sombra said softly, before he added, as if he could sense Moonflower and La Croix both looking at him questioningly: “When I was a young stallion I traveled often, and saw many things across both the Crystal Empire and Equestria. In the past, after all, Equestria was a wild land, ruled more by magic and animals than ponykind.”

“In our world, at least.” Cadence added, smiling briefly as she gave a nod towards the others, before she looked back and forth and said, as she noted the other teams assembling in position: “Come on, though. Let's look a little professional here.”

The others nodded, La Croix and Sombra at her sides and Moonflower behind them, fidgeting beneath his heavy, modular armor, which hid his one wing and the scar on his other side from sight. Cadence couldn't help but glance back at the stallion quickly, reassuring him when she caught his eye: “You look good. Just keep your eyes ahead.”

“Yes, I will.” Moonflower nodded firmly, and Cadence turned her own eyes forward, taking a slow breath as she saw Seneschal and Thorn falling in on either side of Hecate, who was facing straight ahead into the portal. The ivory mare could almost feel the tenseness of the mechanical goddess, and as she focused on her, she felt a strange shift in the Swan, almost a humility, as much as the creature's eternal eagerness for battle, shifting under her skin.

“Remember your mission.” Hecate said sharply, and without another word, she started forward. Cadence automatically fell into step behind the front group, not needing to look back to know that Luna's team was marching behind them.

But even the Valkyrie's presence couldn't distract her or the Swan right now: all she had eyes for was Hecate and the portal. And even as they passed into the swirling vortex, Cadence forced herself to keep her pace steady instead of bursting into a sprint, and she made sure her team was doing the same.

Her calmness was what allowed even Moonflower to stop being jittery, even as they emerged into some sort of large, dome-shaped room. But Cadence didn't let herself take more than a cursory look around, instead focusing on Hecate, and admittedly feeling more than a bit of admiration when the mechanical empress strode right into a group of Kirin standing in front of an open door, and she simply slapped them aside like toys.

The Kirin lay in confused disarray, apparently unable to comprehend what had just happened as Hecate strode out of the room and onto a massive bridge beyond, heading towards an immense fortress of steel and crystal. But as she approached, the armored double doors at the other end of the bridge opened with a bang, and several figures emerged.

Four Clockwork Titans escorted a pair of steel ponies, and a bipedal dragon in a pristine white suit, his amber eyes cold, his teeth bared in a grin, his ivory scales shining like metal. Hecate came to a halt in the middle of the bridge as Luna Brynhild snarled behind Cadence, but the Swan Maiden was admittedly surprised when Luna didn't leap out of formation, even as their column came to a halt.

Hecate stood in the center of the bridge, waiting for the dragon to reach her. He smiled mockingly as he adjusted the rings around his fingers, then he reached into his suit jacket and produced a set of playing cards, absently beginning to shuffle these in a simple overhand motion. He spoke; his voice was pleasant, mellifluous, and terribly threatening, with an undertone of mockery that made Hecate bristle: “Well, well, well. Look at what we have here. Hecate, it's been a rather long time, hasn't it? How have you been? Keeping the seat warm?”

Hecate was silent, and the dragon chuckled quietly, his hands shuffling the cards slowly as he continued easily: “Well, I am glad to see you have come back to me, Hecate. You may resume your duties as administrator. I can be generous, after all.”

The dragon strode forward, smiling as he shifted his deck to one hand, arrogant and superior as his amber eyes gleamed. He stepped past his Clockwork guardians, leaning fearlessly into Hecate's face to look eye-to-eye with her as he said softly: “After all, I can give you precisely what you want, isn't that right? Revenge, and a return to simpler times.”

Hecate answered by slamming one metal fist into the dragon's stomach, and his eyes bulged in shock before the ivory mare smashed a second punch across his face, the mechanical empress snarling: “Engage override, code 91-240-5-10, operandus falsus!”

The Clockwork Titans and steel ponies all immediately stopped moving as the dragon on the ground stared back and forth in disbelief, before he snarled: “I will not put up with this insult! Get her! Activate and get her now!”

“They're waiting for you to say a codeword. But you can't say it, because you are not Valthrudnir.” Hecate said coldly, and the dragon on the ground stared at her with disbelief as Hecate's steel body trembled with rage, her eyes glowing with hatred, and anger, and some deeper, even more terrible turmoil of emotion. “You can pass the visual inspection. You have modulated his voice perfectly. But you do a poor imitation of his behaviors, whatever you are.”

The dragon on the ground looked at her for a moment with something like disbelief, and then it suddenly grinned. And the moment it did so, its scales became lackluster, eyes turning to hollow glass orbs and body nothing but carved and painted wood. Almost invisible strings tugged the now-puppet quickly up to its feet, as a voice clearly not its own said mockingly from its jaws: “Well, the Kirin are still programmed to obey the Overlords, and the Overlords are controlled by the Jarsongildi. You're still screwed.”

The Valthrudnir puppet giggled, its limbs twisting in on themselves ridiculously as string glimmered dangerously around the construct as it bounced back and forth. “But it's very exciting to have you here, very exciting! This goes one of two ways now, Hecate, surely you realize that! Either I kill you, or you join us, and make it easier for us to manipulate these hulks and wrecks! Help the Jarsongildi, Hecate! Let us join our banners beneath Thokk!”

“Third option. I kill all of you.” Hecate retorted, and then she ordered shortly: “Damnatio memoriae.”

The four Clockwork Titans all crackled with electricity before, one after the other, they exploded in tremendous blasts of fire and electricity. The mechanical ponies went up a moment later like magnesium candles, sending flares of light towards the sky as the puppet was jostled back and forth by the blasts.

All that was left in front of them were smoldering ruins that had scarred the bridge with the force of their self-destruction, and the mechanical goddess held up a hand before gesturing sharply to the side as there was a loud beeping. And, as much as Cadence wanted to argue, she immediately hit the button on her Mission Drive to start it up, information rapidly displaying over the glass visor in front of her eyes as she said sharply: “Move, people!”

Cadence vaulted the railing of the bridge to the right, and the rest of her team followed: Gamma team deployed to the left a moment later, while Sigma followed after Alpha team. Seneschal and Thorn lingered only a moment before they both turned and sprinted back towards the entrance to the bridge, and Hecate didn't look back even when she heard shouts and gunfire.

All her focus was on the column of slowly clearing smoke in front of her, before she smiled coldly at the sight of the mangled Valthrudnir puppet. But instead of being drawn in, she reached up and tapped a dome-shaped protrusion on one hip, and it glowed brightly before a bracer formed around the mare's forearm, a chain snaking out of this and a massive, spiked ball forming in a burst of light at the end of the length.

Hecate spun the spiked ball once before she snapped it out, the chain lengthening with a rattle before she yanked it down, and the mangled puppet barely yanked itself out of the way in time with a squawk before the spiked ball crashed into the bridge and tore a crater in the scarred stone. Then Hecate yanked the weapon back to a ready position beside her, as the puppet howled: “Are you crazy, woman?”

Hecate smiled thinly, then she stepped forwards and flung the spiked ball, the puppet yelping as it tried to bring up an arm... but the heavy weapon simply bludgeoned through one of the wooden limbs like it was made of putty, the Valthrudnir puppet staggering before it snarled in fury as a strange ichor bled out of the shattered arm. “You're trying my patience!”

“I have no interest in discussion.” Hecate said shortly, and then she spun the spiked ball once before snapping it forward again, smashing the puppet's head to pieces with the deadly sphere before she yanked down to sink the spikes of the weapon into the chest of the construct. Then the mechanical goddess yanked both weapon and puppet towards her, the mare reaching up to catch the broken puppet by the little that remained of its neck.

It grabbed at her weakly with its remaining limb, but Hecate simply closed her eyes and concentrated, sending a powerful pulse of magic through the puppet's body. It jittered wildly for a moment, then glowed eerily before simply falling still, and Hecate tossed the wrecked body aside as she said softly: “Just like I thought.”

“You're a sly one.” remarked a voice, and Hecate looked coldly up to see the white-masked witch Thokk standing across from her, her rotten black hair wafting slowly in the faint breeze she felt stirring around them. Except Fyrverǫld has no natural weather...

Hecate narrowed her eyes as she sent a pulse through the air, detecting the source of the wind, but Thokk giggled before she said mockingly: “You don't think I'd really just lay down and let you guys walk all over me, right? Oh no, no no no. First of all, let's make sure that all your winged ponycorns can't just fly away. Two, let's go ahead and bring down the house! The Jarsongildi is done here, anyway, by which I mean, I'm done. These robots have all proven a lot more tedious and unreliable than I expected to them to be, you know!”

“No tool is more capable than the wielder, Thokk. The problem isn't Fyrverǫld. The problem is you.” Hecate said contemptibly, and Thokk visibly stiffened slightly, raising her head a bit: it was easy for Hecate to imagine that the witch was snarling under her mask. “Then you've done me two favors by being such a coward. You've reactivated operations and now you're running away so I can reestablish my presence here.”

“Actually, I'm going to kill you and your friends first. Then I'm going to smash up your world. Real stupid to come through with only a few people, you know that, right?” Thokk asked, but Hecate only smiled thinly. The witch snorted at this, then she began: “Defiant until the end, huh? Well, let's just see how you...”

And then, even as the wind around them began to pick up further, Thokk looked up in surprise to see an aircraft rising into the sky before it shot off towards the horizon, the witch staring after this with dumb surprise.

She began to turn towards Hecate, but was met by the spiked metal ball slamming into her face, cracking her stone mask and knocking her sprawling back with a squeal against the railing. Hecate immediately snapped the weapon around in a long arc, then lashed it forward again, but this time Thokk hurriedly brought up a hand and created a barrier that the weapon bounced uselessly off.

Hecate yanked the spiked metal ball backwards and spun it sharply around her head a few times, building up momentum as her horn began to glow, and Thokk screamed from behind her shield: “Do you have no idea how this whole thing works or something, you crazy bitch? Where are the one-liners, where are the-”

Hecate snapped the spiked ball forward as it glowed with malicious magic, and this time it shattered clearly through Thokk's shield and slammed into the witch's stomach, knocking Thokk sprawling and rolling backwards down the bridge. Hecate easily pulled the weapon back to the ready beside her, spinning it slowly and calmly as she said contemptibly: “I prefer to let Lucy speak for me.”

“Cute.” Thokk muttered as she picked herself up, and then she slowly waved a hand over her bloody stomach, wheezing a little before both her hands glowed with eldritch energies as clouds rolled slowly through the skies overhead, the wind picking up with a rising howl. “Fine. Let's see if you've got the strength to back up that big mouth of yours.”

Hecate smiled thinly as her eyes glowed, not only analyzing Thokk but checking on the positions of the others, ensuring they were doing their respective jobs. And so far, everything to be ahead of schedule, although Hecate knew that likely wouldn't last.

Cadence sprinted down the street with her team in tow behind her, the ivory mare admittedly surprised by how quickly they were making progress, and how scattered the Kirin had been already. They were almost completely different from the organized, skillfully-deployed soldiers they had met on their first run into Fyrverǫld: this time, their forces were spread out, disorganized, and confused...

But Cadence had the feeling that Seneschal had something to do with that: not only was she receiving rapid mission updates over her visor, she could faintly detect a static in the air, like as Seneschal fed them information he was blocking and confusing the enemy troops.

As they sprinted down the street, Cadence noted a Kirin blockade ahead, the mare readying herself to engage before her visor beeped at her and indicated an alternate route. Immediately, Cadence turned, her teammates following close behind as they galloped down a narrow alley that looked like it led to nowhere, except when they reached the end of it, Cadence's eyes locked on to a ladder leading up the side of a building.

She leapt onto this, climbing it quickly, and La Croix vanished as Sombra followed after his daughter. Moonflower attempted to leap into the air, but then clanked back onto his hooves with a wince when he couldn't spread his wings, and he grimaced before looking silently back at his modular armor, staring through the sliding panels at his scarred side.

But after a moment, he took a breath and leapt onto the ladder, clumsily following last. The team emerged shortly onto the roof, Cadence frowning as she looked around and tapped at her visor, muttering: “For some reason I'm not getting any further orders, it just stopped broadcasting...”

Sombra frowned a bit, then he looked up into the growing wind, studying the clouds above worriedly before he said quietly: “I don't think we should linger, Cadenza.”

Cadence turned to follow Sombra's gaze, and then her eyes widened as she saw tornadoes beginning to form in the distance, the mare swearing under her breath as she realized what that feeling in the air was: dark magic.

“You're right, we have to go, now.” the ivory mare agreed quickly, grimacing as she spun around and ran to the edge of the group, scanning the horizon. A building in the distance lit up as their mission objective, and Cadence quickly plotted a route in her mind over the rooftops before she started: “Okay, everyone, we can-”

“Cadenza!” Sombra shouted, pointing quickly in another direction, and Cadence spun around before she gritted her teeth as she saw a saucer flying quickly towards them, the lights over its hull flashing brightly. As it approached, a circular hatch in the bottom of the ship spun open, and Kirin began to leap out of the craft in pairs, opening fire on the ponies even as they fell towards the ground.

Moonflower immediately created a barrier as the flying saucer passed overhead, continuing quickly on its way and leaving behind a half-dozen Homeguard. Cadence swore as she drew a knife in either hoof, then leaned forwards and flung both sharply: one of the Homeguard collapsed in a heap with a dagger in his throat, but another managed to dodge to the side before he shouted: “Explosive rounds!”

The Kirin aimed and fired at them with the second barrel under the assault rifle, and Moonflower winced as a grenade pounded into the shield before exploding in a tremendous blast. Several more explosives peppered his barrier and the ground around the ponies, the stallion grinding his teeth together as cracks started to form through his magic as a cloud of smoke was thrown up by the blasts, making it impossible for Cadence to return fire.

Fearlessly, the ivory mare leapt forwards and through the safety of the shield, charging through the pall of smog and leaping out with a hard flap of her wings. Two of the Homeguard shouted and opened fire at her with their automatic rifles, bullets tearing through the air around the ivory mare as she zigzagged sharply back and forth before suddenly dropping out of the sky and crunching another shocked Homeguard under her hooves, and in one liquid movement, she grabbed him around the neck and rolled quickly forwards, landing in a half-kneel and strangling the Kirin as she held him up like a shield at the same time, bullets pounding into his armored body as Cadence knelt behind him.

La Croix appeared behind another Homeguard, the zebra grabbing the Kirin by the back of his neck and sending a surge of green lightning through the soldier, knocking him unconscious. Immediately, a Homeguard spun towards him, shouting as they opened fire uselessly at the Loa, but La Croix was already gone, vanished from sight.

Another Homeguard howled in agony as black sludge burst out of the rooftop and splashed down over him before solidifying into crystal, leaving him immobilized, and Cadence roared as she suddenly leapt forwards, rotating her entire body into throwing the limp, dead Kirin at one of the remaining soldiers. The corpse smashed into him like a wrecking ball and sent him crashing backwards, and the other was killed by a knife to the face that followed up a moment later.

The Homeguard beneath the corpse groaned weakly, but La Croix appeared beside him and simply dropped an elbow into his head, knocking him unconscious. Cadence smiled grimly, but then swore under her breath as she looked up to see a squarer troop transport plane flying in towards them, lowering itself quickly beside the rooftop as the Kirin inside took aim-

Gunfire rang out, and Cadence's eyes widened in surprise as bullets tore across the top of the transport craft, the ship twisting back and forth as the Kirin inside shouted and panicked under the barrage of bullets. The craft immediately began to pull up, but not before one of its turbines exploded, the plane violently pitching to the side and making the building rattle as it crashed into one of the walls before there was a second boom as it fell to the street below.

“Y'all need a lift?” Applejack grinned, leaning out of the side of a similar troop transport as it slowly descended through the air, its flight only a little rickety as it settled beside the rooftop. “Come on, we'll escort you to the strike point, we'll drop you there and then move on to our own.”

Cadence smiled and nodded firmly, gesturing quickly to the others, and she and her team piled into the transport before Applejack yanked the door closed. As the ivory mare grabbed one of the handles hanging from the rooftop, she looked around and noted that while Prestige was in the cockpit at the front, she had plugged her Mission Drive into the machine, and she could hear Seneschal's voice whining: “-waste of my valuable processing power! How hard is it to avoid crashing into buildings?”

Prestige rolled her eyes, and then she leaned quickly back from the seat, smiling at Cadence and remarking: “You're really fast on your hooves. How do you put up with all this technology, though? It looks like you've got a billion little lights constantly blinking in your eyes.”

“It was really hard at first, but a lot of our training in Decretum emphasizes the use of HUDs and other technology. Uh, Heads-Up Display, sorry.” Cadence explained, before she smiled a little over at her father, adding quietly: “And I guess... living in a mechanical world just helps you get used to things like that a whole lot faster.”

Prestige nodded, and Tender Trust gave a quiet laugh, the half-Phooka studying them curiously before she smiled kindly towards Sombra, saying softly: “I hope you do not find this disrespectful, kihcêyiniw, but I see that you have made machinery part of your own life.”

“It is a necessary sacrifice, passerotta. After all, we must all sometimes embrace parts of life and our own self that we do not want to, in order to become the best we can be.” Sombra smiled gently, then he asked curiously: “If it is not too much to pry, why are you on this mission? You are a gentle soul, as kind as your name, I would risk.”

Tender Trust lowered her head respectfully to Sombra, answering honestly: “It is because of my desire to learn, and my desire to protect. Okâwîmâw originally volunteered, but I convinced her to let me go in her stead, when we learned that this would be a fast... operation, is that the correct word?”

“That's right.” Cadence nodded, looking curiously at the Phooka mare. “I understand wanting to protect people, but... I mean, even we Orphans sometimes have trouble with the fact we're picking fights with basically anything 'bad' out there to protect the greater good. I also understand wanting to protect your uh... who?”

“Okâwîmâw. My mother.” Tender Trust answered politely.

Cadence smiled and nodded, and Moonflower chuckled quietly before he remarked wryly: “I envy that. I'm not saying I wouldn't want to protect my own parents, but... I don't quite know if I'd have the courage to.”

Cadence looked with surprise at Moonflower's confession: usually he was all ego and bluster, and the humility almost made her worried about him. But La Croix only snorted in amusement, saying easily: “Nah, Moony, I think you'd leap at the chance, mon ami. Y'always been great about gettin' yourself into trouble, after all.”

“Thank you, La Croix, really.” Moonflower said wryly, and then he cleared his throat as he looked around at the group, asking finally: “So, all of you are... mares, yes?”

Meadowlark and Tender Trust both looked at the stallion with some confusion, as Applejack cocked her head and asked mildly: “Y'got some problem with that?”

“What? Oh, no, no. Just reflecting on the lack of stallions in the world.” Moonflower paused, then added in a more-cynical voice: “Well, you know, apart from the ones we kill.”

“Ain't really gentlecoltly to want to kill mares, Moony.” La Croix remarked, and Moonflower huffed loudly at this.

“I don't want to kill anyone, I'm just saying-”

“Okay guys, we're approaching target. Let's look sharp.” Cadence interrupted quickly as she reached up to tap her visor, looking straight ahead. And even if she couldn't see much past the cockpit, her HUD was telling her that they were closing in fast: in less than a hundred meters, they would be overtop their target.

She glanced at Applejack, and the mare nodded before grasping the handle for the door and yanking it open with a grunt. Cadence gave a brief smile, then she took a breath and steadied herself as the last of the distance closed, before Seneschal's voice rang out: “Alpha team, make a jump. Swan, the target zone has been supplied to your Mission Drive.”

“I see it.” Cadence muttered as she leaned out of the ship, and she gave a brief smile to the others before saying quietly: “Good luck, Sigmas.”

Prestige smiled back at her, and the others nodded before Cadence looked back down, gazing at the towers of metal and glass beneath them. There were mounted cannons and turrets everywhere, all surrounding what looked like a massive radar dish, and Cadence could see a large, blinking dot on the visor that indicated the drop path Seneschal had indicated...

“Let's move out, Alphas!” Cadence shouted, and without giving herself any more time to hesitate or worry, the mare leapt out of the aircraft and closed her wings and limbs tight to her side, diving straight down. She watched information tick rapidly by on her visor, gritting her teeth as the numbers fell sharply from triple digits to double digits-

Cadence suddenly flipped her body and spread her wings, flapping them hard a moment before she hit the ground, her drop broken just enough that she landed painfully but without injury. She took a slow breath, then looked up as her comrades landed beside her one after the other, Sombra and Moonflower using magic to lighten their touchdowns and La Croix simply appearing out of thin air on the narrow rooftop.

The zebra whistled loudly at the sight of the massive anti-aircraft cannon in front of them, and Cadence was admittedly very glad herself that Seneschal had apparently shut all the automated defenses down for them: otherwise, there wouldn't be a whole lot of any of them left right now. But she didn't let herself linger, turning towards their target as she said quickly: “We need to attach a Mission Drive to that uplink. Let's get going, people!”

And, as Cadence led her team towards their objective, the ship above carrying Sigma team turned slightly and shot forwards, even as the wind began to grow strong enough to jostle their plane and the clouds above darkened. Prestige grimaced from the cockpit as she leaned forward, as Applejack muttered: “Weird bunch. I mean, I know I ain't one to talk, but... weird bunch.”

“They look out for each other, though. And they seem to know what they're doing.” Meadowlark said softly, smiling briefly before she asked: “Prestige, do you know how far away we are from the objective?”

“Not too far, but the problem is this storm. We might want to take this by hoof.” Prestige said uncertainly, but there was a defiant blare of static from the speakers, which made her wince.

“Nonsense!” Seneschal argued huffily. “I know precisely what I'm doing.”

Before Prestige could argue, there was a tremendous bang as something smashed into the side of the transport, and it rocked violently to the side, Applejack wincing as she bounced off the door of the transport before Seneschal snapped: “Look, if those morons can do it, why can't you learn how to fly this claptrap yourselves?”

“Because we don't have computers in our brains!” Prestige snapped, leaning quickly to the side and gritting her teeth as she looked out the window to see another flying craft: this one looked much smaller and lighter, flying easily alongside them and with only enough room for two Kirin: one in the cockpit, and another in a shielded gunner's seat in the back, currently aiming a large cannon towards them.

The Kirin fired, but this time Seneschal dropped the transport, the round going wild before Seneschal hauled the transport to the side, trying to smash the enemy ship out of the air. Applejack, Meadowlark, and Tender Trust all shouted as they were flung across the back of the transport by the sharp movement, while the attack plane beside them simply shot upwards into the sky, putting on a burst of speed and easily looping back behind them as the cannon fired again.

Seneschal swore as the transport shook, muttering: “Hull integrity at less than sixty percent, and the enemy is much faster and better equipped than us...”

“Keep it steady.” Prestige ordered, and Seneschal huffed loudly but obeyed as the unicorn leapt out of the cockpit, shouting: “Applejack, open it up!”

The mare didn't question Prestige, grabbing the door as Meadowlark and Tender Trust hurried backwards to avoid being pulled out. The jet immediately pulled up towards the doorway, the cannon aiming into the vulnerable space, but Prestige was ready for them as her horn glowed brightly.

The cannon fired as Prestige snapped her horn forwards, and the blast of force she launched at the jet was strong enough to splinter the armored round into fragments that went wild before it smashed into the cannon turret, nearly dislodging it from the jet; her spellwork wasn't done, however, Prestige's eyes flashing as her horn gave a second pulse, and electricity exploded over the turret before spreading over the plane, interfering with the sensitive systems before the attack jet simply dropped from the sky to smash into the roof of a building below.

Prestige wheezed and relaxed as Applejack grinned widely, beginning to push the door back closed, before the Valkyrie's eyes widened in shock as she saw another jet seem to appear from nowhere. She didn't have enough time to shout a warning before missiles deployed from the new hostile, her horn glowing intensely-

But it was far too little to save the transport as the missiles slammed into it before exploding in a tremendous gout of hellfire and force, the ship becoming a flaming meteor that streaked out of the skies of Fyrverǫld to crash into another tower of steel and glass, leaving little behind but fire and ruin.