Defect

by CroakyEngine

Chapter 6 - Metal Husks

ManeFrame and Jade dove into cover as two rockets barraged the place they stood only a moment before. Lethal gunfire pummelled their cover, creating a line of bullet holes on the outside. A loud, metallic voice thundered from the Tanker that had attacked them.

“Cease your actions, Resistance scum. Earn your equality with the dead.” Another rocket slammed into the concrete block ManeFrame was hiding behind, sending it crashing to the ground. She looked over to her right side, where a small squad of newly freed resistance soldiers was taking shelter behind a storage container.

Look on the bright side, at least it’s not the same voice from the loudspeakers.

“Cease, resistance scum!” voiced another Tanker, suppressing them with machine gun fire. Gunfire was exchanged, though the majority came from the Imperial side. Most resistance soldiers were only armed with whatever weapons they could find and scavenge. Jade had already switched his rifle to full auto, expelling as many bullets as he could against the descending waves of grunts.

When he reloaded his spent magazine, a lucky shot bounced off the side of his helmet, but shattered the visor in the process. Jade cursed and pulled off his helmet, dropping it onto the ground as he scowled and fought to finish his reload.

Gunshots rang out from the opposite side of them, drawing the constructs’ attention away from them momentarily. ManeFrame sneaked a peek from her cover and saw Rarity entering the fray, flanked by her agents.

“Get in cover, everypony!” Sanguine thundered out. More out of instinct than obedience, the resistance soldiers ducked as they were told as the grunts and tankers opened up. From where ManeFrame was at, she could see the slightest shimmer forming around Rarity’s horn.

A flash of bright light was chased by a series of delayed explosions, blowing the constructs sky-high into the air. The remaining constructs, realizing that they were now at a disadvantage, quickly tried to pull out. However, Rarity’s agents didn’t give them a chance, bringing them down with quick and disciplined gunfire.

Rarity let the small glow around her horn die down before quickly approaching ManeFrame and Jade.

“Bloodlust, Sanguine, secure the perimeter.” Rarity then turned to ManeFrame with concern. “ManeFrame, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, thanks,” responded ManeFrame. Rarity bobbed her head before glancing around them at the freed soldiers, most of whom were looking relieved to just be alive.

“You did it, ManeFrame. I knew you could,” Rarity smiled, though it quickly disappeared as she reevaluated their situation.

“Looks like we fought them off for now,” muttered Jade. ManeFrame silently agreed. It definitely didn’t look like they sent all of their constructs to fight. She turned to see the pony she and Rarity had spoken to before – Lieutenant Striker – running towards them. Despite his tired and weary features, he greeted them with an enormous grin.

“Miss Rarity and Miss Radiance! I can’t believe it, you’ve done the impossible and somehow freed us from this Tartarus-spawn!”

“Lieutenant Striker,” greeted Rarity. “We’re not out of this yet, Lieutenant. But, we’re working towards it.”

The Lieutenant turned slightly, noticing Jade for the first time. ManeFrame quickly remembered that Jade was a captain of the resistance, a fact that had since been buried at the back of her mind.

“Who is this?” asked Lieutenant Striker. He squinted at Jade’s armour and drew back with surprise. “That’s resistance issue! Modified, but it still bears the Equestrian insignia.”

“Captain Grayling, twenty-sixth Infantry Division of the New Equestrian Army,” said Jade. To ManeFrame’s shock, his tone had completely turned around, going from a normally quiet and complacent one to commanding and firm. It was a side of Jade that ManeFrame never knew, or thought to have existed. “And who might you be?”

Eyes widening, Striker glanced at the ranks on the shoulder band of the armour and immediately snapped a salute. “Lieutenant April Striker of the eighteenth Infantry Division, Captain sir!”

“I suppose this makes me your commanding officer,” mused Jade, though ManeFrame couldn’t help but sense some nervousness in his tone. “At ease, Lieutenant.”

“Yes, sir,” replied the Lieutenant stalwartly.

“In this current situation…while I am your superior, I will not take any direct control over your troops. It is a confusing situation as it is, and I would like that you stay as the commanding officer.”

“Sir?” asked Lieutenant Striker, slightly baffled. Even Rarity had raised an eyebrow at this. ManeFrame’s database told her it was extremely unorthodox for a superior officer to relinquish control without resigning from his position, and almost unheard of.

“Miss Rarity here’s words should be considered as important as mine, even though she is not part of the Equestrian army, her position as head of the Agency should bear some weight,” said Jade.

“Head of the Agency?” asked Lieutenant Striker with surprise and a little measure of shock. “I thought you were just one of the agents.”

“Not quite,” said Rarity wryly, giving a small curtsy to the Lieutenant.

“If you’re here… it must be important.” Lieutenant Striker stopped and gave a grimace. “What exactly are we up against? Do we really have any chance against it?”

“I can’t tell you anything, Lieutenant, because I don’t know. That’s what we’re here to find out.”

A grim silence fell between them. It was interrupted, however, when Bloodlust sprinted up next to Rarity.

“Lieutenant, this is one of my top agents, Bloodlust. Bloodlust, this is Lieutenant Striker, one of the ponies that we freed from the Imperial prisons,” introduced Rarity.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Bloodlust,” greeted Lieutenant Striker. “To be honest with you, I would kill for some good news right about now.”

“Well, what have you found, Bloodlust?” asked Rarity.

Bloodlust grinned.

---

The massive Imperial armoury opened up, letting in a flood of resistance soldiers.

“Come on!” Bloodlust called out with a big smile. “Get yourselves acquainted with these toys as quickly as possible. It’s time that we show the Equalists why it was a bad idea to mess with us!”

A cheer rang out within the armoury, followed by metallic clicks and clanging, with the soldiers arming themselves with brutal efficiency. Along the walls, they also found stacks of Resistance soldier barding, at least over hundred, if not more.

“Lieutenant, looks like this was where they kept our stuff!” called out a pony, re-equipping himself with resistance-branded armour.

Once everypony had collected everything they needed, all stepped out of the armoury except for Bloodlust. She turned to one of the flamethrowers mounted on a wall and hoisted it off into her hooves. Checking the fuel reserves, she switched it on, releasing a stream of highly flammable liquid before a spark of fire set it all aflame. She swaggered out, to the impressed and even awed looks of some of the resistance soldiers.

“Why aren’t they attacking us yet?” wondered Lieutenant Striker.

“Maybe they think we have more ponies than we truly have,” said Jade.

“Yes, I wonder how that could be,” said Rarity with a small smirk.

Almost on cue, dozens of ponies jumped as a TATT materialized right before their eyes, some instinctually clutching at their newly acquired rifles and aiming them. The lieutenant quickly waved for them to stand down, though, as he recognized the Agency’s insignia on its side. A second one appeared beside it.

“What… how?” asked ManeFrame.

“When our position was compromised, I ordered the Tactical All-Terrain Transports to move in as support. When I left before, it was to plant charges on the far side of the wall so these can come inside.”

“Not everypony can fit inside within your vehicles, Miss Rarity,” said the Lieutenant.

“No, and I don’t intend for everypony to. The fight is not yet over. We still have to make a stand against the remaining Imperial constructs and retrieve what we came here for,” stated Rarity, brushing locks of her hair away from her eyes as she peered at the two hulking vehicles. “Get the injured inside one of them, and those who can’t fit will need to spread out. We must secure a perimeter and set up defenses.”

“But we only number at fifty ponies,” spoke up one of the captured soldiers. “There must be hundreds of grunts here. We need to get the Resistance… or... or something! We can’t fight against that number!”

“No time. We have to make do with what we have,” said Rarity decisively. “We need to strike hard and fast, right now. The more time we wait is more time for the Imperial Equalists to recover and prepare for an attack. Lieutenant Striker, are your ponies good to go on?”

“We’ve been through a lot, Captain, Miss Rarity. We can do it,” said the Lieutenant, setting his face to stone with a determined glint within his eyes.

“Then we move out. Follow on my lead,” said Rarity.

---

A small army greeted them at the entrance of the GEM. Before the dust had even settled from their traipsing, everypony ducked sideways into cover. Gunfire and rocket mayhem poured down the centre of the path they had traversed. ManeFrame saw a lone pony too slow to react, caught in the middle of the barrage.

“Everypony, brace yourself!” Rarity called out as she nodded to Sanguine. Sanguine hollered something to the back of their ranks, though the words were lost with what came next.

A reverberating boom rang out as the flash of bright yellow and white nearly blinded them all. an explosion ripped through the back ranks of the constructs, sowing precious seconds of mayhem among them. The front blast doors of the large pentagonal building were torn from its foundations, flying away to land on a group of unfortunate constructs.

Elsewhere, a similar set of blasts echoed out, accompanied by shouts and intense gunfire. Ponies exchanged smiles as it signalled that Sergeant Blitz’s flanking had been successful. What nopony had expected, however, was a deep rumbling on the ground and what sounded like a loud, muffled groan.

“Push forward!” shouted Lieutenant Striker as he let loose a brief staccato of gunfire, refocusing those who had been distracted by the strange sound.

A boom behind them caused several ponies to flinch, though they quickly realized it was the TATT firing from a concealed position. Taking advantage of the constructs’ chaotic state, resistance soldiers took up defensive positions, showering the Imperial troops with a volley of bullets. Meanwhile, ManeFrame, Jade, Rarity and the agents led the charge directly into their midst.

Taking out her shotgun the bronze construct dived into the battle, galloping up to the nearest construct and greeting it with a face-full of pellets. She quickly came across a Tanker and fired again. While the other rifles and even rockets had a hard time penetrating its armour, the ammunition from the shotgun simply sheared through its front, leaving behind a smoking heap as it toppled onto the ground.

However, it was Rarity that took the limelight.

ManeFrame turned around, sensing a vast amount of magic being expelled. She stumbled a little when she saw Rarity slamming into a group of enemies head first, the sword she had seen her wield before out in the open. However, up close, ManeFrame was even more confused by how it worked. Her sensor identified thirteen distinct entities, yet magically it was as if it was whole, never separated.

The blade didn’t stay still for long, though, as Rarity quickly turned into a whirlwind of slashing destruction. Her movements were so fast, they blurred even to ManeFrame’s precise sensors, making her wonder if she was pony at all. The constructs around her were systematically taken apart, with parts and limbs flying in all directions as the blade sliced through them like nothing.

Even the suppressing fire behind them slowed temporarily, many of the soldiers simply gaping at the extraordinary display of magic, might and skill.

“Stars and gods above,” gasped Lieutenant Striker. “She-She’s Bladecasting! That’s impossible! The art’s been dead since before the Great War and the amount of magic required is… tremendous!”

Without any hesitation, ManeFrame leapt into the battle again while the soldiers were still thunderstruck by the display Rarity was putting on. Silently, ManeFrame felt as awed as them, documenting everything before her while combating the encroaching tide of grunts.

Her sword was made of thirteen pieces of gemstone, all pure diamonds, seemingly fused together through sheer magical power alone. The blade struck into a grunt, and seamlessly split up, bursting through its metallic back only to strike another construct, and another after that. Each separate gem was capable of operating by itself, and ManeFrame couldn’t comprehend how Rarity could micromanage each and every single one of them.

She refrained from yelping as a rocket slammed into the ground metres to her right. Rolling away – assisted by its knockback – she focused on her assailant. Two Tankers stood before her, their red eyes glaring at her as another barrage of rockets blasted off from their launchers. With help from her hoof thrusters, ManeFrame leapt up into the sky, gracefully flying over the ordinances and headed straight for the closest Tanker.

She slammed her forehooves into its head with enough force to topple it over. However, she quickly rolled away when the second construct nearly took her head off with almost point-blank machine gun fire. Aiming her shotgun, she blew a hole through the construct’s chest. A trio of gemstones whipped past her ears and punctured through the forehead of a Tanker that was trying to sneak up behind her.

The construct convulsed slightly before falling stiffly onto the ground. ManeFrame looked to Rarity to give her a small nod of thanks, but she was already gone. ManeFrame fired a quick succession of rockets towards a cluster of attacking Equalists while she located her next target. Luckily, the resistance soldiers had resumed fire, slowly pushing back the Imperials with their combined assault.

She ducked, though, when she heard the sound of Imperial gliders. Two of them came into view, each dropping two capsules full of ready-to-deploy Imperial grunts. She fired a trio of rockets at one, watching in satisfaction as they hit their mark. The glider lost control and spiralled down into a cluster of grunts.

A Tanker crawled out of the crushed pile of metal, it’s armour dented and crushed in multiple places. Half of the metal plating on its face was gone, revealing a mess of sputtering wires and sparking electronics. ManeFrame ran forward and lopped off its head before it could do so much as twitch in her direction. She felt the metal crumple beneath her hoof as it caved in to the sheer force of her buck.

There was silence in ManeFrame’s mind as she saw the shattering of mechanical parts fly through the air in front of her. Ponies were finishing off the last of the attacking constructs. ManeFrame stared at her hooves intensely, ignoring everything else even as the other glider crashed into a building behind her.

What am I becoming? I had destroyed it so easily, like second nature.

She knelt down on the ground, gently brushing her hoof across the chest piece of the tanker she had just destroyed. Its eyes were dead and cold.

“Who am I?” ManeFrame whispered.

Her warnings blared suddenly, to a different tune that she hadn’t heard before. Looking up in confusion, she saw white trails of shells soaring towards them.

The ground next to her proceeded to disappear into a shower of dirt and shrapnel. ManeFrame yelped and tried to rise up in the air, but a flak shell that detonated close to her hurled her into a newly-formed crater along with another soldier.

The landscape around them was quickly shelled, catching the ponies by surprise and even catching the Empire’s own constructs in the crossfire. A malfunction had appeared in ManeFrame’s auditory sensors, generating a ringing noise that replaced all other noise.

Suddenly feeling extremely disoriented, she found herself watching as the ponies still in the open dived for cover. Everything looked as if they were in slow motion, from the explosion of dirt and dust on the ground to the steady muzzle flashes of a tripod machine gun. Slowly, though, her hearing returned to her, just in time to hear Sanguine.

“We have incoming artillery and mortar fire from the walls!” he shouted. “Somepony get up there and disable them!”

Being so low to the ground, she was suddenly aware of the ponies around her. It was so easy to forget how vulnerable ponies were, but the screams and cries all around her suddenly hit home.

She looked to her left to see the soldier who had been thrown in the crater with her. She flinched, however, when she realized that the loudest wails were coming from her. The mare was crying and whimpering beside her, her hooves clutched tightly around her head as she contorted in pain. The most horrifying part, however, was the pony’s hind hooves. They were just… gone, with bloody tatters of her barding hanging off the end. ManeFrame crawled over her form, running a shaky hoof over the mare’s mane in an attempt to console her.

What do I do-what do I do-what do I do?!

“Medic!” she screamed aloud, hoping that somepony. Her prayers were answered when the form of Bloodlust slid down into the crater next to her.

“…Bloodlust?” she managed.

“Yeah, part-time field medic,” said mare answered, trying to smile but instead grimaced when she saw the pony on the ground. “Crap, this isn’t good. I can’t do much for her”

“But you have to!” urged ManeFrame. Bloodlust just shook her head apologetically as she finished tying a bandage around the end of the hooves. She then stuck a needle and bag full of plasma she procured from her pouches into the mare’s hoof.

“I’m sorry, I’ve done the best I can. There are too many injured.” Taking a quick look to make sure no shells landed too close to where they were, Bloodlust crawled out towards where the next cry of ‘Medic’ came from.

ManeFrame scoured her records for any medical information for this kind of injury. This wasn’t anything like the wound she had treated for Jade. However, one word came up in her hasty inquiry: cauterization. Reading through it time and time again, ManeFrame looked to the mare with sorrow. The pony didn’t even see ManeFrame, having screwed her eyes shut.

“I’m sorry. This is going to hurt a lot,” said ManeFrame as she raised a hoof-thruster to the wounds. She knew that time was of the essence, but she had to take a split second to mentally prepare what was going to happen next.

She turned on the hoof thruster, searing the wound shut with the fire as she tightly held down the thrashing mare below her. Her piercing scream was loud enough to be heard over the cacophony of shells impacting the ground.

After an agonizing stretch of time, the opening was sealed up, and ManeFrame finally deactivated her thruster. The mare had gone unconscious, for which ManeFrame was eternally grateful. In the meantime, another shout went out to rally the soldiers that had survived the bombardment.

“Everypony get inside the building!”

ManeFrame grunted, lifting the unconscious soldier and carrying her across her back. She crawled out of the crater with the mare in toll, to the wide-eyed shock of staring soldiers. The distinct boom of artilleries, though, quickly convinced them to keep moving.

Upon entering the door, they were greeted by a set of automated turrets and several constructs. Those were quickly taken care of by Rarity, most never even given the chance to fire their guns. The ground was littered with rubble and broken pieces of concrete from the initial explosion. A set of what used to be metal doors lay at the end of the room, but it had since been punctured through by the blast.

Silently, Lieutenant Striker ordered a quartet of his troops to move ahead and secure the room beyond. After a moment, a shout came through.

“It’s clear, sir, but you should come and see this!”

One by one, they moved past the entrance and into a large foyer shrouded in darkness. ManeFrame switched to her night vision as the others activated their flashlights. A thin mist fell between them; the temperature was approaching freezing.

Within the foyer, there were high pillars covered in wires, some of them glowing a translucent blue, reaching into the ceiling above. All of them crept up into the centre of the hall’s ceiling, where two disks lay on top of each other, slowly spinning in different directions to each other.

ManeFrame recognized it as a relay communication device of some sort. ManeFrame heard a tiny creak of metal and spun around. She saw nothing. When gave a cursory scan, but she didn’t find anything hostile within the hall. This is suspicious…

“I don’t like this. It’s too quiet,” muttered Bloodlust, her ears twitching, echoing ManeFrame’s opinion.

When they kept walking, they came across where the scouting group was at.

“It’s in here, sir,” said the lead mare.

“Alright. Keep watch here, Silver,” said the Lieutenant as they walked within. Silver answered him with a sharp salute and began her watch.

Inside, they found a laboratory. There were pods, over a dozen of them. Within, there were constructs, but instead of the uniformed designs they were used to, these were twisted, as if their metallic shell had mutated and was given free rein to grow. They were kept within a milky-blue substance, with a multitude of wires attached to sockets on their back. A small constant beeping played in the background from the consoles lining the room.

“What in Tartarus is this place…”

Next to the pods were several terminals, though the texts on the screens were filled with strange symbols that ManeFrame didn’t recognize. There was one syntax that did catch her attention, though.

“Veteres Magicae… wonder what could mean,” ManeFrame mumbled to herself.

A short distance from ManeFrame, Jade slowly walked over to a pod, looking at it with trepidation. Subtly so that he didn’t notice, ManeFrame carefully observed his reaction. Slowly, as if slightly hypnotized, he placed a hoof on the glassy surface before suddenly jerking it back. A small wispy green smoke green smoke appeared from his hoof where he made contact. He looked around, quickly hiding it, but not before ManeFrame got a good look.

“Captain Grayling?” asked Lieutenant Striker, walking over next to him. “Are you alright, sir?”

“I’m fine. Just a little… disturbed of this place,” said Jade carefully, dismissing Striker’s concern. However, ManeFrame could still detect the small hesitation in his movements, along with a small shudder whenever he glanced at the pod.

A scream erupted from outside.

Everypony snapped around just as the mare’s screaming was abruptly silenced. The first ponies who reached the exit of the room first scrambled back within.

The air seemed to warp around itself, before a flash of emerald revealed black-painted metal. Soon, there was a giant scorpion-like machine easily three pony-lengths long dropped ground, and where a stinger would be, a bizarre machine gun took its place. It also had a pair of enormous pincers, with deadly sharp spikes attached and a small barrel within the two claws.

Rarity stepped out in front of them, and heaved the Scorpion construct with her telekinesis before throwing it back. With a small unladylike grunt, she held it in place with her magic.

“Everypony, get out of the laboratory!” Rarity exclaimed. The ponies within the lab quickly complied, arming themselves as they stepped out into the foyer once again.

The construct’s jaws snapped angrily at them, letting loose an ear splitting screech. Shortly afterwards, Rarity’s hold on it dissipated and it freely crawled around, snarling at them with malcontent. The disk atop the stinger-gun started to spin, and ManeFrame sensed a large amount of energy being gathered within it. It started with a low hum, though quickly increasing in pitch.

“Cover!” cried Jade from somewhere within the chaos, and everypony around ManeFrame instinctively flattened themselves on the ground. Thick, red lasers burst from the tip of its gun as it angrily scuttered forward, looking for its target. An unlucky pony in leather barding was caught within its sight. He barely had the time to scream as a head-sized hole was melted through his chest.

“Imperial magicks!” shouted Sanguine, ducking behind a pillar to avoid the searing laser. “It must’ve hid from our sensors!!”

“No…” muttered Jade with wide eyes. “That’s impossible…”

“Grunts, ten o’clock!” shouted one of the watchponies. ManeFrame spied from their far flank that two dozen grunts had come up upon them. “Where did they all come from?!”

“Don’t let them rout us!” commanded the Lieutenant, gesturing to those further away with a flourish of his hooves. “We need to split up!”

ManeFrame was already off, readying her pump-action shotgun. She smashed through the first two grunts she came across, but a screech from the scorpion construct drew her attention. It burst into their midst, as if trying to absorb bullets for the lighter constructs. It’s pincer guns roared, downing two ponies who didn’t dodge out of the way quick enough. After a moment more, it tore away, preparing to attack another part of the group.

ManeFrame left the weaker constructs to the others and instead focused on the scorpion. She found it besieging a trio of cornered soldiers. She fired a salvo of her shotgun, softening up the coldsteel plates at the back of the scorpion.

When the construct turned around, it was greeted by two fiery ordinances from ManeFrame’s in-built rocket launchers. Both hit critical joints and one managed to tear off a leg. The scorpion shot a series of lasers from its tail-gun as it covered its retreat. ManeFrame re-aimed, but the construct had taken to climbing erratically over the pillars and walls.

A small squad came up on the opposite side of ManeFrame. The four ponies galloped to the scorpion’s flank, blasting its hind side with their guns. Parts of the construct and another leg was blown off by their volley. The scorpion turned sharply, chasing after the ponies as it dropped to the ground again. ManeFrame couldn’t aim her rockets at it unless she risked hitting the ponies.

It latched onto one of the unfortunate ponies that were too slow and sheared the stallion in half with its pincer. The rest quickly retreated to cover when a ray of laser cut through between them. Twin guns were unveiled themselves on the scorpion’s back blasting into the group of ponies, killing two of the remaining ponies and knocking the third onto the ground.

ManeFrame gritted her teeth, spreading her wings and flying towards the construct with her hooves outstretched. She yelled angrily, smashing her hoof blades repeatedly into the back of the scorpion, piercing electronics and wiring where she could find them. However, it wasn’t long before she lost her grip and was shaken off.

It was then that she caught sight of the sole survivor of the squad stirred. He crawled forward to where the dropped rocket launcher lay, body bleeding from multiple locations. With a muffled groan, he reached the launcher and managed to hoist up on his shoulder. ManeFrame had enough of a presence of mind to dive out of the way as the pony released the explosive payload.

The construct temporarily stopped and tried to do the same, twisting its body sideways to avoid the rocket. However, it was not fast enough for its hanging tail to avoid the rocket.

It burst through the side of the scorpion’s tail, detaching the gun at the end of the limb. Viscous, green fluid poured out of the severed body part, splattering everywhere from the wound. ManeFrame, while trying to manoeuvre around the injured construct, gave another cursory scan of the scorpion’s tail-gun. To her surprise, it was still working according to her sensors.

The scorpion screeched and swept forward, flinging the pony who shot it away with its powerful body. It scuttled forward, turning its attention back to ManeFrame. The construct leapt forward, tackling her to the ground. She struggled against its weight and force as the construct’s giant, snapping pincers threatened to tear her head off. ManeFrame heard a shimmer of magic and saw the construct slowly moving away from her, until it was completely lifted off of her.

As it was lifted away, it revealed Rarity standing behind, sweaty and slightly out of breath, straining with her magic. Once the struggling machine was far enough, she dropped it, the effort too much to sustain indefinitely.

ManeFrame nodded her thanks and dashed to where the scorpion’s detached laser machine gun was resting. She dove beneath a swipe by one of the construct’s pincers, grabbing the fallen gun at the same time. When she was some distance away, she turned around and heaved the weapon towards the scorpion construct. It scuttled forward with rage, its pincers firing two shots that decimated the wall to either side of ManeFrame. Another shot scorched the ground next to her hooves.

Still, ManeFrame waited for the construct to come closer. Finally, her combat HUD had determined the scorpion construct had reached optimal range, and she fired the laser directly into the head of the construct.

It let loose a high-pitched whine before discharging its violent, crimson beam of light. It seared through the front of the construct’s head with ease, continuing deep into its chest. The stream of red laser sputtered, emitting a few more shots before going cutting off completely. The job was already done, however. Molten slag dripped down the newly formed hole as ManeFrame stepped around it. The construct’s head was nothing but a gaping, molten hole of metal.

She threw the empty weapon onto the ground and inspected their surroundings. It was truly a scene of destruction. Pillars had collapsed or had been sliced in half. Most of the floor was cracked or scorched, and parts of the walls looked ready to crumble at any time. There was a crisscross of heat marks everywhere. With a sigh, ManeFrame dragged herself behind a half-ruined pillar and rested, trying to calm her synthetic heart. She felt something dissolve from her form, and immediately a feeling of relief rushed through her.

“I… I think that’s it,” said Jade from elsewhere, breathlessly limping towards Rarity. The soldiers came out of hiding, a few cautiously inspecting the construct that had almost taken all of them. One of the other soldiers came to check on ManeFrame but upon seeing her, he froze immediately. For a long time, he didn’t do anything besides hanging open his draw with an expression of fear on his face.

“C-CONSTRUCT!” cried one of the resistance soldiers that had caught up, shakily fumbling with his weapon to aim at her. She stared at him in confusion until she looked down at herself. Her eyes widened when she realized that the disguise enchantment had been worn away, revealing her metallic, bronze exterior. When Lieutenant Striker caught up with them, he quickly brought up his weapon to bear against her.

Jade, seeing what he was about to do, jumped onto him and proceeded to slam a hoof into his face. Striker’s cry of alarm seemed to trigger chaos. Two soldiers jumped onto Jade to restrain him, while the others either trained their weapon towards ManeFrame or were scrambling for their firearms.

“Have you lost your mind, Captain?!” the Lieutenant exclaimed as he stood up again. Jade was relinquished by the soldiers as they realized who they were holding.

“As Captain and superior officer, I command all of you to stand down! That is an order!” shouted Jade, raising his voice over the din. The soldiers looked at the Lieutenant and Jade, unsure of which one to listen. Lieutenant himself looked unsure, his rifle lowering from ManeFrame’s head before his grip tightened and he shook his own head.

“Are you crazy, sir?! We have to kill it!” a soldier exclaimed. “It’s a construct!”

“I will not follow your order! This is a construct, and we have a duty to protect Equestria from them all! I will kill it!” Lieutenant Striker raised his rifle and aimed down the iron sights, preparing to pull the trigger, only to find something cold and metallic poking at his back.

“You will not.”

He turned around, and to disbelief saw both Bloodlust and Sanguine aiming their respective rifle and submachine at him and another soldier holding ManeFrame at gunpoint.

A pony to the left of ManeFrame swerved his long rifle from her to Sanguine, before quickly switching to Bloodlust, and then back again. Several others did the same, but found the barrel of rifles pointed at their muzzle, courtesy of Starry and Languish. Starry herself was hoisting two other guns in her magic, each aimed at two other ponies.

“All of you, lower your weapons!” rumbled Sanguine.

“This is treason!” shouted one of the ponies who had stepped next to Jade, aiming his rifle

“The same could be said of you, bloody traitor!” shouted another, preparing to lunge at the pony before finding the end of a rifle pressed into his chest by a fellow resistance soldier. The entire situation devolved into a shouting match, as neither side was prepared to move a single inch, likely due to the fact that there was a gun pointed at them.

ManeFrame herself finally freed herself as the ponies previously targeting her had instead focused on their fellow ponies. She knew that she could use her thrusters to fly away, but she risked injuring them or worse, set off the extremely volatile situation.

“Why in Tartarus are we fighting each other?! We need to kill the Imperial!” cried a mare within the midst. Somewhere else, a brawl started to break out as two soldiers went hoof to hoof with each other.

“Halt!” ordered Striker, trying to maintain a sense of order, but his order went unheard in the chaos. A similar cry by Jade was similarly ignored as the two sides were formed, each hurling threats and insults at the other.

“We are on the same side! Shoot the damn construct!” There were more cries, each in increasing urgency, panic and confusion. Those who weren’t shouting was trapped in a staring match with the other side, tense and unmoving. The tension in the air had escalated to the point that ManeFrame felt she could choke on it all.

“What is the meaning of this?!”

“I said back off!”

Amidst it all, Lieutenant Striker’s anger had faded considerably, instead being replaced by worry. Swallowing thickly, he glanced at Rarity, who had been silent throughout the entire confrontation, her expression hidden behind her mane.

All around him was ponies holding each other at gunpoint, with angry faces snarling at each other. Meanwhile, ManeFrame wasn’t even trying to escape, instead trying to make herself appear as small as possible.

“Just kill it now!” Finally, Rarity had enough.

“ALL OF YOU, BE QUIET!” shouted Rarity as she wreathed everypony’s weapons in magic and wrenched it from their hooves and orbited it out of their reach. Stunned into silence, everypony could only watch as Rarity offered a hoof and pulled ManeFrame from the ground.

“Stand down,” she said, her quiet voice magnified by the sudden silence. “She’s on our side. Lower your weapons.”

“But it’s a bloody construct-” shouted a soldier with hazel-brown coat. On the other side of the group, a soldier tried to pick up a rifle but said firearm was encased in a blue aura again and slammed directly into his muzzle, causing him to cry out in surprise and pain.

“She has a name!” shouted Rarity, once again managing to shock everypony. “And her name, is ManeFrame.”

She stood up and looked over all of them with a stern glare.

“We are not going to attack, injure or kill any of our allies today. Is that clear?”

A set of grim nods answered her.

When the group of ponies sent out to secure the compound came by them, they saw a sorry looking group of soldiers and agents, sitting by. The scene utterly baffled them, as the group looked much worse than when they had left them just moments before.

“Lieutenant, what’s going on- Construct!” exclaimed Sergeant Blitz upon sighting ManeFrame.

“Weapons down, Sergeant Blitz,” sighed Lieutenant Striker, pulling down the tip of the gun with his own hooves.

“Sir?” asked the sergeant, though he complied nonetheless. Striker looked behind him to see the other ponies in the group were doing the same.

“Tell your ponies to stand down as well.”

“What’s going on, Sir? Why aren’t we shooting the construct?” asked Blitz. Lieutenant Striker turned around to flick his head towards Rarity.

“Join the club, we’re all waiting on Miss Rarity here to give us an explanation,” he muttered, then eyed the agents and Jade. “Well, most of us anyways.”

He sat down heavily on a small pile of rubble. He pulled out a canteen and uncorked it, before taking a long swig from it. With the adrenaline slowly giving way, exhaustion and fatigue were starting to take over. Many sat down next to him or leant on their weapons as they waited for Rarity to speak.

“She is who you previously knew as Sunset Radiance, but her real name, is ManeFrame.” Rarity stopped to gauge their reactions. A few had looked quite surprised, though most had already figured it out considering said ‘pony’s complete absence from their midst.

“She, and yes, I mean she, is a special designation commander construct designed by the Equalist Empire. A completely independent Artificial Intelligence that is far more advanced than the constructs the Empire manufacture in droves.” Rarity took a deep breath before continuing on. “At the battle of the Neicolt, she had chosen to defect from the Empire, destroying several Imperial Behemoth and saving a certain Captain Jade Grayling in the process.”

ManeFrame was rather surprised at how much Rarity knew, though she supposed it was only appropriate, being in charge of a spy network and all.

“Is this true, captain?” asked Lieutenant Striker.

“I’m surprised you still trust me enough to ask me, but… it’s true,” replied Jade.

“How’d you know she’s not a spy herself!” exclaimed somepony.

“For buck’s sakes! Without her, we wouldn’t be here at all! You’ll all still be trapped in cages, ready to be shipped out to old Canterlot for whatever sick experiments they have cooked up there,” snapped Bloodlust. The statement silenced the ponies present, and those who were already opening their mouth in objection snapped them shut in an audible click.

Bloodlust looked righteously angered and started to say more, but Rarity held a hoof, stopping her. Instead, she stepped up to Lieutenant Striker, staring him in the eye.

“Lieutenant, I know that I’m asking a lot of you, but we are out of options right now,” said Rarity. “So please, trust my judgement as the head of the Agency. We’ve never done wrong by New Equestria, and we’re not about to start now.”

“I guess you have a point,” sighed the Lieutenant. “Regardless, there’s no point for conflict between us. We have more important things to mind right now.”

He turned to Sergeant Blitz. “Did you find anything, Sergeant?”

“Yes, sir. We found a room filled with terminals and data-stacks. There were two constructs there, but we took care of them pretty quickly,” he answered.

“That must be where their local data banks are at,” said Rarity. “Let’s not waste any more time. Bloodlust, Languish, wait here. Sanguine, Starry and ManeFrame, come with me.”

“Yes, chief,” responded the other agents while ManeFrame simply nodded. She turned to follow them, but was stopped when a shout came from behind her. She motioned for Rarity to wait for a little while.

“Hey, wait up!” ManeFrame saw a stallion with a short cropped brown mane and green coat run up to her, slightly breathless. “It’s… ManeFrame, right?”

ManeFrame nodded, albeit somewhat hesitant.

“Listen, the mare you saved before… Her name was Stella. I just want to say…” The stallion trembled, and ManeFrame thought he was suffering from the cold until she spotted the rivets of tears running down his face. “I just want to say… thank you. Thank you so much. You saved my sister’s life. I don’t care if you are a pony o-or a construct, if there is anything I can ever do to repay you-”

ManeFrame silenced him with an embrace. When she leaned back, his expression was utterly stunned. ManeFrame gave him a smile.

“Your thanks are enough for me.” She paused. “What’s your name?”

“It’s Lance. Lance Bloom.”

---

“It appears they might be trying to wipe the database,” mused Rarity, inspecting the two constructs slumped against the floor next to the entrance, their armour riddled with bullet holes. These remains were no doubt left behind by Sergeant Blitz’s squad. ManeFrame’s database identified them as Data-Crawler constructs. They had a light blue shell, armed with only a light submachine gun. It was obvious to anypony that they were not built for frontline combat, and more for archiving and organization purposes.

ManeFrame felt a small ping of sympathy for them. They didn’t actively kill anypony, and only wanted to organize information and data. She dismissed the idea when she remembered that this was the same information that likely contained the designs for weapons to massacre ponies.

“Starry, get the data downloaded as soon as possible,” said Rarity as they entered the chamber beyond.

“Yes, chief,” she replied.

When ManeFrame followed them in from behind, she let out a small gasp. At first, the whole chamber felt like a sun if ManeFrame’s sensor was the pony equivalent of eyes. There was so much energy and information circulating within. When she had somewhat adjusted, still dazed by the overwhelming data picked up by her sensors, she saw that the room was flowing with vein-like wires, each translucent and steadily pulsing a light blue. Most of these wires fed into crystalline spires that lowered from the ceiling, glittering brightly with unseen data and information.

“This is amazing,” breathed ManeFrame. She could feel the pulse of information flowing through the intricate patterns that crawled across the walls. Rarity turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

“What do you mean? Terminals and data records?” Rarity asked, puzzled over ManeFrame’s excitement.

“No… I mean, just all of this! The spell matrix in the middle of the room… it’s unlike any information system I’ve seen before!” She paused and gestured to the main crystalline structure in the room, one that was shaped like a concave arch and was almost three-ponylengths wide. “See, look at that! It… it almost feels like it’s alive! It’s like a living fountain of energy and signals!”

“I… can’t see it, ManeFrame,” said Rarity hesitantly after squinting carefully at where ManeFrame was pointing at, causing ManeFrame to gawk at her.

“W-What? You have to see it! It’s right… there…” she trailed off, finding herself once again mesmerized by the flowing patterns around her.

“I can’t see anything you just mentioned, ManeFrame,” said Rarity with a small, delicate frown. She looked to Starry, who had been silently watching the both of them. She had a curious expression about her, but she shook her head when Rarity turned to her questioningly. “I don’t think Starry can see it either.”

“But…”

“Maybe it’s something only constructs can see?” suggested Starry. ManeFrame considered it for a while, before bobbing her head.

“Must be…” she muttered, peering at the wonder around her. Now that both Rarity and Starry said they couldn’t see it, ManeFrame had a sudden feeling that she was trespassing. That she was seeing something not meant for her eyes.

It reminded her of the time she had been merged into the Imperial systems, but this felt a whole lot different from that senseless ethereal world. It felt as if the two worlds – ethereal and reality – had merged together, confined only to this room. A little disheartened that she couldn’t share her discovery, she turned back to one of the mundane terminals present.

Right, we still have a mission to do. Now’s not the time to get carried away, ManeFrame reprimanded herself. The other two mares in the chamber gave her varying looks of worry and confusion, but they chose not to speak up.

As she scanned through the terminals, two files caught ManeFrame’s attention. She quickly scrolled through them to find two notable titles respectively: Project Fallen Dusk and Project Mimic. She tried to look further within, but quickly came across a complex encryption that would’ve taken her days if not weeks to decrypt. Along with it was a bunch of scrambled and barely readable data, corrupted from the half-successful self-sabotage by the Imperial constructs. Nonetheless, she downloaded them all onto her data bank and moved onto the next terminal.

“Project Metal Husk,” ManeFrame read aloud. With her hoof, she manipulated the texts on the screen to reveal a blueprint. She was surprised to see so much of it wasn’t even encrypted. “Are these designs… for a dragon? If these measurements are correct…”

Rarity frowned as she moved to where ManeFrame was and read it for herself. Before long, her eyes widened in recognition.

“No…” she whispered. “It can’t be…” Rarity shivered slightly as she backed away.

“Rarity, are you okay?”

“I… no, I’m not. I think I know exactly what these designs are based on,” said Rarity quietly. ManeFrame inspected the readings and diagram on the screen, but she couldn’t see what exactly troubled Rarity besides… well, the entire thing. Behind them, Starry snapped up, disconnecting the electronic device from the archive’s console.

“Chief, all the recoverable data have been downloaded,” she informed Rarity. Rarity nodded sharply, seeming to have snapped out of the temporary fugue she was in.

“Then let’s go. The rest of the forces in the base must be mobilized by now. We’ll all need to stay together if we are to survive their counterattack,” concluded Rarity.

“Are we going to tell the others about this ‘Metal Husk?’” asked ManeFrame.

“We will, but I’m afraid it’s already too late. I think it’s already-” Rarity was interrupted as an earth-shattering roar rocked the ground, nearly knocking everypony present onto the ground.

“-in the base.”

The sound of the distant crack of artillery followed. Rarity and Starry raced out into the foyer. With some reluctance, ManeFrame eyed the chamber one last time before hastily following them. In her distracted state, ManeFrame didn’t notice the small blip on her sensors, signalling that a foreign device had latched onto her.

---

The first thing ManeFrame noticed was that the flak guns and artillery on the walls were no longer aimed at them. The second thing she noticed, was the giant behemoth that had taken to hovering over the far side of the base.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” exclaimed Lieutenant Striker as he saw the hulking Imperial zeppelin. “When did that get there?”

“It’s not a troop transport,” muttered ManeFrame as she scanned it. There were less than a hundred constructs within that she could sense, with most of the storage compartments filled to the brim with shells and explosives. “It’s an artillery behemoth.”

Before the Lieutenant, or anypony else for that matter, could reply, the roar came again. It felt as if the whole earth was tilting on its side. ManeFrame felt herself overwhelmed, her HUD overflowing with sensory information and most important of all: warnings.

Something big was coming, and ManeFrame knew exactly what it was.

Taking a deep breath, ManeFrame muted the screeching alarms blaring at her and rocketed up into the air. From her new vantage point, she saw that a giant portion of the base was sinking, sliding away to reveal a massive, hidden space. She focused her sight and saw it.

Burning, red eyes. Fiery, and full of hatred, yet mechanical and cold at the same time. It was a repository of contradicting spirits. A colossal beast, nearly half the length of a full-sized Imperial Behemoth, crawled out of the opening from within the ground. The hole, however, was not large enough for it.

With another thunderous roar, it reared up and with giant, metallic wings, sheared through the ground as if it was nothing.

The data she had scanned could not hope to compare to the real thing. The creature was a dragon, very much so, but at the same time it was not. It was nature’s killing machine, but designed to perfection through artificial steel.

Four mammoth limbs supported its body, each ending in a slashing claw that was more than enough to demolish buildings. Her database had suggested dragons were lean, slender creatures – graceful. This one had nothing remotely similar. Grey coldsteel scales tinted with the slightest of purple wrapped around the Husk from the tip of its head to the end of its bulging, battery-ram like tail. Massive bronze plates lined its spine, running all the way up to the tip of its forehead.

With a gasp, ManeFrame saw what was mounted on its back. Guns. They looked to be stitched within the very ‘flesh’ of the Metal Husk, barrels rotating on their axles independent of each other.

ManeFrame was frozen in fear. Unlike before, she was sure of this emotion, for nothing else could burrow so deep within her. She doubted the Empire truly knew exactly what they had created. With a flap of shivering bronze wings, ManeFrame sharply drew back from the view.

By the time she reached her friends and the resistance survivors, she was beyond shaken. Rarity opened her mouth to question her, but it fell short as a dark shape rose up into the sky. ManeFrame was only absently aware of the sound of weapons clattering to the floor. Most stood there uncomprehending, petrified in terror. Even Rarity’s usually stalwart agents showed horror and disbelief.

“What in Tartarus is that?!” cried one of the soldiers as he saw the distant silhouette of the Metal Husk, his cry mirrored by many others. Somepony was sobbing. Others uttered prayers to whatever deity they believed in. Some just sat down in despair.

“Stars protect me… stars protect me… stars…”

“Please tell me, that wasn’t the secret weapon you were looking for,” asked Lieutenant Striker with a shaky breath. He looked to the alabaster mare with a pleading expression. “N-No… we’re not fighting that…”

Rarity said nothing, only peering at the Imperial dragon with contempt and anger. When she turned back, her eyes took on a steel-like quality and she wore a scowl on her muzzle. “We’re going to destroy it.”

Everypony turned to stare at her, even her own agents.

“You must be joking,” said the Lieutenant, staring at Rarity incredulously. His soldiers mirrored his expression. “This is plain suicide!”

“If we do not destroy it now, it will come back and return the favour to us,” said Rarity, her resolute gaze boring into everypony present. She stopped a hoof as she continued. ”Remember why we are fighting, whether it’s the Agency or the resistance army. We are fighting for the safety of the vulnerable, the weak, those who cannot fight back. This weapon cannot be allowed to be let loose to the gates of the resistance or it will cost us a price too heavy to even consider.”

The Lieutenant sucked in a deep breath. Many of the ponies present had sombre expressions on their faces, and those who didn’t was showing blatant fear. Some were likely considering deserting altogether, and ManeFrame couldn’t bring herself to blame them.

“It will do us no good dwelling on this. We don’t have any more time,” Lieutenant Striker finally said. “Alright, what do we know of this… machine?”

“According to their records, the construct is called a Metal Husk, based on the form of a dragon and just as deadly. Its armour is too thick for any of our guns to pierce.” Rarity finished, leaving everypony to dwell in their apprehension.

“Stars above…” he said. Then, his face lit up. “We have an EMP launcher that can be used, don’t we? It should at least weaken it-”

“No,” ManeFrame interrupted with a firm tone, surprising the ponies gathered. She looked to the giant metallic dragon unleashing havoc along the base’s walls. “I recognized the traits in its data. It’s self-learning. The AI is primitive so far, but it is improving. If we show our best hoof right now, we can’t use it again.”

Right on time, the Metal Husk slammed itself into the walls, creating a sound not unlike that of a thunder.

“What do you suggest, then, ManeFrame?” asked Rarity.

“We have to weaken it as much as possible, and once we find a vulnerable spot, we can use the EMP launcher at point-blank range.”

“What? That’s crazy! Who will be even volunteering for that?” said somepony, followed by murmurs of agreement.

“I will,” said ManeFrame, prompting Rarity to glance at her worriedly. She didn’t know if the confidence she was feeling completely genuine, or simply a mask for the others. But, it felt familiar to her, taking control like this. “I can fly as well as any pegasus, and my metal armour will ensure that I can endure much more than a normal pony.”

“Miss Rarity, how much do you trust… ManeFrame.”

“With my life,” she replied without hesitation. It warmed ManeFrame’s heart to hear that, and she flashed Rarity a grateful smile, one that was returned, albeit briefly. The Lieutenant let out a hefty sigh and nodded.

“Alright then, how do we beat it?” This time, he looked at ManeFrame. It was likely a logical choice, seeing as she was the most familiar with the Empire, but she felt that his distrust of her was lessening.

“I don’t know…” started ManeFrame. “But I might have an idea.”

The lieutenant gestured for her to continue speaking.

It’s not ideal but… overwhelming firepower is a must if this can succeed.

“How do you feel about hijacking a Behemoth?” she asked. Lieutenant Striker blinked, before slowing turning to Rarity.

“She’s… kidding, right?”

Nopony laughed.

---

ManeFrame gained altitude as she tried to get a better look at the Metal Husk. If she was going to survive long enough to successfully distract it, she was going to need to learn everything she could about it.

Almost on command, a HUD filled her screen, one that she had not seen since the battle of Neicolt. Lines of code ran down the corners of her eyes, with small hovering targets locking on to her surroundings, displaying every statistic she could discern from it.

The frame of the Metal Husk was displayed within ManeFrame’s HUD, systematically turned into a visual diagram of its structure, weaknesses, and weapons. Alarmingly, ManeFrame saw that there were very few places that ManeFrame could even make a dent on.

A bright flash consumed the skies, and for a second ManeFrame instinctively shielded her eyes with a hoof. When she looked again, the Metal Husk was flying over the now-smoking ruins of the outer walls of the Relay Base.

A crack of artillery signalled the Imperial Behemoth firing on the Husk as it retreated out of its reach. The shells were not sufficient to damage it, but enough to convince it to find easier targets.

ManeFrame poured on speed. She needed to fully attract the Husk’s attention before it discovered the vulnerable ponies on the ground. During her flight, she briefly strayed near the outer walls of the Imperial Relay Base that the Metal Husk had just attacked.

It was completely ablaze with a thick curtain of smoke rising above it. The flak guns mounted atop were completely destroyed, one of them nothing more than a pile of molten slag. A single gun fell away from its mount, crashing down to the ground beside the wall in a flaming wreck.

The sheer amount of damage from the Husk’s flames overwhelmed ManeFrame. She doubted there would be anything left of her if she was stuck within the centre of one of those streams of flames. At the same time, she was completely flabbergasted that the Metal Husk was continuing to attack the Imperial troops.

Just what had they created?

As if reading her mind, the Husk stopped regarding the Imperial behemoth and turned towards her. Those demonic eyes locked onto her form, staring into her very inner workings, dissecting her with its gaze and unseen sensors. She couldn’t help but sense dread within herself. These eyes weren’t the dead, dull eyes of grunts or even tankers. They were seeing her.

For the first time, ManeFrame felt truly naked, vulnerable. A prey to a predator. ManeFrame shook herself out of her reverie as she saw the Metal Husk lazily flapped its wings and turned towards her.

ManeFrame gritted her teeth. If it was truly a self-learning AI, then she would need to finish it off as soon as possible. She raced forward, her Rockets blasting off from her launchers one by one, arcing through the air to find its targets. Most were aimed at joints, though a few targeted its face as well.

They each detonated as planned, though the monstrously-sized construct had shielded its face with one of its colossal claws.

When the cloud of smoke and dust had settled, ManeFrame expected to see at least some visible damage to the construct. Instead, she was instead greeted by only scorch marks and dents across the dragon’s coldsteel skin.

It howled in fury, flapping its wings and pushing itself forward at an alarmingly fast speed. The time it took ManeFrame to recover from the shock was enough for Metal Husk to close the distance between them.

She would’ve paled, were it physically possible. The colossal claws curled into a fist and punched her.

ManeFrame was not prepared for how hard the Metal Husk had hit her. She flew through the air, and she barely came to a stop in front of an Imperial warehouse. Several stray grunts that had hidden there fired upon her, but they were quickly silenced by a single well-aimed rocket.

Her moment distraction allowed the Metal Husk approach her unharmed. Its advance was quickly cut off when twin, high calibre shells slammed into its lower jaw, snapping its head backwards. The sound of metal ricocheting and impacting against one another was as loud as thunder.

“Miss ManeFrame, we’ve got your back,” came a masculine voice from a radio channel that ManeFrame had never used. Her temporary confusion was addressed when one of Rarity’s TATT rolled into view, dropping its shimmering disguise enchantment.

The Metal Husk repositioned and backed away, growling threateningly as it considered its new rival – a metal ‘beast’ similar to its own. Then, without warning, its mounted guns opened up, releasing a salvo of shells that thankfully mostly missed the transport. Said vehicle rolled away and fired its main guns, especially the heavy hitter high calibre guns mounted on its back and sides.

“Miss ManeFrame, we’ll aim to suppress and distract it while you try to find a weak or vulnerable spot. Do you copy?” came the driver’s voice again.

“Copy that,” replied ManeFrame as she took to the air again.

Between their combined assault, they were slowly wearing the Metal Husk down. It knew this too, but everything it tried to reach the assault transport, it was held back by its immense firepower. Plates of armour were cracked and dented, and once or twice, the Husk cried in all its wrath, spinning itself rapidly as if trying to shake off the incoming projectiles.

The Metal Husk whirled around, swiping towards ManeFrame. However, between the constantly firing TATT and her own occasional barrages, she easily stayed out of its reach. She took every opportunity to inflict her own damage on the construct, though it was clear that her own attacks were small cuts rather than the decisive damage she had hoped for.

As their ‘duel’ dragged on, she felt something change. The construct didn’t seem to be focusing on attacking her anymore, almost like what it was doing was half-hearted. Several times, it feigned lunges towards her, but always dodged back and adjusted itself to avoid being hit any more than necessary. She easily dodged each of its attacks, and all the while the TATT was firing at the Husk. The cannons and guns on said transport was ever increasing in its loudness as they inched ever closer to it-

Wait, why are we so close to the transport?

With a start, ManeFrame realized that in their ‘fight’, the Metal Husk had subtly directed them towards the roaring Agency assault transport. She turned and spared a brief second to see exactly how close the TATT was. If she had her disguise on, she surely would have paled. It was so close that she could fly over and tap against the front viewport after a small flight. It had stayed in its place, using its close proximity to the Metal Husk so as to provide maximum damage, completely unaware of the Husk’s intentions.

Almost completely simultaneous to her thoughts, the draconic construct swivelled away from her and arced towards the Agency transport.

No… It’s going for the TATT!

“Get out of there!” screamed ManeFrame into her internal transmitter. She launched every rocket she could reload, trying to draw away the Metal Husk’s attention. It titled its head slightly towards her with an expression that reminded ManeFrame of a sneer. In a blink, it was gone.

The turrets and rockets tracked the Husk as it flew through the air. After receiving ManeFrame’s cry, they had put the TATT on full reverse, its guns and artilleries firing nonstop. It was steadily doing damage to the Metal Husk’s armour, but it wasn’t enough. The Metal Husk swooped down, scorching the entire vehicle with its deadly fire. The vehicle rolled to a stop. After a horrifying silence, ManeFrame’s radio activated again, much to her relief.

“W-We… we’re fine. Sustained heavy damages but we’re still-”

The dragon construct returned and dived down, crushing the TATT with its sheer force and momentum. The assault transporter’s armour crunched and then crumpled beneath the Metal Husk like it was nothing. A burst of fire erupted from underneath its claws, creating a crater around the remains of the vehicle.

The transmitter emitted nothing but static. ManeFrame could only look helplessly on. She didn’t even know their names.

The Metal Husk turned its sight to her. Within them, there was no compassion, not even the emptiness that persisted in Imperial grunts. Instead, there was hate there. So much hate that ManeFrame felt sick.

It drew back its head, a gesture that ManeFrame had never seen before. It looked as if it was trying to get something out of its throat. Its chest contracted and there was an orange-reddish glow. With a start, she saw that her temperature sensors were fluctuating wildly. She shook her head in disbelief. That must be an error! No way it’s that high!

Slowly, with slow realization, she realized the heat signatures were originating from the maw of the Husk. She stared into its eyes, and for a brief second or so she thought it was smiling at her. She activated her thrusters, but it was already too late. A superheated fireball soared towards her, burning the air around it. ManeFrame could feel her armour begin to smoulder as it raced up to her.

She flinched away, waiting for the scorching fire to melt her down.

A moment passed. And another. Astonishingly, she found herself severely burned but all her internal circuitry unharmed.

“I don’t understand… I should be nothing but a melted puddle right now…” she muttered to herself in shock. Almost subconsciously, her defence systems had taken over her inactions and prompted her to fly away from the Metal Husk as fast as she could. During the flight, she saw the cloak she wore glow with a violet sheen. A cursory scan of it with her magical sensors confirmed her thoughts.

This cloak is fireproof! It transforms the heat energy into power… Just how much magic is on this?

ManeFrame didn’t have long to marvel at her discovery as the Metal Husk gave chase, enraged that it failed to kill her. It fired off a barrage of armour-piercing shells. ManeFrame strafed mid-air to avoid the first ones that reached her.

The second wave, however, stunned ManeFrame as they detonated around her instead. She found herself batted through the air by the shockwaves, while the Husk spread open its wings and started to fly towards her.

Of course, it’s learning from every movement I make.

ManeFrame put on an extra burst of speed. Her thrusters roared behind her, propelling her to the greatest speed she could manage as she picked up her altitude dramatically. She needed to put some distance between them until she could work out a plan. She risked a glance back.

Her eyes widened.

She was barely staying ahead of the Metal Husk. She pulled herself into a dive, whipping past the Husk as its jaw snapped way too close to her.

She spied the vast form of the Metal Husk changing course and following after her – too fast for what it should have been able to do. Despite her descent velocity, ManeFrame could see that it was coming ever closer. She risked losing her air control and extended her rocket launchers, letting loose a barrage of armour-piercing rockets. Just like before, they seemed to do nothing beyond enraging it even more.

Her database suggested a risky idea. ManeFrame glanced at the Metal Husk. She didn’t have much choice.

She forced herself down faster, harder. The massive construct above her didn’t disappoint, matching her strategy. The ground was coming up below them. She had to go faster.

Closer, closer.

Her mind screamed that it was going to be too close. She wasn’t just falling towards the ground. She was accelerating towards it.

Now!

On cue, ManeFrame flared out her wings while directing her hoof thrusters downwards and produced the maximum thrust possible. She felt the air around her becoming solid and slam into her like a concrete wall. With a start, she realized she was still accelerating too fast. Calculations ran through her mind at the speed of light, all coming to a conclusion that she would hit the ground before she could even come to a stop, much less accelerating upwards.

For once, ManeFrame tossed away logic and maths, and trusted her instincts – if that was even possible for an AI. There was something familiar about this, like there was something guiding her. She fought against her downward push with every fibre of her being. When she was no more than seconds away from impacting, she felt herself stopping.

Her hoof dug into the ground.

And she flew upwards.

ManeFrame flew up the downward-facing Metal Husk, weaving around its metallic claws and fiery maw. Then she was free from the bulk of the construct. ManeFrame glanced back with a wide smile on her muzzle as the Metal Husk couldn’t help but meet the ground below her with a resounding crash. She felt ready to cheer inside.

She turned her eyes back to the sky. Something large and grey covered her view. Her smile faded from her face as the Metal Husk’s tail whipped into her. She was thrown violently off course towards the ground, slamming through a building so hard she could physically feel the agony coursing through her.

The concrete and wooden construction gave way around her, demolished and destroyed to break her fall. ManeFrame finally came to a stop amidst a cloud of dust and debris.

Grunting, she righted herself, only to topple over almost immediately. She glanced down to one of the Metal Husk’s spikes piercing through her left hind hoof. With a muffled cry, she pulled it out and threw the piece of metal onto the ground. The limb was completely unusable, its internal parts and embedded pistons completely shattered.

A loud quake rocked the earth.

It would be great if you guys can hurry up a little more.

---

“INCOMING!” A panel on the wall to their right was instantly pulverised as a small missile cruised into it. The whole aircraft rocked violently, throwing ponies onto the walls and to the ground.

Jade, Bloodlust and Sanguine were suppressing the endless waves of constructs that threatened to overwhelm their position. A loud scream to their far right signalled that another pony was downed by the hail of bullets that was showered onto their position.

“Cover me.” Before anypony could could even react, Rarity as she dove out of her protective cover and directly into the line of fire.

“What are you-” She didn’t let Lieutenant finish as she formed a sapphire coloured shield ahead of her. With her diamond fragments encased in her magic, she slung forward, lobbing off the head of the sentry turret.

“Come on!” roared Sanguine, grabbing a minigun from a fallen grunt and firing at bursts ahead of Rarity. Her shield let his bullets pass through it without resistance, many of which found itself embedded in now-demolished grunts and turrets. “We’re almost there!”

Their charge ultimately proved too much for the constructs to handle. Their line broke, allowing the resistance soldiers to tear into them with fierce passion and enthusiasm. Not even waiting for the last Imperial grunts to be picked off, Rarity raced ahead with her agents quickly following behind her.

They stumbled into another corridor. Rarity didn’t wait for everypony to catch up as she cut into the sentries placed at the end. They were dispatched quickly enough, but Rarity didn’t make it in time as the blast doors closed up to them. There was no doubt that this was the main control room of the behemoth.

“Starry, see if you can hack into the system and open the door,” said Rarity.

“On it, chief,” replied Starry, sliding to a stop as she peeled away a metal cover, revealing a complicated board of circuitry and ports. She yanked out several complex electronics and immediately inserted a multitude into the revealed control board. “It’s going to need a little time.”

“Lieutenant Striker, Captain Grayling,” Rarity called out as the rest of the entourage caught up with them. “We need to hold this point until when Miss Starry can get us through.”

“It’s not a very defensible position.” Jade ducked as a trail of bullet whizzed past his ears, cursing loudly.

“Do what you can,” was all Rarity said as she turned her back to the door. The sound of Imperial reinforcements weighed heavily on all of their minds as they took up positions. The first pair of grunts were torn to shreds at the end of the hallway. However, their earlier optimism wore out when the stream of constructs never seemed to stop.

Slowly but surely, the ponies were being worn out. Even Rarity’s mythical skills of Bladecasting could only do so much against enemy constructs when they started to gather. Shouts were called out as ponies called for ammunition belts and fresh magazines. A new surge of constructs took advantage of the opportunity and swarmed en masse onto their position.

“Lieutenant, we are out of explosives and running low on heavy ammunition!” called out one of the heavy gunners, his light machine gun rattling periodically to fire in bursts.

“Starry, how much longer?” urged Rarity. She paused and grunted, using raw kinetic force to push back the front of the encroaching grunts “We can’t hold out much longer!”

“I’ve got it-Aargh!” Starry screamed as a stray bullet found purchase in her abdomen. She fell down, bloody pouring out of her wound.

“No!” shouted Languish, running to help her as another volley of gunfire showered their position. Bloodlust reached the injured mare first, ripping out fresh bandages from a satchel as Starry whimpered in pain.

A tanker with an oversized cannon strapped on its back stepped out at the end of the walkway. A salvo of bullets was launched at the incoming constructs. It tore down the grunts, but the Tanker emerged unharmed. Jade and Rarity simultaneously dove for the dropped controller. The cannon charged up with a high-pitched hum. Two hooves touched the edge of the controller.

The cannon fired.

---

Left. Then Right. Up, down and a sharp corkscrew.

ManeFrame hadn’t realized that constructs could grow tired, but she was keenly feeling that she was reaching the limits of her mechanical form. Tired didn’t justify her situation. Desperately walking the line of total exhaustion was a more accurate description.

The Metal Husk rotated through the air, curling up and bending in rage as it tried to find its elusive prey. ManeFrame zipped around its body, even as numerous mounted cannons locked onto her and fired in unison.

She dodged them one by one, but barely managed to dodge one sparking shell. It glanced off her shoulder armour, causing her mechanical innards to noticeably quiver. It flew away sharply, throwing her into an uncontrollable spin. The shell exploded close to her, temporarily dazing her as she fell through the air in a spiral.

Then ManeFrame was somewhere else entirely. The bizarre feeling briefly sent her into panic, before she remembered that it had happened before, in the Everfree forest. This time however, the world she found herself in was different… it was so bright.

Realizing that she could move herself again, she looked up into the sky and felt gobsmacked. It was a sun. There were no clouds in the sky, but instead all around and underneath her. They were on a cloud!

A loud cheering all below her drew ManeFrame’s attention. She looked down onto what looked like a massive stadium made out of clouds. There were… hundreds, if not thousands of shapes moving and shifting about within. However, none of them could be made out. ManeFrame tried to move closer, but it felt as if she was tethered to something.

Something rose up into the sky. There was a- no there were two blobs of colours that rose up. Slowly, they materialized further and ManeFrame realized they were ponies, pegasi, though their features were still smudged and blurred. But one also had… a horn? Why does that sound so familiar?

The white pegasus – the same one with a horn – was accompanied by a light blue pegasus. They were definitely mares from the tones of their voice, but the words and chatter were utterly incoherent to ManeFrame. They seemed to be friends and on good terms from each other, but the blue pony radiated nervousness… maybe even fear?

A loudspeaker from somewhere declared a line of gibberish, prompting them to part. The white pegasus flew upwards as the crowd around them cheered. She danced through the air elegantly, twirling around and swaying to and fro every so often. The second pony, the blue mare, performed a series of acrobatic moves, looping through poles made out of what looked like white tufts of clouds. ManeFrame winced slightly as she crashed into the side of the stadium.

Then there was some commotion. The white pegasus flew up into the full view of the sun, and she stretched her hooves and wing as far as she could, casting the entire stadium in its prismatic filter. However, ManeFrame could see that the edges were becoming burnt from the full brunt of the heat of the rays.

Then it disappeared with a pop, falling to ashes.

The mare dropped like a rock, her wings completely gone. Three pegasi in navy flight suits flew down towards her, but each was knocked out by the mare’s flailing limbs. The light blue pegasus stopped suddenly, before diving down towards the quartet of ponies. ManeFrame gave a horrified gasp. There was no way she could reach them.

She squinted closer, only for her jaw to drop open in shock. There was a sonic cone forming around the sharply accelerating form of the blue pegasus.

That’s not possible-

A boom thundered over ManeFrame along with a brilliant burst of colours. A ring of rainbow spread out from where the blue pony was only a second ago. She travelled at a speed that was almost impossible. Almost. A rainbow trail followed after her as she managed to grab onto both the white pegasus-turned unicorn as well as the three other pegasi.

Once they were back on solid grounds, the blue pegasus and the alabaster unicorn embraced each other, and heartfelt words were exchanged between them. Despite the amazing feat that the blue mare had achieved, she didn’t even seem to acknowledge it, instead focusing on the wellbeing of her friend. It wasn’t until another mare from a new group had tapped her on her shoulders and gestured to the rainbow skies that she had realized what had happened.

The world ManeFrame was in began to waver and blur, losing its texture and substance. Soon, she could barely see anything. The last thing ManeFrame heard was the blue mare’s exuberant cries as she came back to reality.

Her insistent warnings told her that she was still spinning with abandon. Jutting out a wing and using her hoof thrusters, she wrangled herself into a path of flight that didn’t end with her crashing into the ground. Whether it was coincidence or truly fate, she happened to approach the tattered remains of the destroyed TATT. More importantly, her scanners picked up an energy signature from the back of its hull.

It’s still working! The EMP Launcher is still working!

Sure enough, she saw the still-intact form of the EMP launcher mounted on the back of the ruined vehicle. The same device that could potentially do enough damage to the Husk’s inner circuitry to… to destroy it. That is, if she could get close enough to the Husk.

Before she could take a closer look, she sensed a huge spike in temperature behind her – quickly proven by a visible funnel of intense flames. She made a few quick calculations, and realized that if she could pull off the same speeds as the… mare she saw in her vision, she could shake off the Husk. That would give her enough of a head start to go for the launcher.

With that thought in mind, she angled herself upwards. She flew directly into the path of the Metal Husk, causing the large construct to waver in hesitation. ManeFrame took the opportunity to sprint past it before it came to its senses. She rocketed past it, feeling lighter and faster than ever before. A newfound spirit and strength flooded through her being.

Remember, this isn’t just for your friends, ManeFrame. This is for Rarity, Jade, Bloodlust, Sanguine and all the others. They’re counting on you.

She felt fearless, brave, even as the Husk began to give chase. She couldn’t deny that there was also a small part of her that yearned with curiosity and wonder. The flaming ball of light and fire she had seen in her vision… what if it was up there above the clouds all this time?

The dragon slowly fell away from her, its bulk too heavy to fly so fast so high up in the sky. Eventually, it was so far behind that even its flames could no longer threatened to reach her. She shot into the thick layer of cloud, its denseness masking her trajectory.

She could hear the Metal Husk’s frustrated growls as she climbed through the almost-solid like cloud substance. It felt more as if she was swimming than flying. The ferocious wind battered her, while thunder rumbled ominously and flashes of lightning sparked between banks of clouds as if they were the ends of Tesla coils. There was a certain coolness here that made ManeFrame shudder, but not unpleasantly.

The clouds around her became less dim, and the resistance she felt let up. Before she knew it, she punctured through the final layer of the cloud cover. ManeFrame gasped as she looked above.

It was right up here… this whole time.

There it was… the sun. It was the same as the one she saw, but at the same time so much more magnificent and incredible. It was unmistakable, a ball of flaming fire so far away from her yet at the same time it was so close. She wanted to stretch her hooves and touch it for herself.

Everything was so bright, and for once the clouds that span as far as the horizon was a pure white instead of the depressing grey. Everything was so peaceful, so separated and pure from anything ManeFrame had ever seen before.

She wanted to stay here forever.

ManeFrame’s thruster sputtered out. She reached the peak of her arc before starting to turn and dive down. She closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation of the warmth of the sun against her metallic form when she dove back into the turbulent clouds once again.

I will come back here again. Thank you, whoever you are, for showing me this. You are just… awesome.

ManeFrame turned around and leaned into her fall, streamlining her form to increase her speed-

Heh, you aren’t so bad yourself, egghead. An azure coat, bright, passionate, crimson eyes. A prismatic mane of all the colours of the rainbow. A confident smirk.

ManeFrame’s eyes snapped open. For a moment she swayed violently, almost losing control. Then there was a thought… a name.

Rainbow Dash.

ManeFrame put on an extra burst of speed, a cocktail of adrenaline, determination and confidence permeating her very being. Her sensor quickly picked out her target – the wrecked TATT.

The wind whistled past her face, so loud that it almost blocked out every other sound. She stretched open her wings, grimacing at the strain against them as she slowed herself down as much as possible. The draconic construct had caught sight of her by then. It shifted its massive bulk as it once again began to pursue its prey.

ManeFrame near-crash landed into the destroyed All-Terrain Transport. Her scanners quickly picked out the mounted EMP Launcher, which remained in one piece. The flap of gigantic wings not far behind her reminded ManeFrame she was on a time limit.

At once, she jumped over to it, grasping its end with both of her forehooves. Her wings flapped in tandem, mustering as much strength as possible. Her foreleg pistons pumped hard within, and while she was rewarded with the creak and groaning of metal, she knew she wasn’t working quick enough. A coldsteel blade extended from a small slit on her right forehoof, and she stuck it the crack of the mount holding the launcher.

Behind her, there was a roar so close that she felt the vibrations pass through her mechanical innards. Every fibre of her being urged to her to take to the skies and fly as far away as possible. Her metallic feathers twitched and shuddered, desperate to take her to anywhere but here.

“Come on, come on,” ManeFrame gritted her teeth as she pulled harder onto the EMP launcher. The roar behind her was too close. Finally, her hoof blades cut into a trigger within the mechanism, releasing the launcher from its mount. Without waiting for it to even be properly released, ManeFrame launched herself upwards, barely in time to avoid the fireball that impacted the ground below her.

Her victory was short-lived, though. Snarling in anger, the Husk sprayed its heavy machine guns in a huge roving arc, too many for ManeFrame’s internal processors to keep track off and avoid.

ManeFrame felt several projectiles enter her left wing. Crying out, her trajectory abruptly skewed to one side. Flailing through the air, she barely managed to stop herself from slamming into concrete wall, instead digging a trench through the dirt as she crashed to the ground.

Gently, she extended her left wing and simply looked at it. Just like she feared, the appendage was riddled with bullet holes, and she could barely force it to flap even once without great agony. The rest of her body was in no greater condition. Her right hoof was borderline shattered, and numerous plates from her other limbs were either falling apart or completely absent. Tears and deep cuts in her armour were rampant, and some ‘wounds’ were leaking the very essence she needed to survive.

She clutched the salvaged EMP launcher tightly to her chest. There was no doubt that she wouldn’t be able to last much longer. She forced herself to get up and gallop behind a warehouse. A phantom heart thundered inside of her. She fell against the building, her thoughts cast in disarray. She peeked around the corner and drew back immediately as she saw the Metal Husk was right next to her. However, it had already seen her.

An intense laser shot out from the Husk’s eyes, frying anything within its path. The numerous cannons and machine guns jutting out along its wings and back opened up, creating a cacophony of firepower. The building ManeFrame had taken cover behind didn’t so much get destroyed as it disintegrated. From within the massive carnage of dust and ruins, ManeFrame rolled out, wheezing as she tried to crawl away.

Something heavy landed behind her. She turned around to see the Husk, with its draconic head lowered to glare at her. Its jaws were open enough for ManeFrame to feel the insane heat stirring behind them. Two giant claws slammed into the earth around her, kicking rubble and dirt into the air, preventing her from escaping.

No… this can’t be the end.

The sharp whistle of missiles greeted ManeFrame’s ears, causing her head to snap back up. She lifted up a hoof in front of her eyes when the sky above her was lit up by brilliant explosions and smoking fireballs. She couldn’t help but smile as she caught sight of the Imperial Behemoth that hovered in the sky above them.

The Metal Husk reared upwards, roaring out in surprise as its back was doused in flames and explosions. It arching its back, swaying to one side and nearly flattening a warehouse with its gargantuan bulk. It tried to fly away from whatever was hitting it, but it could barely lift itself off the ground and instead crashed into parts of the GEM compound. The radio built into ManeFrame buzzed with Rarity’s voice.

“Hope we aren’t too late to the party, darling,” uttered Rarity. Her statement was punctuated by a succession of booms from the behemoth’s front flak guns.

“A little late, but am I glad to hear you,” ManeFrame answered, smiling in relief. However, it quickly disappeared as she gazed back to the Metal Husk. Her moment of respite quickly ended, though, as an intense gout of flame burst from the Husk’s open mouth. “Target its wings. If you can ground it, I think I can use the EMP Launcher on it. Whatever you do, stay out of range of its flames!”

“Copy that, ManeFrame. Good luck, darling.” The radio clicked off.

Immediately following the transmission, the artillery on the behemoth opened up again, this time tearing into the relatively thin armour on the Metal Husk’s wings. It uttered another bellow, but this time there was more pain than anger. The fire within its jaws that had been aiming towards ManeFrame diminished before glowing even hotter as it turned towards the behemoth.

She propelled herself upwards, just enough to latch onto the foot of the Metal Husk. With a combination of her three magnetized hooves, her one working wing and hoof thrusters, she climbed her way up the body of the Husk. Several times, she held on dearly to its metallic surface as the Husk flailed violently – something comparable to an artillery barrage from ManeFrame’s perspective.

She reached the head of the Metal Husk, landing just above its eyes. Up close, the small openings between the metallic coldsteel plates that covered its face became visible. Gritting her teeth, she slammed both of her forehooves into the tight opening between the metal plates above the Husk’s right eye.

Then she activated her hoof thrusters to the maximum.

The image of the pegasus soldier who was fried in their armour came to mind. ManeFrame forcefully removed it from her mind.

The metal beast below her shook in frenzy, attempting to shake her off as it mindlessly crashed through a multitude of buildings, it’s focus no longer on the Behemoth above them.

Once she wrenched open enough of an opening, ManeFrame thrusted upwards, trying to get as much distance away as possible. At the apex of her altitude, she emptied her rockets into the opening. It dug into the metal flesh of the Metal Husk until it reached the retina of its right eye. ManeFrame remotely detonated it.

In an instant, the mechanical right eye of the Metal Husk exploded outwards, the lenses flying off in a blast of blue fire. Bright, yellow fire quickly followed, flaring out from behind the two holes. ManeFrame could feel the vibrations of the blast pass through her as she landed back on its hand. The Metal Husk thundered below her, clawing fiercely at its own face in pain. The sharpened talons barely missed ManeFrame, digging into the Husk’s own coldsteel scales.

She latched onto construct while it began to thrash around, blindly trying to throw her off with its gigantic claws. With her remaining working forehoof and her teeth, she unslung the EMP Launcher from her back and jammed it into the breach. Looking at it with equal parts dread and determination, she flicked on the switch.

ManeFrame screamed as she felt the EMP charge release from the device and course through her. It was so much worse than the EMP dagger she had experienced before.

So, so much worse.

Her HUD glitched into abstract shapes before disappearing altogether. She knew that her own systems were likely failing just like the Metal Husk’s. It was so tempting to let go, to turn it off. To end the pain. But, she couldn’t stop. Not yet. She willed herself to hold on longer, one millisecond at a time.

Just a little longer, ManeFrame. You can do it!

Opening her mouth, ManeFrame tilted her head upwards and let out an immense cry of pain. Her eyes were blazing with a pure, violet colour. She could feel her internal circuits being fried faster than she could repair them, and sense the smoke that was coming off from her armour as arcs of electricity rampaged across her form. Absentmindedly, she could sense her world tilting sideways as the Metal Husk beneath her drop onto its side with a mighty crash.

There was no sensory information, no statistics, no database anymore. All ManeFrame knew was her suffering, and what she had to do. Unknowingly to her, the bronze horn situated on her forehead glowed. It could barely be seen, but it was there, with small violet sparkles bounced off of it amidst blinding white electricity.

JUST. A LITTLE. LONGER!

Eventually, the pain became so great, so staggering that ManeFrame collapsed onto her knees. Then, in her pain-induced haze, she saw a pair of ethereal pale blue hooves place them upon her own. The voice… Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed within her mind once again.

You can do it. I believe in you.

With one final guttural cry, ManeFrame pushed the entire launcher within the metal skin of the Husk. A shockwave through her back flinging her away from the brow of the Metal Husk a split second before it erupted in a shower of fire and shrapnel. She fell heavily to the ground, her strength completely sapped from her body.

Finally, the onslaught had ended, and the magnitude of its torment stopped increasing. It was finally finished.

One last, barely coherent thought ran through her mind before she lost consciousness.

I did it, Princess Celestia… are you proud of me…

---

ManeFrame’s eyes fluttered open, feeling the familiar rumbling of the TATT. She found herself within the main section, though it was tightly packed with ponies. Most were injured, ones that she recognized as resistance soldiers. There were two, however, that she definitely knew.

One was Stella, the soldier she had ‘saved’ by cauterizing her wounds. She lay on her back, gently being stroked by the stallion ManeFrame remembered was called Lance. He didn’t seem to notice anypony around him, engrossed entirely in his injured sibling. ManeFrame was going to call out to him, but the other pony she recognized stole her attention.

Starry, the overly curious and enthusiastic mare she had barely begun to know, was lying directly next to ManeFrame. Her tactical barding had been completely removed, and instead bandages wrapped tightly around her midsection, showing a splotch of red in its centre. Everywhere else, the unicorn was covered in numerous cuts and scrapes.

ManeFrame wasn’t a doctor, but she was nonetheless able to determine she was still alive. Sighing in relief, she tried to get up and take a better look at the unconscious mare, but a sharp spike in pain prevented her from doing so. Hesitantly, she guided herself back down into her lying position.

ManeFrame was only vaguely aware of her surroundings until TATT halted, and the side door opened up again. A few ponies strayed outside, grabbing their packs and weapons before they left. Most didn’t move, either too injured or couldn’t muster enough strength to move. She did, however, retain enough of a presence of her mind to notice Rarity climbing onboard.

“Hey, ManeFrame, how are you doing?” asked Rarity gently, approaching ManeFrame and taking a seat next to her.

“Uh… my head still hurts,” groaned ManeFrame. She looked down at herself, and was not surprised to see her left wing and hoof still in their wrecked and dysfunctional state. The armour on her was still cracked and turned black from fire. She checked her internal timers, but all the readings were scrambled and incomprehensible. She looked to Bloodlust. “Did… did we win?”

“Yes, darling, we won.” Gently, she placed a hoof on ManeFrame’s shoulder. “And we couldn’t have done it without you.”

A small moment of silence passed between them. ManeFrame tilted her head to glance at Starry beside her, a glance which Bloodlust had caught.

“Starry’s fine. She was injured when she was shot in the abdomen, but Bloodlust was able to patch her up and she will likely make a full recovery,” said Rarity, answering her silent question.

“Where is her partner, Languish? I’d thought she would want to be here with her,” asked ManeFrame. However, despite Rarity’s best attempts to hide it, her hesitation was answer enough for ManeFrame. “She’s dead?”

“I’m sorry.” Rarity looked away to peer outside a window. “We took heavy losses. Against such fierce adversity, it was inevitable.”

ManeFrame gritted her teeth.

“If only I was faster-” ManeFrame started.

“No,” Rarity interrupted as she stared deep into ManeFrame’s eyes with an intensity that she hadn’t seen before. “That is not your burden to bear. We were all prepared for the possibility. If anypony is to be blamed, it is me.”

“But-” ManeFrame tried.

“But it’s true, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Rarity’s tone brooked no argument. “I was the one who organized the mission, and it is solely I the responsibilities should fall upon.”

ManeFrame wanted to say more, but she faltered, her words dying before they could be uttered. Silence reigned between them again.

“It's not long to Ponyville now, we'are almost there,” said Rarity, breaking the silence. She paused, looking uncertain, before continuing. “We… we didn’t know if you would make it, ManeFrame. There was little we could do but hope and… well, I’m just glad that you did.”

“And now? What’s going to happen?” asked ManeFrame, feeling her system slowly entering hibernation. Was this what exhaustion felt like?

“Nothing. Just rest. You of all ponies, or constructs, deserve it. We are almost at the Agency now,” assured Rarity, once again with a gentle smile. “Oh, and we took the parts you and Jade had found. If we are lucky, then they should be compatible.”

“Jade, is he-” started ManeFrame, starting to panic again. She didn’t even think of him! What if he was hurt, or worse, dead?! What was she going to do? He was her friend, he trusted her-

“Safe, uninjured,” Rarity reassured, cutting off ManeFrame’s increasingly panicked train of thoughts.

ManeFrame slumped down in relief. A sudden burst of fatigue had washed over her. Already, she felt the pull into the dark nothingness of hibernation. The tension in her form bled out as she relaxed. It was lost on Rarity as she stood up to leave.

“Rest, darling. We’ll be here when you come to again,” Rarity soothed softly.

“Yeah, that would be nice…Rarity…” mumbled ManeFrame, before shutting her eyes once again.

Rarity smiled sadly as she stood up to leave. Before she left, she glanced at ManeFrame one more time, seeing her peacefully slumbering, her scars and experiences washed away by her unconscious innocence. Then, in a voice so quiet she could barely hear it herself, Rarity uttered:

“Sleep well… Twilight.”

Author's Note:

This was a big chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm not too keen on making super-sized chapters, so this is probably the longest I'm going to risk in future chapters unless something really bizarre happens. Please tell me if you really dislike long chapters, and I'll take it into consideration in the future.

Until next time, Croaks out!

EDIT: I saw a few posting about this so I'll just note this here: ManeFrame will meet Rainbow Dash in person again.

Comments

[Titan Commander Sebaste]

Holy Terra.... That was insane!

[Ze1a7in]

“Sleep well… Twilight.”

After all the teasing, FINALLY!!!!!

[ANearPerfectStudent]

Haha, I knew Rarity would find out first... Just hope she tells her ;-;

[LostArchivist]

How are the resistance able to keep her repaired? Does Twilight Mark II have self-repair, or does the resistance still have a working tech base and the ability to fix what they admit is the most sophisticated contruct yet?

For that matter, even refueling the thrusters could be a pain.

One minor issue with the chapter: Use of a rocket engine for cauterization is a horrible idea. It'd probably flay her, not seal the wound.

You are really keeping us in suspense, though, in regards to what exactly happened before all this. It makes sense since it's nearly first person, but it's stressful since we have no idea where the others are or just how messed up the world is.

Oh, and the chapter sizing is fine with me. I like medium to long chapters, though none larger than this one please. It's great for if I download this and put it on my reader, but online, it can be a bit much to read in one sitting.

[56]

You should use the passive voice less often (if at all.)

For example:

A series of lasers were shot from the scorpion’s tail-gun as it covered its retreat.

"lasers were shot by the scorpion" is less gripping and immediate than "the scorpion shot lasers."

Thanks for writing, and I hope this helps you improve!

[Starlight Nova]

I dislike longer chapters, though I don't mind reading them. I'd prefer it if you made them short.

[Jest]

" Imperial troops with a volley of bullets at the Imperial troops. Meanwhile, ManeFrame, Jade, Rarity and the agents led the charge directly into their midst.

Taking out her shotgun the bronze construct dived into the battle, galloping up to the nearest construct and greeting it with a face-full of bullets"

Imperial twice, and shotguns dont shoot bullets.

[Adam Jensen]

"The future is not set. There is no fate but what we make."

[Vinx]

8726042
Id imagine with them being advanced enough to create a cybernetic being and AI constructs, those thursters are propably not just rocket motors, but something more advanced with a full range throttle. Even today there are thursters that can run from "is it warm in here?" to "melt your face off", up to "vaporization is fun" like the advanced ion thurster designs.

[LostArchivist]

8655958
That sounds like something I may enjoy reading, but I can't find out what it is to confirm. Could you link to a wiki about it, or an amazon page? All I can find is the chess game.

[CroakyEngine]

8726042
8726314
Essentially what Vinx said. The thruster itself is composed of little individual openings that can be activated separately and its temperature carefully regulated by ManeFrame's onboard computers.
8726435
Thanks! Fixed those mistakes.

[Vinx]

8726429
Just search for "The Immortal Game" on Fimfiction.

[LostArchivist]

8726435
I still wonder how she's still alive, though. How is she kept repaired? Even when they picked her up, some of her machinery was damaged.
Aside from consumables like thruster fuel though, I am starting to suspect self-repair. She's like the walking armor from Fullmetal Alchemist, basically a magical mind inside a (rather more complicated) support structure. Except not at all. AAAgh.

Never mind that. She's magic-powered, right? Whatever system contains her mind and memories, and the rest of the struct, is magic-powered, and she has a strangely good sense of touch and pain for something made of brass. So, the magic is also used to bend/heal broken parts, I am guessing? Otherwise, I can't imagine the resistance could do a good job keeping her working for long (especially since she keeps ending up in fights + I have to imagine their tech base is more limited than that of the Evil Empire, if they even know how it works), and the soldier constructs would be basically useless if anything breaks down in battle. (Sure, shooting them does not work out well for them, but name someone for whom it does!)

What is the state of magic there? Rarity is some absurd number of years old and can still use it, the constructs use it extensively, Twilight used it in her meat-form when she moved the city (and it's still active doing something), and the data systems use it as well. Yet there seems to be no weather control, and I don't know if the sun ever sets. Unicorn magic is seemingly gone. How does this work?

[CroakyEngine]

8726461
Most will be explained later on. While constructs use some form of magic to keep themselves sustained, they are unable to cast magic. Magic is split into two categories: dead magic, and active magic. Dead magic is what is akin to fossil fuel and the passive collection of it as a pure power source, while active magic is using the 'mind' to manipulate it into some other abstract form. Dead magic can be forced to emulate active magic through runes, if not for the lack of magic across Equestria. The ability for constructs to cast 'active magic' is what the Empire has been struggling to achieve for a long time.

A good amount of Magic is fed into Equestrian leylines by Celestial (pardon the pun) bodies. Without their influence on things, magic had started to degrade into what it is now. Magic is not gone completely, as a huge amount of ambience magic is still generated by Equus - though little compared to before. That is why pegasi can still fly, unicorns can still cast levitation and earth ponies are still stronger than the other races. As for why Rarity is so powerful compared to the others... spoilers.

For self-repairs, all constructs can manage it to some point, but the damages ManeFrame had suffered in this chapter is irreparable by herself.

[CroakyEngine]

8726429
The Immortal Game by AestheticB. There ya go! It's a pretty awesome read.

[Boltstrike58]

Okay, Rainbow Dash is a ghost or something. That's nice.
I was kinda afraid that Metal Husk was gonna be a converted Spike. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be the case.

I did it, Princess Celestia… are you proud of me…

Oh, somepony's starting to remember...

“Sleep well… Twilight.”

Holy smokes, she knows!

[Spanner]

8726751
She knew back when she released the intelligence to the resistance to capture a possible construct with Twilight's brain inside it. She was absolutely sure when "Mane Frame said she thinks Rarity's friend would forgive her. I also suspect that Mane Frame's dimensions might be close to sompony's dimensions.

I suspected she knew as soon as they revealed the identity of "the Chief."

[Spanner]

8726751
You should mark your comment as spoiler boyo.

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

Darn I'm guessign Rainbow's dead, likely Applejack to.

I think that contruct dragon was Spike or based off him.

[djthomp]

I love how much of a badass Rarity is. That Ponies Make War style diamond blade, so great.

Dash is indeed pretty awesome.

“Sleep well… Twilight.”

I'd say she earned some rest.

[CroakyEngine]

8727150
Don't be too sure about that

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

8727853
oohhh hope rises.

[Drexlroosh13]

Loved it and love long chapters

[Purple Pony]

Long chapters by themselves aren’t a bad thing. The only time a long chapter is a bad thing is when you make it too long by dragging it out more than necessary. You didn’t.
Let’s see just how ManeFrame will recover from all her schizophrenia.

[The REAL Mister Pkmn]

Dash... did she... Die?

[Cave Johnson]

And then Twi leads the equalists right to the Agency with a convenient tracking device macguffin.

[Arcane Howitzer]

8731843
Yes, because we all know those things are completely indestructible. There's no way it could have been knocked off or damaged by either the killer robo-dragon or the high-intensity EMP ManeFrame was literally holding while it fried said robo-dragon.

[CroakyEngine]

8745212
8745116
Cool beans, fixed the typos you pointed out. Thank a bunch!

[Satto Kez]

This chapter was amazing!
I was on the edge of my seat for a good portion of this one!

The only thing I would like to mention is at the end there
It seems as if you are missing a paragraph or two,
It goes from Rarity taking the blame in one paragraph to the next of her telling her how long she was out.
It looks like one is missing where Mainframe asks how long she was out or something.

Either way I’m excited for more of this!
Please update soon.

[CroakyEngine]

8749858
Ah, fixed it up a little bit. That must've been a legacy from one of my many old drafts that I didn't amend properly in the final version. Anyhow, very glad you liked it! Hopefully the next chapter won't take me too long

[AppleTank]

RariTwi intensifies

[CroakyEngine]

8799578
Yes, why indeed...

Why. Indeed.

[Kingmoonwar19]

8803215
didnt the coper/brons armor on manefram get striped of in old ponyvill if so manefram looks like a regeral an not the prototype

[Lovecraftia]

“Sleep well… Twilight.”

We all fuckin knew it

[Lovecraftia]

8860375
I think so

[Lovecraftia]

8726493
I FUCKING KNEW IT!!! YE BASTARD THINK YE CAN FOOL ME? WELL YE THOUGHT WRONG!

[Dragonwaz]

8919494
Yeah but the one I was talking about was a Black Butler crossover with Scootaloo as Ciel. Blueblood has a younger brother that wants to learn how to bladecast and trains with a teacher on the art who tells him it's a rookie move wasting energy to summon an entire sword when all you need is the edge to cut or parry.

[CuriousCurse]

8803215
Is this ded?

[Moonshine-Dusk]

In her distracted state, ManeFrame didn’t notice the small blip on her sensors, signalling that a foreign device had latched onto her.

I swear, if that bug survived her getting roasted by the dragon, and electrocuted by the cannon, I'm calling complete bull.

[cheetored20]

I FOUND IT AGAIN, IM SO HAPPY. Also great chapter.
edit: also i dont care about chapter length, this is pretty good length, and about half of this length would be better in line with the lenght of stories people sit down for in one sitting.

[3rror404]

Please continue

[Stellar Light Sparkle]

I think I know where the Equalist Empire got its start from... and who led it, if they're not still alive...

[fanreader999999]

So. Much. Fighti-zzzz....

[OlDreaddy]

9601781
Dead

[OlDreaddy]

Another dead good fic... I swear all the good fics with unique stories are dead.

[RainBro-Dash]

9675819
Lately, every story that catches my interest, I click on it while thinking "please be completed please be completed or at least updated very recently" and I see they're incomplete and last updated years ago, I scream inside because while I still want to read them, I know I will inevitably be disappointed when I reach the latest chapter with no conclusion. It's maddening.

[Lysander Shadowheart]

Damm, I'm reading this story wondering why it's in my backup file and not in my read next file, only to realise at the end that it's the end. Just an awesome story abruptly stopped. I now realise it was in my backup file waiting for an update.

Just a damn shame, don't regret reading it though, it is a beautiful piece of work.

Hope to hear from you CroakyEngine.

[OlDreaddy]

I kinda want to start writing the rest of this but I have no talent in this stuff. I just want a more of this but this is it. I can feel it clawing at my conscience. I feel dead inside but there's nothing that can be done about that. Man I just wish there where more fics like this.

[tsaukpaetra]

9239778
Not to mention a point-blank EMP detonation. Rather surprised she even survived that.
Here's to hoping it's not an Equalist bug...

[herobrins mom]

Soooo..is there gona be a next chapter to this or...??

Cause I really liked this story and was wondering if this story is just gona die quietly when it has so much potential