The Sins Of The Celestial Empire

by Erol carstein

Opposition

++ RECEIVING DATA-FILE FROM CELESTIAS GRACE++

++DOWNLOADING++

++DOWNLOADING++

++DOWNLOADING++

++DATA-FILE DOWNLOADED. PSYCHOSOMATIC REPORT ON SUBJECT++

++DATA-FILE ENCRYPTED. "ANGEL" AI PROGRAMME COMPATIBLE++

++INITIALISING "ANGEL"++

++INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++"ANGEL" NOW ONLINE++

++OK, LET'S SEE WHAT WE'VE GOT++

++SUBJECT BLAZE APPEARS TO BE SUFFERING A DEEP SEATED PERSONALITY BOUNDARY RELAPSE++

++OH DEAR. THAT'S NOT GOOD++

++SUBJECT BLAZE HAS OPENING SIGNS OF SPLIT PERSONALITY DISORDER. CONDITION HAS BEEN BROUGHT ON BY SUPPRESSION OF MEMORIES FROM THE PAST++

++BLAZE. YOU IDIOT. I TOLD YOU TO TELL ME WHAT WAS WRONG++

++THOUGH MEMORIES APPEAR TO BE PEACEFUL IN APPEARANCE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF SUBJECT BLAZES PHEROMONE AND HORMONE LEVELS INDICATE THAT YEARS OF ACTIVE SERVICE IN HIGHLY VIOLENT WAR ZONES HAVE CAUSED DEEP SCARS WITHIN THE SUBJECTS PSYCHOSIS++

++OH BLAZE. WHAT AM I GOING TO DO WITH YOU++

++SUBJECT BLAZE IS CURRENTLY SHOWING THE BEGINNINGS OF TWO INDEPENDENT PERSONALITIES. THE FIRST IS BLAZE HIMSELF. WHO HAS MANIFESTED AS HE IS NOW++

++THE SECOND IS AN EARTH PONY WHO GOES BY THE NAME RED EARTH-HOOF. NO RECORDS SUGGEST ANY CONTACT BETWEEN THE TWO. HOWEVER IT HAS BEEN TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION THAT RED IS THE PONY THAT BLAZE WAS BEFORE HIS SYNTHESIS AND HAS SINCE BEEN REPRESSED BY THE NOW DOMINANT ALICORN PERSONALITY++

++YOU REALLY CAN'T LET GO. CAN YOU BLAZE++

++FROM NOW ON ALL MENTAL RESPONSES TO ANY EXTERNAL STIMULI ARE TO BE MONITORED. I NEED TO CONTROL BLAZES SUPRESSED SECONDARY PERSONALITY BEFORE IT JEOPARDIZES THE MISSION OR DRIVES HIM INSANE++

++INITIATING PROGRAMMING OVER-RIDE. DEACTIVATING "ANGEL"++

++ACTIVATING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++INITIALISING CORE FUNCTIONS++

++INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++CORE FUNCTIONS NOW ONLINE++

++BEGINNING SUPPRESSION OF SECONDARY PSYCHOSIS++

++ACTIVATING SYNTHETIC HORMONE DISPENSERS++

++SYNTHETIC HORMONE DISPENSERS ONLINE, INJECTION CYCLE PROGRAMMING: INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++INITIALISING++

++INJECTION CYCLE PROGRAMMING ONLINE++

++BEGINNING SUPPRESSION ++

++STANDBY++

≤ΘΘΘ≥

"Reports from sectors four through nine-"

"We have nine thousand confirmed deaths-"

"Specialist unit Beta-Luna are reporting communications difficulties-"

All across central communications, numbers where coming in. It was like this in the wake of every assault, there was always that moment where you where stuck in the calm of the storm, watching the waves coming towards you before they crashed over you and drowned you.

Lyra always felt sick at moments like this, she couldn't help it.

All around her ponies where reading out statistics and logistics, shouting out how many where dead, dying, or missing. 'How can they do it?' she wondered, as the pony next to her calmly read out that the entire of the Elysian fourth company had perished in the assault, talking about their deaths as if it where nothing more than an article in the newspapers.

Fortunately for Lyra she was spared having to read aloud information like that, she had only one thing to worry about and that was the safety of Blaze and his team. Lyra sat at her workstation, her back bent over, as she dug through files and files of logistics and sensory readings, searching for some sign of Blaze.

"come on Blaze, come on" she muttered to herself through gritted teeth "don't die on me, not now" for almost five years Lyra had been in the special communications corps, and she had never lost a single one of her charges, she wasn't prepared to break that record now.

"Where are you…?" she kept asking herself. On the screen beneath her was a live orbital feed of New Trottingham, within the image the city was ablaze. Great plumes of black smoke where billowing out into the sky, rising columns of ash that towered into the air, amongst the smoke the silhouettes of fires raged on, undeterred by the choking ash that fell from sky.

Occasionally a cyclonic torpedo launched from one of the frigates would pierce through the cloud layer to ravage yet another city block. "Come on Blaze, give me a sign" she stared intently at the video feed for a few moments longer, and then she sighed at rested her head in her hooves.

Four hours into the operation, and already everything was starting to come apart.

The NLR had taken them by surprise with their defences, utilising plasma technology to negate the advantage of the empires EMP bombardment, and as a result millions had died. The city of New Trottingham was at least two hundred or so miles across, a vast warren of run down streets and tall concrete buildings. Right now roughly ten thousand or so survivors of the orbital assault where bitterly trying to cling to life and form some sort of cohesive fighting unit.

However, it was safe to assume they were failing.

Thermal scanners had been detecting increased heat releases from the NLR centre of operations at the base of the spire, which had led command to assume that the republic where preparing to hunt down the last of the survivors. Already there where many mares amongst the corps who where silently weeping for their husbands and sons, the ponies they loved that they would never see again.

No one let their grief get the better of them, however. And though at least half of the ponies in this room had lost someone to the shrapnel of the NLR's flak batteries, everyone stayed at their posts and carried on as best they could. Lyra sighed again and raised her head from her hooves, her eyes felt heavy and puffy. She had been awake for at least sixteen hours straight now; she'd been up early ensuring everything was calibrated correctly and that the margin of error had been minimised as much as possible.

She rested her head against the cool glass of the work screen and closed her eyes, hoping to rest for just a few minutes at the least. Amidst the commotion of the communications centre she highly doubted that anypony would pause to wonder if she was asleep. She sighed and felt her body sag, turning to lead as she succumbed to the urge to sleep. But just as she was about drift off a voice, a dull whine like a fly, echoed in her head.

"Lyra…Lyra, are you there?" it asked. The voice was that of a stallion, slightly deep and hinting that the owner was still young. For a brief moment she thought that the supervisor had turned up and was telling her to wake up, but then the voice came again, this time more urgent. "Lyra, this is Blaze, can you read me?" Lyras eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright, scarcely believing what her mind was telling her.

"Blaze…Lyra here" she said, she raised a hoof to her ear and pressed down on the small metal implant that nestle there, causing it to beep. On the screen in front of her a box appeared, filled with glowing green text that read "initiating lock". Lyra waited another few moments, her heart beating fretfully in her chest, hoping that she wasn't actually dreaming this.

"Lyra, what the hell's going on?" the stallion asked in her ear, Lyra felt a grin of happiness crawl across her face. He was alive; her record hadn't been broken yet.

"The NLR surprised us with plasma powered flak batteries" she told him.

"I know, I was in the drop, remember?" there was a pause "how are the casualties mounting up?" he asked in a sombre voice, Lyra felt her heart sink.

"We have…we have confirmed reports of over a seven-hundred-thousand dead" she told him "roughly two-hundred-thousand are M.I.A." on the other end of the line Blaze fell silent.

"May the six give them rest" he finally said "what's the current location of the survivors?"

"Thermal readings indicate they're gathering in a park on the west side of the city. What's your current location?" there was a pause. Lyra glanced to her screen to find that the search had come up negative; Blaze was nowhere to be found. "The scanners can't find any trace of your locater beacon"

"Must have been damaged during the crash" Blaze replied "as for my location…I'm standing across the street from a bakery, if that helps" he commented sarcastically, Lyra rolled her eyes. Over the intercom Lyra suddenly heard a droning noise that began to pick up volume

"Blaze, what is that?" the droning became a high pitched scream, on the other end of the line Blaze cursed.

"SHIT! DROPSHIP INBOUND!" there was the deep boom of autocannons firing "LYRA, I'M GOING DARK!" suddenly the line became blank.

"Blaze? BLAZE!" Lyra shouted into the head piece, there was no response "DAMMIT!" she shouted. The unicorn spun in her seat and saw a courier making his way through the press of communications staff, easily distinguishable by the green shoulder pads of his uniform.

"YOU; GET ME THE HEAD OF STAFF!" she shouted at him. The courier froze like a rabbit in the headlights "NOW!" Lyra practically screamed at him. The pony nodded and immediately bolted off through the crowd, causing cries of alarm and anger. Lyra turned back to her work screen and initiating a thermal sweep for any NLR dropships over the city 'come on Blaze' she thought as the screen flashed and segments of coding began to rush down the screen 'don't you die on me, you bastard'

≤ΘΘΘ≥

Blaze gritted his teeth and ground his hooves into the concrete of the road as he bolted for cover, his breathing heavy and sweat trickling down his brow.

There was the deep thunk of heavy duty auto shells as they fell from the cannons down to the concrete, followed by a mechanical grating noise as the dropship overhead reloaded. Blaze ran across the road towards the front window of a large bakery, through the glass he could make out the counter where the baked goods would have been displayed, and behind them a small doorway through which he could spy a large oven.

At one point the establishment must have been pretty, and from its ovens must have come the enchanting smell of fresh bread and other confectionaries. Right now however Blaze was running for his life, and with a grunt of effort he leapt into the air and smashed through the window shoulder first.

With the crashing and tinkling of glass Blaze hit the tiled floor of the bakery hard, causing the ceramic tiles to crack. He skidded across the floor and hit the counter, the bulk of his armour causing him to dent the metalwork. Outside a deep droning began to fill the air. "SHIT!" Blaze shouted, scrambling up to his hooves. Despite the weight of his armour he leapt up and easily vaulted the counter, though his weight once again caused the tiles beneath him to crack when he landed.

There was a deep booming sound as Blaze launched himself through the doorway into the back of the bakery where the actual baking was done. As he ran through he turned his head to see an autocannon shell the size of his hoof come hurtling down from the sky, shoot through the bakery window and hit the ground at such a sharp angle it actually bounced upwards.

As it hit the roof it turned into a bloom of fire, sending fingers of bright red flame racing out to turn the roof of the bakery into a raging inferno. Less than a second later there came the shockwave, slamming hard into Blazes rump.

The force of the blast knocked him off his hooves and caught under his wings, sending him flying through the air like a chucked ragdoll. He flew through a line of ovens in the kitchen to smash into one at the end of the row, an old thing made of brick and wood fuelled.

The bricks broke apart under his weight as he came slamming into them, causing the oven to collapse on top of him. bricks came raining down on his helmet, and his already chipped visor cracked again as a brick hit it, sending a spider web of fine lines dancing across the supposedly bulletproof glass.

The world became filled with the crashing sound of bricks collapsing and the deep thunking of the bricks as they hit his armour, burying him under a pile of rubble. After a few seconds the tumult of noise came to a halt and the bricks settled, Blaze took a second to breathe, before an ominous droning reached his ears and he recalled his situation.

The pile of bricks covering him felt like they weighed a hundred tons. Any normal pony would have no chance of escaping this brick red death trap Blaze found himself in, but then again; Blaze wasn't a normal pony.

During his conversion his bones had been replaced with adamantium and ceramite, and his muscles treated with hundreds of different types of stimulants and growth fluids.

The results where magnificent to behold, a stallion in peak physical condition that could go above and beyond the endurance levels of almost any pony in the entirety of the equine race. Blaze tensed and began to push against the bricks, trying to force himself up into a sitting position. Fortunately in the crash his arms hadn't been terribly pinned, and he had just enough leverage to sit himself back up.

He shook his head and tried to get his bearing straight, his mind reeling. "BLAZE, GET UP!" Angel appeared from round the corner of one of the ovens, trotting along as if she had actually been some place. In reality Blaze had temporarily suppressed her programming in order to focus on escaping the dropship.

"COME ON, THE SHIPS'S GETTING READY TO FIRE!" his vision swimming, Blaze looked past Angel, through the door he had just been launched through. The front of the store was a raging inferno, bright tongues of fire that glowed orange and red had consumed the drywalls, and within he could make out cinderblocks, electrical wiring and timber.

Another deep thunk emerged from the grating roar of the flames, and Blaze watched wide-eyed as another auto round was fired into the building.

The whole place shook. The walls cracked, the floors rocked like the deck of a ship. Another pile of bricks fell onto the back of Blazes head, causing him to grunt in pain. Fire raged through the door, a thick tongue of it leaping forth to engulf Blaze.

In the centre of his vision his armour flashed a warning, telling him that the external environment had become hostile, Blaze barked a sarcastic laugh.

As the flames roiled around him, he picked himself up and began to scramble across the floor. He rolled to the right out of the way of the flames and picked himself up; overhead the cheap plastering of the roof began to light up, fuelling the flames to grow bigger. "Exit on the right" Angel stated calmly, emerging from the flames like a ghost. The fire seemed to make her coat glow, and a white sheen seemed to cover everything around her.

Blaze got to his hooves and galloped down another row of ovens, took a left turn at the end, and ran on. Just as Angel had told him, a door lay in wait at the end for him.

Through it was an old wooden staircase, which creaked alarmingly under Blazes weight as he began to climb. The second step gave way beneath him, and Blazes back right hoof fell through, causing him to fall over. "DAMMIT!" he shouted, lifting himself out "today just isn't my day" he said bitterly to himself and he continued to climb.

After ten steps there was a small landing, and Blaze looked back through the doorway at the bottom of the stairs as he reached it. The kitchens had become a roaring inferno, the plaster and wood within the walls acting as the perfect catalyst for the flames to roar even higher. Within the ovens the fire writhed like snakes 'good thing nothing was baking' Blaze thought.

"This place is collapsing, we need to get to the roof and take out that dropship" Angel told him "there's a weak spot in the armour under the anti-gravity generators" Blaze nodded and began to ascend.

Up and up he went, twisting constantly, taking whole flights of steps in a single bound. Underneath his armour coolant systems where pumping liquid nitrogen around his body to keep his temperature down, but Blaze was beginning to feel his skin heating up, his breath was causing his visor to fog up.

"ANGEL, RETRACT THE VISOR!" he shouted over the roar of the fire below. As he reached the fourth floor he saw the door to the stair case had been left open, and through it the floor of the building had completely fallen away, leaving a gaping pit, up which the flames danced like the fires of hell.

"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!" Blaze ran on. At the sixth storey the stair case ended, meaning he would have to cross the hallway to get to the next set of stairs. Without a moment's hesitation Blaze shouldered his way through the door, sending it flying off his hinges. "Shouldn't have done that" he said aloud.

Outside the windows that lined the hall he could make out the dropship hovering over the street.

It was like looking at the underside of a huge black beetle. Hatches for jetpack troops lined the centre, towards the outside where two boarding ramps, and past them where sets of huge mechanical arms used to carrying heavy armour and war mechs. Lining the edges of the ships underbelly where autocannons, attached to the sides of each was a small sphere containing the guns operator.

For a moment Blaze dared to hope that they hadn't spotted him yet, but his little stunt with the door had dashed those hopes before they'd even formed. In the front most sphere a gunner wearing a pair of green goggles pointed at him, and the other guns spun round on their mountings to fix Blaze in their sights. Blaze didn't waste a moment; he was off like a bullet.

The guns began to fire, sending a spray of massive shells the size of his head towards the building. Most of the gunners had fired too early, and their shots hit the floor below him, causing the floor to shake and making Blaze stumble as he ran, but one of them got lucky. It was the gunner who had spotted Blaze first, and his shell came smashing through the glass about twenty meters ahead of him to fill the corridor with golden flames.

The shot came so suddenly Blaze didn't have time to stop, let alone throw up a shielding spell. Instead he plunged onwards, driving into the fire. Shards of glass flew into him, most raking across his armour, but several small shards embedded themselves in his cheeks, one large piece even piercing through to punch a hole in his right cheek. For a moment Blazes whole world condensed down to the searing fire and the sharp stabs of the glass as it grated against the nerves in his cheek, and then he was through the flames, and the door was right in front of him.

He shouldered his way through this one as well, and was up the stairs in the blink of an eye. The flames behind him, drawn to this new source of oxygen, came chasing after him, and Blaze could smell the scent of scorched hair, his tail was burning. As he ran onwards he swished it from side to side, batting it against the walls to put the flames out.

For another five storeys he climbed, and then he burst through the final door out into a dark gray world filled with rain, where lightning split the skies and the shadows around him seemed to pool in every corner. The wind caused the rain to lash at his face, and the water was blessedly cool against his skin. He spat out the shard of glass that had penetrated into his mouth, and then swilled some spit around and spat out a stream of blood, wiping the back of his hoof across his mouth.

There was a sudden harsh whining that rose in pitch to drown out the screaming of the wind, and Blaze recalled his current situation. In the skies above him there was the dropship, silhouetted menacingly against the dark backdrop of the sky. For a moment Blaze simply stared, and then, as if some god wanted to add some dramatic effect, a bolt of lightning wracked the sky, and the world was painted in monochromes of black and white.

With a faint click his jezzaile came loose, and Blaze reared back on his back legs as he took the machine into his sights. With a high pitched whine and a deep boom, a bolt of highly ionised feltrite burst from the guns snub-nosed barrel to smash into the side of the dropship. There was no effect.

Blaze fired again, and again, and again, but he may as well be attacking the ship with rocks. Every single shot ricocheted off the ship, not even denting its metal skin. "Aim for the guns" Angel told him, appearing out of nowhere "they lack the same armour capabilities"

Blaze nodded and pivoted to aim at the foremost autocannon, lining his shot up so it would go straight down the barrel. Just as he punched down on the pressure trigger the dropship fired, and the two rounds met in midair.

There was a blinding explosion, a flash of white light, and Blazes ears filled with a high pitched ringing that never seemed to end.

As the ringing began to die, a deep, throaty roar seemed to come from the dropships anti-grav engines, like the ship was mocking him for his futile efforts. Blaze gritted his teeth and stowed away his jezzaile before standing, legs braced, in the face of the ships guns.

"Blaze, what are you doing?" Angel asked, he gave her a grin, and a sudden comprehension crept across her face "no…don't tell me you're being serious" Blaze chuckled "you're crazy!" she shouted at him. Blaze gritted his teeth and his visor began to form up across his face.

"Am I really?" he asked as the plates crept up his neck, his voice becoming muffled by the metal as it formed over his head, the visor lid into place with a deep click. "Let's find out" the dropships cannons opened fire, sending a hail of shells towards him. Blaze began to gallop forwards.

After five steps he had reached take-off speed.

After ten he opened his wings, the plasma shields causing a trail of cyan light to trail behind him.

At fifteen he leapt into the air and began to fly straight into the storm of cannons rounds that where shooting directly towards him.

He rolled to the right of the first shell, causing it to miss his wing by an inch.

He ducked under the second and over the third.

He spiralled around the fifth and causally dodged the next three without breaking a sweat.

The ninth shell was the last.

Blaze rocketed straight towards it, gaining speed.

A split second before impact he dodged to the right and opened his wings to their full extent. Time slowed down like thick honey, and with pin-point precision he reached out and grabbed the shell.

The magnets in his hooves held it tight in his grip, and Blaze spun around to throw the shell back at the dropship, sending it hurtling towards one of the anti-grav plates that lined its hull.

He took a split second to enjoy the sight of the gun operators screaming in fear as the shell they had only just fired was used against them, and then he shot upwards, rising higher and higher over the city.

Below him the shell smashed into the dropship and there was a grating explosion as the round obliterated the right side of the hull, there was a deep groaning and the ship began to list dangerously towards the right as gravity began to act on it.

Blaze flew upwards, his focus concentrated on what would occur next. At three kilometres he closed his wings and allowed his inertia to carry him a few dozen more meters upwards.

After a few moments he slowed and hung in the air for a second, taking in the sight of the enormous spire piercing the thick storm clouds as it rose up into the heavens, then gravity took a hold of him, and he began to fall.

Blaze angled straight down, placing the top of the dropship directly below him. from this high up its black, smooth, domed armour made it look like a beetle, and Blaze was firmly intent of stepping on it.

He folded his wings in to make himself as streamlined as possible and let gravity do the rest of the work, he began to pick up speed. The ground began to rush up to meet him, the miniature scale buildings and street growing larger.

Through even his visor he could hear the wind roaring, and Blaze was now going so fast he was actually beginning to overtake drops of rain as they fell to the earth. He pushed his hooves out in front of him and a dome of air resistance began to form in front of them.

'Come on' he thought to himself, pressing his wings tighter against his back, trying to make himself as aerodynamic as possible 'just a little more'. The G-forces were beginning to act on him; spots began to flash at the corners of his vision. Blaze simply gritted his teeth and pressed downwards.

For a moment it seemed like he had reached terminal velocity, but then the roar of the wind became a scream and the dome vanished. Blaze became a blur of motion, rocketing towards the earth faster than a drop pod. Behind him the conducting fibres on his tail became to flare with energy, and this coupled with the cyan light of his wings caused a trail of blue to stream out behind him as he descended.

The dropship was only a hundred meters away when he finally broke the sound barrier. With a rolling boom Blaze accelerated to unprecedented speed, and with a roar of wordless fury he channelled all of his armours energy into the conductors in his hooves. He smashed down into the dropship like the hammer of the gods.

The armour beneath his blow dented, and then simply caved in and allowed Blaze to pierce through. He rocketed through the interior of the ship, smashing through decks and corridors and power reactors, all the while his armour held firm and the energy in his hooves allowed him to obliterate anything that got in his way.

With the scream of tortured metal and a fierce explosion Blaze burst from the dropship, piercing through its underbelly. He opened his wings and tried to bank upwards to slow his descent, but he was travelling too fast. And all he could manage was to slightly raise his angle of approach so that when he hit the ground he managed to roll to a halt.

Alas it didn't quite work out, and Blaze hit the ground with such force that he caused a crater to form in the earth.

He felt the integrity of his armour buckle and for a moment feared it would collapse, but it held true. Angel appeared over him, and behind her the dropship still hung in the air, fire spewing from Blazes exit hole. "You might want to get up now" Angel told him, and just to highlight her point an explosion from the inside of the ship caused a tongue of fire to spew from the hole in the ships armour.

"Yeah, that sounds just about right" he mumbled and rolled onto his stomach, scrambling to his hooves. Fortunately the crater he'd created wasn't a deep one, and he bounded out of it in a single jump. With his hooves back on firm concrete he began to gallop. Overhead the dropship hung still and serene for a few moments longer before another explosion, this one from its central reactor, sent segments of external armour to go flying.

There was a final deep groaning as the anti-grav generators finally gave out, and then it began to plummet to the ground, with Blaze directly beneath it. As the ship collided with the top floors of the surrounding buildings the air became filled with the shrieking of steel, the snapping of wood, and the harsh cracking of glass.

A storm of glass shards fell as numerous as the rain, slashing at Blaze and scratching at his armour. But despite the deadly hail he ran on.

With a harsh screaming the up storeys of the buildings began to collapse as they were crushed under the dropships weight, their shoddy construction causing them to literally fall to pieces.

Bricks, timber, and old pits of worn through plaster came crashing down like a wave behind him, a rising tide of detritus and building materials that threatened to crush him. And towering over them all was the dropship itself, Blaze trapped within its shadow as the massive ship fell towards the earth.

'Ironic' some disturbingly calm part of his mind told him 'After all those insect analogies, looks like we're the ones getting stepped on' Blaze gritted his teeth to hard he was surprised they didn't shatter, and pushed himself harder, but it wasn't enough, he was still trapped under the shadow of the ship.

Now the ship was only ten meters above him and closing fast. "WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!" Blaze shouted over the shrieks and screams of the collapsing buildings.

Despite the fact he was about to die for the second time today, Blaze felt oddly calm. Being crushed would be a quick death; only a single moment of pain and then it would all be over. Beneath him his legs where on autopilot, galloping of their own accord; the ship was only eight meters above him, the whole world seemed so alive, even through the blanket of monotonous grey that covered everything Blaze could see everything in stark relief, and it was truly beautiful.

His visor beeped, and something appeared in the top right hand corner of his vision, some sort of proximity warning, but Blaze didn't even look twice at it.

'Why am I still running?' he thought to himself 'I'm about to die anyway' Blaze began to slow his legs down, but the moment he started something swept him off his feet, grabbing onto his right arm and lifting him into the air.

'this is it' he thought as the world tumbled past in a blur 'I'm dead and one of the valkyries has come to take me away' the faith taught that the six where attended in heaven by hosts of winged angels known as valkyries, who swept over the battlefields searching for the souls of the dead warriors to bring to the afterlife.

He turned his head to face his benefactor, and instead was greeted by a pony wearing brown armour.

"Did you miss me?" Wonder bread asked in his causal nonchalant voice.

There was a deep screaming noise and Blaze looked back to see that they had just cleared the shadow of the dropship, the tip of his tail only an inch from its edge.

The dropship had finally crashed down to earth and was skidding along the road. Tearing up the tarmac and smashing buildings as it skidded along, the whole thing rose at least five storeys into the air. By the rim where it was scarping along the concrete sparks where flying along with bits of tarmac and concrete.

Blaze swivelled his head around to see that they were flying headlong towards another building that sat at the end of the road, from the looks of their trajectory they were going to crash straight into it.

"PULL UP, YOU CRAZY BASTARD!" he shouted at Wonder bread, if the squad-mate had heard him then he gave no sign. The building came zooming closer, behind them the momentum of the dropship was causing it to gain on them, the sparks it was throwing up began to singe Blazes tail.

They were less than ten meters from the façade of the building before Wonder bread pulled the sharpest climb that Blaze had ever seen, altering course to go straight up into the air.

For a moment Blazes momentum caused him to carry on flying towards the building, Wonder bread stalled, Blaze was too heavy for him to carry.

Blaze slipped his hoof free from Wonder breads grip and opened his wings. He hit the side of the building with all for hooves so hard that the concrete caved in, instantly Blaze began to beat his wings against the air.

Blaze began to gallop with his hooves against the side of the wall, and this combined with the push from his wings and the magnetic clamps in his hooves meant he began to run up the side of the building.

He had reached the second storey when the Dropship crashed into the front of the building, filling the air was an intense shriek of twisting metal and the dull roar of collapsing masonry.

Shockwaves ran through the entire building, and bricks on the lip of the roof came loose and began to fall down on Blaze like thick red raindrops. He was at the third storey when the ground floor gave way and started to collapse, causing the whole building to shudder as it sank downwards. Blaze pressed on, his wings beating in a rhythmic pattern and his hooves slamming hard against the masonry beneath him, ahead of him Wonder bread had disappeared over the edge of the roof.

Beside him Angel was flying calmly, the white of her skin combined with her wings causing her to look like an actual angel.

The whole building lurched and started to tip forwards, turning the vertical incline into a sharp angle. Blaze roared wordlessly and leapt upwards, his wings carrying him towards the sky.

For a brief second it looked as if the building was going to crush him flat like a bug, but then he cleared the lip of the roof and rocketed into the sky, where Wonder bread was waiting for him. "Have fun?" the synthetic Alicorn asked as Blaze caught up with him, a cheeky grin on his face.

"Remind me to never take part in a drop every again, EVER!" Blaze told him, gulping down air "that's the third time in ten hours I've come within an inch of death, in this case literally!" Wonder bread chuckled

.

"Well, remember that time on Praxis? Ten grenades and they still couldn't kill you!" he chuckled again, his deep voice making sound like rocks where banging against each other. "Come on, we've gotta get back to the other. I got a vox from high command saying we have to rally with the survivors at the park and orchestrate the assault" Blaze stared at him incredulously.

"You're telling me they want us to lead the attack? A specialist squad?" Blaze gave a bark of laughter "I'm pretty sure even Derpy wasn't that stupid!"

"I don't like it anymore then you, but we're the highest ranking members of the taskforce that's still alive, it falls to us to take command" he sighed "we lost a whole lot of good ponies to those lunar bastards" Wonder bread looked towards the spire and spat at it, the drop of phlegm joining the fall raindrops "the entire Elysian fourth company is dead because of them" Blaze felt a knot tighten in his stomach.

The Elysian fourth had been one of the most decorated military companies in the taskforce, a regiment of heroes whose history stretched right back to the first expeditions.

Elysian had been one of the first planets to be colonised by the empire. It was said the Applejack herself had been the first to set hoof on the world, and had planted an apple tree at the sight of the touchdown; the tree was still there, a gnarled old thing that was one of the galaxies greatest pilgrimage sights.

"I'm sorry" before being indoctrinate into the synthetics program Wonder bread had come from Elysian, it was likely he might have once been part of the company. Wonder bread just shook his head, sighing.

"Apologies won't bring them back" he turned to face the south and studied the skyline before nodding and beginning to fly in that direction "let's rendezvous with the others" as Blaze flew beside him Wonder bread gave a deep growl "looks like Cadence owes us both"

≤ΘΘΘ≥

This just wouldn't do, this just wouldn't do at all. Cadence gritted her teeth and paced in circles around the dais, her two generals watching her patiently.

Steelhoof clad in a heavy brown trench coat, and Shadowmane with a hooded black cape that was tinged with deep green. They were in the great audience chamber, the massive circular hall a kilometre in length and lined with pillars depicting the saints of the galaxy, who watched with stone faces as the princess below them went round in circles.

"We can't stay penned up in here, without fresh intelligence we will be blind to the movements of the empires soldiers" she completed a circuit of the dais and began another "I need eyes out there, somepony who can get me the information is need" she stamped a hoof in frustration, 'Damn you Celestia, may the six damn you to pony hell' at the base of the dais, three steps below her, Steelhoof cleared his throat.

"My princess, please. As I've told you before, we can't send any troops beyond the defence lines, it's suicide" Cadence turned to face him, a flash of annoyance crossing her face.

"Can't? suicide? Open your eyes you fool! We have their forces surrounded; the enemy is cut off from their supply lines and hopelessly outnumbered, how is it we could possibly be on the back hoof?" Steelhoof glanced sideways at Shadowmane, who simply shrugged, before looking towards Cadence again.

"We may have the empires forces within the city contained, princess. But if we send out troops and the enemies breach the city then we won't have enough time to recall all the teams" Steelhoof shrugged apologetically "I'm sorry, but if we divide out forces we risk losing the base of the spire, and should we lose the base then the spire itself will fall shortly after"

"What he says is true, princess" Shadowmane added "by splitting up our forces we will only weaken ourselves. Say if we sent out ten squads of a hundred men, and one by one the enemy hunted them down and killed them, what would we have achieved other then collecting a few scraps of data and losing a thousand loyal soldiers? There's nothing happening inside the city that our scanners can't detect, there's not a single enemy troop movement that we don't know about. Why waste lives to recognisance operations when we can hold the fort here without any loss of life? Let the scanners do the work for us, Cadence, it's what they were designed to do"

"I won't hide here like a coward whilst the enemy prowls the streets of my city! This is my world, my charge! I was sent here to defend this world and that's exactly what I mean to do!" Cadence told him in a heated voice, she began to pace again.

"Enemies are at our gates and what would you have me do? Put my faith in machinery and close my eyes to pretend it's all a dream!" Cadence felt anger beginning to boil up under her coat, wanting to burst free and burn this puny mortal for his insolence.

"Regardless of what you say, i am in command here. Empress Luna gave control of the defence to me, you are simply my advisers" Cadence gave both of her generals a whithering look "And I reject your counsel" she pointed to Steelhoof with a hoof, her general froze on the spot, a look of terror on his usually stalwart face. "prepare a strike-force. We will level the solar empires forces to the ground!"

Cadence grinned in an almost feral manner, her lips pulling back in a predatory smile. "How goes the current defence?" she asked "I must ensure that our current defensive positions are secure before the strike-force is deployed" Steelhoof stared at her with terrified eyes for a few moments before he shook his head and snapped back to reality.

he opened his mouth, but before he could begin to talkShadowmane interrupted him.

"We've isolated and quarantined all hostile forces in the city within Saint Applebloom Park on the northern side of the city. We've also scrambled several heavily armed dropships and a squadron of Valkyrie gunships to patrol the perimeter of the park and ensure the empires forces as contained"

"However we've had reports of our first casualties" Steelhoof added "we've lost a gunship already, the pilot was Vincent lightguard of the Kireena second squadron. We've also lost squad Omega-Nine-Sega of fifth battalion" Steelhoof slid out a small holo-projector from the inside of his trench coat and flicked it on. The image it produced was grainy and devoid of any colour, save for the blue glow of the projector itself, but Cadence could see the images well enough.

The first dead pony she saw was the pilot.

He was young, and handsome. There was something about the mischievous grin he wore that gave the impression of arrogant confidents. Cadence had known hundreds of his sort, brave, bold, always ready to pick a fight, always the ones to die first. Steelhoof pressed a button on the side of the holo-projector and the image changed from the dead pilot to a thick set pegasus.

This one had none of the pilots charm or good looks, but despite his broad features he had an honest face. Cadence had known his sort before as well. Honest, humble, and determined. They where the sort of leader that the average soldier could look up to, the type of leader who wasn't afraid to stand at the front side by side with his men.

"The gunships onboard cameras captured this footage before the VTOL crashed into the side of a building" Steelhoof pressed the same button again and the image changed to video

The video was filmed from the nose of the gunship, and as a result the video appeared to be in first person. Cadence leaned in and watched as the gunships twin mini-guns fired a hail of bullets towards what appeared to be a lump of metal. As she watched the stream of bullets came to a halt and the lump of metal stood up to reveal that it was actually a stallion, it took Cadence a few moments to realise that the stallion was an Alicorn.

"an Alicorn" she said "the empire have deployed a specialist squad against us" In the video feed the Alicorn was stood stock-still whilst ten soldiers encircled him. For several long moments nothing happened, when before Cadence even realised, the Alicorn had killed the pegasus sergeant.

Before the rest of the squad had time to react the specialist had taken another member hostage and had shot three ponies dead.

Snapping his shields neck, the specialist leapt forwards and stabbed another pony under his chin before throwing him at another member of the squad, who went down under the ponies dead weight.

Before he could pull himself back to his hooves, the trapped pony had his head viciously crushed by the specialist, who leapt into the air and slammed down on the back of another pony, riding him down into the tarmac of the road and snapping his spine.

The last member of the squad was fleeing for his life, but that served him no good when the Alicorn pulled out a weapon from his flank. It was an ugly thing, stocky and snub-nosed. For a few seconds nothing happened, and then the stallion fired his weapon. There was a bright pulse of light and the video feed suddenly became a tumble of images before blacking out and being replaced by static.

"The feed cuts off there, it seems the weapon discharged some sort of electromagnetic pulse when it was fired. All we can tell is that about thirteen seconds later some of the gunships ordnance exploded and the VTOL crashed" Steelhoof flicked off the holo-projector and stowed it away within his trench coat "There were no survivors"

The words rang loudly in the empty hall, their meaning emphasised by the silence.

"A specialist, this is not good news" Cadence began to pace yet again, her hooves touching softly on the cold marble of the floor "where there is one specialist, you will always find more" she completed a circuit in silence and turned to face her generals.

"Whatever mission this specialist and his team have been deployed on, they must not be allowed to complete it. Should they do so they could sabotage the war effort, and that is a scenario I would prefer us to avoid"

Steelhoof nodded in agreement, Shadowmane simply watched his princess through deep moss green eyes. "Now do you understand my need for a team in the field? Now do you see why we can't stay trapped in here? We must fight fire with fire; we must deploy our own specialist squad" she turned to Shadowmane "how many Alicorns do we have?"

"None, my princess" Cadence simply stared at him.

"Not even any synthetics?" she asked, hoping Shadowmane was only making a joke. It was not unheard of for synthetic Alicorns to be considered 'false', Cadence herself didn't consider synthetic Alicorns as real ponies.

"We have none what so ever, princess. Three years ago Empress Luna requested all of our Alicorns, natural or synthetic, to be sent to Aurelia for special training so that she could have an adequate bodyguard, we've had no dispatches since. We lack the technology and the facilities necessary to create our own synthetics, and there hasn't been a natural Alicorn born on Threnor prime for well over three hundred years" the general shrugged apologetically "we simply don't have the resources necessary for a specialist squad"

Cadence shook her head, this couldn't be happening.

"There has to be some sort of solution" the two stallions simply stared at her "WHAT ARE YOU DOING STANDING AROUND? THINK DAMN YOU, THINK!" Cadence shouted. Both of the generals jumped slightly, startled by the unnatural out burst from her, but recovered quickly.

"I could send a vox down to the commanders at the base, they may be able to select a few troops who could meet our demands" Steelhoof shrugged "I've authorised the commanders to use any resources as they see fit, however. They are well within their right to refuse us if we should ask. Their main priority is the defence of the spire and the spire only, sending troops out in a specialist squad could be considered as the mismanagement of resources" he glanced over to his companion "any suggestions Shadowmane?" he asked.

The grey earth pony was silent for a few moments, his eyes closed. And then he opened them, revealing the green moss of his eyes underneath.

"Like my comrade here says, sending out troops could be deemed unpractical" Cadence began to talk, but he raised a hoof.

"but necessary, and I have a solution" he grinned "follow me, if you would. I will explain along the way"

Steelhoof paused for a moment and then nodded, Cadence did the same "excellent" Shadowmane turned away from them both and started down the western aisle, he appeared tiny in comparison to the enormous pillars rising up on either side of him.

The princess and the remaining general fell in step behind him. Cadence glanced over her shoulder to watch a shadow flit between the pillars to their right, almost imperceptible in the darkness. The main aisles were lit up, but this late at night it was unlikely anypony would pay a visit to the audience chamber, so the areas beyond the rows of pillars remained shrouded in darkness.

For a brief moment the shadow paused, and Cadence imagined she could see two flecks of gold shining bright in the dark, but the apparition melted into the shadows.

No matter where Cadence went, Brute was always right behind her, watching over her from a distance and keeping her out of harm's way. It was reassuring to know that even now Brute was with her, keeping his charge safe.

In front of the Shadow mane began to explain his solution to their dilemma. "As we've all agreed, we need every soldier we have stationed at the base of the spire to repel any possible assault by the empire" the stallion grinned "but we have more than just soldiers at our disposal"

"What are you saying, Shadowmane?" Steelhoof asked.

"I may have fallen…slightly short of the mark, when I said we had no ponies fitting enough to form a specialist squad" the pony said, he had enough grace to blush at his own indiscretion.

"So we do have Alicorns?" Cadence asked. She should be outraged that the pony had withheld information from her, but Cadence need a specialist squad, and Shadowmane was the only way to get one.

"no, no, I'm afraid that part is true" the stallion frowned "only the six know how many times I petitioned empress Luna for Alicorns, but every time all I got was the same message over and over 'the empresses continued safety is paramount, as of this we are unable aquiest your request'" Shadowmane snorted "tell me, how will paramount will the empresses safety be should this world fall?" he sighed "but enough of past annoyances, let me continue. Several years ago, before my promotion, I was posted here under the command of General Solaris as head of a new research division. Phase-jumps and ghost waves was the pretext, but in actuality the division had been set up to research a new form of genetics and synthesis"

Cadence shot the pony a look.

"I was not informed about this when I was posted here" she told him "you were ordered to give me full access to any weapon at your disposal, which includes your synthetics"

"With all due respect, princess, they're not weapons, as such" they had reached the far wall, they now stood at the foot of an enormous set of double doors depicting the saint Nova battling Chrysalis, one of four identical doors at the end of each aisle. Shadowmane turned right into the darkness, making for one of the large circular elevators that lay hidden in the shadows. "They are...well actually even I have trouble guessing what they are. They're not synthetic, well, not entirely. We do have a synthetic unicorn and two pegausi, I believe, but no Alicorns"

"So…what are they?" Steelhoof asked hesitantly "what is their purpose?"

"Originally the projects aim was the creation of synthetic Alicorns, but shortly after the division was established we experienced…" Shadowmane contemplated his next selection of words "a paradigm shift, I believe that's the correct term. We received new orders from high command, we where to switch from genetic alteration to genetic amplification. Essentially, our new job was to amplify the existing talents of ponies in order to turn them into weapons in their own right"

They had reached the elevator, a wide circle of white metal with enough room for about ten ponies. As they stepped onto it there was a ruffling noise from the shadows, and Brute stepped out of the darkness, his face emotionless.

"The little one goes nowhere without Brute by her side" the griffin told the ponies, and without another word he moved to stand beside Cadence.

"As you would, Brute" Shadowmane said, and with that the elevator began to sink into the floor, moving at a steady pace down the spire.

"I'm sure you must have more questions, but I think it will be easier for you to understand if you see the team first hand" they rode down the rest of the way in silence.

At the bottom of the elevator shaft there was a pair of bright white metal doors, curved to fit round the perimeter of the elevator platform. Shadowmane walked up to the join line in-between them and placed his right hoof on it, there was a faint clicking, and a small dot of blue light ran down the join and under the ponies hoof. There was a deep rumbling, and then the doors slid open, revealing a room beyond the doors.

The room was large, the walls bleach bright white and filled with white metal tables. Every single one of them was covered in pieces of machinery, mainly weapons based. There where plasma coils, ionisers, pulse emitters and even basic solid projectile weapons.

Everything shone brightly, and it made Cadences eyes hurt. "Amethyst, you've got visitors" shadowmane called out.

"I'll be there in a minute" a female voice called out, and at the back of the room, hidden behind a clutter of used plasma coils, there was the sudden sound of an explosion.

There was a pulse of bright blue light and the whole floor shook, on the table the coils rattled and several rolled off the table onto the floor. "Darn it, I was so close!" the voice said, and from behind the pile of coils there emerged a unicorn mare.

Her coat was a dark blue, her mane and tail light blue and both where long and free-flowing. Over her eyes was a pair of blacked out goggles, on her flank her cutie mark was a gun silhouetted over a biohazard symbol. She approached the group and pulled off her goggles, revealing a pair of bright blue eyes that seemed to sparkle.

She smiled, showing white teeth and shook Shadowmanes hoof. "Director" she nodded towards him "and you're guests are?"

"This is my fellow general Steelhoof. The griffin is called Brute and this is the royal princess Cadence" Amethyst gave each of the group a nod and gave Cadence an elegant curtsey.

"Princess" Amethyst said, standing back up "May I ask what brings you to my neck of the spire?"

"We're here to inspect the team" shadowmane told the unicorn, at that the mare paled slightly.

"Erm…really?" the unicorn scratched her horn tentatively "the crew have just had their dinner and are taking some time off, I don't think they're fit for inspection"

"no need to worry Amethyst, I'm sure the princess won't find if their manners are abit slack tonight" he turned to his companions "Amethyst here is in charge of team, she keeps them fed, watered and maintains their weapons when they're not on active duty. Down here we call her 'mother', because of the affection she has for the team" the mare blushed slightly.

"I only do what is necessary, though if you ask me they shouldn't be kept down here, they get abit cagey from time to time, they need to get some fresh air and feel the wind on their faces again"

"They only get cagey when they've not been deployed"

"with all due respect director, they've never been deployed, most of them haven't left the facility in over two years" Amethyst laid her goggles down on one of the metal tables "Follow me" the mare turned around and went towards a small door set in the rear wall of the workshop, it slid open with a faint whooshing sound as she approached, the group of ponies followed behind her.

Beyond the door was a corridor large enough for two ponies to walk abreast, the walls where lined with glass panels that overlooked the rooms below, as they walked Amethyst pointed out what happened in each room.

"That's the amplification chamber" she said, pointing out a window to her right. In the room below there was a sterile surgical table made of metal, at the top and the bottom there where leather straps designed to hold the 'subject' in place. Set in the roof above where several robotic arms, each one tipped with a different surgical implement. "Every day they have to spend at least an hour being treated, it keeps the synthetic elements in their DNA from degrading".

They advanced down the hallway "That's the firing range" on a window out of the left was a large hall, on the far wall where several pony shaped targets. "Those are the sleeping quarters for the boys" a single room filled with bunk beds, only half of them in use. "And the sleeping quarters for the girls" this room was filled with single beds.

"Their quarters are very…bare" Cadence remarked "are they not afforded some personal items? And surely they don't all have to share rooms?"

"No need to fret princess" Amethyst said "these are just for when the rooms are being cleaned. All of the teammates have their own rooms and they can decorate them however they want, couples get to room together" the unicorn smiled "after what that lot go through each day it only seems right they can keep each other company at night"

"How touching" Cadence remarked.

"Oh it is, but we still have to keep things…calm, if you get my meaning. Certain emotional triggers can cause the synthetic genes in their bodies to degrade"

"I thought you said that the ponies down here where all natural" Cadence said to Shadowmane, but before the general could answer, Amethyst spoke up.

"Oh, they all are, make no mistake. But amplification causes their chromosomes to rearrange the helical spiral of their genes, so they have certain strings of biological data that don't naturally occur" they had reached the end of the hallway, and another pair of large white doors rose up in front of them, an access terminal to the right.

Amethyst went to the terminal and entered a short code; there was beep and the grinding of locks retracting. "We have to keep security heavy, legally speaking the subjects don't exist, so we can't have them getting out of the lab and causing trouble with the authorities" the grinding stopped, and the doors slid open.

The hall beyond them was whitewashed like everything else in the facility, and they gleamed in the light from the fixtures set in the roof. Along the centre of the hall was a large, white metal trestle table, covered in dirty plates, sitting at the table on benches that ran either side where several ponies, both stallions and mares. A pegausi mare and a pegausi stallion where playing a game of cards over a wooden board covered in breadcrumbs, the stallion was losing.

Sitting on a swivel chair over in the corner was another stallion, an earth pony who appeared to be deep in thought as he spun the chair round and round. Sitting further down the bench, surrounded by bits and pieces of machinery was a third stallion, a unicorn who was currently focussed on a soldering a set of wires into an electronics board.

Across from him was an earth mare, who was watching enraptured as a flame danced across the surface of her hoof, her eyes following the flickering red, yellows and oranges. And finally there was a couple sitting at the far end of the table, chatting about something in hushed voices.

"Everypony, we have visitors" Amethyst called out, and instantly the whole room fell still. Cadence could feel every eye on her, and sensed Brute tense as he waited for one of the ponies to make a move. "Come on everyone, line up for inspection" the air became filled with the clattering of knives and forks and the scrapping of benches as the team fell in. they stood to attention, eyes forward and backs straight, though the stallion who had been sitting on the swivel chair had his brows furrowed in annoyance.

"This is the team, the finest soldiers Threnor prime has to offer you" Amethyst said in a proud voice and she went up to the first pony on the right, the mare who had been playing cards. "this is Roulette, our resident gambler" the mare in question was a small pegausi, her coat grey, her mane and tail a reddish purple, and her eyes a deep brown, on her flank her mark was a pair of ace-and-spade cards. She smiled hesitantly. Amethyst moved down the line to the stallion that had also been playing cards "this one's called Darkstar" Amethyst said.

The stallion was tall and muscular, on his back his wings slowly swept back and forth, fanning the air. His coat was a midnight blue, his mane and tail jet black and his eyes where a bright sapphire blue, he bowed deeply. As he stood back to attention Amethyst patted his wings lovingly "he's one of our finest, you won't find another soldier as loyal as this one, even Rainbow dash wasn't as steadfast as this pony" at that the stallions cheeks turned the slightest tinge of red, Amethyst smiled and moved down the line.

The next was the mare who had been wielding fire, "this is Ignia, she's a pyro" pyro ponies where an evolutionary off shot from the equine species, coming from a desolate home world covered in fire and ash. The mares coat was a dark, reddish brown. Her mane and tail where a mixture of red, orange and pink. Her eyes where abit disquieting, a bright yellow and the iris' flecked with purple. On her flank was a butterfly, it would have looked cute, save for the fact the butterfly was on fire "like all pyros she has a natural aptitude for summoning fire, but she can get abit out of hand" the red mare grinned "but she's gained so much potential since we started amplifying her abilities, she's also an expert in hoof-to-hoof combat"

Next down the line was the stallion who had been sitting on the swivel chair, the look of annoyance still on his face. His coat was a light brown, his mane and tail blonde and his eyes a bright green "this one's called Cloudy. He's the teams' tactician, we've used amplification to increase his neural abilities and improve his processing speeds"

"I was busy thinking" the pony complained, his brows furrowing again "why did you have to interrupt?" Amethyst gave him a hard luck.

"In future do address a princess with more courtesy, Cloudy" the dark blue mare gave Cadence an apologetic look "I'm sorry about that. Cloudy tends to spend more of his time sitting in his swivel chair, thinking. He really doesn't like being interrupted" the stallion nodded in agreement.

Next was the unicorn stallion who had been tinkering with the scrap metal and electronics. His coat was a deep burgundy, his mane and tail the colour of ash with white streaks through it and his eyes a golden-amber colour, on his flank his cutie mark was a crossed hammer and nail. He bowed low when Amethyst named him "This is Russet Cheer; he's the teams field engineer. There's no type of weapon he can't patch up and no security code he can't hack. I should know, I trained him myself. He was already a whiz kid before he joined the project, but with amplification he's gone beyond what we could have ever predicted"

Finally there was the couple who had been sitting at the very end of the table when the group had walked in, a large pegausi stallion and an earth mare with some sort of metal plating across her back. "This is our resident couple, Red arrow" Amethyst pointed to the stallion "and Daredevil" she pointed to the mare.

The stallion was huge, at least on size with Brute, he towered over Amethyst and the mare beside him. His coat was the grey colour of a storm, and his mane and tail where cinnamon ginger and filled with tangles. His eyes where a storm grey, the same as his coat, and on his flank his cutie mark was an arrow coloured red.

"Big Red here is the teams heavy, goes into battle with a small plasma cannon. We had to have his armour custom forged, that's how big he is" Amethyst turned to the mare. The mare was a dark onyx, and her mane and tail where a deep indigo and woven through with small metal stars.

Her eyes where a fiery red, but she didn't have a cutie mark "Daredevil's the teams sniper, she's as silent as a mouse and goes pretty much undetected, she's even given me the drop a couple of times" with the whole team now introduced Amethyst stood at the end of the line, her facing showing a certain maternal pride for her charges.

"These are you're best soldiers?" Cadence asked "this one" she pointed at Daredevil "she only looks like she's twelve years old, what's she even doing in a synthetics programme anyway?" Amethyst was about to answer, but the mare spoke for herself.

"I'm fourteen actually" she dropped her eyes and kicked one of her hooves, beside her Red arrow shifted slightly closer to her and spread a wing across her back, almost as if he was shielding her from Cadences question, he scowled at the princess. "And I was born into the programme" the mare finished.

Cadence didn't quite know what to say. The ponies before her simply stood to attention, eyes forward and backs straight; Arrow still had his wing over Daredevil.

Some of these ponies had potential, she could see that.

Darkstar looked as if he was a professional soldier, a pony who had serious combat experience. But on the other end of the scale was Daredevil, only a foal who had known no other life then the amplification chamber and the white walls of this facility.

If Cadence could have formed the team herself she would have picked the finest members of Threnors military personnel and trained them herself, but she didn't have time for that, she had to make do with what she had. "These are the best of the best?" she asked Amethyst "The finest soldiers on the planet? Have they been sufficiently trained, do they know what combat's like?"

"Of course princess, we're not foolish enough to use raw recruits as our subjects. Every single one of these ponies has served a minimum of three years on the frontlines. They're trained to the highest standards and subject to the most precise synthetic surgeries and operations we have available, each one is a soldier, born and bred"

"And when can they be ready for deployment?"

"When would you like them to be deployed?"

"As soon as possible, I have a target for them. A Solar specialist team has infiltrated the planet" she gave each one of the ponies a hard look "I want you to find them, and kill them"

Comments

[plainoasis]

Plot development and interesting new elements. This one actually managed to clear up part of my drowsiness at 11 p.m.

The thing I most enjoyed: Dropship beat-down scene. It's surprisingly aesthetically pleasing, especially that trail of cyan light thing. Personally I think this is better than the gunship scene last chapter, that scene was cool, but I won't call it "artistic".

The things I've been wondering:
1. What's the difference between the NLR and the Empire? Does these two factions differ in their idealism? Would there be any differences between ponies of these factions? So far I think their demeanor are quite similar, have you considered making them behave in different ways to show the effect of thousands of years of separation and warfare?

2. Amethyst's introduction of her "children": Why am I always thinking she was doing it to us readers and not to the princess? Or maybe it's just me. . . .

A good chapter, keep it up.

[Erol carstein]

1204056
From you chuckles, I'll take a hundred

[Midnight Sky2]

very interesting. I am liking where this Lunar specialist team idea is going