Krieg is a psycho, a terrible creation with destructive potential. He was not always this way, once there was a man inside his mind. What happened to that man? Perhaps he just went... to a happier place.
Krieg wanders the Pandora wastes, slaughtering everyone in his way, at least those who deserve it. Inside the labyrinth of his mind though there is an emptiness. The former Krieg has abandoned his mortal shell to seek happiness in a new land, but little known to him... the psycho hasn't abandoned him...
All characters and names belong to Gear Box and Hasbro, yadda yadda yadda
(Featured 8-3-14! Although I think it was featured before BUT I missed it. I AM EXCITE!)
It was as sunny a day as it gets on Pandora, the rakks were soaring the skies in swarms and the bullymongs were building there homes in the ice walls. On a nearby shaft of ice sat Krieg, meagerly picking at the ice with his buzzaxe. He was enjoying himself today, he had just tore through an entire bandit compound and only ate somewhere between fifty and seventy bullets. He savored the pain, it only fed the rage he so enjoyed. Now he was just sitting, relaxing. Usually the voice would bother him about now but it was silent, for that matter it had been silent for a few days. Krieg made no notice of it, he enjoyed the silence. He was staring at the space station hovering just over the moon, even though it was them who was responsible for his... condition, he still thought the view was pretty. His moment of peace was interrupted by a stone chucked at the back of his head. As he rolled down in pain, his hand latched onto his buzzaxe. Standing up and staring at the bullymong who threw the rock, Kreig screamed.
"I'M GOING TO PUT MY CHILDREN IN YOUR RIBCAGE!"
This is Krieg, the Psycho.
Rainbow Dash was soaring through the air making her rounds. Kick, a cloud gone. Bash, another puff of nothing. Kick again to clear a third cloud. The sky was clear in a matter of seconds. Flying higher to enjoy the view she sighed. Another job well done. As she floated in the air she noted one stray cloud. Normally she would just kick it out of the air again but now she was tired. It could wait a few minutes for a nap. She floated down and plopped onto the soft fluffy cloud, or she thought it would be soft and fluffy. She felt something hard and lumpy, so she kicked the cloud to disperse it and out came a strange creature who began its plummet to the earth.
"Oh crap!" Rainbow exclaimed as she shot down to rescue the creature. She knew Fluttershy would never forgive her if she accidentally sent an animal flying down to its death. She busted wing as she shot down towards the creature.
Krieg felt as though he was floating down in an endless fall. The wind rushed passed his face and he could feel the different clouds burst as he hit them. It was a certain kind of relaxing, all up until he opened his eyes. At that he saw the landscape rushing for his face ready to make a Krieg sized crater in it. Half expecting some psychotic scream he opened his mouth.
"What the hell..."
Almost more astonished at the normal words from his mouth than at his sudden plummet, he barely noticed that he was now flying. He opened his arms to slow his fall, knowing it wouldn't make a difference. Somehow though the ground stopped rushing at his face. Instead it was floating up towards him. He turned his head and saw the small blue flying horse slowly dropping him to the ground. Suddenly he began questioning what he had ate... or drank... or got stabbed by... or... anything. Still he had to give the creature some kind of appreciation for saving him. As the horse set him on the ground he turned and looked at it, smiling as he looked in its eyes.
"Thank you," He said.
"No problem!" Krieg did a double take. Did that horse... bird... thing just speak to him? "You can... talk?"
"Uh yeah, I am a pegasus you know." The pegasus responded. Krieg knew the word pegasus, it was a mythological horse with wings. He had to be doing some kind of drug before hand.
"Pegasus... ooookay..."
"Yeaahhh..." Rainbow was getting a little uncomfortable. First off she had never seen one of these things before. It was fur-less, didn't have a mane, wore the strange mask, and pants. Obviously it was smart enough to talk to her. She was also disturbed by the strange object hanging on its hip. "Hey uh, why don't you hang here for a minute. I'm going to get somepony who can help you... I hope..."
"Yeah... I don't... think I have a choice..."
Krieg was once again sitting on the ice spike, chipping away with his buzzaxe. He relished the slaughter, even of beasts. Shedding blood was like breathing to him, and pain was like eating. As his chest filled with bullets, his body filled with energy and rage. But now the killing was over, and he sat on the spike. He felt a breeze against his face, but there was no wind. Again he made no connection, all that was on his mind was the next kill.
As he sat there enjoying the outside, he heard something coming from the distance. He looked down both ends of the road that passed him, seeing nothing but rakks and snow. He still heard the sound though, as if something was falling at him. Suddenly the ground around him exploded, and threw him from his icicle throne. Badass loaders had him surrounded. Hyperion apperently looking to claim back lost property. Krieg wasn't smart, but he knew Hyperion was bad. He stood there for a second, watching as more and more bots crashed into Pandora's crust, behind the mask he eagerly grinned at the thought of more killing. He clenched his buzz axe and lept into the fray, screaming as he burried his axe into the robots red eye. Turning to the other bots, all raising their armaments and targeting lasers, Krieg felt the warmth of their lasers resting on his face. He chucked his axe at a bot sending it crashing into the ground in an explosion. Krieg screamed.
"I LOOKED INTO THE HEART OF DARKNESS, AND I ATE IT ALL!"
Krieg sat, and he sat, and he sat... He sat there for hours and he was getting really bored. He already pondered why he is now, partly, sane. Maybe this was just his own happy place? It sure seemed happy. Peaceful really, a place a guy could get lost in. He decided to lay back and try to nap a bit longer before the pegasus arrived with 'help'. Was he really so strange to them? Horses were uncommon on Pandora but people still knew of them. Perhaps humans were just rare on this planet? Krieg set his head on the flowing grass and shut his eyes. It had been a long time since he felt so relaxed. It was always blood this, meat that. Deciding it was time to forget the past for a minute, he took a nap.
"Is it alive?"
"I don't know, it was talking to me when I left. Maybe it's asleep."
"Well wake it up!"
"Why me? You can wake him too."
"Ugh... you saved him! fine..."
Krieg felt a nudge on his side, lifting his head up to the sight of the pegasus and a purple... unicorn? He was definately watching what the beast put in his mouth from now on. The purple unicorn was prodding at his hip until he finally leaned up. He stared at both the horses and just sighed.
"Hi there, are you ok?" the purple one asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy. So what exactly are you?" Krieg responded
"I'll assume you want my name also, I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'm also a unicorn."
"I gathered..."
"And this is Rainbow Dash who you already met. She is a pegasus."
"Yes I know, she told me."
"So who... and what, are you?"
"My name is Krieg, I'm a psy... uh... human. I guess."
"Human... ok, how did you end up here?"
"I really don't have any idea. I'm technically not even supposed to exist I think."
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing, so where am I anyways?"
The two ponies explained to Krieg that he was in Equestria. They could only assume his understanding behind that mask, and when they suggested he remove the mask... he was hesitant.
"Can you remove the mask for us? It would make this a little easier." Twilight asked.
"NO! I mean... no... I can't take it off..." Krieg responded.
"Why? is it that important?"
"No... I mean yes... I don't know."
"How can you not know if you can take off a mask?" Rainbow interrupted.
"I... I don't know, I just know I need it."
"Ugh... this isn't getting anywhere!"
"Be patient Rainbow, Listen Krieg. Can you remember how you got here?"
"No... I can't remember anything... except him..."
"Who?"
"Me... back on Pandora I assume."
"Wait, what?"
"I am two people. One is a psychotic killer, kept in check by the other. Me."
"So... While he, you, is there... you are here?"
"I think... it makes my head hurt thinking about it."
"Rainbow... I think we need to let the princess know about him."
"I'll go tell spike."
Krieg woke up to an all to familiar site. He was in a cage, made of light. It was being projected out of a Hyperion constructor bot. He didn't remember much of anything before that. Hyperion overwhelmed him and somehow knocked him cold. He saw his buzz axe in a cage on the other side of the constructor. He felt empty without it. He felt empty anyways. Reaching out across the gap, he could almost grab it. It was barely out of his reach. He had to think, it was hard for him to do, always made his head hurt. Usually his thoughts were full of death and blood and murder and death! But now he had to think tactically. It hurt but he sat there and thought. If he could just get his axe, it was tossed in there on the far side of the cage. If it could somehow slide over... Krieg had an Idea. He jumped once, and the constructor tilted towards him. So he jumped again, harder. He watched as his axe slid slowly towards him as he jumped. A nearby Gun loader noticed.
"ATTENTION PRISONER: CEASE YOUR JUMPING OR DIE."
Krieg didn't care, he jumped again and again and again. He even started smiling at the fun. The gun loader began to turn it rifle arms towards him but before it could line up the shot, the axe slid across the cage floor and onto the back of the constructor. Krieg nabbed it up and held it for a second and laughed. He rose the axe up and swung it down as hard as he could, damaging the cage and thus disabling it. He lept from his roost on top of the bot and cleaved into the gun loaders mechanical eye, killing it. The constructor had by this time turned around and started building more loaders to overwhelm the psycho once more, but was interrupted with the buzz axe in its own red eye. The throw shattered the constructors eye and Krieg took the opportunity to reclaim his axe and run, all the time screaming mad raving about spines and death.
Spike was cleaning up Twilight's morning studies when he heard knocking on the door. He ran over and opened the door to find Rainbow.
"Oh hey Rainbow, where is Twilight?" Spike asked.
"She is studying this thing we found. He called himself a human. Ever heard of it?"
"No, I haven't. Whats it look like?"
"Really tall, stands on two legs with two long arms. Kinda like you, just without the scales, tail, fire breath, spikes... oh and he is fur-less."
"Uh-huh... and you are telling me this why?"
"Twilight wanted you to send a message to Celestia, tell her about what we found. Maybe get an idea of what we can do for him."
"Whoa, do for him? Is he friendly? I don't like new animals that are bigger than me. They are typically looking for a Spike sandwich."
"I don't know how friendly he is, but he seems nice enough. Just send a letter to Celestia. Let her decide what to do."
"Ok... I don't like the sound of this though..."
Krieg continued his wanderings across the Pandora wastes. Clumsily walking down beaten paths, tossing his buzz axe up and catching it, dropping it more often than catching it. He kept walking until he was face to face with a large structure. It looked like a big castle fortress, and above the big doors leading in hung a sign. DAHL. He had wandered into an abandoned weapons depot. Clueless as to why it was here, the psycho cared little as to why. He was excited at what he might find. Glorious weapons, rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers! The thought excited him to no end. He kicked down the door and grinned at what he found. A gang of bandits already inside, looting the weapon stores. Krieg held up his buzz axe and looked on the ground. An ancient childs drawing. He bent down to pick it up and saw two ponies helping a small child. It was labled in crude crayon wording.
To: Mom Love: Me!
Krieg looked at the bandits who now had every gun pointed at him, and he smiled. He charged the bandits with his axe in hand as he screamed, this time not about death...
Krieg stood in the fields of carnage. His new weapons were fun, but none of them gave him the warmth that he craved, or the familiarity of his axe. He only gunned down some thirty bandits before getting bored, returning to the humming song of his axe. He relived the battle over and over, the spilling matter of bandit blood and chunks of flesh. Never will he feel more alive than on the battlefield. Sitting down on the mutilated corpse of a goliath, he leaned back into the warm wetness of his kill. Stretching his arms out and relaxing as he watched the northern lights dance in Pandora's skies. To him, death was a beautiful thing.
The next morning he left his bed of gore, onward to his next goal. Whatever battle was over the next horizon beckoned him as he heard the gunfire. There was another sound behind that though. It was muffled by the explosions. It sounded like... screaming. Krieg knew innocents were at risk, and even though the voice had nothing to say he still needed to defend them. He rushed over the hill. As he peaked the hill he saw the battle. Hyperion bots were slaughtering a helpless village, and in the middle of the slaughter stood the largest bot he had ever seen...
Saturn 2.0 was leading the bots to an assured victory. Its programming was the finest Hyperion could concoct, allowing for multiple processes of tactics to be issued to groups of four loaders, up to ten total groups. Armed with dual rocket pods and twin rail guns, Saturn 2.0 was a god on the battlefield. Krieg watched as the massive machine crushed home and people alike. His anger burning within, he charged down the hill. A DAHL assault rifle unloading its full clip in one hand, and his buzz axe singing in the other. He screamed as he buried his axe in the first bot to die today.
"STOP DYING AND FIGHT ME!"
Twilight had her new guest join her at the library until she received word from Celestia on what to do with him. The human seemed agitated that all the furniture was several sizes too small for his hulking body, but eventually settled for sitting on the floor. Spike spent most that day cowering in the kitchen as he had never seen something like him.
"If I may, until I get word from my teacher I would love to question you a bit," Twilight glowed at the prospect.
"You can try, but I don't remember much of anything before me and him got split," Krieg suggested.
"Well you can at least try. Do you remember where you are from?"
"Pandora, the name is all I remember. It was important for some reason. Big money in it or something like that. It's foggy."
"Ok... Well what about you? Can you tell me a little about yourself?"
"Only what I know. I told you about the other me, back on Pandora. It gets complicated I know, but I will try. The first memory I have is an explosion, and I was walking away from it, only it wasn't me. It was him. I remember my buzz axe, this thing on my hip, covered in blood and oil. After that, it was wandering the wastes, until we discovered someone... a girl? yes... then we became something else... more than a crazy killer. Something with a purpose. Then it is alot of death... I'm sorry... that is all I remember."
Twilight was a little disturbed at the story, she had no idea what she was dealing with. obviously the man was a little nuts, maybe down right mad. But she couldn't just leave him, or have him detained. There is so much that may be learned. She had retreated into the kitchen after dismissing herself. Spike was huddled in the corner wearing an assortment of kitchen ware as makeshift Armor. Twilight sighed.
"I don't think he is dangerous Spike," She sighed again.
"You may not, but I don't trust him. You heard what he said, killing Twilight. He is a mad killer!" Spike panicked a little.
"We don't know that yet! Just because he said it does not mean it is true, he doesn't remember anything. He may just be confused."
"Yeah, you tell Celestia that when he tries to kill everypony in Ponyville."
Krieg suddenly convulsed in pain. He yelled and grunted as he clutched his stomach, and keeled over onto his knees. Twilight rushed into the room to see what happened, Krieg was laying on the floor still convulsing on the ground. Twilight thought he was having a seizure until she saw the blood spilling from his gut. She saw the buzz axe dug into him and he screamed.
"GOTTA GET IT OUT! THE HURT IS INSIDE ME!" Krieg passed out.
Krieg watched as the Saturn stepped over a nearby house to get to him. Fifteen bots lay around him in ruin, Krieg holding his axe covered in oil. The Saturn locked onto the psycho and charged its rail guns. Krieg noticed the glow and pumped his fist to his chest.
"GIVE ME THE PAIN! GIVE ME THE HURT! GOTTA FEEL IT, GOTTA HAVE MORE!"
The Saturn obliged as it fired the twin guns right at the psycho. He stood in the way until the last second, which he dodged out of the way and ran across the ground towards the machine. He rushed the building and climbed to the roof, that is when the Saturn revealed another pair of dual guns. These were fully automatic self stabilizing auto turrets that began to open fire on the roof of the building. Krieg lept off the building as the roof exploded in dust and fragments. He was mid air flying to the huge bots leg. Unveiling his buzz axe, he dug it into exposed wiring on the angle of Saturn's leg. Electric energy burst from the cut wires shocking him, but super charging the axe.
Krieg used the axe to climb the Saturn in seconds, he could almost not control the speed his axe was pulling him up, slashing the armor of the bot as he went up. Finally he reached the left most rocket pod and began to hack and slash at the wiring within, still shocking him to the core. Each strike seemed to rejuvenate his energy causing him to swing wilder and harder. The rocket pod eventually fell to the ground, and Krieg with it. As the pod fell, Krieg found himself on the bottom side of it, going towards the ground. As he tried to climb up top it, it kept rolling him to the bottom. He decided to risk it and force himself to the ground by kicking off the pod. He landed between three concrete support posts from an obviously destroyed home. The pod followed, but landed right on top of the three. A shard of metal from the pod pierced Krieg's gut as it bounced from the posts and rolled over to the side. The wound was bad, but he paid no attention to it. He crawled up to his feet and shambled to the rocket pod. As he leaned on its side, he found a large red button, and it happened to conveniently be aimed towards the Saturn. He smashed his fist into the button, unleashing the rocket barrage right at the giant bot. Before he collapsed into the ground he said...
To say Twilight was concerned was an understatement. To say she was terrified was closer. She walked into her library to find her alien guest passed out on the floor with his own weapon buried into his gut. She was frozen for a solid minute before she finally forced Spike in to help the human. Spike was still wary, and this act just proved the humans madness. Twilight lifted Krieg into the air with her magic, careful not to jerk and damage anything vital, and placed him face up on the floor. Using her magic again she lifted the axe out of Krieg's gut slowly and had Spike there ready to bandage the wound. When the axe was clear and set out of he way, Twilight turned to see something else she could not explain. A silver light was hovering just over the wound. Light boxes burst out and as quickly as the light appeared, it vanished leaving behind no evidence of a wound.
"Spike..." She coldly stated.
"Uh yes?" He responded.
"Tell Celestia..."
The blue vortex was always pretty to Krieg, sometimes he was even tempted to jump off cliffs and such to watch it flow by. The short second of ecstasy was usually enough to sate him. He usually replaced it with bloodlust soon after. The machine chimed at him in a cheerful tone.
"Between you and us, that thing that killed you was a total dick. Please disregard this message if you committed suicide."
Krieg made his way back to the same hill he was sitting on before, just to check on the town. As he made it to the top he noticed the dwellers already scavenging Saturn 2.0 for parts, ammo, anything they could get. Behind his mask Krieg let out a smile and went his way. Blood and death were great, but for some reason he always got a warm fuzzy feeling when he saved an innocent life.
"Gah, warm feelings... in my blood..." He muttered as he went on his way.
It was only moments from when Spike sent the letter to Celestia that he burped up a new one. He was just about to open it when it was ripped from his hands and into Twilight's magic.
"My Faithful Student, I am aware of the danger this human presents and I understand your concern for others in this matter. I would however like to meet his Krieg. Please escort him to me in Canterlot so I may see him for myself." Twilight read. "CANTERLOT!?"
"Woah, she can't be serious. After what I told her she can't seriously think Canterlot would be any better for him," Spike responded.
"Well... I don't know, If he stays... sane... he shouldn't cause a problem. I just don't want him going out of it again and axing himself in the stomach, especially in front of Celestia... I need to go get the others. Spike, watch over Krieg for me."
Before Spike could object Twilight was already out the door, and Krieg was leaning up from his sleep. Spike watched as the human clumsily stood up and walked to his weapon laying on the floor. This was going to be a long day, he thought.
The warm feeling in Krieg's stomach was fading, he needed something else to occupy his mind. He found himself wandering towards the Fridge, a cold place. Before he made it to the door he was caught by the arm by a strange man.
"Welcome to the Slaughterhouse my strong looking friend, care to enter?"
Krieg looked at the man, and with a confused look followed the man back into a doorway. Krieg was pushed into the arena and the door shut behind him. Large blocks of ice fell from the ceiling as bandits emerged from the rubble. Gears grinded as the back gates opened for more bandits to enter. The psycho knew what this meant, and he smiled. Gripping his buzz axe he charged in screaming.
"NEVER STOP THE KILLING! NEVER!"
Twilight returned with her friends and stood at the door. The obvious noise was no good indication. Her five friends stood there, four of them confused. Rainbow had an idea as to what was going on.
"So we're taking him to Celestia then right?" Rainbow remarked.
"Taking who? Is there somepony new in town?" Rarity asked. Before Twilight could explain however Pinkie Pie burst in excitement.
"Somepony new! Yes! We need to throw them a PARTY!"
"As fun as that sounds sugar, if this somepony needs to see Celestia I think the party can wait." Applejack responded.
"Yes, Celestia wants to see him as soon as possible, but first... I think you all need to see him for yourself."
Twilight opened the door and gasped as she saw Spike hanging from the ceiling. Krieg was sitting in the corner pouting. Twilight noticed the marks on the ground and walls. It was obvious what happened, she asked anyways.
"Spike..."
"Not my fault ok?"
"What happened?"
"Ok well, after you left he started getting back up. I of course got scared and backed into the wall. He turned and looked at me, I don't know what he thought. I don't think I put off as threatening, but he started screaming about putting his babies in my lungs, not wanting to know what he meant by that I took off around the house. He chucked his axe at me and missed and the whole time after that was me running my legs off as he choped up the house. Finally he stopped, started muttering to himself, then dropped and started sulking in the corner."
All six ponies watched Krieg as he slowly turned his head towards the ponies.
Twilight had no idea how to react. Here Krieg was, cleaning up her library and attempting to repair the damages. She wasn't there to see what happened but she trusts Spike, and it's not like the evidence isn't there. This human was in fact dangerous. He needed to go see Celestia as soon as possible. Everypony else was sitting outside, waiting and worrying about her. How could they know when he would snap? Would he be safe to have on the train? Or are they better off caging him like an animal, oh that would go swell when they got to Canterlot. The Elements of Harmony dragging a newly discovered creature behind them in a cage. No, they would just have to keep him in check. But how? There was a knock on Twilight's door. She assumed her friends were just worried but when the door opened...
"Hello Twilight! My dear, magical friend!" The tall, serpent being walked on in.
"Discord? Why are you here?" Twilight asked, confused but not entirely surprised.
"What ever do you mean by that? Is a newly reformed ally not allowed to go visit his friends when he chooses?"
"Well, I guess not? But can this wait? We are taking care of a... fragile incident."
"Oh I know, that is actually why I'm here. Celestia sent me after she received the letter about this... Krieg?"
"Why would Celestia send you?"
"She thinks I may be able to keep him in check while you escort him to her."
"Oh, I see..." Twilight's heart sunk a little, Celestia didn't trust her to be able to do this...
"Oh don't look so grim about it, it will be fun! I can only imagine how much chaos this Krieg can concoct!"
"You're right Discord... you can only imagine..."
Krieg left Fink's Slaughterhouse, for the most part destroyed, with his pockets full of cash and a smile on his face. As he walked across the arena floor, a young girl stood before him. She stood only about five feet, and wore some old school uniform. Krieg would have just passed by her if he hadn't noticed her mechanical arm. The girl stared at him with a big smile on her face, the kind of smile that says 'I saw something, and I like' and she was in complete awe.
"That... was absolutely INSANE!" The girl screamed. Krieg stared at her.
"You totally wrecked the place! It was off the hook!" Again Krieg just stared.
"You don't talk much do you?" She asked with a giggle. Krieg opened his mouth behind the mask.
"Little lady, should stay away." Krieg grunted. The girl seemed offended.
"I can handle myself! I'm not just a little lady you know."
"Dangerous to follow..."
"Too bad, I'm following."
"They will feast on your flesh!"
"Oh don't you worry about me, in fact... let me prove how capable I am." She smiled as her arm began to glow.
Krieg watched as the floating torso of metal raised from the ground. The young girl behind it already armed with a Vladof assault rifle with a mini-gun barrel attachment. Krieg rolled out of the way as the bot charged him, his arm slashed open as the bots claw like hands spun in a whirlwind of reverberating humming. As soon as he was away from the bot, the ground exploded in dust as the girl unloaded her mini-gun. The bullets missing every shot as he knelt there, but one hit and shattered his regenerating shields and ripping into his wounded arm. He rushed the girl, axe in hand, only to be met with her mechanical arm swiping digital claws across his face. He flew back at the surprising force. The young girl walked up and stood above him smiling.
"You can call me Gaige."
Discord calmly floated through the air towards Krieg, who was attempting to fix a table he previously smashed. As Discord circled around, Krieg took notice and watched as the strange serpentine creature looked him over. Discord noted the scars on Krieg's arm slowly filling themselves, and wondered where he got them and why they were healing so rapidly. After he mused himself he floated back to Twilight with a grin.
"He is simply mad." Discord laughed.
"Well, obviously... can't you tell anything else about him?" Twilight asked.
"Well, coming from a being so attuned with madness and chaos..." Discord snapped his fingers and was immediately dressed as a psychologist. "He suffers from a multiple personalities disorder, one of which may be schizophrenic. How he was put in such a predicament, it looks like strenuous amounts of torture. Also some kind of..."
"Alright, I get it, but will he be ok to travel with other ponies or do we need to cage him just in case?"
"Ah, that... I don't know!" Discord laughed "He doesn't seem to have a pattern to his madness, it just comes along when it wants to it seems. Although there must be some kind of trigger. Chaos doesn't just happen for no reason you know."
"It does with you..." Twilight muttered.
"I can control him if he comes again." Said a voice from across the room. Krieg was walking to the pair slowly. He stopped as he made it half way across the room, not wanting to threaten them.
"Ah, the human speaks! So tell me then Krieg, how is it you intend to control yourself if you go mad again?" Discord asked.
"The same way I have been. If he comes out, he won't kill anyone unless they deserve death."
"That is a strong claim coming from the one responsible for wrecking my house and attacking Spike."
"I understand the difficulty in trusting me, but I told him a long time ago. If he ever kills an innocent, I will take over just long enough to kill us both." The room got severely quiet. Finally Discord spoke up.
"That works for me, lets get him a train ticket and make our way back to Celestia. I can only stand the... order... of this place for so long."
So the six ponies and human made it to the train station. Spike had opted to stay behind due to... obvious reasons. Discord had left in his own way, with a bright flash. Twilight was still very nervous about the train ride. She didn't even know if Krieg had ever been on a train before...
The train ride was rather uneventful for the first few hours. Krieg sat on the floor of the car while Twilight and her friends all sat in the various seats around him. She watched Krieg sit there, he was in a trance it seemed. She was concentrating on what Discord had said. Multiple Personalities... She knew ponies who suffered from that, Princess Luna herself. That wasn't the part that worried her though. It was what Discord said after, Schizophrenia. She had also heard of ponies with that mental disease. Most of them had to be locked up for their own safety, and the safety of others. That particular disease even led some ponies to ending their lives themselves. Twilight didn't want to think on those things much longer, she needed a distraction.
Twilight stared out the window, watching as the trees rushed by. Her eyes caught every single tree as it whip'd passed her vision. She imagined a stallion running along the edge of the tracks, jumping over obstacles that came his way. She was amused for an hour until she over heard Rainbow moaning. She turned around to see what the mare was moaning about. What she saw stuck her as odd.
"Oh yeah.... don't stop..." Rainbow Dash moaned as Krieg ran his hand down the back of her neck. Once his hand rested at the bottom of her neck, he raised at back to the top of her head and ran it down again. Rainbow was enjoying the attention. "I don't know what you are doing... but it feels soooo good...." Rainbow moaned again. Twilight found this odd for a couple reasons. Rainbow didn't like being pampered, yet here she was allowing Krieg to massage her neck. The other thing she noted was the fact that Krieg was massaging her in the first place. How did he know it would feel good to Rainbow? Also, why was he doing it? "Pretty pony's hair is soft" Krieg said, enthralled by Rainbow's matted mane. "Oh man...." Rainbow's voice led off as she raised her head to look at Twilight. "Twi, you have got to try this... This guy knows how to make a mare feel good..." "Uh thanks, but no thanks Rainbow. I'll pass" Twilight forced a smile to cover her concern. What had provoked this display of affection from him? Could it be because Rainbow Saved his life? Another thought came to her mind. He had openly accepted ponies as if he were familiar with them, despite being a different species. Perhaps ponies existed in his world, just not as the dominant race. How would they have been treated? Judging by Krieg's behavior towards Rainbow, maybe they were honored in some way. Pampered as royalty? She wondered many things before nightfall came, and even dreamed about the strange world she had envisioned, ponies pampered just for being ponies. It seemed too good.
"Get up buddy, Ugh... jeeze you weigh a ton!" Gaige grunted as she attempted to help the psycho up. He had taken a barrage of rockets from a badass loader that knocked him down to the ground. She melted the machine down with her corrosive mini-gun and let Deathtrap deal with the other weaklings around. "Looove... youuu" Krieg mumbled as a thanks for helping him up. "Of course you do, now we need to hurry up or we are going to miss the train!"
The both of them were on their way to catch up with the other four vault hunters on Pandora. Not like Krieg though, Gaige was on the run from law enforcement due to an unfortunate incident involving Deathtrap. Krieg was just looking for some more fun. Seeking the other vault hunters seemed like a good idea to the both of them. Just as they were leaving, more Hyperion bots landed behind them. If Gaige hadn't used her mechanical arm to hold Krieg back, he would have rushed them just like before. He got the point and followed his new friend. They still had a long trek before reaching the train station, and for some reason or another none of the Catch-a-Rides would accept them, even with Gaige attempting to hack into the system.
"AHHHH! Freaking thing!" Gaige screamed as she beat the machine with her wrench. "Woah, unauthorized user up in my grill! You trying to hack my Catch-A-Ride? Uncool bro, uncool." The machine scolded. "Oh shut up! ugh..." Gaige steamed as she turne around to a confused looking Krieg. "Well buddy, I guess we are hoofing it. Braving the road one step at a time. Yupp, taking the hundred mile trek with out sneakers tied. Paving the path to UGH!!!!" Gaige kicked the machine, regretting the idea almost as soon as she did it. Now she had to walk the trip with a sour toe, or she would if Krieg wasn't so helpful. He picked the young girl up and put her on his shoulders as he began walking the same direction they were headed. Gaige was glad she didn't have to walk.
Night had fallen on the six mares and human. Five of them lay asleep, Krieg was using Rainbow's mane as a pillow. She apparently didn't mind, in fact when later asked she mentioned she admired Krieg like she did Tank. A cute, lovable pet with a slight touch of awesomeness. Twilight however was still awake, even if barely. She couldn't draw herself to sleep, this bad feeling crept inside her. A feeling that wouldn't go away no matter how hard she tried. Eventually her exhaustion got the better of her. Her eye lids drifted down on her, and as they shut... There was a knock at the door. She groaned as she got up from her makeshift bed, and lazily walked to the door, still softly knocking from behind. As she approached, the door opened to nothing. The world had just ended it seemed. The only thing there was the blankness of space, yet she felt drawn in. Her first step hit solid ground, but her eyes betrayed her. There was no ground, just space. She took a few more steps, and once she was clear of the door, it shut. A soft, yet familiar voice rang in her mind.
"A warm welcome to you, Twilight Sparkle..." The soft voice rang in the silence of space. "Princess Luna..." Twilight marveled. "Why are you here? I mean... in my dream?" "Am I not the Princess of the Night? Is it not my duty to come to your dreams?" Luna asked. "Well, yes but I mean why now?" "You are fearful of something Twilight, or rather someone..." Twilight felt her heart sink. "You can feel my fears like that?" "Yes, your fears are very powerful Twilight Sparkle. Tell me, what is it you fear?" Twilight gulped at the princesses question. "This new... human... I fear what he is..." "This... Krieg. You fear his power?" "I'm scared what he will do if he goes mad again, he almost killed Spike!" "You need not fear him any more than you fear me." "Wh-what do you mean?" "You do not recognize our similarities? Just as I was once Nightmare Moon, so was he once a crazed beast." "But you can control yourself, I'm not sure he can." "You doubt his promise?" Twilight opened her mouth, but spoke nothing. "He will keep his word, he will remain in control." "How can you be so sure Princess?" "Like I can see in your dreams, so can I peer into his. He has a lot of pain inside, but he will never harm the innocent. Of this you can trust..."
Princess Luna faded into the darkness of night, leaving Twilight there alone. He voice echoed in the vacuum of space. Twilight woke from her sleep, and turned her head to Krieg who now had Rainbow locked in his arms as a young foal would cuddle with a doll. Maybe he really was harmless, but he still tried to attack Spike. She laid her head down again and drifted back into her dreams. They had a long day ahead of them.
The train pulled up to the station. Desert lands spanned across the planet. Four vault hunters watched as the hyperion train slowed to a stop. Three of them boarded leaving one young woman. The train was supposed to pick up five, not four. Someone was missing. She looked down at the ground and saw a man in a mask laying on the ground just by the train.
"What the hell, is that a psycho?"
-Two Hours Earlier-
"Ugh... face it buddy, we are LOST! I think we passed this same Stactus three times!" Gaige complained as she rode up top Krieg's shoulders.
He had been leading so to speak, and despite Gaige's prodding at going the wrong direction he just kept going. Behind the two of them lay a single set of footprints in the sand along with many ruined buildings. One of which they used to camp in the night before. Krieg had an uneasy feeling about him though, like they were being followed. His constant turning probably the reason they have been walking in circles. He could't shake the feeling. Something was wrong.
"Hey... do you hear something?" Gaige asked, listening to a hum from over the sand mound behind them. "Grinding metal... Twisted steel and burning rubber..." Krieg rambled. "Uh... yes... something like that..." Gaige said as she climbed down from Kriegs back.
As her feet hit the ground, she shouldered her mini-gun. It was sitting at half a clip from a previous encounter with bandits, she made it a habit never to reload her clips. Especially when she had so much data in her Anarchy processor. She had devilish plans for whatever was trying to get the jump on them. The humming got louder and lounder, Gaige turned the direction it was coming from and raised her gun. She pulled out the clip from her gun and tossed it aside, pulling out a fresh new clip and snapping it into the gun. Her Anarchy processor started churning in her modded lunchbox, and streamed a line of data right into her gun. Rotating the barrel, she unloaded the gun right as two bandit technicals ramped up the mound. The massive fire rate of her Vladof Mini-gun combined with the Discord unit she installed unleashed a storm of bullets into the first technical, erupting it into a corrosive mess of melting metal and sludge. The second technical rammed into Krieg flipping him onto the hood of the vehicle. It sped on with the psycho still on the hood. Gaige ran after, but knowing she wouldnt catch up, she slowed to a walk and followed the tracks left behind. It had to stop eventually... right?
The train slowed to a stop, and the six ponies and human were just waking up. Krieg was flipped on his back and Rainbow was sprawled on his chest, belly up and wings stretched. Krieg leaned up and rolled Rainbow off him onto the bed. Her tongue lolled out of her mouth as she too opened her eyes. She crawled off the bed and stretched her legs and wings, and felt a large hand pet her matted mane again. She released a purr sounding moan and giggled.
"You sir are my new cuddle buddy" Rainbow smiled as she lazily walked away. "Soft pony... cuddle... buddy..." Krieg smiled behind the mask.
Moments later, the six ponies stepped off the train and Krieg with them. His eyes widened as he gazed upon the castle. His stare was matched by the ponies boarding the train, all of them eyeing him suspiciously. He was used to people staring, psychos are not generally accepted as part of a normal society. He towered over every pony he saw, and the castle was still big to him. Good, maybe they had a decent size couch, he thought.
"Alright everypony, just straight to the castle. No incidents, no problems." Twilight nervously stated. "Yes... right through the most Glorious city known to ponykind... with this human everyone suspects to be a wild animal... what could go wrong..." Rarity scoffed, knowing if any finer ponies saw her, it would hurt her reputation. "You mean we just go through, do nothing, and get out? But I haven't thrown Krieg a party yet!" Pinkie whined. "Don't worry sugar, we will throw him the biggest party we can. After Clestia gets what she needs from him." Applejack commented.
The six ponies began walking into the city, Krieg right behind them.
The marauder in the back seat was attempting to put a bullet in Krieg's head but the psycho just kept rolling around on the hood. The bandit driving attempted to swerve and curve but Krieg held fast. A midget psycho even tried to charge Krieg but was swiftly chucked off the vehicle on a sharp turn. Krieg was about to slip though. The technical had a lot of places to grip but the speed and swiftness of the turns jerked him around too much to keep hold, with the additional gunfire trying to split his skull with a bullet. His loose hand found a round object on his belt, he must have picked it up a while go if he forgot about it this long. He pulled it up and smashed it into the hood of the technical, then let go. The vehicle bumped on a train track and sent the now loose Krieg in the air. The technical full of bandits, save the midget who was thrown off, went under him and off into the distance before breaking. Krieg landed on the ground with a thud, then stood up to swipe the dust off his pants. The following explosion didn't even phase a badass like him, the spare wheel rolling passed him burning. Krieg set off on the train tracks, headed towards the station now in sight.
The six ponies led Krieg through the streets of Canterlot, hoping and praying that there would be no incident. Krieg was doing his best to keep an eye on his six friends. Being up so high, everypony looked alike except for colors and manes. He just kept pace with his friends and tried not to draw anymore attention than he already was. The piercing gazes were starting to annoy him however. He could almost hear their thoughts. Some of them he imagined with fear, others with wonder. Every face he caught, he could read the emotions they portrayed. Even the armored ones gave him concerned glares. In his distraction, he didn't notice his friends stopped in front of him. Nearly tripping over Pinkie, he looked forward to see a tall white unicorn and a couple goony looking ponies standing in the road in front of them.
"I dare say, look what the cat dragged in. Rarity, we never talk anymore." The unicorn stated in a voice Krieg was so familiar with. It reminded him of a certain douchbag he knew from Pandora. "I'm sorry, our last 'date' just didn't work out so I never felt the need." Rarity scoffed as she turned to Twilight and whispered in her ear. "Let's get out of here now!" "I don't think so dear, you made a fool of me at the Gala remember? Ever Since I've been hoping you would show back up. And whats this?" The unicorn trotted towards Krieg. "You have a new pet it seems, what ditch did you drag this... animal... out of?" "HE is not an animal Blueblood, and HE has a name. Go ahead Krieg, introduce yourself." Rarity stated.
Krieg looked at the male unicorn, slightly holding back an urge to strangle him.
"Oh, the strong silent type. I am quivering in my little hooves."
Definitely reminded Krieg of a certain douchbag he knew.
"You should leave, I won't be held responsible for you if you continue." Krieg suggested. "It speaks! Rarity, how did you manage to teach it such... well, common language but I suppose it's a start." Come on.... give me a reason... Krieg thought. "And what is with the mask? Rarity, I knew you designed but I didn't think you were into that kind of drab." Just a little more... "Sigh, but I tire of this... boys, take care of them..." Close enough
Blueblood choked on his last word as Krieg grabbed him by the nape of his neck. Both of his goons halted their advance when they saw their leader lifted up to the humans face. Krieg stared the unicorn face to face before speaking.
"Hey watch the mane you brute!" Bloodblood demanded. "Brute? You think I am a brute?" Krieg growled. "No, what I think and what you actually are, well thats com..." "Shut it. I'm doing the talking." Bloodblood was shocked, but remained silent. "I am Krieg... I am a psycho... and above all else..."
Krieg convulsed for a moment in pain as his eyes rolled back into their sockets.
"I AM THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!" He screamed as he chucked Blueblood down the street. He rolled a few times before stopping. Both his goons advanced on Krieg to take him down, but he was already on top of them. He tackled the first one to the ground and threw it over him, and as he shot up from the ground he shoved his face into the snout of the second and screamed. "I'M GOING TO PUT MY PAIN INTO YOUR SOUL!" The goon feinted.
Blueblood lazily stood back up, trying to balance himself on his four feet but collapsed again. Getting up the final time, he manged to steady himself long enough to see Krieg standing above both his goons. They both flat on the ground. He sneered as he limped away.
"I'll be back Rarity, keep your hound on a leash next time."
The six ponies rushed over to Krieg and pushed him out of the street. Everypony who was in the area saw him toss Blueblood down the street and everybody knew he was royalty. Twilight's worst fear came to pass in a moments time, but as they were pushing Krieg through the streets to get away as fast as possible she heard the crown do something she hadn't entirely expected. They were cheering for Krieg. Twilight let off and slowed to a stop. The crowds of ponies were huddling around Krieg and adoring him. She couldn't believe it. They all witnessed this new creature walk into their capital city, chuck royalty down the road like a ball, and take down two other ponies by, more or less, rolling and screaming.
"I guess there is more to him than I thought..." Twilight said silently.
Krieg stood there staring in the face of the Siren Warrior Maya. After dealing with the rats, he simply couldn't figure out what to do next. Her smile pierced his soul like a dagger through the heart. A voice came from the train.
"Maya, whats going on?" A rough voice asked. Following the voice, a shorter man exited the train. "Axton, there are supposed to be five of us. I'm not leaving another vault hunter out here to die." Maya responded. "Well congratulations, you found him. Welcome to the party and all that jazz. Lets go!" Axton smarted off to the Siren. "Except he is not the fifth person we are looking for. I won't turn him down, but we are looking for a girl named... Gaige? Yeah. Gaige." "Gaige... Little ball of fire and death!" Krieg burst out. "You know her?" Maya asked. "Screaming guns and floating metal, followed behind soon." "So.... she will be here soon?" "Great... another wierdo... First the mexican, then the robot... now a psychotic serial killer and a little girl... Why did I accept this job..." Axton finished.
Finally they pushed through the crowds and made it to Canterlot Castle. Krieg had settled down, back to his normal self, and the six ponies with him were eager to get in and be done with this. As they walked through the courtyard, another male unicorn approached. He also had a white coat with a blue mane, Krieg was holding back urges. The unicorn also looked on edge. He seemed less so when Twilight showed herself.
"Twily!" "B.B.B.F.F!"
Krieg looked at the two confused.
"It means big brother best friend forever sugar." Applejack whispered smirking.
"Celestia said you were coming with a guest, I guess thats... him?" The unicorn said. "Yeah, His name is..." "Krieg, yeah. I heard all about him in the last twenty minutes. Good job knocking that royal pain to the ground. Unfortunately that was royalty you assaulted, so you are under watch while in Canterlot." "Shining, he was defending us." Twilight explained. "My reports say he made the first move." Shining responded. "Yeah, only cause that jerk told his goons to attack us!" Applejack argued. "Girls please, I know it doesn't sound fair, but for the sake of the princesses I have to have him on watch. That doesn't mean he is in trouble, it just means we are keeping an eye on him." "Brother..." "Sis please, I'm just doing my job. Anyways, we need to get you to the princesses. Celestia said I was to take you straight to her as soon as I saw you enter the gates."
Krieg followed the ponies into the huge castle, it's walls looked larger on the inside to him. He started to feel the same way the girls felt. He wanted this over with...
The train was steaming to leave and the vault hunters had to be on now or get left behind. Maya was trying to get Krieg to get on but he refused to leave his friend behind. Axton and Salvador were waiting inside. The train groaned as it slowly took off. Maya had no choice, she ran into the open door at the last second. Krieg was still standing there, watching the desert. In the distance along the tracks he saw a shadow. A small one, but he knew it was her. The train picked up speed as Krieg took hold of the side. The train pulled him through the air as he accelerated to the shadow he saw. As he got closer he saw the young school girl standing by the tracks. His arm reached out to grab her, and as if she knew he was coming she raised an arm to catch it. As Krieg flew by, his arm caught the mechanical arm of Gaige. He climbed to the top of the train, pulling his friend behind him. As they both managed to get their grounding on the roof of the train car, Krieg threw Gaige to the ground as he hit it behind her. An electromagnetic bar flew above both of their heads. They both stood up again just to be knocked back on their asses by the car infront of them exploding.
The explosion knocked Krieg off the side of the train but he held fast to the side paneling. He managed to find a doorway blown open he could stay in. He looked out in front of them to find a squad three hyperion soldiers ready to jet onto the train, so he pulled his buzzsaw and cleaved the leading soldier in the head as the other two jet packed onto the top. Gaige had found a hatch leading into the car they were in. She climbed in and was face to face with multiple bots lining lasers on her face. The moment they fired the bullets were interrupted by her Deathtrap. Shortly after Deathtrap charged, she unleashed a barrage of fire from her mini-gun melting the bots with corrosion.
Krieg and Gaige reunited and were advancing to the front of the train. Door after door of dead hyperion soldiers and bots, the two of them were upset they missed the party. The two of them reached the second to first car just in time to watch the door shut behind them. As they approached, the door exploded and sent the two of them flying out of the train. Krieg remembered a cold face as he passed out.
Twilight watched Krieg wander the throne room as they waited for Celestia to make her appearance. She couldn't help but wonder how the architecture of his home world was. Did humans have giant castles such as this? Or did they live in more advanced structures? She couldn't imagine whatever passed for royalty in his world living in anything less than a castle, but then there was that. What kind of rule did these humans live under? She heard Krieg mention the word Hyperion once referring to it as an evil empire. Did this Hyperion rule his world? How horrible could they be? She didn't really want to think about it that much. Just as she was clearing her mind, two regal alicorns flew in from the balcony over looking the throne room. Celestia and Luna both were present to meet Krieg. Any normal pony should feel honored. The two alicorns approached Krieg who was watching them very close.
Krieg watched the two new faces approach him. The one bright and radiant and the other dark and mysterious. The white one lead the dark one, and Krieg was fascinated by both. He counted himself fortunate that he regained sanity after that incident with Blueblood. He wanted to be fully in control when meeting his friends leaders. The white one spoke first.
"At last we meet Krieg. As you are probably aware, I have heard a lot about you from both my loyal subjects and from rumors that spread across Equestria. I also heard quite a bit from my nephew Blueblood, all of it bad." The white alicorn spoke. Krieg sunk a little when she mentioned Blueblood. "No worries about him, I'm certain whatever incident between you and him could be considered his fault."
"Thank you, your highness." Krieg spoke, trying to sound respectful. "Please no, simply call me Celestia. I may be a princess but I am far from demanding that sort of recognition." Celestia Smiled. "Yes, and you may call me Luna. I know much about you Krieg, If you would, after this meeting I would have words with you." "I would, if I am in the appropriate... condition..." Krieg suggested. "Have no worries, we have warded the room with our magic to help you maintain your sanity." Celestia spoke. "You... you can do that?" Krieg asked. "Yes, even though our magic does have limits it does allow us to shield others minds, among other useful things. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Krieg, the reason I wanted you here was to gather as much information as I can on your homeworld. I don't want to sound like a tyrant but I need to know if this... Pandora is dangerous." "I don't really think you have anything to worry about Celestia, Pandora is a long ways away from here. Of that I am sure." "Why do you say that? Because you think us all to be of your imagination?" Luna asked. "Well... not to upset any of you, yeah... kinda. I don't know how else to explain it." "Maybe you can tell us what makes you think we are actually your imagination?" Celestia questioned. "A lot of reasons... my new found control of my sanity, even if not perfect, it is much more than I had before." "And you think not of the possibility out world has affected your mind in anyway?" Luna asked again. "Sister, may I?" "Not yet, I still wish to speak with him before he knows." "Knows what? What are you hiding?" Krieg asked, with a sense of urgency. "You shall know soon enough, but for now we need to know about Pandora. Does it present a threat to us?" "... Yes... If you are right, and this is not my imagination, yes. Well, yes and no. Pandora does not threaten you. Hyperion does." "Hyperion?" "Yes... ran by a lunatic named Handsome Jack." Krieg went silent for a moment. "He is who... who did this to me..."
Everypony was silent when Krieg said this. He stood there, staring at the two alicorns. Celestia was visibly concerned and disturbed. Luna was also disturbed, in surfing his dreams she never saw this 'Handsome Jack' even with her best attempts to find the root of his insanity.
"Sister... I'm doing it." Luna stated. "Luna..." "In his dreams I could only delve so deep before the madness itself threatened to swallow my whole. I must make direct contact to gain my full power in his dreams." "Wait... you... were in my dreams?" "Yes, I apologize for the intrusion but you must understand the circumstances." "Yes, I do understand... I just can't fathom the concept of it. You said you need to make contact with me to get full power?" "I will need to touch my horn to you for an uninterrupted transfer to your mind." Krieg remained silent. "On one condition." "What do you ask of me?" "I don't know how my mind works, I'm not that smart. But if you find a way to get rid of the beast... do it. If it kills me, or makes me... simple... do it." "I don't think" "Just... if you find a way..." "Ok."
Luna's horn glowed with a dark glow, and she bowed her head. Krieg reached out a hand to grab the horn but stopped. After a second thought, he sat down himself and bent his head over to touch his for head with her horn. He wanted to be sure it worked. The both of them were silent for a full day.
Luna walked across hard frozen roads of what she assumed to be Pandora. She knew her mission, to find out as much as she could about this Hyperion as she could. As she walked she saw a man in the distance, he was taller but not as tall as Krieg. He stood about her height. The man approached her, but instead of talking to her, he simply phased through her as a ghost. She followed him down the road, as she followed she saw the man stop at a number of places. Each place he went to, he either left with a sack in hand, or with a weapon in hand. Some of the places he stopped at, there were other humans. They immediately rose their weapons against him and fired them. The man seemed to dance across the battle field each time, killing every other person in the area. Then the man left. This occurred for hours, days even. Luna had seen too much death in her stay already but knew she needed to see more of the man.
Their next stop was a fortress of some kind. It stood golden, it was actually black and white in the dream but Luna could perceive colors thanks to Krieg's contact with her horn. There was a sign on the top of the fortress, a sign like none other Luna had seen. It was made of light, and it floated without projection or support. She knew magic could do such things but this was not magic. She just knew it wasn't. The man walked into the fortress and was stopped by a large force of metal creatures. Krieg's mind called them bots. These 'bots' attempted to kill the man but they were ultimately destroyed themselves. The fight lasted for hours, but finally Luna saw the key point she was looking for. A tall man, skinny, and wore a strange mask on his face just appeared behind the man. The man's chest exploded in blood as the skinny man stood behind him, his own weapon in hand smoking. The man was still alive however, she saw him breathing as the tall man ordered more men to drag him off. Luna followed.
The man was brought to a room. It had a flat table in the middle but it was angled sharp to face one way. The man was bound to the table, another man in a lab coat of some kind was cauterizing the wound. The man screamed for mercy but the other man just continued. The masked man walked in and stood in front of the man. His mouth moved but no words came out. He then retreated from the room laughing, the other man following behind. It was just Luna and the man. A loud grinding sound filled the room as the ceiling opened up. A long metal arm descended, in it's metal grasp was a cone like rock. It glowed with an ominous purple glow. Luna watched in terror for the next few ours as the rock's glow distorted the bound man. The exposure went on for days, and the man absorbed enough of it that it began to burn his skin. The burn wounds would almost immediately heal over. Finally after days of watching the man's pain, the arm lifted away and the room closed. The man on the bed hung from his holdings, breathing heavily. His body was smoking from exposure, but it was also nearly twice the size before. His face was mutilated, and his arms were like tree's.
The masked man walked in after a while and began to talk to the man on the bed. Luna could not hear the words, it was silent. But the man's actions spoke clearly. His words invoked anger in the mutilated man on the bed. He slammed his body into the bed and flailed about as if to kill the masked man. She watched the man scream in anger and read two words off his lips.
Handsome Jack
Luna had what she needed. This Jack was indeed a threat. They would need to take extra care not to attract him to their world. If he was capable of such... heinous acts of cruelty... She wanted him as far away from Equestria as possible. She released her spell and returned to the real world.
Luna opened her eyes to find everypony still present. Some on the ground asleep but present none the less. She pulled her sister away and told her of her findings. As she recalled Krieg's past, Celestia was shocked to hear what her sister told her.
"What are we going to do then sister?" Celestia asked. "I... I don't know... This Handsome Jack... he is certainly evil. I fear what he would do if he made it here." Luna responded. "Will he follow Krieg here?" "I'm sorry sister... I had to leave his mind. It... it was too much for me." "It is quite alright sister. I only wish we could learn more. I will dismiss the bearers and Krieg for now, go get some rest." "Thank you sister... but I doubt I will be getting much sleep."
Luna left their presence to rest, but her dreams themselves were filled with the mask of the man and the torture Krieg endured. Celestia dismissed the bearers and Krieg and gave them rooms to stay in the castle. They would have to continue their research tomorrow.
Princess Luna opened her eyes, she found herself blinded by a glaring light, but as she raised a hoof to block her eyes she felt the resistance of the straps that bound her. She looked down to the floor and gasped. She was on the very same bed she saw the man on, and even worse her body had changed. Instead of her dark coat, she now had pale flesh. Instead of hoofs she had hands. Her chest exposed to the room around her. Further horror ensued when she noticed that is was not her body, but Krieg's. She had just seen his experiences from a third person view, but now she was living it. She heard what sounded like a vacuum of air as the wall opened in front of her. Was she in Krieg's nightmare again? What brought her back to this place? Through the door came a man, his voice pierced the silence of the room.
"You bandit's are all the same, you know? Chasing poor defenseless girls, keeping her away from the people who really care about her. It's like you don't care that the world outside will kill her. Tisk tisk tisk..." "HELL CALLS TO YOU!" Luna heard come from her mouth. She could hear? Before it was black and white, silent. "Uh uh uhh, watch your mouth please. There are children here."
The man flicked a switch, a scene from his dream she must have missed. A window on the wall opened showing a little girl, she sat in a chair strapped down. Large bots surrounded her. Luna felt the tear run down Krieg's face. The man spoke again.
"Here I give you an option. Break free, I'll let you. Leave here and live free as a bandit, kill and murder all in your path!" No... you will not... I will kill you myself before I let you harm the innocent A voice resounded in Luna's mind. "All you have to do is leave her here. Go ahead big guy, it's a big world."
The table spun and a big door opened behind them. Luna looked out at the land she saw. The dream world faded. All Luna heard was an echo of Krieg's past
Where is she? Is she still alive? Did she get away?
Luna awoke in her private chambers, barely aware of her heavy breathing. She heard his voice in her dreams, but it was her who was to go int his dreams. Was he really two people? Was that really his past? If so, they had much preparation to do.
The four vault hunters, Axton, Maya, Salvador, and Zer0, were all gathering in front of Sanctuary after the defeat of Wilhelm. Gaige and Krieg were celebrating in the bar. Both not too eager to be dealing with the weird power cell Axton retrieved from the giant bot, they decided to relax from the fight. Just as Krieg lifted a drink to his mouth, both his and Gaiges Echo's went off. A familiar voice rang through it.
"You know, I think it's Finally time to tell you that little secret. Angel's working for me..." Gaige stared at Krieg who was still drinking, unphased. "Lowering Sanctuaries Shield, Jack." The familiar voice rang in a dreaded tone. "Executing phase shift..."
The street in front of them burst into dust as a mortar round exploded, taking the life of a woman staring at the destruction. Gaige was already rushing to the middle of town but stopped as she noticed Krieg staring at the spot were the woman once stood.
"Come on dude, we gotta get to Roland!" Gaige insisted. Krieg grunted in response.
Gaige watched the other four vault hunters rush to the center of town, but just as she stepped forward to run a mortar shell exploded in her face. She went flying back and smashed into a wall, then slowly peeled from her hole in the wall to the ground below her. Krieg ran to her immediately but was a moment too late. One moment he saw Gaige standing up, the next another mortar shell blasted her back to the ground. He rushed to her side, and watched her body lay motionless. The hyperion device that allowed them to escape death was busted, and at seeing the device smoking on her belt he felt something he couldn't remember feeling for a long time.
A single tear squeezed from his eye, and even though it got caught in his face mask he was aware of it being there. He pulled out from one of his deep pockets the same device he wore and clasped in in his hands, then placed it in the hands of his dear friend. He knew not how the technology worked, but smiled when he saw her body disappear into light. She made it. In his head, the voice spoke.
You don't deserve death. I deserve death.
Krieg looked up in the sky as his vision was clouded. He watched as his hands began to disappear before his own eyes, and everything was a swirl from that... but somehow he felt... warm...
Krieg sat in his room, his new friends surrounding him, Rainbow was laying on his curled legs snoring. Fluttershy was curled up in her bed, along with Rarity, Applejack, and Twilight. Pinkie was stretched out out on the floor in the most awkward position. He glanced out the balcony of their room to see a glimmer. He rolled Rainbow off his lap and stood up, walking to the balcony. The white alicorn was out in the night sky. As though she caught Krieg's sight, she lifted into the air and floated down to him. He backed up to find the door's shut behind him. Krieg suddenly felt concerned. Celestia landed on the balcony in front of him.
"Shouldn't you be resting princes?" Krieg asked warily. "I would be yes, but something has come to my attention, it involves you." The alicorn stated. "And what would it be that involves... me..." Krieg rhymed unintentionally. "My sister's dreams, surely you know of them. She finds herself visiting your's regularly." "I'm flattered." "She claims she has seen your journey that led you here." "My journey? I fell from a cloud if that's what you mean." "No, she claims she has relived your life on Pandora. She has seen it all through your eyes." "They must be glimpses of reality escaping into my mind. Don't worry abo..." "You still believe this to be in your head?" Celestia inturupted. "What else would it be, this place is peaceful and left untouched by war. I can be myself and find peace without condemnation. I'm sorry to say it but I cannot believe this is actually real!" Krieg was lying through his teeth. He didn't realize how emotional he got but he truely wanted to believe this place was real. "And what of your friends, are they real?" "I..." Krieg couldn't answer. "Your world is still out there, how you managed to get here is beyond even me but the fact remains that both Pandora and Equestria exist."
Krieg was speechless, he wanted to believe Celestia. He wanted to think of this world as real, but she didn't know how much he had suffered or how much he had lost. He felt a warmth in his discomfort.
"I am sorry, but you must see that this land is indeed a reality. Which is why we need you Krieg. I need to show you something." Krieg looked up at the alicorn and blinked. She had teleported them into a system of caves. "When I first saw you, I thought it was coincidence. But after hearing what my sister has told me of your dreams, now I am certain." Celestia lit the room with her magic, and there the two of them stood for a moment in silence.
As the light illuminated the room, Krieg was in wonder. The room was full of ancient ruins, very familiar ruins. What startled him was the emblems he found on most of the ruins. An upside down V.
"I noticed this emblem on your mask, and again. Thought it was merely coincidence, but the more I heard about you, the more I heard about Pandora, and the more I heard about your friends on Pandora... these Vault Hunters... The more certain I am that Handsome Jack will make a move here. It only makes sense." "So you think... this is a vault..." "What else could it be? You have enough evidence in your dreams to prove to me that this is indeed a vault. I have kept it secret for so long fearing what could be behind those doors. I can definitely tell it is powerful." "You really don't know the half of it...
Krieg stared at the ruins in front of him, not wanting to believe they were actually here. His thoughts were spinning out of control as he considered every possibility, but everyone, save one, made no sense. Maybe the vault was part of his mind, it may just be a nightmare, but how would these ponies have made the connection. Maybe it was just coincidence, but it was too perfect. Perhaps it was all... real... Krieg fell to his knees. If it was real, this world was in extreme danger.
"So will you tell us more about Pandora? More about Jack? More about the vaults?" Celestia asked. "I... I... I suppose I have no choice... but somethings are better seen than heard..." Krieg grunted. Celestia got the hint and lowered her horn. Krieg placed his forehead to the tip and closed his eyes.
"Gaige! Where is Krieg!?" Maya asked in a controlled panic. "I... I don't know! I got hit by a mortar shell and woke up out here! I don't know where he is!" Gaige replied in a much less controlled panic. "We were all transported here by Lilith, there is no excuse for him to not have been!" Axton ranted. "Damnit! Now we're one short..." "Calm down, I'm sure where ever our psychotic friend is he is doing fine." Salvador chuckled. "I don't think so guys... look..." Gaige frowned as she pulled out a burnt Echo device along with a newer one, with a vault symbol drawn on it's face. "Wait... is that..." Maya hesitated. "Yes... it's his..."
The five vault hunter's stood in silence as they thought about the worst. Then a voice spoke through their Echo's.
"I know you're angry at me right now, but..." "ANGRY!? YOU GOT MY FRIEND KILLED YOU BITCH!" Gaige screamed into Krieg's Echo. "..... I'm sorry.... but there isn't much time, I'll explain everything. Just get to the fridge." "You think we are gonna just trust you again? After all that!?" Salvador raged into his Echo as well. "....." "You have a lot of nerve to try to comm with us again Angel." "Krieg is alive." Silence "What?" four out of five vault hunters asked at the same time. "After watching him give up his Echo to Gaige I knew I could use him somewhere else to stop Jack. So... I altered Lilith's warp for him, and sent him to a nearby planet." "So... he... isn't... " Gaige calmed down as a soft smile covered her lips. "But you can't do anything for him yet, Jack is planning to follow him after he get's what he wants here. Right now, you five need to get to the fridge so I can get you back to Sanctuary."
The five vault hunters looked at each other, all but one exchanging smiles. They all turned to the fifth and watched him. Zer0 stared back as his face plate glowed red. " ;D "
"That's how you got here then..." Celestia commented, the scene of the flying city fresh in her mind. "I guess the siren overloaded and accidentally sent me here... Go figure I was wrong..." "Or maybe she knew something, maybe she sent you here to get help?" "I doubt, Lilith may be smart on the field but she isn't wise enough to predict something like that." "Lilith is this... Siren?" "Yeah, she really is something else... Shame Roland got her first... She was a fire from what I heard." Krieg smiled. "So... what exactly is a Siren?" "I don't know exactly, some kind of magic warrior lady. Only six of them in the universe I think, or was it seven... Either way, I only know two." "You know two out of six of these Sirens? From what your memories tell me, they may rival my sister and I in power..." "It's a good thing they are on our side then... so to speak... If you would, I do have one last question to ask..." "If I have the answer, it is yours." "If I was warped here by a Siren, why am I sane? Well more so than usual." "I'm sorry?" "On Pandora, I had little to no control of my body. Or even my mouth, I would tell him to say thanks and Nipple Salads would come out... or something like that..." "Nipple... Salads... ummm" "Yeah... I know... You know what could have gave me back this shred of sanity back?"
Celestia thought for a moment on the question.
"Perhaps it is the peaceful nature of this world? I have often heard of mentally disturbed ponies being exposed to nature and it's beauty. Some cases they have returned to a milder state of sanity. Maybe you are a rare case." The alicorn answered. "Maybe... well, lets get out of here... I heard bad things about whats behind vaults..."
Celestia prepared the spell to teleport them back to above ground, but before she had cast it, Krieg stopped her for a small moment. He knelt down and picked up a rock on the ground that glowed with an ominous purple glow.
"Eridium..." he whispered.
They both vanished from the cave, reappearing on the balcony from before. Celestia was about to fly off when she noticed the rock he had in hand. Krieg stared at it for a moment, then gave it to Celestia.
"What is this?" "A rare ore that was found on Pandora after the vault opened. Very valuable." "Is this a gift?" "A warning... This is what Jack is after..." Celestia's eyes grew as she held the rock in her hoof. She felt the power of the small rock, she felt that if she used it her powers would increase immensely. Instead she handed it back to Krieg. "Destroy it, I don't want it falling in the wrong hands."
It was a late night in Canterlot Castle, most everypony was fast asleep. Most anyways. Twilight was having troubles sleeping all night, the only thing on her mind was Hyperion and Handsome Jack. She didn't even know what he looked like, but from Luna's description he sounded bad. Twilight crawled from her slumber just in time to see Krieg walk out the balcony, but as she went to follow the doors shut in her face. Through the glass she saw her mentor speaking with Krieg. She watched for a few moments, then flash. They were both gone. This had the mare worried, if Celestia felt the need to speak with him so bad that it had to be this secret it could be very bad. Twilight tried to go back to sleep but her thoughts kept her awake for a while longer yet. Just when she was about to close her eyes and finally drift to sleep...
"What's going on!? Why is the ship shaking!?" "Check the display Lil, Jack found us!"
Twilight shot her eyes open to see who was talking, but there was nopony there. She closed her eyes again and...
"Dammit! Direct hit! Engines going offline!" "Can't you fix it!?" "Shut it Brick, I'm going in for a crash landing on the planet ahead..." "Are you crazy Mordecai! That kind of landing would kill us!" "Not if you focus! Take this and put it to good use!"
Her mind was flooded with visions, she saw a skinny human, and a larger one. Like she was looking out of someponies eyes. The voices made no sense, what where they talking about? Who are they? She tried to focus one more time...
"Eridium? You really have lost it..." "I'm pretty sure I never had it Lil, just do it... For Roland." "Roland..."
Twilight lay there, the voices stopping. What did she just hear, some kind of communication magic? She was watching through the eyes of somepony obviously, but who's? At this point, she looked up to find Krieg standing on the balcony again and Celestia flying back to her tower.
Krieg stood out in the moon light, holding the glowing rock in his hand. If Celestia knew what it was she asked, she would not have asked it. This rock could be be the salvation of Equestria in the right hands. Maybe if he could convince her or her sister to try it, just to tap into it's power. He shot that idea out of his head. They were too regal to resort to this. He had seen Lilith use the stuff, and it gave her immense powers. Godlike even, but it did leave a bad feeling around her. Weakening her as well if he remembered. Krieg was lost in his thoughts when he heard the door behind him open.
Twilight walked across the balcony and sat down next to Krieg, who in return sat down to be at her level. He quickly stowed the eridium into a pocket. Twilight didn't seem to notice. She looked up at him, those deep purple eyes. He had never expected himself to find friends like these. When she spoke, it was with concern. not just for Equestria, but for him as well.
"Can't sleep too?" she asked lazily, shifting her gaze to the moon. "Something like that..." Krieg also shifted to the moon. "... I keep thinking about what you told the princesses. About Hyperion and that Jack guy. Do you think they will come here?" "I don't know... but..." Krieg turned to Twilight and did his best show a smile through the mask. "If they do, I'll chuck them out like I did that Blueblood chump."
Twilight had to fight the smirk that crawled across her face, but failed as she let out a soft giggle.
"I don't know, you make him to sound pretty tough" Twilight poked, but Krieg just laughed. "Don't worry, I can take em. After all, I got a real reason to protect this world" "Oh, and what would that be? Because it's your happy place?" Twilight sneered. "Nope, because I have six important mares that mean the world, wait, both the worlds to me."
The purple unicorn felt a tear roll down her face, but she still smiled. She didn't even expect what happened next. She felt two huge arms pick her up and pull her into an embrace. She automatically yelped as Krieg sat her on his lap. She started giggling but had to stop when he began petting her mane.
"Oh my gosh.... So this is what Rainbow was talking about.... It feels so... goo..." Twilight trailed off.
Krieg continued to pet his friend, not concerned with what his old friends would think if they saw him now. Even if she was skeptical about him from the beginning, he still felt like she had warmed up to him. As he sat there, he did feel a warmth coming from the now sleeping pony.
Twilight had snuggled up in the lap of her friend, she had never gotten the chance to before except when she was a foal spending the night with her brother. She didn't even notice the lump her horn began to rub against. She felt warmth enter her horn and her mind seemed to melt away with the problems of the world. In a way, she felt... Empowered...
Krieg forgot about Twilight as he watched the sky. He noted a gleaming star across the ocean of darkness. It caught his eye as a falling star, which he had never actually seen before. He heard it was a tradition to wish upon a falling star, so he closed his eyes. Placing his heavy hand on Twilight's soft mane, he made a silent wish. He wanted his old friends to see this peaceful world. He remembered them from Luna's magic. The young redheaded girl who helped him along the road, who he sacrificed his life to save. He wanted to see her again, hoped she wasn't dead. Opening his eyes, he saw the star disappear into the night. What replaced it however shocked him every bit. A small space vessel burst through the night sky, exploding with sound as it broke the atmosphere.
"Wha... What was that?" Twilight asked, feeling dizzy. "Some kind of ship... We should wake the DEAR GOD TWILIGHT! YOUR HORN!"
The final push through Hero's Pass was a long and painful one, but the seven vault hunters pushed none the less. They stood at the final door leading to Handsome Jack, Lilith, and the Vault. Gaige was fiddling with the door console under the protective fire of Axton and his turrets.
"Damn door, Open! Axton, I can't get it to open!" Gaige yelled as she frantically pushed buttons and swiped screens of code to either side of the display. "Ugh... Keep trying! I don't know how long the ladies can handle this assault..." Axton growled as he sprayed the field in lead. "They are gaining ground!" Maya shouted while lifting a bot, then exploding the area with fire and acid. "Axton! Do something!" "What makes you think I know what to do!? Shout at the school girl if you want to get anywhere!" "Why won't this damn thing OPEN!" Gaige screamed as she covered her face with her palm. "Here, get somewhere with THIS!!!"
Gaige flung around from the console, lifting the air with her arm. The mechanical monstrosity that followed lolled for a moment before rushing into the fray. A swipe of it's laser incinerated a few Hyperion soldiers but the bots remained uneffected. Suddenly the pathway behind the bots exploded, covering their path in to the battle. Over the explosion, gunfire and clashing steel could be heard.
"HA HA HA HA HA! TAKE THAT YE HYPERION BASTARDS! SCREWWWWW YOUUUUUU!!!!!!!!" Salvador screamed, plowing through the, now not as endless as before, bots with dual Torgue assault rifles. Behind him, the left overs gathered to take him from behind.
"My friends are cornered, Yet you attack from behind? You're screams are silent..." The machines collapsed into scrap piles as a figure stood amongst them. The figure lept into the air, "Target Aquired."
Salvador turned as the last bot in front of him fell, covered in dents and holes blown out from the inside. He almost gasped when he saw the air disrupted before him. Whatever was standing there had some kind of cloaking technology. Before it could act however, a blade shot through the waist and blood spewed from the wound. The Hyperion infiltrator fell, sword in his gut. Salvador watched Zer0 pull the blade from the bastard's corpse. His face plate glowed with a familiar red glow.
":P" "We're not countin lives saved ya stealthy bastard! Now what's the score!?"
"My skill's favor me, Your gun's have yet to impress, In short I'm winning."
Salvador and Zer0 regrouped with Axton and Gaige, who was still fighting with the door. The three others could see her stress. Zer0 finally approached and stabbed his blade into the console, the door opened immediately. He turned his face to Gaige who just stared at him with wide eyes, to which he responded...
"Time is running short, and we are losing this fight, time is not out friend"
"I'm sorry... I just... I want Krieg back..." Gaige fell apart briefly before pulling herself together. "But I will pull through... let's end this." "Jack dies today..."
The five vault hunters ran through the door, following the cave system into a chasm filled with Hyperion tech. Slowing down a moment, the five of them felt a hum of energy in the air. It clouded into their lungs and hazed their minds, but they pushed into the central chamber. What they found was not expected. Lilith lay on the ground, in a pool of her own blood, the vault was obviously opened but nothing resembling the warrior could be found. It was Gaige who looked in the sky to see the eridium beast being carried to the moon base on a huge carrier ship.
"We're too late..." Axton sighed. "Dammit to hell! We were so close!" "Calm down Axton, there is still a chance. Come on, lets go see if Lil is alright" Maya suggested. "Salv, Zer0, stay here and cover the entrance. Gaige, see what you can hack off that console. Oh and..."
Maya reached a hand out to the young girl's shoulder. "Don't blame yourself, you did the best you could. Axton can be an ass some times, but don't let him get to you. We will find Krieg, then we will hit Jack... Hard." A smooth smirk rose from her cobalt blue lips. Gaige smiled, turning around to hug Maya.
After the brief display of affection, she ran to the console to find out what she could. Axton, on the other hand, rushed to Lilith, who was still on the ground. Her body curled with her arms caressing her stomach. The commando softly flipped her body over and saw the hole. Jack must have pulled a shotgun or something on her, the hole was big enough to fit his hand into, Axton thought. He noticed the damage healing however, each of the nerve endings that were visible had started to glow with a feint purple glow. Axton pulled the sirens hand back to find crumbs of an eridium chuck caked into her palm.
"Maya, got any rid rock on ya!?" He shouted, noting the tender moment between the siren and mechromancer. "Yeah, I got a chuck here. Why?" She asked as Gaige ran to the console, then strutted over to the body of Lilith. "She was tryin to heal herself, but I think she is outa eridium." "Not anymore" Maya scoffed as she placed the chuck of purple stone into the sirens hands. It began to glow immediately as it touched her skin. The hole shrunk as the skin and intestines closed, nerve endings tied together and the wound closed. Lilith however was still out cold.
Axton stepped away from the healing siren to check on Gaige.
"Find anything yet?" "Yeah, looks like Jack is taking the Warrior to be retrofitted with Hyperion tech. Doesn't say what world, figures. But look at this!" She excitedly said with a grin. "Coordinates all the warps controlled by Angel, including on the day Jack attacked Sanctuary..." "Anything else?" "Yeah, that Jack had a P.P.T. at a hidden air base nearby." "A what?" "P.P.T. you know, Personal Planetary Transport? Used to drop small squads of troops into a battlefield from a neighboring planet."
Axton considered the possibilities, all of them could attempt a covert ops mission to take out the warrior for good. But then they would probably be flying right into Jack's trap. They could also hit the coordinates of Krieg's warp from Pandora and see how he managed, probably not well considering... His thoughts were cut short by a large frigate landing nearby. He watched as the hatch opened for two other men.
"Hey slabs! Glad you waited to start the party!" Brick shouted as he stepped toward the group. "Yeah, so happy to see everything dead... So how about Jack, is the bastard dead?" Mordecai followed. "Unfortunately he escaped... with the Warrior..." Maya grimaced. "Woah, you mean he actually woke it up? Damn... what are we supposed to do now?" Mordecai felt his jaw drop a bit at the news. The whole attack for nothing... "What do you mean what do we do!? We attack! I can get the slab's ready for an attack in no" Brick started before Axton spoke up. "He escaped to the moon base, took the Warrior with him. Gaige found he plans to retrofit it with new tech and assault Pandora again. If anything, we need to fortify our positions." "No..." A familiar voice spoke over them all. "We go there..."
Lilith stood, holding her stomach in pain with one hand and pointing the other at a distant planet. It was just barely in sight enough to spot from the stars.
"Hey now Lil, we can't just go running away..." Mordecai tried to reason. "No, we have to go there. Jack isn't going to attack Pandora, he is going there! He said so himself before he 'killed' me." "Why would he tell you?" Maya asked. "Hell if I know, maybe he got arrogant. All I know is, he wants that planet because it has a vault..."
Krieg stared at Twilight who was still slouching around. His eyes were locked on her horn which glowed with immense power, not only that but he witnessed the same strange tattoos he saw on Maya and Lilith's arms forming down the horn and along her legs. Twilight was a siren, he thought. But why would the tattoos just now show? Unless... He fiddled in his pockets trying to find the eridium but couldn't manage to find it, She must have absorbed it without thinking.
"Krieg... I feel... funny..." Twilight's world began to spin as she toppled to the ground. Everything blacked out.
"Twilight... Twilight... Twilight!" she heard echo in her mind.
Her visions returned as she saw through a different pair of eyes this time. She saw two men, like Krieg, one short with very broad shoulders and the other taller but still shorted than Krieg. These two didn't concern her quite as much as the being beside them. It wore an all black jumpsuit, helmet and all. She couldn't tell what it was, but then she saw the girl. Short, cute even. Red Pigtails, and a fake arm? She heard them speak.
"You think he will find us?" "I don't know hun, but if he doesn't we will. I promise." "Don't go makin the girl a promise you can't keep Maya..." "I mean it dick! We will find him for you, don't worry. We need him as much as you anyways..." "I just want to see him again..."
Maya...
"Twilight Sparkle!" Twilight opened her eyes to her mentor and friends staring at her. "C-Celestia?" She stuttered, her head was pounding. "Yes Twilight, it's me. Do you know what happened to you?" "I... no, I remember Krieg... then a vision... and then voices..." "Uh, Ah don't know but you all but Ah think Twi has finally lost it." Applejack stated, her voice hinting with concern. "I havn't lost anything! Ouch..." Twilight began to shout but had to stop to hold her head. At raisng her hoof, however, she discovered the markings. "Wha-what are those?" "Siren Tattoos." A low voice spoke. Krieg sat in the corner on a bed. "Usually the siren is born with them, but it must be different for ponies I guess... What I don't get is the pattern. Both siren's I met, they covered one side of their body. Left or Right, but you seem to have it focused on the front half of your body. I imagine that is because of your horn touching Eridium..."
"Eri... what?" Twilight asked, confused. "A strange and powerful substance found deep within out planet Twilight" Celestia responded this time. "I had told Krieg to destroy the piece he found, unfortunately you made contact with it before he had the chance..." "Why should it matter that I touched it? Ouch...." Twilight buried her head under her hooves again in pain. "Because Sirens and Eridium have a special connection Twilight, the chunk I had must have unlocked your hidden potential." "Ouch... well I don't feel any better..." "Uhm... guys... now that Twilight is awake... shouldn't we... go find the... thing that crashed?" Fluttershy chimed in. "Yes, I need to see what it was. It warped in the same way I suspect I did. A siren did it." "Is that supposed to surprise us, because if Twilight became one I bet there are a bunch more out there..." Rainbow stated.
"Actually... after having a talk with Krieg, I had a chance to look in the archives about these Sirens. Like Krieg had told me, only six can exist at a time" Celestia commented, holding a book in her magic. "Not only that, but there have been four pony sirens spread out within the last thousand years. The last one was only a few hundred years ago, by the name of Steele Farsight."
"Only six? Well, if they all have such... interesting tastes in body art... I suppose they can't be all bad." Rarity inspected Twilight.
"Guys... the ship?" Fluttershy commented again. "Steele Farsight? Princess may I borrow that book? If I'm really a siren... I should learn as much as I can..." "Of course Twilight, just consider it an extra assignment." Celestia smiled. "Guys!" Fluttershy silently hissed. "OH MY GOSH TWILIGHT! Does this mean you have super magic powers now? Like better than your old magic powers like SUPER DUPER MAGIC POWERS!"
"GUYS!" Fluttershy shouted. "Oh... I'm sorry... but that ship just crashed in the forest... and anypony on it would probably be hurt..."
"Yes, and I'm sorry Fluttershy. Now my little ponies, We do need to investigate the crash. Why don't you stay here while I send a squad of gua..." "No. I'm sorry Celestia but guards will not be a good idea. I will go, I got a feeling I know who it is anyways." Krieg interrupted. "I must insist that you allow me to send a fe..." "They will either be killed or injured. If it's who I think it is, they may take an armed convoy as a threat. Better let me go and explain, granted it is who I think it is." "I will go too, ouch...." Twilight tried to say. "No Twilight, you are in no condition to go anywh..." "Don't give me that crap, eep... I didn't say that did I?" Twilight interrupted this time. "Anyways I am perfectly able to go, just a minor head ac -OUCH!- ... ache..."
"Ah think you should stay behind for this one Twi, just let Krieg handle it." Applejack tried to change her mind. "If that ship is who I think it is, then I may get some answers! ouch..." Twilight angrily shouted. "Ugh... fine... but on one condition..." Krieg suggested. "And what would that be?"
"You have got to be kidding me..."
Krieg had Applejack and Rarity put their skills to work in making a horse drawn, open top, wagon and had them retrofit it to allow him to pull it. He didn't like the idea of pulling Twilight all the way there, but the eridium left her power sapped. Even if it turned her into a siren. Also she needed to meet a siren in person, so she thought. Krieg rather-ed she would just study herself. He gave in however and put on the reigns of the wagon. The first time they saw him on this world... and he looked like a pony's bitch...
The forest seemed to go on for days, pulling Twilight around didn't help much either. Krieg's arms felt as if they were going to fall off, but he kept pulling. He was glad that his friend finally passed out, just meant he didn't have to hear her complaining. That was always a plus to him. He looked up in the sky and saw smoke rising in the distance. He figured that to be the ship wreckage. At least he knew they were making progress. He pushed forward towards the smoke.
The psycho had been walking for nearly two hours, using the smoke as a guide he managed to find the ship wreckage. The vessel was surprisingly large. He was glad Twilight fell asleep, she would likely want to spend what energy she had left exploring the ship, although Krieg had to admit. It was tempting. He turned around to check on his friend, making sure she was still asleep he set the tongue of the wagon down and peaked into the blown out door. His hand clutched his buzz axe for safe measure. His first step into the ship was greeted by silence, the light shown in from multiple hull breaches from above. Likely from the crash. Krieg stepped into what he thought was an armory but was actually just a private quarters fitted to look like an armory. Empty weapons chests lined the walls to a cot on the far end of the room, Krieg passed by the room. The next room held many cots, must have been crew quarters he thought. Again, every chest was opened and looted save for one. The psycho walked to the chest and kicked it open. A small platform rose from the small chest, on it was a shield generator. Krieg picked it up and attached it to his belt, never know when they can save your life he thought.
Krieg stepped out of the ship several minutes later, deciding there was nothing else in their to loot. To his surprise, Twilight sat in the wagon awake staring into the forest. He approached the wagon and picked up the tongue, but it was ripped from his hands by her magic. Krieg turned to see her climbing down from the wagon, then trotting into the woods. Krieg followed. He looked up to see light smoke rising further in the forest.
"Dammit I hate those wolves..." Lilith complained as she threw a wooden leg into the campfire. "ugh... Guess I can't really complain though... they make good fire wood." "Yeah *nom* *nom* and they taste great! *nom* *nom* You should try some!" Brick shouted with excitement as he dug his mouth into the chunk of flesh. "Wait what? Brick, these things are made completely out of wood!" Lilith shouted in confusion. "I dunno *nom* I punched one and pulled out meat *nom*" "You punched one... and pulled out... where did you punch it?" "In the *nom* stomach *nom* must have gotten some stomach muscle!" "Uh Brick... I think you're eating the wolves lunch..." "Huh? *nom*" Brick took a moment to analyze his meat chunk before raising it back to his mouth, tearing off another bite. "Ugh... Sometimes you can be so..." Lilith was interrupted by steps coming from the north. The other vault hunters had left to scout the immediate area for threats and civilization while they kept the campsite secure.
"Dammit I hate this world already... Nothing but forest for five damn miles!" Axton raged as he stepped through the brush, Maya following him. "Get over it, I think it's nice to see some forest that isn't full of giant thing's trying to kill us..." Maya replied smoothly. "At least those I could shoot! You wouldn't even let me kill that... creepy little... thing!" "It wasn't bothering us, besides I think it was cute." "Cute? It was a chicken with a snake body! That's like double the creepy! Not awesome..." "I bet your a dog person." "What does that have to do with any... oh... Hey guys." Axton noticed Lilith and Brick staring at the two of them. "Uhh right, and Lil.... THAT is what it looked like between you and Roland." Brick commented. "Really Brick? Really. Because now is a great time to bring that up again..."
"Who's bringing lunch!?" A gruff voice shouted from the distance. Salvador emerged from the bush's carrying two big tree's ripped from the ground, each bearing apples. "Salvador! Where did you find apple trees here!?" Lilith was about to have an aneurysm from everything. "Aye, There was a whole lot of em just south of here! So many I decided to take a couple!" Salvador smiled as he pulled the apples off to eat. "To the south? That's... weird, are they wild?" Maya asked. "No! They're dead! HAHAHAHA!" The gunzerker laughed. "Ugh... please let this end soon..." Lilith begged.
As they all stood there conversing about the terrain, Zer0 joined them with no news from he west. Gaige returned from the east with a bit of news but nothing dramatic.
"So Gaige, find anything useful?" Maya asked, smiling at her young friend. "Not really, found a family of manticores but that's it." "Manti... what?" Brick asked, just finishing his meal. "Seriously Brick? You never heard of manticores?" Lilith asked. "No I havn't! What are they?" "Wow... well umm, they are big... Lion things, with wings and a scorpion tail..." Lilith explained. "Uh huh... How do they taste?" Brick asked inquisitively. "You have got to be kidding me..." Lilith sighed.
"Hey guys! Someone's coming!" Mordecai shouted from his treetop. He had been keeping an eye on the surrounding area with his rifle in one hand and a bottle in the other. "Some big guy, I can't tell cause he's too blurry!" "Dammit Mordecai... Alright! We will go and investigate! Anything to end this day..."
Krieg and Twilight were getting closer to the smoke, and both of them noticed the dainty footprints on the ground. To Krieg they look familiar. He distracted himself from the thought as he watched Twilight, she seemed so different now. She had been silent for the last hour they had walked, was she really that focused? Or is something else wrong?
"Twi, whats wrong?" Krieg asked, trying not to sound sudden. "Nothing..." "Twi..." "Don't 'Twi' me, nothing is wrong." "Then why are you so quiet?" "Is it so wrong to be quiet?" "It doesn't seem normal for you, I figured you would have a thousand questions for me. Like at the ship..." "I didn't want to bother you is all." "Well... you don't need to worry about that, but this silence is bothering me a bit." "Sorry." Krieg had enough, this game was ending now. "Twilight, what is wrong?" Krieg stepped out in front of the unicorn to block her path. She stopped. "You are not acting normal, ever since you became a siren you just seemed so..." "So what!?" Twilight snapped. "So what Krieg!? So quiet? So deep in thought? Or how about so lost! or confused, or hurt! I don't know what is going on with me! I never asked for this! Never asked for this kind of power or the visions or the voices! If it wasn't for that dumb rock I may not have even become what I am!" Twilight was breathing harder and harder the more she ranted.
"Now I'm covered in these strange tattoos that I don't even know what they mean, I have these strange new powers that I don't know how to control! And much worse, the only five other people who are these 'sirens' are most likely not able to tell me what is going on either! That is whats wrong!" Her face was burning red with anger, Krieg's heart sunk as he listened. He knew this must be hard, but to see the anger she had in her eyes...
"I'm... sorry Twi..." Krieg tried to apologize, but was cut off by the purple unicorn leaping into his chest in a fit of tears.
"I'm scared... I saw *sob* things... In my head... I can't... I can't..." Her words stopped with a flood of sobs spilling from her mouth. Krieg spent a moment to comfort his friend, so lost in the moment he didn't recognize he was surrounded...
"K...Krieg?" The soft voice seemed to echo across the forest as the psycho knelt down embracing the pony. "Is that you?"
Krieg turned his head to face the voice, Twilight also looked to see who it was. Twilight was still stressed, and in all honesty... who wouldn't be? She felt Krieg's embrace loosen as he stood and stared into the brush line. Another human came stepping out of the brush, she was small and slender but the strangest thing about her was her arm. It was metal, fake. She had heard of ponies who needed prosthetic limbs, but never like hers. The girl slowly paced towards Krieg, then sped into a dash as she crashed into the psycho wrapping her arms around his neck. Twilight swore she saw tears running down her face.
"I can't... I can't believe it!" The girl shouted as Krieg followed her embrace, spinning her in the air around him. "You're alive!" "Gaige... You have no idea what I've been through..." Krieg responded. "I thought I lost yo... Wait... You said... You spoke... normal..." Gaige stared into her friend's dark brown eyes. "Yes... I did." Krieg smiled behind his mask, and even though it didn't show, Gaige new his feelings. "So you... you're... fixed?" She asked, still quivering with excitement. "Not quite... But I'm better, thanks to my new friends in this world." Krieg took a moment to glance at Twilight who shifted her gaze away, blushing. "Your new friends? What new... OH MY GOSH PONIES ARE REAL!?" Gaige nearly flipped as she saw Twilight sitting in the clearing. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW THEY WERE REAL! They are what I based all my tech off of! This is sooooo awesome!" "Gaige..." Krieg tried to interrupt, but Gaige's rambling continued. "I have seen every episode going all the way to the finale of season THIRTEEN! Oh my gosh... this is too much... AWESOMENESS!!!" "GAIGE!" Krieg shouted this time, resulting in two adorable eep sounds coming from both Gaige and Twilight. "I know this must be exciting for you... but calm yourself. Were are the others?" "Oh, they were right behind... me... oh..." Gaige turned around to see her other friends, all staring. She thought at first it was her and her rambling on ponies, but then noticed Twilight and her tattoos. "She... she is a..." "Siren" "Siren" Both Lilith and Maya responded at the same time as they stepped forward from the brush.
Twilight watched as the two other human girls stepped out from the brush. Seeing the both of them in person was filling her with unease, at least until...
"Don't worry sister..." Twilight heard in her head. She couldn't explain why, but she was sure it was the voice of the blue maned human. "Yeah sis, you're safe with us." The red maned human's voice rang. It seemed so relaxed, and calming. "I can feel your distress, maybe a little confusion. What happened? Did you get hurt?" The blue maned one voiced again.
Twilight stared as the two human girls smiled down at her, even though they were a completely different species they considered her as a sister... Six sirens in all the known... everything... and here she found two others like her. Twilight felt a special kind connection already and they only shared a few words.
"How... how can we talk like this?" Twilight thought, hoping the other sirens would hear. "I don't know, first time I ever felt the feeling was last night. Quickly figured it to be another siren. The red maned siren voiced again. "How did you figure?" Twilight asked. "Because I heard it too, in fact it connected us to you during our descent. We saw through your eyes a few times." The blue siren voiced again. "But why does it happen?" Twilight asked again. "I guess it's your power, you can read minds it would seem. Try it on Axton." The blue one voiced again, with a certain slyness to her voice. "He's the taller one, brown hair."
Twilight looked in the direction of the other humans who stepped out while the sirens communicated with her. She quickly spotted the one they called Axton, he was abnormally... normal... The other humans here had different things that really stood out, but he just looked... normal. She focused her mind to his, she could feel her power surging out into the air before him. All at once, her mind was flooded with images.
She saw a woman, her face full of anger. Her hands came together as one hand closed around a finger. It pulled something off the hand, and threw it at the man she was peering through. She felt pain, but it was quickly countered. The next few visions were of an escape, leaving the world.
Her vision flashed as she was suddenly strapped to a chair. Large goonish looking humans spread around her, their mouths moved and shouted. A blunt pain shot through her stomach as one of the humans punched. She barely understood their broken language, but there was mention of a wife. After a smart remark, she was rewarded with another bludgeon, this time to the face. Her vision moved to a small box on a table nearby. The goons made mention of a bounty. One of them picked up the box, asking questions then tossed it on the ground. The box opened into a strange device, her vessel recognized it as 'turret'. It began pumping as the goons fell one by one.
"See? That's your power sis" The red siren voiced. "I can... read minds?" Twilight responded. "So it would seem, but I'll warn you now sister. Some minds are better left untraveled." The blue siren voiced. "I have so much to ask si... sisters" Twilight smiled at the word sisters. "May we ask your name sister? Mine is Maya" "Yeah, you can just call me Lil" "A pleasure to meet you Maya and Lil, My name is Twilight Sparkle"
Krieg watched a moment as the sirens stared at each other. He could only imagine the mental battle between the three of them. His first thoughts were of concern, especially with Maya who he personally had seen in action. He erased those thoughts, remembering that Twilight was a skilled magic wielder before a siren. She would manage between Lil and Maya. Turning his head to a more pressing matter, he approached Axton who was whispering between Zer0 and Salvador.
"So, you guys think we can trust Krieg? You know... since he is 'normal' now?" Axton asked, leaning into the other two vault hunters.
"We have crossed blades before, he was a worthy challenge. He has earned my trust" Zer0 spoke in his usual poetic tone.
"I'm with Zer0, an extra gun is never a bad thing heh" Salvador chuckled.
"Yeah, I know... but at least before we knew to stay on our toes with him... Now he is an unknown..." Axton still whispered.
"Damn right I'm an unknown, but I understand your distrust. For now anyways" Krieg spoke, getting a slight kick at Axton's jump. "So... What happened? On Pandora I mean"
Axton stared at Krieg, almost shocked he didn't know but remembered that he sacrifice his echo for Gaige. He let out a sigh as the sat on a fallen tree. Zer0 stood behind as Salvador and Brick plopped on the ground to help explain. Krieg continued to stand, later he decided he should have sat down for the flood of new.
"Roland... Damn... he was a good man, so he seemed anyways. Despite meeting him in person, we never got a chance to actually... talk... you know..." Krieg spoke in a hushed tone.
"Yeah... It came as a shock to all of us... Especially Tina..." Brick muttered. "But we are gonna get some payback when Jack shows his face again!"
"He isn't dead yet?" Krieg asked, more worried now than he was a few hours ago.
"Nope..." Mordecai jumped from his roost and hit the ground. "And he is bringing the warrior here... apparently he knows of a vault on this planet."
"Vault..." Krieg swallowed hard as the word seemed to shake the air around him.
"You know anything about it man?" Mordecai asked. "You have been here a while."
"No... I heard nothing about a vault here" Krieg lied. "But if Jack is coming here... What is this 'Warrior' he is bringing?"
"Giant ass eridium lizard, we watched it get taken off on a freighter before coming here" Brick spoke.
"I gotta get back to Canterlot... You guys should come too."
"Wha... Canterlot? What the hell is Canterlot?" Salvador asked.
"Duh, only the capital city of Equestria! Geez Sal, I thought you could pick that up..." Gaige rang as she popped out from a bush. "Oh my gosh! That means I get to meet more ponies!?"
Krieg ignored his friends ramblings as he explained further. "Yeah, the leaders of this country are waiting for my return with whatever I found. Since I found you guys, Celestia would certainly want to speak with you all. Especially if you have information on Jack."
"Alright, well guys lets pack up and head out. Daylight's wastin!" Mordecai shouted, gaining the attention of the Sirens nearby. "Krieg, we'll follow you and your friend."
"Her name is Twilight, and yeah. Lets get out of here."
"They have been gone quite a while, you don't think they got hurt?" Fluttershy broke the silence around her friends.
"A'm certain they'll be fine sugar. In fact, Ah bet they are on the way back now" Applejack reassured.
"Yes darling, I agree with Applejack on that. Besides, what could be out there that would be a match for Krieg? Or do we need to reintroduce him to Blueblood?" Rarity smiled as her friends laughed with her.
"Uh, so anyone else notice Rainbow done flew the coop?" Applejack pointed out.
"Oh! Yeah she said she had some important things she had to do. She made me promise not to tell anyone! Oh... but don't tell anyone that part..." Pinkie grinned, completely oblivious of what she said.
"Dag... ugh... girls I think we should go look for her..." Applejack sighed, followed by her friends agreeing voices.
"Hey guys... you know what I think would be absolutely hilarious?" The voice of a total douche spoke. "Lets warp in a few bandits for the 'heros' to play with, I got a cell block that needs emptied. Whats that? Why not space em? Eh... not enough fun..."
Rainbow Dash shot through the sky, piercing cloud after cloud searching the forest for her friends. She knew she couldn't have been far behind. The only left a few hours ago and she was the fastest flier in the world! She began to wonder if she passed them when she spotted a massive metal machine smoking in the trees. She shot down to the machine to investigate.
After a disappointing adventure in the wrecked machine, Rainbow noticed the wagon left behind. She almost began to panic until she noted the two sets of foot prints leaving the site. One was a ponies, the other was Krieg's. The blue pegasus followed.
After a few minutes of flying, she heard an unfamiliar sound. It was like loud pops in the distance, the pops were followed with several explosions. Rainbow had no clue what the pops were, but the explosions caught her attention. She darted in the direction of the commotion.
Moments after arriving, Rainbow was met with a mass of confusion. She saw Krieg and Twilight but there were other humans with them, not many but still. The pops seemed to be coming from the long stick things they held, but what were they pointing them at? Rainbow glanced across from where her friends were fighting to find more humans with the strange sticks also poping at them. Her confusion cleared as she watched one throw a rock at her friends, the rock hit the ground and exploded leaving a massive crater.
The pegasus bolted into the air several strokes high. Once she achieved the altitude she desired, she curled into a dive bomb and descended into the fray. The atmosphere began to bend and weave around her as she gained speed. The pressure built as well until... The air resounded with a loud explosion as the trail behind the pagasus erupted in color. The bandits watched in amazement as the object of their attention crashed closer and closer.
Rainbow charged the fray, kicking and bucking bandits as she flew by. The vault hunters also stared in amazement as the bold pegasus flashed by, blowing bandits out of the way. Salvador was especially impressed. Rainbow continued to show off, doing flips and barrel rolls before... SMACK!
"Ooooowwwwww.... What did I..." Rainbow muttered as she looked up, staring at a colossal creature.
"Little pony hurt friends... Me punish!" The creature shouted at Rainbow.
"I don't think so bucket head..." Rainbow smirked as she recovered and shot back into the air.
Instinct took over and Rainbow went for the knockout. She shot into the sky and circled around the creature until she found herself behind the giant thing. She positioned herself to hover right above the metal bucket he wore and slammed her rear legs into the back of it's head. The metal helmet went flying into the air.
Rainbow was about to call it a victory until...
"RRRWWWAAARRGGGG I'M GOING TO SHOVE MY FINGERS IN YOUR EYE SOCKETS!"
"Woah bud... Take a joke Holy Crap! What's with your HEAD!?" Rainbow shouted, barely getting a moment to notice the skull protruding out of the creatures torso.
"GET DOWN!" Krieg screamed as his buzzsaw flew through the air, nailing the raging goliath right in the skull. The subtle humming giving him a warm feeling. "You... bandits... almost hurt my friend...."
Rainbow watched as Krieg seemed to steam in anger. The air became dense with energy it seemed, and Rainbow was almost weighed down by the sudden feeling of pressure. Rainbow couldn't take her eyes of Krieg as his skin seemed to rupture and bend. The other vault hunters backed off, Rainbow thought of doing the same. Before she could even begind moving, the psycho spoke in a hushed grunt.
"You want 'im? You GOT 'IM!" Krieg roared, his body mutating into a monstrosity of flesh.
Bandits surrounded the mutant psycho, all shouldering their guns. More goliaths warped in from the surrounding tree lines. A group of psychos charged at Krieg, screaming out their lungs. Krieg raised his giant fist, clutched around his buzzsaw. The psychos leaped into the air, ready to strike. With a swift swipe, they flew back in a mess of their own gore.
Just kill the bandits, if you harm the others...
"I WILL FEAST ON THE SLAUGHTER!"
Krieg charged the bandits, wildly flailing his axe. The strength of his massive arm cleaving through the humans like butter. A sharp stinging sensation sparked on his back, turning his head to face the goliath unleashing a barrage of bullets. Kreig slowly stepped into the bullet storm, laughing at the pain as he strolled toward the goliath. Covering half the distance, he felt the sharp pain sting into his forehead.
"I'm gonna kill you all, I'm gonna kill your friends and your family, I'm gonna track down your grandparents and turn them inside-out, nobody can stop the blood train that will turn your loved ones into a red splatter across the red tracks of humanity!" Krieg calmly said as he pushed into a mad dash at the goliath, still firing on the mutant psycho charging him.
Listen to yourself! This is not who you are!
"ARGH! BE QUIET!"
Not until you control yourself! If you harm an innocent, if you harm one of them... I will end this myself!
The psycho leaped into the air above the goliath who simply stared in awe at the monster. Krieg lifted the axe into the air as he descended upon his prey. The axe cut clean through the steel helmet of the goliath, but the psycho pressed further until the axe buried itself into the flesh. The blade buzzed in the soupy mess of gore.
Control yourself! You are getting out of control!
"THE HARVEST IS MINE!"
Two more goliaths raised their guns to fire, one of the interrupted by a buzz axe lodged into it's gut. The buzzing axe ripped into the stomach as Krieg rushed the Goliath, tearing the axe from it's spill't guts. Following the move, Krieg then cleaved through the goliath next to him. He roared and relished in the kill as he continued to charge the bandit marauders attempting to flank him.
Kill them and end this!
"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO! I TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"
Dammit you bloodlust infused monster!
The marauders barely stood a chance as the psycho closed the gap between them, quickly dispatched them with a wide slash into the lot of them. Their warm blood splashed onto the psycho's mask, and he loved the warmth it gave him.
"I NEED MORE TO KILL! MORE!"
No! You have killed enough!
"SHUT UP! I WILL KILL WHAT I WANT TO KILL!"
The fight is over! They are gone! You will be gone or I WILL KILL US BOTH!
"NEVER STOP THE KILLING! NEVER!"
Oh I'll stop the killing... you just wait... I AM IN CONTROL NOW!
The psycho ceased his mad rants, his twisted body reverting back to it's normal form. Krieg scanned the battlefield and sighed.
"Even after all of that... I still cannot control him..."
"No, you did control him." A soft voice spoke through the silence.
"He killed them all Twilight, I thought Rainbow was about to die and I... lost it..."
"But you took control when it mattered, you showed the beast who is in control. And even after that, you did it to protect your friends. Krieg, not until now did I realize just what is going on in your head. Thanks to my new powers, I felt your pain, I felt it as you felt it. I couldn't control myself, our minds just connected. So I'm not going to judge you for what you cannot control, I know my friend is there. He will always be in there."
"I... I don't..." Krieg sighed. "Than you Twilight... It means a lot."
"Not a problem, now... let's try not to... do that again..."
"I expected you to be upset."
"I am, but anypony could see these... bandits... were mad. Death was the only solution."
By now, the other vault hunters and Rainbow joined the two of them. All of them stared at the mess of blood Rainbow had to look away, so eager to fight until seeing the outcome. Now the pegasus was just sick to her stomach. Twilight turned to her new friends, and tried to put on a smile.
"Come on everypo... uh... ugh... come on, we need to get to Canterlot."
Deep in the darkest parts of the world, a forbidden land for anypony to travel, a strange sight was said to be found. Many of the dark creatures residing in this dark land considered it an omen, a star that had fallen on them for their failure. Some considered it random chance. In the darkest part of the night, some even claimed to hear voices echo through the woods. None of the dark creatures were prepared for what was coming.
Queen Chrysalis was a sorry sight. She not only had failed herself, but she failed her own children. The blasted ponies surely had enough love to spread, even if she wanted it all to her children. Her own lair was falling apart, not so much from age but rather rage! That damnable 'princess' she thought as she chucked some already broken furniture across her throne room, or rather what was left of it. She was so close... so close to getting what she needed, what her children needed.
"What right do they have to deny us the right to eat!?" The changeling queen screamed across the echoed room. "I WILL have my vengeance on them... ALL OF THEM!"
The queen stopped to breath for a moment, clearly speaking out of rage. She needed a moment to gather her thoughts, but every moment she took only reminded her of the plight that her race faced. She vented and steamed so much that she failed to notice the strange floating ball hovering into the room. The little ball, still unnoticed, unfolded into a floating screen and the face of a man floated behind the queen.
"Vengeance eh babe? Sounds like you got some beef with the princesses." The voice spoke through the screen. Chrysalis shot around and charged her horn, but lost her focus at the strange magic before her. Before she got a chance to speak the man in the screen spoke again. "H-h-holy shit lady! Ha ha! Why the hell do you look like you got in a fight with a hole puncher!? Ha-ha-ha! HEY WILHELM! GET A LOAD OF THIS BABE! HOW MANY HOLES CAN A GUY FILL, EH!?"
Chrysalis grew angry at the man, and charged her horn again to blast the strange screen.
"Whoa now chika, I wouldn't do that if I were you. At least, not if you want your precious bugs to see tomorrow that is."
"My... What have you done!? ANSWER ME!"
"Oh, alright. But only because you got a cute voice" The man winked, but burst out laughing as he did it. "Oh god... couldn't keep a straight face... I'm sorry... but take a look out your window, you will see what I mean."
Chrysalis obeyed, but upon reaching her neck from the window regretted it. She watched as her children were cornered by massive yellow constructs of some kind. She even noted a few bloodied corpses resting at the feet of a few of them. Her anger grew as she watched.
"Why have you come, to enslave a dying race? Or just to kill us as we are and end our misery!"
"Jeeze babe, cut back on the attitude. I'm here to make a... proposition to you. You see, There is this thing on this planet. This thing is really important for me to find, especially before any of your pony friends figure out where it is."
"So you kill my people and expect me to submit?"
"Well, not really. Yeah... pretty much. Submit or die, whichever. But I need some allies so I'm extending the olive branch so to speak. What do you say? Do we have a deal or do I kill every one of your precious bugs right before your eyes..."
"Ugh..." Chrysalis felt as though she had no choice. "What do you want me to do..."
"That's a good girl, now I understand you things can change into stuff right? Like other ponies and shit? That's what I need. See, there is this big city out in the snow. I tried to send scouts in but they can't get near without compromising their objective."
"You want a changeling to get in this city."
"Wow, smart and ugly. Why am I not surprised, anyways you may take special interest in this city cause a little birdy told me your ex 'fiancé' happens to be ruling there with his wife. Now what was that about revenge you were talking about?"
Chrysalis fumed with anger at every word spoke to her, knowing that if she rejected his offer then her already few numbers would be nothing. She didn't even care about Shining Armor and that princess, not much anyways. She grunted as she spoke.
"Yes... I can get one of my people in there..."
"Perfect! Just what I wanted to hear, one of my agents will be with you shortly...Well, look at the time. Gotta go feed my horse! Butt Stallion! Come here girl!" The screen shot black as the ball shot out the window. Chrysalis watched in anger as the man just left. She was a Queen! How dare he treat her like such! She was just about the leave the room when her head rammed into a wall, or what she thought was a wall. She looked forward and saw nothing, well she saw 'something' but it was nothing. The air shimmered in front of her. She almost jumped when she heard a voice speak.
"Queen Chrysalis, Caine Longshot. At your service." The man wearing the same yellow color as the constructs outside spoke. "I would say it's an honor, under different circumstances."
"What!? Ah ain't lost! Ah know ma way 'round these woods like the bottom of ma hoof!" Applejack scolded at Rarity who was complaining.
"I simply implied that maybe we should have somepony else lead us to them, I apologize if I hurt your pride" Rarity sternly spoke, eyeing Applejack.
"Oh, you'll be apologizin once Ah find Rainbow and the others."
"Um Applejack... I don't mean to... interrupt but..." Fluttershy spoke, to which Applejack replied with a sigh.
"What is it sugar, you find somthin useful?"
"Well... no, not really... it's just we passed that ship... three times..."
Applejack took a moment to scan around her and there it was. The same ship they already explored and found nothing in. The farm pony sighed once again, she thought she would be getting used to doing it. She plopped down on the ground just to sit.
"Great, well what now Applejack..." Rarity scoffed.
"Ah don't know Rarity... I jus' don't know!"
"Hey guys!" Pinkie shot from around a corner trying to earn her friends attention.
"Pinkie, if it's another bug, rock, leaf, bird, or anything we are not looking for..." Applejack began.
"What about hoof prints! Cause I found some!"
The three ponies followed their energetic friend to the cart Krieg had pulled, next to it they found two sets of prints. It was as good lead as any they thought. The ponies followed the foot prints all the way to a thick brush line, but the air became think with a vile odor. Applejack was curious as to what could cause such a stink, so she peeked through the bush only to wish she hadn't. The landscape itself was painted in blood, human corpses laid strewn out and split on the ground. In the center of all the death, there he stood. Krieg, the psycho...
Rarity watched curiously as Applejack slowly backed out of the brush, her jaw slack and her eyes wide. She was now more intrigued than before and went to look herself but was stopped by Applejack before she could squeeze her head through the brush. She lifted her head to look the farm pony in the eye, a little agitated until Applejack spoke.
"Trust me Rarity... Ya don't wanna see. It's... messy."
"I appreciate your concern darling, but a mare cannot be turned away by something because it is 'messy' so if you don't mind" The unicorn poked her head into the brush, despite the farm ponies warning. As she scanned the battlefield with wide eyes, red overflowed her mind. She gently pulled her own head from the brush and stare at Applejack. "Well... I guess you were riiii..."
"Rarity!" Applejack caught her friend as she fainted, then slowly set her on the ground. She then looked at Pinkie and Fluttershy who had also poked there heads into the brush. The farm pony knew what was about to happen as she sighed. The timid pegasus lasted all of three seconds before passing out on the ground. The pink party pony however was enthralled by the bloodshed.
"Applejack! Look at all the jelly! I bet it's cherry!" Pinkie was about to leap into the gore but was stopped by Applejack tackling her into the ground.
"No! Ain't nopony gettin in that mess as long as Ah'm here!"
"What was that?" An unfamiliar voice spoke from behind the brush. Crap Applejack thought...
Chrysalis stared the Hyperion infiltrator down with a gaze to kill as he stood in front of her with his crooked smile. She didn't trust him, and he knew it. Had she not of been starving on power, she would have made the whelp kneel in his proper place.
"Come know my queen, surely you can open up a little bit. After all, we are serving each other right?" Caine spoke in a clever tone as he smirked.
"Consider yourself lucky that my people are starving..." Chrysalis scoffed. "What does your master need of me?"
"Heh, first off Jack doesn't 'need' anything from you. You are merely a means to an end for now, a tool. As for what we want of you, we would appreciate an agent in the city walls of the Crystal Empire tomorrow. No later."
"And why is it so important you have an agent in there by tomorrow?"
"You are familiar with the shield magic used to protect cities on this planet yes?"
"Your point?"
"Let's just say Jack intends to make a big debut tomorrow and wants everypony in the city to get the 'full' effect." Caine smiled with his pale white lips.
"I see... And you cannot get inside for what reason?"
"Do I look like a pony? Besides, their guards spot us every time we get too close. As much as I enjoy blasting them inside out, the operation will be a much bigger success without casualties."
"Cas..." Even though she was evil, she never intended to KILL anypony... This Jack was certainly mad with power, but Chrysalis was still too weak to fight back. She nodded to Caine as her horn began to glow. Shortly after, another changeling entered the room. "Caine, this is my most promising... son... Prince Carapace. He is a master of subterfuge and stealth"
"Mother, why did you call for me?" The changeling asked..
"Because you have a very important mission for the hive, one that could save our race." Chrysalis tried her hardest to force a smile for her son, she knew he didn't buy it. "You are to go with this man, he will explain everything..."
"Ok... but what about you?"
"I will be fine, now go gather what you need to travel. And be swift!" Chrysalis was about to turn away, but in a small burst of emotion stopped Carapace. "And... be safe..."
Axton stepped through the bloodied mess towards the voices he just heard, followed by Maya and Twilight. Twilight was certain she knew the voices, but felt concerned as she knew what they saw. The siren unicorn sighed, gaining the attention of Maya who knelt down and patted her back. Twilight smiled and continued. The remaining vault hunters scattered around the battlefield.
"I heard it come from over here, come on out! Weapons down or we fire!" Axton shouted.
"Yeah, sure. Let's scare the poor things even more..." Maya sighed. "It's safe to come out now, I think we have a friend of your's here."
"Can ya come over here? Ah'm afraid ma friends are... stuck..." The southern voice rang from outside the brush. Twilight moved through the brush to see her friends.
"Applejack! Uhh... why are you on top of Pinkie like that? And why are Rarity and Fluttershy passed out on the ground?"
"Uh yeah, long story. Tell ya what Twi, how bout ya tell me what all that mess out there is for?" Applejack struggled to keep the pink pony down still. "Jeeze Pinkie! Since when are ya so.... tough!"
"Yeah... that... you see..." Twilight began to explain the events to her friend, starting from the ship and finding the vault hunters. Then she told Applejack about Handsome Jack and his plans according to the other humans. After that, she attempted to explain the mess but was interrupted as Krieg stepped through the brush.
"What can I say, I wanted a shiny new bicycle..." Krieg sighed, then followed with a chuckle. "Twi, perhaps we should get away from this mess... so your friends don't faint again."
At this, the other vault hunters began climbing out of the bush. Axton and Maya stepped through first, followed by Zer0 and Brick. Lilith and Mordecai also crawled through the mess. Salvador then stepped through the bushes, bandit arm in one hand. The other half of the arm was caught in the gunzerker's teeth as he ripped a large chuck on flesh off and chewed. The other vault hunters just covered their faces as Twilight and Applejack stared, unsure of what they felt most. Disgust or sick.
"What!? Not like there was much to eat since we landed!" The gunzerker shouted as he bit off another chunk of bandit flesh.
"Hey! Why does HE get the candy!?" Pinkie pouted, receiving strange looks from everyone present.
"Pinkie... I'm sorry" Applejack apologized.
"For what?" Pinkie asked back.
"This" Applejack bucked the pink pony across the face, knocking her out cold. "Jeeze that pony sure can take ah beatin..."
It stayed quiet for a moment as everyone watched the sudden act of violence between the two earth ponies. The silence was quickly obliterated by the psychotic screams of a certain fan girl.
"Oh my gosh... Applejack? Rarity!? FLUTTERSHY!?" Gaige squeeled like the school girl she was as she rushed the K.O'd pegasus, scooping her up in a massive hug. Fluttershy woke up to the glittering face of Gaige. The pegasus let out a soft 'eep' at the surprise but quickly warmed up to the warm cuddling of the mechromancer.
"Umm... hello" Fluttershy softly greeted.
"HI! Like oh my gosh I am totally talking to Fluttershy... This is the single greatest day EVAR!"
"Um, excuse me?" Fluttershy asked with a confused look on her face.
"No need, just let me bask in this a little bit... and everyone made fun of me for 'The Stare' heh..."
"Oh... well... ok then." Fluttershy smiled, normally she never liked this kind of attention but now she was just glad it was a friendly face.
Nightfall began to come, and it was still a days trek back to Canterlot. The vault hunters and ponies decided to make camp (Far away from the battlefield). Most the ponies were slow to trust these humans, but Twilight and Krieg opened them up to the newcomers and soon they all were laughing and exchanging stories. By time they all finally made it to sleep, Everypony had found a new friend to call their own.
Rainbow had made herself comfortable in Mordecai's lap as he sat perched in a tree. He took a liking to the spunky pegasus, she reminded him of an old friend. The pegasus began to snore and kick softly, but the hunter didn't mind. His thought's left this strange world and took him to his happy place, remembering the countless times Bloodwing had saved his ass. He chuckled as he remembered the fun times they had. He was only barely aware that he had begun to scratch Rainbow's ears causing her to stretch in enjoyment.
Twilight slept with both the sirens, they spent most the night sharing whatever information about sirens they could to the pony. Twilight wanted to stay awake and listen more, but when Lil began nod her head in half sleep, she decided it best to have this talk later. She lay in her ball between the two sirens, her dreams filled with learning more about her new powers.
Fluttershy really bonded with Gaige, despite their opposite attitudes. She was most impressed by the D374-TP robot she could create. Sure, it was scary but it seemed so friendly to her. Fluttershy sat silently most the night as Gaige rambled and praised her and her friends, it was only late into the night that Gaige started talking about her past. Fluttershy felt bad for the girl, and opted to spend the night with her to help her sleep.
Brick fell hopelessly in love with the pink party pony. Her energy and spastic attitude reminded him of his old dog, not to mention the conversation was to his liking. She would talk about parties, he would talk about smashing things. She would talk about different treats, he would talk about smashing things. She would talk about anything, and he would still talk about smashing things.
Krieg was probably the most comfortable. Between Rarity and Applejack, he really closed the gap between high classed and farmer. His thought's still haunted him, but thanks to his friends, he was able to conquer the nightmares that awaited him. One arm held the soft head of Rarity while Applejack just plopped her head on his chest and passed out. Before falling asleep himself, the psycho inside spoke in a hushed tone.
"Warm feelings... inside me...." Krieg drifted off to his dreams of ponies and happiness.
The night was late, and everypony and everyone was sleeping soundly. They all knew the trek to Canterlot would be a long one so they all needed their rest. None of them even considered the possibility that everything would go completely wrong. For the night, they all wanted to enjoy the peace they had.
The night sky was lit by the magnificent moon and stars, and even though it was a pony who made the masterpiece, Carapace could not help but enjoy it's beauty. He barely noticed Caine moving on ahead of him, and quickly caught up with the strange being. His pale white skin was unnerving to the changeling, even more so since he knew what he was capable of. Caine never took a moment to enjoy the night sky, he was always focused on his mission. This cold sense of duty also made the changeling nervous. He had gone on missions before, and was one of many reasons Chrysalis even made it into Canterlot. Even with his abilities though, Caine seemed to out do him by leagues. Carapace had to look away from the human before he scared himself too much. As if Caine could sense his discomfort, he spoke.
"Carapace huh? Do you all have names like that?" The Hyperion infiltrator asked.
"Uhh n-no... I mean... I don't know" Carapace answered nervously.
"You're not the queens son? Do you not know the names of your subjects?" Caine asked, still staring down their path.
"I am... sort of... We are all her children" Carapace lightened up a little.
"Every one of you?" Caine asked, Carapace couldn't see it but the human raised an eyebrow at the question.
"Yes, every one of us changelings were hatched from our queen." Carapace explained.
"So uh... who is the daddy?" Caine finally took his sight off the path and side tracked towards a large bush.
"The queen keeps different species capable of cross breeding in the dungeons, she goes down there every now and then and chooses according to what she needs."
"Uhhhh you serious?" Caine turned his head to the changeling, trying to judge if it was lying.
"No, in truth I was never told if we had a patriarch of any kind. I never cared." Carapace sunk his head into the ground, the noticed Caine digging in the bush. "What are you doing?"
"Did you honestly think I was going to walk all the way to the Crystal Empire? I'm getting us a ride." The human pulled the bush away like it was some kind of cloth, when it flattened on the ground Carapace saw it was just that. The camouflaged cover was being used to hide a station of sorts. Carapace noted the flat grey surface on the ground, then watched as Caine stepped up to the device on the front of it.
"Whoa! Unauthorized user up in my grill! You tryin to ha...." Caine slapped a small box to the side of the machine before it could finish speaking, causing it to spark. The screen filled with static before a golden H appeared on the screen.
"Damn bandits... Alice, deploy Bandit Technical"
"Of course Agent Longshot, Deploying Vehicle" The console rang in a gentle feminine voice.
"I've never seen anything like that before..." Carapace was in awe as he watched the machine appear in mid air.
"That's because this is the first one of many. Stole this one from some bandit hic and warped it here for my use" Caine spoke as he climbed into the vehicle. "Get in."
The two of them rode into the night on the machine, Carapace found he enjoyed the feel of the wind on his face. Caine kept his cold gaze forward as he raced across the landscape. After a few hours of driving, they finally hit a clearing. The sun was raising on the horizon. As the light hit the structure in the distance, color painted the sky. Carapace watched in wonder at the display as Caine pulled the vehicle next to the forest. After Carapace lept down from the vehicle, Caine covered it with the cover.
"Alright, this is your part Cara. I'll set up here and watch, take the form of one of those ponies and get in. As soon as you are in, contact me" Caine put a strong emphasis on that last part, handing the changeling a small device. "It's rigged to activate by your voice, simply say 'The Queen and Patriarch' and it will open communications with me."
"Right... Caine..." Carapace began before the infiltrator waved him off with a hand. The human faded into nothing before the changeling. "Be careful..."
The large group of humans and ponies finally made it to the edge of the forest, Canterlot was within sight. The vault hunters took a moment to admire the structure built into the mountain side before setting off once more. Twilight took an extra moment to watch the sun rise into the blue sky, admiring her mentors handiwork. Everything was quiet until...
"I'm hungry..." Brick groaned.
"You just ate three serving of breakfast Brick!" Lil sternly stated.
"I ate ten times that back with the slabs! I aint used to starving like this!" Brick complained again.
"And you don't think there will be food in the city?" Mordecai spoke up, Rainbow floating beside him with a confused look.
"Yeah, Horse food! Hey Pinkie, what do ponies eat?"
"I eat cake! and cupcakes! and candy! and..." Pinkie began to ramble.
"I need meat! Please don't tell me you don't eat meat..." Brick began to sob silently.
"Sorry to say it partner, but we ain't carnivores. Not many critters you can eat here without upsettin somepony" Applejack mentioned apologetically.
"There are fish, and I'm sure the market has plenty of fish..." Fluttershy mentioned softly.
"Bleh... I guess I can fry it..." Brick submitted.
"Just think Brick, this could be a good chance to start that diet you never talked about..." Mordecai snickered.
"Ha. Ha. Ha..." Brick sarcastically announced.
The large group traveled the path that led to Canterlot's front gates, the trek was long but relaxing. The vault hunters began to show signs of approval for this land the more they stayed, despite the lack of violence. Salvador even found a small rabbit to befriend, despite almost crushing it. His display of mania was ended abruptly by Fluttershy chewing him out.
"STOP RIGHT THERE MISTER!" Fluttershy sternly shouted as Salvador lifted his boot. "You think that because you are a big bad hunter guy that you can bully cute little animals and get away with it? And what would your mother think if she saw you? You need to apologize this instant!"
"Hah! This pony thinks she can scare me! Ill sho..." Fluttershy shot into Salvador's face and stared him dead in the eyes. The gunzerker tried his hardest to keep his cool but he could feel his resolve breaking down with each passing second.
They stared each other down for several minutes, beads of sweat rolling down each of their faces. Fluttershy began to turn red, almost certain she had met her match. The solid gaze of the gunzerker seemed to wane as she forced herself to continue. Finally Salvador gave in.
"Bah! I cannot take this anymore! It is like staring into the face of a monster!" Salvador crumbled as he knelt to the ground picking up the terrified rabbit. "I can't believe I'm doing this... I'm... s-s-s... ugh... I'm sorry little bunny!"
The vault hunters stood in awe as the bulky short man burst into tears over the rabbit. Fluttershy would have stood victorious if she were less kind. Instead she hovered down to the gunzerker and patted him on the back.
"There, there. You did a good thing Salvador, I'm very proud of you" Fluttershy smiled.
Salvador nodded as the pegasus patted his back, and in return he pet the rabbit. The rabbit in turn cuddled under his large hands before hopping up the path. Salvador smiled as he stood back up, Fluttershy still hovering above him with praise.
"If any of you tell ANYONE!" Salvador began but Fluttershy interrupted.
"Uh-uh-uh, you are to be nice from now on mister. You don't want me to Stare again do you?"
"Uh- but- ugh... No mam..."
The group continued onward towards the castle, eventually approaching the main gates. Krieg and Twilight led the group, and the armed guards allowed them all passage. The vault hunters seemed enthralled by the city, it's glamour and radiance were vastly superior to Sanctuary. Every pony agreed it was most important to get to the castle, then they would allow the new comers to explore the city. The large group traveled down a less traveled alley before being stopped by Krieg.
"I... smell something... Smells like... Hypocrisy... and defeat..." Krieg stated, everypony else unsure if he was sane or psycho.
"How the hell do you know what those smell like?" Lil asked.
"They smell like... fine wine... and cheap cologne..."
"It is the smell of a Gentlecolt you fiend, and I SHALL have my vengeance..."
Krieg sighed as he covered his mask with his palm. The unicorn stallion stared him down as he stood in the way. The psycho had enough of the nuisance and just continued forward, passing the unicorn. Blueblood fumed in his anger as he watched the human pass him by, charging his horn for a lethal blast. The burst of magic flew through the air and hit the psycho in the back, exploding into smoke. The unicorn smiled as he waited for the smoke cleared, but his smile quickly diminished at a shadowed threat looming behind him.
Krieg's shield generator hummed as it recharged his shields and he was trying his very best to maintain his calm. The psycho inside was screaming for release but Krieg remained calm as best as he could. He stood there in silence, waiting for this heart rate to slow. Once he felt calm enough to face the unicorn, he turned around. To his surprise...
"Take that you brute! Royal blood always prevails!" The unicorn shouted in victory as the smoke cleared, rearing up in a victory pose.
"A brute you say? Thas not very nice of you!" The gruff voice shouted from behind him. "Maybe I should teach you how to be nice!"
Salvador watched over his shoulder, smiling once he saw Fluttershy nodding in approval. He laughed gruffly as he slowly stepped towards the unicorn. Blueblood turned around to face the new threat but was met with Salvador's massive hand clenched around his horn.
"Unhand me you wretch! I'll have you know I am Royalty!"
"Too bad for you! I've broken better than you..." Salvador grinned as he forced his fist.
SNAP!
"MY HORN! YOU DASTARD! YOU BROKE MY HORN! HOW DARE YOU DEFILE MY..."
"Be silent Buffoon, Less your death approach quickly. He is not patient."
Blueblood felt his own blood run cold as the echoed voice rang in his ears. The long slender blade stretched across his neck and his body was frozen. He kept still despite the need to quiver in fear. The silence went on until...
*Plop* *plop* *plop*
"Oh my god... did he just!?" Brick shouted. "Dude... Ew..." Lil let out a grotesque frown. "BAHAHAHAHAHA!" Salvador fell on the ground laughing, horn still in hand.
"Do all royal princes have difficulties holding in their... pride?" Rarity smirked.
"He totally shit himself! Way to go Zer0!" Gaige screamed as she rolled on the ground in laughter.
Blueblood felt his face turn red as the streets filled with ponies from around town, all of them snickering at the obvious pile of horse apples on the ground beneath his flank. A mix of anger and embarrassment filled his soul as he turned to see Krieg staring him in the face.
Oh no... not again... The unicorn thought, but instead of his expected toss through the streets nothing happened. Krieg nodded at the unicorn and waved at his friends. The whole group passed the royal pain in the streets and let him wallow in his shame. Every pony still giggling as the cleared they ally way.
Carapace stalked the outer walls of the city, waiting for a single guard to patrol by. He had planned it out so well, the only thing he was worried about was dispatching the guard. One slip up and he was caught, and if he failed... He didn't want to think of the consequences for his people. After an hour of waiting, the changelings patience was rewarded. A lone guard stepped around the corner.
The guard was a tall one, his white coat lay gently under the golden armor. The helmet revealed a blonde mane. His eyes a deep blue. Carapace watched the guard pony for a moment, then in a flash of green assumed the same form. He was just about to pounce the guard when...
A swift spitting sound rang through the changelings ears, the shock of the feeling left Carapace silenced. He looked back towards were Caine had come from, then back to the guard who lay on the ground in a thin puddle of red. Carapace stared at the dead guard, in a despaired awe at the act of violence before him. He pulled out the device and spoke into it.
"The Queen and Patriarch!" The device hummed and dinged in response. "Why did you kill him!? I was going to jump him!"
"Listen kid, it's great you want to be the hero and spare lives but this is business. Lives are lost, get over it."
"You never said anything about killing!"
"I never said anything about sparing either, unless you are inside the walls you shouldn't be talking to me. Unless you really want to be the last of your kind..."
Carapace froze at the thought. His anger raged inside him still, but for the sake of his people... The changeling continued towards the front gates. After reaching the first checkpoint for guards, he was stopped by other regal looking guards. Inside his mind, he worried about being caught here, on the outside he carried himself with the presence expected of a guard. The guard at the gate nodded and let Carapace in. After stepping out of sight, the changeling sighed in relief.
Carapace found an ally way that was empty save for a few trash cans. Once again he pulled the device out and spoke.
"The Queen and Patriarch... Caine I'm in, what now?" Carapace listened in silence for several moments before the device rang out in static, then in the cold voice of his partner.
"Had a patrol go by, had to silence you. Listen carefully because I will only say this once. Talk to the city folk, ask about this 'Crystal Heart' and find out where it is. I understand everyone their thinks it as some kind of power source, kicked some evil king out not long ago but not before he broke through a shield created by the princess. You need to find the heart and place this device next to it, then hit the black switch under the door on the bottom of the device. After that, I suggest you high tail it out of there. Understood?"
"I-I... Yes, understood."
"You have about two days to find it, then the real party happens. Going silent, remember. The Crystal Heart. Caine out"
Carapace sighed a mix sigh of relief and worry. He was relieved that he didn't have to hear Caine's cold voice, but worried about what he said. High tail it out of there? What was going to happen? Were more ponies going to die? The changeling was torn, he had to obey for his people's salvation. But if he obeyed, then he would usher the deaths of how many more? He sighed in despair as he stripped his armor into a more casual look. Before leaving the ally, he decided it best to change his cutie mark. He would rather not be discovered by the family of the guard... With a quick flash, the cutie mark was changed into a golden H. It was the first thing that came to mind.
Everypony took notice of the new pony in town, his coat gleaming white with deep blue eyes and a long blonde mane. The new pony seemed to carry a strong presence about him, almost regal. To a certain red maned mare, he seemed so familiar however. She had thought her brother had been released early from his patrol, but upon seeing the stallion's strange cutie mark she knew it wasn't him. Still he seemed so magnificent, as she stepped out to greet him a guard tapped her shoulder. She turned to face the guard who's face screamed concern, it spread to her face as well.
"Miss Quartz, I... I don't really know how to start..." The guard started, his voice sank as he spoke.
"What is it?" Her answer was the guards silence. "What happened?"
"You're brother... he was found outside the gates..."
"Oh gods no..."
"I'm afraid he is..."
"NO!" Quartz shouted in her grief. "Why!? How!? I thought you were the best!? What could have killed him!?"
The mourning mare broke down in front of the guard, who tried to comfort her. He knew her brother, a good guard and a good provider. Always cared about Quartz above all else. The guard pony stayed with Quartz to comfort her until she finally managed to pull herself together.
"I need to see him... Where is he..."
"I'm sorry Quartz, but due to how he... passed... The captain ordered his body to be studied."
"Studied? Why? How did he die? Was he poisoned? Answer me!" The mare began to fume with anger, the guard felt horrible for dodging her question.
"It may lead to a threat to the Empire, please Quartz. Once they are done with him... You can see him..."
The guard pony turned and left as the crystal mare slumped onto the ground. She buried her face in her forelegs and wept bitterly, loud enough to catch the ear of a nearby pony. The white stallion with the golden H for a cutie mark stood above her and without saying a word, comforted her in this time of sorrow.
Among the crowd of humans and ponies, a single mystery stood in a shroud of darkness. Luna spotted the anomaly as soon as they entered the courtyard. She thought she would simply pass off these new humans like she had Krieg, but this one stood out in a curious way. The princess of the night recognized him as a stalker of the night, and was mesmerized by his aura. The shadows themselves seemed to coalesce around him, even in the broad daylight. She eyed him for a mere moment, until his blank face shot a gaze straight for the alicorn on her balcony. Before Luna could snap her face away, less she be caught staring, she swore she saw his face glow with strange symbols.
Princess Luna retreated into her private quarters, awaiting her sister's call to meet the new comers. In the back of her mind however, she could not erase the strange figure among them. He seemed so... familiar to her yet so different. She paced around her room, battling thoughts of how to approach the humans. She decided against using her Royal Canterlot voice, and decided rather to remain silent until spoken to or provoked. Her thoughts were interrupted with a sudden knocking on her door, she was so deep in thought that the shock knocked her into a nearby table. The resulting crash caused the guard to rush in with concern.
"Your highness! Are you hurt!?" The guard frantically asked.
"No... not physically anyways..." Luna muttered as she picked herself up. "What is it? Am I needed in the court room?"
"Uh- Yes! Princes Celestia stated that your presence is required for our guests."
"Of course... I shall be right down."
The guard saluted before exiting the room, leaving Luna alone to her thoughts. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't get the one human off her mind. Perhaps it was the black armor he wore that attracted her attention, whatever the reason it mattered not now. Luna took a deep breath as she charged her horn and disappeared into thin air.
Krieg stepped into the courtroom, followed by Twilight and the other ponies. The eight vault hunters soon entered behind them. Krieg took a moment to sigh in relief that the only problem they encountered was with Blueblood, he was mostly worried as to how the ponyfolk would of reacted to the new humans. They seemed comfortable enough around them, especially with the display involving Blueblood. He was more surprised that he maintained control during the whole incident. Although most everypony would have applauded him for sure, he still seeked to gain control completly.
The other vault hunters scanned the courtroom, some looking for defensive positions and other admiring the beauty and architecture. Gaige was the only one not paying attention as she was studying the guard ponies intensely, occasionally giggling as her funny faces forced a slight smirk. Both Sirens were admiring the stained glass windows, Maya seemed greatly interested in the one depicting two steeds surrounding a strange dragon like creature.
One vault hunter in particular seemed distracted, which was surprising to anyone who would have noticed. Zer0 stood in the back of the group, gazing around the ceiling. He felt a presence coming, his killer instinct alerting him of something big. He watched silently as everyone in the room, save for Krieg and the ponies, jumped at the sudden appearance of the dark coated steed. She gazed across the group, then met her eyes with Zer0's faceplate.
"Greeting's young ponies, and not so young visitors. My sister should be arriving at any moment, so please, make yourselves comfortable until she arives" The dark coated steed stated plainly, Zer0 still felt her gaze heavily upon him.
"Oh. My. Gosh... A REAL ALICORN!? Someone pinch me... I've died and gone to pony heaven..." Gaige shouted as she weakly fell to the floor. "Do you guys know what they can even do!? I would kill to implement that kinda juice into my tech! KILL I SAY!"
"Oh... ummm, thank you?" The Alicorn stated with a questionable grin.
The mysterious ninja faded back away from the crowd of his friends, hoping to approach the steed. Nobody seemed to notice him making an approach thanks to Gaige's little outburst, even the Alicorn who had been eyeing him fiercely seemed to lose track of him. He at last approached the front of the courtroom, to which the Alicorn seemed shocked that he managed to get as close as he did.
"Halt human, I sense you would have words with me?" The Alicorn spoke.
"By what name are you called, goddess of the night? Zer0 spoke.
"You recognize my authority, yet you are new to this world. You may call me Princess Luna" Luna spoke in a soft yet regal tone.
"You're the dreamwalker, Invading my mind and soul. Concealing my path.
I am Zer0."
"Well met Zer0, and this is true. You must have been the strange being I visited the last few nights. I apologize for intruding, I simply grew curious of the shrouded mind that walked on our land." Luna spoke, and was about to speak again when Zer0 surprised her. He pulled out his sword, and softly thrust the tip on the ground. To which he knelt before the moon goddess and spoke for himself.
"Grant me your blessing, That I may remain silent. Even in chaos."
"I- I shall grant you your blessing Zer0, although I have no proof of it's power." At this, the assassin stepped back with a nod and returned to his corner of the room. Luna was correct in assuming him to be unique. The event was short lived however, as shortly after Zer0 stepped back Celestia trotted through the main doors.
"I appologize for my tardiness, an urgent matter has just surfaced. Prepare yourself everypony... The Crystal Empire is under attack."
Carapace felt horrible for the young mare as he watched from across the street. He heard every word spoken, and was certain that it was the very same guard Caine killed outside the city. The very same guard that he was imitating. His mind told him to leave, before he was recognized. His heart however urged him to comfort the mare, he waited for the guard to leave before stepping across the street towards the weeping mare. As he closed the distance, he could hear her sorrowful weeping. The inside of his chest began to burn with emotion, with sorrow and guilt for the crystal pony. He finally made it to her side, and placed a hoof on her shoulder as she looked up into his eyes. They two of them stared at each other for only a second, but it was enough for Carapace to see the pain inside her.
"I'm sorry to hear about your brother milady" Carapace finally uttered.
"He... he was all *sob* all I had..." The mare sulked more.
"I..." Carapace wanted to say he knew how it felt, but the words simply would not leave his mouth.
"I'm... I'm sorry... Thank you kind sir... But I am... fine now... I think..." The mare tried to convince Carapace, but he remained un-convinced.
"You should go inside and get some rest, I'm sure it will make you feel better."
"Yeah... *sniff* I should... Again, thank you..."
"Don't worry about it, you have enough on your plate..." Carapace muttered as he turned to leave.
"Do... do you want to... stay for a bit?" The mare asked, surprising the changeling.
"Uh... Yeah, I suppose I could."
Carapace followed the mare into her home and found a couch to sit in quickly. The mare was still sniffling as she fell on the couch with Carapace. He felt a little uncomfortable as she lay there, slowly creeping into his lap and wrapping her forelegs into his left foreleg. She buried her face into the coat, manipulated by his magic to feel just as real as it looked. The mare began to shed her tears into his leg, Carapace shifted around and pulled her into his lap. He pressed her face to his chest as he ran his hoof down the nape of her neck. Surprised at her willingness to get so close to a stranger. The next words out of her mouth shot a cold spike down his spine.
"You feel like him... So... warm and... familiar..."
Carapace began to sweat at the statement, not sure if she was growing suspicious or just talking. He decided over reacting would have been a bad idea, so he went with it a while longer. After the stress of the moment, he even began to feel a warmth inside of himself. He sat there with the mare in his arms, and a sudden realization came to mind. He was growing in power, he could feel it in his body. The mare let out a soft snore as she lay asleep in his lap. The changeling panicked in his mind, if he was growing in power... She must have been harboring deep feelings for him, whether it was for her brother or not he was not aware.
The changeling knew that he needed to leave, less the mare get too attached to the likeness of her brother. He softly picked her up thanks to his new found strength and set her down on the couch by herself. He then turned away to leave when...
"Wait... don't... go... Cole... please..." The mare muttered in half sleep.
Carapace figured Cole to be her brother, which brought relief to him thinking she was showing feelings for her brother and not him. But now he had to make her comfortable enough to go back to full sleep so he could leave. The changeling swallowed a large gulp and stepped towards the mare, leaning his head in to her face.
"Cole love's you very much, never forget that." Carapace whispered into her ear, but before he could pull away, the mare leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek.
"Thank you... Friend... I hope to see you... Again..." The mare drifted off to sleep, leaving Carapace dumbstruck.
Carapace left the building, his mind sinking under the burden of emotion he felt. The residual power the mare gave him with her affection alone left him dumbfounded as to what he should do. He tried to think if he could use the power to help his people, but whenever he tried to think his mind became clouded with strange thoughts. They warned him about betraying the mares affection, and continued to prod at his mind with thoughts of avoiding the mare for her own good.
Carapace never held disdain for the ponies, but never felt any love for them either. Why was this mare different, was he really... falling for her? Or was he hungry for more power... The changeling sighed, catching the attention of a nearby unicorn on the side of the street. The white coat caught Carapace's eye, looking up to see the bright blue mane and dark glasses approaching him.
"Hey man! You look like you need a distraction!" The unicorn smirked. Carapace could almost hear a deep beating nearby as he focused on her voice. "Uhh, you there?"
"Oh... yeah... Sorry, yes I suppose I could use a little distraction."
"Then I got the place for you, come on!"
Carapace flinched as the unicorn drug him across the street, he eventually corrected himself and continued to follow.
"Name's Vinyl man, how bout your self?" The unicorn asked.
"Uhm... well..." Carapace did not want to use his real name, out of fear of being discovered but nothing came to mind except... Caine called him... "I'm Carey... Carey Case."
The changeling almost smacked himself at the dumb name, but Vinyl seemed to believe him. He went with it.
"Aight C.C. I'll just call ya that, sounds a little cooler. So C.C... you into music? Drink at all?"
"Well, my mother used to sing to me as a child. I always tried to sing as well but never felt any good at it, as far as drinking... never tried."
"Well, you're about to start! Welcome to The Den! Coolest club in all of Equestria! And I'm the host of the party, hells to the yeah!" They stopped in front of a two story building, Carapace could hear deeper beating coming from inside the structure.
"A club... perfect..." Carapace thought, the perfect place to find drunks willing to tell everything about the Crystal Heart to him. Vinyl laughed.
"I know right!? Being in the vibrations of the speakers is the best kind of relaxation I can imagine, if I'm not turning tables ya know?"
"Uh, yes. Exactly, well lets go in!" Carapace smiled, hardly having to fake it.
The two of them entered the building, Carapace was blasted back by music as soon as the doors opened. He gazed inside to find hundreds of ponies dancing or chilling in the club. The flashing lights gave just enough illumination to walk to and fro in the mess of ponies. Carapace had no idea the ponies gathered in places like this. After moments of wandering, he found himself in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by ponies. They were all dancing to their own liking but all kept a certain beat about them. The changeling even caught his own hoof tapping the ground. The lights in the room began to fade and spotlights centered on the stage in front of the dance floor. Carapace found Vinyl behind a table wearing a massive pair of headphones, cocked as to fit on one ear.
"All right everypony! I want to take a moment to introduce a cool dude that just fell from the sky!" Vinyl shouted over the music, everypony only able to hear her because of a voice amplification spell she seemed to know. "This little guy may seem a little strange, even awkward at times. But you get him in a party and... Well I'll just let you see. Mares and Gentlecolts, give it up for CLAPTRAP!"
Carapace watched the spotlights then focus on the curtains of the stage as they pulled back. A strange little box rolled out onto stage, in the few moments before it spoke Carapace noted the similar color scheme of the box. Without moving a single part of it's face, sound protruded from it.
"MINIONS! CLAPTRAP HAS ARRIVED!!!!" Claptrap shouted as he rolled down the stage backwards, waving his robotic arms in a wave. Entering center stage, he pivoted on his wheel and spun around like a top. His routine was in sync perfectly with Vinyls beat. Every pony in the room cheered and roared as the robot showed off his dance moves, if the vault hunters were here they may have figured him to find a place like this.
Claptrap finished his dance by rocking back and forth on the stage repeating a wub sound over and over.
"My calculations show that there has been a 96.5% increase of WUB WUB IN THIS JOINT!" Claptrap shouted, the whole club roared in excitement at the strange robot. "Hey Vinyl! CLAP TRAP BEAT BOX TIME!"
Carapace ignored the crowd and went to accomplish his mission, finding a group of ponies leaning against the bar. He approached as the music changed to a more subtle tone, Carapace rather enjoyed the beat of the music now playing. He leaned up on the bar and scooted closer to a stallion speaking with another pony.
"Hey babe, you diggin the joint?" The stallion spoke to the greyish mare beside him.
"Yes, quite. More so before than since you decided to 'grace' me with your presence..." The mare spoke in a surprisingly refined voice for her current enviroment.
"Hey now! I was jus' being nice!" The stallion defended himself.
"By complimenting my 'fine flank' and harassing me? Yes. A real Gentlecolt."
"Come on babe, jus' let me buy you a drink! *hic* "
"Sir, I believe the lady is not interested. " Carapace chimed in with a tense demeanor.
"And who the buck are you!" The stallion flung around to Carapace, the smell of booze fresh on his lips.
"Not somepony you really want to tango with bud."
"Oh-ho-ho... sounds like you *hic* wanna fight!"
"I want you to take a hint." Carapace grinned as he really did want to fight the drunk.
"Oh... Now you are callin me *hic* an idiot!? It'sh on!"
The stallion lunged a hoof at Carapace who just moved out of the way. The thrown hoof slammed into the bar, and with a cracking sound the stallion pulled it back in agony. Granite one, drunk zero. The stallion reared up and went for the attack once again, forgetting about his fractured hoof. His mistake as he collapsed from the unbalance into the dance floor. The crowd backed away from the drunk who attempted to stand. He once again raised his hooves to fight, but before he could steady himself...
"HEY! NO FIGHTS ON THE FLOOR!" A massive beam of blue blasted across the floor, erupting the club with sound. The drunk stallion was thrown out of the club in a blast of pure bass.
Carapace immediately considered himself lucky that he was not caught in the act of fighting, after composing himself then stepped back to the bar. The grey mare was still leaning on the bar, shaking her head in disappointment. Carapace approached.
"That's my Vinyl... always looking to show off her toys... Thanks by the way, although it wasn't necessary."
"I can't stand drunks... They make me sick."
"I agree completely, if it were not for Vinyl I wouldn't even spend my time here... Alas, such is life. May I know my savior's name?"
"Well, Vinyl calls me C.C. I guess that works."
"Oh, you know Vinyl? Interesting... I am Octavia, a pleasure."
"The pleasure is mine Miss Octavia, perhaps in exchange for your rescue I may have the extended pleasure of a chat?"
"Well, I suppose you deserve as much. Very well, but let us take this outside. I enjoy her music, but it hardly suits the environment for conversation."
Carapace followed Octavia outside the building into the busy daylight of the city. The grey mare took in a deep breath of fresh air, then turned to Carapace to speak. She half expected him to have the same face every 'stallion' had when they asked to talk with her. Just as she was about to sigh, she noted his serious gaze towards the tower in the center of the kingdom. He spoke first.
"This city is beautiful, won't you agree?"
"Yes, it really is. One of the reasons I came to visit with Vinyl."
"This is my first time here, I'm interested in learning about it's history."
"Oh really? I know a little of the cities history but not much, just how Twilight and her friends helped the prince and princess save it from some evil king."
"Yeah, Sombra. I know much of his story, do you recall how they defeated him? It took both Celestia and Luna to defeat him before right?"
"They used an ancient artifact called the Crystal Heart, at least that's the story. It is what protects the city now."
"Such a powerful artifact to protect an entire kingdom... I imagine it would be nearly impossible just to see..."
"Actually it sits just under the Crystal Castle."
"Really? They leave it out like that?"
"Apparently, I was hoping to go see it later today when Vinyl was done with her... show." Octavia let out a small sigh, then returned her gaze to Carapace. "Would you like to join us?"
"Sure, I'm very interested in seeing it" Carapace smiled, knowing his mission would soon be over.
"Under attack? How! What about Shining Armor and Cadence!?" Twilight began to panic at her mentors words.
"Peace Twilight, whatever invasion is coming has yet to arrive. But there have been multiple unexplained deaths coming from the empire. All of them from a strange hole found in the head." Celestia stated with a tone of morbidity.
"Clean headshots... Sounds like you have a sniper problem princess *hic* " Mordecai slurred as he took another swig from his bottle.
"What the hay is a sniper? Some kinda critter?" Applejack asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"That's me *hic*" Mordecai hiccuped. "See this gun right here? It's a sniper rifle, long ranged death in the hands of a masther *hic* like meh..."
"Ugh... Don't mind him... he get's this way with a drink..." Lilith commented with a sigh. "The point is, if Mordecai is right, you have a serious problem. It could be bandits I suppose... but not many of them have the... ability to snipe so well. My money is on Hyperion, which means it need to be dealt with. Now."
"Yes, of course. But first, we have the matter of you all" Celestia spoke, referring to the new humans in her courtroom. "You must have information on this 'Hyperion' and on Handsome Jack, we need it."
"Now wait a minute, what makes you think we are gonna tell you for free!?" Brick stepped forward, gaining a scowl from his friends and a concerned gaze from the ponies. "We want information too!"
"Very well mister..." Luna spoke, asking for a name.
"Brick."
"Brick... What is it you wish to know?"
"Brick, calm down. We need their hel..."
"The vault! What do you know about it?" Brick demanded more than he asked.
"The vault? I'm surprised Krieg did not inform you about it already" Celestia noted, her turn to receive concerned gazes. Then the gazes fell on Krieg.
"Krieg, you know something about the vaults? Why did you say you didn't?" Gaige asked, feeling a little betrayed.
"I did not want to hurt my relationship with the ponies, Celestia made it out to be a secret. I just felt it safer to lie for now." Krieg responded.
"And a wise decision on your part Krieg" Celestia smiled. "It was kept a secret to test my trust in you, and you chose to honor my trust."
Krieg stared a moment at the celestial pony, confused. He almost felt angry at the deception but understood after thinking about it.
"I will personally tell you anything you wish to know about the vault Sir Brick, but for now I need to know about Hyperion and what kind of threat they pose to Equestria" Celestia made her point, and the vault hunters understood.
They all explained the horrors of Hyperion as best they could to the ponies, them all hanging on every word. Mordecai even shared the events of the exploitation preserve, not withholding the events involving Bloodwing. By time they were all done speaking, Celestia and Luna both agreed Handsome Jack must be stopped...
"We are in agreement with you, vault hunters. This Jack must be stopped, however we must caution against seeking your personal vengeance" Celestia softly warned as the vault hunters finished their explanation. "I have no doubts you speak true of his wickedness, but we cannot simply dispatch him so swiftly."
"Princess, in all respect you have not seen the madness of him. Not like I have..." Lilith spoke now, her voice shaking in the slightest as she finished. "He will stop at nothing your highness. Ponies, humans, bots, we are all fodder to his goal."
"I understand, truly I do, but we have stood against the darkness before and subdued it. I have faith in our ability to push this new threat back." Celestia nodded her head as if to agree with herself.
"Sister, not to be in opposition towards thou, but perhaps we should dwell deeper into this Jack?" Luna remarked at her sisters reluctance. "I have seen what Jack has done through our friend before us."
Krieg nodded, but frowned beneath his mask. He never meant for anyone, or anypony, to feel that pain. The thought alone brought an unwelcome guest to his mind.
"Wait, you can do that? Like read minds?" Lilith asked inquisitively.
"I can enter dreams, yes. With concentration I can even travel into the subconscious" Luna answered.
"There is your answer Princess, let your sister look in my head. I promise she will agree with me." Lilith spoke out again.
"I- I'm afraid I cannot just allo-" Celestia began.
"I shall do as she asked sister."
"Lu-lu..."
"Tia..."
" *Ahem* Rather than have my sister subject herself anymore to your twisted world... I shall be taking a look, I trust you are fine with this Lilith?" Celestia stepped down from her seat.
"Uh, yeah. If it will show you just what kind of monster Jack is, yeah. Go for it."
"Simply touch my horn then..."
"Damn... I missed all the fun... Roland, you better still be alive in there..." Lilith mumbled as she stepped through the debris of the BNK3R. She heard the explosions of battle beneath her and sped up to a dash as she searched for the door to the Angel Core. Finally she found it, open. A large chasm stood before her, the elevator already down she assumed. Not a problem for a siren, she vaulted down the hole.
"Ah crap!" A deep voice shouted.
"Jack has shut down the light bridge!" Angel warned.
"Damn-it! Now I can't reach the injector panel! I don't know wha--"
A sudden burst of blue exploded in the room, the red haired phoenix siren stood before them all. She cracked a smile as she noted Roland's shocked face.
"How ya doin?"
"Lilith, what the hell?! I told you not to come!" Roland protested.
"Yeah and I didn't listen!" Lilith smarted back to her lover as more bots warped into the room. "Hey look, more bad guys!"
The five vault hunters took positions around the room as more Angelic Guard bots swarmed the room. After the first few second, many of the bots either exploded or melted into acidic goo. Axton had dropped both his turrets and let loose on the northern half of the room while Gaige and Maya covered the southwest corner with a mix of Phaselocks and screaming bullets. Zero and Salvador worked as their better team and clear the remaining corner as bots flooded in.
"Lilith! We gotta move!" Roland shouted across the room. After the room was cleared for the moment, him and the siren locked in an embrace, ready to warp.
"I got ya!" Lilith shouted as she began to warp. "This isn't over, stay on your toes! Ugh!"
The turrets surrounding the Angel Core reactivated and were targeting Lilith. War loaders began warping in as the vault hunters eliminated and clear their respected areas.
"Please. Okay? Are you hearing me? Please don't kill my baby girl..." Jack pleaded on the over head screens.
"The nerve of this guy! Puts his own daughter in that... thing and begs us to spare her!?" Gaige shouted in disgust as she blew away another bot advancing on her.
The battle waged on for a few moments longer before Jack came over the screens again.
"Don't you know what you're DOING?! Who cares about the goddamned Key! You're going to end the life of an innocent girl!" The voice pleaded once more.
"Jack ended my life a long time ago... This has to end NOW Vault Hunters..." Angle spoke over her father.
"I got the shield down guys! Hit the shield injector!" Roland bellowed out in success.
The five vault hunters all turned towards the shield injector that hung above them. Axton and Gaige raise their Vladof miniguns towards it and in a brief second it exploded in lead and sparks. The shield surrounding Angel descended downward as the siren contained also gently floated down to the ground, speaking softly.
"It's done... It's finally done... Thank you... friends..." Angel's voice trailed off as she slowly floated to the ground. The vault hunters watched in sympathy for the young girl.
"Angel, you can STOP this! I'll still forgive you baby!" Jack begged over the screens again.
"Dad... I have to tell you something..." Angel began as her voice trailed off into darkness. "You're an asshole..."
The siren nodded her head down as she breathed her last breath.
"Angel?! No! Angel!"
The vault hunters gathered around the young girls body and knelt their heads in respect. The battle seemed to be over, Roland stepped up to the platform as Lilith stayed back.
"What kind of person would do this? To his own daughter!" Lilith stated in anger.
"The kind that deserves to die." Roland coldly stated.
Celestia felt her spell weaken as Lilith began to resist, The alicorn gently forced back into her mind leaving a calming aura to say it was alright. She could feel it though, something was about to happen. Something Lilith feared most of all.
"She's dead... Jack just lost his only way to awaken the warrior..." Roland said, knelt down over Angels body. He still felt regret for killing her. "We've got the vault key, but this isn't over yet. We've gotta find Jack and take him out. Lilith, take the vault key to Tannis. I'm going after Jack." Roland spoke his last words as the vault hunters barely noticed the blue light from behind him.
Everythig happened so suddenly, Celestia thought. Yet it happened slow enough to see. They had achieved victory, they were about to win. But then...
"ROLAND!" Lilith screamed as a gunshot came from behind, exploding Roland's chest into gore. The dark red spot on his chest left a scaring mark on everyone around. As he fell to the ground, Jack stood from behind him with a menacingly calm look on his masked face.
"Sup."
"You Bastard!" Lilith enraged, ignited her siren wings and prepared to charge the villain. "I'm gonna --"
Celestia was knocked back by what happened next, the infuriated siren charged but in a mere second was subdued by some kind of collar. Her flames diminished as she was shocked back a step, falling on the floor before Jack.
"Tsk tsk... Language." The cold bastard spoke in a soft tone. "What's that saying? Don't pick a fight with a man with nothing left to lose? See I'm going to show you all just how much you have to lose! And I've got the most powerful Siren on the planet to do it with. Lilith, kill the vault hunters. We got a date to keep with the warrior."
Lilith screamed as siren power escaped her body.
"Do it Lilith."
"NO!"
Celestia was shot from the sirens mind as the light blinded her. She shot back from Lilith's touch, her eyes wide and her mouth hung open. She stared at the siren, then at the vault hunters around her. Facing her head downward, she sighed.
"It seems... I was wrong... Jack needs to..."
"Die..." All the vault hunters spoke in unison.
After several minutes of planning and calculations, the group knew what to do. First thing was to stop the attack on the Crystal Empire, they needed reliable transportation. Twilight suggested the train, but Celestia denied them. She claimed one human in public was one thing, nine of them was quite another. Instead she arranged a private train car to take them directly to the Crystal Empire. The Vault Hunters and and Element Bearers all gathered their belongings and made their way to the train station.
Carapace waited outside the club for his companions, or rather companion. Octavia had retreated back into the club to retrieve her friend Vinyl from the stage. He stood in the streets admiring the view of the tower. His thoughts hanging lightly on what exactly was going to happen. Caine had said to get out of there when he planted the device, what was it going to do? It couldn't be good. He feared that whatever it was, it would reveal his identity in the city. He was growing fond of some of the ponies. His thoughts became distracted for a while yet until...
"Hey you!" A sweet voice shouted from down the street. Carapace turned his head towards the voice. It came from a familiar red maned mare with a gleaming crystal coat. She was trotting towards him with a smile, "I've been looking for you!"
"Oh, hey there!" Carapace feigned a weak smile, cursing himself inside for standing in the open. "I hope you are feeling better!"
"A little, it still hurts..." the mare frowned. "I never got your name, I'm Crissy Quartz!"
"Hello Miss Quartz, I'm..." Carapace had to think, he already lost his false name.
"Hey C.C!" Carapace sighed in relief as the white unicorn exited the club. "Ready to head out?"
"Yeah Vinyl! Just give me a second!" Carapace inwardly frowned.
"Oh, you know her?" Quartz's smile fell a little, but lifted shortly after hearing C.C's response.
"She is a new friend I just met, Crissy this is Vinyl and her friend Octavia."
"Hey! Don't forget about me!" A high pitched voice screeched from behind Vinyl.
Claptrap rolled out from behind the unicorn mare, still dancing a little groove. Carapace had to admit, the strange thing seemed so lively.
"Ummm, what is that?" Crissy asked with a baffle look on her face.
"I'm Claptrap! A pleasure to meet you! And might I say you are looking HAWT!" Crissy stepped back at the bots compliment, and just nodded as she smiled.
"A pleasure Claptrap, if you all will excuse me for a second though" Crisy turned to Carapace, who smiled the best he could to cover his concern. "C.C, is that short for something?"
"Uhhh....." Carapace had to think, just as it was about to leave him he remebered. "Carey, Carey Case. C.C sounds a little cooler though." Carapace smiled again.
"Well, Carey... You have been really kind to me... and I... well... Do you want to go out for some lunch sometime?" Crissy smiled and blushed.
Carapace did his best to fake surprise and embarrassment, trying to seem like he was not expecting this. It worked apparently as Vinyl and Octavia smiled as the stepped over.
"Go for it man, we can wait a bit. Besides, I'm gettin starved myself!" Vinyl smacked Carapace on the back.
"Well..." Carapace sighed, he wasn't getting out of this... "Sure Crissy, I'm game."
The group of fifteen humans and ponies met at the train station, awaiting their private ride to the Crystal Empire. The group sat in the shade, protected from the sun for several minutes before Gaige and Twilight finally sighted the train in the distance. The train was a little early, the lot of them expected to be waiting another hour. The ponies thought not much of it, but the vault hunters seemed wary all the more.
The train slowed to a stop before them and the doors opened themselves, allowing the large group of passengers to step in. The bearers of harmony all stepped to a rear car while the vault hunters settled between two closer cars. The human sirens and Gaige all retreated to one car while the men remained in a closer car to the front of the train.
The six mares had easily stowed their belongings away in storage, with exception to Rarity who had six bags herself. The other five mares talked her down from fifteen. They all remained in their car and passed stories and opinions around about the recent turn of events.
"So uh... The Crystal Empire eh?" Applejack started. "Why would this Jack fella wanna attack there?"
"I don't know, I have been thinking about that myself as well. Although I'm more concerned about my new... features..." Twilight added, still studying her new tattoos. "Not sure how I feel about these though..."
"How should you feel about them darling? They are simply marvelous! I almost wish I could have a set of them myself, but then again I doubt it comes in my color." Rarity smiled as she thought to herself.
"Yeah Twilight! I think they make you look super duper cool!" Pinkie bounced through the room, finally landing right beside Twilight.
"Hey Pinkie... hold still..." Twilight stated as the pink pony nodded in agreement with a smile. "I want to try something..."
"Ok! Will it be fun? Will it be cool!? Are you going to try and feed me!? OH I KNOW! YOU ARE ..." Pinkie went completely silent as Twilight stared at her, eyes glowing purple and staring into her mind. The spell only lasted a few seconds, Twilight's face grimaced as she pulled her new powers away from Pinkies mind.
"Oh... Celestia... I'm going to be... URK!"
In the next two cars down, the vault hunters gathered in the men's car for a meeting. They already established the ponies as friends, and now were contemplating what to expect. None of them knew what was coming, and frankly it did put a few of them on the edge of their seats.
"If we get there and it's under Hyperion control... don't stop me guys, I'm gonna WRECK THE PLACE!" Brick shouted in anger as he threw a fist in the air.
"Don't worry about it Brick, the princess said it was only a few deaths by a sniper. Hyperion is baiting the city, there is something there they want." Mordecai leaned back on his bunk as he shut his eyes. "Besides, them ponies can put up a decent fight. I'm sure they can hold out long enough..."
Maya looked at Lilith with a scowl towards Mordecai's suggestion, but Lilith just shot a 'I know what you mean' glance at her. Maya was about to open her mouth when a strange little ball floated in the window. The vault hunters watched curiously at the strange floating thing before them. The ball opened up into a floating screen, revealing a face of an old enemy.
"Hey guys, just checkin up on ya. Makin sure you bandits aren't destroying this planet too ya know, looks like you are doing alright, maybe a little too good at it. Come on guys, I need some action! Oh... wait... I can get that... where is it... ummm... there!" The vault hunters watched as Jack flipped a switch, and in a moment the small ball exploded into bits. The hunters heard screeching in the distance...
The car's ceiling exploded as a war loader crashed into the car, followed by smaller loaders crashing down behind it. They all raised their weapons, ready to fire at will. The vault hunters mobilized in a flash as Axton took charge. His dual turrets shredding bots in lead, Maya and Lilith behind him unleashed dual volleys of smg fire in killing several bots before leaping into the fray. Both of their phoenix like wings unleashed, burning any bots too close.
The six mares lept at the sign of trouble, explosions and gunfire erupting only a few cars away. Applejack and Rainbow Dash immediately rushed to the door and took stances to fight. Twilight stood behind them, horn charged for a blast. They watched as the door knocked inward, the ponies prepared for the worst. The door finally broke through as a buzzsaw ripped through the weak wooden frame. Krieg stood before the six of them and motioned for them to move back several cars. Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie complied, but as Applejack Rainbow and Twilight started to make their way Krieg was launched into the other side of the car by a Bull Loader ramming into the Psycho.
Krieg stood up in a daze, snapping back to attention as he watched the Bull Loader raise a fist to smash the ponies. It droped it's fist, only to be blown out the side of the car. Krieg blinked as it happened, only seeing Twilight glowing with siren power and her horn radiating magic energy. The amazement lasted only a second as a Hot Loader came following in, cloaking the car in flames. Krieg lept in the way as Twilight protected her friends with her magic. The three ponies looked up to see Krieg standing before them, his back arching as his arms spread wide to block the blow himself. His face hung low, Twilight tried to speak but Krieg was first.
"BURN BABY! BURN!" The flaming psycho screamed as he turned around to the Hot loader. Krieg opened his mouth and the bot was consumed in flames.
More loaders burst through the wall, firing at the flaming psycho. Every bullet that hit was returned with a ball of fire launched towards the machines, igniting them in the hell fire that came from the enraged psycho.
"Over here, my sweet meats, your prince of justice and genocide has something to say: Gone are the days of the tentacle and the age of the gods and mercy is far away... We are the fighters of the middle, the second act in the three-part MEAT play, AND I WILL WIN BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR!" The psycho screamed as he charged the bots axe in hand.
On top of the flaming car, Zero and Salvador watched as combat engineers descended from Hyperion fliers above. Salvador looked up to the ninja with a grin, Zero replied with a glow in his faceplate as he vanished into the air, leaving his double standing on the car. Salvador lept on the rear car as the engineers lept to attack the clone, only to have their attacks fail as the gunzerker unleashed hell beneath their feet. The roof of the car exploded into flames as the engineers fell into the inferno. Zero reappeared behind, pointing downward. Salvador looked down and saw three of their pony friends cowering in the heat. One of them was heaped onto six or more suitcases when another Hot loader burst in and sprayed the suitcases in flames.
Upon watching her belongings burn, Rarity felt a spark in her that she rarely had the opportunity to release. The machine in front of her just destroyed every dress she had planned to show to the crystal ponies. She glared at the bot with anger in her eyes as she stated. "It. Is. ON!" Salvador watched in amusement as the bot was blown to smithereens by the unicorns anger charged magic.
Gaige and her Deathtrap stood in the entrance of the car ahead of the inferno, Krieg behind her murdering all who stepped into his 'fun'. The mechromancer watched as Twilight protected her two friends with her magic, trying to make it to the car ahead. Two bots landed behind them and attempted to grab the three of them up. Gaige released her half full clip and put in a fresh one as swiftly as she could, her gears running as her sight was clouded with numbers. A flick of the trigger and both bots weak optic's exploded in acid. Deathtrap then rushed in to pick up the three mares and loaded them off on the safe car.
The vault hunters each cleared the invasion force of the train, then unlatched the burning car and the ones behind it. Rarity was in tears at her belongings, still willing to seek vengeance on Jack.
After the battle, it seemed Jack let off on the bombardment of bots. He was obviously playing with them, everyone and pony gathered in the front most car, were the men originally resided. Everyone watched in disappointment when Mordecai rose from his bed, a small bit of drool hanging from his lip.
"Mordecai! Did you sleep through all that!? Lilith shouted.
"Huh? Sleep through what?"
Everyone covered their faces with either palm or hoof, now not surprised at all with the hunter.
In the darkness the forgotten lands, more screams than normal filled the night. Many might see the acts going on as judgement on those deserving, the wicked earning their just reward. To others however, they may see a genocide. A race pushed to the very limits of survival, only to be picked out of the game we call life by those who wish to usurp power for themselves. Queen Chrysalis watched in fury as her people now dug in quarry's, or pulled carts of rock, or if they refused... killed.
The Queen figured Jack to be a monster, and how right she was. Had she of been on the other side of his manipulative hands, maybe she would have admired him. But for now, Jack has earned her ire. Oh what she would give to taste power again, she fondly remembered overpowering the all powerful Celestia! If only she still had a vessel of love, for the Queen hungered.
Looking down from her perch, a gruesome sight caught her watchful eye. Her dying race forced into slavery, digging for a vault she had never heard of. Whatever this thing was, it had to be powerful to gain the attention of that mad man. She watched as a group of her subjects rebelled against their machine overlords, and she watched them bravely fall in a hail of explosive fire. Every changeling that fell, further enraged the Queen. She felt she had no options though, it was either survive for the future or die...
Almost as if her deepest fears came to light, the Queen seemed to focus on a regular act of nature. She watched a moth fly through the room, clumsily fluttering through the air. It would have been cute, if it's destination wasn't so grim. The moth flew right into a spider's web hidden in the corner of her window, right into the spiders trap. It struggled to get free in vain, as the spider's web had gummed it's wings. Chrysalis watched the spider slowly crawl down the web, eager to consume it's prize. The Queens eyes grew as an idea crept like the spider down the web.
The trapped moth struggled more as the spider crept closer to it's prey. The spider closed on the moth, and as it came closer it's fangs pulled out to strike. Just as the spider was about to claim it's kill, a green aura of magic encased the moth. The moth was pulled from the web and from the clutches of the spider. Chrysalis pulled the moth to her in her own magical 'web' and made the moth dance in the air with her magic. A cruel grin crossed her face as she watched the moth struggle in her own trap. Out of the clutches of one predator, into the trap of another. Question was, will the new threat prove merciful?
Releasing the moth into the air, the Changeling Queen glowed a bright green before shaping herself into the tiny from of the moth. Out the window she flew, the machines targeting systems unable to pick up such a small creature. Chrysalis smiled to herself as she flew to the nearest city set on a mountain. Perhaps if Celestia also knew of this Jack... Maybe an alliance could be formed...
The Queen gave a quick glance back at her castle, and in so many words wished them luck. She knew with her absence more would die, but to preserve her race for the future... She hoped Celestia would at least listen to her plight.
The booth operator of The Crystal Empire's train station had a relatively off day. A day that just seemed to get worse and worse as it went on. Woke up way too early and went back to bed only to oversleep, his hay pancakes were overcooked and tasted like burnt hash browns, and to top it all off he caught his marefriend on the couch with another stallion... Again. Now he sat in his booth, trying to remain calm and get on with his day. His gruff mug indicated his displeasure of his job, but he had a couple filly's to care for and a marefriend who would rather spend the night with a stranger than help raise their foals. He took a mild joy in the fact that his shift was just about over.
The booth operator began to dose off on the final hour of his shift, starting to have those half dreams where things happen and seem so real but really they don't. He heard a train approaching, and he tried to snap back to reality. His reality was blown out of the water when he finally caught glimpse of the train. The back half of the rear car was blown into bits! The base of the car seemed scorched, and it looked nothing like the caboose of the train. In fact the train expected was supposed to be several more cars longer despite it's load of fifteen passengers. The booth operator was just about to approach the train for questions when he noticed the strange creature riding on the locomotive.
The creature was void of fur anywhere, with long gangly arms stretching into the sky with a strange weapon in it's hand. Wearing some kind of pants and footwear, he wore the conductors hat on top of his bald head. The booth operator was one short breath away from shouting for help when the strange creature beat him to the scream.
"ALL ABOARD THE SLAUGHTER TRAIN! LAST STOP END OF THE LINE!"
The pony in the booth closed the booth and blinded the shutters, then he stepped out the back of the booth and approached the clock out station. As he slid his clock out card through the machine, he sighed as he left the train station.
"Mother was right... I should have just stayed in school..."
Twilight and her friends knocked on the closed up booth for several minutes, wondering what had happened to the operator. The ponies looked between each other and exchanged confused glances.
"Maybe... they closed early today?" Rainbow suggested, hovering in the air above her friends.
"I don't think so, I thought I saw him closing up as we pulled in" Twilight added, then turned her head back to the train and the vault hunters. She sighed and covered her face with a hoof. "Or maybe he thought we were a bunch of psychos and ran off..."
"Sugar, if'n you saw a half exploded train on fire with that guy" Applejack pointed at Krieg who was still bucking on the locomotive screaming about poop trains, "Wouldn't you take a kin to runnin?"
"Yeah... I see your point, nopony in this city has ever seen a human before so... How are we going to get around with all these guys?" Twilight asked, already forming an idea but unsure of its effectiveness.
"Why not introduce them to everypony! It could be like a big party!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced around the group with joy.
"Pinkie darling, perhaps you forgot we are technically under attack. I doubt announcing our friends to an entire city that may be housing spies of a sort would be considered a good idea" Rarity stated, still a little stressed about her designer dresses lost in the fight.
"Hey Twilight, what about that changing spell? The one that can turn apples to oranges?" Rainbow asked curiously as she circled around her friends.
"Yes Rainbow, and I know what you are suggesting. I'm considering it myself, but I don't know if I have the power to do it..." Twilight responded.
"Needing some extra juice Twi?" The red haired siren spooked the whole group as she spoke, nopony expected her to be right there. "You forget already that you're a siren?"
"No, I haven't forgotten... I just don't know if I can apply my siren powers to my unicorn magic." Twilight sighed, but before she could continue her line of thought, Lilith shoved a hunk of eridium into her hooves.
"You need to stop thinkin sometimes and learn to just do" Lilith gave a slight smirk at Twilight. "Now, what was this 'changing' spell of yours?"
Twilight stared at the chuck of eridium for several moments, unaware of the other vault hunters closing in on the area until she looked up at Lilith again. Her pony friends backed away as the vault hunters watched eagerly to see how the unicorn would react to the rock. Twilight sighed and opened her mouth to speak.
"Before I do that again... let me explain what and why I'm doing this" Twilight began. "I don't know if you all realize this yet, but nopony here has ever seen a human before. My brother has met Krieg yes, but he left Canterlot for here before we found you all. In other words, nopony knows what you are or who you are. So to avoid any problems with locals, I'm going to try and change you all into ponies."
Each of the vault hunters looked at Twilight in a different way. Axton, Salvador, and Maya all looked like they were just smacked with a board, Krieg and Gaige seemed overly excited. Krieg was still insane for now, but Twilight figured his inner self would understand. Zer0 was the hardest to read, his faceplate glowing with three red dots... Lilith seemed eager to try it out and Brick shared the same shocked face as Mordecai.
"Don't worry, it won't be permanent. In fact I don't think I have enough power to keep it up long, maybe this eridium stuff will help. Anyways, we just have to get you to the castle and introduce you to Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. After that, I don't think I will need to keep the spell up."
"And why exactly are we getting turned into ponies? The rest of your kind didn't seem too freaked out by us" Mordecai asked, not exactly looking forward to any kind of change.
"Uh yeah, nothin against you or anything, but I'ma slab and slabs don't do cute..." Brick started.
"I'll remember that next time you get a puppy Brick" Mordecai smarted off at the berserker.
"That was low Cai... Real low..."
"Aight, enough jibber jabberin! The point of turnin ya'll into us pony folk is cause these ponies are scared, seein a bunch of aliens walkin about ain't gonna go well with the recent killins" Applejack snapped, annoyed by the vault hunters unwillingness. "Uh, sorry bout that... Habit."
"Right, so YOU ponies want to turn US into ponies because THOSE ponies might be terrified of us... Ugh... Fine, I'm game..." Mordecai submitted.
"Yeah, sure. Why not, I bet I'll be a kick ass pony! Flamin wings n shit" Lilith laughed as she thought of the pegasi.
"Well... fine... but only this once, and if ANY OF YOU tell my slabs about this..." Brick warned, leaving Twilight curious about these 'slabs'.
"THIS IS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE! LIKE OH MY GOSH CAN YOU TOTS MAKE ME A PEGASUS!?" Gaige squeeled at the top of her lungs in excitement.
"AND I WILL BE THE PALE HORSE, RIDER OF DEATH! AND I SHALL BE CALLED BOW DUKE!" Krieg also screamed at the top of his lungs.
Really? ugh... Can I please have control back?
"NO! QUIT ASKING!"
"I guess if everyone is doin it... Screw it, ah'm in as well. Can ye make me a little taller than the rest though?" Salvador questioned Twilight spell seeking a personal desire to stand above everyone else around him.
"Damn, well I guess if Lil is doing it I'm in too" Maya smirked at the thought.
"Hell no..." Axton coldly stated.
"Axton..." Maya sighed.
"I am supposed to be pure awesomeness! Not some little pony in a little girls fantasy land!" Axton began, almost ready to storm out until Maya lifted him up into the air. "Hey! Let me down!"
"Appologize."
"Hell. No."
"Axton... I can rip you apart limb by limb should I choose."
"I would still prefer that over being a po-"
"How about some..." Maya winked at the commando who immediately turned red as he caught her hint.
"Damnit... Fine... I'm in..."
"Fantastic! Everypon- er... one gather round and I'll cast the spell!" Twilight leaped in excitement, a part of her was really wanting to use this spell but she knew she would not have the power to actually cast it. Now that she had this strange Eridium substance, maybe she could do it. The air grew heavy as her horn made contact with the rock, and as the rock dissipated into the siren unicorns horn everyone was engulfed in purple light.
Crissy was definitely being a tad bit more affectionate with Carapace, and apart from him just accepting the treatment everypony else in the group watched and snickered. Carapace caught Vinyl sneaking a peak behind her to see the mare walking right next to him, and always seemed to peak when she would 'bump' into him. That would cause him to blush and her to giggle. Vinyl would then lean and whisper to Octavia and both of them would giggle among themselves. Each moment however was ruined for Crissy whenever Claptrap would speak.
"I love you guys! You are great!"
"UGH!" All three mares would say in unison, every time. Without fail.
Carapace would simple smile at his fortune, this happened a few times until Crissy spotted a small outdoors dinner. Realizing she was hungry, along with Vinyl and Octavia, she thought to invite them all to eat with her. Her treat of course. Everypony agreed, well except Carapace who only went to stick with the crowd. Claptrap joined as well... of course...
"Umm, if you all don't mind I would like to pay. I don't personally know you two but Carey here was really kind to me before" Crissy smiled as she leaned towards Carapace.
"Oh yeah, thats cool. I didn't know you were so generous Crissy!" Vinyal barely got out of her mouth before her face was buried in her menue.
"Yes, quite. Thank you Crisy!" Octavia announced her pleasure at the treat as well, leaning over towards Carapace. "Carey, this lovely mare is treating you to lunch! Hint hint poke poke!"
"He he... yeah..." Carapace winced, hoping to play off as the shy type. Octavia seemed unimpressed.
With a subtle shove, the grey earth mare shoved Carapace right up next to Crissy. Both him and her glowed bright red in embarrassment. Carapace gave a feint smile as the crystal mare beside him returned it, he had to admit that he did feel good to be so close to her. He scooted away with a cough.
"*ahem* Sorry about that Crissy, I uh... seemed to have tripped..." Carapace shot a glare at Octavia who simply smiled back.
The four of them stayed and ate for a couple hours, talking and enjoying the time they spent together. Carapace began to grow more comfortable around Crissy, he even found a couple friendly souls in Vinyl and Octavia. He only hoped that he could complete his mission without ruining what he had built up to this point...
"Ow... lemme try again... Ow... Dammit... ok... I got this... Ow..." Axton grumbled desperately as he attempted to walk in his new form, face planting continuously. The spell changed him into an earth pony with a light tan coat, his mane a dark brown. Still wearing fragments of his gear, his flank was exposed revealing an image of his turret. "Ow... Serious guys, HELP ME!?"
"Small steps babe... we are all getting used to this... well, almost all of us..." Maya hissed as she also tried to learn basic motor skills of the new body. She took the form of a midnight blue unicorn with an electric blue mane. Her flank showing a woman's figure with a bright ball in her hand. "But I promise as soon as I figure it out, I'll share my notes..."
Maya and Axton struggled as they attempted to step around with their bodies, most the vault hunters struggled actually. Salvador took a little longer than the rest to get to his hooves, but once he was up he stayed. The gunzerker cracked a grin when he noted the image of himself drawing dual guns on his flank. Zer0 managed to stay on his hooves and even mastered walking incredibly fast, Twilight contributed his quick learning to his assassin trade. The assassin was in full jumpsuit attire, concealing his whole body save for a pitch black mane and tail.
"Hmm, well this is a new feeling. Cai, how ya holdin up!?" Lilith shouted as she steadied herself to her hooves. A pearl white coat and fire red hair complimented the unicorns attitude, her flank held a flaming skull with a single wing unfolded out. "This isn't all that bad... I could get used to being a pony."
"Yeah, speak for yourself... How the hell am I supposed to grip my rifle!?" The hunter shouted in anger as he shifted the gun from around his back, before reaching the trigger however the gun exploded and a single shot flew into the air. The pegasus hunter lept into the air in shock, first that his gun went off with the thought of pulling the trigger and then... "Wait... Am I FLYING!?"
After a few moments of Mordecai squirming in the air and trying to seize control of his body, the light grey pegasus with a blood red mane finally managed to calm himself down. His wings suddenly folded back to this back and sent the pegasus plummeting down to the ground with a rather loud thud. Brick barely had to step to the side to avoid getting hit by the falling ball of feathers, but surprising to all the vault hunters he managed to side step away without tumbling to the ground. With curious eyes, his friends awaited an answer.
"What!? Maybe I'm just a fast learner!" Brick shouted as the eyes of his friends weighed heavily on his massive frame. His coat was a dark tan similar to his normal skin tone, the most adamant part of his was his massive hooves and large body. But none of these were what caught his friends attention. "Alright! You caught me... I may have...practiced...a little..."
"Why would you practice walking like a..." Lilith began as realization struck her. "Brick... are you a...."
"Don't say it Lil..." Brick warned.
"Oh my god he is..." Mordecai scrambled to his hooves, listening in.
"YES! I AM A BRONY! SO WHAT!?" Brick exploded in rage, ready to pick up the nearest object he could find.
"Hey, calm down Brick. Nobody is going to judge you, I think it's kinda... cute!" Lil smiled as she approached the large stallion. "Hey by the way, how are you two doing?"
Lilith looked over to the remaining vault hunters, and her eyes widened as both stood as if they had been ponies for their whole lives. Gaige and Krieg danced around in circles as they lept about and screamed in excitement. Gaige was now a pegasus like Mordecai but was given a fire red coat and a bright orange mane and tail, her flank was decorated by an image of Death Trap. Her feathers were a soft grey with silver down, and she was still sporting her mech-arm although it was now in the form of a hoof.
Krieg was also quite the sight, a broad shouldered earth pony with the same strange mask shaped to fit his new head. A dull orange coat was complimented with a matted white tail, but his mane was shaved completely. His flank had a simple mark, his own buzzaxe crested into the side. He continued to dance around with Gaige and even tossed her up into the air. The mechromancer was even skilled at flying, although not perfected. She hovered for a moment before falling down on Krieg's back, both of them laughing.
"Do it again Krieg! Toss me up higher! Maybe I'll stay up for longer!" Gaige shouted with glee as the massive stallion bucked her up into the air. She managed to hover for a few more seconds than before before falling back down, although this time she managed to flutter down on the ground softly.
"FLY FLY LITTLE LADY! FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY, STING LIKE WHEN I PEE!" Krieg shouted abruptly as the pegasus floated down to the ground.
You don't think that was just a little too much information buddy?
"THE BURN MEANS IT'S WORKING!"
Uh... yeah, keep telling yourself that...
"Hey Gaige!" Axton shouted from the ground, holding his face from another face plant. "How are you walking around like that?"
"Oh, hehe. I guess you could say I spent a LOT of time walking on all fours... and I spent a few years experimenting with jet packs, modifying them into wings, fusing them into my nervous system... yeah.... I went all out preparing for this day..." Gaige gave a sly grin.
"Wait... you actually prepared to become a pony?" Twilight finally spoke up after musing over the commotion.
"Hellz to the yeah! It has been my dream to become a pony! I've done so much research on equine anatomy that I figured I would have it down for sure!" Gaige smiled again.
Twilight was definitely impressed by Gaige's research, but was a little creeped out by her... obsession... For the next several hours, her friends and herself helped the vault hunters learn to walk. Twilight skipped flying for Mordecai since they would not have this form long. She still sighed at how long it was actually taking them to learn how to walk... It would be a long day...
Several times during the 'encounter' with Crissy, Carapace found himself huddled next to her. Either squished between her and Vinyl, or Octavia would nudge him into her. He was already aware that they were both trying to set him up, but by now he was just accepting it. After all, maybe things would work out and he could get this nasty mission over without being discovered? Shortly after the thought, Crissy herself scooted up next to him. Carapace stopped blushing after the first half hour of this, so by now he was beginning to enjoy the affection. The affection and the power he was gaining from it.
"So, what brings you two to the empire?" Crissy asked Vinyl and Octavia.
"Well, Vinyl was requested by a few of the clubs here to 'disk jockey' for them. As for me, well we are room mates and best friends so I decided to join her for a little vacation" Octavia smiled gently.
"Yeah, and when a one thousand year old empire asks you to DJ for them you don't just say no! Kind of opportunity that can set you for life you know?" Vinyl added with a cheerful glee.
"And what about you Carey? What brings you here?" Crissy turned her smile towards Carapace.
"I'm here on business, no offense but my job won't let me spare details about it. I'm supposed to meet somepony at the crystal heart during my visit, but it isn't so important that I need to hurry to it" Carapace smiled through his lying fangs.
"Am I taking up your time though? We can do this later if you need to go" Crissy stated, a tiny trace of worry in her voice.
"It's fine Crissy, I can stay a while longer. Like I said, no hurry"
Claptrap rolled around the table, bored out of his mind. Being a robot without a mouth, he couldn't even eat to pass the time. So now he just rolled around the table waiting for the three ponies to end their conversation. After his thirty fourth time of rolling around the table, he finally caught a glimpse of Carey's cutie mark. Claptrap laughed to himself everytime the word came up just because of how ridiculous it sounded, but this time he couldn't laugh. The gears twisted in his mechanical brain as he recognized the golden H plastered on the ponies rear.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! JACKS AFTER ME AGAIN! SAVE ME MINIONS!" The strange robot screamed as he jetted out the door into the city.
Vinyl, Octavia, Crissy, and Carapace all watched with confused looks on their faces as the robot screamed out the door. Everypony in the city watched the strange box like thing race down the road, some giggling and others speechless as to what they just saw. Vinyl slowly turned her head to Octavia who was already staring at her.
"What the buck was that about?"
Deep in the night, Celestia stood on her balcony. Wide awake, and nowhere near getting any sleep. Her mind raced with thoughts, still counseling the course of actions she witnessed just the day before. That poor girl, cursed with a father who had a... twisted love for her... She sighed heavily. Never before was Equestria faced with such a threat that his death was the clear choice from the beginning. Her thoughts ran so deep, she barely noticed the small moth floating into her window. Her thoughts broke when a soft begging voice came from behind her.
"Princess Celestia, I beg for your mercy..."
The Princess of the Day turned to face the voice, and even though her face would not show it she was shocked to find the Changeling Queen prostrate on her floor before her.
"Chrysalis... Speak quickly, for you do not have much of my patience..." The alicorn sternly put.
"Princess, grant an old enemy a tiny shred of mercy for my people need aid..." The Changeling Queen continued to beg.
"Yes, they need food. And I have told you that my ponies are NOT going to be lo-"
"No Princess, they need an assistance more dire than food. We are being enslaved, killed, driven closer to extinction every passing day!"
Celestia held her tongue for a moment, taken back by what the Queen had said.
"Explain Chrysalis, now."
"A madman appeared before me in my throne room, started insulting me and my subjects in front of my face. After a threat from myself, he began to murder my changelings... with his... machines..."
"This... madman... What did he call himself?"
"Jack..."
Celestia and Chrysalis remained silent for minutes, the princess's thoughts ran heavily through her mind. Even the changelings... This Jack had a... talent for making trouble. Celestia then nodded her head, and took pity on the Changeling Queen.
"Very well Chrysalis... You have my mercy, but only if you can promise your aid in stopping Jack."
Chrysalis departed the castle of her former enemy northbound, thoughts heavy and wings fast she pushed herself harder than she had ever before. The last couple hours burned into her mind like a searing hot brand.
"I'm certain Jack intends to use your subjects against us... But how..." Celestia wondered, sweat beads growing through her face.
"The Crystal Empire, that is where he plans an attack Princess" Chrysalis hissed, clearly irate at her current predicament.
"Hmmm..."
"You know something Princess?"
"We have evidence of an attack in the near future, I sent the Elements and a group of humans to investigate and aid in the-"
"Humans? Like Jack then... They can be trusted?" The Queen sneered angrily.
"They can be trusted, they have been fighting Jack for a long time it would seem"
"And how can you not expect them to turn on us for their own kin!?" Chrysalis flared as she raged.
"Peace Queen, would you have me loop your children into the same crimes you committed solely on their kinship to you?"
"I... Bu... No Princess... Forgive my outburst..."
"Your rage is justified Chrysalis, but only if controlled towards our true enemy. I will not condemn you for emotional outbursts"
The changeling queen stared into the regal alicorn's eyes for several moments, unsure of what to say. She was certain Celestia would take the opportunity to banish her to Tartarus and be done with her. She had not expected such... kindness. She finally snapped away from her thoughts long enough for a final conversation.
"I must go north, to the empire" The queen stood straight and tall.
"In your condition I cannot suggest that, are you not starved for power?" Celestia asked, more concern in her voice than what the queen expected.
"My power matters not... if I do not hurry then the city may fall before your 'Elements' can do anything about it!"
"What? What do you mean!?" The alicorn's calm demeanor broke at the sudden comment.
"My son... he is playing the city for a fool..." The queen lept out the window and took off into the night. Celestia could only stand and watch as the Changeling Queen flew off into the night.
Caine lay in his spot in the snow, nearly a day gone by with no sign of Carapace completing his mission. The Hyperion Infiltrator was patient, but this was becoming a problem. The invasion is supposed to happen today, where ever that changeling was had better of been important he thought. The infiltrator lay in his spot for several hours more before something caught his eye.
A single round shot into the air, from the speed it looked like a sniper shot. A thought crossed his mind, those vault hunters were on the planet. Chances are, they were in the city. Caine scoffed a little as he pulled out a red cloth scrap from his pocket.
"Mordecai..."
The infiltrator shot up and ran towards the city, his body disappearing into the snow as he activated his stealth camouflage. Carapace wouldn't stand a chance against the vault hunters, but that was not what concerned Caine. If they were their then he had to make sure the objective was completed.
"Hey Mordie..." The thick accented berserker began.
"Ugh... No Brick... I'm not answering you again..." The pegasus answered.
"... Can I-"
"NO BRICK! I CANNOT EVEN LIFT YOU! ugh..."
"What are you two going on about now!?" Lilith turned to scream at the arguing stallions.
"Ugh- Nothing Lil!" Mordecai raised a hoof to the back of his head. Still getting used to his new form, he almost tumbled to the ground balancing on three hooves.
"Are... are they always like this?" Applejack whispered to Gaige next to her.
"Yeah... I think so anyways. If you didn't know any better you might think they were related haha" Gaige laughed as she flapped her wings.
"They sure do act like it... Makes me wonder how the family's doin back at the farm..." The farm pony began to wonder.
"Farm huh? Used to live on one myself... probably nothin like what you do" Axton spoke, finally getting his hooves to walk with him.
"Really now, Ah wouldn't ah taken ya for a farm pony with how... pleasant ya are" Applejack slightly glared at the commando.
"The battalion does that to you, not saying I'm proud of it but it's just who I was before I got... discharged" The commando concluded.
"So what did ya do?" The farm pony began to pry.
"Mostly made Rakk Ale" Axton smirked.
"Ah meant about that battalion thing, what is it?" Applejack glared again.
"War is hell AJ, that's all I'm saying on it" The commando finished as he trotted up to the front of the group.
Applejack watched him wander to the front, and almost began to feel sorry for him. She wanted to apologize if she said something wrong but was stopped by the blue unicorn behind her.
"Let him be Applejack, it's a rough life being a vault hunter. We all left something behind to get where we are today. Axton left a lot more" Maya comforted Applejack with a soft hoof on her shoulder.
"Thank ya Maya. You just let him know ah said sorry if ah said somethin wrong"
"I will" The unicorn smiled as she also trotted passed towards Axton.
The large group of ponies stopped their trek when the larger earth stallion in the lead suddenly froze in the road.
"Hey Krieg, whats up? Something in the-" Gaige began but stopped when she saw him.
"MINIONS! YOU GUYS GOTTA RUN! WHAAAAAAAAA!"
"No seriously, what the buck was that bout?" Vinyl asked shortly after Claptrap dashed out the door way.
"I... have no idea..." Carapace slowly began to catch up to what happened.
"Carey, he flipped out when he saw your cutie mark I think" Crissy noticed. "What's it supposed to be anyways? A gold H? What could that mean?"
"It... has to... do with.......... umm...." Carapace knew that they would become suspicious as he tried to think of what his 'special talent' could be. An idea sparked in his head. "Jewelry, I uh... am kinda embarrassed to admit to it."
Carapace figured coming up with an embarrassing talent would make up for the delay, like he was building his guts to admit it. And besides, he did have a small talent for finding colorful rocks.
"The golden H is supposed to mean wealthy and healthy, I got it when I made my first gold ring" Carapace continued to lie. He didn't have the slightest clue what the H was for, besides it being something Caine used as a logo of some kind.
"Oh! so you are a jeweler!?" Crissy seemed to beam with excitement. "Maybe you can show me your work sometime! I would love to see how such trinkets are made."
"Of course! Perhaps later in the week though, I will need to gather supplies you know" Carapace smiled, he didn't enjoy lying to these ponies. He considered them his friends, in his head he scolded himself for the thought of making attachments on a mission. A part of him just wanted to stay a pony forever however.
The three ponies finished their meal and continued up towards the castle. Along the way, Carapace felt a sense of dread nearby. He politely excused himself from his friends down a narrow ally. His surprise was un-noticed as the tall human in bright yellow armor stood before him.
"Carapace, I thought I told you the invasion was today..."
The changeling stared into the infiltrators eyes, fear building in his own four legs. He barely noticed the small moth landing on his back as he was cornered into the wall...
"Claptrap!? What the hell are you doing here!?" Lilith shouted as the small robot charged the vault hunter ponies.
"HYPERION IS HERE! RUN AHHHHH!" Claptrap screamed as he sped passed the vault hunters further into town, until stopped by a large hoof.
"QUIT YOUR SCREAMING! I need to hear their blood..." The psycho pony howled at the small robot, who retreated into his box frame.
"OH GOD PLEASE DON"T RIP OUT MY EYE!" Claptrap screamed again.
"RIP THE WIRES!" Krieg stopped as he let out a small cough. "Pardon... Claptrap, you said Hyperion is here?"
"YES! Wait... you can... talk?" Claptrap questioned.
"Well, technically I could always talk... but yes. Hyperion Clappy, what about them?"
"Oh yeah! I saw this pony who had their logo on his ass! Don't you see? Jack is still after ME!" The robot popped out of his shell and began rolling around the group in circles flailing his arms.
"Jeeze... can't even go to a new planet without running in to this guy..." Mordecai groaned.
"Oh! So how did you guys get here? And Why are you all ponies? And why are you in this city? And why is Hy- AGHGHGHGHGHGHG" The robot fell over as the blue storm of electricity volted through him.
"Thank God... You have no idea how long I have been waiting to do that..." Gaige sighed in relief as she holstered her pistol. Getting eye's from the real ponies around. "Trust me, you will understand when he wakes up."
"So... He isn't ... dead?" Fluttershy asked, shaking at the sudden display of violence from the young pegasus pony.
"Nah, Maliwan shock pistol. A bit of rewiring and he will be good as (annoying) new!" Gaige smiled, with a hint of disgust at fixing the annoying robot.
"Ok, well that answers that then. Now can you explain why he burst into electricity?" Twilight asked, genuinely interested in the strange technology. "It didn't look like any kind of magic I've ever seen."
"It's not magic, it's elemental. Check this out!" Gaige pulled the clip out of her pistol, but before she put the next clip in she stopped. "You all may want to stand back. Further. Further still. Perfect."
Gaige slammed the clip into her pistol, causing her lunchbox sitting on her utility belt to hum for a short second. Twilight felt her jaw hit the ground as the pegasus exploded, releasing an electric nova around her. Everypony watched for a moment as the mechromancer smiled at the jaw dropped ponies before her. Then she began walking towards the castle, every pony snapping out of their awe to follow. Twilight caught up with her, her eyes glowing with interest.
"Ok, explain. I absolutely HAVE to know about this... elemental stuff..." Twilight begged.
The group worked towards the castle, Gaige explaining all the different technology she had used in her equipment with the unicorn siren. Every word left Twilight wanting to hear more, especially when she began talking about implementing Eridium into the different weapons to amplify or change how it fired. In what seemed like no time, the long trek to the castle finally seemed over. The fifteen ponies stood under the massive castle's shadow, the vault hunters eyed the castle, impressed by the size and splendor of it. Soon after, the whole group stepped into the crystal castle to meet the rulers of the kingdom.
The tall threatening figure towered over Carapace, who seemed to back down as it approached. The bright yellow armor was shadowed in the dark alley, and Carapace could see traces of blue energy pulsating off the armor. The hyperion infiltrator slowly stepped towards the changeling with an unfamiliar object held in his hand. He rose it up and pointed it towards Carapace, who heard a slight *click* as it rose.
"Hyperion tech, nothing beats these bad boys. You know what is the best thing about guns Cara?" Caine grinned with malice in his eyes. "As long as the man holding them is capable, they will never fail you..."
Carapace felt his heart race as the gun slowly rose to point at his forehead.
"Tis unfortunate, I figured you would do anything for your people. Thought it would make you into quite the tool, but it seems this land's... peace... corrupts people in a strange way, makes you soft... eager to make friends and such... Silly little child..."
Carapace closed his eyes, expecting the worst.
"Well, it's no matter. You were a convenience. Nothing more, the plan will still be a success. However, that does not mean I can forgive your... failure. Good bye Carapace. It was not a pleasure knowing you."
*click*
POW!
"Hmm?" The infiltrator mused at the display.
"You will not harm another one of my people... monster!"
Carapace recognized the voice, but did not think it possible. He wanted to open his eyes but they sealed shut. Fear held him in place as the noise continued.
"Oh, it's you. Heh, took a bullet for your parasite kid huh? Sweet. Hold still, I'll let you catch a grenade for him too!" Carapace heard another small click, then the sound of something being tossed in the air. The unmistakable sound of magic resounded through the air, followed by a much louder explosion than from before. Carapace finally opened his eyes to see the tall black figure of Queen Chrysalis standing in front of him, sweat trickling down her head and blood seeping from a foreleg.
"Hey Tavi, did you hear that?" Vinyl asked after the loud pop.
"Yes, it came from where Carey ran off to" The earth mare responded.
"Do you think he is ok?" Crissy asked, worried.
"Don't worry girl, your boyfriend will be fine. I'll go check up on him, heh" The unicorn scoffed.
Crissy blushed at the comment, but before she could respond the unicorn ran down the alley. She could have sworn she saw her hooves glowing with her horn. Octavia frowned but slowly trotted after her.
"Don't worry about her. She may be reckless, but she can more than handle herself."
"You know, I wanted to put a bullet into that ugly mug the day I saw it" Caine taunted the Queen as she formed a magical barrier around her and Carapace.
"You dare... You think your toys will outlast my magic!?" Chrysalis growled at the human, knowing her magic would surely fail after too much longer.
"Ha! Even in the end, your arrogance to those stronger than you... I will never understand your type..."
"Well, I'll be glad to give you a lesson..." The Queen huffed as she quickly ran out of breath. The blood loss on her leg was draining her faster than she planned. She either needed to think fast, or get really lucky.
"Give me a lesson? Lady, you have no idea who you are talking to" Caine laughed as he pumped another two shots from his pistol into the shield, lowering Chrysalis's resolve and energy. "Ex-Lance, not like you know what that is... Military, I was the top shot in my squadron. See this ring? Shot 753 shots straight through it, at 500 yards. No body could beat me, nobody except... After the lance... disbanded, I had no where to go. In a war torn galaxy, nobody wanted a lethal assassin. Always too scared. Until I met Jack. Heh. He get's it. He knows what the galaxy needs. Rid of the lesser races! All of them! Bandits? Aliens? All of them! And right now, your kind are right on the top of his shit list..."
"So, where does that leave us?" A stranger's voice echoed through the ally. Caine looked up to see a small unicorn pony. "Heh lesser races? I'll show you lesser!"
Vinyl's front hooves raised, revealing two strange devices strapped to each. Both devices began to glow, one red and the other blue. Caine took the opportunity to fire his pistol at the interfering pony but each shot deflected into the walls on either side of her. The gauntlets glowed even brighter until they peaked into such a bright color that Caine could barely tell the difference in colors. Vinyl gave a cool smile as she thrusted both hooves forward, releasing the stored energy into a pure beam of energy. A sudden boom seemed to deafen the area of sound, Caine was thrown back into a wall.
"Heh... Bass Blasters... What will you come up with next?" Vinyl asked nopony in general before noticing Carapace and the taller changeling. "Hey Carey!"
Carapace was shocked, not only from the sudden display of power from his friend, but mainly that she was looking at him in his normal form and not screaming or running or anything.
The large crowd of small ponies were once again traveling to the crystal castle, a trek that has borne them many side ques -er- encounters, but they still seemed to make very little progress. The lack of said progress was beginning to wear at a few of the group member's patience. Twilight Sparkle especially, who now was finding Gaige's way of explaining technology very annoying and squeaky. She felt that if she heard the phrase 'Total AWESOMENESS!' one more time that she would have to melt the ginger pegasus's face off. Those thoughts retreated into the back of her head as the large earth stallion suddenly stopped in front of her, lifting his head to sniff the air.
"Uh, Krieg... My brother and his wife are kind of waiting on us?" Twilight reminded the now twitching psycho.
"Uhhh Twilight..." A worried voice resounded from behind her.
"Not now Pinkie, Krieg! Come on! What's the hold up?" Twilight was losing patience with every distraction. She couldn't help but think if these vault hunters always got this distracted when the fate of their world hung in the balance. "Krieg? Are you listening to me?"
"But it's about my Pinkie Se-"
"Pinkie! We have more important thing's to worry about than things falling!" Twilight almost raged.
"Easy now Twi, once the big guy's got this thing going on... It's best to just let him do his business..." Axton put a hoof out in front of the lavender siren pony, expecting her to take a step forward.
"But it's not a tail twitchy! It's something else! Like a real doosy!" Pinkie almost seemed excited at the prospect.
Gaige crept up on Krieg, in hopes of calming him down. As she approached the psycho pony, she couldn't help but rest a hoof on her pistol. She knew the bullets would do no good, but one hit by it's electrical surge should (hopefully) shock him out of his trance. Just before she could get close enough to speak, well... Just take a look...
"TAIL TWITCHY!? INNARDS CHURNING!? MY BRAIN IS SPINNING IN MY HEAD!" The pyscho screamed in a shout that put the nearby crystal ponies in a state of sheer terror. Just as the silence began, Krieg spoke in a hushed tone once more. "I cannot rest here.... there are enemies near by..."
"Gah! Krieg! Wait for me!" Gaige shouted as the large earth stallion vaulted over a fence into a neighboring ally.
"I CANNOT WAIT WITH BAD GUYS AROUND!" The psycho screamed as he charged around a corner.
Gaige flew up into the air to track him and with a slight nod, she shot back into the ally system to chase her friend. Everypony else tried to follow but the two vault hunters rushed out so fast that they lost track of them almost immediately. Twilight was speechless for several seconds, a single strand of hair flicked out of her mane as her eyes shot wide open. Her mouth seemed to creak into an awkward smile as she turned towards the castle and continued walking.
"It's ok Twilight.... They must have gone... after... food... yes... food..." The siren pony told herself as she walked towards the castle. The other ponies behind her simply followed suit.
"Uh... So... Vinyl..." Carapace backed into the shadows next to his tall mother.
"Carapace, is this pony a... friend of yours?" Chrysalis seemed to snarl as she asked.
"No- I mean... yes mother, she is a good friend of mine" Carapace knelt his black head down in shame.
*clop* *clop* *clop*
"Well then, Vinyl is it? Fortune favors you that you find us in a... weak predicament. Now begone!" The Queen demanded.
"Woah there lady, I don't mean any harm. I just saved you after all right?" Vinyl laughed as she leaned up against the ally wall. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the tall figure shambling back to his feet. "HEY JERK!"
"Huh? Oh... shit..." Caine mumbled as the bass blasters exploded through the air with a low rumbling blast. The shot's hit the ground beneath the hyperion agent, launching him into the air.
Vinyl prepared another shot, but before she could fire Caine balanced himself in the air and his boots exploded in flames as he rocketed out of the city. The unicorn could vaguely see the human vanish in the air as he departed.
"Heh... Lucky bastard..." The unicorn turned back to the two changelings before her, a part of her knew they shouldn't be trusted. She couldn't shake the feeling that Carey, or rather Carapace, could still be trusted. After all, Vinyl was all for giving ponies chances. "Now that he is outa the way, perhaps we could chat about the whole... Carey being a changeling thing. Maybe over a bite to eat though! Blasting aliens can get a girl hungry!"
*clop* *clop* *clop*
Both changeling's exchanged looks as the unicorn spoke, it was the Queen who spoke first.
"Are you aware of who it is you are speaking to?" Chrysalis seemed a little off set by the ponies acceptance.
"Yeah, I know who you are. Almost took Canterlot a while back, pretended to be a princess, got kicked out, yadda yadda yadda. You think I'm worried about that?" Vinyl hid a smile behind her poker face.
"Almost certainly little pony, are you not the least bit afraid?"
"Nah, after seeing how you held up against that bastard and how well I flicked him outa here... I'm confident I can handle ya!" The smile broke through with a gleam of her bright teeth.
*clop* *clop* *clop*
"Mother, Vinyl. Do you two hear that?" Carapace asked, noticing the steadily increasing noise rushing towards them.
"Hear what?" Both the Queen and Vinyl asked, but their question was answered when a massive earth stallion burst though the wall before them screaming mad ramblings.
"WHERE ARE THE BAD GUYS!? I CAN HEAR YOUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Krieg screamed as he burst through the wall.
Map show's no threats here anymore
"BUT THERE IS NO POST ON SUNDAYS!"
What? What does that even have to... You know what? Nevermind... I'm not even going to try and understand that one.
"FREEDOM AT LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!!!!!!!"
"What the buck?" The white unicorn before him raised an eye brow before the lumbering mass of flesh before her.
"I SAW A RED DOT AND I WANT IT OFF MY MAP!"
It is off the map! God...
"What? What are you-"
"Enough of this blabbering! Is it a fight you seek beast!? Because you seem to have found one!" The tall black horse bug declared.
"YOU GOT ME A PRESENT!? IT'S WHAT I ALWAYS WANTED!"
No! Wait! These are not enemies!
The Queen stared at the clumsy beast for a few moments, anticipating it's first move. Krieg on the other hand just paced back and forth as he fiddled with his buzz axe in hoof. Not taking the time to consider how exactly he gripped it. Instead he watched the Queen with bloodthirst in his eyes.
"Hey wait a minute! Don't go leaving me out of this scrap!" The white unicorn pony joined the circle.
Oh great... A truxican stand off...
"IT'S NACHO DAY TODAY FRIENDS!" Krieg screamed as he rushed the Queen, buzz axe humming it's devilishly handsome tune.
"Not today you... freak!" Chrysalis deflected the attack with a barrier, nearly taking all of her power reserves to keep it up as the pycho pony hammered on it with the strange object. She felt her magic wane just as the psycho was blasted off the barrier in a blast of sound.
Krieg peeled himself out from the wall that broke his fall, leaving a giant pony print in the wall behind him. The psycho landed on all fours and reared up on his hind legs and let out what couldn't be identified as a roar or laughter. The white unicorn felt her jaw drop as the pony just shook off a blow from her bass blasters. She began to charge them a second time for another assault.
"Ok you tough hunk of stallion... You're cute and all, but I think you could use a little BEAT DOWN!" Her hooves released another barrage of bass that erupted the ally in sound. The beams came inches away from the psycho when they made contact with... something... Vinyl watched the smoke clear, but almost wished it would have stayed. In front of the psycho pony stood, or rather floated, a metal monstrosity with it's arms clasped together. The energy radiating from the creation grew into a massive blue orb that, when completed, simply floated into the ally.
Vinyl watched as the strange orb floated closer and closer, almost entranced by the humming the orb released. The orb closed distance to the enthralled pony, but before Vinyl could reach out to touch the mysterious ball...
"Vinyl! Duck!" Carapace lept into the fray and wrapped his forelegs around the DJ pony as he rolled out of the way. Just as Vinyl was about to protest, a loud pop caught her attention. She watched the blue projectile fly through the air towards the orb, and as it made contact with the glowing ball it exploded in a magnificent eruption of static electric energy that caused the hairs on the back of every pony present to stand.
For a soft moment, the battle seemed done. The queen was expended of her magic, and Vinyl was just too in awe at the technological marvel before her eyes. Krieg simply stood behind the machine, laughing as another body dropped to the ground before them. Out of the shadows concealing the new member, a small pegasus stepped out into the light. Vinyl only felt furtner in shock as she noted the fake foreleg.
"Everypony still ali-" The pegasus rested her eyes on the white unicorn sitting on the ground before her. Her voice dropped, her eyes widened, and her mouth grew into a large beaming smile. "OMIGODIT'S VINYL SCRATCH!"
Caine landed at his small hovel he made out to snipe from, only just now feeling the impact of the strange sound wave weapons used against him. He could feel his muscles and innards tensing up inside him, the searing pain leading him to believe there was much internal damage. His boots hit the ground as the stream of rocket fire was ended, but the infiltrator fell on all fours as he landed. The pain was intense, very close to wounds he had suffered before. Digging in the ground revealed a dull grey case, yellow paint shreds scattered around it. Finding the button on the side of the box, Caine pressed and watched the device unfold out revealing a dark red substance within a syringe.
Thrusting the needle into his chest, he felt the warm fluid flow directly into his vital organs. The stinging pain was quickly forgotten as the warmth of healing agents worked on mending the torn muscle sinew. Caine rolled over on the soft ground, he groaned as his healing muscles relaxed. His mind drifted while he lay there, feeling the inevitable high that came from his 'special' mix. His hand lowered to his Echo mounted on his hip, but as he pulled the device from his belt his mind went black. The drugs in his mix taking hold of him.
"Please state your name and identification" The feminine voice suggested as Caine stood before the large golden door.
"Agent Longshot" The infiltrator stated as he presented his badge.
"Badge accepted, welcome Agent Longshot. Handsome Jack is expecting you" The voice chimed once more as the door folded inside itself.
Caine stepped into the finely furnished room. He took a moment to take in the splendor of Opportunity, more so the idea it represented. A grim smile crept on his lips as he filled his mind with glorious battle, the thought of wiping the bandit presence off Pandora forever. It made his cold heart yearn for the blood. Yet here he was, in the physical embodiment of what he fought for. A certain pride filled him as he strode across the room, his gaze settling upon a tall chair facing away from him.
"Do you know what I see out there?" The figure in the chair spoke in a calm, yet authoritative tone. Caine felt a deep reverence wash over him. "Beyond those walls, the untamed lands of Pandora... I see so much... Promise, so much wealth, but you know what else I see?"
The chair turned around, and the tall man sitting there stood up from it. Without making eye contact, he strode across the room towards a large window overlooking Opportunity. The sun was setting, lighting up the city with a golden orange glow. Caine watched his glorious leader as the sun beamed through the window, seeming to ignite the image of Handsome Jack in a bright orange radiance.
"I see... Ungrateful bandits..." Jack coldly stated towards the window. "Look at what I offer. Opportunity is what I offer; wealth, peace, freedom! And yet they reject it... So what do we do to bandits who reject me?"
"We crush them" Cold and calculated, Caine spoke bold and true.
"Yes. Agent Longshot, I've got a very important mission for you. How do you feel about birds?"
The Preserve. Where Jack claims to use slag experimentation to further medicinal sciences and what not, in truth it's just where he uses eridium to mutate whatever he can. Mordecai came to retrieve a software upgrade for Claptrap, Bloodwing perched on his shoulder. The rare species of bird, ever vigilant, seemed to be on edge. More so that usual, so much that Mordecai took notice. He simply raised a hand to calm his bird, who cooed with a moment of bliss before returning to her watchful stance.
The man and his bird continued down their path, both still very aware of their stalkers. Mordecai kept his hand close to his revolver. Rather than shouldering his sniper rifle, best to keep their pursuers guessing after all. The hunter spotted a small valley along the path. If he was going to get jumped, it would be there.
Mordecai soon found himself at the base of the valley. Almost as soon as he felt the dirt hit the base of his boots, a soft snap echoed through the valley. The hunter immediately gripped his Jakobs revolver and pulled it towards the sound. Several blasts from the revolver dropped two hyperion assassins to the hot earth beneath them. As they both fell however, several more rose from the folds in the earth.
"Go girl! Take 'em out!" Mordecai shouted as Bloodwing left his shoulder and took to the skies. The vicious bird shot to the skies, and floated there for a short moment before diving down.
Bloodwing's claws shot out just in time to dig into the skull of an engineer, who fell with screams of agony. The bird then shot from the engineers face towards another hyperion agent. Mordecai took out three more hyperion soldiers before realizing both him and Bloodwing were surrounded. He watched as his bird flew over him and dove into a cluster of soldiers, clearing out a path way for him to escape. The hunter took the chance and darted forward, trusting that his bird was close behind him.
The bullets whistling passed him, Mordecai slid down into a nearby ditch. Shouldering his rifle, the hunter snapped his head up only to wish he hadn't.
"Bloodwing! Where are ya girl!?" Mordecai shouted, noticing he was no longer being chased. Also noticing his bird was now gone. "Shit! Come on girl! It's fine now!"
The hunter shot out of the ditch and climbed his way up a cliff side and into a cave overlooking the surrounding area. Taking a peak through his scope, he saw just what he was looking for. He saw the small envoy of hyperion soldiers escorting an over sized cage, Bloodwing raging inside. The hunter felt a jolt of rage at seeing his best friend like this, but his scope moved on. Now it focused on the leader of the group, a pale man with a wicked grin. The hunter spat as he holstered his rifle.
"If Jack thinks he's gettin me this easily... Don't you worry Blood... I'll get ya out..."
Caine opened his eyes to find himself sprawled out on the ground. The empty case infront of him and the shattered syringe telling him everything he needed to know about what happened. Slowly, the hyperion infiltrator rose to his feet. In his hand was his Echo communicator, and he knew exactly what needed to happen. His thumb pressed down on the transmit button.
The darkness of night had long settled on the city of Canterlot, yet even in it's peaceful shadow the Princess of the Night nervously trotted down the long hall towards her sister's chambers. A drop of sweat slid down her brow as she raced down the hall. Mixed feelings running through her mind; first confusion, then realization, anger, second thoughts and finally more confusion. Finally her tired legs slowed as the large white doors adorned with bright suns faced the dark princess. The sweat drop hung at the base of her jaw, as Princess Luna opened the large doors the drop fell softly to the ground.
"Sister, my apologies for disturbing you but I have disturbing news" Luna spoke with a combination of drowsiness and urgency.
The dark alicorn trotted into the room with a dizzy stagger, eyes glossed in exhaustion. On the opposing side of the chamber stood her opposite sibling, who now stood in her own state of confusion.
"Luna? You are several hours late in lowering the moon, and you look... well tired, what ails you sister?" The regal white alicorn asked with the utmost sincerity.
"My sister, I have tried to lower the moon. From the hour planned to only ten minutes before now, yet it refuses to leave it's spot in the sky. My reserves of magic are low, and I do not believe I have the stamina to continue" Luna half mumbled, half ranted in her sorry state. Celestia took notice of the magical strain her sister's body was in.
"It deny's you dominion over it? How would that be possible? Unless Discord was involved..." Celestia raised a hoof to her own brow in thought.
"That is precisely what I thought myself sister, hence my hurried rush to find you. Where is Discord?" Luna asked, but before her sister even had the time to react a cold shiver raced up Luna's spine.
"Hmm yes, I can definitely see the fun in such a prank my pretty princesses. I am swelling with a mix of pride and confidence that you would attribute the stationary disposition of the moon to one such as I" The loud, almost sincere voice echoed down the halls. Both sisters peered at the door as the tall, gangly being stepped into the room. "Yet, much to my displeasure... This act of chaos is not of my own."
Both sisters looked toward each other with doubting faces, but it was Celestia who spoke next.
"If not you Discord, then who? To my own knowledge, we are the only three beings with the magical potency to lift the sun and the moon." Celestia turned towards the window to face the still moon.
"Discord, would thou mind telling your princesses just where you were these last few weeks? Neither I nor my sister have heard word from you since the discovery of the human Krieg" Luna peered through sagging eyes towards the draconequus.
"Oh yes! You see, After the riveting experience with that Krieg fellow I decided to do some studying of my own. In my own style of course. Even found another human here, although he never even knew I was there, and learned a great deal just by poking around in that neat little head of his" Discord seemed to swallow a disgusted gulp, both sisters noted. "And before you go scolding me for abusing these powers of mine, humor for me a moment and watch your precious moon!"
Both sisters and the draconequus peered out the window. Two frowns and a twisted grin watched as the air distorted itself in front of the moon. Luna opened her mouth to protest but was silenced by the following eruption of sound bursting through the air. Sheltering their eyes from the flying glass, both sisters recovered enough to see the shadowed heavens ripple like a pebble had been thrown into it. Only the pebble was no pebble, yet a large creation of metal and lights. The sisters could only watch as the new celestial object seemed to stick to the air before the moon.
"Discord... Explain."
"Wha- What is that thing!" Twilight shouted as the streets screamed around her. Screaming in the streets at night hours was not a favored hobby of hers, then again neither was having night time hours at breakfast.
The siren unicorn watched the night sky ripple as the large structure floated before the moon. From her balcony in the crystal castle, she could see the ripples in the dark sky as the structure seemed to teleport in. Her five friends also watched, some in fear and others in confusion. The seven vault hunters however where already in action as they bolted through the door towards the princes chambers. Twilight took notice and quickly followed, her friends tailing behind.
"No, seriously! What is that thing!?" Rainbow demanded more than asked, speeding at pace with Mordecai.
"That's the Hyperion moon base kid, Aka big trouble. Twi! You sure your bro can handle this!? Once the bombardments start, Jack ain't quitin!" The hunter turned his head back as he flew through the air.
"I'm certain he can manage! You didn't see him when the changelings attacked!" Twilight tried to remain serious but a slight bit of pride escaped her mouth as she ran. The doors to her brother's chambers were already open and she could see inside. Her brother was already with Cadence, looking out the window towards the moon base.
"Shining!" Twilight shouted as she ran into the room.
"Twily! Do you know what that thing is?" Shining asked with a smile, but Twilight felt his protective gaze observing her new tattoos. A slight cringe briefly appeared on his face.
Before the unicorn siren could answer, a strange metal ball came hovering into the room. The ball flew through the same window both Shining and Cadence were watching out of. Everypony watched the ball as it seemed to dance around in the air. The vault ponies watched, scowls growing on their faces. They alone gave enough tension to turn the Princess of Love's gaze towards them. Before she could speak her calming words, the source of their ire spoke from behind.
"Hey everybody! Jack here!" The cheerfully dread voice echoed through the halls.
Seven ponies stood in shock as the holographic screen unfolded out of the floating orb. Seven other ponies pulled out gun, blade, powers and hoof at the screen as if to attack. Princess Cadence merely kept a strong and warm face as she turned to the image before her.
"Greetings Jack, I am Princess Cadence. To what do I owe this visit?"
"Ah so there are decent civilized ponies on your rainbow pisshole of a planet. Good to know there will at least be a friendly face on the ground" The man in the hologram seemed to grin. Most ponies in the room offended at the 'pisshole' comment, Cadence remained unphased.
"On the ground? And what do you mean by that?" Shining finally stepped forward to ask, using a protective tone.
"Oh! Yes... that, well you see. I have reason to believe that this little 'Empire' of yours is housing nine dangerous fugitives, all with very high prices on their heads. Granted I did recall those bounties but still. I want them, and you will give them to me" The man demanded, Twilight turned her head towards her friends but snapped back as she caught Lilith's shaking towards her.
"And if we decide not to give them up?" Cadence asked maintaining her calm countenance.
"Well, then it goes like this. If you decide you would rather protect these child murdering bandits, then I will have to do something like this" The man smiled, every pony watched as his arm raised to a terminal, beeps a clicks echoed through the room.
"DAMMIT JACK DON'T DO THIS!" Mordecai shouted, but it was too late. Screaming shells pierced the sky, the resulting explosions caused the other ponies to shoot towards the balcony.
"Oh Celestia..." Cadence gasped as an entire block of the empire was engulfed in flames. The night itself glowed in the flames.
"So, do you understand just how important they are to me? Hand them over and I promise, their deaths will be quick."
Cadence ignored the screen behind her, a feeling churning in her stomach very difficult to keep within herself. She remained silent as she watched her city burn. The vault ponies gathered behind her, one soft hoof rested on her shoulder. She turned to face her husband, but instead met with the pearl white coat of Lilith. Her gaze hard on the moon base ahead, but her hoof resting on the grief filled princess beside her.
"It won't stop. Even if he get's us... He wants this planet. Us, you, your friends, we are all just in his way and he will kill us all... If we give him the chance" Lilith spoke sympathetically, but at the same time with a determined look towards the base.
Cadence remained silent, as if sucking in all the information. She could hardly make a decision before another shell pierced the sky. Her eyes widened as the ball of fire hurled towards another block of the empire. She opened her mouth to scream but the shriek went unheard as the ball of fire erupted the block in smoke and flame.
"Every minute you waste is another hundred lives I get to waste, better give me your answer... The clock is..." Several flicks of switches and beeps followed the gap in his speech. "Ticking."
"Shining! Help me get a shield up!" Cadence shouted in mournful agony.
Shining armor quickly nodded and rushed to his wives side. Touching his horn to hers, the room was filled with bright pink energy as the shield expanded over the castle. More shrieking shells launched from the moon base, all making contact with the pink shield that was quickly enveloping over the Crystal Empire.
"Heh... Just like old times, I'll get past this shield vault hunters... Just like Sanct-" Static filled the room and the orb dropped to the ground, it's signal blocked by the magical barrier.
Everypony stood in silence outside the chamber doors. Cadence and Shining Armor had taken the vault ponies into their room to question, Twilight and her friends were now waiting out in the hall. Their minds filled with all kinds of thoughts.
"So much... destruction... Ah've never seen..." Applejack muttered as she slumped down the wall onto her rear.
"How can somepony be so... so evil!" Rarity exclaimed, her face wet from tears as she thought of the injured... or worse.
"That chicken can't even come down here to fight us himself! He has to use some weird magic to threaten us!" Rainbow fumed in anger, kicking her rear legs in the air.
At the display, the door slowly opened. The light tan coated stallion with the utility belt and jacket came trotting out followed by the midnight blue unicorn mare. Shining Armor stepped out behind them and the door shut behind him. They all three shared a grim look in their eyes.
"Shining, whats going on?" Twilight asked, knowing perfectly well what was happening. "Maya? Axton?"
"Just goin after survivors little lady, we'll be back mid day tomorrow" Axton stood in the hall, allowing Maya and Shining to pass in front of him.
"Sur-survivors?" Fluttershy crept up behind Twilight.
"Yes Fluttershy, your princess still senses living ponies in the several blocks hit. She suggested Shining take a squad of guards to round up survivors, Axton suggested he go in the squads place. Act of good faith" The siren giggled to herself. "I'm going along to keep these boys alive. Someone has to keep them in line."
"It's just the three of you? How are you going to cover all the places hit!?" Rainbow shot into the air.
"Mordecai and Lilith are taking an elite squad of the crystal guard to the eastern districts. We are going towards the south eastern parts" Axton replied with a slight grin at Rainbow. "Of course, they have a flier and we don't... But I guess we can ju-"
"I'm coming!" Rainbow shouted as she flew over by Axton. "I'll pick out the survivors and you guys get em to safety!"
Just before the attack
"So... You and you are... changelings?" Krieg asked as he sat with the dark skinned ponies, with their big bug eyes and bug wings. The psycho immediately thought of the varkid, only a little different.
"Yes, and you... are a psycho? By the swarm..." Chrysalis hissed. She was still worn out from the fight the day before, also the lack of feeding. "Your strength surpasses the strongest of stallions I've had to... deal with. And that mare... What magic was that?"
Chrysalis was eyeballing the small red pegasus with the machine arm. She had witnessed the monstrosity she had summoned and the power it was capable of releasing was... incredible to say the least. For such a small mare... She was talking with the white unicorn and they both seemed excited about something. Such a small mare... Yet so...
"Oh that's Gaige, and it's not magic" Krieg interrupted the Queen's thoughts. "It's all home made tech. Her dad helped her with some of it, but it's mostly her work. That girl is something of a genius."
The changeling queen was about to respond when a deafening sound screamed through the sky. Everypony shot their heads to the sky, the sight shot a jolt of anger in the Psycho's heart. The same anger grew in the Queens heart as well. The flaming shell hurled downward from the moon base and wrecked into the ground only a couple blocks away. The explosion was almost as deafening as the shot itself, then the screaming of ponies fleeing the scene. While the queen, Krieg, and Gaige all stared at the moon base, Carapace and Vinyl each stared into the streets. Wide eyes filled with terror.
"OCTAVIA!"
"CRISS!"
Both unicorn and changeling shot down the ally, Carapace reforming his pony shape as Vinyl was sprinting down the ally way. Chrysalis, Gaige and Krieg watched for a short second before running after them. A dark rage was building behind Krieg's mask as he watched the city burn.
The ruined rubble of the city was much worse than expected, at least for the captain of the guard. Standing structures were blown out and engulfed in fire. The group had already passed a handful of bodies, all dead. So far things were looking grim. Shining seemed the most disturbed by the display of carnage, Axton noticed the occasional stumble in his step. Distracted by the horrors of war, Axton shook his head. He stepped up beside the guard captain.
"So... a princess... What's a gu- er... pony gotta do to score a gem like that?" Axton tried to distract Shining, still keeping his gaze out for survivors.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, we knew each other since we were foals. She foal-sat for Twilight, and things just... went good you know?" Shining tried to calm down, but the sight of the destruction kept his mind occupied.
"Plans for the future?" The commando pony asked, stepping forward to block Shining's view of another dead pony.
"Ruling the empire for now, with everything going on... No time to plan for the future I guess" Shining face the commando with a half smile.
"I know the feel, back in the battalion there was no time for the future. Death around every corner, has a way of keeping you in the now" Axton shifted his gaze to a nearby building. "I saw movement, maybe a few survivors?"
"It's worth a look, if we can save one life..." Shining made his way over to the standing building, roof and wall collapsed in but strangely was not scarred by fire. "Maya, can you help me with some of this rubble?"
"Sure thing" Maya stood from a sitting position over a passed crystal pony. Axton took noticed of the healing powers, and sunk his head when he saw the body. "Let's see what we got."
The midnight blue pony trotted over to the building next to Shining Armor, her gaze crossing over the building and it's rubble. She turned her head towards the white unicorn beside her and watched his horn radiate with magic. She smirked as she stood on her hind legs and her tattoos shown with a brilliant blue hue. The rubble was lifted in the air in mere seconds into a large black ball of energy.
"May want to duck Shining" Maya grinned as she threw her glowing hoof to the side, tossing the rubble to the side. Shining watched, and his jaw almost dropped at the display of magic.
Shining regained his composure when a dusty mare came crawling out of the remaining rubble. Her coat was covered in a thin layer of dirt and dust, Shining assumed her hard crystal coat protected her from harm. The unicorn put out a hoof to help the mare up and on her hooves, but she refused. Instead she pushed the hoof out of the way in a panic.
"Go! Run! It's a trap!" The mare screamed before the ground beneath her shifted and lifted.
Shining took a step back as he was engulfed in the shadow of the constructor bot. Shining's horn began to glow as a shield wrapped the crystal mare, who was still shouting at him to run, but was too late as the mare leaped off the bot back into the rubble. Maya watched her run away, but only to be cornered by two gun loaders. One was lifted in the air by Maya, who then slammed the bot into the ground hoping to take out the second. The mare tried to run but only made it a few feet before the ground around her exploded in dust.
"Axton! The other-"
"Worry about her later! Look!" Axton shouted as he raised a hoof towards the back of the house.
A forth bot strutted out from behind the building, standing above the height of the constructor and armed with six heavy assault cannons. Axton barely had time to drop his turrets before the Ultimate Badass Loader unleashed a volley of machine gun fire into the ballistic shields of both turrets.
"Shit! Wha- What are those things!?" Shining shouted as he backed up to Axton, his horn now charged for a blow.
"Bad guys, you know how to use this?" Axton asked as he tossed one of his assault rifles towards the pony.
"Uh, no!" Shining protested.
"Well, you better learn!" Axton shouted as he pulled out his own rifle.
Gaining balance on three hooves, the commando managed to shoulder the light Dahl rifle. With careful aim he released two bursts of corrosive fire into the subtle red eye of the remaining gun loader. Shifting his gaze away from the melting bot he rested his iron sights on the constructor.
"Maya! Get the badass! Shining, anything pops up in front of this guy blast it!"
As Axton went to work on the constructor, Shining managed to get his hooves rested on the thick rifle thrown at him. Taking a brief moment to look it over, he noted some kind of inscription on the rounded barrel. Not taking the time to read it, he saw the constructor's eye glow with a silvery light. After watching Axton work with his gun, Shining had a decent idea on how it worked. Shouldering the rifle, he aimed at the now forming bots. With a deep breath, he squeezed the trigger releasing what seemed like hundreds of small orbs out of the barrel. Shining took a moment to cock an eye brow as the small balls simply landed on the ground before him, and nearly jumped in the air when they all exploded into a thick purple cloud. Taking a moment to look at his gun, his face scrunched in confusion.
"The buck's a bearcat?"
Axton saw his chance, and he took it. His turrets were good to go again, and the bad guys were all slagged to hell. Tossing out both turrets, he pulled out one of his favorite pistols. The golden handle of his Dahl pistol seemed to slide into place as he raised his Hornet to aim. With a few flicks of the trigger, the remaining bots and the constructor melted into a nasty green puddle.
"You boys finally finished?" Maya asked as she strutted towards them, the ultimate badass laying in a smoking heap behind her.
"Uh... yeah..." Axton sighed. "Cheater..."
Maya smiled as she watched her stallion groan, but a realization snapped her back to reality. She turned around and rushed back to where the mare had been gunned down. Finding the body, she knelt down beside the mare. As the unicorn pressed her head to the mares chest, she could feel the slightest breath. She was weak, and did not have much time. Maya took a short second to concentrate before raising her glowing hoof again. Siren powers lifted the weak mare into the air and her wounds were closed. Axton and Shining stepped up to her just after she finished.
"Is she going to be alright?" Shining asked with a concerned voice.
"Yeah, but she needs further attention. You two should be fine without me, I'm going to run her to a hospital and inform the others about traps." Maya replied as she lifted the mare onto her back.
"Yeah, you do that" Axton remarked back as she turned to walk away. "Hey, Maya wait!"
The siren unicorn turned her head back, only to see Axton stepping closer. As he got closer, she felt a certain warmth rise in her. Soon the commando was close enough that she could feel his breath on her muzzle. The siren closed her eyes as the commando pressed his lips into hers. They shared this moment for a brief moment when Axton pulled away.
"Be careful, I don't want to lose you too" Axton turned away towards Shining.
"You won't."
"Oh Celestia..." Octavia gasped silently as she opened the cellar door.
Her and Crissy had taken cover in the nearby wine cellar once they saw the strange object just appear in front of the moon. Octavia had called it instinct, especially given past experiences in Canterlot with the changelings. Now she looked on the ruined city around her, the only thing on her mind was Vinyl. She turned her head towards the crystal mare behind her, cowering as she lay on the ground. She lowered her head back down and closed the door above. As she climbed down the stairs to comfort her new friend, a new noise chilled down her back.
Loud thuds rolled on the ground above. Too big for any stallion she knew, not even that Macintosh fellow from the orchard made a noise like what she now heard. With a deep breath, she turned back to the door. A small nudge on the door should give her a good view of whatever was making the noise without drawing too much attention, she reached a hoof up to push the door up.
"ENEMIES DETECTED, REQUESTING SURVEYOR SUPPORT" The loud, monotonous voice commanded freezing the musician's heart.
Octavia hadn't heard such a terrifying voice before in her life. It was so... empty, the sound of it echoed in her skull like a void. In a way, it sounded... fake. She wanted to look, see what monster could sound so wrong, yet she feared leaving the safety of her cellar. She could try and fight, after all, she did manage to hold her own during the changeling attack. But the immense size it must have been... She shrunk back into the cellar, hoping and praying to Celestia for her friends safety.
Her prayers were answered, but not in the form she expected. Soft explosions rapidly barraged her ears, but were quickly ended by something much louder. Something more... wub like...
"Wubba dub dub mutha fuckas!" Vinyl shouted with a ferocity she never knew she had as she lifted both fore hooves towards the patrol of bots.
The two gun loaders before her twisted around, pointing their hyperion made firearms towards the small white unicorn.
"FIRING WEAPONS" The cold voice stated as both it and it's twin opened fire on the unicorn, the body of the unicorn phasing into nothing as the bullets passed through.
Vinyl felt the wind flow through her mane as she descended down on both robots, both of her hooves glowing with charged bursts of energy.
With a brilliant blast of pure sound, the first bot fell as it's body crumbled. The rough stone streets cracked as the unicorn DJ and sound wave specialist landed with a blast of bass. The second loader twisted it's gun arm around to fire, only to be hit with a barrage of electric explosions. The ginger pegasus shot down from above, raining fire from her Maliwan Thunderball Fist. The loader recoiled from the blast, taking little damage from the shocking blast.
The loader unleashed a torrent of gunfire towards the pegasus, her shields took the brunt of the fire as she rounded in the air and perched on a standing building. Raising her gun to fire upon the loader, her own shields depleted at a blast from above. Before she could even glance upward, her shield sucked in the surveyors above and erupted in an electric nova obliterating the surveyors shields.
"Hey Pon3! Eyes in the skies!" Gaige shouted as she blasted at the surveyors, leaving it with a smoking trail behind it.
"Got it! Let's see how you like this you robotic freaks!" Vinyl shouted as she collided both hooves together. The collected energy flared in a brilliant blue as it fired into the air.
Two of the several surveyors flying around got caught in the focused beam of energy, leaving a cloud of smoke where the flying robot once flew. Gaige grinned as she watched the flying bots crash into the ground or explode in the air, but a thought crept into her mind. Where were they coming from? The shield should prevent entry from any hostiles, unless...
Vinyl watched another flying machine jet out from behind a building, and with a curse under her breath she charged her blasters once more. As she lined up the shot however, the building exploded in dust and rubble as a massive beast of a machine burst through the building. The DJ pony barely had time to dodge out of the way as the constructor fired a barrage of missiles towards her.
Gaige watched the building crumble and took to the skies once again, after a dazzling swoop through the sky she dived to the ground. Her now regenerating shields taking the fire from the last missile launched towards Vinyl. Vulnerable to the constructors onslaught, the mechromancer raised a metallic hoof in the air. The sound of digi-structing material filling the air as the hulking torso of metal and wire rose from the earth.
"Deathtrap, Buck up!" Gaige shouted, and the bot twisted with an extended arm as the blue beam launched towards the pegasus. Gaige raised a hoof upward motioning at the remaining surveyors "Now, go get em boy!"
The metal monstrosity hummed in response as it rushed into the sky to chase down the remaining bots. Gaige felt a tear fall down her cheek as the bot incinerated a surveyor with it's lazer eye beam. The mechromancer turned her gaze towards the constructor as Vinyl trotted up beside her.
"Damn girl, that bot is sweet as hell. Once this thing is down you have GOT to let me get my hoofs on it!" Vinyl cocked a grin as Gaige's eyes grew with excitement.
The moment was ruined once Deathtrap found itself between it's master and the constructor, eating a second barrage of missiles. Not much longer, Deathtrap's shields failed. Gaige grinned as the bot sucked in the remaining surveyors in the air and discharged a static blast, frying their shield generators. Vinyl leaped upward onto ruined buildings then vaulted into the air above Gaige and her bot, unleashing a volley of bolts from her blasters destroying the remaining surveyors and landing on the top of the constructor.
"Let's see how you like this you over grown trash can!" Vinyl discharged both blaster cores from her hoof held weapons and shoved them in the nearest crevice of the constructor. She then leaped off the giant bot, and with a flip landed next to Gaige. Standing up, she clapped her hoofs together as the bot behind them twitched and hummed.
Vinyl began to step away with Gaige by her side, both cocking playful grins, never taking the chance to turn as the constructor exploded into a violent array of blue energy and orange fire. Both ponies then continued their search for Octavia and Crissy, at least until the ultimate badass loader flew through the wall before them in a smoking heap. Behind it came crawling out of the hole two massive pony figures.
"Next time I decide to take a new form... Remind me not to take your's..." The Queen shifted from the hulking form in a flash of green fire.
"DOUBLE THE TROUBLE, DOUBLE THE FUN!" Krieg screamed from behind as he launched onto the loader and burried his axe in it's frame.
Slowly, Queen Chrysalis led the hulking stallion through the smoking streets of the Empire. Her son strode beside her, anxiously looking around every corner. Had she not caught the youth in her own magic, the Queen preferred not to think about what would have happened. She amused the thought that he found someone to care for, even if it was a pony. She scoffed as she ended her thought, gaining Carapace's attention.
"My Queen?" The changeling calmed himself long enough to ask.
"Do not concern yourself with my thoughts child, they are mine and not your own" Chrysalis raised her head and turned to hide her scowl.
In truth, she very much wanted to share her thoughts. She really wanted to snuff out this bond of his with this pony. The queen sighed with her thoughts. Reflecting back on her invasion of Canterlot, and how willing Celestia was to just forgive her of her actions... Her scowl molded into a saddened frown as her thoughts amassed in her head. With a quick glance down at her son, a smile crept onto her aged face.
A subtle humming filled the air, silent to the imposing psycho's ear but to the sensitive changelings it was like hooves on a chalkboard. Chrysalis furled her brow in a vain attempt to ignore the grinding buzzing in her head, the pain bringing her to gritting her sharp teeth. She could sense her child feeling the same pain, although looking at him made it more obvious than that. Finally she snapped.
"KRIEG! What infernal device in your unlimited arsenal is making that mind splitting noise!?" The Queen raged as her head snapped around to the large, confused psycho.
"Noise?" Krieg lifted his head to listen, but hearing nothing. "I don't hear any noise, and I'm pretty sure it's not my gear." The sane psycho responded, clearly glad he had gained control.
"You don't hear it Krieg?" Carapace turned beside his Queen, nervously kneading the ground. "I can hardly take it."
"Umm, no? What's it sound like?" Krieg asked, raising an eyebrow behind his mask.
"Umm, like... your axe? Sort of?" Carapace cringed a little bit as the sound got louder.
"My...axe?" Krieg lifted his head up to hear.
Carapace nodded hesitantly as he watched the large masked stallion lift his ears up. His own ears twitched as the buzzing sound seemed to get louder. The Queen clinched her teeth as she lowered her horn, expecting trouble. Krieg noticed and pulled the Maliwan Hellfire off his hip. Gripping the gun, he remembered Lilith giving him the weapon and a shield generator shortly after getting off the train. Said something about her firehawk days... Krieg shrugged the memory away.
Raising the gun up in one hoof, Krieg stepped up next to the Queen. He could now faintly hear the humming, although it sounded different for him. Stepping beyond the changeling queen and and her child, Krieg followed the faint sound down a scorched block of buildings. He quickly got his answer to the noise. On the far end of the lane, the psycho saw the massive constructor digi-structing a small army. For once, the psycho froze as he saw the numbers. His legs were like stone, but not out of fear of the bots. The psycho was froze for another reason, or the lack there of.
Fully expecting his hand to grip the hardened handle of his buzz axe, he remained calm as he watched the hordes of Hyperion bots from his position beside a burned building. Or remained as calm as he could, inside his head waged a one man battle as he shouted at himself.
Come on, where are you?
Silence was his answer.
Are you still in there?
Krieg knew the answer, unless the beast found a way to leap from his mind and into another...
Ok, ok. I'm sorry I kicked you out of control. Can you forgive me? And more importantly help save the city from Hyperion?
For once, Krieg was saddened by the lack of response.
"What is going on?" He asked aloud, not aware of how loud he actually asked.
"INTRUDER DETECTED" The loud monotonous voice ravaged the air with it's empty sound waves.
"Shit!" Krieg whispered as he rounded the corner he came from, running into the Queen and Carapace. Literaly.
"And what has my 'fearless guardian' quaking in such fear?" The Queen sneered as she picked herself up from the ground.
"Chrysalis, we gotta go. Now" Krieg didn't ask.
"And you think you are the one to give orders to me?" The Queen scoffed as she twisted her head. "In case you forgot, I am the Qu-"
"ATTENTION INTRUDERS. DIE"
"SHIT!" Krieg and both changelings shouted in unison as the split off to dodge incoming fire.
Krieg and Chrysalis weaved in and out of ruined buildings dodging fire from the loader peppering each door, wall, or corner they passed. As Krieg ran, he vaguely became aware of his guest running with him. As Chrysalis ran, she was fully aware of the lack of her child. Rage grew inside her as she thought what those monsters would do to him, but her rage was soon replaced with worry as she hoped for his safety.
Carapace had no idea what was going on. One moment he was watching his queen pick herself up from Krieg's tackle, and the next he is dodging gunfire and jumping walls and windows. Now he stood in a burnt out shack, what he presumed to be a tool shed of some kind, alone.
The changeling took a moment to look around, trying to find any kind of weapon. Not like gardening tools would do much against the metal monsters, but holding something as simple as a blade made him feel better. Shuffling around the charred ruins of the caved in roof, he found what looked like a sickle of some kind. The blade was stained black, Carapace guessed from the ash but failed in brushing the dark color off.
Grabbing the sickle by the scorched handle, Carapace was surprised at how well the handle held up. A few charred bits crumbled off at his grip but altogether held. With the blade in his possession, Carapace made his way out of the shed and back into the streets. Before setting off into the dangerous streets, the changeling had a decision to make. Loyalty, or love...
The changeling ran into the burning ruins, blade in hoof and seeking the only pony to ever matter to him.
"Queen! Get down!" Krieg shouted as a Bul Loader plowed through the wall both pony and changeling were hiding in.
The Queen vanished in green flame as the loader rammed through the smoke. Reappearing beside Krieg, she charged her horn with green magic and launched a blast at the loader. The Bul Loader unfolded into it's bipedal form just in time to block the magical attack with it's shield, but as the green magic made contact the shield seemed to wither and disintegrate. Krieg had an idea.
"Hit it again! I think I have a plan!" Krieg ordered.
With a wicked sneer, Chrysalis released a second blast of energy at the loader raising it's disintegrating shield. Krieg took the opportunity and raised his gun. Pulling the trigger, the loader spanned it's shield arm towards the barrage of flaming bullets allowing the Queen's magical blast to blast into it's side. The bot slowly melted into a smoking puddle. Krieg stepped up next to the Queen and raised a hoof up to her. Chrysalis turned her grin over towards the stallion with his hoof raised towards her, and with a sigh she raised her own and bumped it to his.
"You will tell NO ONE about this... So help me I wi-"
"DISABLING FIRST LAW. PREPARE TO DIE" The voice was followed by a single shot and a scream of agony.
"Blast it!" Chrysalis screeched as the bullet pierced her hardened skin and made it's way into her chest.
The queen collapsed as the green fluid began to stream from the wound. She felt her breath weaken, her whole body was getting weak. She cursed herself for being caught off guard, or would if she had the energy. Never before had she felt such pain, few creatures can penetrate a changelings chitinous hide. She watched as the loader took a step into the building, and she watched it fall before her own vision began to blur.
The psycho was speechless. This queen, whom he remembered being quite powerful in their previous fight. Then seeing her in action, even for such a short fight, she was one of the few people... ponies... whatever he felt he could in a weird way trust. If he couldn't even save her... He felt a twitch in his hand at the thought. He felt something he should be a kin to. He felt rage.
"You should run... run back to your hive in the sky... get your friends and leave..." Krieg began as his body shambled across the room towards the loader. "Because if you dont..."
The loader raised it's gun to kill the approaching psycho pony, but as the gun released it's deadly volley the arm holding it flew in the air. Krieg's buzzing axe ripped through the metal and wires as he screamed.
"THEN I WILL CARVE MY NAME INTO EVERY ONE OF YOU I SEE!" The psycho screamed as he charged into the streets filled with bots.
Axe in one hand, gun in the other, Krieg charged into the mass of enemies. His axe sang as it ripped through metal like flesh. His gun screamed as it ignited anything shot, reigniting many buildings. The psycho caught a massive loader armed with dual incendiary auto cannons, with a toss of his axe one of the cannon arms fell to the ground. Without thought, Krieg sprayed the War Loader with his Hellfire sub machine gun. The loader combusted into flames as Krieg rushed by, carving further into the mess.
A nearby loader fired a charged blast at the psycho, ripping Krieg's shields apart. Krieg only grinned in amusement as surrounding loaders were blasted with fiery explosions erupting from his body.
"LIGHT EM UP BITCHES! I AM ON FIRE!"
A loud explosion jolted Queen Chrysalis back to reality. With heavy breaths, she managed to lift her head enough to see the source of the explosion. Much to her surprise, one of the robots landed before her. Scorch marks covered it as it smoked. With a struggled grunt, the Queen managed to stand. She ignored the splitting pain in her chest, if the shot hadn't killed her then... She pushed herself outside, feeling a certain warmth of power flow inside her.
"What is this?" The Queen said aloud as her body began to feel rejuvenated.
The pain from her wound was all but vanishing. In her wonderment, the warmth of power lifted her face towards the sounds of screaming and gunfire. She watched the hulking stallion cleave through the hordes of metal monsters. Was this power she was feeding on... from him? Power radiated in the Queens veins, she felt it surge through her like a tidal wave. She grinned as she directed her new found power into a force of vengeance.
The queen strutted down the road, green flames wrapping around her body and leaving a trail of flaming hoof prints behind. Remaining bots twisted at their new target, as one raised it's massive cannons it was lifted up in magical fire and crushed. Chrysalis grinned as she stopped, surrounded on all sides. With a sadistic glow, her horn lowered towards the horde of machines. An eruption of pure magic beamed out of her horn, slicing through each bot it touched.
"Ahhh... to be me again... How I've missed this..." The Queen grinned as she stepped over melting and burning corpses towards the raging psycho, still cleaving his own path towards the creation before them. "First these monsters... Then I'm coming for you Jack."
"You like killing bugs? You really do? How about this. I hope you brought some raid, BECAUSE MY ENRAGE IS UP AND YOU HAVE JUST WIPED!" The psycho ranted as his shield began to recharge.
Axe buried in the remaining arm joint of an ultimate badass, Krieg ripped the buzzing blade from the offline bot. Now he stared down the behemoth that was the constructor. It's glowing red eye singled out on the flaming stallion, three auto turrets unfolded out and locked onto the ponies position. Krieg cocked his face as he grinned under his mask. The three turrets opened fire at the psycho as he leaped into the air and rolled to the side.
Unleashing a hail of infernal rounds upon the heavily armed constructor. The flaming rounds ignited the armor for a second but barely lasted. Krieg cared not as his torrent of fire continued. Circling the constructor, he was unaware of how close he actually was. The construct jumped in the air and crashed down, launching the psycho back into the pile of destroyed bots. The top hatch of the constructor opened up into a missile pod and unleashed a barrage of missiles towards the psycho.
Krieg raised his gun once more and unloaded the remainder of his clip into the air. One after another, the missiles met the fiery bullets and exploded in the air. Through the smoke, Krieg charged in. As the psycho reappeared through the smoke, he was abruptly launched back by a second barrage of missiles. The psycho landed on his back, his shields exploding in fire as he stood. He watched the constructor through the clearing smoke.
"ARMING NUKES"
"BOOM TIME!" Krieg shouted as he shot to a stand and vaulted up a burnt out house.
The constructor fired the first nuke in the air as Krieg peaked the ruined building. The fattened missile sliced the sky in a smoke trail as it turned to fall. The psycho leaped from building to building as the nuke fell and crashed into the first ruined home. The house exploded in a brilliant flare, Krieg never took the moment to look behind as he roof hopped away. Anypony who would have seen his grin could have told he was enjoying this.
Chrysalis watched the explosion with wide eyes, but snapped back to reality as she saw two more missiles in the sky. Looking between Krieg and the missiles, she formulated a plan.
"Beast! Come!" The Queen ordered.
Krieg snapped his head to the tall black changeling and immediately vaulted from his perch towards her. Landing next to the queen, Krieg grinned as he gripped his axe. Both nukes descended upon them, the first met with a powerful blast of magic fire. The second now homing in on it's target.
"NOW!" The Queen bellowed.
"BALLS OF STEEL!" Krieg charged towards the constructor.
The nuke altered it's course to take out Krieg as he charged towards the constructor, pulling out his own nasty surprise for the creation. Chrysalis charged her own magic as much as she could, due to her new found power was a lot. Krieg leaped into the air as his axe fell into the optics of the constructor. His fist jammed in the package of explosives into a gap in the constructors armor. Pulling out his fist, he gripped his gun and sprung off the massive bot. With a grin, he pulled the trigger. The flaming bullets found their way into the armor and ultimately to the large bundle of dynamite left inside the loader.
"MAKE WITH THE SPARKLY! LETS MAKE IT GO BOOM BOOM!" Krieg screamed as the nuke flew right by him towards the constructor.
Like clockwork, Chrysalis created a magical barrier around the constructor and nuke. In the split second before the bot's death, one could see it's eye glow. The bubble shield glowed bright with hues of red and orange. The both of them watched as the fire swirled in the bubble like an orb of fire. Both wearing grins of pleasure, one for the fun of it and the other for what this meant.
The shield fell as the Queen finally relaxed. She turned her head towards the psycho who was simply staring at her. She felt his heavy gaze resting on her, and to her surprise found herself hesitant to look away. This creature, she could tell it was no pony, but yet it still seemed to entrance her. She focused into his exposed eye, tracing the bloodshot veins of red inside the swirling white vortex. She felt her own cold heart beating against her chest and before long caught her head leaning forward. The psycho pony simply watched as the changeling queen leaned in closer, and closer. Chrysalis found herself lost in thought and yet screaming on the inside. She was genuinely curious as to who this masked stallion, creature was. As she closed in on the hard mask...
"STRANGER DANGER! STRANGER DANGER!" Krieg screamed, knocking the Queen away with his voice alone. The psycho watched her recoil with wide green eyes. Krieg rested his gaze back on the Queen, she was certain she heard a sigh.
"You are not deserving." Krieg drew in a breath as he turned his head. "Not like me..."
Chrysalis felt her insides sink at the strange sense of compassion behind the psycho's words, and could not tell if it was him speaking or some thing else. She watched Krieg begin to walk away before the raised a hoof to stop him.
"Krieg, wait..." The queen spoke with a softer tone gaining his attention. In a flash of green, she stepped forward towards him. "You may not know... but I have done many bad things... many ponies would probably have seen me die back there..."
The psycho watched himself step out from the smoke, almost wincing before remembering who he was dealing with. Warming up a smile behind his mask, Krieg wrapped a hoof around the pale, linen wrapped hoof before him. With a firm shake, he was about to speak when...
"ONLINE, INITIATING MURDER.exe" The ultimate badass loader just finished reconstructing from the remnants of the constructor, now aiming all six of it's automated cannons towards the duo. Krieg felt a twitch in his eye.
"BUT I ALREADY MURDERED MY EX!" The stallion screamed as he charged the massive bot, pushing the metal monstrosity into walls, doors, everything. Buildings collapsed as the psycho charged with his new makeshift dozer-blade. The queen simply sighed and followed behind.
Hovering in orbit before the celestial mass, the Hyperion moon base held a sinister gaze down upon the new planet. Jack sat at his desk, folding his hands together as he watched through the many screens before him. All of them showing live footage of his assault on the empire. Skimming between different screens and scoffing at each, the tall man stood from his seat. The screen gaining his full attention now was showing an interesting scene. A familiar black creature fighting along side a massive stallion wearing an interesting mask. Jack cocked a grin as he put two and two together.
"Heh, can't believe they got me with that one. The big badass vault hunters parading around as sweet little ponies" Jack mocked with his best feminine voice, then snapping back after realizing how appalling it really sounded. "Not like that will do them any good."
Jack walked over from his desk towards a console on the far end of the wall. The display was showing every constructor he managed to get into the city before the shield covered it. Most disabled, and the last one seemed to fall off the grid. Jack grunted as he theorized what he could do next, started to wonder if he should just finish this now or drag it out. The human shrugged as he rested his finger on a large switch. Moving his other hand to a button marked with a microphone, he spoke into the mic that lifted from the console.
"Hey there boys and girls! Or is it mares and colts... Ah who cares! Point is I've got a present for you! Since you ponies have been kind enough to care for my fugitives, I have decided to reward you for all your hard work. Now if you could just pull down that nuisance of a shield I would be glad to deliver" Jack ended with a smart tone as he pulled off the transmit key.
Several moments went by as Jack watched the planet below him. The large purple bubble remained visible even from his personal office. With a soft chuckle, Jack sat down in his swivel chair and spun around once or twice before looking at the planet once more. The shield still standing. Ample time had passed for him as he reached for the transmit button once more.
"Well, it's obvious you ponies don't really want this gift of mine... but you know what? I think I'm going to give it to you anyways, just for being good sports" Jack leaned back in his chair as he flipped the large switch. "Oh by the way, you may want to take cover."
The Hyperion moon base shifted in the sky, movement so sudden that nopony in view missed it. Strafing around the planet, the base lined itself up with the giant pink bubble surrounding the city. Many ponies across Equestria watched in wonder and fear as the eye of the massive ship seemed to absorb magical energies around it. Large red orbs slowly drifted into the eye for several moments before coalescing into a heavy red glare.
The sound of thunder rolled across Equestria as the red beam of energy split the sky apart and ripped through the atmosphere. Pegasi were thrown from the air by the resulting sonic boom of the focused blast. The beam seemed to impact the shield for a brief second before everything exploded in smoke and dust.
The castle exploded with sound; glass shattering from the blast, ponies shrieking in terror, but loudest of all was the bloodcurdling scream of Princess Cadence. The remaining ponies and vault ponies rushed to her aid, stopping as they watched her lay on the ground. Twilight was the first to approach, thinking of everything that could have happened. She fought back the tears as an unpleasant thought crossed her mind. She stopped, frozen in her steps as she felt a cold breeze flow past her. Before she could react, Zer0 stepped out in front of her and knelt before the fallen princess.
The assassin lifted a hoof and placed it on the neck of the princess. Zer0 had wanted to sigh as soon as he figured he couldn't feel a pulse through his hardened hooves, but instead folded his hoof in and felt with the wrist joint of his leg.
"She's alive for now... The blast reacted badly, Directly at her" The assassin summed up the damage in the best consoling voice he could. "It could have been worse..."
Twilight still felt frozen as the assassin spoke, his voice remained cold even as he tried to speak with warmth. She felt a sudden warmth as her friends stepped to her side and comforted her.
"Ah'm sure she'll be fine sugercube. She's been through worse, right?" Applejack forced a smile, even though she felt like breaking down herself.
"Of course Applejack, I mean... She held off that awful character Sombra, I'm certain she will pull through!" Rarity chimed in with her best impression of optimism.
"She has to! We are still here because she had to use that super magic shield thingy to protect us all and if she doesn't make it then how can we thank her for saving us!" Pinkie leaped in with tears streaming down her face.
Fluttershy softly stepped up beside Cadence and knelt down beside Zer0. With a soft whimper, she laid her head on the princess' chest. Closing her eyes and listening. After a moment she stood back up and turned to her friends.
"We really need to get everypony underground, and Cadence needs to be someplace cool... I mean... if.."
"No Flutter, you're right. Don't do that second guessing thing now you hear?" Brick stepped forward. "Jack's gonna use that thing again, either that or send in his army of bots. We gotta get the survivors someplace safe, now."
"Sound's like a plan to me, but what about our friends out there?" Applejack asked, filled with concern.
"They will be alright. Axton knows what he's doing, and he has Maya." Zer0 added in to the conversation.
"Aye, and they may not look like much but Krieg and Gaige can look after themselves. Trust me, I've seen em wreck it with the best!" Salvador chimed in with a cheer.
"Not to mention, Mordy and Lil are survivalists. Isn't anything gonna stop them!" Brick shouted.
"Well, sound's like everything should be alright then. Come on, I know a fast way underground..." Twilight felt what remained of her confidence drain as she trotted for the door. Last time she went there... it wasn't a pleasant experience...
The three ponies and changeling watched as the beam charged. All four silent, two of them could figure what was about to happen. The other two could only watch in horrific amazement at the display of power. It wasn't until the sky split with thunder and screaming that everypony decided to stop watching and start acting. The four still watched as the beam impacted the shield, then watched as the explosion was repelled outward as the shield fell.
"The buck was that!? How are we supposed to top THAT!?" Vinyl was the first to speak, although shout is the best way to put it. "Can that thing keep doing that!? Oh crap! We gotta find Octy and Criss and Care- er Carapace!"
"VINYL!" Gaige slapped the dj pony across the face, snapping her back to reality. "Yes, we need to find them but panicing isn't going to help! Come on guys, let's get to searching!"
Gaige began to trot in the direction they were heading, but stopped when she noticed two ponies not following. Or one pony and a changeling. She turned and saw Krieg pivoting his head around.
"Everypony.... they need to go under... Gaige, go look for our friends. I need to warn everypony around." Krieg then shot through the hole he had crashed through only an hour ago.
"Yes, and my child is out there somewhere. I am NOT leaving him out to die" Chrysalis was clear of her intentions, so much that Gaige just shrugged when she followed down Krieg's path.
"Come on Vinyl, we gotta find our friends."
Mordecai and Lilith were standing over an open cellar door guiding a small crowd of survivors into shelter. Crystal ponies cowered in fear as they were herded into the underground room. Mordecai had his doubts at the place holding up through a direct blast, but Lilith insisted in at least giving the ponies hope. She also needed them all clustered together if she was going to warp them all to safety, should it be needed. The last member of the group slowy trotted down the steps, Lil took a head count while Mordecai kept an eye on the sky.
"Onyx, Saph, Ruby, Stone... Where is Sandy Stone?" Lilith shouted as she held a clipboard in one hoof.
"I'm back here! Whats going on?" The pony in question responded with a shaky voice.
"A very bad dude is... Well just being very bad in general, but everything is going to be alright. Me and my friends are going to kick his ass back into space and save everyone of you!" Lilith grinned and raised a hoof, forgetting she lacked hands for a thumbs up.
Mordecai remained up top, taking a few moments extra to watch for stragglers who may have seen the group traveling. A few minutes passed and the hunter was about to climb down the cellar himself when...
"Wooah! Get off my tail!" Mordecai recognized the spunky voice and turned back in time to see the rainbow hued pegasi bolting through the air with two Jet loaders following behind.
The hunter sighed as he pulled his rifle off his back and took aim at the closest flier to his friend. With a flick of the trigger, the air exploded with sound and soon after the loader exploded in a burst of purple smoke. He watched Rainbow double take for a second at the noise but a whistling missile screaming past her shot her back into action. Mordecai took aim at the second loader, resting his hoof and ready to fire...
"Cai! Whats going on out here!?" The hunter jerked his hand out as he took the shot, the bullet pierced the loaders's wing but barely damaged it otherwise.
"LIL! I HAD THE SHOT!" Mordecai shouted as he raised the gun again, but the loader was out of sight. "Dammit! It was chasing Rainbow Lil... Wait there it is! Oh... crap..."
The loader rounded a building at ground level and was charging the hunter and siren. Mordecai could see the front pods opening, Lilith however was standing tall before it. The siren pony began to glow with radiant blue light, ready to phase blast the incoming loader. Just as she was ready to blow, a rainbow pillar smashed down on the loader. A brilliant rainbow explosion expanded from the point of impact, causing both vault ponies to bunker down from the blast.
"That's right, shield your eyes from the precense of PURE AWESOMENESS!" The brash pegasus boasted as she posed upon the smoking husk of the loader, wings flared and a cocky grin plastered on her face.
Twilight led her friends and sister-in-law, carried on the back of the minuscule yet burly stallion Salvador, through the halls of the castle. Many pony survivors found their way to the castle hoping to find shelter. Twilight saw the masses gathering in the courtyard through a window, she assumed more found their way into the castle itself. Soon she found herself staring down the massive doors to the throne room, and remembering the last time the crystal empire was about to fall. She stepped into this very room, only this time instead of seeking way to defend the city... Now she was seeking refuge for the city. As the siren unicorn stepped into the throne room, her friends made to follow. Her hoof waved in the air to stop them.
"No, not yet. I need to do something first. Salvador, just lay Cadence on the couch there then I need all of you to get everypony out there inside the castle" Twilight spoke as she approached the throne.
The other ponies in the room all looked between each other and nodded. All except the slender stallion in the black jumpsuit. He stood still as everypony walked through, giving a silent nod towards Salvador and Brick. Twilight looked towards the assassin, her eyes filled with disapproval matched the cold black visor of the slender pony before her. She gave a defeated sigh at Zer0's stare as she turned to face the throne.
"You may want to step to the side, I mean unless you enjoy long falls to your death" Twilight joked as she stared at the crystal above the throne.
Zer0 stood still as Twilight braced herself. Interest grew within him as the her eyes glowed with dark purple fire. Her horn bubbled with dark power, the air grew dense with darkness from her spell. The dark beam shot from her horn and seemed to charge the crystal above the throne, casting a shadow across the room. The shadow quickly overlapped the floor towards the assassin, as it moved towards him he noted the floor disappearing beneath him. With an agile back flip, the assassin moved back to solid ground. Preparing to dodge again, Zer0 watched as the hole stopped right before his hooves.
"Passage left over from Sombra's dark rule, only way to access it is with dark magic" Twilight explained with a feeling of dread in her voice. "It's where he hid the Crystal Heart so that no pony could end his rule. The path lead to the top of the tower, but I suspect there to be deep underground passages. It goes down several stories, and this room is only a few stories high. There should be ample room for everypony."
"Suspect, should... You make a gamble, endangering everyone. death or death... tough choice..." Zer0 trotted softly towards the stairwell.
The assassin kicked a stone from the top step down, then waited several moments before finally hearing the soft 'plink' below. Twilight sighed at the silent skepticism as the assassin's faceplate glowed red with three dots, as if he was waiting. She trotted over to the door to await the crowd of survivors coming.
Twilight left the room to address the survivors of the assault. Faithful in Zer0's ability to protect Cadence in her absence, she stepped out to the edge of the stairwell. Hordes of crystal ponies nudged and growled as they fought for space, more yet waited outdoors. The siren pony let out a gentle sigh as she ignited her horn. With a bright flash of magnificent light, all eyes were on her. A brief moment went by as Twilight realized the attention she had drawn to herself. Quickly beating away her blushing cheeks she began to speak.
"Attention denizens of the Crystal Empire, I know that you are all scared. Many of you probably have missing loved ones, some of you may have lost loved ones..." Twilight swallowed as she spoke that last part. "They will certainly be remembered, but for now I must ask that you all remain calm!"
"How the hell can we remain calm!?" One voice rang out in anger.
"I just watched one of those monsters destroy my house!" Another cried.
"What are YOU going to do to save us!?" a final shout cried. The burly gunzerker had enough.
"HEY! You're not being fair to Twilight, or us! We busted our asses tryin-"
"Salvador, that is enough." The gruff stallion turned his broad head towards Twilight. "You all have many reasons to be angry, but I only ask now that you forget anger and focus on survival."
Everypony seemed to groan by now, Brick was about to join Salvador when Applejack stopped him.
"There is an underground shelter just within the throne room, if you all calmly enter then we should be able to get everypony inside and protected until this mess can be dealt with." Twilight once again spoke with a certain confidence in herself.
The crowd seemed much more willing to listen, now that Twilight had given them a means to survive. She was just about to speak again when the crown began to split as a dark blue unicorn trotted through with another mare on her back. Maya steped through the crowd as if they weren't there at all, stopping only when she was in front of Twilight herself.
"Let's see this shelter Twilight, there are many wounded that need help."
Krieg used his incredible strength to lift a massive boulder out off of a small cellar door. The Queen took a peek into the busted in doorway but frowned at the empty room. The psycho also shared a grunt of dissatisfaction as he considered every wasted moment another pony dead. The two of them turned away before a small whimper caught their ears. The Queen turned to find two mares in the back of the room, barely visible in the darkness. She recognized only one, although she had only seen her through her child's eyes. The other, she wasn't so sure about.
The light grey mare approached, with the red maned crystal mare behind her. Chrysalis sensed the fear in both of them, understandable. She stepped forward, almost forgetting her current form as she spoke.
"Come on little ponies, we are not your enemies today" She almost felt bad once she saw them flinch at the deep grunt of a voice she now had.
Octavia stepped forward in front of Crissy. Her mane was unkempt, matching her messy tail, but she still kept the calm tone befitting her class.
"What's going on out there?" The grey mare asked, her eyes spanning between the two hulking stallions before her.
"Hell" One of the two spoke in a cold manner as he watched out the door behind him.
"We could tell that much, the city is under attack? By who? Changelings?" One of the two stallions shot the musician a nasty glare as though he was insulted.
"No, and maybe if you had half a-" The stallion coughed and beat his chest for a moment. "Pardon... no, these are new monsters. The like of which you have never seen..."
Octavia felt herself swallow hard. The twin stallion heavily emphasized when he said monster, although they must have dealt with them before if they were here.
"Are you... here to rescue us?" Octavia sunk her head, expecting bad news.
"I am here to find something precious to me. Fortunate for you, your friend may be able to help" Octavia took a step back, ready to jump between Crissy and the stallion. "You are Crystal Quartz, yes?"
The underground room housing two vault ponies and a half dozen survivors was crowded. Rainbow hated it, she felt like she needed to be in the sky saving ponies but Mordecai wouldn't allow it. Even when she tried to sneak out, he seemed to notice. Warning shots from his revolver would stop the blue pegasi in her tracks, as well as jolting everypony else.
"Ugh... This. Is. So. Boring! How do some of the coolest ponies in the wor- universe, get to be so lame!?" Rainbow pouted as she slumped to the ground.
"You know, complainin 'bout it won't help. Besides, now's a great time for a break" Mordecai grinned as he pulled a dark green bottle from his pack. "You drink?"
Rainbow watched the hunter fiddle with the bottle between his hooves, eventually popping the cork off the top.
"What is it? Some kind of cider?" Rainbow cocked her face with a curious look.
"Heh, much better than cider. Take a swig" Mordecai passed the bottle over, holding it for the other pegasus.
Rainbow stare at the bottle, it's green color made her stomach churn. She was about to decline when her tongue licked across her dry lips. Whatever it was, it had to help her thirst. She reached out and took the bottle in her hoof, and looked at it for a second. A quick sniff left her face scrunched in disgust, it smelled like pond water and piss. For all she new, it was pond water and piss. She swallowed hard as she brought the bottle to her mouth and tipped it back. The cool liquid flowed into her mouth and for a brief second almost tasted good. Then came the potency of it.
"BLEH! What the buck was that stuff!?" Rainbow shouted as she spat the disgusting drink out on the ground.
"Hey! Don't waste it!" Mordecai shouted back as he snatched the bottle back. "This stuff ain't the best, but it'll get ya up and goin."
The hunter tipped the bottle back so far it was practically straight up. Rainbow watched in disgust as the groggy fluid emptied into the hunters muzzle. The bottle came down and out of Mordecai's mouth, and the hunter just grinned.
"Damn... never finished a whole bottle at once, I wonder if I can keep this body just for drinkin! heh..." The hunter mused as he tossed the empty bottle across the room.
Rainbow heard the crash of glass against the wall, but was too busy scrubbing her tongue to remove the taste. She had her share of hard cider, but that was just too far bad. Yet he chugged the whole bottle, Rainbow made a mental note not to take him out for drinks. She took her attention away from her tongue for a moment to notice the white unicorn approaching. Lilith carried a slight smirk as she stepped in font of Mordecai.
"Hey, I found something that may help us out" She began, then shot a look at Rainbow. "This city have an old tunnel system?"
"Uhh, I think I heard Twi say something about the castle having an underground floor. What did you find?" Rainbow managed to get out between scrapping her tongue.
"Well a hidden door with a stairwell. Goes a ways down, may be a good place to put these ponies while we clean up" Lilith suggested. She was about to continue when a crystal pony stepped forward.
"You must mean the crystal mines... Last time anypony went down in them was when Sombra still ruled... Many of us may not want to go back down" The old stallion began. "They... harbor dark powers still..."
"Well... I guess we need to convince them it's safe... Ugh... things can never be so easy can they..." Lilith sighed.
"If I may, we have heard you are warriors of a sort. Perhaps an escort through the mines would make the others more comfortable?"
Rainbow could see the strain on the sirens face, and she understood it completely. How would they be able to stop Hyperion if they had to protect all these ponies from ghosts? She was about to spring up to speak but a rugged hoof reached out to stop her. She twisted her head to meet Mordecai shaking his head in disapproval.
"Let her do her things Dash, Lil can handle it without you" The hunter smiled. "Besides, you would probably just make it worse..."
Rainbow felt pressure run to her face as she fluttered her wings in defiance, but the moment was swiftly silenced as Lilith spoke.
"Alright, I'll escort you all myself" She turned towards Mordecai and Rainbow. "You two get back to the castle and let the others know whats going down."
"Sure thing Lil" Mordecai stood up, cracking his back as he did so. "Watch your back down there, dark powers or not, it could be dangerous. Come on Dash."
Both pegasi peeked through the hatch door above, being sure the area was clear. Rainbow watched Mordecai as he nodde his head and swung the door open.
"Lets go!"
"Sister, do we know what is going?" Luna approached her sister on the balcony. She took a small moment to admore her moon in her sisters sunlight before returning her attention to the white alicorn before her.
"I'm afraid we do not know much... Between this new moon city, and it's attacks towards the empire... I fear for our subjects, I fear for Twilight..." Celestia retained her regal stance, but Luna could see the darkened fur on her sisters face. She was one more moment from tears.
"your student has been through much sister, I am confident in her abilities" The dark alicorn sat down beside her sister and wrapped a dark blue wing around the tall princess. "After all, it would seem forces beyond us have chosen her for this task."
"You speak of these sirens..." Celestia softly commented.
"Nay sister, I speak of her new friends. Be it just chance the one fell from the sky, as well as his own other worldly friends, to find out they have a connection with the chamber..." Luna swallowed hard for her next words. "The one that I..."
"That was not you Lulu. I wish you would see that."
"I hath done many horrible things sister, some under my own name and other under that name... regardless... Twilight is being guided by something greater. She will not fail."
"I hope not my sister... Even now I doubt my own ability to protect our little ponies..."
The cavern stretched for, what some would think to be miles, yet the siren knew much better. Using her powers to light the way, Lilith slowly led the crystal ponies through the dark tunnel. Deeper and deeper they descended, and Lilith was beginning to feel the 'dark' power the ponies had mentioned. It made her head pulse and her stomach growl, she recognized the feeling but ignored it for now. Getting her ponies to safety was first priority. The thought crossed her to simply phase them out like she had as the firehawk, but she worried where she may end up. No telling how far Jacks army had spread, no telling where was safe. The best option was to simply get them someplace safe the old fashioned way.
"Ugh..." The siren sighed.
"Are you alright? What is wrong?" The old stallion from before asked.
"Nothing, I just..." Hate escort missions... "Feeling a little tapped out. I'll be fine though. Let's keep going."
The stallion nodded as Lilith trotted ahead. Her head began to pulse much faster now, she felt hungry. Sudden realization came to her as a familiar purple glow emanated from a clearing ahead.
"Eridium... There's your ghosts..." She sighed as the room lit up from her siren power.
"I'm sorry?" The old stallion commented.
"Very... Well, important stuff." Lilith groaned as she realized why Jack was so interested in this city. There was probably enough eridium under it to charge the key over again. "Good thing Jack doesn't have a siren..."
"You speak of the crystals? The very ones from which Sombra feasted on?"
"Feasted?" Lilith gave a confused look. "You can't get powers just from eating this stuff you know."
"Yes, we know. Many of us tried our selves to challenge him, but never succeeded." The stallion clutched an old scar in his side. "He did not feast upon them in the traditional manor. Nay, he absorbed it through his dark horn..."
"Like Twilight then... But that would make him a siren right? Last time I checked only chi- er... mares could be sirens."
"I am sorry, but I do not know what you mean by 'sirens', all I know is that he could use it to enhance his own powers ten fold..."
"Huh... Wait, stop." Lilith held out a hoof to stop the herd of ponies behind her. "Do you hear that?"
Familiar sounds echoed through the crystal cavern, jack-hammers and pick axes. Heavy machinery. Lilith sighed as the bandits came into view.
"Damn! Jack must have found a way down here and warped in these bastards... Never could do his own dirty work..." The siren stepped forward. "Stay back here. If you get in trouble, shout. Loudly. Chances are, I won't hear you..."
Before the stallion could respond, Lilith vanished in an explosion. The ponies sit stood as they were told.
Lilith phased into an explosion, ripping a group of psycho miners to shreds. Two marauders turned to face the unicorn and opened fire. In an instant the siren vanished once more as the bullets shredded the crystal behind. Both marauders partook in a double take as they searched for the pony. One of the bandits went flying as a hoof materialized in his face. The other twisted to spray only to have his own face phase blasted. The headless body fell to it's knees as the siren slowly stepped away.
"Too easy... Now... The rest of them..."
The herd of ponies descended down the gloomy stairs towards the base of Sobras castle, the element bearers leading the group. Zer0 stayed close to the middle, next to Brick as he carried Cadence on his back. The closer down they got, the darker the stairwell seemed to grow. Chattering teeth could be heard off the echoing walls, the ground seemed to tremble from shaking legs. Fear held over the room. Twilight waited as the herd finally all funneled into the passage, then closed the way in with her dark magic. Maya approached a bright diamond pony with a red cross cutie mark.
Twilight cast a magical light so she could see just as Maya handed off the crystal mare to the nurse pony. The light grew until it illuminated the entire herd. The purple unicorn winced as a needle like pain shot through her horn. She raised her hooves and noticed her siren tattoos glowing. Turning to Maya, Twilight approached.
"Hmm she is stable for now, the wound went straight though and luckily didn't harm anything major. Still, you were right to bring her here. Our crystal coats protect us from a lot, but these... things... They are loaded with nasty surprises..." The nurse noted as she looked over her patient. "It's going to be rough for her, having to run like this while healing... But I am certain she will be fine.
"Thank you nurse, now if you don't need anything else I'm going to scout on ahead," Maya gave the nurse a smile before heading off. Twilight followed close behind.
"Maya!" Twilight shouted as she caught up with the siren. Maya turned her head to face the unicorn behind her. "Maya, I know we are in the middle of an evacuation but..."
"But?"
"Would you mind telling me a little more about sirens?" Twilight smiled as best she could, given the circumstances. Maya returned with a blank expression then a cool smile back.
"I can tell you what I know, although besides the cool tattoos and the laser hands er... hooves... Not much else."
"Tell me as much as you can. Please. If I have this power, I want to use it for my friends."
"I... I suppose I could teach you a trick or two, but for now we need to focus on the real threat and... Hey, do you hear that?"
Twilight and Maya halted the herd, and Maya recognized the sounds of drills and picks. Twilight raised an eyebrow as she recognized the sound as well, after studying the one hundred ways rock farms provide meaningful work to those on them she could easily single out pick axes. The buzzing however brought a cold feeling about her.
"Miners, stay back Twi. We can hand-"
"I don't think so, I want to try something..." Twilight grinned as an idea formed in her head.
Twilight Sparkle stepped forward as the sounds became louder. Looking around she quickly found the source of all the noise. Tall pale creatures like the vault hunters. Hoo mans they called themselves? Actually Krieg called these ones bandits I believe, Twilight reminded herself. As she continued, her hoof struck a stone and sent it flying down the cavern. As it flew through the air, a large silver object lifted from the ground to intercept it. The steel helmet went flying through the air as the hulking beast slowly realized what had happened.
"Wha? Huh? W-w-w...AaaaaaAAAAAAGHGHHHHHHH SO ANGRY!!" The goliath screamed through the caverns. Twilight flinched for a second, stunned by the scream. Then a freeing thought came to her mind, then an innocent smile.
The goliaths eyes glowed with a menacing red at the seemingly sweet unicorn, and as he raised his hulking fist he screamed. The fist slammed down, knocking a storm of dust into the air. When the air cleared, the goliath looked in confusion as he had hit nothing.
"Ahem, It's rude in interrupt you know..." Twilight scolded as her hoof glowed itself with a velvet aura.
The unicorn lept into the air, seemingly flying as she flipped herself over the massive beasts head. She charged her horn with a magic blast, funneling her siren powers to her already adept magical skill. With a sharp glare, she released the blast into the beasts tiny head.
As the goliath reeled from the attack, Twilight landed away from it and charged another magical phase blast. Her tattoos blazing with velvet light and her horn on fire, she released another blast at the goliath. The ball of magical energy burned the air as it sped towards the goliath when.
BOOM!
The explosion tossed more dust into the air and sent the hulking monster flying back into a mechanized drill. Two marauders noticed and quickly came to join in the action. They both lifted into the air immediately as they drew their guns. Twilight stripped the guns from their hands and spread them away from each other, only to slam them back into each other and toss their unconscious bodies back with the K.O.d goliath. She felt the air ripple, turning around to...
"I'LL STRIP THE RID ROCK FROM YOUR HORN!" The psycho screamed as it lept over a rock just over Twilight. "I'LL GET THE PRETTY HAHAHAHA H-GURK!"
The psycho launched into the ceiling of the cavern as Twilight bucked into his stomach with a phase powered kick. Three more marauders flanked around her, but she quickly spotted them and their clumsy stance. Once again her horn lit up with magic, then she was gone. The marauders double took as they lost sight of the unicorn, only to look down and find a bright purple glowing pool of magical trouble.
Twilight erupted her bubble and blasted all three bandits through the air, knocking them into the cold stone walls of the cavern. The bandits kept coming, and Twilight was beginning to feel taxed. Just as she was about to phase blast another bandit, they all seemed to retreat. She knew this would be trouble.
Two more psychos rounded the corner, behind them a nomad with his enormous shield. Twilight took a breath and charged her horn again, not feeling this exercised since her dual with Trixie. Both psychos floated up in their own velvet shroud.
"I'M PURPLE! MOTHER HELP I'M TURNING INTO A GRAPE!"
"NO! MOTHER HELP ME! IT WAS I THAT BATHED IN YOUR STOMACH JUICES!"
Ew... Twilight thought as she relentlessly rammed both psychos into the nomads shield, effectively accomplishing nothing. The nomad continued his push towards her slowly.
Twilight fired several phase blasts at the shield, but it seemed to block everything she threw at it. Thinking quickly, she remembered Maya's phase lock. While she knew she couldn't do that herself, maybe her magic could copy the effect?
The unicorns horn glowed with the ground behind the nomad, who seemingly didn't notice. He approached a range to draw his weapon and fire on the unicorn, but Twilight threw up her own shield to soak the incoming blows. A drop of sweat fell down her cheek as the earth finally gave in and a large chunk of stone ripped from the ground. She fired another phase blast that curved around the nomad and hit the mass of stone, shattering it into smaller shards. One last bullet fired as Twilight released her shield and pulled all the stones toward her, right through the nomad.
The large man fell onto his own shield as Twilight caught her breath as the vault hunters all slowly stepped up behind her. They all seemed in awe (even Zer0 gave his own emoticon signaling surprise 0.o), when a bright blue hoof rested on her shoulder.
"Way to go Twi. We'll have you turning in bandit parts for Zed in no time." Maya joked as they all laughed.
Back on Pandora...
"Those selfish big stupid heads, think they can go on an epic adventure without me... Well, we will see about that wont we! Bwahahaha, mwahahahahaa! BWAHAHAHAHA OUCH!, I fell over..." The odd little girl picked herself after tripping over one of her tools.
The little girl had worked tirelessly preparing this rocket ship, although to call it a ship is a grace in and of itself, in order to pursue her long lost friends! Will she make it to this strange planet?
The two hulking ponies sat at the door leading up to the surface. One kept his gaze through a small hole, Octavia just then took notice of both their matching masks. They must have been twins, but to look so rugged. The other pony stepped away from the door and approached. A deep churning in her stomach made her nauseous as his mutilated body became more and more clear. His one eye squinted as he stared directly towards her.
"Octavia Melody." His deep growling voice echoed. "My kin has told me of you."
Octavia raised an eyebrow at his statement. His kin? I know I am famous, but if his kin look anything like these two I am sure I would have remembered.
"You look confused. Am I really so different from my children?" He asked.
"Chrys..." The other twin stated. "You still look like me..."
"Huh? OH!" Even through the mask, Octavia could see the embarrassment. "After spending so much time in one form, you get used to the feeling of somepony else's flesh."
"Wha-" Octavia began when the hulking pony surrounded himself in green fire. The fire dispersed into smoke, and darkness of the room made it difficult to see the new being. As the smoke cleared, her form became more and more clear. Her long, slender legs. That thin aqua hair. The jagged horn.
"Chrysalis!" Octavia shouted in anger. "Haven't you caused enough trouble? Now you need to attack here too!?"
"Ha! Please..." the queen scoffed. "As much as I would love to feed off these ponies love, I am here on other business."
"Other business? Then what's going on? Fire from the sky, monsters, loud explosions?" Octavia began until the other pony responded.
"You're under attack by a greedy jackass. Probably because this planet is rich with Eridium.
"Eridium? Wha-" Octavia began.
"No time to explain I'm afraid." Chrysalis cut in, shifting her gaze to the crystal pony in the back of the room. "You, the one who has won my child's heart."
This phrase rang in Crystal's mind, as if echoing off the walls of her soul. "I... What?"
Chrysalis could feel the pony's fear, thought not of her. What she said next had to be carefully laid out, even if she did not care for ponies. The pain would be great.
"A BUG! A BUZZING BIZZING BUGGY BEE! YOUR BELOVED IS A - GHAK!" Krieg was interrupted by the Queen's magic snapping his mouth shut, her glare was matched only by his own mad, gagging laughter.
"You'll have to excuse him... He's an idiot..." Chrysalis sighed, then quickly resumed her explanation when she felt the cold taste of depression across her emotional glands.
Crystal collapsed into the ground, causing Octavia to rush to her side. Her sobbing noises filled the room, causing concern for the three other occupants. Her hair fell from it's solid form and drained it's ruby red color away to a dirty brick shade. Chrysalis began to feel sorry for her, remembering a time when she had such heart break.
"Be calm child..." The queen began. "We changelings are not your enemy, and I sense my little Carapace holds deep feelings for you as well."
"I DON'T CARE HOW HE FEELS!" Crystal screamed through her sobs the continued crying. "He... He... He looks like him... WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY BROTHER!?"
Sudden realization filled the Queen's mind, Carapace was wearing the form of a handsome stallion when they were reunited. Damn that fool child! And damn that Hyperion scum bag! "Crystal is it..."
The Queen lay next to the sobbing pony, cuddling up close. Her skin felt soft, despite being crystal. Chrysalis hated the feeling but loved it at the same time. At that moment her horn began to glow. A burning ring appeared before them. In the ring was a vision of snow, and a lone guard pony laying in the snow. Red puddles flecked behind him across the snow. Then approaching came the little black body. Chrysalis felt rage boil in her heart as she read her child's memory. An image of the Hyperion agent from afar came into view. The queen watched him lower his strange weapon and grin. The vision returned to Carapace, who now took the form of the dead guard pony. Crystal's brother.
"Damn you Jack..." Chrysalis groaned. "Crystal, what has been done is unforgivable. But-"
"I... I don't want to hear it..." Crystal continued to sulk. Chrysalis tried to continue but the other two ponies stepped between her and Crystal.
"They are safe, but not for long..." Krieg began, cocking his jaw from her magical spell. "I can hear those machines above. We should clear them out so these two can escape."
The queen sat in silence for a moment then stood, turning away from the two mares. "Yes, let us deal with the monsters outside... And Crystal... Should my Carapace return, tell him... Tell him his mother misses him."
The hulking earth pony and Changeling Queen departed the two mares company into the ruined city. Hours went by for Octavia and Crystal, and finally they decided to venture out.
I am going to need a long hot bath once this is over... Octavia thought. Vinyl... Come back to me alive...
Gaige gazed down at her quarry, the patrol bots stomping through the streets pulling a single caged wagon. One filled with ponies. The thought of the ponies being enslaved by Jack enraged the little girls heart. She stood and turned to find the dj pony still crouched down into Death Traps chassis. Gaige felt a tint of joy as she knew it was almost done.
The city burned still, even after the shield was brought up. Smoke rose towards the sky from the destroyed buildings and gathered in the barriered sky. Carapace felt worried that the smoke would suffocate everypony in the city before they could actually launch a counter attack. Counter attack, like it was so easy. The changeling prince saw Hyperion's worst in Caine and knew these ponies were no match for that kind of cruelty. A snap set his mind alarm as he jumped into a ruined store. Two pegasi approached, setting Carapace's heart at peace for a moment. One of them was one of the six that defeated his race during the Canterlot invasion. The blue one with the multi-colored hair, the other pegasus was light gray with a red mane. A red bandanna wrapped around his head and goggles over his eyes. Strapped to his back was the same sort of weapon Caine had used. Carapace stayed in hiding.
He felt a sinking feeling as they passed, his keen eyes catching a feint beam of some kind of magic leaving from the distance. He followed it with his eyes towards the two ponies. If he had iris's they would be wide.
Mordecai and Rainbow continued on their path to the castle, on alert for any kind of attack. The duo walked in silence, the rumbling of nearby bots and distant gunfire being the only escape from silence. Mordecai was used to the quiet, it reminded him of the many nights he spent with Bloodwing watching bandit camps and targets. Those memories made life easier. Made everything easier, even forgetting.
Rainbow however was bored out of her mind. The silence was maddening, even with the constant threat of death looming over her. She was ready to get up in the air and kick flank, but Mordecai's insistence on staying silent kept her in check. Even still, she had a gut feeling something. She felt as though someone was watching them.
The perfect shot, the end of an age long hunt. The agent thought as he lay in the ruins of a clock tower. His scope resting on the bright red bandanna. He licked his lips.
