SEQUENCE 1: A Candle In the Night

"What do you think, Zero?" The earpiece in his helmet buzzed.

Zero looked up to see his fellow Hunter, Athena, staring at him expectantly. He touched his own helmet and his voice cut through the howling compartment.

"Say again? Over."

Athena gestured at the palm-sized windows cut into the walls of the ship.

"We're pretty high up in the mountains." She explained. "Do you think we'll run into some Ursa models?"

"If we're lucky." Zero turned his buster over in his hands. The solid piece of metal felt reassuring in his gloves and the core glowed with a warm yellow light.

"How do you mean?" A couple more helmets turned toward the conversation. Zero didn't look at them as he replied,

"Thick forests usually mean Asps. They navigate better between the trees."

Satisfied, the other Hunters turned back to their own thoughts, but Athena continued to stare across the aisle. For a moment, the line was silent and the crew of eight mercenaries bounced absently in their seats as the shuttle flew them to their destination. Athena switched to a private channel and nodded toward the front of the craft.

"What's the vibe you get from our mysterious new friend?"

Zero didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned his grey eyes toward the cockpit and quietly scrutinized their client. A short figure of slender body and soft touch, the biggest thing about "Doctor Xiel" was her cape-like ponytail and the heaviest thing about her was the air of constant regret. At that moment, she was busy helping the bronze-limbed leader of the Hunters, Commander Piece, pilot the dropship low over a wooded and rocky landscape.

"Petroid. Early thirties, at least. Used to giving orders, but not used to fighting. Well-studied, well-cultured, well-prepared, but not arrogant about it." Zero shook his head. "She'll either be smart enough to keep her head down in a firefight, or a complete headache to take care of."

"Whoo." Athena whistled. "Wish I look that good at thirty! But how do you figure? All petroids look fourteen to me."

"Calling a petroid a 'doctor' automatically adds a decade to their age." Zero estimated. "And her eyes are ten years older than that."

"Ok, but I didn't ask for her dossier, Zero. I asked what vibe you got."

"Vibe?"

"I'm just saying. Do as many missions as you, I figured you must have a sixth sense keeping you alive." A tinge of admiration shone in the young girl's eyes as she stared at the seventeen-year-old "veteran" before her.

"It's not complicated. Trust nothing and nothing can betray you."

"But you trust us, right?"

"I trust you to do your jobs, yes."

For a long minute, the only sound was the thick humming of the ship's vent engines. Athena mused,

"Don't you think it's weird, though? A clever, rich girl shows up out of the blue and handpicks a bunch of mercs to go on a treasure hunt? You don't think she's hiding from the-"

"Stop right there." Zero snapped. "Or you'll forfeit your plausible deniability."

"Right. Sorry." Athena absently brushed the wrinkles out of her red and orange Hunter uniform.

She hadn't said anything that the rest of the dropship wasn't already thinking, though. The Hunters only existed in the barely-legal sense because even the great armies of the Enterprise either had no power this far out on the frontier, or didn't care to police it. They tolerated the Hunters and small militias like them, but only until they could be pinned as criminals. Commander Piece had kept the Hunters alive fighting vermin for homesteaders. However, it wasn't his fault if some rich client said there were "vermin" to be found in a nearby old-world ruin.

But Doctor Xiel was a unique case, even among prospectors. Most clients that hired an armed escort were mere treasure hunters, gamblers who risked the discrepant war-torn ruins of bygone cities in the hopes of finding valuable technology. Contracts were risky and relied entirely on a percentage of spoils recovered. Not like Xiel. The self-proclaimed doctor had stepped into the Hunters camp with no warning, no reputation, and no companions. What she did have, though, was a location, a deadline, and a mountain of energy crystals. For as discreet as she was trying to be, she was fooling no one. Doctor Xiel was hiding from the Enterprise.

"Here we go! Touchdown in two minutes!" Commander Piece's voice boomed over the airwaves as he turned around to face his Hunters. "Before anyone gets any bright ideas, this is first and foremost an escort mission. We've been hired to protect the doctor and that's just what we're going to do. Each of you have been chosen because you've got a nose for trouble. Keep it to the ground for me, will you?"

Eight helmeted heads turned toward the front of the ship. Eight faces silently asking the Commander why he would accept a job from someone they knew nothing about. His answer was one of his patented smirks. A confident gesture reminding them that his job was to keep them safe. Even more so than the client. It was all he had, but it had always been enough.

The tired transport's engines screamed as it set its wheels down upon the shoulder of a mountain. Zero and the seven other gunman leapt from the back of the ship and raised their busters. All around them, dark green pine boughs formed a canopy of shadows and the little patch of sky above them was dominated by the white head of a stony mountain. The air had a brisk edge to it.

"Clear!" The radio cracked.

"Clear!" Zero echoed, his narrow eyes piercing the trees for any sign of mechanical predators. Or worse.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you know the op!" Piece appeared with Doctor Xiel beside him. "Athena and Boreal, watch the Bucket. Everyone else, fall in. Nov's got point."

"Rodger!"

"Um, Commander?" Xiel glanced up with her wide eyes. "Are you sure that's a good idea? We're already a small group. Shouldn't we stick together?"

"And leave our transportation unmanned?" Piece huffed. "Ma'am, we can't protect you if we can't leave at a moment's notice."

"... Right." The doctor apologized.

"Everyone else, form up! Stay close."

"... Got it." Athena cast a quick glance at Zero. By that time, all "noses" were pointed at the doctor.

The line of Hunters slithered into the darkest sanctum of the cold forest, Xiel pushing toward a shallow crevice in the rough mountain. Zero took up the rearguard, his breathing measured and wary, but not a needle moved in the quiet forest. No metal bears or armored snakes disturbed the peaceful scene.

Finally, just as the last of the blue above was swallowed by the arms of the mountain, they found it. A pair of overgrown metal doors, the remains of an armored bunker, nestled within the rock like a hermit crab in a granite shell. Xiel wasted no time, but stripped a nearby console of it vegetation and began plying it with commands from a glowing device on her wrist. Zero recognized the architecture as military in design, representing the greatest security the past world could conjure, but beneath the doctor's coaxing, it readily gave up its secrets. With a tired groan, the gates slid apart and released a breath of stale air.

"Athena," Piece touched his helmet as he stared into the bunker. "We're going underground. Radio contact might be intermittent."

"Understood, sir." Already, the young Hunter sounded disappointed to be left out.

To everyone's surprise, the echoing hallway that they stepped into was as still as a tomb. No automated systems confronted them, no lights switched on at their approach, no chests full of energy crystals greeted them. For more than a couple Hunters, the initial excitement of cracking a military cache evaporated as the bunker revealed itself to be perfectly unadorned. Zero's buster hovered just under his chin as he waited for the other shoe to drop.

[What was that?] A voice cut the silence.

Like an arrow loosed from its string, Zero spun around and fell to one knee, weapon at the ready. The next Hunter ahead of him, Auror, hesitated for only a moment before following suit.

"What is it?" Auror hissed into the radio.

"I heard something." Zero peered down the dark metal hall. As one, the rest of the team responded, pressing themselves against the bare walls and leveling their busters down the way they'd come. Pierce nearly smothered the doctor as he moved to cover her.

[Who's there?] The voice returned, ringing in Zero's mind as clear as spring water.

"Identify yourself." The Hunter continued searching for the speaker.

"Zero, what is it?" The commander demanded.

[I asked first. Who are you?]

"That voice." Zero explained. A glance at the other Hunters, however, immediately revealed the disconnect. "I'm picking up a signal. Young female, no accent." Exasperated, the soldier tapped his helmet. "Athena? Did you leave the private channel open?"

[Who are you talking to?]

"Aw, hey Zero!" Athena's voice was filled with static snow. "Thanks for calling. I was getting bored over-"

"So that's not you I hear?"

"Hey, you called me."

"The coms were silent until I asked you 'what was wrong'." Auror offered. The other mercenaries nodded.

"This is Zero of the Hunters." The boy cautiously stood up. "You are interfering with an official communication channel. Identify yourself or-"

"Zero?" A gentle hand touched his shoulder. He looked down to see Doctor Xiel staring up at him with her wide eyes alight with excitement. "You can hear her? Is it telepathy? Has she said her name? What does she sound like?"

The young Hunter glanced up at his commander as a number of pieces to the doctor's enigma fell into place. The bunker wasn't designed to hold weapons or loot, but a different type of wealth altogether. Information. Specifically, in the form of a consciousness. One which was reacting to their proximity.

[Zero, huh? Edgy. So, is that like a nickname or a call sign or...?]

"Commander." Zero let the doctor's hand fall from his arm. "If I've been compromised by whatever is in this facility, then I should retreat out of its effective range."

[What!? No, don't go!]

"Agreed." Piece nodded. "Join Athena and-"

"No!" Xiel squeaked like a rusty axle. "Zero, you're up front with me. We have to move, we're so close!"

"Close to what?" The commander stepped in front of the doctor as she dragged the hapless hunter back down the hall. "You may have bought his services, Ma'am, but Zero's safety is still my primary concern!"

"And I promise you, Commander, that it's mine as well." Xiel's eyes flashed with electricity. "Especially if he's in sync with the Artifact. He might be the safest one here!" Pierce only shook his head.

"Zero?"

"The unknown contact doesn't seem hostile." The young Hunter explained. "We should finish our contract."

"Very well."

[Not hostile? Well, you're just a real charmer, aren't you?]

Zero remained silent.

The hallway finally ended, releasing the explorers into a cathedral-like athenaeum. The floors were inlaid with pulsing magic circuits and the walls were filled with shelves of gently glowing cartridges.

"Data disks." Commander Piece noted.

"Yes." Xiel's eyes twinkled at the sight. "She was quite the reader."

"Who?" Zero demanded. The doctor only smiled.

"Let's get you two introduced, shall we?"

Wandering through the forest of knowledge, Zero could see why Doctor Xiel wanted to keep this place secret from the Enterprise. Neo Arcania hated the Old World, and for good reason. After all, the nations of the past were to blame for the apocalypse. Their greed and folly had scorched the Earth and threatened to wipe out humanity, so to prevent their poisonous philosophies from harming the New World, all information regarding the time before was destroyed. Books were burned, data disks were melted, engravings were scratched out, and even finding a "dollar" was enough to get you and your family arrested.

"Here! Looks like she's still safe."

[Whoa! Okay, we're moving now.]

Doctor Xiel alighted on a dais at the far end of the room. As soon as her wrist-mounted computer spoke its magic words, there was a soft hiss and a pillar lifted itself out of the ground. Nested within the column was a radiant orange core of arcane technology, a skull-sized gem burning like an amber sun. Zero could feel the entity watching him from its pedestal.

[You're Zero?] The voice asked.

Zero inclined his head.

[You're smaller than I imagined.]

"You're one to talk." The boy grunted. Ignoring the confused glance from his commander, the Hunter turned to Xiel. "This is a petroid core isn't it? Has it been living here since the war?"

"Not just any petroid!" Xiel shook her head emphatically. "This is a Biocrystal."

"And what does that-" But Piece's voice was cut off by a burst of static.

"Fsst- Commander! Co-fff-ander Piece!"

"Athena? What's wrong?"

"Fzzss- the Enterprise! Golems! I count four -zzt- golems! Scorpio- type! They just -ffft- out of the ground! Commande-" There was a burst of white noise and the line went dead.

"An ambush?" Even without blood in her veins, Doctor Xiel's face went pale. "Hunters! Follow me! I have another way out of here!"

[What's happening?] The block of crystal shouted into Zero's mind.

"Take cover! Defensive positions!" Piece ordered. "Do not fire at the Enterprise unless fired upon."

"They won't let you surrender, commander!" Xiel cried. "We have to run!"

"And whose fault is that?" By that time, Commander Piece was spitting venom.

"Zero! You're with me!" The doctor shoved the entity and its casing into the Hunter's arms. "Hurry!"

"I'm not leaving the commander, Ma'am." Zero didn't budge.

"But you can't stay! They'll kill you! They'll kill all of you!"

"They can't kill us if we don't oppose them." Piece explained.

"You don't understand! They will burn this mountain to ash if they knew what was here!"

"What makes this Biocrystal so important to them?" Zero demanded. The doctor's voice was suddenly very somber as she breathed,

"Because, it's the only thing powerful enough to stop the New Moon Enterprise. You and her, together you can save the world."

"Contact!" Auror called from the front of the room.

It was over in a moment. Zero saw the Hunter with his empty hands held above his head. He saw the giant metallic shadow rushing through the entrance hall like a flood. He saw the creature swing a titanic arm at the young human. He saw Auror reduced to a stain on the athenaeum's wall.

[Oh my god...]

"Run!" Xiel screamed.

The room exploded with the pulsing song of the remaining six buster weapons. Streaks of molten yellow light filled the air and beat against the hide of the assailant, but with no effect. The golem was sixty tons of ceramic metal forged in the image of a scorpion. Little more than a living weapon, its primitive mind surveyed the world through a set of eight smoldering lenses while its claws and the cannon mounted within its tail dispensed judgement.

A lucky bolt of magic slipped past the mechaniloid's guard and extinguished one of its eyes. The victory was short-lived, however, as the creature turned its tail toward the offending Hunter and opened fire. The decapitated body slumped to the ground.

"Retreat!" Piece shouted, half-covering, half-chasing the fleeing form of Doctor Xiel.

The doctor dove for a side passage, an alcove housing a terminal and what looked like the dormant husk of a transceiver platform. Without hesitating, she began waking its long-cold circuits.

"No matter what happens, Zero, you have to get out of here alive!" She whimpered as the scorpion golem warmed up its tail and burned three holes in the wall of data disks. Among the slagged ruins was the body of another Hunter, Cons. Zero shot a glare at the doctor. The transceiver was sluggishly rousing itself, but their armored adversary was bearing down on them with all the speed and fury of a tidal wave. If the golem wasn’t stopped, or even slowed, there was only one outcome for the cornered refugees.

“Sorry Ma’am, but that’s not what my contract says.” If one death could ransom the lives of the party, then the wasteland was being unusually generous.

“Zero!” Doctor Xiel screamed as the young warrior threw himself from the cover of the alcove.

[Wait! Come back!]

The golem rounded its gaze on the lone combatant as Zero dove for the pillar that once held the Biocrystal. Its tail flared and large craters of molten metal appeared in the column, but the Hunter was untouched.

Bamph! Bamph! Bamph!

The small buster barked defiantly, sending burning orbs of magic hurling into the monster’s tail. The armor shook off the shots as if they were gnats, but the creature paused in its advance.

“There!” The transceiver hummed victoriously and a ring of blue light appeared on its pedestal. “Zero! Hurry!”

[He’s not coming…] The artifact whispered.

“Go!” The Hunter waved at his commander. “You don’t have long! Hurry!”

“You heard him!” Piece struggled to contain Doctor Xiel. “He’s bought us time!”

“We’re not leaving without him!” The small petroid thrashed against the man’s heavy grip.

“Idiots! Just get out of h-”

There was a sharp, all-consuming pulse that shook Zero’s body, and then numbness. The Hunter teetered on his feet, only vaguely aware of the voices shouting both inside and outside his head. He looked down and saw the wound, a gaping void where his stomach used to be. Slowly, Zero knelt forward as his life flowed out of him. Blood and water rained down on the metal floor.

Satisfied with its kill, the golem advanced on the last survivors, the cannon above its head humming like a death knell. Zero balled his fists and fought for breath, his lungs struggling with the lack of support. As he resisted the darkness engulfing his vision, the giant Scorpio stepped over his trembling frame.

Bamph! Bam-bamph!

Zero’s weapon roared to life, throwing three more knots of molten energy at the creature’s underside. The first bolt impacted against its armor, but the next two buried themselves in the mechaniloid’s fragile joints. A sharp twang, screamed through the cathedral as the machine skittered backward in surprise. Two legs dragging at odd angles.

It wasn’t much, but it was all he had. Zero continued pulling the trigger on his buster even as his eyes fell blind. To snatch a handful of lives from the jaws of death would be his final act of defiance against the pale horseman.

[Not so fast, kid.]

Through the tendrils of darkness choking his consciousness, Zero thought he saw someone running towards him, a small slender girl, brandishing a drop of the sun in her hands.

Suddenly, a light enveloped the boy. The sky tore open and he found himself kneeling before clouds of radiant orange fire. And a goddess. A woman stood above Zero, strong, but graceful, with a corona of red and gold hair and eyes alight with pale blue fire. She knelt over the wounded Hunter and held out her hand.

[If you want to keep fighting, come with me.] Her mouth didn’t move, but her warm eyes smiled at the corpse before her. Summoning the last tatters of his strength, Zero lifted his arm and touched her fingers.

His body caught fire.

A white power coursed through his veins, soaking his muscles and penetrating into his marrow. Liquid light bled from his eyes and wept from his skin, but there was no pain. He wanted to scream, but his voice was drowned by the rising inferno. When the flames finally receded, Zero found himself on his feet, his mind clear and his body light. Wrapped around his chest and limbs was a cast of glistening crimson armor.

[Huh. So that’s what it’s like…] The woman’s voice sounded within Zero’s head.

“I’m going to need some answers pretty soon.” The Hunter muttered.

[You and me both, but first thing’s first.] As fast as thought, Zero’s body leapt back as a giant metal claw pulverized the floor where he had been standing. [We’ve got a pest problem!]

The golem’s tail flared to life and threw a storm of bolts toward Zero, but the shots appeared to fly slower than before.

[Don’t clench!] As before, Zero’s body wove through the attack, threading through the barrage as if dancing.

“You’re doing this, aren’t you?”

[Just relax and let me drive. You’ve earned a break.]

“Not to sound ungrateful, but I still have a job to do.” Zero crouched and dove across the floor, snatching up his fallen buster and bringing it to eye level. The solid weapon felt like a feather in his hand.

Bamph!

The single shot streaked through the air, finding its mark within the barrel of the mechaloid’s cannon. The beast chirped in anguish as its fragile magic circuits sparked uselessly.

[Not bad! But it's time to end this.]

Zero felt his right arm go rigid. From his wrist, a short rod of metal slipped into his palm and as soon as his fingers closed around it, a wave of turquoise fire blossomed from the tip, taking the form of a crystallized delta.

“A saber?”

[Now!] Zero’s body flew toward the scorpion just as it refocused its eyes on him. The metal claws were splayed, the arms were slack, the face was exposed. Like a bird on the wing, the Hunter leapt onto the golem’s face and plunged the saber between its smoldering eyes. Armor gave way like paper and the internal crystal circuits burned bright orange as the weapon rent it asunder. For a moment, the behemoth shuddered, and then all its eyes went dark at once.

All that remained was a husk of split metal, still smoldering inside.

“... What in starfall?” Commander Piece swore quietly. Zero turned around to see Doctor Xiel trying to cry through her android eyes.

“It, you, I mean, both of you…” She sputtered.

[Who’s she?] The voice in Zero’s head queried.

“I was under the impression you could tell me.” The boy let go of the saber’s hilt and it vanished back into his wrist. “She seems to know everything about you.”

“I can’t believe it worked!” Xiel continued. “After all these years…”

“Doctor.” Zero’s voice was grave. “At this point, I don’t know who has more questions. Myself, or the lady inside my head.”

"Yes, that certainly sounds disconcerting!" The petroid laughed. "And I promise I'll explain everything once we have a chance to breathe."

"Where does this transceiver go?" Piece scowled.

"A safe location." Xiel said simply. "After we're through, I'll destroy this node remotely so no one can follow."

"That's a lot of security."

"It's mandatory when you have the Enterprise chasing you." The doctor looked at the ring of survivors around her. "By now, it's probably no secret that I... that I work with the Resistance."

"This morning, we were just a herd of dumb guns for hire." The commander huffed. "We Hunters had plausible deniability until you gave the Enterprise a clear reason to terminate us."

"They were always your enemies, commander." Xiel scowled. "Just not on paper."

[Hunters? Enterprise? Resistance? I'm lost.]

"And we don't have time to explain." Zero cleared his throat. "According to Athena's transmission, there may be three more Scorpios on the way."

"Yes, of course. Please, step on the pad."

The transceiver's dais wasn't meant for major transport and only five bodies could stand in its field comfortably. Four, in the case of Commander Piece. Zero stayed with the doctor as the petroid input the required security handshake into the platform's terminal.

"What you did was very brave, Zero." Xiel's voice was low again. "I can see why she linked with you."

"And who is 'she'?"

[Oh, I don't know. Why don't you ask "her" yourself?] The Biocrystal rolled Zero's eyes. Though only irritating at first, the gesture caught a glimpse of a large dark shape skittering through the athenaeum.

"Contact!" Without thinking, Zero crouched and threw his weight against the petite doctor. The force of his blow knocked the petroid off her feet and sent her flying into the ring of confused Hunters just as the transceiver's magic consumed them. There was a torrent of blue light and they were gone. The platform was empty.

But even before Zero could restart the transportation sequence, the new golem had opened fire. Flares of destructive magic chewed through the transceiver, slagging its terminal to a pile of ash and glass.

[Shoot!] The entity clicked Zero's tongue. [Alright, follow me, we can still escape if we breach the maintenance tunnels!]

The turquoise saber flashed, rending open an ancient wall, and Zero ducked inside just as another golem emerged at the far end of the room.

"Something you read?"

[Kind of. I helped design this place.] Was the entity's answer.

Before long, the sound of mechanical claws tearing open the walls faded into the distance. After what felt like an eternity of cutting through tunnels and blast armor, the Biocrystal guided Zero up a ventilation shaft and into the free air. With the sound of rending metal, the saber cut through one last grate and the Hunter found himself perched on the edge of a cliff within a rocky canyon. A thread of crystal blue water hissed far beneath him and in the distance, the first rays of evening were beginning to paint the sky in golden hues.

Isolated from his squadron and adrift in an unfamiliar landscape, Zero quietly realized that the only person on Earth who was as lost as himself was most likely the Biocrystal he was wearing.

"It's not a callsign." He murmured.

[Huh?]

"My name." The Hunter explained. "It's Zero."

[I see...] The voice hesitated. [Well, nice to meet you, Zero. My name is Sunset Shimmer.]

SEQUENCE 2: A Question of Fire

View Online

[So, first thing's first. You'll probably notice you're a little more durable than before.]

"A little, yes." The armored boots ground the cliff face into dust as Zero slid down the mountain, his fingers biting into the stone to control his speed.

[I'll be honest with you, Zero, this is completely new technology. No one knew whether or not the M. E. G. A. system could work, let alone if it would.]

"What does that mean?"

[Magically Enchanted Gemstone Augmentation.] Sunset explained. [Right now, every cell in your body is infused with my crystal magic circuits. But there's a mental element to it too, so I can't just megamerge with anybody!]

"And your first visitors in centuries just happened to have a suitable host?" Zero frowned.

[My hero.]

The young Hunter ran out of stone wall and let himself fall the last five meters into the mountain river.

[Oh, but I should probably mention-]

Spla-thunk!

Zero opened his eyes to find himself standing solidly on a bed of river rocks. Above him, the water's surface rippled like a silver shawl.

[Your new body is considerably more... dense.]

"Helios! How much do you weigh!?" The boy clambered for air, but he might as well have tried swimming in wind.

[I'm not even going to dignify that with a response.] Sunset huffed.

"Not good." Zero's mouth filled with water. "I can't breathe!" The Biocrystal, however, seemed mildly amused.

[That's what I'm saying, kid. You don't have to.] To the Hunter's surprise, she was right. The tightness in his lungs that usually signified asphyxiation was simply nonexistent.

"Very well. Anything else I should know?"

[Not really. I mean, we could probably survive in space the way we are now. Not that I'd recommend it. Also, stay away from the Mariana Trench. And lava. And buster shots. And spikes. But hey, how does it feel?]

"Wet." Zero said dryly. He trudged along the stony riverbed until a shallow bank presented itself. As he sloshed onto the shore, he noted how deep his feet sank in the mud. His downward gaze eventually drifted back to the crystal clear river and his reflection therein. A figure looked back at him, humanoid, but wrapped in a blood-red carapace of metal and adorned with a horned helmet. In the middle of his forehead sat a glowing triangular gem, burning with the same blue light he had seen in Sunset Shimmer's eyes.

"Am I a petroid?" He asked. The Biocrystal didn't respond immediately.

[Not exactly. We're more of a... hybrid.]

"Can I take you off?" Even more silence.

[Zero.] Sunset whispered. [I'm sorry. I... I did the best I could, but... You pretty much died back there.]

"I see..." The boy's hand gently touched his stomach.

[I stopped the bleeding. Filled the hole, but really... I'm the only thing keeping you alive right now. If we split-]

"The wound will reopen." Zero straightened himself. "I guess that just makes traveling incognito harder. We'll stand out wherever we go."

[I'll take that as a compliment.]

"And what is this?" The Hunter reached behind his helmet and grabbed a train of yellow and red hair running down his back. "This isn't mine."

[No, It's mine. We never figured out why, but more magic and more hair just go hand-in-hand. Pony up and next thing you know, L'Oréal's calling for an endorsement.]

"'We'?"

[My friends. Those of us studying magic. I used to be a PhD of Arcane Sciences. Though I'm not sure if it counts since we practically invented the field.]

"You mean before the war?" Zero's voice fell cold.

[Yeah.] Sunset murmured. [So there really was a war, then?]

"You didn't know?"

[No, I knew. Everyone had magic weapons when I was locked away. I guess I was holding on to the hope no one would be crazy enough to use them. Still can't believe it.]

"I see..." The Hunter's eyes narrowed. "Might want to keep that fact to yourself for now."

[What fact?]

"That you researched the arcane. Humanity is still suffering from what happened, Sunset. Someone has to take the blame."

[What? You think we wanted this to happen? No, I don't need to hear that! Not from you! You have no idea what my friends and I-]

"I don't care." Zero turned from the river. "It doesn't matter who's to blame. It's irrelevant to our current situation."

For a long time, the Hunter traveled in steely silence, his companion either stunned quiet or measuring her next words carefully. Finally, her voice asked,

[What's the plan?]

"Evade capture. Link with the commander. Finish the mission."

[And that is?]

"Yet to be determined." At first, fulfilling Doctor Xiel's contract had been the boy's top priority, but after discovering what his employer was unearthing, his future, Sunset's future, and even the future of the Hunters had been thrown into limbo. The only thing that was certain was that the rules were changing.

At long last, the mountain's stony bones gave way to churning foothills and Zero found himself looking out over a scene of lush planes split by yawning fissures. Evening was heavy in the sky and the first stars had long since awoken, but the dark hulls of Enterprise airships were already coming into view, their prows turned toward Xiel's hidden vault like sharks tracking blood.

[Do you know where we are?]

"No, but judging by the forest, I'd say it looks like Area A."

[That's very helpful.]

"Agricultural territory. Sparsely populated, but that's for the best. It means less attention. If we can find a homestead, we might be able to get some information, some food, and a disguise. Then we'll vanish."

[How about a traveling caravan?]

"Even better."

[Well, then, your wish is my command!] The entity turned Zero's gaze downwards to a meandering dirt road skirting the edge of the forest. Through the deepening night, he could just barely make out the lumpy forms of wagons and their owners. Flashes of magic fire and panicked shouts rose into the night. The sounds of battle.

"We should investigate." Zero threw himself forward, flying low between the black trunks of the trees. For as heavy as his feet pounded the turf, his body moved and reacted as quick as instinct and within moments, he had come upon the scene.

Two covered wagons fashioned from prewar trucks were parked on the road with their tenants sheltering within. One of the vehicles bore deep gashes in its metal hide and was missing a wheel. Zero didn't need years of experience with mechaniloids to find the culprit.

"An Ursa. I guess Athena was right." Lumbering alongside the first wagon was a construct of magic and metal that looked as if someone had welded together an orgy of refrigerators. The mechanical bear pawed at the front of the vehicle while its defiant driver opened fire with an old buster from within.

[Ready to dance?] Sunset sneered.

"Wait."

[For what? They need our help!]

This time, it was Zero's turn to guide the Biocrystal's attention. Like a moth to the flame, the black shape of an Enterprise dropship fell from the sky. Beams of light fell from its underside as its lanterns swept the road and the surrounding trees.

[Oh, are they going to step in?]

"Doubtful."

"Hey! Hey, help! Help us, please!" The wagon driver waved frantically at the ship. "I can't stop it!"

The Enterprise ship hovered silently for a moment and then turned its prow back toward the mountains and fired its engines. The caravan owner panicked.

"No! Don't go! Please, come back!" He screamed, turning his buster skyward. Two knots of molten magic flew up into the night like distress flares. The Enterprise immediately reacted.

"MAVERICK IDENTIFIED!" A voice boomed through the night and all searchlights swiveled around to face their target. The stunned caravan owner found himself awash under the radiance of their gaze.

"No, I-!"

Even as he spoke, the belly of the aircraft split and from it sides dropped two armored figures. The newcomers were made entirely of purple metal and hung in the air from stunted wings in their backs. Their right arms were bulky magic cannons and their spherical heads were featureless save for a single crimson eye sunk in the very center. The Enterprise's Paragons.

[What are they-?] Sunset's question died. The flying soldiers opened fire, peppering the wagon with bursts of magic. There was a sharp scream from the man within, and then silence.

"MAVERICK TERMINATED!" At that, the purple figures returned to their ship and the transport continued its patrol. In the darkness below, the Ursa went on ripping apart the metal sides from the wagons.

[No way...] The Biocrystal whispered. [Please tell me that didn't just happen!]

"Let's go." Pushing his newfound strength into his legs, Zero shot towards the Ursa like a missile.

[Right!]

Before the creature even knew he was there, the Hunter skipped off the ground and threw his boot into the monster's jaw. There was a deafening clang as the mechaniloid tottered sideways and fell to the dust.

[Finish him!] The Biocrystal shouted. [Wait, Zero, what's wrong?] Instead of pursuing the fallen Ursa, however, Zero turned back to the wagons. Two men, a woman and two children were inside, staring at the boy's sudden appearance in shock.

"Evening." He nodded. "My name is Null, an independent maverick hunter. I would advise purchasing my services to avoid any further damage to yourself or your caravan."

"A hunter?" One of the occupants, a younger man, pushed himself forward. "You just- Did you just kick an Ursa?"

"My fee is standard operating rate. Fifty energy crystals base plus scavenging rights."

"F-fifty!?" The man quailed.

[Zero! What are you doing?] Sunset scolded. [That thing's getting back up!]

"If you cannot pay the base rate, barter is acceptable."

The ground trembled as the Ursa righted itself and worked its jaw.

"We don't have much!" The man's eyes flicked between the rising beast and Zero's glinting armor. "We shuttle produce from Ivywood to Rust!"

"I would be willing to exchange my services for a map of the local area, a radio, if you have one, and," Zero pointed, "your cloak."

"My cloak?"

[Sweet mother of- What is with you? Monster first! Shopping later!]

"If you do not agree with my terms or do not want my protection, then I won't trouble you any-"

"Rrawwrrr!" Zero's words were obliterated as the machine charged at the wagon like an avalanche.

"Yes! Yes I agree! Helios-damned pirate! We agree to your terms!"

[Zero!] The stars were eclipsed by a metal paw.

Z-woosh! Zero spun in place and a brilliant crescent of fire lit up the night. The Ursa's roar turned into a scream as its claws were sent flying through the air like railroad spikes. Continuing his momentum, the Hunter swung Sunset's saber once more and the mechaniloid's voice fell silent. A moment later, its face hit the ground, gemstone brain smoldering like firewood.

"Good choice." The boy glanced at his awestruck employer.

With only a fleeting look back at the sky, Zero knelt beside the Ursa's body and reignited his sword. Or tried to. The hilt of pale metal remained dormant at his command.

"Sunset?" No answer. "The sword, Sunset." Finally, the delta blade flashed to life.

[What the hay kind of a stunt was that?] The voice demanded. [You did not just extort somebody!]

"We made an agreeme-"

[No! Saving someone's life isn't about getting paid, Zero!]

"You would fight gratis?" The Biocrystal stewed silently. "I don't know where you come from, Sunset, but around here, amity is a sure way to get hurt."

As the family of traders cautiously emerged from the wagons and surveyed the aftermath, Zero cut into the side of the Ursa and removed its plates of armor. From its core, he recovered the precious energy crystals, a squat glass tube housing a shimmering blue diamond. Sunset whispered,

[What if they didn't pay you? Would you have let them die?]

"Probably not, but I wouldn't be obligated to protect them, either." From the heaviness that pulled at his lungs, the boy could tell that his companion wasn't happy with that answer.

[Zero, of the two of us, are you sure I'm the one made of stone?]

He didn't reply.

"Um, sir? Mister?" The young man appeared behind Zero, holding a poncho made of a heavy brown canvas. "We're still looking for your map."

"Thank Luna you showed up when you did." The woman held one of the children against her leg. "But to loose Jor like that..."

"[I'm just sorry we didn't get here sooner.]" Sunset murmured.

"Who's she?" The man stared at Zero's helmet.

"You can hear her?"

[I recycled the radio from your old headset.] The Biocrystal explained quickly. Aloud, she said, "[Yes, I'm Zer- I mean, Null's operator. I'm monitoring him from our base. Very far away. With my coffee.]"

"That's quite the operation." The caravanner mused.

"[Is there anything else we can do to help?]" Sunset offered. "[You've had a pretty rough night.]"

"Thank you for offering," The woman sighed. "but-"

"But we don't need anything else from you." The man snapped. "Just collect your payment and go."

"Besides, we shouldn't linger." Zero reminded. "Now that my radio miraculously fixed itself, we should be going."

"Wait!" The woman objected. "You saved our caravan and all you're taking is a map and an old rag?"

"My rag. Besides, he agreed to the terms." The man huffed.

"Strass, we owe him our lives and you know it!" She snapped. "I'm sorry, sir, we don't have much, but please help yourself to whatever you like. I would offer a meal as well, but you're petroid, correct?"

Zero opened his mouth, but Sunset spoke first.

"[Actually, he's human and he would love to stay for dinner.]"

"I would?"

"[Love.]"

"Oh, alright then!" The woman blinked. "I'll get the stove going."

"And we'll just see to Jor then, shall we?" Strass and the other man turned toward the first wagon where the steam was still rising from the corpse of their fellow caravanner.

"Sunset," Zero muttered, "we can't stay. Once the Enterprise gets reinforcements, this land will be choked with patrols."

[These folks just lost somebody because we were hiding, Zero.] The Biocrystal hissed. [Despite that, this amazing woman still wants to properly thank you and you are going to accept her hospitality or so help me I'll stub your toe on a table leg!]

"I don't-"

[Your pinkie toe!]

"Last I checked, I don't have an intestine anymore." Zero grumbled.

[Jeez, kid, a cat made out of lemons would be less of a sourpuss than you!] Sunset huffed. [Look, I need organic molecules to rebuild your body, okay?]

Zero leered at the sky, but followed the lady.

The caravan they had found was running a loop across Area A, shuttling fish and produce between the coastal villages to the north and the farming communities to the south. Zero and Sunset Shimmer hung over a hand-drawn map of the local geography while their hostess, Carina, boiled a pot of onions and dried fish. Despite his efforts to focus on the paper, Zero couldn't help but feel the unblinking eyes of Carina's daughters on his back.

"Looks like we're less than a day south of the Freshwater Sea." He muttered. "The towns there are a perfect place to cover our tracks."

[So here's a question,] Sunset asked privately, [Who in their right mind builds a giant metal bear?]

"After the war," Zero intoned, "lots of larger animals were either extinct or endangered. The Enterprise created mechaniloids to fill the void, controlling the populations of prey animals like rabbits and mice."

[Again with this Enterprise.]

"Sometimes, though, they go maverick and attack humans, but their creators always seem reluctant to put them down." The Hunter paused. "And I swear, I've seen the mechaniloids fighting for the Enterprise before."

"Here you go, sir!" Carina appeared with a bowl of pale brown broth. "This should warm you up."

"[Thank you.]" Sunset offered.

As the weak stew hit his stomach, the Hunter could feel the Biocrystal reducing it to plasma.

[Could use some salt.]

"Do these people look like they can afford salt?"

[Oh...] Aloud, Sunset offered, "[Are you folks going to be all right without Jor?]"

"We'll manage." Carina smiled bravely, "We always manage."

"[If you don't mind me asking, who was he?]"

"What does it matter?" Zero frowned. "Ah-!" Suddenly, the armor on his shin clenched as if someone had kicked him.

"Jor was my older brother." Carina shrugged. "Strass is my husband and old Skeel is my father-in-law. My brother always insisted that he'd protect us... I guess the Enterprise had other plans."

"[Just who do they think they are anyway?]"

Carina blinked, unsure how to respond. Zero, however, knew what the prewar consciousness was really asking.

"They're the saviors of humanity." He answered simply. "When all the former nations destroyed one another, the New Moon Enterprise were the ones who gathered the ashes. They swept the world, collecting the survivors and uniting them into a single utopia, Neo Arcania. As far as they're concerned, humans and petroids proved their inability to govern themselves, so now we're all the property of the Enterprise."

"[That's ridiculous!]" Sunset huffed, ignoring the sharp gasp from Carina. "[Then who's in charge?]"

"The Hecate, of course." Zero slurped his stew. "The Emissary of the Stars,our divine lord, Twilight Sparkle."

"[What!?]"

The Hunter coughed into his food, splattering beige water as Sunset's voice shouted both inside and outside his head.

"Don't do that!"

"[That's not right! That can't be right! You're telling me those creeps outside were working for Twilight!?]"

"Keep your voice down!" Zero hissed through clenched teeth. Behind him, Carina was gently ushering her children out of the wagon.

"Those 'creeps' are the Paragons of the New Moon Empire, the Hecate's holy knights." Strass appeared, glaring at Zero. "I'd suggest you tell your radio friend to watch her tongue when talking about our deliverers."

"Ha! Right! Because it was our 'beloved masters' who saved us from an Ursa just now." A voice like a bucket of gravel proceeded the old man Skeel. "Oh, wait, no it wasn't!"

"Please, everyone-" Carina's pleaded.

"It's been a strange night!" The young man snapped. "I'm sure the Paragons had more urgent duties!"

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you. Must've gotten dirt in my ear from burying Jor just now!" Skeel's leathery face was that of a dried apple, but his eyes flashed fire. Turning to Zero, he said, "Saviors of humanity? Ha! Let me tell you, boy, the Enterprise didn't save us, they claimed us! Humanity? Pheh! There's no place for humanity in their 'perfect world'. Made us their pets, their oxen, is what they did. Doing what we do best, breeding, so they can shove more cogs into that giant machine they call a city!"

"You fool!" Strass bristled. "If someone heard you talking like that, they'd brand you a maverick and we'd all be terminated before Helios returned! You may have lost your family, Skeel, but I still have mine to think about! Neo Arcania is a perfect society! Free of crime and fear and want! You've seen the wasteland! I'ts Tartarus without the Enterprise."

"Oh yeah? Then what do you call this?" The old man shoved his bony fingers into his shirt and withdrew a metal rod.

"Put that away!" Carina paled.

"A fuse?" Zero wondered.

"[A fife.]"

The room fell silent as all eyes turned toward Zero's helmet. Skeel's face twisted into a grin.

"That indeed." He cackled.

"What does that mean?" The Hunter asked.

"[Come on, you can't be serious.]"

To answer, the old man wove his hands around the device and prepared to spit into a hole drilled into the top. Instead of mucus, however, the wagon was filled with the sharp sound of a whistle. To Zero's dismay, the old man bent the noise, lifting it and dropping it to weave a tapestry of emotion into the air. At once, uninvited images of sweeping vistas and gentle rivers filled the Hunter's mind.

"Stop it." He ordered.

The man obliged, but kept his twinkling eyes on Zero's face.

"[How can you not know what an instrument is?]" Sunset scoffed. "[And don't try telling me-]"

"Music is an encrypted form of communication." The boy stated. "Save for a few hymns, of course it's illegal!"

"[Well, partner, this might be a bad time to tell you, but music is my passion. Non-negotiable.]"

"Leave me out of it." Zero leered at the fife. "It makes me feel things and I like to keep my head clear."

"[Hmph! Were you born a lemon cat or did you have to go to school?]"

"Now I ask you," Skeel grinned, "how can something so beautiful really be wrong? The Enterprise claims that they're saving humanity from itself, stamping out the traits that led our ancestors to torch the world. But I say, you can only add so many bandages before you suffocate the patient."

[Zero,] Sunset said privately, [I know what our mission is. We need to see Twilight Sparkle.]

"You're mad." The boy said flatly.

[I'm serious. Look, I don't know what this 'Hecate' is, but I knew a Twilight before the war.]

Zero lifted an eyebrow.

[She'd give everything to save a single life. She bled and cried because she believed that each person had the right to live, the right to be free, and the right to make their lives better. Something's gone very wrong since I've been asleep and his thing, this 'Enterprise', is the exact opposite of everything my Twilight believed in. Everything I believe in.]

"Just so you know," Zero muttered into his hand, "that's blasphemy. You're fortunate I don't care for the Enterprise. Still, they grew a nation out of scorched dirt and diseased humans and it's lasted for centuries. There's something admirable about that kind of efficiency."

[But what if I told you there was a better way?] Sunset pressed. [A world where each life is precious and not just a slave?]

"Like the old world?"

[The old world... lost their way. We couldn't save them, but that's no excuse for this one to suffer. So what do you say?]

"I'd ask why. Why fight the thing that people find safety in? Sunset, these people and I are the minority, the Neo Arcanian outcasts balancing on the line of 'maverick'."

[And what if you're not? What if, deep down, everyone wants to be free?]

For a long time, Zero didn't answer. The Biocrystal didn't have the slightest idea of what she was talking about, but her feisty attitude was somehow refreshing. It clashed spectacularly with the rest of the faces in the room, each one weighing weather or not to report this conversation or join in. It felt like an itch that had long gone unscratched.

"You'd still be a fool." Zero said. As he spoke, however, a ghost of a smile tugged at his lips.

"You should go." Strass whispered, stepping aside. "Please."

"We never spoke." Carina nodded. Her bright eyes flicked between Zero's helmet and the fife in Skeel's pocket.

"[Thank you again.]" Zero turned to the night outside. "[Oh, and I'm sorry again for your loss.]"

The Hunter was suddenly thrown off balance as the Biocrystal took one of his hands and laid it over Jor's old buster. There was a soft ringing and a flurry of square shards of light and the boy's energy crystal count began to drop. When Zero finally regained control of his limb, Jor's buster was gleaming softly, its core reading a full charge. Before the Hunter could object, Sunset swept him out into the cool air.

"Son," The gravely voice stopped him, "I don't know where you're going, but might be best not to use to roads. Something's got the Enterprise in a tizzy and just today we saw them hauling prisoners down the mountain."

"Prisoners?" Zero echoed.

"I know nothing." Skeel clarified with a wink, "But it looked like there was a bust. Hunters from the looks of their uniforms."

"How many?" The boy's voice was cold as steel.

"Don't know if they've nabbed any since, but we saw two."

"Alive?"

"Yeah, a tall buck and a gal with rose red hair." Skeel deflated. "Shame, really. They'll be riding the Ore Line before dawn."

"I'll be sure to stay out of the Enterprise's way, then." Zero nodded curtly and tugged on his new cloak.

[Zero?] The boy's boots pounded into the night. [Zero, did something happen? Your vitals just went through the roof!]

"Athena and Boreal." The Hunter muttered. "They're alive."

[That's good, right?]

"It would have been better if they'd died."

[How can you say that?]

Zero unfurled the caravan's map.

"In special cases, the Enterprise likes to strut their prey before a sham court. The end result is always the same."

[But why? To be malicious?]

"To send a message. It's their reminder that no one escapes them. Right now, they're telling every other Hunter to give up or face the same fate."

[We can still save them!]

"No, we can't."

[You're just going to let them die?]

"No one deserves a better death than Athena and Boreal, but if we interfere, we forfeit our cover, risk capture, and betray who our allies are. Best we continue hiding."

[Bull!]

"Huh?"

[You might play the tough guy, Zero, but I'm your Biocrystal! And right now I know there's more adrenaline in your veins than blood!]

"You can't fight the Enterprise!" Zero snapped.

[Oh, really? Because last I checked, you took my hand!] Sunset's words hung in the boy's mind for a moment. [You're a fighter, Zero. You've had to run from the Enterprise before just to survive, but now I'm with you. Now you can make a stand.]

The boy didn't say anything, but his feet had stopped marching. A war of arguments and counter-arguments clashed within his mind.

[You said the Enterprise was sending a message? Let's send one of our own.]

Zero glanced back down at the map and the thin ribbon of ink titled "Ore Line" running parallel to the road.

"Can you stop a train?"

[I fought three sirens armed with nothing but a microphone. I can sure try!]

SEQUENCE 3: One Spark

View Online

[Watch our step...] Sunset cautioned. Zero leaned over the lip of the canyon, his new shawl rippling in the cool breeze. Above him, the stars were frosty candles while the chasm below was a thirsty void. Only the whisper of a river and the muttering of wind over stone met his ears and the only light that escaped the abyss were a pair of meandering silver threads. The Ore railroad.

[Kind of picturesque, isn't it? Having the tracks follow the water like that?]

"The architects had no choice. Young Neo Arcania was hungry for the north's iron, but these canyons were still new. Still shifting. Bridges collapsed as fast as they were built."

[New canyons?] The Biocrystal puzzled. Any questions, though, died on her tongue. A rolling thunder began to thicken the air.

"Last chance to abort."

[Getting cold feet?]

"Being tactical." Zero corrected.

From their left, a giant metal eel swung into view. Awash in Enterprise purple and howling from its own speed, the locomotive skirted the winding tracks as deftly as a cat atop a fence. Zero and Sunset had only a moment before the transport was passing beneath them.

[Now!]

Zero dove like a hawk, his powerful legs throwing him past freefall. He skipped off a stone spur and hung in the air, plummeting toward the armored cars.

"Shoot!" The Hunter's momentum carried him beyond his target. Summoning the Biocrystal's strength, he thrust an arm behind him, coaxing his hungry fingers to find the lip of the car's roof. His hand caught, and his body slammed into the car's side.

[Huh...]

"What is it?" Zero hauled himself atop the slick platform.

[Just thinking. You know, for a brick, we flew pretty good.]

The Hunter crouched low to the armored surface, as much to keep his balance as to assess his situation. Already, there was movement beneath him and though it was still inactive, the domed shape of an anti-aircraft turret loomed couple cars ahead. In the rushing wind, Zero's poncho cinched around his neck like a noose.

[Here, let me get that for you.] At Sunset's voice, the shawl vanished into shards of light.

"Was that necessary?"

[Relax, I just downloaded it for later. What, you thought I got rid of your old clothes?] The Biocrystal chuckled. [That'd make un-megamerging kind of awkward, wouldn't it?]

Zero didn't answer. He didn't want to think about un-megamerging and he didn't want to talk about clothes. He had a mission and in the next second, it was all he or Sunset Shimmer could concentrate on.

A dull clunk sounded from ahead and a Paragon's cyclopian eye sprouted from a metal hatch. For a moment, its red lens glimpsed the Hunter clinging to the train's roof. In the next, it was split in half.

Zero lanced forward and plucked the android's limp body from the opening before diving into it himself. Sickly pink light filled the car, revealing three more Paragons but no hostages. The hunter unleashed his saber and impaled one robot before shoving it backward to skewer a second. By the time the third robot could raise its buster, the radiant sword had cleaved the guard from one shoulder to the opposite hip.

[They don't put up much of a fight, do they?] Zero felt Sunset's curiosity coaxing him into examining their victims, but he forced her to focus on the sealed door ahead.

"They're actually formidable-" The boy tapped the activation panel. "-to unarmed civilians. They're the Enterprise's enforcers. They're not sentient, but-"The door opened.

As one, eight Paragon eyes turned to face the intruder.

"Rumor is they're connected."

The saber flashed, buster cannons roared, and the inside of the train car became a malstorm of destructive light. Through the din of combat, the feeble pink lights shifted red and sirens began moaning through the air. Zero twisted like a hurricane, decapitating one foe before hurling its limp body into the path of an incoming buster shot.

[Duck!]

Zero bent forward just as a knot of orange fire passed over him and buried itself in the wall. With a flick of his arm, he answered with his own buster, catching the offending paragon squarely in its eye. The petroid collapsed forward, twitching, as the hot magic shorted every circuit in its brain at once.

"They know we're here." Zero stated, turning to the next door. The activation panel had become red and inoperable.

[No sign of your friends yet.]

"I think they're closer to the engine. It's more secure there."

[I could probably hack this door if I had an interface.]

"You already do."

The Hunter swung his right arm out and activated Sunset's saber. The blazing sword bit into the metal barrier with a savage hunger, chewing long swaths of sparks through it.

[How elegant. You planning to Qui-Gon Jinn your way through all these doors?]

"Just this one." With one last slash and a hearty kick, Zero sent the barrier flying into the next room.

"MAVERICK IDEN-KEEK!" The Paragon inside chirped as a large metal plate and a megaman landed on top of it. The new car didn't have many guards, but it also didn't have much floor space. The compartment was dominated by racks of energy crystal batteries, their tanks welded to the floor. A ladder led up to a hole cut in the roof where the feet of a lone Paragon soldier could be seen operating the train's turret. With the finesse of a tornado, Zero seized the purple android by its leg.

"MAVERICK ID-EEEeeewwwnng..."

[You're enjoying this, aren't you?] Sunset mused as Zero broke the soldier's neck.

The steely Hunter leapt up the ladder and seized the mounted weapon's controls. He was riding a razor's edge of time, caught between the element of surprise and the Enterprise's response. Within moments, the train's operator would realize that he had come for the prisoners and their lives would be jeopardized. If he wanted to save them, he had to move quickly.

Zero swung the turret's twin barrels toward the forefront of the train and took aim. The night was suddenly alight with bursts of globular fire, ripping the atmosphere apart and gnawing fiery holes in the transport's armor. Large swaths of the shiny metal roofs buckled and lifted free, clattering off the tracks into the river below.

[What are you doing!? Your friends are in there!]

Zero stopped and watched as the residual smoke washed off the train cars, revealing jagged, but functional breaches.

"That's our way in." He severed the turret's dome and cast it aside. The cold night air splashed his face once more.

[My gosh! You sound just like Rainbow Dash. And not on one of her good days!]

After the warbling alarms, the serenity of the canyon was unsettling. Zero's boots tapped a staccato through the night as he sprinted for the first damaged train car. A passing glance within revealed only more Paragons and their monocular glare. The next was empty save for the disemboweled remains of an Scorpio mechaniloid. Finally, just two cars behind the tempestuous engine, Zero found the holding cells.

Like a thread of quicksilver, he and Sunset Shimmer slid through the slagged wound in the roof and landed in a low crouch. On either side of them were tall canisters, glass coffins, each designed to hold a single occupant. Athena and Boreal were strapped into the two farthest chambers, staring at the newcomer with wide eyes. Save for the captives, the car was abandoned.

"What in Tartarus's rutting donkey dong is going on?" Boreal hollered. "Who the frack are you!?" An excitable Hunter with a colorful tongue, Zero had always found the young man tended towards the melodramatic. However, he could keep his head in a fight and that's all that mattered. Athena remained silent.

Instead, as Zero stepped in front of her cell, Athena's face went through a rainbow of emotions. Cynicism, confusion, recognition, surprise, relief, excitement, and finally sheer terror.

"Zero!" She screamed. "Zero! Get out of here! The warden's still here! Zero!"

[Warning!]

Even as the far door began to open, Sunset Shimmer was already drawing their saber and leaping for safety. A tempest of shapes and shadows poured into the room, choking the air with a swirling green miasma. Zero saw energy knives, claws, reaching for him and he saw teeth, rows of gleaming veridian teeth straining for his neck. He followed Sunset's lead as she vaulted them back through the roof.

Their assailant followed. Zero stood with his sword at the ready as the creature billowed onto the metal platform and assembled itself. Piece-by-piece it rose, each segment of its body levitating within a cocoon of smokey aura. Once complete, a twisted figure somewhere between man and wolf, grinned hungrily at him.

"Hahaha-Howwwl! Ha-Howwl! Yes... Yes, you. I smell you-I can smell you-smell delicious! Hahaha! Ha-Howwwlll!"

[Zero...]

"I know." This wasn't a regular security system. The tangle of metal and magic wasn't even a regular petroid. "It's some kind of specialist."

"Hehe..."

"[You! Warden! What's your name?]"

"H-hungry, so hungry. Wants to know my name? He-hee. She's not Master. Don't need to answer. She's prey! M-my prey!"

"Enough." Zero lifted his buster and unleashed a torrent of fire. The bolts soared through the night, ripping clean through the hulking figure. It twitched, it writhed, and finally collapsed onto the car's roof. However, just as the hunter lowered his weapon, the scattered pieces took on an eerie green glow and rose again.

"And I?" The figure sneered. "Am predator! I am Timberwulf! The predatoroid! Haha! Ha-haha! Haha-howwwl! Ha-howwwll!"

[Timberwolf? Well there's a blast from the past.]

"Watch out."

The warden attacked.

Crescent blades of energy tipped the monster's claws, but it was the teeth that it favored. Zero's sword parried every swipe, his buster punished every stray leg, and his fist shattered the beast's jaws, but he might as well have been swatting at shadows. Not one of his blows caused damage. No matter how powerful the Hunter's attacks, the segmented body would merely absorb the blow before collecting itself in time for the next assault. After a five-second eternity, Zero finally ducked beneath his opponent's guard and threw his whole weight into a palm strike at the ribs. All the appendages went dark as the chest erupted out of the creature's back. Within moments, though, the skittering body parts surrounded their core once more.

[Fascinating...] Sunset whispered. [Its central cauldron is almost completely unshielded! He's literally bleeding out in all directions at once just to hold his shape. No wonder the poor thing's starving.]

"He's never learned to fight." Zero added. "Never had to."

[Just a brute who thinks he's invincible. Might as well be.]

Timberwulf pulled himself together and charged headlong at Zero. The Hunter and Biocrystal were surrounded by a flurry of flying detritus, cutting and nipping at their armored skin. Sunset's saber tore the night in two, seeking to cleave the monster's core in half, but if nothing else, the warden was perceptive. The segmented body fell away, allowing the sword to pass clean through it. As fast as Zero could strike, Timberwulf could dodge. Even the occasional glancing blow was warded by the levitating plates of armor surrounding it.

"He was designed to survive any conventional attack." The Hunter noted, leaping back for a moment's respite.

[Our friend here could probably survive getting hit by a truck!] Sunset agreed. Zero frowned,

"The grill isn't what makes a truck dangerous-"

Suddenly, a thought struck him. Sunset Shimmer flicked their eyes past the hulking petroid to the train engine beyond.

[Are you thinking what I'm thinking?]

"I'm going to need that cloak back in a second."

"Prey! My prey! Tear, rip, slash! I'll eat you! Feast on your magic! Haha! Hahaha! Ha-Howwwlll!" Timberwulf charged just like before. This time, however, Zero rushed to meet him.

As the warden pounced, the Hunter slid beneath his foe, green claws raking past his face. Once clear, Zero and Sunset Shimmer sprinted for the front of the train. Timberwulf threw himself into pursuit.

"Run! Run you down! Haha! I'll cut your throat with my jaws! S-Slaughter! Ha-Howwwl!"

The stone cliffs were a rippling blur as Zero charged into the tearing wind. For a shattered second, Athena watched a bright red blur pass her, followed by a verdant comet. As soon as the boy touched the engine's roof, he spun and braced himself for the inevitable tackle. Timberwulf's jaws gleamed like an emerald furnace.

"Now!" Zero lifted his arms and his vision was bleached by a wall of white light. Energy became matter and the boy's cloak was snatched up by the wind. It flew into the petroid's face and clung like spiderweb, but it wasn't enough to stop his momentum. Timberwulf fell into the Hunter's arms, who twisted his shoulders and threw the predatoroid off the front of the train.

For the span of a heartbeat, the monster pulled free of the trap and found itself looking up at Zero. A moment later, it vanished beneath the engine.

Zero crouched as the whole train shuddered. Timberwulf's body was ground apart beneath the mobile fortress, its pieces tumbling helplessly. Suddenly, a sharp squeal split the air and the cars leapt like bulls. A cloud of green light blossomed in the darkness as the petroid's master cauldron was caught beneath a wheel and split open. The train sections jolted precariously and one skipped its rail. A harsh squealing filled the night as Zero and Sunset dashed for the prisoner car.

"Holy Helios smoke me! What was that?" Boreal greeted his rescuer. "What's happening to the train? Who in starfall are you!?"

"Zero! You're all right!" Athena shuddered with relief.

"Zero?" The young man stared at the crimson-clad figure. "What-"

"Close your eyes." Turning to Athena's cell, the boy extended his hand to summon the saber.

"[Hold up, Wreck-It-Ralph. This time, we do it my way.]"

"We don't have much time." But Zero mentally stepped back and allowed Sunset Shimmer to examine the coffin's interface.

"Who's that?" Athena queried.

"Sunset Shimmer." Zero said curtly. Then added, "The armor is sentient."

"Oh, ah... Nice to meet you, Miss Shimmer?"

"[Just call me 'Sunset'.]" For a moment, the Biocrystal locked eyes with Athena and Zero had the impression he intruding on a silent conversation. Sunset Shimmer returned to her project, frowning. "[You two have had a fun day, haven't you?]"

"If you include getting your ribs crushed by a Scorpio, Sunset, you have a weird definition of fun." Boreal sniffed.

"Oh, it wasn't so bad." Athena smiled from behind her glass. "We got first-class train tickets to the City and caught a kickass show on the way." Outside, the skewed train wheels were still shrieking.

[Hmm... In two hundred years, you'd think technology would get more advanced, not less. Who built this? A gorilla?] Aloud, the Biocrystal looked back up at Athena and asked, "[Seriously, though, are you all right? Is there anything you need?]"

"You can let me out of here, I need to pee."

Finally, Sunset Shimmer plucked a sequence of circuits and the pod relinquished its charge. Boreal rubbed his wrists and his spine with exaggerated motions, but Athena leapt to the floor as light as a feather.

"Thanks for coming for us, Zero. I know you crossed company policy for this."

"Thank Sunset."

"We're not out of the canyon yet." Boreal reminded. "Zero, who else is with you?"

"[Just us.]"

"Just...?" The man teetered.

"Auror, Horuz, and Cons are deceased. Doctor Xiel took the rest through a backdoor transceiver."

"And you just figured it was a nice night to go for a stroll and kick in some Enterprise asshats along the way?" Boreal leaned against his cell with a weak smile. "I don't know if that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard or the most epic."

"I'll take the second one." Athena grinned.

"[Yes, it actually went pretty smooth.]" The three humans swayed like windblown grass as the engine finally ground to a halt. "[Mostly.]"

From the fore doorway, a single Paragon leaned into the room, it's red eye winking green.

"Oh, crack!" Boreal dove for cover. Zero swung his buster upward, casting a trio of magic missiles into the newcomer. The android was thrown onto its back, two holes in its chest and one arm reduced to an ashen stump.

"Time to go." Athena announced, stepping over the paralyzed petroid. "I think this is where they took our things."

Sure enough, the next room contained the armory. Racks of magic cores, busters in three different calibers and even replacement sections of Timberwulf's body were arrayed in long chests or mounted on the walls. Within moments, the former prisoners were armed, charged, and once more arrayed in Hunter armor.

"Get to the engine room." Zero commanded. "Means now, Boreal."

"Just a second." The man strapped a few more energy tanks to his belt before slapping a fresh core into his buster and taking aim at the crippled Paragon. "I figure if we're going to be enemies of the New Moon Enterprise for the rest of our natural lives, might as well make it worthwhile." The blinking green eye lingered on the Hunter until it finally went dark in a shower of sparks.

One inside the train's control room, Zero activated the emergency release and separated the engine from the rest of the cars. Slowly and cautiously, they began to ride their makeshift getaway vehicle through the canyon.

"Oh, this isn't conspicuous at all." Athena mused.

"[I was about to say the same thing.]" Sunset said thoughtfully. "[What's our next move?]"

"Find a ford and disembark. Let the engine keep going. With any luck, the Enterprise will pursue it first."

"I know this country." Boreal spoke up. "We could lay low out here or make our way back to Rust. I've got friends there."

Zero nodded.

Athena remained silent for a while, staring at Zero's impassive face and the smoldering blue crystal on his forehead. Finally, she asked,

"So, how did you two meet?"

"Pardon?"

"You and Sunset. What happened yesterday?"

Using short, concise sentences, Zero recounted the major points leading up to the discovery beneath the mountain and the devastating ambush that followed. As for the Biocrystal, he only offered a basic overview of her abilities, refusing to speculate on the source of her power or even how she had saved his life. Sunset Shimmer listened quietly to Zero's account, but didn't add anything.

"But isn't it weird?" Athena pressed.

"What is?" Zero glanced toward his companion.

"Sunset Shimmer. You said the armor was sentient, but you act so relaxed. Isn't it weird having a girl wrapped all around your body?"

"She's a petroid." The boy said callously. "Genderless."

"[He may act indifferent, but that's just his way of admitting he hasn't thought about it.]"

"Oh, you don't have to tell me about his shameless posturing, Sunset."

"But seriously, man, isn't it awkward when you have to hit the john?" Boreal scratched his ear. Zero shot him a look halfway between "that's not your concern" and "are we really talking about this?".

"What about dirty thoughts? Does she have to watch your manly fantasies?" Athena grinned like a minx, doing her best to make Zero's cheeks match his armor.

"[Don't worry, Athena, Zero's been quite the gentleman so far.]" Sunset giggled.

"Pity." The girl nested her jaw on her fist.

"Hunters, this conversation is highly irrelevant." Zero's voice pitched dangerously as the armor around his left gluteus pinched him.

"[So what about you two?]" Sunset turned to the former prisoners, still laughing. "[How were you captured?]"

"Not much to tell." Athena shrugged. "Ambushed by Scorpios. Came right up out of the ground."

"[Like they were tunneling?]"

"No." Boreal shivered. "No warning. Like they were waiting for us. Plucked us up like a pair of bucking flour sacks and marched us down the hill. Honestly, I didn't think we'd make it to the City when they turned us over to that crazy dog! The Scorpio that delivered us got its core ripped out and eaten for a job well-done." A few moments of silence passed over the group.

"What does the Commander think about all this?" Athena looked up at Zero.

"We've been cut off ever since the ambush. Sunset says my radio's still working, but comms have been dark."

"Had she been listening to the encrypted channels?"

"[Oh, is that what this chip does?]" With a pop, a new line of radio waves was added to Zero's headset.

"You didn't recognize it?" Zero asked critically.

"[Hey, I thought it was an IFF tag.]"

"Not a bad guess." Athena assented.

Zero swallowed and glanced up at the dark sky. The star-flecked sea was devoid of any sign of Enterprise ships, but that didn't mean they weren't still listening for him. With a subtle nod, he activated the new channel.

"This is Hunter 'Number', can anyone read me? Any active Hunter units, respond." There was a moment of feathery static before an excited voice popped into existence,

"Merciful Luna! Z-'Number'? Is that you? This is Hunter 'Boomer'." Together, the train car released a collective breath. Nov was alive and active.

"Acknowledged, 'Boomer', I read you four-by-three." For all his excitement, Nov sounded muffled. "What's your status?"

"Operating under compromised communications. I've got to- sweet mother- standby. I need to find the Com- I mean, 'Monocle'." The speaker's voice became even smaller, accompanied by the sound of boots over a hard floor and what sounded like the whine of an airlock. A few painful seconds later, a stampede of footfalls filled the radio.

"Hunter 'Number', this is Hunter 'Monocle'." Commander Piece's voice filled Zero's helmet. "We have to assume this channel's been compromised. What's your status?"

"Operating in extreme heat. Have rendezvoused with Hunter 'Bard' and Hunter 'Librarian'. We're code 'wolfpack'. Please advise."

"Merciful..." A scratching sound told Zero that Piece was rubbing his chin. "... All of you?"

"And the... And our newest Hunter."

"I see." More static. "Hunter Number, I probably don't have to tell you this, but all operating cells have been ordered to go west until further notice. As for you and Hunter 'Newbie', your mission is still intact. In order to arrange an extraction, though, we need to reestablish secure comms. What are your landmarks?"

"Limited." Zero growled. "We may have to go west if we can't make it to White Campaign."

The radio line died all together. A second later, it returned with Piece's excited voice bellowing commands.

"Make for White Campaign! It may be your only chance. maintain radio silence as much as you can! You'll be put on the railroad when you hit White."

"Understood." Zero nodded.

"Damn good luck to you all."

The radio went dead.

"[What was all that about?]" Sunset wondered as Zero coaxed a little more speed out of the train engine.

"Secure talk." Athena explained. "References only the Hunter's inner circle would understand."

"[Ok, so what did he say?]"

"In short, we're up a pickled herring's derriere!" Boreal laughed grimly.

"The Hunters guild has been disbanded." Zero leered into the night. "Everyone's been told to 'go west'. Hide from the Enterprise until we can be reassembled as a new company."

"It's happened before." Athena nodded. "We used to be called 'Guardians'. But that was before I joined up."

"[But why 'west'?]"

"It's just a saying, Sunset. They say everything west of the mountains is nothing but a wasteland, so to 'go west' means to fall off the face of the Earth."

"[Code 'wolfpack'?]"

"Means we're not being forced by our captors to make the radio call."

"[The 'White Campaign'?]"

"A load of carp crap!" Boreal sniggered. "It's where we were hired to protect a prospector who thought he'd hit it big in the ice deserts north of the Freshwater Sea! He died."

"[So where is it?]"

"Rust." Zero answered. "We'll find the Resistance in Rust."

SEQUENCE 4: Frosted Glass

View Online

"Okay! So, ladies, gentlemen, multi-sex, undecided or robot," Boreal made a sweeping gesture, "welcome to the prettiest little poop stain on the map!"

"[Oh!]"

"I know, right?" Athena laughed. "Why didn't they just call it 'Tetanus'?"

"[It's beautiful.]"

Zero took a second look to make sure he was seeing the same thing. Hours of marching beneath a milky grey sky had brought the fugitives out of the canyons and into the light of a waning dawn. Beneath them, shaggy hills ended abruptly upon the glittering shoreline of the Freshwater Sea. An iron marsh of dilapidated structures grew out of the pale sands like the corpse of a mechanical whale. An ever-perpetuating tangle of humanity, the settlement "Rust" grew out of itself and upon itself, producing a labyrinth of scrap metal catwalks, corroded walls, and tin roofs that clawed at the sapphire sky. The cotton breath of a thousand chimneys wafted into the cold air, wafting through a meadow of jury-rigged windmills. Above it all, the planetary silhouette of an oxidized-orange water tower kept solemn vigil.

All Zero saw was,

"The Enterprise should have found us by now."

"We'll, we're not making it any harder for them!" With a lopsided shuffle, Boreal charged down the hillside.

"At least he's feeling spunky." Athena yawned.

"We'll avoid the markets." Zero squinted critically. "What we need is a quiet place to lay low."

"[And breakfast.]" Sunset reminded. "[No place we go will be 'quiet' until then.]"

Before the Hunter could clarify, a low groan escaped Athena's stomach.

"Sorry."

"That's you?" The boy lifted an eyebrow. "I thought those were tremors."

"Oh, thanks a lot, Zero!" Athena set her jaw and stomped after Boreal.

[Real smooth, kid.]

"What?"

[Nothing.] The Biocrystal sighed.

Zero shrugged and made to follow, but Sunset held him back.

[There's something about her...]

"Who? Athena?"

[Yeah. Call me crazy, but I feel like I've seen her before. Something about her jaw line, maybe...]

The boy considered that for a moment. Athena was attractive, as far as he could tell, with her lapis eyes and campfire-orange hair, but if Zero admired someone, it was in the way they carried themselves, not for the lines of their figure. Slender, but with feline strength, Athena possessed a rare sense of conviction that graced her every movement. As for her jaw line,

"You mentioned that you were active before the war. Perhaps you knew her great, great, great, great, great-"

[I'M NOT THAT OLD!]

An invisible hand slapped Zero upside his head.

"Now what!?"

The Biocrystal stewed silently.

As soon as the Hunters's boots alighted upon the sheet metal streets, Boreal led them away from the inquisitive eyes of the locals and into the shadows of the alleyways.

Sunset's hungry gaze drank in their surroundings, gawking at the improbable architecture and marveling at the local strain of humanity. Most of Rust was built over the Sea itself, with canals for streets and docks for sidewalks. In the distance, the scuttled wrecks of ancient cargo ships, their frames chewed apart by scavengers, could still be seen. But it was the people that Sunset's eyes lingered on the longest. Most of the residents of Rust were human, their skin leathered by sun and wind, but every once in a while the rickety mannequin of an old petroid could be seen working shoulder-to-shoulder with their flesh and blood relatives. Swaddled in thick blankets, the first fishermen of the day were drifting into the markets where the scrapmetal stoves burned expectantly for the promise of fresh trout and salmon and bass. Rather than pity, or revulsion, though, all Zero felt coming from Sunset was pure, unabashed, admiration.

[This is amazing! Zero, are you seeing this? They're using the windmills for pumps! They have indoor plumbing! And the chimneys- oh, that's clever!]

"Alright, you guys just hang out here. Mind your own business, please, and if someone offers you some discount lamprey, don't take it." Boreal winced. "Trust me." The young man took a canister of energy crystals and vanished.

"He'll be back, right?" Athena glanced up at Zero.

"Boreal said he has contacts here. We'll give him a chance to see what they can do for us."

The two remaining hunters settled down in the quiet square where they'd been abandoned. Athena slumped down against a wall to rest her eyes while Zero scowled at the shadows crawling across the street. In the distance, the muffled song of fishmongers floated over the rooftops and the tantalizing whiff of seared fillets toyed with their noses. Sunset Shimmer watched silently as a trio of scrappy children played an intense game involving an inflated pig bladder and a pair of steel drums.

[I can't tell you how much this means to me.]

"What does?"

[This. These people. This place. Proof that life goes on even after the apocalypse.]

"You call this living?"

[I do. Listen. Life is hard, but they're still smiling!]

"Your point?"

[I needed this, Zero. I needed to know humanity was still alive.]

"I don't follow."

[Neither did the old governments. They didn't realize that money and wealth aren't the same thing.] Sunset's tone turned sour. [Nor did they care. After all, how can you fix a broken economy with 'Laughter'?] She paused. [Look, when I woke up, all I knew about this world was that there's a dystopian government out there with murderbots running amok! To see a city where people can just be people again, it gives me hope.]

"Rust isn't a city." Zero said coldly. "By law, there's only one City. This is a pile of rust. Hence the name."

[Oh... So, I'm guessing 'Ivywood' is literally...]

"A forest of ivy."

[Facinating! Ugh, I have so many questions. About sociology, etymology, politics,-]

"Athena could help you. She has a knack for knowing things she's not supposed to."

"Not right now. She's sleeping." The Hunter mumbled from beneath her arms.

"[Is there a story there?]"

"On our first mission together, Athena abandoned our objective to retrieve records from a prewar database."

"It was-"

"-While the Enterprise was purging it."

"It was a library! What did you expect me to do?" The Hunter bawled.

"Hence her call sign."

"That's our history they were burning!" Athena defended. "They weren't just slagging records, they were erasing our heritage!"

"[I hear you. There are few evils more atrocious than a good old-fashioned book-burning.]"

"Right?" Athena looked up at the blue crystal on Zero's helmet. "Zero's a perfect example of Enterprise-fostered ignorance. Before that mission, he didn't even know that Luna was a satellite."

"[He what?]"

"It wasn't relevant." The hunter said flatly. "And if it was, I would have figured it out. The shiny side is always pointed at Helios anyway."

"[Well, what did you think it was, then?]"

"Her didn't care." Athena said simply. "But most people just accept Twilight Sparkle's theology."

"[Do I want to know...?]"

"When the Hecate put her claim on the world, she said she was an emissary from 'beyond the stars' sent to govern Earth in the wake of its disastrous self-destruction. Then a lot of mythos garbled it and now the stars are a symbol of an incorruptible plane of reality and their constellations represent law and order. For example, the saying, 'starfall', means the world has gone mad. Likewise, the superstitious quickly gave Helios and Luna their personas. Helios as a stern father figure and Luna as a merciful, interceding mother. Even the lunar cycle is a symbol of the moon taking on humanity's sins and washing herself clean in starlight. A 'new moon' is a symbol of rebirth."

"[And the planets?]"

"Heavenly messengers, obviously. Their pilgrimage indicates upcoming fortunes, good or ill."

"[What a load of-]" Sunset stopped herself. "[Actually, if we're splitting hairs, I guess magic did come from 'beyond the stars'...]"

Now Athena looked wide awake, but Zero was the one about to fall asleep.

"Whatever she was before, Hecate Twilight Sparkle is now a god-queen. People swear to her since her word is law."

"And if someone says, 'Twilight screw you with a rusty auger', it's safe to assume they don't like you." Boreal reappeared wearing a grey shawl and a toothy smile. Over his shoulder was draped a bundle of fabric and his left hand carried a bucket full of glinting beige water. "Miss me?"

"Success, then?"

"Nah, I'm just bringing you local costumes and a bucket of breakfast for no reason." The Hunter's face was as bright as the morning sun. "Dig in, guys."

"You're a champion, Boreal." Athena took a matching cloak and threw it over her head.

"Don't thank me, thank old lady 'Gater. Fart's as old as the hills and she's still puttering along." Boreal tossed the last disguise at Zero. "Now, I know you're not supposed to buy clothes without knowing one's measurements, but..."

"[This is perfect, thank you.]" Zero pulled the long grey curtain over his head and let it hang. The waterproof fabric was heavy, but covered almost every inch of Sunset's flamboyant armor. "[Let's not throw this one under a train, all right?]"

"I can't promise that."

"[How about you make like a lantern and lighten up?]"

"Something smells good." Athena took the bucket from Boreal, but a quick glance at its contents turned her cheeks as pale as the water inside. "What?"

"Pickled smelt!" Boreal plunged his hand into the container and drew out a small fish. "Just eat them whole." He demonstrated, and for a moment, Athena looked ready to throw the hapless fish back into the Sea. However, her desperation won out and she squeezed her eyes shut as she followed the man's example.

"Hey, not bad."

"[Really? Let me try.]"

"I'm not hungry." Zero stated.

"[Aw, come on. Eating local is Tourism 101! Besides, I hear the protein is good for building those abs.]"

"Understood..." The boy sighed. Aside from the slimy texture, the sightless eyes, or the briny bath that made up the flaccid fish, Zero found it surprisingly agreeable. The fresh meat had a scent of melon to it, but it was the juices that had him licking his lips in pleasure. The salt and oil that coated his throat were a rare treat in the wastelands.

"So now what?" Athena asked, sucking her fingers clean. "We just wait for Dr. Xiel to pop out of a rain barrel and take us to the Commander?"

"We need to find the Resistance." Zero assented.

"Or let them find us." Boreal yawned. He added, "If I know old lady 'Gater, she's already told everyone and their mother that I'm back in town."

"[Back?]" Sunset pressed.

"You didn't figure it out?" The young man chuckled. "This was my home a couple lifetimes ago."

"What happened? Not a fan of fish every meal?" Athena wondered.

"Wanted to see the world." Boreal shrugged. "Being the middle child of twelve kids leads to an identity crisis, you know? It was either fish, fix leaky pipes, fish, or get conscripted to the Enterprise iron mines, or fish. Not fond of that second-to-last one, and besides, how many monkeys does it take to maintain a water tower, am I right?"

"[That was your job?]" Sunset exclaimed. "[I thought that was a brilliant invention!]"

"Liked that, did you?" Grandpa's handiwork. Later, dad rerouted everyone's chimneys to keep it thawed in the winter."

"[So your family-]"

"Made their name in the honeypot business? Yup!"

"[I was going to say 'made this shanty a city', but that works too.]"

"We don't poop in the Sea, we aren't forced to eat poop." Boreal folded his hands behind his head. "And the universe is at peace."

An angry metal gong shook the rooftops.

"... Except for that bit."

"What is it?" Athena sprung to her feet.

"An alarm?" Zero strained his ears, but all he could hear was a single, echoing voice. The sounds of the fish market had fallen silent.

"An announcement? But that's..." Boreal's eyes narrowed to slivers. "No, not here."

"Bo-" But the Hunter dashed down the alley before Athena could stop him.

"So much for laying low." Zero muttered as he chased his companions toward the center of town.

The closest thing Rust had to a town square was a particularly vacant platform that had once been a shipping yard. Now, however, as the Hunters cautiously peeked out from their alley, they saw it crowded with the entirety of Rust's populace.

Along with a battalion of Enterprise Paragons.

The purple androids were a wall, a line of guards surrounding a collection of five old men with silver hair and tired eyes. Behind them, her clear voice cutting through the air like an icicle, was a creature that Zero had only heard legends of. Slim and delicate, it took the form of a girl, adorned with glacier-white armor and holding a long halberd behind her shoulder.

"It's one of the Four Peaceful Princesses." Athena breathed. "Admiral Fairy Leviathan."

"[What?]"

"We're leaving." Zero tried to turn away, but his body wouldn't move. Sunset Shimmer held him like a statue. "Sunset!"

[This doesn't make any sense...]

"We need to go." The boy tried again. "Athena, Boreal!"

"Who are those men?" The girl wondered.

"Rust's elders." The young man explained.

"But what are they doing with th-"

"If you'll kindly close your face-hole, we might find out!"

It wasn't difficult to make out the Admiral's message. It was more like a proclamation, really.

"-an act of delinquency! Foolish, unprovoked, and ultimately damaging not to the New Moon Enterprise, but to the very children we nurture and protect! These men sought to spurn the grace that has been extended to them by Neo Arcania and fight against the arms that only ever staved off the terrors of the wastelands! Why? Because they succumbed to their greed, trusted the lie that they could shake off the lifeline that connects them to the City and establish their own twisted government separate from the merciful judgement of her Hecate. But such an act of wanton destruction, to attack the Ore Line, only reveals the feral nature of their mind and hearts and how their schemes were doomed from the conception. That is why, children of the light, I have come to rip such a root of poison from your midst. That justice may prevail and their own violent ambitions fall back on their heads so that the rest of you may be spared their folly..."

"They think the elders organized the attack on the train?" Boreal frowned.

"But Rust had nothing to do with that!" Athena cried.

"That's irrelevant." Zero explained. "Even if they know these people are innocent, the Enterprise needs a scapegoat to punish so that they maintain their image of brutal efficiency."

"And they chose the elders..."

"They don't deserve that!" The girl protested.

"It's a best case scenario." Zero murmured. Athena and Boreal turned incredulous faces toward him. "While the Enterprise is flaunting their witch hunt, we should make our retreat. We're finished here."

"As if!" Athena made to step forward, but a heavy arm from Boreal stopped her.

"Zero's right..."

"But they-"

"Shut up!" The man snapped. "I don't like this any more than you! Heck! You don't even know those men, I do! Damn salty prunes, but there's nothing they wouldn't do for Rust. But that's a Princess out there! Annointed by the Hecate herself! It's practically a god!"

"[No. It's my friend.]" Sunset Shimmer broke her silence.

"What are you saying?" Zero's eyes flicked back to the marble warrior in the town square. As much as he hated to admit it, there was an uncanny resemblance between the Admiral's glassy armor and his own. Not to mention a long swath of purple hair flowing behind her like a silk ribbon. Fairy Leviathan lifted her halberd into the sky and declared,

"May the sacrifice of these lives pave the way to a pure tomorrow."

Before Zero could stop her, Sunset Shimmer leapt forward.

"[Rarity!]"

The scream lingered in the air. Rows of frightened eyes and angry red lenses turned toward the lone Hunter. Sunset didn't falter. Her face was fixed on the sapphire gem in the middle of Admiral Leviathan's forehead.

"[Rarity, it's me, Sunset Shimmer!]" Her voice caught. "[I thought- I was afraid I'd never get to see you again. But I don't understand, what's going on? Why are you attacking these people? Rarity, please, tell me what's happening.]"

Fairy Leviathan shook off her surprise and lowered her voice,

"Who's Rarity?"

Zero's limbs fell heavy as Sunset's strength left her.

"And who are you?" The halberd swung around to point at Zero. "Who would dare interrupt my work and the will of the Hecate?"

"We're the Hunters!" Athena appeared at the boy's elbow, throwing open her cloak to reveal her orange uniform and her buster. "And we're the ones who really attacked your precious train!"

Ripples of nervous excitement washed over the crowd.

"Ah-thee-na, what are you doo-ing?" Boreal whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"Blaming a company that doesn't exist anymore." Athena whispered back.

"MAVERICK IDENTIFIED!" A dozen arm cannons flared to life as the Paragons abandoned the elders for a new target.

"Hold!" At the Admiral's word, the androids froze. She turned her cold glare back on the Hunters. "Is this an admission of guilt?"

"It is." The girl announced. "But it was a Hunter operation to rescue Hunter prisoners. We had no contact with Rust or the people here."

"That's impossible." Leviathan's eyes flashed. "The Hecate herself condemned these men and they've testified accordingly!

"Well, then, I guess they lied to you." Athena taunted. Hushed voices gasped at her audacity, but her smirk never faltered.

"Enough!" The Paragons began to advance again. "Whether isolated terrorism or co-conspirators, the truth will be laid bare. Surrender to Her mercy and prepare to be apprehended!"

"What's the plan?" Boreal whispered.

"We're at every tactical disadvantage." Zero set his jaw.

"[Protect the elders and evacuate the people.]" A menacing ringing filled Zero's ears. "[Leave the fighting to us.]"

"What are you going to do?" Athena glanced at the crystal on Zero's head.

"[Catch up with an old friend.]"

In a moment, the stillness was shattered. Buster fire screamed, fishermen scrambled for safety, and Sunset unleashed her lightning-blue sword. Hot zeal coursed through the Biocrystal, sweeping Zero up in its wake. He and Sunset Shimmer danced beneath a rain of fire, laying waste with their buster and cutting enemy projectiles clean out of the air. Before the last Paragon corpse had hit the metal deck, they were sprinting toward the stoic figure of Fairy Leviathan.

Poised like a diamond in the sunlight, the Admiral touched her halberd to the platform and unleashed a wave of magic. Spires of ice rose like a forest of thorns, but Sunset never slowed her momentum. The delta saber flashed, beheading the frosty spears and shattering the spell that bound them. The white-clad warrior blinked and quickly summoned a second wall between herself and her attacker. Before the chittering ice had even finished growing, Zero launched himself into the air and brought his sword crashing down upon his foe's head.

"Guh!" Sword and halberd clashed, splintering the fragile dock.

Fairy Leviathan collected herself and launched a counterattack, her bladed staff cleaving the air with wide, graceful strokes. She was perfectly balanced, impeccably trained and displayed flawless execution. However,

"Too slow!"

Zero redoubled his efforts, feinting a slash and sweeping Leviathan's legs out from beneath her. As mist in the dawn, the white warrior's composure vanished. She deflected Zero's next attack and clambered to her feet, but the Hunter maintained his onslaught. She slashed, she retreated, she pulled frozen geysers up from the Freshwater Sea, but she couldn't escape the nimble saber.

Finally, Zero locked the Halberd in place with his sword and brought up his free hand to bury itself in his opponen'ts stomach. Leviathan's boots left the ground and her eyes went wide, but just as the Hunter was about to deliver a critical slash, Sunset Shimmer threw him off balance.

"[Rarity! Answer me!]" The Biocrystal lunged, wrapping the boy's arms around the young girl. Instantly, Zero felt the heat leave his body.

A hollow numbness, a piercing void, unlike any snow or ice in the word, shot through his chest as his armor touched his opponent's. The bright sunlight over the Sea vanished and he found himself falling through the boundless jaws of an abyss. He blinked and the world returned to normal, but the chill remained fastened in his bones.

"Don't touch me!" Fairy Leviathan screamed and a bastion of ice erupted around her.

Zero sprung back, the magic glacier fossilizing his right hand and his leg.

"Tsk!" With a flex of his fist, the glassy cocoon shattered, but the Admiral didn't attack. Instead, the girl sat in her nest of icicles, staring at the red-clad warrior with wide, frightened eyes.

"What did you just do?" She demanded, the barest note of a tremor on her lip. "What was that?"

"That wasn't you?" Zero frowned.

Before the Admiral could reply, however, a burst of radio static filled the air.

"Milady! Milady, are you quite all right? I'm receiving readings from your location of a most alarming nature. Is this combat I detect? Worry not, the fleet is convening on your position posthaste!"

"Belay that order, Captain. I'm returning to you." Admiral Leviathan slowly stood, never taking her eyes off of Zero.

"Is something amiss, Milady?"

"I'm not sure." The girl turned toward the Sea. "Karkinos, please arrange a conference with her majesty the Hecate. Something's come up."

"It will be done."

Before Sunset could stop her, the Admiral dove in the the water and became nothing more than a pale ripple, vanishing into the deep.

"That should have gone a lot worse." Zero said thoughtfully. His fingers opened and closed experimentally. Since donning the Biocrystal, there had been nothing that he couldn't cut down or cut through. Not until he had crossed blades with the Leviathan, that is. Only luck and the element of surprise could explain the Admiral's retreat. Neither of which eased his mind.

Sunset Shimmer remained quiet.

[Rarity...]

Zero found Boreal and Athena as they left the shelter of a nearby stall. Their expressions were as heavy as the cloaks they were pulling over their heads.

"Let's go." The man huffed.

"We're not welcome here." Athena added.

"What happened, Boreal?"

"Just got chewed up and spit out by the elders."

"Very calmly and quietly." The girl corrected. "But that only made it worse."

"Turns out they volunteered to get arrested. Damn fools thought sacrificing themselves would save Rust."

"Then we've only made things worse." Zero sighed.

"Yeah. We have to leave. It's their only hope. Though I'm not sure how they plan to survive the Enterprise's retaliation. Groveling, probably." As the man angrily flapped his shawl, a feathery patch of cloth fluttered to the ground.

"[What's that?]" At Sunset's insistence, Zero picked it up to find a single line of text scrawled across its surface.

"It says, 'ask the smiling petroid what Cerberus guards'."

"A message from the Resistance, perhaps?" Zero's eyes narrowed.

"When did that get there?" Boreal glanced beneath his arm.

"But what good does that do?" Athena frowned. "Everyone knows Cerberus guards the-"

"But there's only one 'smiling petroid' around." The young man tapped his nose. "Follow me. Next stop: outta the frying pan!"

Fueled by a new fount of seemingly boundless energy, Boreal spun on his heel and dove back into the midst of Rust, forcing Athena and Zero and shuffle after as best they could. An invisible weight hung on Sunset's shoulders threatening to drag her to her knees.

"[I'm so sorry.]"

"Are you going to explain why you put us in jeopardy just now?"

"Hey!" Athena scolded. "Remember, Zero, she's already saved all our lives."

"[No, that's all right, Athena, he has a point. I lost control when I saw Rarity, but you came through for us, Zero. Thank you.]"

"No thanks to your music." The boy growled. After a moment, he added, "So there are other Biocrystals besides you."

"[... Yeah.]"

"Why didn't you say something?" Athena asked cautiously.

"[I... Didn't know who I could trust. This world is still foreign to me. I couldn't even trust Zero, and he's my Biomatch!]"

"So, what are you?" For a long time, the boy's words hung in the air like a pendulum. Only the sound of their footfalls interrupted the silence.

"[I'm one of seven. One of seven individuals given the power to change the world. My friends and I wanted to use our gift to put an end to war. We failed. But... even now, no- especially now! A single Biocrystal, in the wrong hands, could enslave this fledgling humanity! At first, I feared that's exactly what happened, but now I think the truth is even more terrifying.]"

"What is it?"

"[I don't know.]"

"But if Admiral Leviathan is using one of your friends, then maybe all the Princesses have one." Athena gasped. "This could change everything we know about the New Moon Enterprise. The Hecate herself!"

"And that's why the Resistance wants you." Zero lowered his voice.

"[I can't say. One thing I do know, though, is that I'll need your help to get to the bottom of this.]"

"I won't help you stage a one-Biocrystal war against the Enterprise." The boy said flatly. Then, with a grim smile, he added, "Not until we have a plan, that is. I don't know why the Admiral fled our battle, but it wont happen again."

"[Don't worry.]"

Sunset Shimmer lifted Zero's left hand and his energy crystal count began to plummet. Squares of pale blue light rippled up and down his armor and threads of what looked like neon blue light began to emboss a shimmering 'S' onto his palm.

"[The next time we face 'Fairy Leviathan', we'll be ready."

Equestria Girls: ZX

by MasterZadok

SEQUENCE 1: A Candle In the Night

SEQUENCE 2: A Question of Fire

SEQUENCE 3: One Spark

SEQUENCE 4: Frosted Glass