> Cold Scales
>  by Konatra
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Myth and Mystery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Equestria is a world filled with many wonders and horrors alike. From magic and monsters to dungeons and dragons a world like this hides untold secrets.

This is but one of those many secrets, a legend only a grip of beings know of and even far less that can possibly confirm if the tales are true, this is the legend of the Silent Guardian.

Long ago before the realm above could take shape and house living beings their was a world below yet not physically as this realm existed in another dimension. Today this world is known as Tartarus, a dimension controlled by the ones who rule above as a prison for demons most foul. But back then it was a world known as the Sanctum a place where beings today could be classified as Gods or Demons and everything in between. Very very little is known of what these beings did here and even less of what they looked like, however only one event keeps occurring in old tomes and writings, this is known as the Great Slaughter. 

Within this zone there lies in the inner workings a prison-like area that housed billions if not trillions of horrific souls that lived in agony all clawing to break through the gates that closed in on the imprisoned souls. It is said that the wall was only two inches thick but even after eons and eons of attempted damage from the crazed horrors could put less than a scratch on the wall. The wall is said to be infused with magic long lost to time. Since the start of time, not one being could ever come close to escaping.

Until that day. One demon that is said to be the first to be imprisoned by the elder gods for stealing arcane magic began his riot. "Will will take back what we deserve! We will unleash a bloodbath unlike any this world has ever seen!"

Nearly from the start, it planned a way to escape its hell by fighting with other inmates and consuming their souls to increase its power. It would be untold decades before the first and only attempt at freedom would be attempted.
It roused up the other demons both weak and powerful to attack the wall. The guards awoke from their millennial slumber to end the attack but were quickly destroyed by the first demon. Billions of attacks were made at the wall both physical and magical, millions would be killed in the process in which would last for months but after so long a crack was made and not long after another and another until the wall fell and limitless demons were unleashed into the Sanctum.

That is if not for the Silent Guardian.

Before the creation of the prison the builders and Gods that controlled the realm feared for this very moment of tragedy and created a being of might and power. Several Gods gave their souls to give power to one unnamed guardian to protect the Sanctum for all eternity and beyond. After his ascension, he waited at the front of the gate. He waited and he waited for millions upon millions of years training his mind and soul for the very day...
And that day came with the horrible sound of molten rock breaking and millions of demons screaming all at once.

The wall shattered and an uncountable number of demons rushed to the Guardian as if an ocean to a grain of sand.
The Guardian finally moved and fought the horde. It is said the Guardian used powers that could destroy planets to defend his home. Billions and billions and maybe trillions of demons were slaughtered under the Guardian’s might. It is said he never spoke or even made a single noise during the battle that lasted a thousand years until…
The impossible happened.

A clawed hand broke through the Guardian’s invincible armor. A sneak attack by the first demon, an attack it was waiting to attempt since the battle started. In one hit the Guardian was defeated and thrown into the sea of demon blood that he created. Without defense the Sanctum quickly fell and the first took control of everything within.

The Guardian laid defeated and humiliated in a pool of broken flesh and bones. He had failed his creators.
It is said not long after this one of the few surviving Gods waged a rebellion with the help of the inhabitants from above that have recently developed known today as Alicorns. The first was forced into hiding and many of the remaining demons escaped to the surface world of Equestria. Today those demons take many forms but many can be found in the accursed Everfree forest, the ground zero of the event.

It is said the God found the Guardian’s broken body, morphed and changed by absorbing so much tainted blood but still alive. “You have fought well...but you failed us.” The god was met with silence. The God stripped the Guardian's power away, leaving a hollowed husk of a corrupted, tainted being. “You are banished, never return.”

Over the centuries many witnessed the failed Guardian wandering the Everfree. Always seeming to keep others who venture too deep out. For what purpose? That is still to be unraveled. 
___

Spines the Dragoness closed the very old book slowly. She shivered at the words she read. ‘None of that could be real of course...just some dumb fiction.’  The book’s name seemed to be etched in by a claw and all handwritten. 

‘Mythikós.’ It might have meant Legend in old Pony Latin but she wasn’t certain. More passages were in this book but many pages were tainted with a dried black substance and this story was the only one left fully intact from start to finish. Other chapters held titles such as, ‘Lurker, Stalker, Harbinger, Dead Clicker.’ And much more. What she could gather of these seemed to be details of monstrous creatures and how to avoid or fight them. Very rough ink sketches left a slight twinge in her young heart. That was when she decided to put it back in its place, which was in the very back of the library section under a very small stack of books categorized as ‘Mythos Dread’ Unsure what it meant or how it got here Spines placed the book away and went to her room for sleep.

Horrible off-setting nightmares of demons and Lurkers plagued her for years to come.
> Two Hunters
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seven years have passed since that book was read and with time the nightmares faded and classed under a young girl's imagination. Spines have grown very well over the years, her biology causing her body to grown just over five feet. Just being able to tower over Dusk Shine was quite fun when it first happened but having to duck under most structures quickly became very annoying but it was something she learned to live by. 

Another thing she had to adapt to was the clothing problem. As when she reached adolescence two semi-large mounds grew on her chest with various 'parts' being able to be seen if the 'mood' was 'correct'. To counter this Spines asked Elusive to make her a wardrobe to wear at all times. Since the tailor was not used to making wares that fit the bipedal body of her form, the clothes came out very unique in pony fashion, as it stole various fashions from different cultures from around the world. One of Spines' favorite and most used for casual days would be the yellow high top and denim shorts that went up to her thighs. While it was annoying having to wear clothes every day she got used to it.

"Dusk! I'm going to hunt for gems!" She called to her older brother figure who was enraptured in a book about stuff she didn't care about. "I'll be back before dark." Dusk only barely managed to hear the words over his concentration to the book and looked over to her. 

"Spines, be careful out there. Alright?" His face twisted to slight worry. "You're going out more and more often these days, and you come back covered in scratches and bruises all the time." Dusk sat the book down and walked to her side. "You don't even come back with that many gems and you tend to smell terrible coming back." 

Spines snorted at the comment. "Thanks Shine." Slowly she began to open the door out. "I'm fine okay? Just gets a little hard to find those things you know?" Already she was halfway out. "I'm a dragon remember? Like the strongest creature ever, I'm fine."

"Be that as it may Spines I'm starting to worry that you're keeping somethi-" The second he closed his eyes the dragoness was gone. All he could hear was her yelling back 'K Love ya bye!!' Dusk sighed in annoyance. He could easily go after her with his wings but decided against it. 'I have to let her make her own choices...I'm not her father.' He just hoped to Solaris everything would be fine.
___

Spines rushed out and with all her dragon speed rushed to the edge of Butterscotch's cottage. She knocked a few times and waited until the yellow pegasus opened the door. “Oh hello, Spines.” He said in his usual soft tone. “Are you here for…” He looked around for a second to ensure no one else was around. “That?” Spines just nodded, giving off a small smile as the sides of her head fins took on a small reddish hue, her equivalent of a blush. Butterscotch gave a quick confirming nod. “Alright, follow me to the back then.”

After a quick walk, Spines and Butterscotch made it to the back of the cottage next to a tree with a large hole in it. Spine reached inside and pulled out a sturdy-looking wooden bow and twenty arrows to go along with them. Even deeper in the hole was a slim-looking dagger along with a leather belt that would loop around her shoulder and tie around her waist. Spines turned around to look the shy pegasus in the face. “Thank you Butters, you made them even better than last time.” She skipped once happily and clasped her hands together. “I’m really sorry I have to keep asking you for this, I’m just so-“

Unexpected Butterscotch cut her off with a hurried tone. “Oh no Spines there’s nothing to be sorry about, I know this is necessary for your health and I won’t hesitate to help a good friend in need”

Spines meekly started rubbing the back of her head. “Are you sure you really don’t mind? I mean I know you lov-“ Again he was quick to interject.

Scotch put on an assertive face (as assertive as he could be a least.) “I mean what I said Spines. I’m not new to this you know, I have other animals who need to do the same thing as you all the time, it’s just the way things are.” His face took on a sad tone. “When I saw how desperate and in pain you were at that lake I knew then how important this is for you. I don’t want to hear you feeling sorry about it anymore okay? It’s nothing to be ashamed abo-“

Now Spines was the one to cut him off by going down to one knee and getting him in a big hug. Tears began o well up in her eyes. “T-thank you Butters. I’m so happy you understand.” She pulled out to see the timid pony’s face flush red. She chuckled as she wiped her eye. “I’ll be off then.” Then without warning Spines began stripping off her clothing.

Scotch made a quick ‘eep’ noise and looked to the ground, his face turning even redder. She looked puzzled at this reaction, as now she was fully nude. “What’s wrong?” She asked, now putting on the utility belt. “I used to be naked all the time just like you guys.”

He muttered out something intelligible. Spines just tilted her head. Again he muttered but louder this time. “Sorry, it’s just that…now that you wear those clothes all the time and ever since you got…those” He motioned to the mounds on her chest. “It just feels a little more personal to see you like this now I guess…” He looked up to see Spines in the middle of cupping one of her breasts and making it bounce up and down. She looked confused.

“I don’t even know what these things are for, they are sensitive to touch though.” She looked to Butterscotch who was running back to his house.

“SorryIhavetogonowAngleneedshersaladgoodbye.”

At least that’s what she was pretty sure he said, it was so rushed she barely made it out. Shrugging she got her weapon clipped to her belt and bow with arrow pack to her back. During this, her stomach began to growl and her eyes slowly shifted into slits. She stretched her back and neck until they made a satisfying cracking noise. She sighed at this.

The hunt was on.

 ___

Deep into the Everfree a shady figure hidden by the shadow of the trees began to stir. It didn’t really sleep but it at times would go into a state of ‘stillness’ that could last for many moons. The only real reason it did this was just that there was not really anything to do. However, today of all days felt ‘appropriate’ …not even it knew what that really meant. Either way right now was the time to act.

It stood up a tall seven and a half feet so very suddenly that the many animals that made rest near it shot in many directions in fear.

It looked down at its snow-white boney hands. They ended in sharp talon-like fingers. It seemed to make a noise that emulated a displeased sigh. It used its large hand to feel at its face. Smooth as silk, just like the last time it checked. Eyes were still missing. The rest was irrelevant. It began moving through the forest, years of moving around this land made it very familiar to the terrain and surroundings. This whole forest was its home.

It shot its head right suddenly, nothing made a sound but it knew something that should not be here was. In the darkness, its body shifted into a form hard to describe with the lack of light. It made its way to the disturbance at high speeds.
___

Spines held the bow up with steady focus. One knee centered on a rock and the other crouched to her side. She looked to see a boar only a mere 7 feet away drinking from a small lake stream. Silently she pulled out one arrow and began pulling back on the string. “Don’t worry I promise this will be quick.” She whispered almost silently, almost wishing he could hear her to run away. When the bow reached maximum pull all went silent.

Any natural noise the forest made seemed to dim until nothing. Not even the moving stream. It was as if the forest itself leaned in to watch this moment where life and death would be decided. Suddenly she was very aware that her heart was beating very fast, the rapid thumping sounded like a crescendo in her ears. Her focus began to blur and she began blinking rapidly to correct this.

‘Come on Spines. Not again…’ Her aim began to sway ‘This is easy, you did it once before you can do it again.’ Then her heart began to slow down, her grip fixed her aim, her eyes focused much sharper than before.

When everything became clear Spines saw that the boar had stopped drinking from the stream. And now was looking directly at her. She gasped and her breathing stopped. The boar and the dragon looked at each other directly in the eye for what seemed like hours but was in reality a few seconds. Her eyes began to water when the boar's eyes closed, almost seeming to say ‘Do it. I understand’

She wondered if the boar could read her thoughts as they muttered ‘I’m sorry and thank you.’ She let the arrow fly and with a quick swoosh and thwack! The boar lied dead. A direct shot to the heart killed the wild animal instantly. A small trickle of blood began to integrate with the stream giving it a pinkish hue. 

The usual noises of the Everfree returned as if it were no longer interested in the aftermath of this game of hunter and prey. Spines wiped her eyes and hopped down from the rock to collect her prize. She stood over the dead boar and pulled out the arrow in a quick motion. She dipped it in the water to clean the residue. She thanked the animal again for his sacrifice. She picked it up with little effort and trekked further into the darker edges of the cursed forest.

___

The thing crushed a log after it leaped over it with its impressive speed. Strange tentacle-like appendages stretched out of its back and hooked to the higher trees. Something that should not be here was. It made the thing’s tainted blood boil. ‘mmuuuuusst kiiillll…’ It thought in jagged broken thoughts. A form of bloodlust took over. It needed to die, it was required to die. It had to pay for the suffering it caused. Its speed increased.

___

Spines finished kindling the fire. Cut stacks of boar meat rotated rotisserie-style as Spines pulled the wooden crank. Her left hand held up an arrow to the fire that impaled a fat fish, a bonus to her hunt. The parts of the boar she deemed inedible were buried near the fire. A small jagged emerald made as a makeshift gravestone for the animal, etched in the emerald was the words ‘Husky’ what she named the boar after its death.

It took a bit of time but the meat was done for eating. She knew it was still a bit raw but she liked it like that. Besides dragons usually ate meat the second the kill was made. She felt using weapons and cooking a little was more proper and civilized for a girl like herself. She was glad her hunting skills were increasing at a steady pace. She remembered back to the first time she began to hunger.

It was a faint feeling at first and she was not sure what was the cause of it was but after months of a steady build-up in starvation no matter how many gems and ice crème she ate she had enough. One day she snapped and had crazed thoughts on how Dusk would taste if she just bit into him for just one bite. The dragon hid in her room for a week. Muttering out intelligible mumbles for hours until she went into a coma. Her friends became very worried but Butterscotch offered to take her to his home for a special remedy to help her. He said the cure could be personal to Spines so no one else could come. When she woke up finally the hunger was gone and her stomach was finally full. But the flavor in her mouth was indescribable, so foreign yet delicious. Butterscotch told her that she was getting weak from lack of meat. She knew her scales were becoming a sickly pale purple and her strength diminished to where she could hardly lift a book. At that moment she knew that back then she was slowly dying.

After some talk with Butterscotch, he explained the vital importance of carnivorous beings needing meat. It took some convincing but finally, Spines decided to give hunting a shot, and after some embarrassing failed attempts at grabbing fish with her claws Butterscotch managed to fashion some wooden weapons for her to use. "Thank you Butters..." She muttered into the fire. Her kill was ready to be feasted on and it would be one of the best meals she would eat in a long time.

Unbeknownst to her, something was fast approaching. Something vile a demonic and it would stop at nothing until the intruder was screaming in agony as it feasted on her flesh.
> Hollow Soul
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a quick meal, but extravagant at every bite. Very quickly the food was gone and only bones remained, each licked clean by her tongue. Spines made a satisfied moan and patted her belly. "Thank Solaris's flank meat exists." She muttered as her eyes began to close. A good meal usually meant sleep didn't it?

Even though she felt so fulfilled a feeling of guilt still tinged deep inside her soul. 'I really hope I can tell the other guys someday...' She shook her head. 'No, no...no one else can know about this. I was lucky Butterscotch understood me but the others are not like him.' She laid her head on a smooth rock she considered soft. 'They wouldn't understand...'

Still even after all of this, she felt like a freak. Spines knew the importance and all that but it felt like a taboo. The conflicting thoughts frustrated her. "Dammit..." She decided just to forget about it for now and just enjoy this gentle peace the forest would kindly give her. 

...Crack! Spine shot up, dazed and confused to see a nearby log snapped in two. Small chunks of wood landed all over the place. The air suddenly became thick and frigid, almost as if she were in a room filled with freezing sludge. 

Before she could make a coherent thought a black figure rushed just out of the edge of her vision. She turned to see nothing but a noise similar to a family cicadas singing on the hottest summer day. Her vision blurred and her breathing almost stopped entirely. She felt sick to her stomach as a sudden throbbing in her head made every sense in her body unbearable. 'w-what the hell is thishhhh.' Even her thoughts were slurred. 

Even with all these disabilities, her high draconic instincts overpowered this haze for a moment and without thought or reason lifted her arm and let out a blind punch into the air. To her surprise, the random attack seemed to predict the sudden leap of the hostile creature, almost as if her body knew where to hit.  

The blow her fist made could have easily shattered thick stone but this thing didn't even seem fazed. But for the one moment it was steady Spines was able to get a good look at it. Terrifying could not even begin to describe it. This being was as if a nightmare from a filly's dream came to life. Its form seemed to defy all conventional laws of reality. It stood up over towering her, tall as six feet with two arms and legs similar to her but each limb and torso could only be at least three inches thick and slender. 

Just looking at it caused a headache since it seemed to have no conventional form in the 3D world. Like if a child drew in a coloring book and just scribbled in a bunch of dark lines. Yet the lines kept moving freely and without a noticeable border. Such a being shouldn't be able to exist.

Spines let out a scream but was silenced the second its claw-like hand impacted her chest. It tore through her stomach with a bit of effort but made fatal damage nonetheless. Her eyes shrunk, the overwhelming pain threatened to drive her insane, yet even still she looked up to see its face. 

Much like the rest of the body, the face had no borders on where it started or ended, but the eyes glowed a sickly purple. The mouth was just a bunch of jagged lines that made out sharp pointed teeth. The terrible noise was coming from its mouth. It was laughing at her, that much she could guess. 

'It hurts so much!' Blood stained the dirt path, coming from both the wound and her mouth. Her instincts fired up once more as she grabbed the knife out from her belt and threw it at the face of the nightmare. Such a strong throw could easily kill something of its size but the knife just passed through the nightmare as if it didn't even exist. Its laughing got louder.

Spines had no energy left, nothing worked...it was over. She just begged Solaris that this thing would never come to Ponyville or ever leave the Everfree. 'I'm sorry everyponyI'm so sorryplease forgive me...' Everything started going black. The last thing she would see is this abomination's face...the thought made her sad.

SWISH! The noise stopped and was replaced by a jutted gagging effect. The claw retracted and the sudden pain that came with it boosted her adrenaline some so some color returned and death took a step away from her. 

Three sharp black tendrils shot through the nightmare's chest, arm and head. A second of silence took over until the tendrils pulled back violently and at the same time causing a lot of damage to the nightmare. It turned and both it and Spines saw...another creature.

It was larger than the nightmare, around seven feet at least. This thing was all white and bipedal just like Spines and her attacker. Yet this one had a body frame more similar to Spines. That is until you reach the featureless face. No eyes, ears or mouth, much like a mannequin at Elusive's tailor store. 

The tendrils were attached to its back with three more that were next to the unknown being. The nightmare hissed and rushed at sound speed to the newcomer but the other three tendrils shot out at even faster speeds and tore through its formless body. The nightmare lurched back and turned to escape but the white one was suddenly over it and in one swift motion tore its head off. 

No blood of any kind formed, actually the headless body dissipated entirely and just ceased to exist. The white one looked at the head which was still thrashing around and crushed it with no effort.

Spines saw the whole event that lasted a little over eight seconds and marveled over the victor. Such power with no effort. It seemingly pleased with its work turned around and walked back deeper in the tree line. 

Without thinking, Spines raised her hand shouting. "H-hey!" The action hurt her chest a lot which caused Spines to grunt and clench her side. The white thing turned and started walking back. Her courage in speaking to it diminished at it looked down at her. She gulped in some of the blood. "If you aren't with them..." She shuddered. "Then can you please help me?" Her voice whimpered. Her eyes looked into its blank face for a second but flinched when a tendril shot out of its back into her wound. She gasped in shock and horror but was surprised when it didn't hurt at all. In fact her face cooled down suddenly and all the pain was gone. She saw the tendril pop out of her chest leaving a black substance on her. Spines noticed that the wound was gone without a trace. 

Once again it turned and walked away. Suddenly Spines got up and waved her hand. "Excuse me?" It stopped and slowly turned its head. Spines shrunk once more. "...Thank you, you saved my life." It continued to stare. Spines breathed in hard. She was terrified but something in her wanted to reach out and talk to this person. "...what...what is your name?" It tilted its head, almost in a bemused fashion. It said nothing and let an awkward silence grow. "...my name is Spines..." Still nothing. "Do you have a name?" Nothing. "Do you know Equestrian?" At this moment she knew it could see since she felt its unseen eyes stare right into her soul. "I...I could teach you if you wanted?" Once again her voice shrunk. Where in the world had that suggestion come from? "Can you understand what I'm saying?" Another long silence.

Then its head moved up and down once. The universal sign of confirmation. Before Spines could say anything it raised its arms and pointed right. The path home. Spines looked at the trail and back but it was gone. She gasped and looked around. Not a trace or sound it was just gone. 

"Okay...okay...I'm going home." Picking up her weapons she made the long hike out of the Everfree. Not a single moment she felt safe.
> Slaughter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few hours after the sunset, Spines found her way back to Butterscotch's cottage. She placed her belt and weapons back in the hole and recovered her clothes. She contemplated the thought of warning her friend about the monsters she encountered but decided telling him such would only cause harm. He would be paranoid about leaving his home every day at something that, to her knowledge, lived only in the deepest areas of the Everfree. With a sigh, she decided to leave without saying a thing, at the moment she was too scrambled to have a proper conversation with. She was a mess.

The trail home was silent, most of the ponies were asleep and that made her feel at peace. 'I won't tell Butters...and there's no reason to say anything to the other guys.' That would only cause unnecessary panic. She wondered if the Elements could even fight something like the nightmare. Sure Dusk did manage to lay a royal beat down on Tirek but the nightmare was different. No build-up or bravado about winning or taking over the world, this thing just bled violent. It just wanted to kill and nothing more. That speed and impossible abilities could easily kill any pony if they didn't see it coming...although none of that didn't matter as the nightmare was destroyed.

Then that leaves that other one...the victor. She shuddered for the millionth time today. Such a display of raw power with so little effort. What was it? It saved her and even healed her mortal wounds, so that means it must be a good guy right? 

Her pace stopped and once more she clenched her stomach. The wounds may have healed but the memory persisted. Never in her life did Spines feel such a horrible agony. She grunted and quickened her pace, wanting more than ever to be safe in her basement room. 

Another minute passed and Spines was at the door of the Castle. Looking up she muttered something about never realizing how ridiculous the castle looked all these years.

'...Should I tell Dusk about this?' Another factor to account for. He was her brother so such a matter should be shared between family right? ...Spine shook her head. 'If Dusk knew about this he'd never let me go out there again...'. Another question was raised, did she even want to go back to that hellish place? Well if she wanted to find a stable source of meat then she had to. Nowhere in a near radius could she hunt and eat in private. Eating was essential and now much like a smoker addicted to cigarettes, she was dependent on meat for a  stable, healthy life. 

Swearing under her breath she decided to leave the problem alone at least for tonight. At least for now she could rest for a moment. She walked inside.

___

Spines chuckled softly at the sight before her.

'zzzzzz' Dusk's head was resting on an open book. She looked at the time to see it was almost 3 A.M. She shook her head while putting her claws on her hips.

"Come on Dusk, you don't have to wait for me to get home every time I go out." Of course the alicorn could not even hope to hear her or anything that didn't at least resemble a foghorn. Shrugging her arms in an 'I give up' fashion she picked up the pony with minor effort. "Ugh, Solaris Dusk you really need to cut back on the fast food again." Before she could place him in his bed she took notice of the book he drooled on and read the name of the chapter. 

'What are the signs?' Confused Spines used her tail to flip the book close to read the cover title. 'What to do When a Family Member is Keeping Secrets and How to Respond to it Without Looking Like a Total Jerk.' 

Spines snorted and almost dropped Dusk. "Wow that is a real title." She felt a little bad for Dusk and while it couldn't be helped she knew Dusk was the kind of person to overthink every little thing. The thing was, he did have a valid reason for being worried this time. The things she'd been doing did seem pretty sketchy. Her eyes shrunk. "Please don't think I'm on drugs please don't think I'm doing drugsSolarisDuskyoubetterrnothinki'mdoingdrugs!" Still out like a rock. "Dammit!"

___

The hunter walked further into its home. Not thinking or feeling, it just did because it had to. Another spawn killed, today was a good day to become active again. Then there was that native it stumbled onto...it stopped after so many hours of moving. '....taaaainteed?' It didn't account for that. 'iiiiimposssible' If you could actually read its thoughts you would just get a jumble of noises that have no meaning in reality. Only it knew what it thought. 

It thought back to the draconic female. It survived somehow...even after being infected with the Bile... It focused for a moment and let its shattered mind reconnect. 'Noooot posssible...she sshould of went maaad the ssecond she was penetrated.' A curious event indeed. Even more of a question of how no traces of the Bile were left inside of her.

When it decided to inject her with its own tendril, it was to enact a mercy killing. Yet no Bile could be found. '...most curious...' Crack The hunter let all of its minds fall back into disarray and prepared for a challenge. How foolish it was, in mere moments of thought it was surrounded by at least seven demons that were similar to the first encounter.  They closed in without a moment's rest.

The hunter let out an unearthly roar and proceeded to slaughter those who dare challenge it. 

___

Her brother was now in bed and her as well. The basement made a good living area as now she could place a small pile of gems and coins in the corner of the room. A year's worth salary and maybe she could sleep on it. At the risk of nightmares, she decided to think back to her odd suggestion when faced with the alpha hunter. Why did she want to see it again so badly, to teach it and then what end? 'I need to see that thing again...it is intelligent and...' She wondered if her conclusion was the result of madness taking over her. "Maybe it's lonely..." She curled to her side and went fast asleep. Her mind not wanting to process anything else for at least a few hours.

___

In her dreams, she could hear a heartbeat, but this beat came without rhythm and sounded dysfunctional. Her vision was only filled with darkness that floated murky patterns she could not understand or even comprehend. Then a chilling voice made her thoughts freeze.

'SOON'

She had the sudden urge to look at her body and shrieked when she noticed her arms were now exactly the same as the nightmare. In fact, her whole body was now one of them. Her screaming grew but was overpowered by the familiar buzzing noise the nightmare made. It took no time before she realized she was the one making the noise. 

The nightmare looked down at the pile of dead ponies. A feast of untainted souls could sustain it for a lifetime. The town lied in ruins, no one survived. The other towns would fall next and then the cities until this whole world became a new proving ground to grow. Too long had the Overlord slept in silence, finally the nightmare could serve the true ruler, the true God!

Looking up from the slaughter it saw countless spawns flying through the darkened skies. A genocide was upon them, no flesh shall be spared this day. Before it would leave it allowed just one more bite, this one looked savory. 

Spines took a bite out of Dusk's face.

Spines woke up screaming.
> Reawakening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Within the heart of the Everfree, a great evil was stirring. Deep below the tainted dirt that glowed a corrupt purple sat a figure bleached in darkness. It bore an armor belonging to a life long gone. On the chest showed a symbol too faded to be identified to any faction. Pieces of the suit would flicker purple, if the batteries were charged it would glow strongly for eons. The figure opened his eyes to look down at one of his many spawns. It bowed so deeply that its head bled from the broken shards on the ground. 

"Speak." The spawn shuttered and kept at its position.

"My Lord, a platoon of your stalkers were found destroyed. One near the outskirts of your domain and the rest four miles inland..." If the being forged from darkness could gulp, it would. "Our scouts have concluded this is the result of the parasite that plagues your power." 

It raged internally. Of course it was the Hunter, it was always the Hunter. 'Every day I regret more and more not ripping that echo of Unity to shreds! The spawn was still here. "Leave me." And so it did in a flash, to do what he did not care.

The demon rose from his throne. He had not moved in over six hundred years. Every bone made horrible cracking noises and the armor screeched from the rust that managed to further taint the once magnificent Villicrum plates. 

Promptly he began yelling and trashing around his chambers, destroying anything in sight. Even the walls were crushed as if it were sand in a very weak hit. This would last over an hour until he sat back down and screamed. "WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME LORD TALEK!? I AM WORTHY OF YOUR GRACE!! I DESERVED BETTER!!!" The caverns shook violently causing many catacombs and chambers to collapse, killing thousands. Of course the Overlord couldn't care less.  

Enough was enough. For far too long he, the most powerful living being in this dimension, has been stuck in a forest. The whole bloody place had a barrier installed by the blasted old gods that forced his DNA inside. Only the most dilute and weakest of his creations could escape and all would be destroyed by the local inhabitants. But his most pure spawns?

The first demon raged once more at the memory. "Every single time!" All of his creations would be killed with little effort when they came too close to the barrier. Even the purebloods didn't stand a chance to him. 'That blasted shadow would fail just as pathetically as their first encounter. If only I could find him...'

"HALAS!" Few moments passed when one slightly more respectable spawn walked in. It bowed deeply. "How goes my weapon?" He asked with anticipation. The last time he checked it was still in charge, surely eighty-seven years have given a few good shots in it. 

"My Lord, your device should be able to fire one full-powered shot." The spawn suddenly felt fear. It looked up to see the Overlord's eyes glow a powerful purple. 

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Everything inside his being wanted to kill the bearer of this bad news. "LEAVE ME!" The blood spawn hurried off. 

How could this be? After so long he at least expected ten shots. "The fucking nova crystal must have been damaged in the crash." He concluded, all those years wasted with no payoff. This enraged the demon. Another punch to the wall caused another earthquake that killed many. "I will wait no longer, I will escape this world and I will kill everything within..." At this, the Overlord began to scheme a plan.

All with suffer before him, that much was a fact.

___

For the rest of the week, Spines scoured the library looking for any information she could on the creatures she encountered.  For hours she would read books about strange and mysterious events but all of them were duds or nothing close to what she was looking for. Most books only contained things completely unlike the monsters she witnessed or just flat-out lies. Not even one contained anything about a white-faced creature or the nightmare. She expected as much since the Everfree was too dangerous to study extensively. 

Sighing, Spines threw the book across the hall into a pile of more monster books. "Well this was a waste of time..." She thought about other libraries but this one had the most knowledge since Dusk was so eager to be the owner of the greatest library in Equestria. She scratched her cheek. "I wonder if the Black Market is a viable resource to look for information..." Before she could further in the idea she stood up suddenly. 

It was cold. As in extremely cold now. The inside of her scales burned and she felt nauseous. The area where her healed wounds were felt as if they were tearing apart. The pain was so bad that Spines couldn't scream or even stand as her body collapse. 

Everything went black.

___

Spines awoke sitting with her legs crossed. In her claws was a rather ancient-looking black book. She gasped and dropped it. The pain was gone but her vision blurred. She still felt nauseous as a strange crawling sensation made her shiver. She felt tainted. Nothing was correct anymore, everything was wrong.

She took in a sharp breath to calm herself. "Why do horrible things keep happing to me?" She felt a presence pull her to look at the vaguely familiar black book. She frowned in confusion. "I remember this thing..." She slowly touched it as if she were afraid it would jump out and attack her. She knew of the old legend it told but what was odd is that she felt she had looked over every book in the whole library and not once did she see such an old and pure black cover. The cover was so faded that the title could not be read. 

Without thinking much about the oddity that now was she opened it to see the same black substance from before. Yet this time it seemed to shimmer at her presence. "Huh..." Once more, Spines felt drawn to the stuff, she felt the urge to touch it.

Yet once she came close to doing so she noticed her whole arm was black. Frightened, she dropped the book again and looked down to see most of her left side had become a deep black. The source seemed to come from her stomach area where the nightmare attacked. 

Now panicked, Spines formulated a plan. It was almost sunrise and her brother would be up soon. No way could she tell him about this since then she would have had to tell about the demon encounter. For a few minutes, she thought about her options and no real answers came to her. 

Looking down again she could see the infection slowly creep around her form. What would happen if it fully encompassed her? Spines was shaken by the thought of it. One idea did come to her but it seemed also like a good way to get her killed. 'I need to see that guy again...maybe he can help me like back then.' Although the white face may be the reason this was happening. She shook her head, time was short and all her options led nowhere but this. 

Spines left the black book on the floor but took a saddlebag and took any book she could find on Equestrian language, she had to find a way to communicate with it, it was her only hope. She left her home silently, praying to Solaris that she would be home before Dusk got worried...that is if she ever did come home after this.
> The Curious One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once again Spines found herself miles into the Everfree. With no real destination, she kept onward as the taint on her body continued to spread inch by inch. At this point, she was almost fully black by the taint but even still her determination forced her to move further in the cursed forest as it got darker and less navigational every mile. 

Spines cupped her claws together in a mock bullhorn. "Hello! Whiteface guy! ...are you there!?" She had been doing this for some time, at first she was worried something like the nightmare would attack her but now since her body was growing more corrupt she decided finding the white face man was far more important. 

The wood of the trees became grayer and grayer the further she went and the leaves were a dark red she thought almost looked like blood. Grass became scarce if at all and all the usual wildlife was reduced to scavenging birds. She was glad she could grab her weapons and strip down to nothing again at Butterscotch's cottage without him seeing her condition. While she wished she could explain this to anyone of her closest friends she knew that would cause problems she felt would waste her time before she was fully tainted. 

So far nothing of interest or even any hostile creatures came to her. It was almost as if the terrors were avoiding her, that and she really was not certain why going deeper into uncharted territory seemed like the best plan, the white face man was not this far in yet something inside her pulled her to the heart of the forest for some reason. 

A bit further in and Spines noticed how the color all around her began to return, yet it was not the natural greens and yellows but a sharp purple and blue. The grass purple and the trees a pulsing blue. The bark of the trees grew tumor-like boils that had a cyan-like gel slowly dripping out from them. The grass seemed to feed on this gel when it hit the ground. Just looking at it made her headache and eyes feel red. She couldn't stand to look at it for long without feeling sick.

"What the hell is this place?" Nothing in anything she or Dusk had read ever mentioned something like this. The feeling in her chest grew again, some kind of balance between pain and illness. It drove her forward somehow. "I need to find it...whatever it is..." 

A screeching noise pierced her ears which frightened her. Looking further she saw a sight that made her heart quiver. At least nine nightmares were rushing to her with killer intent. Before she could run she felt another sensation overpower the illness. This one felt more primal and more in her blood than centered in her chest. For a second she felt as if the two sensations were battling each other for dominance over her body. One thing told her to fight and the other to embrace her fate. Yet before she could choose which feeling to act on a black tendril wrapped around her waist and another around her face and legs. "HM!?" Her vision and voice muffled all she could do was scream and hear the noise of slicing and demonic screaming. In a moment the noises her silenced and more of the binding tendrils encompassed her. She was lifted with no effort and rushed off in an unknown direction.

Whatever held her moved fast and agile and she could swear feeling arms around her. Somehow the speed increased the longer she was held and her entire sense of direction proved useless.

___

A hazy amount of time passed and Spines continued to fear for her life. The tendrils tightened around more every few moments so Spines was left unable to bring out any of her tremendous strength. She wondered if she would die by being slowly crushed, the thought caused her to trash around much more. She felt a smaller tendril snake up her body and stop when it reached her neck it suddenly and without resistance, pierced through her scales and into her neck. With no pain, she blacked out once more.

___

Slowly reality came back together. She was no longer bound, instead she was lying down in what she could assume was a patch of soft leaves inside a cave that would be pitch black if not for the few holes that let beams of light in. She studied her surroundings and saw how the cave felt warm and somewhat cozy. She smelled wet dirt and old dust. It took her a second to notice the white face creature sitting several feet across from her. "Ah!" Spines yelped and dragged herself back into a log, she tried to think of a way to escape but stopped when she noticed the creature wasn't moving to her. She held her breath and felt her heartbeat in her ears. She was terrified but at the same time, she felt calm. 

Just like last time this creature had no face except for vague outlines that made out imprints of where eyes could be. Its entire body was the color of white ash and no features she could relate to a normal being. Slowly, Spines began to breathe again. It seemed to be looking at her with interest as it tilted its head to meet her gaze. She thought about her options but remembered that this is exactly what she was searching for. With a gulp, Spines spoke. "H-hello..." It made no motions. "...I came out here to see you again..." Nothing. They stared at each other to the point where Spines's fear was replaced with curiosity. "I think you can help me." She pointed to her chest. "I think I'm sick from that monster you killed..." This time the creature seemed interested in her words. 

From behind its back, a tendril pulled out one of the books she took with her. It was a simple dictionary but Spines thought she could maybe teach the creature some words if able. It moved the book close to her and opened the first few pages that showed the alphabet. Confused, Spines tilted her head. "I'm sorry, but what do you want from me?" The holding tendril pointed at the first letter. "A?" She asked even more confused. When she spoke the letter the tendril moved to the next. "...B?" Then the next. She understood what it wanted and spoke out every letter clearly. After that it made a nod and moved the book near its face. In a sudden flurry several tendrils popped out and flipped each page rapidly, it scanned each page in only a moment, and in less than a minute the whole book was read. Slowly it placed the book down and moved toward her.

Spines' blood ran cold as it stopped only inches away from her face, she could feel it scanning her intently with a lot of interest. A very tense silence lasted for some time while Spines dared not move a muscle in fear of a violent reaction, the only noise was the ringing in her ears. Then for no particular reason, it tilted its head and spoke. "Mmost curious...." Spines gasped in reflex and shuddered. The voice was cold, almost as if the words themselves were made of ice. While the voice had no obvious gender in it she opted to think of it as male since there was a sharp tone to him. He crouched down and stared at her belly where the corruption spread. "...Bllight..." He sounded angry. 

Once again the tormented dragon forced out her mind. "Please, I don't know what this is and I think you might be able to help me..." She said firmly but inside she was falling apart. It stared at her some more. 

"...yesss...help." Without any buildup, he plunged a few tendrils into the center of the infection. While Spines was shocked she didn't feel pain. In a few moments, the black taint on her scales receded back to the center of her stomach, only leaving a thin black sliver. The man took out the tendrils and sat back on the log and resumed looking at her. "Cuured." was all he muttered. Even with a voice she saw no movement in his mouth area. She couldn't guess where the noise was coming from. 

Slowly Spines got up, she felt weak but mostly normal. "...Thank you...umm....what is your name?" She wanted to know at least that much about the mysterious man. 

It stared for far longer this time. Spines almost grew used to it at this rate. "Losst." It seemed to whisper.

"What is lost?" 

"Lossst name...fforgotten." He pointed to his head. "Broken...fragmented...misssing." Spines scooted closer as she began to feel like she wasn't in any danger from this man. "Taken." He concluded with an agitated huff. 

Spines was very interested now in this creature. "Can I maybe help you find what you lost?" She asked before even thinking about the possible consequences. He tilted his head once more for a second and stood up to his full height.

"Yess. Home...follow you home." He pointed over her head. "Neeed more woords." He pushed the dictionary into her claws while pointing at it rapidly. 

"You want more books?" He nodded and pointed over her head again. She assumed that was the direction back home. While she felt fear of the unknown and how Ponyville might react to the strange man, Spines knew that she had to at least do something for him as he already saved her life twice. She felt confident he would not hurt anybody innocent. "Okay. Follow me I guess." With a semi-confident step, Spines and the mysterious man headed for Ponyville.
> Rebirth of Mind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two hours passed in eerie silence as Spines and her follower moved through the trees. For some time Spines was unsure if this was the right direction but to her relief, a familiar green gem that protruded from the ground eased her worries. Spines took the lead the whole hike but not once did she hear her companion. No steps or leaves crunching, it was almost as if he wasn't there...Spines turned her head to see if he was even still there. "Yess?" And he was. She wondered how could such a tall man move with such stealth.

Spines shook her head. "Nothing..." She noticed how close they were to the clearing near the cottage. "...I don't mean to be rude but I can't have you be seen by anypony." Mentally she slapped herself, how could she just give orders to this powerful and violent man. Her face drained and she stiffened herself in fear of some sort of reaction from him.

"...agreeed" The man seemed to bend the darkness around him and somehow sunk into the shadows. She gasped and looked around, he was gone without a trace. She took a few steps into the clearing and the light. Before she could wonder where he went a tugging sensation made her look down to see her own shadow. 

"What the hell." She muttered at the sight of the deep black pool that was in her shape, it was like looking into a void. 

"I follow..." Then the black void slowly faded into a more natural black while being slightly darker than regular shadows. 

Feeling a bit overtaxed in 'what the absolute fuck' moments the poor girl just shrugged. "Alright." She wondered how many months of therapy she would need after all of this was done. 

____

Just as last time she got her stuff in the tree and clothes on. A casual walk to the castle in an attempt to look casual seemed to prove useless as a few ponies would stare at her in shock and turn in the other direction. She wondered why this was until she thought she must have looked a mess from the dust and scratches. She brushed it off and hurried home. She looked at the sun's position. "Still noon. At least Dusk won't be too worried I left." 

___

Spines was in her home but found that Dusk was not. This wasn't in his usual schedule but interruptions in the life of the Element of Magic were not uncommon, she wondered if the fate of Equestria was in the balance again. "Nah, I've only been gone for a few hours." She sighed while entering the library. "No way could I miss something like that." 

The man in full height stepped forward into the center of the room. Spines didn't even hear him go back to his normal form but she decided just to get used to the idea of never being able to hear him. She looked in anticipation of whatever he was about to do. "Excellent." Hundreds of thin tendrils shot out of his back and grabbed several books and seemed to scan each one in only a few moments. Spines awed in amazement as every book in the entire library was picked, scanned and put neatly back into place in the span of three minutes. 

"Solaris!" That was all Spines said after all of it was done, she could hardly comprehend what she saw. 

The man made a strange shifting noise that came from his throat and started vocalizing noises that held no real meaning. "Hrrrrr...thiss troove of information was most helpful." His voice suddenly became more refined. Spines compared the tone to a grumpy but intelligent middle-aged man. Even his fidgety demeanor turned into that of a man who analyzes and computes everything around him. "Yes." He looked down to Spines. "Thank you mortal, I was starting to fear the thought of losing my mind from lack of mental stimulation. If that happened I might have became a savage not unlike those disgusting Blood Spawns." Even with the new personality he still didn't have a face or any real way to express emotions. 

Spines quirked her eyes in confusion. "What are Blood Spawns?" 

"Something you will become quite familiar with soon dear mortal...hmmm what should I call you?" He had no eyes or mouth still but contours on his white face shifted around to almost emulate how facial expressions may work, he looked thoughtful for what Spines could guess. 

Spines put a claw to her chest. "I am Spinekollian the Dragoness but please call me Spines. What did you mean by becoming familiar with those monsters?" A slight tone of worry escaped her mouth.

"Well Spines, you were infected by the old blood of a demonic abomination. If the taint fully overtook your mind you would have certainly been driven mad and feral. I removed most of the taint but enough remains that you are at risk and a target of the Spawn and hiiim." He clutched his fist in anger but vanished as soon as it came. "At any rate, I think I can use you to my benefit child." A bit of Spines's optimism faded and a twinge of fear seeped into the back of her mind. What did this entail? He chuckled a bit at her change of posture. "Don't worry, while you may be mortal to an extent you are far different than anything I have ever seen before." He stared right into her eyes. "You interest me and I believe we can benefit greatly from one another. Trust me dear Spines the fate of this world hangs in the balance and I predict you can help me tip it in our favor." He put his claw-like hand out. "Let us do business." 

Before she could think about a response the door blew open which scared the living hell out of Spines. "AH!" She turned to see her brother with a look of anger and worry etched in his eyes. "D-dusk?!" 

"Where. Have. YOU. BEEN!" She Didn't expect the royal Canterlot voice. Her sensitive ears rung. She looked back quickly and of course, the man was gone. She turned back to see Dusk storming up to her face. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been about you!? I had to contact Solaris and he was not happy to find out his daughter was missing for TWO MONTHS!" 

Spines' eyes shrunk in horror. "How long was I out? Oh noooo." She couldn't form another thought or word as her brain just decided to shut off when it couldn't find a way out of this.

Dusk noticed the dirt and light scratched all around her body. She could almost feel the room grow cooler as most of the hot anger was replaced with frozen fear. "Oh no, who did this to you?" He started looking her over like a father to a daughter. "Were you kidnapped? Are you hurt? Please say something Spi-!" Dusk collapsed suddenly. A black tendril removed itself from the prince's neck.

"Wh-I I I i...DUSK!?" As if a light switch was flicked on her brain began functioning again. The man appeared out from the darkness of the book cabinets.

"He will be fine, we need to go now Spines. Something very important has just come up and we need to be there now." He took her arm. "Lives are at stake." He seemed furious and began running and leading her out of the castle. Innocent young lives you know..." The voice was inside her head now. The man was gone, no one was leading her by force but she felt him inside leading her steps to the right place. Spines had no choice in this, but at the moment she knew this was important.

She knew her life was just about to become that much more complicated.
> Unseen Savior
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her brain was in a current state of gel or at least that what being possessed felt like. The white monster was in her brain, prodding around her head like some kind of parasite. She ran and ran faster than she thought possible into the cursed forest she had become all too accustomed to these past few months. The only reason she did not resist his forceful entrance was that she also could see what he saw. The situation was dire.

She saw vague images of a team of those nightmarish demons lurking around the edge of the Everfree, the team could be no more than around 15 of them. They seemed hesitant to go outside into the open but were eyeing a cottage that made her stomach drop. 

Butterscotch was tending to the animals as he always did inside but the figures of the former Cutie Mark Conquerors were there also. It seemed they were helping him feed the birds.

"How am I seeing this?" She found it odd that her stamina had stayed on its level the whole frantic run. 

"What you see are the pieces of me I left behind to guard the town. I expected some resistance but not a whole force of them. My Others will never stand a chance against a force like that." He spoke calm inside of her subconscious, she wasn't entirely certain that voice just wasn't her own brain making up thoughts.

She began to speed up even more. "But why are they here then? Why do they want to get out into the open so badly...and what's an 'Other'?"

"I have been in that forest so long I no longer grasp that information, a lot of what I once was decayed decades ago and only now do I have a chance to collect my thoughts. The only information I retained from my old life is that I must destroy every one of these demons or a fate worse than genocide will befall this world. Your second question can wait for now, we have more pressing matters to focus on" A sharp jab filled her head.

"Ah Ow! Why did you do that!?" Somehow she got even faster after that jolt.

"I apologize but I am aware that I can enhance your body if I can implement some of my essences into you but first I am working out how to remove the remaining bile those blood spawns left inside of you." Another sharp jab only this time Spines barely flinched. "The Spawns must want to spread out from the forest into your home, they are more than likely planning to make the settlement a base for their operations...they will kill anyone in that house without prejudice I must warn you" Her pace reached unbelievable speeds. "...you are quite impressive Spines." Was all he muttered before settling back in her brain.
____

Several figures shifted around in the shade of the trees. All of them were full of anticipation for the oncoming slaughter for it is rare to ever get this sort of chance to expand out from their range of influence since the dreaded hunter was quick to take out all who came close to the boundary of the forest. 

The severe lack of attacks by the hunter led to the thought that it was far too distant to focus on the outer layer. While that also seemed unlikely the fact that they were not dead yet proved that the hunter was occupied. This was just too good a chance to put off. 

The largest but slimmest of the Blood Spawn moved to the edge of the cottage window. It could feel the life force of four horse civilians, three children and one adult. The Alpha Spawn sent out a quick series of noises at a frequency only they could hear to call that no threat was present. In a moment the whole wall was covered with thin black figures. The plan set up was simple, kill the large one in one swift attack to the neck, capture the children in the initial confusion and take turns draining each of them of their life force until they were nothing but a husk, then share the flesh of the adult...the head went to the Alpha of course. 

The Alpha peered in to see the adult feeding a very disgruntled-looking bunny while the three children aided in feeding other animals. Slowly the Alpha crept out small thin tendrils from its claws to sink into the lock of the window. A corrosive liquid burned the lock to uselessness and opened. It could already taste the flesh... Something felt wrong. 

The Alpha turned its head to see the whole unit of Spawns either dead or horribly mutilated on the ground. Several black tendrils lead back to a black creature with white eyes. By its knowledge, this creature fit the proportions of a young dragon female but this inky color and deadly abilities were never before seen or recorded by the scout archives. How silent was this beast to be able to kill some of the most deadly Blood Spawns without any prior detection, it reminded the Alpha greatly of the dreaded Hunter. 

The black creature brought all six of her tendrils back into a defensive position, her fangs opened to let out a low growl. The Alpha was at a disadvantage, the lack of cover from being out in the open is a death sentence to beings like itself who are trained in the of art shadows. The Alpha sped to the side back into the forest, this must be reported back to the Overlord but just before it could tap into its ability to boost at near sonic speeds a tendril came out and tripped the Alpha to the ground. Before it could even think to recover all four of its limbs were torn off in a brutal fashion by the snake-like appendages. 

The once-proud Alpha trashed around the ground like a worm, how could this be? An entire elite unit decimated within one minute the insanity of it all boggles the mind. Before it could ponder on this thought further a black claw picked up its head. Her voice was that of two, one sounding female and the other aged beyond compression. "I PROTECT THE WEAK, YOU FAIL." 

The last thing the Alpha saw was the venomous smile this creature gave.
> Broken Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines could not begin to explain the current state of her mind. It remained unclear as to who is currently in control of her body. Memories passed by the young girl in seconds, she could remember everything in her whole life so very clearly, even up to the point of her hatching. What was odd though were the fragments of memories that were not her own. Various images of lesser demons and titans being torn to shreds by white boney hands felt as if it happened mere moments ago. Faces of several characters she has never met before but felt as if she knew them her whole life. A blue spirit wolf came to mind. "Reiss..." The name came to her, that and the feeling of sudden melancholy. Next, a white collection of star-like dots came together to form a face riddled with age. "Tokan..." The feeling of regret and rage-filled her core. 

Then the last face came to mind which was a large feral-looking beast that had the similarities of an elder dragon but with brown fur and fiery red eyes with yellow irises. This one had two white horns and a goat-tee... "...Chasm..." The feeling of hatred bled into her veins, so hot that it began to hurt. This face stirred something within the shared mind of Spines and the Hunter. Spines felt a memory of Discord, the God of Chaos, forced into her mind. The two faces while different bore heavy resemblance...."He lives...". A vivid memory came to mind.

___

The brown fur dragon named Chasm peered forward into my face, it felt as if I were experiencing this memory first hand. "It seems you are the lucky winner Outsider..." He gave a light chuckle. My arms were bound by powerful chains that spread all around my body, I struggled. "Give it up, those chains are meant to keep Gods pacified. Don't waste your strength." I grunted and pushed my arms out with all my might, I focused hard and tore my muscles to shreds but I could feel these chains start to break apart. Chasm winced at the horrible noise of tearing flesh and stepped back quite an amount as each chain shattered. In the end I lost all my strength just before I could break free but at the very least Chasm looked somewhat disturbed.

He fixed his beard before going on again. "Well you managed to prove a point I was just about to make...so good for you I guess." He huffed. "The short of it is that you are a prisoner for crimes I couldn't care less abo-" I lunged out at the odd dragon, the chain held me back but I could feel it starting to give out. 

"I HAVE DONE NOTHING YOU FOOL! YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU ARE MESSING WITH I SWEAR THIS GOES BEYO-" Was all I could force at before noting I could no longer speak in fact, it seemed like my whole mouth was welded together. The bloody dragon let out a weak chuckle.

"It would do you well to understand respect creature. Whatever you once were means nothing now, however the strength you carry is certainly unfounded and admittedly astounding to the point where we have considered having you work for us in return for your 'freedom'" The sarcasm dripping from his voice seemed to say I was never allowed to leave this dammed place. I focused on my hatred and the face of this idiotic creature. Promptly his face lit ablaze with dark flames, still he seemed only slightly bemused and huffed the dark flame away with one huff of his nose. 

"Yes yes I get it, in other words-" Already the matter of my fate was cased aside like some minor chore. "The plan is this, the others agreed to share quite a bit of power and give it all to you, now that may sound like a very odd idea yes but the whole point is to make you an unstoppable guardian capable of protecting this sanctum from any breaches. Now you may think 'why don't I just escape with this power?' well stupid, it's simple." With the snap of his fingers, my whole body was encompassed in a skin-locking armor that I could feel melding with my skin it hurt to quite an extent but I refused to make a sound. When the process was done I felt a claw jab right into my left eye, instead of pain I felt quite a sensation of arcane energy flow all around my form. 

The damage I sustained recently was healed and I felt almost able to split this planet in two but before I could even act on these thoughts another snap of the finger filled my ears. "Sentry!" Chasm shouted, my arms broke through the last few chains without effort and positioned themselves to my sides. I found myself unable to move no matter how hard I struggled. This feeling of immobility was near maddening. Once again the odd dragon looked right into my eye holes. "Yes, this will do...although I predict future tragedy to befall us all...eh that's a problem for future me." He began flying away. "Now be a good sentry and wait for Armageddon, I'm sure by then you'll be begging for a fight." His insufferable laughing echoed in my ears for hours. 

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and years, years turned to decades and centuries and that turned to millennium. By then the concept of time was lost to me, I saw faces pass me by at high speeds, some looked young and came back as elders. I grew accustomed to the feeling...I knew I had something important to do...but dammit I was losing my earlier memories. Yet even still the word "Void" came back into my mind every so often, that and the feeling of rage and dread. After some time the wall began to break, I felt a surge of power light my mind and soul and I was free. By then I cared not to escape, I just wanted to kill.

The battle against these demons filled me with the sensation of pleasure that I didn't know possible. I grew sloppy and eventually was bested by one demon who looked all too familiar but the reason I could not even hope to remember at this point. The pain was numbing as my body was torn to shreds, I was thrown far off into the Sanctum after the gate was destroyed. I heard the screams of many many people. 

One of the screams came from a voice I took delight in hearing. "Stop! Stay BACK DEMON!!! I SAIDACK!! YEAAHAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" The sound of tearing flesh never sounded so amazing. For once in so many lifetimes I smiled

___

Spines gasped in shock once the memory ended. "Sweet Solaris! How did you not go insane after so many years of that!?"

"In some ways, I did go insane dear Spines" He murmured. "Now that you have seen some of my broken past I need you to trust me in this. I have seen the memories you have had with this 'Discord' it is critical that we find him and inform him about what is going on." He didn't really feel the urge to get revenge or anything, this was bigger than any of them after all. Silently Spines nodded, after seeing first hand what that demon was capable of it would be wise to seek help from a demigod. She began walking in a random direction but stopped quickly...

"HOW THE HELL DO WE CONTACT THAT BASTARD?" They both sounded at once.
> A Bitter Reunion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After some heavy combined thinking, the duo came to the conclusion that Discord seemed to just peace out whenever he wanted and came back when it involved some comedic event involving him or something random. In regards to a house or some kind of place to live the both of them were stumped as to the current whereabouts of the Chaos God. After some time the Hunter leached off of Spines and returned to his normal(?) form. Even after separation, Spines felt some kind of bond with the strong monster guy. 

The Hunter paced around the tree line in deep thought for a few minutes. Spines used this time to sit down on a moldy stump and collect herself before she fell apart. She shivered every so often. The tall man snapped his long fingers. "Chasm is a chaos god so that means we can summon him." His tendrils shot out of his back into the ground to carve out a large circle filled with various odd symbols. "Yes that will do, I learned this from one of the books in your library. Now we need to gather three cups of Dire Wolf blood and some corrupt roots of a dying elder tree. Now this will be difficult to obtain but I'm certain we can collect these items before the month's en-" 

Spines jumped to her feet with a chest full of air, she let out a heavy yell. "DIIISCOOOOORD!!" Her draconic lungs shook the ground causing flocks of birds to flee from their resting trees. Even the Hunter flinched at the sudden increase in volume.

"...Are you sure that wi-" A puff of sparks, smoke and confetti drowned out his words. Dressed in a pink glimmering tuxedo and lampshade that acted like a hat, Discord the god of chaos appeared before the duo. He was in the process of blowing a party streamer while the shade obstructed his vision. He looked confused. 

"Hey!" He threw the shade off his head which disappeared in a pull of smoke, he completely ignored the white hunter to peer angrily down at Spines. "Now I'm not sure what Dusk Shine teaches you about manners but where I'm from it's rude to yell out for someone when they're in the middle of something." He took off the tux which also blipped out of existence, he ate the streamer. 

Spines smiled slightly. "Well it's not like you had to come immediately...or at all really." She could see the hunter slowly creeping up behind Discord. 

He waved a claw to dismiss her. "Well sorry, I just thought for a second I was a Genie who must obey your every command. Regardless I was under the impression you went missing around a month ago, your father is running the kingdom to the ground searching heaven and hell for you." Despite his usually cocky and arrogant nature, he looked somewhat genuinely concerned.

Spines felt awful at this information, Her father, Dusk and who knows how many more were suffering because of her curiosity. Before she could ask more about what happened during her absence Discord made a retching noise and held his nose in disgust. "My goodness Spines, what part of Tartarus did you crawl out of?" Suddenly his yellow eyes bulged, some of the colors of his face drained down to the floor. "I feel a presence I've not felt since-!" He turned to see the Hunter poised to attack. "YOU!"

"CHASM!" The Hunter unleashed six tendrils that hooked around the body and every limb of the chaos god, despite his powers Discord could not break free. "It would seem I wasn't the only one who lost so much power from back then." Discord trashed around violently like a caught snake, after a minute of this he calmed down. 

With a huff Discord spoke in a tone far darker than anything Spines heard from him before, it sent a chill down her spine straight to her tail. "Truly it has been some time since we last met Interloper...you look different, far less bulky and more serpent-like..." He spoke calmly but his words hinted at inner spite. 

The Hunter stepped closer to the captured god. "I can say the same for you Chasm, last I saw you you at least looked like a dragon of some sort, I can hardly even recognize you now." 

"Ah yes..." He circled his lion hand around. "I hardly even remember what I used to look like, this is what happens when I decide to see what was all the commotion was about during the initial riot, serves me right I guess." He sighed folding his arms together after the Hunter freed him. "Those savages tore me to pieces so I had to find the unshredded bits of my old comrades and fuse them into my flesh." He chuckled closing his eyes in remembrance. "Ah 'Chasm' that's a name I haven't heard in ages...that life is far behind me Interloper." 

The Hunter took a more relaxed stance now feeling that the hostile aura around Discord has lessened to safe levels for the moment. "You were all fools to imprison me, if you blasted gods could just listen for a moment then I could have killed that Infection before he could gain even an ounce of his current power, yet you decide to let him grow enough energy to level a planet if he so wished."

"Well I can't take all the blame for that whole fiasco, I actually agree with you in that regard, I never approved of the whole 'Strongest Sentinel' garbage the Top was blabbering about, giving an Interloper such power was one of the dumbest ideas I ever heard of. That demon should have been killed the second we had him in our grasp...in some aspects, I'm glad things played out the way they did, given a few more centuries I'm certain the Top would have started a civil war and burn this planet to a crisp." He walked over to his old prisoner. "The question remains, however." He leaned down lightly to meet eye(?) level with the tall hunter. "Why have you summoned me, surely it is not to 'catch up'"

"While you spent your days lollygagging and tormenting horses with petty parlor tricks, I kept this planet secure by killing the thousands of spawns that keep bleeding out of that monstrosity you 'gods' created! I am amazed that Thing didn't figure out how to escape this forcefield that keeps the bastard away. I am almost certain I am the one who made it in the first place, I can barely remember anything with all the energy you forcefully backed my mind up with."

For a moment the tall man lost his composure, even still he seemed pretty self-controlled for the level of abuse he has suffered over the years. Spines coughed lightly to make her presence known. Both odd creatures looked to her. "Yeah, well I just only starting to understand what happened between you two back then, do I really have no say in this but I think we should focus on the horrible monstrosity that has been living in that forest before it decides to start leaving its cave...Discord we could really use your help." The multi-named god looked thoughtful for a moment as he stroked his beard.

"Listen kid." He took a step toward her and ruffled her head spines. She pushed his lion hand away half annoyed. "I could not even start to understand how you got wrapped up in all of this ancient business, but I'll tell you this, up until two minutes ago I didn't even know that Disease was even still around, I assumed it either was killed by some malevolent force or it escaped this world and chose some other planet to torment." He shuddered. "You have no idea the fear that was placed into me eternally after meeting face to face with him. Sometimes I go into a state of terror thinking about the event when I'm alone, god or not, even at full power I could not leave a dent in his armor. Several powerful beings fought together to kill it, but even then we were slaughtered like dogs." His eyes shrunk to pinpricks. "If he has really made a resurgence...then I suggest we start to evacuate this dimension altogether."

Spines frowned at the idea. "Discord that's ridiculous! I thought you changed but now you're saying you would abandon everyone at the sight of trouble, a bunch of Nightmares almost killed Butterscotch and the Crusaders less than an hour ago, this is much bigger than us." 

Discord looked genuinely distraught. "I understand what you think Spines but this goes far beyond anything we are able to comprehend. Listen, I like you and all of the friends we have so I can keep them safe, we and many others can come with me and live in my pocket dimension. We can all live together in harmony and whatnot, it beats dying and being absorbed by miles."

"Can we save everyone on this planet?" She snapped.

"No." 

"Then no deal." 

Looking defeated, Discord sighed. "Sooner or later you will want to take my offer Spines, it will be your only hope at survival. The more you wait the more lives will be lost." Seeing her angry face Discord made his leave. 

"HOLD ON!" Before he could warp out of space the Hunter latched a tendril to his goat leg. "We're not finished yet Chasm."

"And what could you possibly want from me Interloper?" 

"Where is the crash site, where is my ship!"
> Forgotten Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The god of Chaos blinked once, then a look of recollection filled his features. "Yes I remember now, you crashed here along with that demon in the center of the old temple head. That's why we locked you both up."

"Well where is it?" He snapped with opened hands. "My mind has been in a state of fragmentation for far too long, my past, mission and purpose and even my own name are lost to me. Whatever is on that ship may be able to jog my memories or even be able to kill the beast once and for all."

"Well since the old gods are as good as dead I do not care about the set rules anymore." He pointed upward into the distance. "Your ship can be found near the summit of that mountain."

Spines awed at the reveal and location. "That's Canterlot!" 

"Yes, millions upon millions of years ago two giant space ships crashed right into our old temple grounds. We never had the ability to clean it up so at some point the two smashed objects formed a mountain with a very nice shape for climbing. Soon enough, the old Alicorn race built their kingdom upon the debris of Interloper technology." Forcefully he freed himself from the tendril around his leg. "Now if you are quite done, I'll be taking my leave now before the apocalypse rains down upon us all."

Once again the interloper made a hand gesture telling him to stop. "Chasm, I need you to keep watch over the edge of the forest. I can afford to let the swarm gain ground over my territory but it is an absolute must we keep them from consuming flesh and especially the life force of the inhabitants." 

"Why, what happens then?"

"I've seen it happen once to one equine child who got lost so many years ago, at the time I didn't know the scale of danger the forest posed. I followed the child, more in curiosity really so I had no time to react when a Spawn appeared and tore her to shreds." Spines gasped at this gruesome knowledge. "The low threat spawn suddenly shifted into something I call an 'Apex'. It became savage unlike anything I expected and destroyed everything in sight. I studied it for some time and witnessed it kill an Ursa Major in one blow. By that point, I still managed to dispose of it with relative ease but if the swarm were to expand out into the nearby village and consume the populace then we would have much more than the demon to worry about."

Discord nodded grimly. "Yes, I see how that could be considered such a high matter...I guess I'll do Ponyville a service and keep it secure until you return."

Spines spoke up. "Discord, I think it would be best if you manage to get Butterscotch to leave his home for the time being. He was targeted once and I doubt it will be the last, make something up if you have to but please just get him away from this place." Before the Everfree was a place of fear and dread, now it filled her with terror and thoughts of genocide, no way should such a soft-hearted being like Butterscotch be even close to such a diabolical presence.

"If you insist dear Spines...I won't question why you follow this creature since who am I to get in the way of fate? Just watch yourself, this Interloper brings death wherever he goes." With that, the god of chaos disappeared in a simple puff of smoke. 

Spines looked to the Hunter. "What are we going to do?"

The Hunter suddenly shifted into a black liquid-like form and pounced into her head. "We head to Canterlot on the double, we must discover some way to combat this force before it is too late." Now in combined form the two single being rushed at breakneck speeds to the Capital.

___

"...What do we call ourselves?" The combined Spines asked in her mind as they ran across the grasslands. 

"Excuse me?" The Hunter answered in a more distorted voice. 

"Well in these Japonies comics I like to read, when two robots or ponies combine together like this then they get some cool name, um...I just thought maybe we could do sometime like that maybe?" When said out loud it sounded pretty stupid to her. She regretted this and blushed eternally.

The Hunter gave a meaningful sigh. "Yes I suppose...What would you have in mind."

Not expecting to go further into this topic Spines found herself dumbfounded by the odd ancient interloper. "Well...maybe 'Dark Dragon'?" She asked sheepishly.

"Well I-" Before he could get another word out Spines perked up in excitement.

"Wait no! Here's a better one, 'Spine Hunter' or maybe 'Doom Harbinger' 'Corrupt Dragon'... This would go on for some time. The Hunter could call himself a master at patience so this was no difficult thing to listen to. In fact, he rather enjoyed the change of script he usually had for the last few centuries. A feeling of warmth hit the Hunter, it was faint but being nothing but cold for millions of years made even the slightest bit of warmth felt like a long-awaited thawing moment. He needed to think about these feelings at a later date since the mountain was on the horizon. "DARK SCALE!"  The outburst snapped the Hunter out of his trance, how long has she been speaking for?

"I am sorry, what was that?" It was not like him to lose focus so easily, another topic he chose to think on later. 

"We should call ourselves Dark Scale...or maybe Black Scale.. Cold Sca-" The Hunter cut her off before she could go into another naming fit.

"Dark Scale is fine. Now focus, we have some climbing to do." 

Dark Scale stood at the base of the Caterlot mountain and awed slightly. One part of her (since the body was Spines's she chose to keep the female pronouns) found the view stunning while the other side could not care less. THoughts formulated in her, in a second she came up with a plan to reach the top in one move. Six tendrils shot out of her back, three attached to a sturdy tree while the other three wrapped around a large rock on the other side. With the combined strength of dragon and monster, she took steps back until resistance became almost impossible to move against. "Let's go!" 

The corrupt dragon shot up through the sky like a bullet at speeds that easily rivaled veteran Wonderbolts. She flew high in the sky over the grand city, she focused her enhanced vision to see the castle windows. She scanned around for a moment but caught a glimpse of her father. He sat on his throne looking like he was about to collapse from exhaustion, eyes were red and fiery mane lost a lot of its flare. Dark Scale felt both guilt and Indifference. 

The amalgamation flew a bit higher near the summit of the mountain, two tendrils shot out hard and attached to the edge, she pulled herself up. The view below was massive, she could see all the way to Manehattan, looking back she rushed up the cliff and started climbing the rest of the way up. 

Once she made it to a small clearing the Hunter shot out of her head back to his usual form. Spines took a minor shock from the sudden detachment and stumbled backward near the edge of the cliff. "Woah-!" She tripped back but before she could fall further than an inch the Hunter rushed near her and held her by the sides with his hands.

"Careful now, despite the improvements I have implemented in you, you are still not ready to survive such falls." Without asking he picked her up and placed her sitting on his back with her legs around his shoulders. "It will do you well to rest before we investigate the crash, theirs no telling what we will find..." Despite his words Spines could not help but blush. 

The duo hiked around the top for a few minutes, the Hunter not exactly sure what to find would inject small pieces of himself into the ground like small black worms to see if he could find anything of interest. After a few minutes, the worms came back and reformed with the Hunter. Without speaking he moved down the path for a minute until he stood before an unassuming rock wall. "Here." The Hunter arched his arm right arm back and punched through the stone in one hit. The rocks caved in to reveal a hollow dark hole leading to something. 

Without words, the Hunter, with Spines, jumped down into the dark abyss below.
> Labyrinth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two fell for a while, Spines expected the drop to end a while ago but they just kept on falling. Around ten minutes pass until the Hunter snapped out of his focus.

“Something is wrong here.”

“How so?” She asked staring down into the abyss.

“I started studying these walls awhile ago and have now determined we are not falling but hovering" He sounded annoyed.

It was pure darkness down here and Spine’s own draconic night vision was still developing so if not for the Hunter she would have assumed this pit was as bottomless as it seemed. “Well, are we able to get out?” A twinge of fear crept up inside of her, what if they were stuck like this.

“There is no need.”Two tendrils slid down the Hunter and shot down into the darkness for a few seconds, a grappling sound could be heard. “I feel that the surface is of extremely high temperatures, would this be a problem for you?”

Spines waved him off. “You picked the right girl for this, I can swim in lava and even drink the stuff.” That was all he needed to hear and began pulling down at an accelerated rate. Spines clung her thighs around Hunter's neck at a grip that would kill a normal creature. He didn’t even notice.

The lower the two descended the more noticeable was the noise of vents pushing out air. Spines could feel this hot inferno heating up her core to quite comfortable levels, she felt quite relaxed in this state. “Kinda feels like a sauna in here.” She muttered.

Finally, the two reached the bottom, the gust of wind threatened to fling Spines back up if she even dared to loosen her grip around the Hunter’s neck, which by now proved to be incredibly sturdy since now Spines’ thighs pressed together hard enough to be able to crush gems.

By now Spines’ night vision began to grow strong so she was able to see the bottom floor. The entire surface looked like a gigantic air vent with metal edges stretching across for miles. The Hunter arched out his other four tendrils and moved across the vents like a spider along with a web. He moved outward from the vents into another pit, here the air force died down, she could see down and could tell this pit was just as deep if not more so than the first.

“Hold on to me.”Without having time to comprehend his words the Hunters leaped down into the new pit, this time however, he connected his spider-like tendril legs into the metal sides of vents, scaling downwards. This forced Spines to keep her weight centered up less she slip up and possibly throw the balance the two shared off. It was freighting to say the least.

The Hunter stopped after some time and lowered himself to step on the side. All six tendrils came around and hoisted the Dragoness up by wrapping around her like an insect caught by a ravenous spider. Her sense of direction was completely thrown out of order by this and no longer could she tell what direction up and down was. Because of this Spines started screaming.

The Hunter didn’t seem to take notice of the girl’s distress and instead focused intently on the hinges of the wall. He felt around for a grip and eventually found one to pull, with some effort the metal tore open to reveal a hole leading into more darkness. He hoped in with Spines in tow.

Once she entered the hole her sense of direction altered again which made the poor girl’s stomach lurch violently, at least she stopped screaming. After that, she felt much more aligned than usual and was promptly dropped to the floor. The ground was cold and dusty but very smooth; it was still pitch dark though. With her vision, she determined that even though they should be falling they were somehow on the proper side of the floor. “Is this some kind of gravity magic?” She asked while looking up to the Hunter. The halls were empty but something felt ominous to her.

The Hunter wrapped one thin tendril around Spines’s waist that acted much like a tether. “More likely some kind of anti-gravity tech…I am not exactly sure how I would know this…”He started walking, the tether tugging at her slightly as he moved. “Stay close to me Spines, while my memories are less than reliable, I am certain this place is a maze to us. I suggest we keep linked together like this unless you want me to carry you around again.”

Spines remembered the embarrassing position she was stuck in and quickly shook her head. The Hunter nodded and walked down the empty corridor. The architecture was odd and foreign but simple enough to understand that this was some kind of loading bay for emergency escapes. The place was full of broken weaponry and walls that protruded wires that sparked occasionally and lit the room up for a moment. 

More than an hour passed as the two traversed the metal maze. Nothing really looked of great significance and any panels they saw were either dysfunctional or powered off. The Hunter told Spines they were looking for some way to activate the power or at least find the main deck, not much conversation occurred during this time. 

Eventually, the duo came across a shut door that sized up to around ten feet in width and height. Of course, no power meant the door would stay shut for some time...unless. The Hunter latched his claw-like hands into the middle crease of the door along with several of his other appendages. The door made a terrible resisting noise of screeching metal. The Hunter grunted harder and harder, not used to such resistance. Slowly the door gave in and opened slightly, the tendrils helped by moving the door further apart. Once it opened by four feet across the Hunter stopped. "Hurry!" He sounded strained.

Spines snapped out of her focus of watching the Hunter did as commanded and stepped through the aperture with haste in her step. Once she was through the Hunter gave one more grunt and pushed the door out with all his might, this gave him a second to jump in before it shut violently with a crash.

Before the two could study their surroundings, dim lights lit up the large room. "INTRUDER LOCATED!" The walls opened up and tossed out humanoid metallic creatures that rushed to the duo with laser-like swords drawn. The floor opened up hatches that released turrets that pointed in their direction ready to fire. 

The Hunter pulled Spines back who was stuck in shock and held her with his left arm to shield her. Despite this, he calculated the odds of victory and was disturbed when the odds did not favor the likely hood of Spines surviving this event.

Despite this, he held her close and primed himself for one hell of a fight.
> Return of the King
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The androids moved in cautiously, not seeming to want to charge in without analyzing the threat. The gun didn't fire either but seemed ready to at any moment. The Hunter tensed up and held Spines in a near bear hug. The girl also braced herself to get hit hard but also felt a tingle up her spine in anticipation. 

The air fell silent and the only noise heard was the sound of electricity running through the lights. Slowly, one android larger than the rest stepped forward with a giant green sword drawn. They had no face, only a black metal mask so trying to determine the thinking process of this machine was impossible. Once it stood two meters away it stopped.

"...Identity confirmed. Welcome Lord Tendrix." The androids gave a deep bow and saluted, the guns retreated back to their post. The robots sieved in their swords then went in a line to stand still. The Hunter still in a tense position slowly loosened the grip around Spines. The large android motioned the two to come over. "Am I to assume this stranger is your guest?" It asked somewhat cautiously, seemingly eying down at Spines. 

The Hunter adapted to this unexpected event and shifted to a more respectable posture. "Yes. This is Spines, my guest." He motioned down to her and patted her head. The android nodded.

"Confirmed, what clearance level is Spines permitted on your vessel sir?"

Without missing a beat he answered. "Maximum clearance, treat her as you would me." 

Once that was said all the androids bowed and saluted the dragon teen. "Welcome General Spines, it is an honor to be in your command." 

Spines awkwardly waved at the sudden army she gained. "Ah, thank you the honor is mine." Slowly she stepped back behind the Hunter in intimidation of the androids.

"Tell me, what is our current status?" The Hunter asked trying to figure out more about his forgotten past.

"The ship had taken a massive beating after the initial battle with the Void fleet, hull integrity is at a 47% capacity while shields are at a 2% charge. Initial diagnostics show that this vessel is still capable of flight and the warp drive is charged enough for one jump. Shall we test out the engines to be certain?" The android leader motioned the two over down another set of halls as they talked. It seemed like it was taking them somewhere important.

The Hunter pondered at this notion, the second Spines noticed this she tugged on his long arm. "I don't think that's a good idea. If this ship is what Canterlot is based at then turning on the ship will destroy the whole city!" Fear filled her eyes and some part of her was greatly worried that he would ignore her and go on with the android's plan. She was ready to fight this but she knew trying to attack him is a death sentence.

The hunter nodded. "Yes I suppose that would be most unpleasing to you Spines." He looked to the android, not noticing the shocked look on her face mixed with relief. "Spines is correct android, the causality count would be too high to risk such a test."

The android nodded. "Understood General, any other commands you have issued to us?"

"Yes, where is the power room, there must be a way to have the lights on." Even with Spines's own night-vision, having real light would be a lot better to move around in. Spines found the design of the android odd. It stood eight feet tall, had sleek legs that ended in a thin point and the arms were wide but as thin as paper. The body frame shone a polished chrome in a simple chest-like shape where the joints were visible. The head was similar in the shape of the Hunter but it had a black mask covering the face in the shape of a triangle. All in all, it looked similar to the Hunter she's been following around all day.

"You wish for the reserve power stores to be activated?" 

"That is correct" With that, the noise of energy flowed throughout the ship, lights flickered on and screens came to life display various things of varying importance. "Well that helps..." The hunter nodded not questioning anything.  

By then the group was at a complex-looking door filled with many locks. The door opened with several whirls and gauges unlocking. "Welcome back to your resting quarters sir, your loyal crew will be at your command when you are ready." It saluted and walked off to parts unknown. Spines looked around in the large room.

It was filled to the brim with interesting-looking things. Odd-looking weapons were placed on the wall and many symbols were carved neatly into the walls. The walls were white and curved without edges when two walls met. The room even had a second story. The Hunter moved away from her and explored the upstairs while still keeping the thin tether around her waist, mush like a dog to a master to her realization. 

A certain symbol caught her eye and that was the one that was the largest in the center wall all the way in the back. It was a circle with an X crossing over it. She studied it and could not understand the significance of it. Forgetting this, she went back and looked at the framed pictures. "What's this?" The first image showed a figure quite similar to the Hunter but he had more width to his limps and seemed much more stable in stance and posture. The odd thing was the suit and tie he wore, the face was still the same featureless expression. In the image, he stood with two other beings of unique stature, in some way he looked happy. The second image was of sketches of many odd-looking creatures. They all looked deadly but the sketch was really well defined.

The tendril hugging her waist tugged at her softly. "Spines, I want you to come see this." Spines made her way up the stairs to the Hunters side. He stood before a screen that played a sound recording. 

The voice sounded heavy and gruff with tons of power behind it. "Alright Tendrix, I lead the Overlord commander's fleet over to your ship. They are heavily damaged so this should be a breeze." 

"Yes Lord General, the hunt will be quick but precise. We will find them, General." That was the Hunter for sure but his voice sounded more whole. The Hunter stared at the screen, no words were said.

"While I still have you on, I suggest we rethink our current plan, Lord Prime suggest we start rotating the Core to the Kazzadan sector-" A giant explosion drowned out this Lord, 'Tendrix' grunted in shock. "What the? Report!" The General called. Sirens blared in the background.

"Dammit, they have class XII clocking technology...we were set up. Counting 19 vessels on all sides. I need to handle this General, signing off." The audio log cut off with another large explosion. 

The Hunter slammed a fist into the wall, this startled Spines. "WHAT WAS I!?" Another punch to the wall. "MY WHOLE LIFE IS MISSING SPINES." The tendril around her tightened. The other tendrils in the Hunter began waving around violently and aimlessly. The skin around him pulsed like waves, and the most horrifying of all, his face split open to reveal a mouth of black shards. The void within was like a black ocean of horror and torment that brought upon Spines's worst nightmares. The Hunter grew larger and bulkier, towering over the terrified girl like a demon about to slaughter his prey. 

The Hunter roared, Spines screamed.
> Savage Breakthrough
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines struggled to breathe, the coil around her threatened to crush her sides at any second. The tendrils wiped around the room sporadically. Whenever they hit a surface the metal would show deep tears on the surface. She was frozen still by the horrid sight before her, the roar could be described as unholy and disorienting in a sense. "WHAT AM I?" The monstrosity asked again for the fifth time this past minute. Spines of course still had no answer. 

When none was giving the demon picked up the girl from off the ground and punched her through the wall. Luckily the fist took the brunt of the damage but Spines was certain she had at least one broken rib. Now on the other side of the wall, Spines staggered up to escape until the savage beast broke through the wall and dashed away in the opposite direction. Spines felt relieved that she was no longer a target until she felt the tug of the tendril around her waist. "Oh shi-" She was forcefully dragged through the ship.

The broken Hunter pounded through the ship aimlessly in rage. So many years of anger and isolation have finally broken the  Hunter, right now all he could think was to run. After some time he stopped when approached by a group of androids. 

"Lord Tendrix! What is the situation?" The leader asked in concern. 'Tendrix' just roared, the androids took a cautious step back. "I don't understand." The beast growled and prepared to attack the unassuming group of mechs, that is until Spines forced herself up, she was tattered for sure with torn clothing and blood coming down from her nose. 

"STOP HIM." She yelled as loud as possible. The androids then pulled out their hands that shifted into miniature cannons that pulsed a powerful blue glow.

"Acknowledged General Spines, activating nonlethal attack measures." The five androids circled the savage demon in a well-planned fashion. The leader dodged a heavy tendril coming his way by just an inch. "Lord Tendrix, we order you to cease your actions and return to your quarters at once." It stated firmly but still held an amount of respect to the superior it was speaking to. The beast lashed out with a slashing claw attack. The leader jumped back and aimed the gun near his face. "You leave me no choice." The five unloaded blue lasers into the beast. The weapons left frozen chunks into his flesh, these were freeze guns it seemed. 

The beast roared as the blast melded into his white skin. The androids shifted around him at breakneck speeds, Spines could barely keep up with their movements. The deranged Hunter swiped three tendrils around the leader in an attempt to rip him to shreds, the agile android flipped forward head on, face to face with his demonic smiling face. The android was unfazed and fired a charged blast directly into his mouth.

Spines felt the coil around her shift around in panic. Before she could even think about trying to remove it she was already flung into the air. Before she fell she clung onto the backside of the hunter like a buffalo. The savage, now enraged far beyond anything from before pushed forward away from the battle and charged into another wall. The androids gave pursuit and fired more rounds occasionally. 

"Stop! Please stop and calm down!" Spines yelled as he crashed through another wall. In an attempt to grab his attention, Spines balled her fist up and gave a heavy punch to the monster's back. She expected for him to get annoyed and stop, what she didn't expect was the violent jolt the savage took. The force of the hit forced him down and to skid a bit across the floor. Spines held on and was amazed at her own strength. 

Before she could decide what to do next he got up and started thrashing around to get her off. Spines dug her claws into the oddly soft flesh of the monster. He smashed into the wall next to them repeatedly until the metal began to tear apart. "Oh no!" With one last push, the savage broke through the wall into the outside darkness. Spines still held on to him in hope that he would break their fall. 

Seconds passed by until Spines felt the hunter fall right into another surface. Gravity shifted around oddly again which threw off Spines greatly. Something was destroyed and it seemed like they were falling down one layer at a time. After the fourth layer, they finally came to a stop. Despite being quite shaken she was mostly unharmed. The Hunter could be in better shape through... She looked down to see several poles of metal and shards jut through his flesh, he breathed a ragged breath occasionally. 

She stepped off the downed monster and poked him gently. "...You okay?" No response. She looked around for help by those androids but noticed the interior was far different from before. The walls were black with blue pulsing wires glowing around them. The halls were more circular and smooth than the shape-edged ones. Before she could explore the place more a wall panel opened up. Relived the androids have arrived she called out. "Over here!" The mechanical creature this time looked different however, it came in some ball form and rolled over. It stopped rolling and protruded out four legs and two thick arms that carried two curved glowing purple swords. The head came out to show an odd four-mouthed blue-eyed face. "uh...hey?" 

The crab-like mechanoid rushed over to her with swords drawn. "Oh crap!" Spines hopped back to avoid the forward swing of the crab. It was around seven feet so it was quite intimidating. She scrambled up the fallen Hunter's body in order to get a higher stance on her enemy. It made a series of garbled yells and swung again. She narrowly sidestepped out of danger, but too late she noticed the other arm swing at her coming in from the opposite side of her, she was far too close to him to duck or step back. Without thinking, Spines felt her body twist around at the waist and she jumped back to her side, her leap let her just by a scale avoid the attack, she rolled away. 

The crab shouted again and gave pursuit. She ended her roll and corrected herself, she found a wall that had more metal spikes as long as a meter sticking out from them, before the crab could get near she pulled out a thin spike and held it as a mock weapon. "Come on then!" She taunted in unexpected confidence. The crab lunged forward to slice her from the waist but was blocked by the spike. With her free left-hand Spines delivered a powerful hit in the center of its body frame. The bot flew a step back but recovered at once. Still, a good-looking dent adorned the crab's metallic chest now. 

Now the bot seemed enraged, it fled several steps back and slotted out two more arms from its back to reveal two more swords. Spines felt her confidence diminish at that moment but too late to run because the improved robot clamored up to her. It gave out several quick slashes but Spines's now improved senses allowed her to swing the spike around to avoid almost all the attacks, almost all of them. "AH!" One attack got through her defense and slashed through the side of her left shoulder, were it a regular sword the damage would be next to none but this was some kind of superheated laser sword that managed to slightly cut through her tuff dragon scales. Despite the pain, she pushed through it and aimed a thrusting attack into the face of the bot. Luckily it seemed fazed when the hit didn't fully cut right through her and was just distracted enough to let the hit go directly into its left eye, but before she was done she arched her weight down and severed a lower chunk of its face. 

It throttled back and blue blood like oil sprayed out of the wound. It screamed in a high pitch whirl and rushed the girl once again with a barrage attack ready. On instinct, she met its approach with her own, before it made the move to cut her to bit she sped into its newly developed blind spot. Now out of sight she slashed the bladed end of her spike upward and severed the lower right arm of the crab. Her body became covered in blue blood and the sworded arm flew in the air. She gave a high jump and snatched the purple blade out from the air.

Now armed with a real weapon the dragon pulled all her strength together and made a clean cut right through the center of the bot. The blade's heat was powerful enough to get through the armor and slice the bot in two, effectually killing it. Standing over her kill, Spines felt triumphant but then dropped her sword as the pain in her cut shoulder began to pulse. She clutched the wound and gave out a pained grit. While the hit did little real damage to her body, the heat of the blade burned her inner flesh which was an entirely new experience for a flame-resistant being like herself. "Dammit this sucks!" At the very least the wound was already cauterized so blood loss was not a threat. 

Getting up she moved back to the fallen hunter while retrieving the weapon. The pain could be ignored for now. 

"CRAAZ KALLAG UNITY!" A ear-piercing siren almost broke the eardrums of the girl, the halls were alit with a blue light that flashed continuously. More panels opened up that ejected eight rolling crab drones. Two giant doors shut in front and back of Spines, trapping the two in this new attack formation. The crabs unfolded showing two held similar swords while the rest had cannons on their arms...Spines didn't know how to fight this herself.

Luckily she was not alone. Two large tendrils shot in from the side that tore through two crabs. The rest of the group looked down to see the rising Hunter still in his savage form. They fired blue plasma rounds into his face and chest but he looked hardly fazed. The Hunter bull-rushed one and knocked the other two down. His fist smashed the three to pieces. One threw a blade at the Hunter that pierced his head but still, the Hunter was unmoved. He flicked the weapon off his face and shot a tendril through its chest, severing the core. The one beside it made an attempt to attack the distracted Hunter but the remaining tendrils wrapped around its legs and arms and tore it from each joint. The Hunter began violently dismembering the downed drone until it became nothing but scrap. 

The sound of metal getting sliced filled his ears. The Hunter came back to his senses and looked to his side to see the last drone holding up a blade in an attempt to decapitate the distracted Hunter. It might have succeeded if not for a similar blade lodged through its head. The drone fidgeted once and fell dead. The Hunter looked back to see Spines getting out of a throwing positing, looking very frazzled. "That worked?" She looked to the Hunter for confirmation, then she held up a fist and gave a hop. "YES, that was awesom-OW ow!!" Jumping aggravated the wound.

The Hunter stared at the girl for a few moments as she twitched from the pain, his mouth arched up slowly to show off a horrifying but gentle smile. Yet, before he could speak the walls unlatched and opened up again, instead of empty halls there were now whole squadrons of drones, some were larger and more complex looking than the other ones. Spines looked back to see the same ordeal, they were surrounded. The leading crab unit fired a large green ball of plasma aimed at Spines, both her and the Hunter could not move quick enough to defend or avoid the damage. They didn't have to.

Spines braced herself to get hit and felt a flash of heat. The heat although wasn't the horrible burning sensation she expected. She opened her eyes to see the back of a familiar-looking android. The friendly android fell down in front of the deadly blast with a glowing green shield raised, the plasma splashed around the shield but left the two unharmed. "We have arrived Generals." With that, nine more androids fell from the hole in the roof with weapons drawn.

The enemy stepped back, calculating the new party members. The allied group circled around the two generals in a defensive pattern. The Hunter primed himself for a battle and Spines did the same by raising up a sword. "FOR UNITY" The lead android shouted 

"KAZLA VOID!" The leading crab answered back. This battle would be messy, that much was certain.
> Detection
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Overlord trudged through the catacombs sloppily, only just getting used to moving around again. No one who passed by questioned this of course, instead they bowed deeply in his presence. The dirt halls grew larger and larger until they became a purple metallic surface. The Overlord made his way to the curved door frame. He entered a series of codes in the side counsel, the door slid open. "Hmm..." 

The room inside while big only was one room. It was spherical and seemed to be able to house various weapons and explosives from all the empty weapon racks they held. Although the place was slightly off tilt and lights flickered often. Weapons on the ground were smashed and rendered useless. This was one of the many escape pods that launched out of the main ship before the crash. It took years but eventually, the digging unit managed to find one of the lost pods. The impact was made on the solid stone so most of the pod was highly damaged beyond repair, all the emergency weapons had been either lost charge or broke as a result. One prize that came from the pod came in the form of a corpse.

The body was of a high-ranking commander class unit. The crash broke the safety harness which forced the commander to fly out and smash headfirst into a dislodged wall spike. The armor was still intact so he took it as his own but best of all was the weapon the dead held in his arms. It was an XK class world burner type canon, one blast at full charge could easily reduce a large city to an inferno. Of course, this device lost all charge during the battle so it was taken away and placed in the charging bay for the last few years. Sadly it seemed the charging cycle would be far too long to get any results.

Now it was time for more desperate measures. Lifting the cannon up from the charging dock, the Overlord reached into the large cannon's center dock and pulled out a sharp-looking cord. In one instant the demon plunged the tube into his left upper side chest. Blue blood flowed through the tube and into the dead cannon. This action made the demon lord feel extremely weak. He grunted louder and louder as time went on, but after a minute the linking tube forcefully retracted from the body and back into the weapon. The Overlord took a knee to collect his bearing, the vision was blurred and motion became a terrible task to achieve. He decided to stay like this for a while.

"My lord?" A spawn moved in front of the downed leader. He looked both worried and conflicted. 

"Speak." He spoke simply but rushed.

"Our scouts have encountered odd new resistance in the forest edge. One black draconic female and more discerning is the appearance of the false lord you spoke about."

"Yes...most interesting...any sign of the Hunter?"

"No sightings as thus far my Lord."

The Lord smiled. Slowly he arose, lifting up the cannon that pulsed a violent blue. "Then it is time to go for a walk. Call out everyone." He said as they made their way out of the pod. 

The grunt paused for a moment. "e-everyone?"

The Dark Lord looked back with a fiery look in his eyes. "EVERYONE!!"

___

Three crabs were pushed back with one terrible blow of the Hunter. He roared in defiance, all around him were more drones that fired rounds of plasma into his flesh. Spines sped around to stab at the distracted drones while the android force fended off from the outer force of enemies. 

"GET OFF OF HIM!" Spines shouted as another one fell to her blade, they seemed very focused on attacking the Hunter for some reason. While the Hunter was very able to defend himself in his usual form, this savage form is far less coordinated and relied on heavy, slow attacks to fight. This form was meant for giant creatures, not small swarms, but it would take up too much focus to revert back now. 

By now the fatigue of battle began to wear down on the young girl, she was really not trained for these situations, and the previous broken rib and burned shoulder were really starting to hinder her fight. But for now, she focused on keeping her savior safe. While she worked on another drone to slice away at she failed to see one crab sneak up from behind and jab the center back, aimed right at her spine. While the blade did little to enter deep into Spines body, it still managed to dig deep enough to graze at her spinal column which severed her ability to move completely.

With a pained yelp, Spines fell to the floor, unable to move with her face down. The crab arched up its swords to deliver the final blow. SLIICE!...The drone made contact but not the intended target. 

"SHE'S MINE!" The Hunter yelled at the drone with four superheated blades jammed into his face. Unable to do much in the way attacking, the Hunter used the only part of him unoccupied with fending off the other attackers. The hunter focused his rage from seeing such an innocent girl like Spines suffer so horribly because of his foolish actions. "YOU CAN NOT HAVE HER!" A familiar power boiled inside of the old Hunter, an old power that was lost to memory was starting to emerge. The crab, uncaring, pulled out the swords and tried again to kill the annoying creature. The large wounds inside of him meshed back together almost instantly. His demonic mouth opened wide and unleashed a torrent of black flames that completely obliterated the unassuming crab and the many behind it. 

The androids looked to the Hunter and pulled back from their battle. All at once they pounded a fist to the ground and activated a green crystallized shield around them. "Don't hold back Lord Tendrix, we are now immune to the Hell Torrent." Not even thinking about it, the savage demon drenched the whole entirety of the hall with the black flame, the one that clung to him melted away into a growing puddle of purple. The shields protected the allied forces from the extreme heat. Spines kept still, unaffected by the inferno. 

Soon every offending unit was no more than bubbling puddles on the ground. The Hunter gasped and breathed out a mouthful of steam. The walls glowed yellow with heat and some panels melted away. The androids deactivated their shields and circled around the beast. The lead of the group slowly bent down and lifted Spines off the ground, she was turned over and looked at the metallic face of the robot.

Spines whimpered and tried to move once again but nothing in her could do so. "I-I can't move...I can't feel anything..." She screamed and groaned a terrible noise of despair. The Hunter stood up and forcefully shifted his form back to his usual self. He came up to her, but one of the androids stood in his way.

"Do not worry General, the damage is minimal, and assuming medical bay is still operation, we will have General Spines in full ability by the end of the hour." The Hunter felt himself fall apart at that like he was holding in his breath in fear. Even Spines felt her face cool. "I suggest we retreat at once to safer grounds sir."

The Hunter nodded, "That would be the best course of action, get her out o-" The floor began to shake violently, the Hunter lost his footing and fell back. The sounds of giant steps filled the air, a whirring noise began to build up in volume. "What is this?!" The entire hall gave out and the group fell into a gigantic room. The Hunter flew down as fast as he could and looked up to see the leader android still holding on to Spines with an iron grip, The two landed safely as with all the others.

Before they could say anything else the room lit up and a towering robot filled the room. It could be no less than fifty meters in height. Its right leg looked heavily damaged and forced the titan to sit but its arms were large and wide, head much like a dome with eight circular eyes. The chest was full of edges but similar to the design of the smaller crab units. It screeched an ear-piercing cry and swiped a giant arm at the Hunter. 

He unleashed his tendrils and resisted the attack with all his might, the bots behind him formed a barrier around Spines.

He didn't know how to defeat this thing and protect the crippled dragon all at once but by the gods, he was going to try.
> Sacrifice
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The titan mech pushed harder against the tiny, slender figure but he wouldn't back down. In response to this the robot moved its other hand to smash the nuisance with one giant clap. 

"RHAAA!!" The Hunter screamed in rage as he countered the other hand, each with half his strength, still the Hunter refused to be crushed like a spider and pushed back harder than ever before. "I NEED ASSISTANCE!" Currently the androids were circled around the crippled girl who had gone unconscious from shock in a defensive position. It seemed they needed direct commands when in the presence of a leader.

Two sword bots broke from their group and joined the battle. Both glided up each arm as it stayed distracted by being focused dead set on the Hunter. "Engaging hostile with lethal force." One attacking bot said calmly as the two plunged their swords deep in the arm joints of the titan mech. When they reached the deepest penetration possible they both, in unison, jumped off the arms while still holding on to the swords. They both cut through around half of each joint before falling off. 

Now the Hunter could feel a significant drop in pressure from the two hands and coiled smaller tendrils around the hands. With on wave-like thrust, the arms were pulled apart at the joint. Sparks and blue fluid sprinkled out from the damaged area. The Hunter threw both arms back at the mech with heavy force aimed right for the chest. The first hit dented the armor while the second arms caused a minor breach to reveal a pulsing blue core-like device pulsing from within. The two bots grouped back with the Hunter in a V formation. 

The eyes of the mech began glowing red and shot out lasers that aimed all around the room, the squad rushed forward and zipped past each attack while the other attacks aimed right at the defense group protecting Spines. He didn't have to worry though since the androids all at once erected a barrier shield that absorbed the laser without much strain. 

"Distract him!" The androids obeyed and pushed forward at top speed to meet another more defensive barrage of lasers. too late did the towering robot notice that only two were approaching while the other stood back and jumped forward, aimed at the breached chest. With no arms or maneuverability, the titan was helpless. "HAH!" The Hunter shouted as he entered the bot and tore around the insides with his tendrils. He found the pulsing heart-like object that was around his size and pulled it out with a bit of effort put the wires gave way. 

The Hunter jumped out of the dying titan with the heart still in his grasp as it fell back with a loud thud.

The Hunter made is his way up to the broken Spines as the androids regroup around him. "That cares care of that then." He muttered as he tossed the still pulsing heart away. "I say we get out of here now and attend to Spines before any permeant dam-" A loud buzzing noise filled the room, the once cold space grew hotter and hotter every second. The androids made several steps back in sudden fear.

"Lord Tendrix, it seems that core is overloading as we speak. A level 7 explosion...we will not escape in time." At this point the heat became deadly to any mortal creature. The Hunter calculated his options and came up with only one that ensured the safety of Spines. 

In one swift sprint, he used his own body to form a ball around the core and steeled his skin to harden as much as possible. The heat could set houses a flame but he ignored it and prepared for the impact. 

On the outside, you could see the hunter's ball-like form expand suddenly and violently with the muffled noise of a powerful explosion that could level a large building. The android flinched but once the bang ended they moved to help the leader. "SIR!"

The ball slowly fell apart and left a smoldering slop of black ooze that twitched often. The androids pooled around it, unsure exactly what to do. The pile moved unevenly and seemed to be in some form of distress. "HuuAAArr..." It said shakily. It moved toward the leader android that still held Spines. "DdROPP herrrr" The leader did as such and gently lowered the girl. 

The black slug leeched into Spines and encompassed her body. Spines jolted around violently and stopped. The black substance faded away into her scales. It grew silent for some moments. 

Spines awoke with a start and gasped for air heavily. The androids allowed her to regain her bearings before she got up slowly. It occurred to her that she could get up at all. "What the..." She pondered but then she asked another thing as she saw the heavy scorch marks on the ground and the giant body of a destroyed robot. "What happened here and where's the tall guy?"

The leader came up to answer her question. "Lord Tendrix defeated the threat and saved our lives by putting his in heavy danger, we were useless and were unable to assist in protecting you." They all kneeled and bowed until their heads hit the ground. 

"We are deeply sorry Lord Spine, we have failed you!" They spoke in unison. Spines made a calming motion with her hands and backed away in embarrassment.

"It's alright guys...I'm sure you did your very best, and that what counts right?" She said half heartily, unsure how to calm a bunch of robots down. Before they could continue anymore discussion the corpse of the giant robot started to heat up the same as the core. "Why is that-" She noticed the androids trying to move in front of her but too late as the bot exploded into hundreds of smaller pieces. The explosion was far less devastating than the core but still had a big impact on the surrounding environment. 

Several small chunks of metal flew at Spines at lethal speeds but before she could even comprehend the danger a thin black tendril poked out from her back and swiped each projectile out of the way swiftly. Once the danger passed the arm slowly remerged with her back. "What the hell was that?!" She cried, half confused half startled.

"It appears that Lord Tendrix took near-fatal injury from the core explosion, so I assume he is using your body as a host to heal his injuries, something similar to this has happened to him in the past but I am uncertain how much time will pass before the General is back to full ability." The leader motioned her to come. "I suggest we exit this area before any other dangers come our way."

They made the journey back out of the darkened ship, Spines had to be held in order to get up through high exits. "How am I able to walk again?" She asked while being carried through the outer darkness of the ship as they walked up (or to the side) of the ship. 

"I can only assume that the General is keeping your spine attached as he heals. That makes you both dependent on each other now, without one the both of you wither."

"Well...that's...not good." Her inability to comprehend the situation became apparent.
> Upbringing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines sat in a crisscross position on a very soft and warm pillow that squished around her form. In her hands were a glass of green fizzling liquid and a blue glazed cake-like object. They both tasted extremely and unexpectedly delicious, despite being on a ship that could be millions if not billions of years old. The cozy room was dimly lit and well heated and around her were various well-made sketches and paintings of her in heroic poses. 

She took another bite of the odd cake thing that tasted a lot like grounded gemstones that had somehow been reformed into a paste-like material. The drink was much like carbonized kiwi with a hint of cherry, also very good. 

For once in the past few days or months for that matter, she finally had time to herself and to relax. When the androids returned her to the safety of the main ship, she learned that the hostile area they were in was actually the enemy ship that this one took down and crashed into all those years ago. Their presence activated the defensive grid and now the whole ship was on high alert, luckily the enemy ship was not set for hostile engagement and kept to itself mostly but the androids had a close eye on it for any sudden movements. With the crash her new friends lacked the ability to counter against the threat without using heavy firepower and the forward railgun, doing so would surely cause heavy damage to the mountain and almost certainly destroy Canterlot in one heavy quake. That was not an option at all.

Thankfully the androids were very very motivated to do everything to keep her happy so they went to create her own room with wooden walls and stone tiled flooring. They even made all this art for her in the span of ten minutes. "These guys sure know how to please a woman..." She muttered taking another bite. She asked for an hour to unwind for all the stress she stocked up in the past time and now that time was just about up because she knew she had to put matters into her own hands now. The Hunter, no, Tendrix was gone, and who knew when if ever he could come back. 

The androids had time to debrief her while they took her out of the danger zone and they revealed a lot of information to her. Tendrix was a very high-ranking general in a galactic war, Tendrix belonged to the group of aligned systems know as 'Unity' who were fighting against the extremely violent invading force known as 'Void'. So now it appears that Tendrix lost a lot of his memories during the long years trapped in isolation and after the heavy damage he took from the demons he also was at a really low state of power...even far less so at the moment. 

The thought made her feel terrible so she set the food down on the small table next to her. If she focused hard enough she could feel the presence of another being inside her. Tendrix still lived, the way he defended her with the robot proved this but the chances of him regenerating were unknown. They even said it was possible that she would absorb him and take his abilities if he were too weak to resist it. The idea of that worried her greatly. 'He did everything to save my life and now I might kill him.' She shuttered. 

The door slid open and the leader android named Bek walked through calmly. "Lady General Spines, are you ready to discuss our next course of action?" As sudden General of this ship she was now the only commander allowed to direct all further operations of the Unity forces. She sat up in a more refined position.

"I am ready Bek, please update me on what you know." Internally she felt a huge gap in her stomach deepen since she couldn't even understand the amount of power she held now. 

Bek nodded and began his report. "The general stability of this vessel is still within flight capacities, surviving crew members are at a count of 1568 out of 20000. 10000 are MIA while the rest are damaged beyond conventional repair. Would you like to begin surveillance protocol?"

Spines quirked her eyes. "What's that?"

"We send out our scout units to survey the land and ensure it stays secured from Void activity. Of course, you can specify the specifics of our protocols as you see fit. Bek pulled out a circular device from his chest cavity, it lit up to show a holographic projection of the planet. "We can also have our satellites ejected into the atmosphere to have 24/7 watch on the planet. With that, we can also develop teleportation stations installed across the map for quick first response measures." The hologram showed several dots all around each major area on the planet.

All of this sounded crazy to Spines, suddenly she was in control of the safety of the planet from the Void threat. While the thought was scary she felt she owed Tendrix for his sacrifice and for the fact that this planet needed a protector now since Tendrix was no longer able to be that person. At first, she thought someone like her had no chance to meet up with the expectations but remembered that Tendrix by himself managed to hold off the enemy for years, she had a whole army on her side with such advanced technology. She clenched her fist and grit her teeth in rising anticipation. "What is your command General?" 

Spines stepped forward with determination in her eyes. "I want those satellites up and running as soon as possible as well as those spy bots. I also want any of our strongest units stationed near the boundary of the Everfree forest...I also want us not to focus not only on the Void but also any crimes we encounter." She wanted to protect everyone she could and this could be her chance to put Equestria in an era of absolute peace. She thought for a moment. "You said that ten thousand more androids were missing, do you have any idea where they might be?" Having more droids could really increase their sphere of influence around the globe.

"Yes, our storage of replacement units were detached during the last battle, quick scans show remnants of the storage bins are on the southern side of this planet's moon while the other signals are coming from a buried crater 622 kilometers east, it's below the ocean floor." 

Spines lost a bit of her gusto. "So I guess we can't get them then?"

Bek shook his head. "With little effort, we can easily reclaim our lost units, first we must restore Research and Development stations to create new spacecraft and sea terrain drills. The retrieval operation is at estimate approximately  eleven days for completion." Spines marveled at the very idea that all of these impossible tasks could be done in little less than over one week.

"Alright, you have your orders. Let's do this!" She pumped her fist in the air. 

"Understood Lady Spines, do you also want to begin creation on your new suit?" He asked before he walked out.

"Suit?"

He nodded. "Yes, your specially designed battle suit. We have the technology to create a Mark XV Omega Type power suit to greatly augment your physical powers." Once again Spines found the words in her mouth to stagger with all this overwhelming knowledge.

"Hell yeah I want a super suit. Ooh ooh! Can I make a few design choices?" Her nerdy side took a moment to come out in full force, no way was she going to pass up an opportunity to be like those heroes in her comics. 

For once the android seemed to relax in his posture and gave a small chuckle. "My my, you really are quite different from Lord Tendrix that is for certain. Of course you have full control over the way your suit looks, come with me to R&D and we can see what we can do for you Lady." Spines made a girlish squeal and followed the tall robot.

"This is going to be so cool! I'm going to make it green and purple and black...oh and it'll have a cool mask with glowing eyes like Iron Stallion. Oh, and I want WINGS! I so want to fly for reals, would they flap or would they be engines...what do you think Bek?"

"Well I- She cut him off again.

"Oh, and I want to have cool metal boots that let me jump really high and I want to have hand cannons like you guys, you think it should be a skin type suit or bulky, you think it'll make my butt look big?..."

This would go on for some time.
> A New Leader
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After nearly 10 hours of debate and design by multiple androids and Spines, they came to a conclusion about the look and functionality of this new super suit. During that time the Research and Development wing of the ship was fully repaired and new androids were being constructed at a slow rate due to the low power output, this and lack of proper resources made it so only guardian class soldiers could be created. No heavy units or spy units of the sort could be made until proper harvesting stations could be produced so for now an average of 5 guards could be made daily. This made it so all non guardian class androids were considered important resources and heavy losses would not be tolerated.

In other news, a platoon of drilling units carved out a wide enough hole on the mountain peak to be able to fire satellites up into orbit. The recon operation was well underway. Already ten heavy androids and one elite commander were making their way secretly into the edge of the Everfree forest. Orders are to survey and lockdown the barrier of all Void threats and assist any non-hostile presence. It is suggested no one reveals themselves to the public but if the need arises they are instructed to either escape the area or make friendly contact with the creature. Spines ordered this because she knew the citizens of Ponyville were prone to getting themselves in messy situations and something like this would be a beacon of odd that would attract any one of her friends.

Part of her predicted Dusk to stumble across them and hunt them down so responding in a friendly manner would hopefully snuff out any unforeseen consequences...at least that's what she hoped. Honestly she wanted to go back home and tell every one of these ever increasingly shocking events but she was terrified at the thought of exposing her home to the true horrors that lurk just beyond the boundary. Yes her friends were strong and capable in handling powerful threats in the past but this was just a whole different monster of danger they would certainly jump themselves into despite her protest.

The plan Spines had was more or less simple; establish an army strong enough to defend her home, find the source of this evil and study the cause if possible wipe it off the face of the planet. Easy on paper but even Spines knew that may be an impossible task, her ideology comes from the fact that Tendrix by himself managed to oppose a whole legion of darkness and despite Tendrix's impressive and otherworldly abilities he was still just one man. She hopped an army could finish what Tendrix started and put an end to this madness once and for all.

For now, Spines chose to remain dead to almost everyone until the world was rid of this bile. It wouldn't be the first time she held the mantle of saving a population...it's just that this was on a far grander scale than last time.

In the meantime, she studied briefly on battle tactics and weapon management from the holo-library that was recorded in a convenient datapad she held. Unfortunately, a wide majority of the information stored was corrupted beyond redemption so any advanced information or lore on the history of Unity and Void were lost. In the very least she felt these very easy instructions had made her at least the bare minimum capable of leading an army.

She sat at the head of the metal round table with a hologram of the planet before her. If she just gave the word then this whole planet would be transformed into a war zone unlike anything it has ever seen before, that kind of power made Spines tingle in some odd new emotion that could be listed under either fear or giddiness.

To her left Bek stepped forward and bowed. "Lady, your suit is almost complete. Shall I escort you to the equipment room?" Spines nodded and followed him out.

___

No later did Spines find herself strapped to a table bench that fits perfectly around her form. The room was lit well with red lights and was actually quite small as compared to everything else in the ship. A group of lesser armed androids were behind a control panel and pushing buttons. Yes she was a bit nervous at the whole picture but chose to trust these advanced robots to do their job without slicing off her head in the process. One of them gave a thumbs up to her and another panel enclosed around her suddenly. Now in complete darkness did she let her suppressed fear leak out. A sounding of a small tip-like pattern filled her ears, she could feel small tile-like pieces slide over her body and connect together like some kind of three-dimensional puzzle. Then just like that, it was over.

The encasement unlatched and pushed her out, Spines didn't feel any different from before though. But oddly the androids from behind looked at each other and nodded in agreement. "Did it work?" She asked while waving them over. They hurriedly came over to her side and began inspecting around her form. She would have felt bashful were it not for the fact they were a bunch of faceless metal men.

"How do you feel Lady?" The lead technician asked. This one actually had some way of expressing emotion with his one eye that was shaped like a microscope that zoomed on her in interest.

"I feel pretty normal...am I supposed to be feeling anything?"

The bot leered around at her some more. "It varies from person to person but for a wide majority of users they tend to feel either sharp pains from the joints or heavy migraines...assuming what kind of DNA type they have..." He looked around her in higher intrigue. "Very few users experience no after-effects from the suits and thus are able to achieve even greater feats of power...Lady I believe you may be the 1% in that aspect, how interesting indeed." Despite this knowledge Spines still didn't know anything on how to use this suit.

"That's pretty cool, but how do I use it though?" She asked politely. The other lesser technicians walked back to their designated post and went back to their monitors. The leader pocked lightly at her sides.

"Yes, I suppose I've taken enough of your time as it is I regret to believe. Simply focus on the idea of it turning on and it will do so." It sounded simple enough.

Spines closed her eyes shut and concentrated on the thought or armor...nothing happened.

"I hear the activation process can differ from person to person, I suggest you try not thinking about a material but a natural response not unlike moving your arms." Spines didn't exactly understand what that meant but she tried a different approach. Instead of thinking about armor, she thought about her scales.

Her scales were a natural armor of sorts but she wanted something stronger than her still growing scales. '...Protect me.' Then a surge of energy pulsed in Spines like a hit to the head. Her eyes opened to see the same world before her only slightly tinted in a vibrant green glow. She moved her eyes to see a small recital to her lower right with a small circle that showed several green dots. One dot was in the middle of the circle and one was right in front of it, four more were grouped closer together just a bit away from the two. I didn't take her long to figure out it was some kind of enemy locator and her and her friends were marked as friendly.

To her lower left she could see two thin bars stacked upon one another, one black and the one below it dark green. "What am I seeing?" She asked while taking a breath in...oddly breathing seemed much easier than before. It was like inhaling in the freshest air in the world and her nose was devoid of any natural stuffiness the dank ship caused her.

The technician moved back and seemed to study her even closer despite the gap in proximity. "It appears the suit is operating at peak efficiency." Spines found this odd since she didn't feel like she was in a suit. She peered at her hands to see jet black claws, each joint of her body gave a different edge to her armor with intricate engravings on every section. She looked down further to see her whole body had this same black slim armor on. Her suit was slim and form-fitting but her shoulders and arms were installed with extra padding to better defend in hand-to-hand combat. Her legs ended in small metal platform boots that gave her a few extra inches in height. The chest piece appeared to be the most armored thing on her that jutted out the top sides like small sharp wings.

Her suit had thin lines across it all that shined a green light every few moments. "Oh wow, it looks even better in real life. She felt around her form. It was odd that she didn't feel like she was wearing a suit, it felt exactly like her skin always does. "The suit-up appears to be a tremendous success." Two guards came out from behind him holding up something each "Here are your first weapons." One of them came forward and handed her a long-bladed sword. It seemed to be eastern-inspired since it resembled a katana almost to the point. The droid unsheathed the blade from its black holster to show off the void black metal. The grip had a similar color but with more green lines pulsing off a light.

"What about its secondary function?" She asked knowing her request in a unique weapon, the R&D team seemed to be able to do whatever they wanted since they asked her if she wanted the sword to shoot plasma blades or have a magnetic pull and push ability and so many other functions. In response, the droid pushed a button on the hilt and a sharp noise sounded from the blade. It seemed to unlatched by every centimeter. It flopped to the ground while all still being connected.

The droid demonstrated by whipping around the now whip-like blade with perfect precise moves. The reach of the weapon extended four times its two-footed length. "Very impressive guys." She awed at the cartoonish weapon, it was like something out of one of her video games. The droid pushed another button that brought the sword back to its normal size and re-sheathed it and handed it over to her. The encasement of the sword had the image of a purple dragon engraving that was placed in a heroic pose. bottom of it had green metallic tassels that moved around with the slightest bit of force. "Thank you."

The droid bowed and walked back to its post. As requested she knew her back was where the sword would be. She placed it on her back and with a clang the sword stuck to her back. The next droid walked up and handed her a small box-like pistol. It was simple enough in design but it had the same black and green color scheme. She held it up and inspected it for a bit and then placed it on her left waist side. "Thank you." He did the same as the last.

The tech droid pointed her to a mirror to inspect the final product. Only then did she notice her helmet over her head. The head fitted around her like a glove and had a cover for her head spines. Her visor was thin, pointed and green but her eyes were hidden behind the glow. Overall she looked like some kind of futuristic ninja, both intimidating and stealthy. "I think I love it." It was surely something the young girl never expected to have in her life.

The androids around her bowed, taking that as thanks for their work. Bek appeared from the entrance and came over in a semi-hurried manner. "Lady General, you look fantastic but we have some immediate manners to discuss." He lead her back to the command deck.

___

Spines surveyed the globe that was zoomed in on Ponyville. To her horror, she saw a large surge of Spawns making their way over from the Everfree. "Our defense brigade is still too far away to intercept this force in time. We can send a few hell jumper units but we can only send two mid-class units since we have not begun development on extra pods or ones large enough to fit heavy units." By her glance she counted at least fifty spawns of varying sizes. Ponyville would not survive something like this. She could not, would not accept casualties of any type from her home. They would reach her home in less than three minutes it seemed.

It didn't take that long for Spines to make up her decision. Looks like the war for Ponyville has just begun. "Bek send me and your best mid-tier right now!" Bek nodded and ran to the back rooms. She followed close behind. As they ran one armed guard appeared from an open panel and met their pace.

"Unit 5V, Lady General request your assistance in defending the nearby civilian settlement."

5V nodded. "It is an honor." He said while putting his hand to his chest.

The trio made their way to a large docking room with many large capsules. Only two were lit with green lights. "Get in and we'll jump you over in no time." The two nodded and went inside the pods. Inside Spines grabbed on to two latches and held them firmly. The pod closed and the last thing she saw was Bek giving her a thumbs up. "Good hunting Lady!"

It was quiet for a moment and Spines for a second wondered if this was a good idea or not. This was met with a very quick elevating sensation. It was like going up a roller coaster at 5x the speed. Spines couldn't help but scream. Then it stopped for a moment but this second of rest ended once she felt the dreaded sensation of falling. Spines screamed even louder this time.
> Battle for Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dusk Shine paced around his messy room once again for perhaps the 1000th time today. In his telekinetic grasp, he held up parchment and quill and scribbled furiously on the paper, almost puncturing through it if he used a bit more force. Another week and still no sign of Spines...except for two days ago. He knew he saw her, he heard her voice and even felt her cheek. After that he was found by his friends lying flat on the ground. He told them what he saw as well as the odd black figure that moved behind her. Of course, Applejack and Rainbow Blitz told him he was just overworked from the searching and had a convincing illusion followed by a nervous breakdown. 

Of course he snapped at them and went off the rail in a fit of sleep-deprived rage. That consisted of yelling and long-winded ramblings. After that Illusive calmed him down and escorted him back to his room to get sleep...he had to admit he was tired but nothing in his mind could make up the flawless details of that moment with Spines. The smell, sensation and voice. It was her, she was here, he was certain of it.

And from the way she looked, scared, bloody and dirty. She was in danger from something...that black creature maybe? Even still there was no trace of her or anyone entering without his knowledge. All the books were in their proper place but he could see that the set of dust still left undusted, due to lack of Spines, and knew something was in fact here. Nobody would listen to him though and gave sad pitiful nods, what did they know? Poor sweet Spines has been missing for two months and the moment something like this pops up they say he's crazy, what nonsense was this?   

Dusk huffed in annoyance as he finished his letter. Another one of the many requests asking a nearby or far away settlement or city to have an alert out for a missing female dragon. He even provided an image of her to have posters set up. The cost of such a wide-scale search would have been high were it not for King Solaris himself to insist he just would void the fee altogether, of course the lord of the Sun cared about Spines. She was almost like a daughter to the King so having his help in this crisis was a huge weight shared. 

"I'll find you Spines, I promise." The price muttered as he teleported the scroll over to the Griffon Kingdom's lower village of Sky Point. Sending messages like this all day took a toll on the tired prince but a minor headache was worth it if it meant finding his dear number one as...his dear sister. He lifted the quill up to a map he had pinned up to his wall. Various locations were circled and x out. He placed a circle over the town he just sent the last letter to. The whole map was like a game of advanced tic-tac-toe of a wide-scale grid. "Where do I look next?" He asked to no one while biting his lip.

He eyed the largest circle once again in red ink. The entire location of the Everfree forest was one location he had high suspicions of, she went there often nowadays and while it hurt to assume this, he was almost sure she was lost somewhere deep inside the accursed plane. He and a team of search ponies combed the outer reaches of the place. Long hours and days of tracking yielded no results though. Not even tracking magic could give a real hint on where Spines went, there was a faint trail that resembled her magic signature but it was so oddly faint and tainted it hardly even resembled a normal living being. The investigation crew deemed the trail as some kind of wandering dragon sprite and was ignored immediately. 

What was even weirder was the sudden increase in territorial animals so close to the outer layers. Whenever a search party started to head deeper in they always encountered Manticores or Hydras and even packs of Timberwolves. These attacking creatures were much stronger than average beast creatures as they shrugged off damage like no one's business. The curious thing was how they only chased them away from a certain distance away from the deeper reaches, it was as if they were keeping them away from something. Even Pegasus patrollers were chased away by swarms of flying Everfree creatures, it was suspicious, to say the least.

"Something is definitely going on here but for the life of me I can't figure it out!" In one moment of rage, he let out an unfocused pulse of energy from his horn that left a small hole in the crystal wall. "I'm a failure of a guardian!" Before he could break any more of his room a small rumble of the floor snapped him out of his daze. "What in the world?" He stepped out of his balcony to see a large cloud of dust in the distance coming from the plains leading to the forest. "What...is that?" Luckily his telescope was already set up to stargaze.

Dusk positioned the scope downward and recalibrate the level of zoom to a mid-range distance. What he saw gave the price a cold feeling of dread. 

Monsters from horror stories come to life, hordes of black creatures that defied the laws of matter, hulking giants with gigantic sets of armor, beast-like demons that resembled black lions with pulsing violet eyes. It was unlike anything the magic scholar had ever seen before. Thoughts raged in his mind of what this could be but the chill he felt, the way they rushed to Ponyville...he felt killer intent in those eyes. "Oh this might as well be happening, it's one bad thing after the next!"  The Alicorn stretched out his wings and flew up to the peak of his castle. He looked back to the residents of Ponyville who idling about unaware of the present danger. He inhaled. 'This is going to be killer on my throat.'

"PEOPLE OF PONYVILLE!!" The royal Canterlot voice was an excellent way to quiet a room or a whole town for that manner. Everyone stopped and stared at the small figure in the distance that could only be barely recognized as the recently crowned price by the voice alone. "WE HAVE A SITUATION OF UNKNOWN IMPORTANCE SO I ASK ALL OF YOU FOR YOUR SAFETY TO PLEASE GO TO YOUR HOMES OR A BUSINESS PLACE AND HIDE UNTIL I CAN GET THIS SITUATION UNDER CONTROL!!" And just like that everyone who was out chatting, eating, shopping, playing just chose to listen to the well-respected purple Alicorn and rushed inside the first building they could find. 

"Thank Solaris." Dusk sighed. Now for the scary part. He didn't have time to gather the others so he had to take this on by himself for the time being. 'I fought Tirek to a draw so this shouldn't be that hard right...of course, I was overcharged with 3 prince's Alicorn powers..best not to overthink it for now.' It became apparent that he was too sleep-deprived to make a real plan so this was pretty much a big shot in the dark. He spread his wings once again and flew down at high speeds a mild distance away from the group.

Once again he inhaled. "STOP!!" Actually now that he was at eye level with these creatures he could tell just how much bigger they were compared to him. The hulking ones looked like they could plow through a whole building without even trying and those razor-sharp claws on the stalker-looking ones could slice right through metal. They were not going to listen by the way they seemed to charge even faster than before. 

Even in the crazed state he was in Dusk could feel the approaching doom. Instead of running however, he chose to charge up his horn with a powerful stunning blast of defensive magic. 'Solaris save me.' But before anything else could happen a loud whistle of piercing air rang in his ears. Something just broke the sound barrier and was approaching a supersonic speed. Dusk raised his head to see two white pillar objects falling from the sky aimed right at him, by the force and speed they were aiming this could create quite the impact depending on what the material of it was made out of. "Buck my life." Dusk just about had it for today.

___

Spines braced herself as she felt her stomach meet up in her throat. If she had eaten a heavy meal beforehand she would certainly be seeing a reappearance of it by now. "Father save me!" Her suit showed her elevation level at around a thousand meters from ground level. How exactly was she supposed to survive the crash again? Click!

With that, the capsule around her broke away in several pieces now only leaving her falling at a far lesser but still pretty fast speed to the ground. Spines peered down at the field to see the hostile forces only a short distance away. 'Perfect timing.' The only reason she didn't fear for her life from this huge drop was due to her installed long fall boots that were made to do just that, these things could drop down the chasm of the abyss and still keep the wearer alive, at least that's what the androids told her. 

Her scanner showed a group of red dots clumped together and two green dots side by side to each other. That would be her and 5V who was only just a bit behind her drop level. The question was who was the yellow dot near her's? She looked down further to see who else but her brother. Some of the heat and color drained from the masked dragon's face. 'I should have predicted this.' She groaned internally. 'I expect nothing less.' She thought proudly.

This was her moment to show the world and the enemy her power. This entrance had to strike fear in the hearts of those who worship evil and be a beacon of hope to the weak. 'This is my moment Tendrix, I'm going to make you proud of me if you're watching.'

She let her body relax and buckled her knees, despite the safety boots she still feared the impact. 'Now!' She landed hard enough to leave a small crater in the dirt but she felt none of the force come back up to her thankfully. 5V landed shortly after with the same effects. 

The horde slowed their pace and seemed to be wary of their new opponents. The dust around the two flowed around eerily, Dusk was pushed back from the impact but could not help but look away from the two new creatures. Spines stood tall in an imposing manner against the spawn hoard. Dusk starred breathlessly at this armored figure.

"W-who are you?" He asked, not feeling the killer intent directed at him from the new party. 

'Good question Dusk, who am I indeed?' This wasn't Dark Scale so her persona needed a new name, didn't it? No time to think of a fancy one sadly. She spoke through her speaker in a genderless robotic voice. "Call me Carbon, now stay behind me prince, this is my battle not yours." Dusk wanted to protest but could not find a real reason to, nothing was making sense today.

Dusk did as instructed and hid behind the tall figure, though he still primed up a defensive spell and shield spell if the need was required. The now named Carbon and 5V stood side by side one another at the still horde group. Spines swallowed her fears and spoke in a dignified and authoritative way. "Blood Spawns!" She pointed to them. "I know what you want and why you are here and I can't say I will sit idly by and let such a thing happen. I'll protect these people starting now but I do believe in peaceful conclusions so I give you this one warning." The air grew still. "Leave this place-" Large black metallic, feathery wings shot out from her back and spread in full view. "-or die!" Her blade jolted out from its case and came to her opened palm. 

To Dusk the armored figure looked like a Valkyrie come to life from old Horse (Norse) mythology. He felt safer now than it was here. But how would the creatures respond?

...

......

.........

The largest and most powerful-looking beast roared a noise similar to tortured screams and charged them. The rest followed suit. Spines cursed at their decision and responded with a battle cry of her own. A secondary plate of armor clasped down her head to shield her face even better than before. She held her sword in her right hand while grabbing her pistol in her left. She coiled her tail around Dusk and tossed him as far away as possible from the incoming battle. "Stay out of this!" She warned as he flew. 5V showed off two plasma swords in each hand and began cutting through the smaller Nightmare creatures as they came. They sliced and dived at the android but he expertly dodged out of the way of every attack. 

Spines chose to take on the titans due to her superior power from her suit. She rushed the leader but instead of engaging him she dove down into a ball and rolled under his thick legs. She uncurled her ball and jumped up high in the air, her new wings flapped to give her air strafing abilities. Now she was face to face with a lesser titan who tried to wipe her out of the air with a slash attack she narrowly dodged. Another attempt was made but instead of moving she held her sword firmly in front of her and watch as the arm was sliced in two from his force alone, the blade was that sharp. 

The arm lumped to the ground and crushed several Nightmares in the process. The titan yelped in surprise which told Spines she had an opening. She flew forward and drove the sword right in the middle of its eye. She trashed around the blade for a second to ensure the monster would die. It did die for sure since its eyes stopped glowing as it toppled backward, crushing more Spawns. "Suck it!"

Before she could dispatch the next one a heavy fist to the back sent her careening to the ground with a thud. Shaken Spines used her augmented agility to re-positioned herself with a flip. She focused her inner furry and magic and lit the sword ablaze with green fire. A titan ran over to her but Spines threw the blade like a flying disk and severed the two legs of the monster in one cut. She held out her hand and saw how the still flying blade stops mid-twirl and shoot back to her at breakneck speeds. The return trip also came with the added benefit of tearing right through the heart of the already crippled titan. Another one down but still many left to go. 

5V was doing well for himself as he tore through a titan of his own and sliced its head off in one clean blow through the neck. "They're no match for us Lady!" He praised while rushing headfirst into a pack of Nightmares. 

Around her Nightmares and Beasts circled around her in an attempt to close her in but as they lunged in for the kill she spun around and let her bladed feathers cut through the opposition like grass. Piece by piece they tore apart and dissolved into a mist in the air and once they were destroyed she aimed her charged gun at the head of a near titan and blew it apart in one blue shot. Despite being small this pistol could pack a heavy punch when charged. 

"Lady, we have some stragglers trying to get past us, how do we proceed?" She snapped her head to see small amounts of Nightmares sneak past the duo and head for the town. If just one of them got to a resident and eat them then it would spell a whole new level of trouble. 

"5V focus on the ones getting by us, keeping the civilians safe is a top priority. I'll handle it here." 5V nodded and vaulted backward toward the escaping groups. For a second she looked back to see Dusk struggling to get up after the fall, she didn't throw him that far but he still looked pretty winded. The big problem of him being here was his status as flesh to the vile Spawns. Three of them made their ways up to him but were dashed to bits with the extended reach of her bladed whip. This had to end now or someone would be killed.

In order to keep the target off of Dusk, she increased the volume output in her mask and gave a furious metallic roar. This seemed to do the trick as the scattered forces seemed to stare at her with prime interest now. "TRY IT!" With all her might she swung the flaming whip around like a ball and tether the perfect height to cut the Nightmares down to size, in one swing already they were down their smaller groups. A titan landed a fist down on her location but she jumped back just in time with several backflips. Her recovery jump was joined with her throwing the whip-like a grappling hook around the enlarged neck of the titan, it struggled to tear the burning thing off but Spines simply pulled back and witness the blades tear through the titan like a chainsaw. It fell dead shortly after. 

For a brief moment, she was too caught up in the carnage to notice the flying kick from behind but luckily her suit did by bracing the armor to the back wings that only slightly pushed her forward. She stumbled but looked behind her to see the leader titan make its way angrily over to the defender. Spines felt she had enough of this mess and decided to use one of the suit's tricks. She lifted her right arm up and charge a new beam that came from the inner slots of her arm, the shield and energy charges in her suit decreased suddenly, doing this put her at a risk due to lack of shield but this needed to end now. A purple chunk of an ice-like rock pumped out from the slots in her fist and impacted the hulking titan. This did nothing to stop its charge though but instead of backing down, Spines rejoined her blade and jump forward to her adversary.

In normal circumstances, the weapon she held could not cut through the armored flesh of a titan without several attempts or a lot of force but the ice chunk spread around the titan like a sponge to water and left it in a violet glow. In one thrust she cut right through the body effortlessly, then she did so again at a different angle and again and again until she fell. In front of her, the high treat fell to the ground in pieces and dissipate into mist shortly after. The ice chunk is capable of reducing tough flesh into the soft matter for a short time so the armored titan had no real way to defend itself.

Without the leader, the remaining forces fell quickly to the combined power of Spines and 5V. Less than a minute later were all enemies destroyed. The only evidence that a battle even transpired were the craters in the ground as everybody that fell faded without a trace. She stood still for a moment in the now silent and peaceful setting, she felt a rising joy in her heart knowing she could do something good for Ponyville. 'I did it.' And the way it wasn't that difficult raised the confidence of her ability to defeat the source. She placed her sword back to her back hostler.

5V came to her side and bowed. "That was a fantastic display of strength and power Lady." She smiled at his words.

"You did well yourself 5V, I wouldn't be able to handle all of them alone." 

"You flatter me."

Before any more dialogue, she went over to the still dazed prince. She felt the tension rise in her chest again but she had to be sure he was okay. "Are you hurt?" Her tone was still and lifeless in order not to link herself with her true identity. 

Dusk got up slowly and dusted himself off. "Um, I think I just bruised my hoof a little." She sighed in relief silently. He stared up in a mixture of fascination and fear. "What are you?"  

"That is none of your concern prince, what I can tell you is this." She spoke sternly as to get her point across. "We are allied to the innocent and foil to evil. As long as I function I will defend your land and the lands beyond this. I suggest right now you go back to your life but be aware now of the dangers that come from the Everfree, close it off to the public bring those who live within it out for now it is too violent a place to live." This was in regards to Zecoro assuming if he was even alive at this point, she hopped to Solaris he was. "Do not linger too near it or you will be killed, raise your defenses and build walls around your town...even move far away if possible. I cannot promise we will be able to save all of you but be vigilant and be safe." Her false wings began flapping which raised her off the ground. 5V Began hovering as well due to his pulse gets on his back. 

Dusk began moving up as well, his wings beginning to flap to chase after them. "Hold on! I have a lot of questions to ask!" He demanded but just before he went airborne the two mysterious strangers bolted out into the sky at speeds that would crush Rainbow Blitz's ego. The sudden force pushed Dusk back down. "By Solaris..." He sat silently in the empty field trying to take in all this overwhelming information. 

He turned back to see a large mob of ponies and his closest friends rush up to him, all having concerned faces on them. "This is going to be a long day..." Maybe he should have stayed in bed as they asked.
> I'm (Not) Alone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The armored Spines flew across the skies like a bullet, slicing through the clouds at supersonic speeds. This was a fantastic feeling beyond anything Spines ever felt in her life. The sensation of flight was also terrifying but the suit did all the work and guided her back to base without risk of falling, at least that’s what the androids told her what would happen.

She glided high above the cloud layer over the edge of the Everfree as to be sure no other Void creatures would come out for now. “5V do you see anything?” She asked her companion who flew close behind.

“Yes Mam’.” She trusted that the androids advanced sensors would better spot out any anomalies better than she can. It only took a second but she got a reply. “No Void in the near vicinity but I have spotted signs of a previous skirmish.” Without even asking an image appeared over her Head’s Up Display. At first, she was confused at the sight of a burnt patch of land near the edge of the forest but then her heart sunk deep into her chest.

That’s where Butterscotch lives. “Oh no, Oh no no nonononononoNO!” If flying took focus then Spines would surely be falling by now. Thoughts spiraled in her head on what could this mean, did more come back, did the force from before razed his house before coming here? Why didn’t Discor-“ Her mind snapped. “DISCOOOORD!!”

Despite her worried furry, she heard a quite pleasing tune from a distance, her enhanced audio receptors made this song quite clear to her in the sky.

“-A WHOLE NEW WOOORLD! A DAZZLING PLACE I NEVER KNEW!” The confused dragon looked to her bottom right to see the god of Chaos riding through the clouds on a flying carpet wearing some king of royal Arabian clothing. Next to him was an inflated doll dressed in a blue feminine garb similar to his. It had a smile scribbled on its face in crayon. The song continued. “LET ME SHARE THIS WHOLE NEW WORLD WITH YOOU…” Just to add to Spines’ growing hysteria Discord slowly leaned into the dead-eyed doll with his lips puckered, what the hell was this nonsense!

“DISCORD!!” She pumped up the volume to high on that shout. The foolish god fumbled at the shock of the unexpected volume and accidentally let the doll out of his grip and drops it to its apparent doom below the clouds. The god cried out in anguish while reaching down to catch the already lost figure.

“Rrrgg Spines!” Discord yelled while eying her like the devil itself. “I was just about the seal the deal!” He limped on his back on the carpet and did an overly dramatic pose. “All those wasted years…” He flipped over to sadly peer down at the sea of white clouds. “They don’t just make women like those in a factory you know..?” Spines felt this insanity had gone on long enough. She unlatched her metallic mouth and fired a flurry of flames over the god. The flame cleared quickly which only left behind the slightly burnt god of Chaos. “Okay you made your point, what is it?”

“Where is Butterscotch? His whole house was destroyed!”

“Well duh of course it is, I’m the one who burned it.” He stated proudly. Spines really couldn’t make up proper responses to that, what came out were sounds of choked-up confusion and anger. 5V hovered over the dumbfounded general.

“Lady, is this creature bothering you?” He asked while eyeing down the odd-looking creature.

Said creature huffed in annoyance. “Actually she’s bothering me for your information tin can.”

Before this could continue Spines forced out the only thing she wanted to know. “Explain yourself!”

“Well, it’s quite simple really. I tried scaring Butterscotch by disguising myself as various creatures from the Everfree but he would just ball up under the bed and not move for hours…that was getting upsetting to watch so I decided to simply destroy the problem at the source and forcefully remove him from the house with fire.” For a second Discord actually felt a twinge of fear at the canceled glare he was getting from the masked dragon. “Ah-ha, don’t look at me like that! Everything was under control; I made the flame burn slowly so he had more than enough time to escape with all his precious animal nuisances. He’s living at the castle right now for your information.”

Honestly, Spines felt ridiculous for asking Discord to solve the problem but at that point she had no choice, at least no one war harmed. “Alright fine, I guess I’ll have to accept that as it is…did you do anything else while I was gone?” She didn’t want any more unexpected surprises for later.

“Ehh, well recently I noticed patrol groups were searching deep into the forest in search for you, I thought nothing of it until you asked me to keep people out so I’ve been enhancing the local creatures with a shield spell and by making them more territorial so they chase anyone out until they are far gone. Don’t worry about anyone getting hurt, I made it so the beast will only intimidate intrudes instead of attacking them.”

Spines was quite thankful that if anyone was killed searching for her…well Spines could never forgive herself if such a horrible thing were to happen. Only one more thing remained on her mind. “Did you do anything about Zecoro?”

“…Who?” Spines felt as if she were going to blow a blood vessel in her eye, more out of stress than rage this time. “…Oh right, the witch doctor I completely forgot about him, I’ll have my minions chase him out of the forest if he’s still there, I’m sure Dusk won’t let him go back now with things getting all fired up, now may I ask you where did you get that dashing apparel?”

In the very least Discord was keeping his word. “It’s a long story Discord, maybe you want to come over to my base inside the mountain so we can catch up?” Internally Spines wanted a familiar face to talk to, these past days she felt quite homesick and lonely.

Discord was now doing swimming motions as they flew. “Hm, well that does sound interesting…I’d really not want to be around that Interloper of his wretched stench.” The remainder of Tendrix made her heart well up.

“Um…I don’t think he’s coming back any more Discord.” There was a slight quiver in her voice.

“What does that…mean?” Discord caught on to the suddenly somber atmosphere and made a few conclusions of his own. “Oh…” He sighed. “Okay Spines, I’ll have to clear my busy schedule but I guess I can make the time early tomorrow perhaps.”

This made her feel better. “Ok…and thank you, I was being a bit harsh before but thank you for protecting those people in your own way.” She waved and boosted her speed far beyond his with the android close behind.

Now the god was alone. “…Nothing can ever be simple can it?” And with that, he disappeared with a notable lack of fanfare.

---

“That is what I saw!” Dusk pounded his hoof down on the Cutie Map.

He felt a rising sense of frustration overtake him. All around him were his closest friends that fit up the six of the seven chairs that came with the desk. One chair remained empty and that was the marginally larger seat next to him, this was Spines’, and every time he looked at it he felt like a little part of him die inside.

Applejack was being as stubborn as usual and firmly believed the admittedly unbelievable events ever transpired and were the results of some kind of sleep-deprived nightmare. The very notion of that actually made the prince want to hit the apple bucker. Of course, this was still due to the lack of sleep he was suffering. “I’m just saying I find it mighty hard to believe that a never-before-seen swarm of demons comes rushing out from the Everfree without any prior knowledge or reason to invade, get absolutely blasted to bits by some kind of crazy sword using a robot and its laser sword minion?”

Well, it did sound somewhat insane when explained like that but it was an absolute fact that it did happen. “I dunno AJ.” Rainbow started. “Just before I got here I did hear the unmistakable sound of a sonic boom. Only a robot could be as fast as me I say!”

Illusive was next to point out a fact. “We also have those two fresh craters on the ground.”

“Well, I reckon Dusk just went through a breakdown and shot the ground and sky with some kind of new beam magic he learnt through sleeping.”

Dusk glared at his friend in disbelief. “Why can’t you just listen to what I’m telling you AJ?”

“Well where are all these giant demon bodies then?” He asked demandingly.

“I already told you they-“

“Yeah, faded away like mist you said? We have no evidence whatsoever. Now I’m not trying to be an ass with ya Dusk, but I think you screaming to the public and my little brother about demons and robots from space crashing down and having some giant two-minute war that no one saw a bit suspicious, I don’t know much about magic but I suspect some kind of magic spell could easily somehow make you see all that nonsense and create those holes in the ground, it’s just my honest opinion is all.”

Dusk gritted his teeth and felt like his head was going to explode. “Well your opinion is bullshit!” The five stallions flinched at the sharp turn of tone. “I am having the worse time of my life Jack! My sister goes missing, no one has even seen her except me and no one believes me and now we get invaded by nightmares unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and you think I’m just making all this up? Yeah, I can be a bit rash when I’m tired but by Solaris’s fat flank I swear to you I saw it.” He got up from his seat and stomped out of the room. “If you’ll excuse me I have to warn the public and build some walls.”

The door was slammed shut with magic and left behind an awkward silence in the room. Applejack was the first to speak. “He’s making a huge mistake I say, he’ll plunge this whole town into anarchy if we just let him do what he wants.” He looked around the table, expecting to see confirming nods but was met with only a mixture of disproving and sad looks. “…What?”

Blitz was the first to answer. “Man Jack, you sure know when to be the most stubborn, Dusk is in a very dark place right now and instead of belittling him we should maybe take up what he says seriously.”

“But there’s no possible way any of that hoopla could be re-“

Illusive was next to speak up. “Now I do believe dear Dusk can be a bit rash when sleep deprived but I highly doubt all of this could possibly be orchestrated by one stallion in a fit of hysteria…something odd has been going on these past few weeks.” He pointed over to the still crouching Butterscotch, looking determined not to be noticed. “Scotch’s house was both harassed by creatures that hardly ever leave the Everfree and burned down the same day, the search teams looking for Spines get chased out by nearly every kind of monster that lives in that forest but they never go for a kill they just double down on the intimidation factor…”

He looked around to make sure everyone was still paying attention; Bubble Berry didn’t count who was currently a rather intense game of tic-tac-toe with his pet alligator. “The very concept that monsters are coming out of the forest seems like the next step to some awful plot unfolding right below our noses and I feel like this mysterious black stranger may be the hero trying to save us all.”

A grim silence took over the room, all looking down feeling a unique sort of dread that left an ugly feeling in their chests in this time of uncertainty.

All except Bubble who was busy drawing up a new grid after his 467 loss in a row.
> The Good Legion
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines sat upon her newly built throne in the middle of the commander's room surrounded by her subordinate androids. She still wore the suit because it was oddly more comfortable to wear than without. It was cushioned on the inside and melded with her movements all too perfectly. 

The throne was insisted upon by the androids they said constantly 'A Queen needs a throne' why they were like this she had no idea but absolute loyalty was better than uncertain loyalty in her opinion. The chair was chiseled from a block of black crystals with carved images of massive dragons on the head and armrests. This pleased the inner hoarding instincts of Spines greatly but the whole concept was odd. Currently, she just sat idly while viewing the world through her visor with the aid of the newly built satellites. 

At the moment she peered down near Ponyville to see a somewhat pleasing sight. Dusk rushed around the far borders of the town facing the Everfree building up masses of dirt conjured up by magic in a hurried state. It seemed like he would raise up a patch while a mile down the wall were a group of contractor ponies that built up wooded structures almost 20 feet tall in a hurried state. The whole town seemed to be in a lockdown of some sort and guards patrolled the streets and deliver food baskets to each house every few hours. 

'Looks like Dusk took my warning seriously, thank Solaris he's so vigilant.' The commander dragon muttered this sadly and turned off the visor to see Bek stare down at her from her slouching position. "Yes Bek?"

"Our scout groups have built up a defensive barrier around the second forest layer. We meet resistance every few hours but thankfully it appears we overestimated the enemy as we are easily able to eliminate any Void threat that has surged up thus far but we will remain vigilant as long as you command Lady. We also have come across several locations suitable for harvesting, at the moment we have taken control over five quarry zones and seven abandoned mines so we now have access to basic metals and precious stones we can use at R&D which means we have enough resources to build more units.

Bek crouched down to better meet eye level with his commander because he felt that as a lower-ranking member he should never be looking down upon the leader as a show of respect. Spines never even considered this. 

The android leader sent an image to Spine's visor. It showed a curious design of an android she had never seen before. "What's this?"

"It is customary for every General to have their own personal army and elite guards. While we may serve you as only commanding leader here our programing has it that General Tendrix takes priority over all else. In the event he returns you would be left with no soldiers so it would be best for us to create your own legion." This caused Spines to sit up straighter than before in sudden interest. "Our engineers have taken the liberty of making the outline of the design for your units as well as all the other classes, we require your final say to begin construction." 

The General nodded and overlooked the designs with more attention. The android was sleek in design and it looked almost like her without a suit with an incredibly dark violet coating. The chest region had the crest of the neck end in a sharp end that juts out. It was both elegant and deadly in appearance. The tail was barbed at each joint and ended in a green laser spike similar to her own tail. The face showed no mouth but two bright green eyes shaped in an intimidating shape. The design also had spines that went down to the tail but these were far sharper than hers. 

Next to it was a design half taller than the first with similar design aspects but this one wore a heavy-looking black cloak with dragon patterns in violet etched on the back area. It held a giant hammer that pulsed an electric surge every few moments. It took a second for Spines to realize that cloak was actually the metallic wings of the model. It draped around the elite unit to appear like a hooded mysterious figure and when the time for battle comes the wings would unfurl to large dragon wings with a seven-foot span. The elites looked like they could do serious damage if given the chance. She closed these files and looked to Bek. "Make it happen as quickly as you are able please." The android commander nodded and marched off to the lower sections of the ship.

Spines was once again left alone with her thoughts and to slouch back into the seat. "What has my life come to?" She still wondered how she went from a #1 assistant to a supreme commander over less than a day. In the very least the Void menace seemed to be suppressed for the time being but she knew this was just a momentary calm before the storm if old Discord and Tendrix were easily defeated by the source demon then it was safe to assume the battle was far from over. She did have one plan up her sleeve though. This ship has a super-powerful rail gun attached to the top hull aimed in the general area of the Everfree, according to Bek it was made to take down Monolith class ships that were slightly larger than her own. If the power was amped down quite a bit and a sizable hole carved out in the mountain were made, then chances are Spines had found an easy solution to all her problems. The real matter would be finding the core demon and luring it out into open somehow.

That was a matter for another time since a small alarm went off in her head. Another page opened up in her visor to show an overview of Canterlot via her satellites. She zoomed in at the area of the event to see a group of dark-colored stallions run down one of the less populated streets down the high-class housing area. They seemed to be in a major hurry and were all careering bags full of gems latched to their saddles. Her visor identified these five with an icon of their faces and names. Not far behind were two royal guardsmen in hot pursuit. Each of the runner's names listed in red lettering. "WANTED FOR GRAND THEFT AND VIOLENCE

'Huh, looks like a classic bank robbery gone wrong.' Spines was unsure if she even needed to intervene since this was basic crime stuff the guards were trained to handle, they didn't even have any weapons... On that thought, Spines found this odd, how dumb were these convicts to rob a bank without at least a knife, the leader was a unicorn and the rest of earth ponies so it was likely a magic break-in with heavy intimidation but still something didn't add up. 'What are they up to.' Her visor outlined the predicted route of escape down a dimly lit alleyway which her visor scanned with infrared vision. To her shock, it revealed five more shady-looking stallions and one mare all brandishing knives in their mouths all hiding behind a trash can or box of some sort. 'It's a trap.' The guards would be ambushed in less than a minute.

Spines rose from her seat. "Get a unit down there on the double, assist those guards and take down those criminals!" The androids snapped to attention and shouted Jawohl! in unison. She sat back down and resumed her spying. 

By now the guards were entering the shady alley. An alert signal showed a green outline of her soldier rushing out one of the many holes in the mountain. Spines was a smart girl and knew something like this would happen so she had sent first responder units all-around any major location on the planet until the teleporters were completed. So the unit named Z6 boosted out from high above the castle and went into free fall into the hot zone. "On it Lady!" Z6 confirmed.

The General clutched her seat when she saw the ambush set off. The five runners slid to a sudden stop in their tracks and turned to the pursuing guards. This unexpected action caused said guards to stop as well. Behind them appeared the knife-wielding attackers poised to strike, she could see the horrified expressions of the two in realization they were tricked. "COME ON!" Spines pleaded to no one in particular. She messed around with her mental commands in hopes to make the rescue somehow faster. What she did was focus her sight on the descending unit would seem only moments from interception but once she did her mind warped sharply and before she knew it she was falling out of the sky looking down into the dark alleyway. 

'What the hell!?' A sixth sense kicked or some other compelling force made her kick down her legs to land on the ground with a solid thud. Time slowed for a moment in which she noticed how her arms and legs were very robotic unlike her suit and how none of this actually felt real in a natural sense. For the moment she concluded she somehow took control over Z6 and was controlling the unit back in her chair but this was no time to stagger for lives were on the line.

___

Flash Bang was having an interesting day. He was an inspiring unicorn who made it out of the lower class by chance to get a job working as a royal guard for Lord Solaris himself. The job was easy as it was demanding, the training was grueling but it was worth it in the end since guards were mostly just meant to keep the peace just by being in the area, Canterlot was one of the safest places in the world not including those times when mass invasions or evil creatures attempt a take over every few years...that didn't count. So when he and his friend in the force, Heavy Heart, saw an explosion at the Canterlot bank well it came as quite an unexpected shock. Still, thankfully all those years of training kicked in and the two of them rushed the thieves, it seemed like a simple enough thing to deal with, he would get close enough to use his signature concussion spell that blinds and disorients anyone caught in the blast while his earth pony partner would beat them into submission. He was only seconds away from casting when they stopped as if their lives depended on it. The guards stopped as well but Flash could feel it in the air that something was very wrong. 

He turned first to see the sight of five more ponies holding up weapons. He and his friend knew casting would take too long and wouldn't knock all of them out. Heavy was known for his quick reaction time as he skillfully dodged under the first attack and bashed the neck of the assailant with his armored head. The crook stuttered to breathe and fell back in a disheveled state. This was as far as he would get because the other two near him were quick to drive their blades right into his neck and lower side. It all happened so suddenly and fast both of them could not even register what happened before it was too late. "HEAVY!" Flash screamed which forced himself out of his stupor. Heavy fell a gagging mess, unable to speak or move, Flash made a move to help him comrade but the ground shook hard at that second. He and even the bastards looked back to see something both incredible and terrifying.

In a shade of pure black that melted into the darkness stood an imposing seven-foot towering figure unlike anything ever seen before. A no-faced metallic monster stood straight as if it fell from the sky not a moment earlier. It looked at the smaller lifeforms for a moment and seemed to focus on the twitching form of Heavy Heart. "Stand down now or I will be forced to use the full extent of my abilities!" It was unclear who exactly it was speaking to in its male monotone voice. 

Flash looked back to see the criminals look at him in a similar shocked state. What was he supposed to do in this situation? They didn't prepare you for this in boot camp. 

One of the crooks circled around the creature. "It's only a Minotaur or something in armor guys, let's get 'em!" And like that the bout of confusion and fear faded from the criminals and they took a more hostile stance. The stranger responded to this by choosing his own battle stance that looked similar to a karate pose Flash once saw in a movie. 

"Then you leave me no choice!" They rushed him all at once but the large figure was fast like a Wonderbolt and seemed to faze out for a moment and reappear behind the group. This advantage let the stranger knee one to the side hard enough that he could have sworn he heard a rib or something crack. The pained yowls confirmed this as the crook fell in agony. They turned and one lashed out the knife and struck the center of the stranger's chest but it didn't even make a scratch at all. In response, he gave a low uppercut to the mouth of the attacker which knocked him out cold instantly with a broken jaw. Next he grabbed a large earth pony and lifted him like a doll and flung him over two others. Flash Bang stepped back as he noticed the stranger was only fighting those who attacked him, so he rushed over to the still twitching Heavy Heart. 

While this happened he saw the stranger be pushed suddenly into a wall hard enough to break a few bricks, the one unicorn in the party used his magic to keep the stranger at bay but he wasn't done yet. The magic-user conjured up a projectile spell and unleashed a flurry of sharp needles aimed right at the face of the defender. But still, the armor proved its sturdiness and refused to break. Surprisingly he pushed himself out from the wall and marched forward with a bit of resistance to the magic field. It was as if he were either magic resistant or just that strong. The caster didn't seem to notice this until he was only feet away but by then he lifted up a fist and punched the unicorn's horn dead center, even Flash Bang flinched at this knowing the horrible unnatural pain that came from harming a magic casting horn. 

The thief unicorn screamed as if he were being torn to shreds and collapses while foaming at the mouth. The final four seemed to come to terms with how mismatched they were and made a move to run away but as they turned to flee already was the stranger in front of them. "Going somewhere?" He asked with venom in his voice. They turned again but this time Flash Bang was prepared and threw a magic ball of white light over at the four before they could move away from it the thing exploded a blinding white light that dazed them greatly, the stranger appeared to be unaffected by this. "Enough of this." He declared and grabbed two up by the throats like cats and smashed their head together with an audible clunking noise, they fell fast blacked out and the other two were picked up by the tails and thrown into the walls hard enough to also knock them out. 

Flash could hardly believe what he just saw but there was no time to do any of that because Heavy stopped moving. "Heavy? HEAVY!?" He didn't want to do CPR in case it would make the neck wound worse but what else could he do? "Come on buddy wake up. Just wake up please!" Before he could break down a cold hand pushed him aside politely but firmly. 

"Step aside, I'll see what I can do." The stranger declared while kneeling down over his friend. 

"Hey don't you hurt him!" He shouted but was promptly ignored while he pulled out an oddly colored vile from his chest pocket and splashed it over the limp body of Heavy Heart. "What are you doing?!" Before he could get confrontational Heavy seemed to recover from his limp state and began breathing as hard as possible as if he were learning how to breathe all over again. Flash almost cried at that moment and moved to be beside his partner.

The stranger seemed to be done with his work and looked to the sky. "Good work Flash, I must be off now but just know Unity will always be there to protect the innocent." Then he flew off without wings, with a small jet on its back. Flash stared up and watched as the black figure got smaller and small until it could no longer be seen through the clouds.

"What in Solaris's name..."

Heavy slowly got back up. "W-...what the hell happened Flash, did we get 'em?" 

"...Yeah I think..." For some reason all Flash could think about was how hard it was going to be to file the report on this one.
> A Grand Encounter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

King Solaris sat on his throne in a dismal state. For weeks he and his brother Prince Artemis wasted hours going through old magic scrolls and spells on how to track a missing person. This person was of course Spines who was the adopted daughter of Solaris and next in line to the crown. 

Her disappearance came without notice and left no trace of any sort. What made this disturbing was the lack of evidence that Spines even existed in this mortal coil anymore due to the unexplainable absence of her magical signature. 

Magical signatures were unique to all living creatures, very powerful or specialized beings are able to identify and even track down others if they had the 'scent'. Solaris was very close to Spines so of course, he could track her just from his magic keeping memory of her signature, at least that was thought at first. 

According to his scouts that were sent with a magical copy of her tracks to find, Spines stood in the middle of her and Prince Dusk's library and that was it. The king wanted to lash out at these so-called detectives for their apparent lack of skill but he calmed himself and felt it was best to trust the professionals. 

They did give ideas at what may have occurred and none of them eased his worry. Some suggested she activated some kind of self destruct spell and simply ceased to exist, although no such spell could be located in any of the spellbooks in the entire library and of course such deadly spells are blacklisted from the community and can only be found locked away in the secured archives of the Canterlot Palace. 

Another disturbing theory was a possible kidnapping. It could be that agents against the throne learned of the connection the two shared and used magic masking spells to capture Spines. This seemed the most logical conclusion but no ransom or threat has been made in this long, so it lead to another dark possibility for her disappearance. 

Some of Solaris's best theorists say that Spines if she is still alive, has been corrupted by dark energies unknown to the magic archives. It could be that Spines had somehow tainted her magic signature by foreign magic and was just simply untraceable. 

Out of every idea given this was the one Solaris hopped was true despite the implications. This could mean Spines has been corrupted in some fashion, but it has been proven again and again that those who fall to darkness are always capable of redemption. The big issue, however, remains to be her whereabouts, agents were sent to scour the far reaches of Equestria but still, nothing concerning Spines has come about or what may have caused this dark turnover.

What has come about is a whole new matter entirely. Unknown creatures were sighted in the Everfree, nothing in any logbooks could categorize the shifty black creatures that lurked in the shadows of the trees, and by the accounts of Dusk, it can be safely assumed that these 'Nightmares' were extremely hostile and were to be avoided at all cost. The forest scouts discovered massive pockets of these creatures amassing by the thousands near Ponyville but before the scouts could escape from their hidden locations and report the matter, a new party would always reveal themselves.

Yes, large and small robotic machinations would emerge from the skies and lay quick and decisive waste to the gathering armies before they could amass further, no matter the size, the robotic faction would always land a critical victory. 

Solaris knew what this meant and it was not good, to say the least. War has come to his nation and what was worse was his noninvolvement of any known faction. His nation was merely a bystander right in the middle of it. The two forces could not be tracked due to their speed and ability to turn invisible but if anyone could find a base of some sort then what? What could his knights do to such savage and advanced forces? Not even modern-day magic or ancient spells could create such devastating damage without pause, with great pain in his heart Solaris had to put the search for his daughter on hold and focus on the national threat in front of him.      

He read the report given to him recently by the Canterlot guard once again, each time made his heart sink deeper into his chest. All throughout the grand capital, there have been multiple sightings of mechanical beings. At times they are seen apprehending individuals who have broken the law or are in danger and rescuing them from harm. While this was oddly good news in that it hinted at the possibility that this advanced faction was on friendly terms with his, it left many serious questions on their intentions. Many more reports were made of sightings of these mysterious beings. Guards spotted the faceless ones on roofs of in dark pathways. In the night they rush past guards at such high speeds it is questioned if a being was even there at all.

They were everywhere, watching, observing his subject's every move. When caught watching they would fade into the darkness they inhabit, the ponies were starting to notice these odd sightings and fear began to creep into every household. Solaris feared this was the first step to a full-scale invasion. They were gathering knowledge, looking for weaknesses, memorizing troop patrol routes. 

The King was troubled, backed into a corner, what could he do? His guards are flimsy despite being the elite of the world, they wouldn't know true combat or experience. When faced with a true threat they toppled like dominoes and caved easily. What training could be done to supplement this? Shining Armor is with his wife in the Crystal Empire and his abilities would do nothing to shield this city as the dark beings were already well infiltrated.

Discord was missing as usual and any help that blasted nut case could provide very well may make things that much worse if left to his own devices...perhaps the magic archives could-

Solaris dropped the scroll to take the focus of his surroundings. He was a fool to not notice the growing menacing atmosphere that had overtaken the empty throne room...yes empty.   

The king rose from his seat with air in his chest, his gaze could burn flesh if given enough focus. "Show yourself intruder and I will be willing to hear what you have to say. If you wanted to attack you had an opportune advantage moments ago..."

It was silent, so silent that for a moment as he scanned the large room Solaris wondered if he were starting to mentally deteriorate. But his keen senses proved themself as nine armored clad robotic figures appeared out from thin air only meters away from his throne. Well, his senses couldn't seem to tell how many had just made fools of his entire royal guard and magical defense system. He silently tensed at the clear number disadvantage.

The intruding party stood in a perfect line of two-fours with the clearly elite member in front. This one was different from the rest, in the reports described the mysterious beings as faceless, thin mechanoids but this one was unseen to all except him, could this possibly be their leader? 

It was all black and very tall in comparison to himself. Its arms looked to be able to crush through the strongest of steel walls while its legs looked strong enough to run faster than the best of the Bison tribe. It wore a heavy-looking cloak with intricate patterns that seemed to show a draconian serpent coiling around its form. But the face of this imposing figure rattled the iron-faced king. It reminded him of her with its sharp face and clear draconic influence. And the glowing green eyes it had made a memory flash across his eyes. But he shoved those distracting thoughts aside. 

"What business do you have to break into my kingdom and terrorize my people I demand an answer from you." He spoke calm but stern, he knew he had to remain neutral in what he said for this exchange could very well decide the fate of Canterlot in not all of Equestria. And then to his surprise, the giant bowed deeply to the king. 

"My apologies your lordship but it is not in my place to speak for our queen." 

'A queen?' The king thought, already thinking deeply about this new information.

"But I believe your questions may be answered for we bring a message from our fearless queen for you, the king of this land." Without waiting for a response the elite pulled a silver ball from its cloak and placed it gently on the ground. A second later a blue light emanated from the top of the sphere and presented a holographic but crystal clear image of another draconic armored being. Its eyes shone through into his own. This one seemed thinner in appearance but its armor bore more lines and ridges and seemed more unique in how important this one held itself. 

"It is an honor to meet you, King Solaris." She bowed slightly in a respectful manner. "I am Queen Carbon of the android legion, I want to speak to you in person but my loyal subjects would need to escort you to my home. There I will answer all your questions and reveal to you the nature of our arrival and the massive threat that looms over your peaceful kingdom." 

Solaris mulled over this request shortly. In reality, not much could be done, what if he refused? Also what if he accepted, where would he go, is this a trap, and would he be able to return. But it was not like he could fight all these figures at once and if they wanted to harm him they could have done it easily before and it seemed this Queen wanted to work together against the clearly violent demonic forces that lived in the forest. It would be foolish to reject this powerful force without hearing what they had to say. Yes, the answer was clear.

"I accept." He said simply while not breaking contact. The Queen seemed to smile with its eyes.

"Then I will see you soon, we have so much to talk about."

At that the hologram deactivated and the elite picked it back up into its fold. Solaris walked down slowly to the elite. 

"Where do we go from here then?" 

"It is simple your highness, it will only take but a moment." The elite calmly placed its large hand on the King's shoulder, before he could react to this they were all gone in a sudden flash of light. 

Now the room was truly empty and the King of Equestria went missing...not like this would be the first time.
> The Queen's Proposal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Solaris felt nothing in transit, one moment he was here the next he was somewhere different, it was a simple as that. What he did feel was the sudden crisp coldness on his coat that came as an unexpected surprise in comparison to the warm summer heat.

The second thing he noticed was the lack of sight, as in complete blindness. The king tensed slightly in preparation for a possible attack, was this all a trap to get him in a hostile location? 

Moments passed and nothing came to prove this worry, a second later Solaris began to see his surroundings. He sighed, almost embarrassed in the realization that his blindness was the cause of the sudden shift into a dark environment which caused his eyes to rapidly adjust to see in near blackness...where was he anyway? 

It was dim but the low-level lights on the sleek black walls made the narrow halls just visible enough to get through, were they on for his sake? He assumed these advanced beings could see in the dark just fine.

The Head Elite android marched on forward once it assumed Solaris was mentally adjusted to his new surrounding. As the king followed he looked back to see the smaller androids walk off in different directions to different small rooms. 

A worrying thought crossed his mind, he left the kingdom without so much as a letter, he prayed to whatever higher being out there that this meeting would be brief so Canterlot wouldn't crumble without him. That is not to say Artemis wasn't up to the task, but... well it was just imperative that he should return before anyone notices so he would not dwell on such concepts. "Excuse me er...solider?" He asked unsure how to label the anomaly. Everything he said now could instantly break his current neutral ties with this mysterious Queen. 

The Elite continued its pace but answered. "Yes your Highness?"

"Is there anything I should know about your Queen before our meeting begins? I would not wish to offend her royal Highness in some way." It was odd just how silent this place was, where ever he was. He expected the possible base where hundreds, if not thousands of androids to be much more bustling in traffic.

"I am afraid I cannot answer your question for I was only constructed 13 hours prior, our Queen has also only been in power for less than five days so I assume not any other subject can give you any worthwhile advice. But my limited data of Queen Carbon shows her to be a benevolent leader who cares greatly for the weak for it was her command for us to guard this world and the peaceful inhabitants within from our arch-foe that our cause has battled for eons."

Solaris absorbed this short but packed sentence. This Carbon lady was only in power very recently, which means she must have usurped the throne in some way. Could it of been through family ties if she even had a family, or could it of been won through some kind of battle with the previous ruler? There was a chance he was dealing with a very inexperienced leader who just gained power, in that regard he had an advantage in being a long-aged monarch. However it could also mean she had just absorbed another ruler's power in a clear act of tactical superiority, which could mean Carbon is a power-hungry dictator with a long history of rulership, it could explain the different designs of the androids.

More importantly, what did the Elite mean by 'eons'? Those dark forces reported seemed like nothing more than cannon fodder for the highly overpowered droid forces. This could mean two things, one was this was something akin to a swarm of never-ending creatures that would infect different worlds until they lay barren, a 'flood' if you will. The other assumed that these current forces were nothing more than pitifully low leveled grunts used to exhaust defending forces before the real commanders and well-equipped threats arrived. Both of these possibilities worried the King since his people couldn't even combat against one of these blasted Nightmares. 

The one thing he was glad to hear was that Carbon seemed to have the best interest of his people in mind, which meant this meeting had to go well in order to continue the assured safety of his people.

It seemed they reached their stop next to a large black circular door that opened silently into a rectangular room with a long black floating slab that appeared to be a table, although no chairs could be seen.

The Elite bowed once again. "Her Highness will be with you shortly, she has prepared you a short meal in case you grew hungry, I will stand guard outside this door, if you require any assistance I will try to answer your request to the best of my abilities. I am Unit ZC1 but I was graciously given the nickname 'Zinc' by our beloved Queen, refer to me as you see fit." With that the rather gentle giant marched out of the room as the door closed shut, leaving the king alone. 

'It appears I am trapped with a strong guard covering the only visible exit...' Solaris wondered if he was being too paranoid about all this. So far Queen Carbon has done nothing to offend his Kingdom, in fact she has only protected and defended it from certain doom. Ponyville would likely not be standing were it not for her efforts so for that he must be thankful to a massive degree, his number one student, the Elements and his missing daughter called that place home. If Carbon had not selflessly intervened he very well may have lost much more than his favorite settlement. 

Dusk might not have survived the onslaught. The thought made the Solar King shudder, he lost his dear daughter already if he lost the student that was like a son to him then he couldn't live with himself after that. 
With that in mind, he steeled his resolve and felt nothing but powerful gratitude to her Highness. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his head as if coming to this resolve melted the stress in his mind. 

Solaris stepped forward closer to the floating slab, a meter away a covering on the floor slid open quietly and raised up around the floating chair. It was like looking at art from a depiction of future technology, it even had cushions inside every surface of the encompassing seat. He calmly sat inside it, forcing himself not to worry about the possibility of it falling to the ground in response to his weight. It bobbed down once to meet the table at normal eye level. It really was a comfy chair.

Despite all this, he could not find it in himself to let his guard down. His gaze was set forward as he sat in a refined manner as to not appear rude in case he was being monitored in some way. Now he just had to wait...

He didn't wait less than a second when a small slot in the wall opened. He straightened up in expectation to meet Carbon but what came out from the wall was a small spherical droid hovering over to him with two items in some sort of telekinetic hold. It seemed to have ears of that of a feline and similar blue eyes that lit up as it spoke a chirpy tone. "Her Highness suggested the Lord of this world would enjoy this meal but if it is not to your liking you may request another dish to your specifications. Enjoy~!" Then it floated off after gently placing the two items next to his seat, the cat ball thing retreated back into the wall as it closed. 

...Solaris snapped back into reality after experiencing a minor shock from the odd encounter. "T-thank you." He chastised himself for being so unorthodox. He looked back to this meal and saw an unexpected familiar sight. "Shortcake?" Yes, a single generous slice of vanilla shortcake topped with a fat juicy strawberry surrounded by equally appetizing blueberries. Solaris marveled at this sight, his favorite dessert, his favorite cake, and next to it a glass of iced coffee...his favorite drink type dessert.
Suspicious...
Next to it was a polished black fork that stared him down, he wanted to reject this masterpiece in front of him, it could easily be poisoned or it was a front to lower his guard for a surprise attack, what if it was a- 'SILENCE' The King took a gamble and at snap neck speeds he lifted the fork with his magic, took a chunk out from the artisan slice and shoved it into his mouth.

...
...
...

A lone tear slid down his eye. It was flawless.

___

The cake was gone, any evidence of it existing would require a forensics expert and master detective to figure out. The cold coffee was also gone, it too was flawless. It came at a godsend too since this was just about his meal time...how did they know abo-

His thoughts were cut when the door farthest from his opened in an overly intricate fashion. There came in one of the major causes of worry he had been dealing with all at once. From her image on the hologram, he expected a thin but massive creature to appear in front of him but this Queen was only slightly taller than him. 'And now for the most stressful war meeting, I've had in centuries...'

Carbon strode forward in a royal manner but Solaris could see the inexperienced manner she moved, he could see the hidden but slightly visible hesitation in that gait. He knew he was dealing with someone not in power for very long and who wanted to keep that prospect hidden. She could not fool these well-aged eyes however and he too knew what it was like to be young, with so much leadership to present. In a way, he felt pity for this young girl.

As the Queen walked forward toward him he expected her to walk on the table in some attempt to look down on him as they spoke but the table just seamlessly moved away from her and somehow melded with the other side with no apparent change in mass. This made the once-massive table now quite small, perfect for two people to converse important matters.

A chair similar to his rose from the side and she took the seat, her eyes glowing at his once she was set. A brief silence took over the room. 
Then she spoke.

"I apologize for the wait your Highness Lord Solaris. I hope your arrival was pleasant." She intertwined her hands onto the table. Her eyes shifted to match her speech and emotions despite them being mechanical, she had no visible mouth though. 

Solaris stiffened up. "It was no bother to me I assure you, I am very pleased with the hospitality you have shown thus far but let us skip the formalities and talk about why I am here." He said this respectfully and hoped he wouldn't offend her but this was vital and he had to return home as soon as possible before anyone noticed.

Carbon's eyes smiled. "Ha, I couldn't agree more Lord Solaris."

"Solaris is just fine milady."

"Ah, then Carbon is fine for me as well... I called you here to explain my sudden appearance and the nature of our enemy." Images popped up from a light installed on the table and showed several holographic images of the horrid creatures that plagued the forest. "This is what we know as a Void Spawn. These Spawns are the result of a pureblood Void trooper letting its plasma flow out from a self-inflicted process, we don't know the location of the Void but plans are being made to comb through the entirety of the Everfree forest once our current manpower exceeds a level our strike commander deems fit." Images of the forest and other various images of enemy units flashed across the air.

Solaris studied these images and marveled at the horrific abominations that waged war over his land. "So exactly what is a Void for that matter?"

Carbon shifted slightly. "I'm not entirely certain, my ascension into command was...sudden and unexpected to say the least..." She seemed uncomfortable at the topic but Solaris wanted to know more and uncover this possibly sensitive information. It was a gamble at the trust of Carbon but Solaris felt for some strong reason he could pry further with her.

"Oh? So I take it you are somewhat inexperienced taking leadership then...did something happen to shake your chain of command?"

She lightly tapped her claws on the table. "...It's hard to properly explain but my...mentor didn't seem to make it saving my life." Solaris felt he didn't break any boundaries yet but he decided to play it safe and end the discussion there. 

"I'm sorry to hear that, I too know what it's like to be rushed into power unexpectedly. I take it, no offense, that you are quite young and inexperienced in all of this?" It was a small jab but a relatively harmless one from how Solaris had begun to see this figure. 

Carbon stopped tapping and stared at the king. "I'm surprised how quickly you noticed...heh heh, I was hoping I could at least appear a bit more dignified before you."

Just when Solaris started to relax he made a snap decision and decided to play on the weakness she presented him. "Carbon I appreciate the hospitality you have shown but I must know what it is I am here for and what role do I have in all of this!" 

Carbon shrunk at his powerful aura, all her previous bravado shattered before him, to Carbon this was a familiar feeling to when she was young. "S-sorry for the wait. You're right, you have a kingdom to run and everything so I'll just cut to the chase on the vital matters and we can possibly make a proper meeting at a later date." Suddenly it seemed like the Queen wanted the King rushed out as much as he wanted to leave. Solaris noted this familiar demeanor.
"The short of it is this since you are the lord and ruler of this land I felt my meddling in your territory would be seen as an invasion of sorts. I called you here to ask you for your permission to serve you in an alliance. Me of the Unity Core and you of the Equestria Nation. She stood straight and firm, eager for his response.

Solaris expected this and was hoping exactly this conclusion, however he needed to know just a bit more before he agreed to such a thing. "Well now we are getting somewhere, what do you have in mind when you mean alliance?"

"Well I would like to make our unity public as to operate without the risk of fear-induced riots and we could occupy any area you own to increase defenses and protect the populace from any possible raid from the Void Spawn. The last thing I ask is for emergency military command over any troops in an area under attack as to more easily give orders and organize my forces."

Solaris nodded at this. "This all seems very reasonable but tell me what will you give my kingdom in return." 

"I will give my all to protect the innocent and purge the vile that taint this land, also I would like to offer our technological advancements to the public, with a cross-exchange of magic and tech we can come up with better armor and weapons for your troops, and once this is all over we can integrate my tech with your society to advance your home into a new era." Of course there was more to offer but she was trying to crunch her time here.

"Hm..." The King pondered this shortly, Carbon shifted in her seat. "Yes, I have come to a conclusion..." He started looking deep into her eyes. "But I have one question first."

This made the young Queen nervous at his glare. "Y-yes?"

Solaris stared deeper than ever to the point where she felt uncomfortable. "..." And then his eyes soften. "Spines what on Equestria are you doing in that thing? Let's get out of here and go home, Dusk is worried to death about you." He said a father talking to his child.

Ca-Spines stopped breathing. "Eh?" She got up from her seat shakily in an attempt to take control of the conversation but she clumsily kicked her own leg and fell headfirst into the black slab of a table. Her armored helmet took the brunt of the damage and pumped it back on the table letting thousands of black shards flop to the ground. She hastily got back up and started stammering incoherent nonsense. 

The king just chuckled at the display. "I must say Spines, for a first impression as a Queen you're doing a lot better than I did when I was young." His chuckle turned into a burst of bellowing laughter that shook the room. 

Spines couldn't help up flip over and fall on her head in a most comic fashion.
> A New Unity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lord of the Sun sat sternly as he listened to his beloved daughter's tale. She took off her helmet and placed it on the new black slab table as the smaller floating androids cleaned up the mess of black shards and chunks. "Just start from the beginning Spines, how did all this happen?"

Spines began her tale...

___

"-After Tendrix sacrificed himself to save me the Androids made me the leader of the entire ship and opted to classify me as Queen due to them studying the hierarchy system our world is in control in. At that point, I decided to start protecting Equestria from the shadows with my forces."

Solaris took a hard stare at the child before him and gave an exhausted sigh. "Why didn't you reveal yourself when you were free to roam as you please?" Solaris couldn't be mad at his daughter for her decisions, after all, nothing was her fault and she actually made good use of her situation to do a selfless act and help his people. Still, the king wanted to know just why she chose to keep everyone worried.

She looked down, avoiding his gaze in order to come up with an answer, honestly she didn't know exactly why either. The encounter with Dusk made sense since they met during a battle, If he knew the truth he would have thrown himself right into danger to protect her despite her protest, that was not a thought, a cold certain fact and she wouldn't forgive herself if harm came over her brother because of her.

But after that, she just didn't seem to want to go home just yet. Also the time she spent learning on how to better command took up a large margin of time, this was essential due to her utter lack of military prowess and limited combat skills. That had changed somewhat with the hours spent training with Bek in mock battles. According to the bot, her combat skills were rated just good enough to properly defend herself against a horde of the Spawn without her suit, she needed a weapon capable of hurting them first though. 
The suit was doing far more than protecting her as she later came to find out, on the few occasions she had the thing removed she noticed just how tone she had become, while she was nothing to scoff at before since she lost her baby fat years ago, however this level of rock-solid abs, arms, thighs...well it could be argued she had been strength training for years. 

According to R&D, the suit was filled with chemical implants full of types of steroids that stealth-fully been injecting her around the clock in order to increase her survival probability rate. Well her dreams of being a slim beauty in a dress going to the Gala were crushed...she wondered if Elusive was into girls that could kick his ass. 

"Spines?" The king knocked the girl out of her 'appropriate' musings. Right she was talking to dad. Her face burned bright and she gulped. "You look troubled." He said sadly and before she could comment he continued. "It must have been hard being alone thinking it was up to you to protect the land you love so much. I know that feeling too, when your uncle Artemis was banished to the Moon I had to hold up the entirety of Equestria for one thousand full years, having the task to both lift the Sun and Moon completely altered my daily life, I had to sleep less, work more as you would guess." He sighed remembering those times. "Few wars I had to wage alone against the Griffon Kingdom leaving large portions of their land in tatters, I'll be honest with you dear Spines, all those years of acting like everything is fine and that I can handle everything was nothing more than a ruse, I was scared and alone with no guidelines of any sort. It is no wonder Nightmare Nebula so easily defeated me despite my knowledge of his return..." The king sat solemnly as his daughter nodded. He shook off the still air between them. "The point is I know how you feel and I know what you are about to go through soon enough and I tell you this." 

The massive sun king rose from his spot and trotted over to the maskless dragoness. Putting a hoof over her shoulder his fiery eyes stared deeply into her jade-like one. "No daughter of mine will ever have to face the despairs I once did and that is a fact, whatever it is you need to do I will stand by you every step of the way. Spines I give you full support of my kingdom because I can fully trust you no matter what. Your war is now 'Our' war and we will see victory together." Spines couldn't help the sudden flush from her face from showing, she put her hand to her cheek and looked away, unable to meet his gaze.

"Geez Dad..." She sighed wishing her helmet was back on. "Well, I am more than happy to hear you say that I think I've taken up more than enough of your time off the throne." She got up grabbing her helmet and putting it to her side. "Come on I'll escort you out." 

The King was all for leaving as soon as possible before but now that the identity of the mysterious Queen was revealed he wanted nothing more than to stay around awhile and learn about the otherworldly allies his daughter had obtained, but he knew she was right and that what came first were his people at the moment. "Of course Spines." He said following a bit behind her side. "I imagine you are going to set another date for when we can meet without such a pressing time limit so we can make detailed plans. The earliest I can be here is midnight tonight." The queen of androids paused at this. 

"Tonight, don't you need to sleep?" They were walking down the sleek black corridors devoid of activity. The King had never seen anything like it before, perfect symmetric sterile equilibrium. "I can afford to cast an energizing spell on myself for one night, your tough old-man can handle a sleepless night." He said this while nudging her a bit, throwing off her stride. The two chuckled. "So what will you be doing for now?" 

"Hm..." She hummed putting a claw on her lip. "Nothing is really planned around her, for now my forces have the Spawn suppressed with their superior forces so I these past days I've either surveyed Ponyville, Canterlot or I would expand my mind and body with the various exercise facilities on this thing. I'm preparing the best I can for if in case things go south and I have to take charge."

Solaris nodded mindfully, happy to know his intelligent daughter was planning ahead. They turned a corner into the teleportation station, a simple grey disk on the ground with a holographic keypad made for manual jumps. "I guess we've made our stop, so midnight it is then?" 

"Yes dad, I'll have an escort come for you then. For now, I would like for you to remain silent on everything you learned until we properly plan out our next move." She said as she typed in codes to return the King to the exact location he was plucked from. Over time she grew accustomed to the alien technology and how to operate it. 

Solaris nodded at her request. "My lips are sealed; and Spines?" He said while looking back. She looked up to him. "It's good to see you again, you couldn't fathom how worried I've been." He smiled sadly remembering the pain in his chest from before. 

She returned the smile before putting her helmet back on with an audible hiss. "It's good to see you to dad, sorry for making you all worry." Without waiting for a reply she sent the King on his way with a shimmer of light.

___

The Lord of the Sun shut his eyes at the harsh introduction of natural light. He was back exactly the spot he was spirited away from. He sighed taking in the events of his departure and sat back down as if he never left. After a long time he spoke to no one in particular. "Look like things are about to get interesting...as if things didn't on a common basis."

And so he waited in sick anticipation for when he would officially wage war for what could possibly be the most destructive force his Kingdom has ever faced.
> Preparing for War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines sat in the newly built round table set in the command center of her ship. The repairs were going smoothly and aside from the missing sections, the whole place was almost completely operational. The enemy ship remained dormant for now so Spines sent a stealth unit to scour the ship to see if it had anything to note, the team came back safe with a few unencrypted orders that left the ship in a lockdown mode, unless anything attacked the outer layer or infiltration was detected the hunk of metal would remain dormant. It was one thing she didn't have to worry about for now in the very least.

The past few hours flew by with nothing vital to report while more orbital satellites were launched, a few more and the entire world would be mapped out. Once that is done the teleportation stations would be installed, a mighty achievement to be sure and a great boon for her armies. 

Lazily she munched on a large diamond found deep inside one of the newly discovered gem mines her forces controlled. Since they were operating at low capacity due to the lack of bases at the moment the worker androids are unable to process the massive amount of materials. Solaris's announcement on their pact to the public would allow her forces to have free control over the landscape and with that control points, bases, teleportation; all would be possible and her force's power would grow enough to handle any possible threat against her home.

On the side of her HUD, she could see the clock struck 11:45, it was about time she prepared what could possibly be the most influential moment in the history of Equestria...she shuddered.

___

"My Queen." A Elite unit began as Spines sorted out the holographic map she planned to present to her father on points of interest. 

"Yes Zinc." She idled while her HUD and the planet map sorted out information on certain locations and how they may be places to command.

"King Solaris is set to be here in 10 seconds from now." The armored queen looked up to the round table she sat upon. Just as announced a flash of light flickered over the seat forward from her's and out appeared her father looking a small bit dazed. Spines smiled at his confusion and took off her helmet. 

"Welcome dad, you alright?" The king shook the light out of his eyes and looked to his daughter.

"Yes yes, I'll just have to get used to that form of transportation, it's quite a lot different from magic-based teleportation you know?" He shook his head dismissively. "Never mind that, we don't have all night so we better get to the meat of the matter on this before we can exchange idle chatter." He sat a hoof on the table and put on a hard stare. "Tell me Spines, what are we dealing with and how can Equestria stop it?"

Spines nodded, glad she could count on her father on this. "So from what data I could recover from the information stored on this ship I've gathered a sizable file on the form and nature of the enemy." She tapped a command on the table's light keyboard. The image of the planet was replaced with scientific documents about the Spawn hoard. 

The inky figure-less creatures that made up the backbone of the Spawn were known as 87-Echion which had a surname 'Blood Shifter'. These abominations could be born by the hundreds by a single drop of blood left to ferment over an undisclosed number of years. While the weakest creature in the Spawn hierarchy they had the advantage of being invulnerable to conventional form of base damage but are know to be easily destroyed with weapons imbued with energy or magic. 

Solaris read over this vital information. Spines nodded. "We'll need to have all of your guards have their weapons enchanted, they may be fast but with a bit of training we can get your soldiers able to easily combat a whole unit of these things."

"I see...but from the reports I read I know there are far worse monsters to be aware of right?" Without speaking she changed to the next creature. 

A purple tiger-like beast the size of a large Earth Pony, 903-Gazon dubbed 'Blood Medio'. An agile violent monster with a jagged tail that can be used as a razor-sharp weapon. "The reports say that an effective method to combat this variant of Spawn is to slice off the tail as it makes a sweeping motion by using an energy laced weapon. After that, they become significantly less dangerous to a trained royal guard." Solaris nodded, absorbing the information.  

The list went on with effective ways to defeat them. Blood Titans are massive horned brutes that act as front-line bullet sponges designed to wear down the opposition. The best way for weaker species to combat them is to attack the heels since they have a slow attack draw. Once they topple attack the center forehead for that is where a sensitive sensor organ that connects straight to the brain lies. When ruptured the Titan becomes nothing more than a writhing mess. 

"Now a good majority of these files are destroyed or were deleted as a fail-safe measure when this ship crashed so only files about Spawn exist and even some of the deeper information about them is apparently beyond my clearance." According to her droids since she is a newly ranked 'General' she lacked clearance codes so it meant she was a General without authority, good thing Tendrix gave over command of his units. Without that their programming wouldn't allow them to listen to their orders except for the few more advanced units capable of free thought.

"Now Spines you mean to say this 'Spawn' menace is only a low-level threat in the eyes of these space warriors?" He said with grim in his tone.

She nodded back with a sad look. "Spawn are created from the blood of a Void unit, now I'm unsure the full extent of the Void but they are what created massive warships and are a tyrannical race bent on the complete genocide of all races in their path. Their goals and methods are unknown to me but what we do know is at least one Void survived the crash from countless years ago and has been producing the Spawn unhindered, a single drop could produce thousands of these monsters so to us their numbers could be considered endless."

"How do we stop such a foe Spines? Is it even possible to fully end such a calamity?"

Only now did she put on a small grin. "Were it just us alone we would be wiped out in mere days as a planet but know this, the Spawn are considered nothing more than roaches to their adversaries know as 'Unity'. That is only a fraction of the power I command but these skilled units on my side are more than able to keep this planet safe but we can't live in constant fear if a few slip out from our grasp and murdered civilians. We need to find the core of this madness and crush it." Spines clenched her fist to show her point. "Only then will this world know peace." 

The King sat up. "Okay, where do I play in all this, how do I help serve my people?" The hologram of the planet reappeared. On it, several points were dotted in green. 

"The first thing I need is to have free reign to move among Equestria as a supported military power."

"Do you seek Marshall law?"

"No, nothing to that extent but I need to have my units respected as public defenders. If they say a command to residents then it is made only in their best interest to protect them from harm. In no way will they abuse this power for personal gain, how could they? Their robots after all." She chuckled at this.

Solaris nodded at this logic. "While it may be difficult to have such a dramatic transition in military power over a once-peaceful nation I will announce your authority...but if we are to do this we must also reveal the nature of our enemy to the public. Only then can our people find some trust in these alien allies." 

"I expected as much...while it may be unconventional I do have a few low leveled Blood Shifters in containment." She could see the shock in his eyes. "It's for research purposes and the containment is full proof. The design is made for much stronger creatures after all."

Solaris huffed at the concept but didn't have the knowledge to know if this was a good idea or not. "What is your plan then?"

"We show the people the true grotesque form of the Spawn and why they are a threat needed to be suppressed. Pony kind tends to be quite stubborn when it comes to change but with proof like mine they had to consider the reality we are in right now." 

"...if you can promise me on your word this demonstration will not put anyone in harm then I will allow such a stunt."

It didn't take a second for her to respond, she was that confident in her technology. "I can give you my word no harm will come out of this...aside from a few possible nightmares this may produce." 

"Right then, what are these points on this glowing map here?" He moved on while pointing to the lightmap.

"Those are strategic points my war department suggested would be good places to add control points and resource refineries."

"What do these entail?"

"Bases will add fast response time to possible threats detected in the area, my units will not only respond to the Void but also minor things such as robberies, assault, natural disasters, and such. Each base is also fitted with a teleportation station I plan to make use to the public when the bases are complete."

Solaris didn't expect the declaration that Spines's soldiers were also to become helpful peacekeepers. "Interesting, and what of these refineries?"

"I have come into control of multiple resource depots in the Everfree and with refineries, I can have my army produce more units and better armor, weaponry, and even common goods assuming we outfit a surplus of droids. It may amuse you to know these refineries have stored schematics to build friendly commodities such as toys, advanced electronics and vehicles designed for public use." She showed a hologram of a plush cat and various other toys. "I think they are made so any on guard droid can give these out in an attempt to ease tensions when on a new world... these Unity guys are pretty soft-hearted you know?" She smiled thinking about how nice the good guys were, she hoped she could meet them someday assuming they still lived after all these years. "Now in exchange for this land control, I can offer you a share of nonlethal technology to advance your people's lives tenfold as well as labor units made to perform pretty much any task assigned. These labor units are sociable and are built with free thought so they may build friendships with the people around them.

"You say 'free thought' in regards to some of these droids of yours. What does that mean?"

"Ah, well when a unit of my forces are newly built for something such as constant manual labor or war they are not alive. Merely hunks of metal moving around as a result of electricity and good programming. Now some are 'born' with free will, many higher thinking droids are just as much alive as you or me, the reason for this is so the droids are capable of unique thinking and real social interaction with the populous. What's interesting is every unit is capable of free thinking if given the command but it is suggested the manual labor units be left unthinking because no one would want their entire life to be just that would you?" The thoughtful design of Unity had never ceased to amaze her, the same could be said for Solaris just leaning of a whole new world.

Solaris gave his decision. "I will give you permission to erect these bases of yours, once I give the official announcement to the population you and I and my advisory will work on an official document and put all this on paper." As he said this he noticed the entire time a small tapping noise was coming from behind him. He turned to see the massive snake-like Draconequus holding his face up lazily with one claw and tapping the table with his other lion paw. "D-discord?" 

The Chaos God sharpened his gaze at being talked to."Oh, You finally noticed me Sunny Boy? And here I was thinking I was being ignored."

"I should have expected you'd be here, why didn't you tell me of Spines's whereabouts once you knew?" He said with a bit of malice in his voice. 

Discord just shrugged. "It's really none of my business to get involved in your family matters, besides the girl wanted her Independence right? It's about that time she starts rebelling isn't it?" Spines raised her hand angrily.

"That not it! I was practically forced to do this at first." She huffed while folding her arms.

"Oh suuuure. And next, you'll say you have a robot boyfriend now right?" 

"Shut up Discord this discussion is over." She got up from her seat. "Alright both of you get out of here, I need to prep my troops to launch when the papers are signed." 

The King laughed a bit while getting up as well. "Alright 'Carbon'. I need to have a word with my advisory team...it's going to be one hell of a meeting to be sure...actually can you have one of your small less threatening soldiers come with me for a time? It's just so those guys won't think I've gone completely insane." 

"Heh, yeah sure I'll call out a droid from the R&D department." She held up her arm and tapped on a button. "GT can you accompany King Solaris, listen to his orders please?" 

"Of course lady, be there in moments."  

Discord sighed while floating up into the walls. "Well I guess I'll just go find the juice bar in this place...the entertainment in this hunk of metal is actually quite surprising Sunny, we should hang out here sometime." He started phasing through the ceiling. "Ta ta!"

Solaris shook his head at the foolish antics of his former foe. "Well then, hopefully all things go smoothly tomorrow...this is going to be the most important day in Equestrian history you know? Years from now they'll have books and history classes on this very moment you know?"

"Hm, yeah that's pretty amazing. I'm just glad you're here alongside me for this." The King smiled at his dear daughter as he walked away.

"You're going to change the world Spines." He walked off out of sight. A small amount of time passed with her alone with her thoughts. 

"Change the world huh...I'm going to have to because we'll all be slaughtered if I don't." She slid the helmet back on a took a deep breath, enjoying the taste of the filters. "Tomorrow is the day everything changes." Then she set off to prepare.
> Making History
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

At exactly 7:00 AM when the sun began to really warm up the high mountain city of Canterlot, the guardsmen called out to the residents from high and low. The King has called out a sudden and important meeting and has asked for everyone to come to the palace grounds to see. He even suggested those with jobs take a paid day off assuming the job wasn't an important task. With that thousands showed up, young to small, Earth pony to Pegasus, and even some ingenious species. 

If it was Solaris himself who declared the massive assembly then it must be important. Many feared some kind of threat to be revealed since no big celebration was nearing this day...or maybe the King had another secret brother who was just reformed...actually that was pretty possible at this point. Even Artemis was standing around the low balcony looking a bit tired from having to delay his after-work nap. Whatever this was it must be something big.

The citizens below rumbled with their voices combined but it all came to a near-immediate silence when the Lord of the Sun himself appeared from the low balcony overlooking the massive crowd. Solaris looked around the mass once and nodded in satisfaction at the staggering amount, he needed as many beings as possible to witness this in person. 

In the dead silence among thousands, only his voice rung clearly to all. "I welcome you all here today for a very urgent matter but I truly apologize for suddenly stripping you away from your daily routine." He could see some faces stiffen when he mentioned an 'urgent matter'. Instead of prolonging the point with a long and drawn-out speech he wanted to cut this tension right now. "Equestria is in grave danger from a foreign threat, unlike anything our planet has seen. Our way of living, no, our very existence has been put on the line!" Now some ponies had to sit as their legs gave out and others began panicking. "Our enemy comes in millions if not more and can easily overrun our defenses with little effort...alone we cannot hope to survive this evil..." The horrified faces looked back at him in hundreds, they are scared which is good, it meant they were taking this seriously. Now it was time to bring them back.

"Which is a good thing we are not alone." The faces looked up to him in confusion, then to his side two armored bipedal soldiers came to the King's side. The crowd began to mutter at the unknown nature of the metallic beings. "A friendly force from beyond the starts has decided to help us take on this 'Void'. Their forces are far more powerful than we can imagine, their technology far outmatches ours and even when we are considered insignificant in their eyes they still chose to help us every-way they can because they are heroes." Two of the large Elite units came lumbering in holding up a metal glowing cage big enough for an elephant. The ponies below could see an even more disturbing figure than the alien metal creatures. 

The Elites dropped the cage for the ponies up front to see. One Elite pulled out a large metal ball form its massive shroud and tossed it into the air. It continued to rise up until stopping above the crowd. The ball opened to reveal a lens that projected a blue holographic image of the savage creature within. 

Solaris could hear the shocked reactions and terrified screams. The demon called a Blood Shifter growled an unholy sound that caused some of the ponies with weak constitutions to cover their ears and close their eyes. Some ponies outright began leaving the crowd. The Shifter made quite a show in appearing like a savage beast to the public. "This is only an insignificant bit of the brutal nature of the enemy, this creature is the weakest in the 'Spawn' hierarchy." The Elites received an order from their commander and took the cage back with them. With the demon gone the crowd began to relax just a bit better than before. "From what you can see our allies are very able to defend us but they need our help as well. For now, I have made a treaty with the Queen of these friendly forces and it is up to us to keep these friendly ties with them. To explain this pact I will now turn your attention to Queen Carbon of the 'Unity' army." He took a step back to allow Carbon the full stage. 

All around she could hear the murmurs of disbelief and awe sent her way with her advanced audio sensors. Her bright green eyes glimmered among the crowd. Her voice came out enhanced through her speakers that gave out a metallic tone that did well to hide her identity. "Citizens of Equestria. I come in peace and goodwill, a long sitting evil prepares at this very moment to overrun your peaceful land and I will not stand idle and watch it burn. I ask for nothing more than respect, my loyal soldiers will work tirelessly to protect you all and in return, I need your cooperation to listen to orders given in the event of an attack." She had to reveal the biggest point of fear to them now. "The Everfree Forest is the epicenter of this atrocity and that means Ponyville is at major risk." The sounds of shock flooded her ears. "I suggest if any of you have family or friends there that you send a letter of warning to them asking them to prepare or leave if possible. Know that Ponyville takes priority at the moment so my defensive strategy begins there and now."

As she said this the sound of shrieking sliced through the skies. Above ponies could see other black figures flying through the air like bullets. The large ones flew slower than the rest as they held up massive black cubes with them. They all seemed aimed for Ponyville. "My forces are strong but at the moment limited and small, if you are to survive and us be victorious we must cooperate together in a Unity that will last the ages. For now, I must oversee preparations for war so I leave you back in the hands of your grand ruler Solaris, thank you for your time." Feeling satisfied with her brief speech, Carbon's wings popped open in all their glory to the masses and like a warrior sent from the heavens, she bolted out into the air following her armies to conduct the strengthening of Ponyville.

Solaris took back his place and met his people. "This is a dark time for us and with their forces we can get out of it but know we won't be putting it all on them, no we must raise ourselves to combat the enemy. For now, the Royal Guard will be reformatted as the Spawn Attack Unit or an S.A.U. We will learn the weaknesses of the enemy and become a fighting force able to support our allies..." Now the people looked less grim if not rattled but he could also see the hope burning in them. "I ask that you do as you will now, go to work or to your families, make plans if you wish for there is no telling when these days of calm may come to an end. I am Solaris, Lord of the Sun, and know that we will not be destroyed we will survive this and we will put an end to it!" With that thunderous applause rumbled the ground as ponies stomped at the words of Solaris.

Satisfied he nodded once and returned to his chambers. He had a very important letter to write his star pupil. 

His sister was coming home...not like he was going to tell him that yet.
> The First Wave
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dusk Shine shuddered at the words he read before him. The letter came into his chamber only moments ago through magic teleportation and he read it over almost ten times already. What was written confirmed his fears and proved he wasn't insane but thinking about it now he really wished he was. 

To my star pupil and best friend Dusk Shine, I write this letter to you warning you of a grave threat that has loomed over our once peaceful lands. It is as you said, invasion from mysterious creatures that bleed from the Everfree is now forming together to destroy our lands with overwhelming numbers. 
However the unknown metal warrior you called Carbon has met with me in person and together we have brokered a deal for our benefit. We will meet very soon on the details but right now this letter is reaching you before our new allies 'Unity' appear in the skies of Ponyville. You already know what they look like and the Queen herself will be overseeing construction on Ponyville's defenses. Her forces will arrive within the hour with massive tools of construction to make Ponyville into the first stronghold point in this Equestrian campaign, forgive me for the sudden announcement but all of this has transpired very swiftly and I had to make the decision due to the severity of our situation.
While I do trust Carbon not to take advantage of us I do want you to prepare your citizens about the occupation while overseeing the nature of our new allies. I'll need a report by the end of the day of her progress and how the people are reacting to the change. Now I will be heading over to you in three days once I finish sorting out the nobles and re-manage the Royal Guard, I wish the best of luck to you Dusk.
Solaris 

The prince did one more take, anymore and he would be wasting major time on the task set for him. "Okay so how do I go about this." His sleep-deprived brain was going overdrive to the point where steam may have been radiating off his forehead. The people were going to think he's gone mad especially after he forcefully built a makeshift barrier over Ponyville overnight using dirt and wood. He started stepping frantically in place. "Oh dear oh dear oh jeez!" Thinking on impulse he dashed through his room while toppling over his stacked notes and books on leads to Spines's whereabouts, which had to be on hold for just today unfortunately but once this was all settled it was back to what really mattered. 

___

Dopey Hoof was taking a casual stroll near the castle delivering mail only to jump back a few feet in fear when the massive doors were forced open with a powerful push spell which was followed by the Prince himself flying through outside looking slightly crazed from his baggy eyes and twitching face. It was apparently one of 'those' days today. "...I should go home now." Whatever was about to happen would probably call for a day off. 

On the other side of town, Dusk was already at the town hall, Mayor Mustang worked on a great works project on building a new bigger performance stage...it would appear all the requests came from that rather annoying performer Tristen. He considered doing it mainly because the old thing was running on its last legs due to wear and tear but on the other hoof th-
*FWOOOSH* 
The Mayor stared blankly as piles of papers violently flew all over the room and in front of him was the crazed Alicorn taking rule over his little town. His eyes were wild as if he stared at the void of the abyss itself. 'First that dam wall and now this.' Mustang thought tiredly. That massive wall completely destroyed the image of Ponyville, it was making this town look like an internment camp with only two exits with a border patrol...well frankly it was insane and all because he saw some unknown creatures outside...the loss of Spines must be really getting to him the poor bastard. He inhaled silently and pulled on his best 'business' face. 

"So Prince Shine, how can I help you?" 

He prayed to every available deity that he wasn't going to ask for something that would make him want to end it all. "We gotta get all the residents of Ponyville gathered at the meeting center in the next half hour!" Mustang inhaled more audibly this time. He was keeping it together for the most part. 

Without explaining why that would be almost impossible to achieve and the damage it would do to the economy he just had to know first. "...why?" The twitch in the Prince's eyes sent a tingle down his spine.

"Remember those shadow creatures from before? Well, that mysterious black warrior has made a deal with Solaris to work together and fortify Ponyville from those creatures, and this robot Queen is coming over right now with her armies of androids as we speak. We need to get every pony together right now to introduce them as to not cause a panic also we need to take note of their actions to decide if or if not they are just using us to have world domination over us all if that is the case we will need the guard and our best mages together to take them down!" 

He wanted to kill him, Mustang closed his eyes while keeping his straight face. There was a sizable pair of scissors right next to him he couldn't help but notice. What if...how fast did he have to be? Or maybe he could toss a book right at his horn and knock him out... "Yes, that's a good idea." He muttered absentmindedly.

"So you agree!?" The shout startled the Mayor. "Great! I'll round up everyone." His wings unfurled so fast that loose feathers shot around the room.

"Huh?!" Mustang recollected himself and gasped in horror at what this maniac was about to do. "No wait! you can't jus-" The Prince bolted out his window creating an air vacuum that took a good few stacks of paper flying all over Ponyville. Mustang once again stared at the once organized mess of a room he had now littered with paper and feathers. "It's time to cash in all my vacation days."  

___

For the next half hour the purple Alicorn would use his royal shout to announce an important emergency meeting all must attend, then he would go into every business and practically forced them out. After a hectic round-up Dusk managed to do everything he set out to do nearing the deadline. He flew down onto the stage to see below the disheveled hundreds of tired ponies looking back at him. "I am glad you all decided to come here today." He began while speaking into the microphone.

"You forced us to come here!" A voice that sounded kinda similar to Applebuck rang out. Others couldn't help but murmur in agreement.

The words just couldn't find a way to register into the poor Alicorn's head. "Yes now to explain the meaning of all of this." Now everyone started to listen, despite everything recently going on with Dusk he was sensible enough to know what is a valid emergency to call everyone out for. "Ponyville is about to be put under the supervision of alien metallic creatures and we need to prepare for this right now!" About 20 people were already leaving. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!!" Those about to leave looked back in horrified shock as well as the rest of the crowd seeing the (usually) level-headed Prince look like he was about to go on a rampage of unknown proportions.

Thankfully before anything could escalate a roaring hum began to radiate across the town. Everyone stopped what they were doing and felt the heavy reverberation beating in their chests. "Look!" A citizen announced pointing at the sky in the direction of Canterlot. 

The Prince felt his heart sink at the sight of dozens of small black figures flying right at them. Some were massive in comparison to the rest and were hauling black cubes double their size with them. The hum of their engines could be felt miles away like hundreds of Wonderbolts flying in one unison. "I thought I had more time!" They were coming in at speeds impossible for something living and somehow the large ones holding up massive cubes matched that speed. 

By now everyone present began to notice the unidentified flying objects and some began to appear visibly panicked. "It's OK everypony! Everything is under control, as decreed by Solaris himself we are to give these foreigners a warm old-fashioned Ponyville style welcome!" Were it any other day Dusk would seem quite reasonable but that cheek-splitting smile of his made it seem like the apocalypse was upon him. Luckily a Wildcard appeared to save the day. 

"Alrighty Party Ponies!" Bubble Berry arose from the crowd atop of a light blue cannon. "This is a Category 5 party emergency so we gotta get experimental, MAKE A PATH!" Dusk stopped trying to use his head, any more input had a high likelihood of actually making his head burst. Ponies charged out fearfully at the Party Pony's scheme, whatever it was it was going to be ridiculous. 

____

The disguised Spines and her flying entourage were only moments away from their destination, throughout the entire flight Spines was trying her hardest to figure out what to say to her friends and neighbors through a mask. What was she going to tell Dusk? According to Solaris, he sent a letter over to the Prince about an hour ago so they won't be caught off guard in the very least. She sighed woefully, she had to tell him the truth after construction was done. He was coming undone by the looks of it and by Solaris he didn't deserve to suffer anymore because of her. "Lady Spines, we are about to reach our destination. How do we proceed?" Bek brought her back from her thoughts. It was odd just how easily she could put her mind on hold while her suit flew at dangerous speeds across the skies. 

The armored dragon peered down at her home with her enhanced sight and saw something ridiculous. Streamers, cake, balloons, etc, etc. Yes the meeting center looked like a clown vomited in mass. It was obviously Bubble Berry brand madness but slightly sloppy as hell. Looked rushed which was understandable given the circumstances. Dusk really was going insane if he actually let Bubbles handle the meeting space for a bunch of unknown entities. The funniest thing would be the several massive banners depicting a rather generic black-eyed grey-faced alien see in many B-List Sci-Fi flicks with the words "WELCOME ALIENS" Embolden in bright red. "...okay well I want you and two Elites by my side as we make a soft landing on that wooden stage right there." She pointed. "The rest of you all I want to remain on standby and await my orders up here." She received multiple pings of confirmation. She nodded. "Remember to do your best to not scare anyone alright." 

"Understood, going into 'Humanitarian' mode." 

'Cool...didn't know they had that...what's a human?' A thought that would become quite relevant in the near future.

___

Carbon and her entourage hovered over the clearly bewildered crowd, Bek floated behind her while her two Elites, Zinc and TP-Z who was named 'Topaz' by Carbon, stayed near her side. The group lowered themselves slowly as to not cause any more fright. 

Once Carbon landed her metallic wings retreated into her back. Her eyes glowed through the mask as she peered over her town, every single face looked at her in fear. A part of her really wanted to unmask right here right now and such a thing would be simple to do were it not for Dusk. She eyed the crazed Prince while her visor did an anomaly scan on mentality, the suit read his rapid eye movements, erratic heart-rate, and even brain waves to confirm what pretty much everyone guessed, Dusk was at a breaking point to where even another stresses could cause a cataclysmic breakdown of unknown proportions, best case scenario would be he simply goes unconscious, the worst-case showed an 87% probability of a violent psychotic breakdown. She shivered at her brother's broken state. This had to be handled with great care.

"People of Ponyville...it is truly an honor to be in front of you all today." She gave a deep respectful bow. This act seemed to settle a large portion of the crowd thankfully. "I do apologize for the suddenness of our arrival and I wish we could meet on safer terms but it must be known to you all that your peaceful world is under attack from a deep-rooted evil hiding in wait for the past few millennia!" Just as before her Elites tossed up metal balls in the air that displayed holographic images of the enemy. The reaction the ponies made were different than that of Canterlot, they seemed more shocked than horrified. 

"Are you saying Dusk hasn't gone batshit crazy!?" Applebuck called out.

"HEY!" The mentioned Prince shot back.

...ah she understood now. "That is correct, the threat I present is all too real and must be taken into high priority! The fate of Equestria depends on our unity and cooperation." The chatter among her friends began to rise. "Prince Dusk Shine!" She called to his surprise. "Come up to the stage if you will." He nodded and teleported to her side. She had to suppress her urge to hug him. 'I never realized just how much I could miss someone like this.' She just had to hold back a little longer. "The enemy looms a grave shadow over your land every day, while my forces have done an admirable job at holding them back we are limited in numbers, the Spawn could be seen as limitless in your eyes to where some can slip through our limited power, Ponyville is in need of major defensive upgrades that no simple dirt wall could protect." She held out her hand to her brother. "Do I have your permission to become this land's shield?"

Dusk looked at the alien before him, why was he reminded so much of Spines? Well, they do have a similar figure but the words, it reminded him so much of her. A tear ran down his eye, something inside him said he could trust this creature with his life. Shakily he grasped her hand. "...Yes, please protect us...I don't want to lose anyone else...plesss..." She smiled as the tired Prince fell into her arms, out like a light. She felt bad for tricking her dear brother but this was for his own good. In her metallic hand stood thousands of microscopic needles when injected would pump powerful anesthetics that could put...well a horse to sleep in seconds. 

Already the Mane 5, marched up together to attend to the fallen Dusk. She kept her ignorance. "It would appear your Prince is suffering from severe fatigue, I suggest he be placed in a bed and given liquids high in energy." Butterscotch cowered at the massive form of the black titans around him, Blitz seemed interested in her metal wings, Applebuck seemed to try to give a hard stare at Bek but of course, found no emotion. "Ah guessed Dusk was at his breaking point...but if I find out ya gone and done any fishy business to my friend I won't hesitate ta knock yer tin behind back to whatever planet you came from." The farmer noted taking the Prince off her hands. Spines couldn't help but grin at her friend's boldness...in all honesty that was pretty foolish of him to say, all things considered, were it someone else behind the mask it wouldn't be too hard to believe the heard headed farmer would be... 'eliminated' right then and there. Well, it sure was a good thing Spines understood that Applebuck was just being his usual brand of honesty...although being honest and knowing when to shut up are two different things but she digressed.

"I assure you, kind citizen, your dear Prince will be fine after a healthy eight hours of rest." She held her hands up in a surrendering manner. This seemed to satisfy the Element of Honesty...for now.

Bubble came up to her and placed a cupcake in her open palm. "Welcome to Ponyville!" He gleamed. She nodded coolly. Applebuck began dragging Dusk back to what appeared to be the castle. The others followed behind Applebuck to attend to their friend except for Elusive who seemed to want to speak more, but first, she must address the crowd.

"With the sudden collapse of your head authority I will end today's meeting. Rest assured Ponyville is now under the protection of Unity, construction will begin momentarily on the improved barriers but before that, I give a very important warning." Everyone present stood to attention. "Stay away from the Everfree, the source of this threat is stationed deep within and while the forest was always a hazard it is now a certain death trap for any non-combative. If you had certain business in the Everfree speak with us by tomorrow once we have set up the station and we will see how we can assist you. You may now go about your day normally but I suggest staying away from the walls due to immediate construction." She bowed. "Have a wonderful day all of you!" She felt happy with this, it was finally time to save her home.

She turned back to Elusive ready to hear her old friend's concerns. Well...Elusive seemed much more interested in Zinc oddly enough. "I must say dear the textures on this cape are absolutely breathtaking, truly something fit for royal guards of such a grand presence...is it at all possible I could sample such materials for my next suit. You see I'm a tailor by craft and such things could be the next big thing for the upper crust to wear...am I overstepping some lines here?" The slight worry in his eyes almost made the masked Queen burst in a fit of laughter, just hearing him talk made the day feel that much better. 

"I'll take your request into consideration, once we have our units set up bases and the current threat down to a minimum then we can discuss fashion all you like." 

The crowd around him began to disperse. Which was fine now that she had the Prince's permission to operate freely. "Oh well that just sounds marvelous your Highness, now may I ask what your next task is? Perhaps I may be of assistance."

The Queen hummed clutching her chin. "The work about to be done is far too dangerous for an organic being to be part of I would love to show you the efficiency of our workforce if you wish." It was important for the Elements to trust her forces, once they did the rest would surely follow. 

"I believe I must take you up on that offer your Highness, it's not every day you get to see such an event." Elusive wasn't doing this out of curiosity, of course, now that Dusk was currently indisposed and the other was preoccupied with his condition, someone had to watch over these extraterrestrials. While it wasn't the fashion pony's style he would surely not allow them to operate freely and in the event, something suspicious was to be discovered he would report back to Dusk once his condition improves.

Spines just felt happy to be with her dear friend again. "Let us be off then."

___

In front of Carbon and Elusive as well as the three androids stood the improvised dirt barrier. It could certainly keep out a few Timberwolves and maybe even a Manticore but against the Spawn, this could be considered made of thin glass. "So exactly how will you create an appropriate defense in such a short span of time?"

Carbon nodded while looking up to her Elite Zinc. Zinc held up a massive black cube hauled over from Home Base. "That cube is full of compacted walls, stations and the tools needed to build up a respectable defense within an hour's time." She snapped her fingers, Zinc dropped the cube gently. "Alright Bek, let us begin." While she may have been the leading head commander of her forces, Bek was made for the intricate unit formation and was relied upon to perfectly order around hundreds of units at an instant notice. 

'I have this covered your Highness.' Bek signaled the units on standby in the air to come on down. Like swarms of bees the construction crew came around the cube and unveiled their weapons, but instead of firing the guns were set to absorb the black chunks in the cube into their guns. 

Elusive was amazed to see the Androids with filled weapons go over to the shabby dirt wall and spray a black liquid-like substance over it. Quickly the spray seemed to connect with the other portions of the substance and lock together tightly. "What is all this?" He asked.

"These are nano-machines, very tiny robots that can form into any shape when enough group together. All over this town, my soldiers will turn this wall into an intelligent barrier capable of defending the ground and sky." 

Elusive was impressed with this. "Very interesting, but how will we get in or out when the whole area is encompassed like this?"

"I'm glad you asked, there will be four dedicated entrances located near each major zone of the congregation but in the event of-" Before she could continue Bek pushed his way into the conversation.

'Forgive me for the intrusion my Queen but we have a major situation that requires your attention.' Carbon froze, this was the first time she ever heard of anything like this. Elusive too felt worried at the idea of something horrid unfolding. 

"W-what is the situation Bek?" She couldn't help her stutter. 

' It would be best if you saw this yourself.' The battle commander tossed out a small ball onto the ground that displayed various holograms, some showed maps of the Everfree and other smaller ones showed first-person views of what seemed to be soldiers fighting against the Spawn. The map of Everfree showed a massive amount of red dots overwhelming fifty green dots. 'I want a report AT-79!'

Over the coms, a static voice responded. 'Commander, it isn't looking good-augh!' Blaster fire could be heard as well as numerous monstrous shouts. 'Their numbers are overwhelming us, they won't stop coming! We might have the strength to handle this but our batteries are running low and our ammunition is nearly depleted.' A massive explosion echoed over the radio. 'We just used up our last ordinance volley, we have nothing left but our own power supply...we will gladly fight to the last while taking out as many as possible but you need to get that defensive network operation ASAP because a flood is headed your way. We have ten minutes of fighting power left, after that, it's up to you. It has been an honor-'

Carbon pushed herself forward to the floating ball. "Now hold on soldier! Did I give you permission to die?" She understood what they were trying to do, in the event of the catastrophic shutdown and no civilian life is detected in a ten-mile radius the unit would self-destruct, fifty units self-destructing all at once would surely cause significant damage to the enemy but that alone would deal a crippling blow to her fighting strength. Those fifty were well armored and equipped with the best weapons designed to deal with Spawn hordes. Losing them would mean a weakened defense...and she didn't want those loyal Androids to die either. Even if they were metal and electricity she saw their lives just as valuable as any other. 

'Forgive us, Queen Carbon, we were out of line. What would you have a do?' It put Ponyville at a higher risk but the pros outweighed the cons and were invaluable in long-term operations. The wall would be complete within 57 minutes. According to the map, the horde will reach Ponyville in approximately 22. ...That meant 35 minutes of certain battle...Her brain and helmet calculated the odds.   

"Fight until you hit critical energy reserves, then escape back to Base for refueling. Sort up with us at Ponyville as soon as possible. Is that clear?"

She came to the conclusion that she and her loyal Androids could win. 'Loud and clear your Highness. Goodluck!' The signal ended, Bek reclaimed his hologram sphere. 

The Queen let out a breath, this was going to be Hell...but she knew somehow she would pull through. "Bek!" She ordered. "Call in every available unit here on the double and I need you to create an unpenetrable force facing the enemy. I don't want one of those monsters anywhere near this town." Bek knew that may very well be impossible but he saluted anyway. It was up to him to create the best shield possible with his limited fighting power.

She looked down to Elusive who looked frozen in place with the situation unfolding in front of him. "You need to get back there and warn everyone to stay away from the walls. Get everyone inside and hide until we give the all-clear. GO!" This shot the stallion out of his stupor, with a quick nod he galloped back home preparing to shout his lungs out.

It was going to be a mess but she was prepared for this...her second mask clasped around her face as she revealed her sword and pistol. The Androids around her scattered around in preparation for the nightmare about to meet them. "Alright Tendrix...let's do this."
> Flood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines took a deep breath to calm her nerves. The filters expanded her lungs to keep her in a peak condition. It was coming, very soon a siege will take place at her home. It sickened her to the point of gagging but she kept her stance strong. Her gun changed to full power was gripped tightly at her side as well as her black sword. Would she be enough to stem the tide of battle? Bek warned her that the battle data he compiled showed a low chance of absolute victory and a high chance of moderate victory, this meaning she would likely survive and the Spawn would be destroyed no matter the outcome, but a moderate victory implied some Spawn would leak through her grasp, some would get beyond the walls and- no...no she wouldn't even entertain the thought and further. To her, a 'moderate' victory was no better than an absolute failure...no it was not an option. This had to be perfect and according to Bek, she was the piece needed to ensure a victory she could accept. She had to be perfect, she had to be fierce, she had to make every correct decision to or she could never look at herself in the mirror again. 

As she thought about her place in all this her loyal troopers lined themselves behind her in an orderly fashion, Elites stood at the back just before the developing wall as the final guard between her grasp and the innocent town she loved. he shook her head again, focus...it was time to focus.

The army she had with her was not well equipped to handle such situations. That was the duty of her attack force that she foolishly exhausted all at once not thinking of a time such as this where backup would stem the tide of war. But that was neither here nor there. Her units were only sentry types and not battle-oriented for full-scale invasions, equipped with automatic charge rifles and a backup plasma blade. Some were more specialized like Bek and a few lingering troops designed for long-range sniping equipped with weapons that can fire something miles away. These were low leveled weapons compared to what she knew in her limited studies on weaponry, no ordnance. Her fighting force numbered in 950 soldiers and 12 Elite units, against the thousands upon thousands of vile blood approaching each Unit needed to be worth more than one thousand and she had to be worth even more if they wanted even a chance to completely suppress the enemy. 

"My Lady enemy arrival ETA 30 seconds." She snapped out of her thoughts, how long was she thinking? Back to her sense, she felt the ground rumble, just over the horizon came the horrible creatures. She raised her sword, a rising heat came in her chest...fear, terror? No, she realized just now how her covered face made a venomous glare. It was hatred, hatred at the bastards that wanted so ruthlessly to kill her and her home. Every encounter she had with them ended with brutal bloodshed, compromise was impossible, they were uncaring, unloving remnants of a dark empire set on absolute genocide. Just way was she victim to this madness? Just why was she forced to handle this mantle of responsibility for an enemy that had no business being here? Why did Tendrix have to die in her place?

No, Spine was horribly mad, so furious she felt the temperature rise in her suit which was vented by her suit. Words passed along her visor. 
*DETECTING HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE*
*INCREASED HEART RATE*
*HEAT LEVELS RISING*
*...ANALYZING...PURE BLOOD OF THE LORD GENERAL DISCOVERED...*

The Queen wrinkled her brow, what in the name of Equestria was happening? She felt itchy in her suit now, as if she were burning up on the inside of her scales, a unique sensation.

"ETA 10 seconds My Queen." She could barely hear Bek over the ringing in her ears. What was happening?

*MASSIVE THREAT INBOUND...ENHANCEMENT AVAILABLE...BERSERKER PROTOCOL READY*   

She was steaming on the inside, what did it mean? Enhancement, protocol?? Her mind spun but a bit of her knew the suit was just an extension of herself and its core purpose is to protect the wearer. It wouldn't do something to hurt her and in this moment of all-out battle, she needed to trust her technology. In a ragged voice, she husked out "ACTIVATE PROTOCOL!" 

*ACKNOWLEDGED* She felt countless injections pierce her scales throughout her entire body, were she not in a heated state the event would be incredibly painful but she was just too numb to notice. Then she felt a freezing liquid feed right into her body, the hot and cold contrast made her knees buckle. The heat in her body moved to her mind, racing, spinning, growing.... The lights in her suit tuned red as her visor. She grew a few inches, her body creaked at the shift. Her sense of balance left and she was caught on all fours now panting wildly on the ground.

She could feel the thundering riot of Spawn coming, they were within sight over the hill like a wave coming to crush a sandcastle. The entire landscape became full of black and blue and purple, It pissed her off greatly. Something in her suit shifted with her size, the joints unlatched to give more space and her back spines grew sharper and longer, her maw grew dramatically and pushed against her mask. The suit shifted its pieces and opened the jaw area to fit her feral form. 

She could be about 10 feet in size now and a most intimidating figure. Her jaw was loose in the open but guarded with her suit giving her the look of a black metal jaw. She felt like fire incarnate and she needed to burn to sate this undying need to bring retribution to those who wronged her and the peace she fought for. She saw red and not just due to the re-coloration of her visor. 

Her units were already at work, firing thousands upon thousands of shots that gave the field a bright green glow. The weak Shifters fell in one hit no matter the location but the more advanced creatures took more to befall. With their numbers, they would easily push through her blockade in minutes...unless. 

She growled a more feral rumble than the time she became SpineZilla. Yes, this new form was designed to cause havoc, she could feel it. The target of her hate ran clearly in front of her. 'Slaughter, kill, crush, decimate' It sounded in her head and she chose to let go of her fear and only think about ending this as soon as possible. 

She told her mind to run forward and before the thought even finished she was moving at the speed of the Friendship Express. She wanted to use her weapons but something told her it wasn't necessary right now. She jumped up with the height of the castle, then she dive-bombed the location she saw the most powerful-looking Spawns. She impacted the ground like a missile, crushing and pushing out those in the area. She roared so loud it could be heard faintly from Canterlot. 

The Spawn around her seemed to register her as the biggest threat and pooled around her. Her gullet filled with a heavy breath of fire. So she let the inferno out like ablaze, no matter the size or speed those in her path melted down to the bone at the incredible force of her flames. 

Behind her she noticed her personal units come to her aid. They seemed to know the nature of her new form as one jumped up and perched itself on her shoulder. "T-21 here to assist my Queen." The droid that resembled her more than herself at the moment unleashed a cannon to its side. She didn't speak, unsure if t was even possible at this point but she nodded while rushing another horde. The other hovered behind with its rifle, picking off the weak points at the more advanced blood creatures. The berserk Spines found a Titan coming her way and instead of evading it she chose to meet its charge, their arms clashed but quickly she overpowered the beast and tore out its right arm. The Titan struggled but was quickly snuffled out as she returned the arm with the force of a giant sledgehammer to the skull. Without missing a beat she grabbed its legs and swung it around beating the life out of those who came too near. She felt it start to dissolve into a mist so before the corpse dissipated she slung the massive body over to another nearby Titan, the impact made a satisfying crunching noise as the two fell. 

T-21 fired an unending attack on those in its sight. This gave Spines more space of freedom to create more damage. Green plasma flew all around her but not once did any of it touch her for the droids were too good at their aim. Her armor ignored the scratches and hits she took from the insignificant Void, too weak was correct, with just some better weapons she bet she could destroy the entire horde in just one night. Her fist balled as she swung her right hook, killing hundreds in one blow. Her tail sliced those in her blind spot. 

She and her team kept up with this for some time without worry, those that she was too far to reach were suppressed by the cannons the Elites used. With her unexpected boon in savage power, things were going well. Bek took the hoard head-on as well with duel blades at hand. He was up to his neck in Spawns but his advanced programming saw this as little challenge. With a slash of the arms, hundreds became sliced in two. Like a skilled sushi chef, the commander shredded through them like paper. "Cease your transgressions immediately or face annihilation." He stated calmly in monotone. Of course, the warning has never worked once in his long life but protocol mandated he give the enemy a chance to surrender to avoid breaking the laws of war set by high command. 

The enemy who was capable of little thought ignored the words of the commander, a choice they would learn to be a death sentence. Seeing their refusal Bek gave an automatic sigh, a quirk he developed from his commander, and let several panels out of his body. Powerful jets of heat vented out of them so strong the unfortunate Spawn melted before him. This was not his attack by a long shot, his combat technique rusted and dulled by centuries of monotony needed a long-awaited sharpening. His power cells shook with a violent energy that went into both his sword and legs, the green plasma blade went from a vibrant green to an ominous violet. "It is time I show you just how small you all really are!" 

To the Spawn, the annoying robot was within grasp but then he wasn't, gone like lightning not even realizing they were already dead. Bek moved around 3D space at speeds never reached before by anyone in the Universe. The blade danced across the battlefield-like web killing everything in its path. There was a reason Tendrix chose an android to command his ship for Bek was one in a million regular units who proved their power and worth in combat, It was Bek who has earned this power not by simply being built better but by being worthy to command it. 

The Void tried uselessly to swipe at the annoyance only to find demise no matter the size or type. Bek moved back and forth, up and down, side to side it mattered not with his high pressured vents that made the very dimension his own. Cut by cut hundreds upon hundreds were cut back into the mist. The blade left fires across where it slashed that moved like an animal looking to feed, the violet flames ate up the foolish Spawn and spread further and further. Yes, it was with this trump card Bek felt the possibility of victory was within sight, but it remained on the General to keep her side suppressed and the Units in the back picking off the lucky few who breakthrough. No one person could do this alone and everyone had to give it their all to protect the innocent. Another wide slashing blade cut through them all like leaves, it could only be expected when you make an army out of rotted blood. With his motionless face, the commander killed as many as he could, even with this power he paled in comparison to the other great leaders of Unity but even still he had to go beyond!

Spines was starting to stagger, it's felt like forever since the skirmish began but in reality, it has only been less than 10 minutes. Her rage state was cooling down despite the suit doing its hardest to keep the flame alive, she could feel it in her head prodding around memories that can keep her furious but to no avail, Dusk's and Solaris's care and love to her were backfiring at this very moment. She never knew real loss or pain, only today has she felt true hatred but it was not enough to sustain. WARNING...BERSERKER MODE DRAINING FASTER THAN EXPECTED...SHIFTING BACK IN THE MIDDLE OF BATTLE WILL PROVE FATAL. RECOMMEND RETREAT IMMEDIATELY The suit wailed. Retreat? She couldn't do that, Ponyville was counting on her here and now...but 25 minutes left of this Hell...was it even possible anymore? 

Using Berserk mode took on a lot of energy, to use hatred to power intense energy is a risky gamble if one does not harbors enough hate in their heart. It was a star that burned bright but quick. "I was an idiot to choose this." She felt tired, her muscles begun to shrink. The fire was fading fast, too fast even, she could feel the danger she was in as she slashed apart another horde. This exhaustion in the middle of hundreds of thousands of savages...she was left floating in a pool full of sharks. She could fly and escape with relative ease but that was out of the question. She had to hold the line, everyone depended on this!

Her eyes went from red back to green and her body quickly shrunk back into her normal form. The Spawn took notice of this and redoubled their effort by pouncing all at once. This was it, the final blow. "NO! It can't end here!" Her muscles screeched in torment but through the shredding pain she reached for her sword and let out a circular slash that killed off the nearby evil. It hurt, it hurt so much she wanted to cry, but she went again with another attack and again and again and again. The left-arm went limp she was unable to move, only her right arm made the move to attack again and again despite wanting to fall off at any moment."IGNORE IT! Pain is nothing, all that matters is home, ignore it all you fucking coward it's meaningless!!" Another it but it only killed half of them, another hit killing the few that got through but left an opening for those behind. One Shifter moved in and got a hit in on her side. She dropped her sword, her body failed to respond to her command. Then another came in a took a hit, then another and more. 

The pain threatened to make her pass out, which sounded like such a treat right now but she would not allow it. There had to be something she could still do right? They piled on her giving out brutal hits every second. The suit would not hold on forever like this but she felt she would die long before they got through...was this it? She had nothing left.

"I can't... go yet, not here...not now..." It was so bad she begun to cry, trapped in her own body, lifeless, worthless...unless? 

In a split memory, she remembered she was not alone in this. Her communication channel opened to all signals. "This is General Spines in need of immediate assistance! I can't hold on anymore!" Her voice was panicked, scared, something the androids never heard before. She was way out of time, if anyone could hear her it had to be right now or she would die. 

She waited, another hit to her abdomen, a small spurt of blood hocked up her throat, a fist to the face her nose became broken. A powerful large hit to the chest made her bones creak, the once-broken rib threatened to snap once again. Did her voice get through at all? Does anyone even notice her pain? Was she really alone after all?

...

...

Her ears flickered, in the mass of screaming demons, she could hear something else...something metallic but at the same time so warm sounding. "GENERAL SPINES!!" A bright light bathe her body, the venomous jaws of the Spawn were suddenly struck in shock and dissolved in the light. She felt heat but only a warm sensation that made the pain slightly more bearable. The intense light fade to reveal the blue sky, she was in an empty crater. Yes just before her defeat someone threw a plasma grenade that burned out the evil around her, it was only the suit she was still alive. T-21 landed next to her in a frantic manner, the newly built android kneed to her master. "You must return to base and heal General, we cannot afford to lose you. Already she began lifting the downed commander with intent to take her back. 

"...N-nO!" She coughed out. Every second more Spawn got through her line, the border guards suddenly found themselves firing at more and more enemies, they would be overwhelmed in less than a minute. 

The droid made in her image paused. It was a priority that injured personal be removed from the battlefield, especially a high commander. "Your body scans show several fractures and muscle tears, you can no longer move, with all due respect you can no longer aid us, let us do the work as you heal, we will prevail." 

Spines gasped finding it hard to breathe, did a lung collapse as well? "But...some will die. Can't let that happen! I...refuse to leave!" Even she knew she was being crazy but she could not let herself leave them. There had to be at least something she could do... With strength she no longer had, Spines lifted her left arm to grasp the black hand of her soldier. "Help me, please!" 

T-21 halted her response. Her deeper thinking spun, he thought outside of protocols on what could be done...and like a light bulb, she found a possible solution. "This goes outside conventional reason General. This will put you in immense pain but it is the only thing we can do to keep you fighting.     

She didn't care, she suffered a lot already, what could some more really do to her right? "DO IT, I don't care just do it!" 

T-21 nodded. "It is as you command." Suddenly the droid fell to pieces, before she could react to this he suit jerked up in the air suddenly. The pain of movement made her gasp. The parts from the once standing android floated up by an unseen force and attached themselves to her form. The armor grew thicker, blades sharper. more panels and guards. It was a quick process that left Spines up in the air for a moment only to drop back down, she braced for impact by gritting her teeth but found suddenly the suit move on its own to a landing position. Then without pause, it stood up and took the blade from the ground. Each movement felt like she was being torn apart but she endured the pain. If this is what saved her home costs then she was more than happy to bear this pain. 

CARBON EX Has made the scene.
> Iron Resolve
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines felt everything every moment. As the suit extended its arm to fire a spray of plasma on the field. Her body ached and screamed. No, she gritted her teeth and swallowed her pained wails. This was no time to be distracted, she was a dragon and she could handle it if it meant it would save lives, save Dusk and her family.
At the moment she was no better than a flesh puppet inside a shell. The suit could not function without a user however so her cooperation held everything together. 
Carbon EX was not too much of a game-changer than its regular state but an enhancement such as this very well could tip the scales in their favor. Enhanced targeting and battle power combined with increased speed and defense make her a much harder target to kill. 

It landed while unsheathing its blade which to her looked much longer as well as a longer version of her pistol. Around it rushed another furry of Spawn. In one swing of the arm, the path was cleared as a bloody mist tinted the air. "SHIT." Spines moaned, her arm tore apart little by little with the impossible speeds her suit moved with. It was hard to breathe from her earlier injuries, she knew if she commanded the suit would stop but she already made up her mind, no turning back, she will walk this path of Hell with a smile if it meant victory. She made a raspy inhale "KEEP FIGHTING." The suit nodded and attacked once more, another powerful slash that cut apart the weaklings. It used the gun to shoot larger ones in the distance in their weak points. The enhanced gun packed a new powerful punch every shot that downed a Titan in only a few well-placed hits. As the Void Spawns began to see the suit as a threat once again they focused to destroy it, this gave the soldiers at the wall about to be overwhelmed a chance to push them back. 

"The General is giving us an opening. Do not waste it!" An Elite shouted as it tore apart a large Titan from the legs. 

"JAWOHL!" Everyone chanted in confirmation.

Over the sea of evil, a purple fire blazed over it like burning oil. Bek spun around like a saw blade obliterating everything by the thousands. Then something snapped, the spin attack stopped suddenly and violently causing the commander to be tossed a long distance away, as he flew his system told him the error was due to his left joint piece giving out to the sudden immense pressure. Internally he swore, he knew this might happen after countless years in a dark room. It did not matter to him however, victory was in sight if everything was going as planned. If an absolute victory meant his life then he would do it without hesitation. His core fired up even faster, energy left the left arm and pulsed to the right. The heat made the purple blade's earlier violet ooze into an even darker hue. His time was short so it made these moments vital to deal a crippling blow. His vents fired up and like lighting, he was gone, with one arm he had to really focus to perform the same damage as before, he could feel his accuracy fall as his right joint began to creek and melt from the overwhelming power. 

Yes it was working, Bek with his venomous fire was grinding their numbers down, and best of all the flood began to stop coming out from the Everfree, the summit of this mountain was finally in sight. Eight minutes until the wall was completed, yes with just one final push the General's efforts would be realized- in one moment his speed was cut like a flame in water. The incredible and sudden halt in speed caused several components in his insides to shatter and break, his diagnostics showed what he already knew. The body was dead and he was in great danger, his optics came back in order to see a most unpleasant sight.

It stood almost fifteen feet tall with four legs and two massive arms that ended in claws that measured up to three feet in length. The chest was ripped and shredded with misplaced muscles but the head was the most prominent feature in this abhorrent mess. A maw filled only with rigid teeth and an ovular head with sixteen small blue eyes that looked down at him as it huffed and breathed unevenly. Yes it was as Bek feared, the hidden Void pulled a risky move and pooled a large portion of its blood into one creature, a Blood Clot as it were. Dangerous and adaptable but only used in desperation due to the level of aggression they had. There was a solid chance the weakened Void was already slaughtered by this mess of a monster. It was red all over, oozing a black substance as if it lacked skin. It made an odd clicking noise that messed with his audio sensors. 

His speed was his doom, he was too focused on killing as many as possible to see the large threat grab him off the air like a fly, it was truly a shameful moment for the commander...one he would repay now. "SELF DESTRUCT ACTI-" Before the command could go through the Clot tore off the commander's head and gave it a crush with its fist and as a final end the creature tossed the head into its pool of teeth. "SPines...I'm soRr-"

___          

It came to the point where Spines started to go numb from each movement given. Her brain started to shut down feeling altogether, time itself began to fade bit by bit. The suit was doing good work in keeping them away. She hopped her body would survive to see the end of it all...her eyes closed and darkness overtook her...for only a moment as blaring lights slapped her awake "Wha?" *EMERGENCY...HIGHLY LETHAL THREAT INBOUND...COMMANDER SIGNAL LOST* "Bek?" She muttered as her senses began to return, then she saw it. Nothing thus far struck fear into her soul like this, massive and unrecognizable to anything she has ever seen. 

"General..." The soldier that melded with her suit said. "That is something we cannot afford to ignore, it will tear through our numbers with ease." 

Pain began to come back to the dragoness, through gritted teeth she drawled out. "Then what do you suggest we do?" 

"We need you to control this body again, having a clump of dead weight lowers our efficiency. We need full control to beat that thing and destroy the rest of the enemy in time. 

Time? Right...five minutes left...she remembered the pai-'fuck the pain!' She gritted her teeth so hard her jaw began to creek silently to those outside the suit she began to rage and shout every obscenity in the book as loud as she could. Spines felt a new level of sick thinking she would let others die for her comfort. Then she let her com-link open to the world. "I'M TIRED OF THIS BATTLE I'M TIRED OF KILLING AND MOST OF ALL I'M TIRED OF YOU!" She pointed to the Clot in newfound rage.

This proclamation stirred the semi-intelligent Blood Clot, it roared the screams of a thousand voices. With some effort she put force back into her arms and legs, yes it burned but she was past this. "Sometimes you gotta kill to have peace." She gave out a mighty battle cry meeting the mass of blood head-on. 
This was it, the final challenge in front of her.
> Demon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her head pulsed, a migraine couldn't begin to describe this surge of blood and pain in her brain. Her vision was clouded as she swore she busted several blood vessels in her eye, no matter, nothing matters right now. Using Carbon EX put a greater strain on her body; combined with her severely battered form it was a wonder she didn't fall apart with every movement. The suit did its best to manage this torture, using up all the morphine and anesthetics in a way that still allowed her to fight coherently. 'Solaris dammit all to Tartarus...' She thought sluggishly. 

She pulled herself out of another one of her many barely conscious hazes. Her suit took the brunt of another massive clawed attack, right she was already in the middle of this deadly encounter. She flew back as more blood pooled out of her mouth. "Gods, how long has it been already?" The Dragoness held out her arm despite its protest and unloaded another flurry of micro missiles that hit their massive target. Each pin pierced the abomination's misaligned flesh and ignited hundreds of compacted explosions leaving a sizeable hole in its massive form. 

Before Spines could even think of this as a victory of sorts the flesh mass seemed to just create a chunk of more flesh t replace what has been lost. Yes, she knew of the Spawn's ability to regenerate wounds but to see it at such an instantaneous level still made a pit form in her already mangled stomach. The demon didn't even seem to notice the should be fatal damage. In response, Clot roared another unearthly wail that shook the Queen's ears even through the hermetically sealed helmet. It suddenly threw out what one could consider a tongue that stretched out in the fashion of a toad's, something in her systems screamed to move and she did so just barely. "I am detecting several million serrated bones in that tongue, one bad hit could easily rip right through your armor." Okay, another thing to worry about, she noticed she was in the middle of a backflip, dodging the bladed organ again. She was letting her senses do the work which was not exactly a smart move, such a thing can not be relied upon because one slip could spell instantaneous death. 

Its mouth still had more to offer when four harpoon-shaped bones shot out from its throat right at her. Dodge to the right, hop over the other, unload her blade and slice the third right down the middle. With her free hand, she daringly grabbed the bone right out of the air only inches away from her face. She pulled in energy for a high jump and in the air she flung the harpoon-like dart right into one of its eyes. Without waiting she boosted downward going for a flying kick to further lodge it deeper, perhaps a hit to the brain could end this torment, that is to say if it even had a brain. 

Her wings shielded her from the other smaller attacks made from the lesser forces from below. The Clot waved its claws out again but was slashed in pieces by her blazing sword. The vents on her suit powered her impact like a railgun and injected the rod right through its armor-like bones. The impact managed to force the giant back a step. While nothing notable in terms of damage she at least proved it was not all unstoppable. As she thought this a blinding light impacted her suit, suddenly the air vented space felt like a lava pool, anything less than dragon would have been vaporized in a second. In response, her wings folded forward to reflect the energy ray. Suit diagnostics showed several melted systems and a loss of articulation in the left arm due to her scales fusing with the advanced alloys that were made to protect her. A calculated 12% loss of efficiency her suit informed. 'What was that?' Only a second in that beam and she was crippled. In barrelled out of the way before her metallic wings could melt. 

She saw it, those crystal blue eyes were shooting lasers. It seemed this demon had no end of surprises, again a wave of fatigue hit her and caused her to lose footing. In her stupor, she failed to see the serrated tongue go for the kill. Her suit saw this and forced one of her exhaust vents to push her to the side but not fast enough to avoid the chainsaw grazing right through her left arm. As she fell she felt like she was missing something, it was hard to really tell due to the constant pain she was already in. There was no time to think through as smaller more tentacle-like stands came out of its body. She sliced away several of them with relative ease but was starting to be pushed back. Pulling out her pistol with her left hand she could shoot apart a few before they got near, she aimed her gun only to realize she was missing almost half of her arm. 'Ah...' In actuality, it didn't hurt as much as she expected it too which she attributed to her internal systems shutting down the nervous system to that arm. Blood gushed out of her severed limb and in an act of being in a near drug-like state as well as mortal desperation she charged her blade and sliced off the brutally torn chunk of the arm to leave a cleanly cauterized edge.

Yes this battle was falling apart fast, even though she was staring at her missing limb lying next to her it didn't fully register the gravity of the situation. Actually, she made a few weak chuckles, 'I'm going to die here.' She moved back again while cutting apart more tentacles, the massive monster that towered above made another earth-quaking scream. As time slowed, due to the advanced trauma, she decided this was no longer a one-woman job. "Zinc, I need an assist now!" Spines hoped she could pull one Elite from the field while keeping up the defense. As expected the newly built guardian made in her near image came at her call by flying across the battlefield like a cannonball, impacting the beast hard enough to make it stagger. Zinc pulled back and stood next to her leader. 

"What do you command my Queen?" Spines had to keep in mind the lack of weight on her left side now as she struggled to keep an upright position. 

"Watch my back and follow my lead." Such a command said little but to the fast-thinking brains of the Android Legion, it was all that had to be said. Zinc charged up her hammer with a furious glow of green. Spines flew back up and unloaded a charged blast of plasma from her arm, strong enough to get its attention. She narrowly avoided its eyes lasers and deflected others with her sword. Below Zinc dodged the ground tentacles and delivered a powerful blow unto the kneecap of the enemy. Like a tower, it collapsed onto the damaged knee leaving Spines an opportunity she would not miss. Her wings folded around her body and begun to spin around at an incredible speed, with her hand she held out her charging sword and together she flew through the air like a fiery saw blade. She shot through the air like a bullet aimed right at what she considered to be a neck. Her blade and wings tore through its flesh like butter but even still she failed to get that far in due to the millions of strands that held the beast together. 

Zinc took a massive hit to the body and was blown back before she could destroy the leg. Spine held herself up and started slashing again and again into the mass. "JUST DIE YOU MONSTER!" But it refused to die. All too late she noticed her legs were sinking into the flesh and no matter how hard she struggled she couldn't get out. She felt pain in her legs, piercing drilling pain that overpowered the usual waves of pain she felt already. Her suit warned the flesh mass was eating through her armor with millions of needles. She couldn't escape with her own strength but knew a way to get out, unfortunately in her current state she forgot the meaning of self-preservation as she plunged her hand right into the mass and unloaded another payload of micro missiles. 

The force of the explosions and the fireball that melted the flesh threw Spines out of its grasp but such a point-blank attack with compromised armor tore it apart at several points. She impacted the ground hard enough to leave a crater, she struggled to get up but found she was hard-pressed into the stone ground. Shakily she looked up to see the demon rush at her intent to finish the fight. With some effort, she tried to raise her blade and maybe throw it to do some damage but found that her hand was blown to bits leaving behind a stump. Her legs were pierced and a powerful venom crawled up her legs slowly, her helmet cracked in half as well as several open points in her chest. Her head was filled with orders from the suit but she was already on her way out. 'This...sucks.' 

The creature of her demise looked down at her and fired another laser that would vaporize her in mere moments. Only a meter away Spine prepared for the unknown that death would bring her. Even if she failed here she knew she did her best, the androids would hold it off until the barrier was done, they had to. 

...and for some reason, Spines felt strong. Time really slowed this time, something she felt was hyperspeed as the entire world seemed to stop. Her body moved on its own, she pulled herself up from the rock with her arms, arms she somehow had again. They were pure black, a black she knew all too well. A part of her heart swelled 'You came back.' Now free time began to return, she only had one chance to get through this impossible situation. And for some reason, she remembered some trivial thing Dusk once told her about the power of reflective panels. It was something so distant when she was still a child but it came up at this very moment. 'Okay, I get it.' Just before she would feel the heat her wings folded forward. She held her ground as the laser melted through their strong armor but slowly she began you redirect the laser by moving her wings in a curved position. Spines began yelling, not out in pain or fear but in total anger. A deep rage built inside her at the demon that killed her trusted second in command and caused her so much agony. 

Her wings were giving way to the heat but she wasn't close to turning the beam back at it. If they could just hang on for a bit longer... 

A beautiful noise filled the field, the sound of flesh and bone being pulverized by a massive hammer. Zinc pulled back again with all her might and blasted through the injured leg to pieces. The beast fell into the path of the reflected laser onto its still opened neck and like a blade to water, sliced right through the head. The head popped to the ground like a meatball and the body stood still. Spines felt like she could relax for a moment as her wings fell apart, a second longer and she would have taken the force of a small sun right to the face. 

The Spawn around her was being killed off in droves, yes the end was almost here. Then another familiar wail made her step back. "Oh dammit!" The head still lived without a body and even worse it moved around with makeshift tendril legs that came out from the neck, it crawled at her like some kind of eldrich spider. Zinc came into view, thrown across the field torn in half. 'Wha-?' Even the body lived on to the lack of notice from the Elite and in a moment of respite was ripped in half by its claw. 

Both the body and head went right for her, she felt the demon inside her rage up, increasing the power. She felt better than strong. But before she could use this power to its full extent a loud buzzing noise took over the battlefield. She could see millions of bullets fly in the air aiming right at every Spawn. Suddenly a wave of relief crashed upon the young girl. She did it, she lived through the storm and won, the barrier was completed. Her foe in front of her was decimated by the bullet hell, even it could not recover from such an unending barrage. In ten seconds all was finally quiet, then she collapsed. For some reason, her arms were gone once more, and the venom injected into her legs started to crawl up her form. But then a wonderful thing happened, darkness overtook the pain and encompassed her like a blanket. Finally, she felt nothing, the last legible thing in her wondered if this was death.
> Loss
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was dark.

A pure, infinite, eternal dark. 

A void of nothing was around the dragoness. Her mere existence was only a drop to a sea of evil. She could not move, not see, not even think past enough cognition to know that she at least existed. 

This was the deep recesses of her mind, something that she currently had no power over, trapped in her own head.

The force around her could number in the millions if not billions and yet were all one single being. A hivemind of malice that at that moment all locked their attention onto her speck of existence. The presence in one harmonious move all pooled together to strike at the absolutely defenseless girl. She would be consumed and not a thing would be left of her. 
Her mind and body would be taken and used for its own devices, a uncontrollable demon with the full body of a dragon would cause absolute chaos on the land.  

Then something else stood in front of her, a presence slightly bigger than her own guarded her against the sea before her. Before the void could strike her guardian struck first at the impossible foe in one powerful attack of will. There was no movement, no magic or source of energy. The guardian by its own inner power and soul forced the evil out of its shared home. 
And just like that it was gone, absolutely destroyed, gone from her mind. Spines felt an impossible weight off her subconscious, she was free. For the first time in a while, she felt truly at peace. 

The bright presence of her guardian encompassed her form, slowly thought returned as her mind began healing from the invader's corruption. She felt safe, she felt cherished by its warmth.   

Then it let her go as if it was it who was keeping her from waking just to hold onto her for a time. As she fell back into conscious something in her wanted to stay with her savior for just a bit longer. She reached out but it was too late.

___

'CLEAR' Spines felt a powerful jolt of electricity surge through her body. her insides screamed at the intensity but her mind still refused to get her up. 
"I'm getting mild brain waves here!" A distant voice shouted. Followed by another "CLEAR!"

Now fully awake she felt two pads press hard on her chest and seemingly inject lightning into her core. She staggered to get up, two pairs of arms forcefully pushed her back down. She took an aimless swipe at one of the hazy figures but couldn't seem to make contact no matter how hard she tried. Bright lights blinded her and the noises all around dazed her. Again she tried to escape by rolling over. 
'General Spines you are safe!' Instantly the tension in her body relaxed upon hearing the electronic voices she was accustomed to.

Breathlessly she spat out. "What happened?" She felt numb in several areas and her vision wasn't quite back yet. "Is the town safe?"

"The attack was a success with a 100% enemy mortality rate and seven Unity casualties." While hearing about her dead soldiers sadden her she couldn't help but feel an unfathomable relief that her family survived. 'The barrier is working at peak efficiency and our kill squads are sifting through the forest in search of Spawn remnants as we speak.' Slowly the two medical androids helped her up to sit as she tried her best to get her heart rate down. She couldn't quite figure out why but she felt wrong as if she were somehow lighter than before. 

As she tried to piece together her memories of the battle a thought occurred to her. "...I think I got hurt pretty bad back on the battlefield." She shakily breathed out, a dawning reality set in.

The medical units paused for a moment, seemingly calculating a proper and safe response. "...in order to achieve victory over the Spawn you made several choices that have left... several parts of you destroyed." 

Destroyed, that word made her tremble. She wanted to see a mirror or something but as she tried to stand she found that she could not reach the floor. Her vision started to focus again in a rather camera-like way to see the ground at a normal floor to table height...both her legs were missing. Cut off before the knees there was nothing besides thin black plates that closed off the wound. Spines gasped in horror and as she tried to touch them to see if this wasn't some sick illusion she found her right hand missing as well as the entire left arm with the same metal plates installed. 

Silently she choked as the medical units softly held her in place in fear of her falling. "...Oh my gods." That was all she could whisper.

"Your body was found in a tarnished state, your left arm self removed and cauterized, right hand blown to pieces from a point-blank ordinance volley. The unit to her right explained. "Your legs were both injected with the blood of the Clot Spawn that quickly corrupted your limbs. Were it not for the fast-thinking of a Unity sword unit cutting off your legs after noticing the purple veins on them you would have been lost to us on that field."  

She nodded at this information as she continued to stare at what she lost. She also noted that phrasing, not 'dead' but 'lost'.

"Even after that emergency amputation a portion of void blood entered your nervous system and you remained in a catatonic state after stabilizing you. We lack the equipment to flush out corruption from one's system so it was up to your own immune system to fight off the infection, thankfully you pulled through moments before we were forced to euthanize." She twitched slightly but she knew the reason for that path, it was for the best her body not to be a tool to the Void.

The broken Queen began to get back her bearings. "A-anything else?" 

"Exactly 27 smaller surgeries were taken place that spans from patch jobs to synthetic tissue transplants. Most of your internal organs remained intact but you had a ruptured bladder we removed and as a result, replaced your kidneys replaced with a Mark III cyber implant that will perform the same tasks at a more efficient standard. We will send you a detailed report on the significance and procedure of every surgery that has taken place." 

'Kidneys....replaced.' This all still seemed unreal to her. "...Thank you both, you saved my life...may I have your names?" 

They nodded, being two units made during the old age of Tendrix. "We work as one unit with two bodies to better coordinate surgery, we are one and we go as Heilmittel." They bowed in tandem. Spines smiled for the first time in a while and then they got her up and sat her down on a floating chair. Reminded of her current state she couldn't help but frown. 

'I can't fight anymore, I can't be of use anymore, I can't protect anyone anymore.' These rapid thoughts took over her mind. That and the lingering reality of living without appendages, that just made her want to lie down and cry.  

"You have a visitor." Heilmittel broke her depressed trance as they hovered her out of the medical room, in a hall of metal the sight of white and red focused her eyes. 

Solaris sat at attention, eyes staring at her intensely. There was a powerful silence that took over the scene. 

And like a waterfall hot tears began falling down the King's face. "...My poor innocent little girl..." He gasped with the look of agony Spines could not describe. Like a drunkard, he staggered over to her and embraced his daughter. "Look at how they massacred my girl!" The Kin- her father began bawling. A powerful and haunting bellow that spread the feeling of pain and misery.

Spines was silent and motionless for a moment and she too joined her father in his agony for her state. Her cries were more silent but conveyed a deeper understanding of exactly just what she had lost.
> Briefing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dusk's eyes broke open from a rather unusual amount of crust in his eyes keeping them closed. "BY SOLARIS!" The prince could not believe he passed out in front of an intergalactic envoy! He scrambled up from the bed... bed he was tucked into. "Wha?" He questioned. He looked around to see he was back in his room in the castle and for the first time in a while he felt refreshed.

"...oh I get it." A smile touching on his face. "I was dreaming this whole time, Spines going missing, dark demons, robot aliens?" He started chuckling. "Boy, I need to stop drinking soda before bed." Getting up the Prince started his morning routine of washing up, brushing his mane, etc. "Wait until I tell Spines about this one." He mused going out to the balcony to overlook Ponyville...

Dusk had a grand view of the immaculate black and green wall that entrapped his town with large turrets jutting out of each section. They seemed to survey the outside perimeter. The landscape outside was a mess of craters, and burnt grass. Despite the obvious signs of warfare that had overtaken the land there were no bodies to be found sans one rather horrifying sight not too far off from the wall.

A red and purple flesh mass about four meters in length and width pulsated like a tumor. It bulged a bit violently and in response one of the four lean androids guarding it stabbed its center with a long toothpick-like pole and electrocuted the flesh for several seconds until it stopped moving. 

Dusk noted this as a definite contender for top five worst things he has seen in his life thus far. Holding back a shudder and suppressing the image for later therapy he quickly made his way out of the castle to figure out just what to do next. Rushing down the hall Dusk almost missed the sight of Blitz crashing on his couch with a comic in his grasp. Blitz looked up at the slightly more put-together Prince in shock.

"Oh crap you're up! Guys, he's up!" Dusk saw both Applejack and Scotch get up from the other seats. 

Dusk feeling glad for a sense of normalcy went to them. "Someone explain to me what the flying hoof has been going on out there." It was AJ who was the first to begin.

"Well, I'll be the first to admit when I'm wrong..." The farm pony said looking down. "I was wrong, buncha metal aliens and black demons were tearing each other limb from limb out there a few days ago and you were out cold for the entirety of it."

Dusk nodded and simultaneously took a double-take. "Wh- a few DAYS?" Butterscotch was the next to explain.

"You've been unconscious for almost three days now, we were really starting to worry..." 

Blitz chimed in. "Only reason the doc didn't hook you up to any IV stuff was cuz we were told by Solaris that Alicorns can go about a month without needing any foodstuff in a comatose state. So we just stayed here to turn you every few hours cuz of bedsores or something." 

Solaris never told him anything about that. In more important manners, "Uh, thanks guys for that. Really but how about someone explains what's going on outside with the robots and the wall and the massive, throbbing, pile of flesh outside." 

Rainbow Blitz continued on "So yeah, there was like a huge war outside that lasted for a few minutes, I saw it when I flew up to see. There were like a million of these weird crazy monster things and this huge bloody one that Queen robot fought...she got torn to bits by it but the wall started blasting the monsters with thousands of guns and won the battle."

Dusk once again nodded. "The Queen got damaged?" He only met her for a few minutes but he was grateful for the assistance, to hear she got hurt made him feel uneasy.

Blitz nodded. "Yeah and I didn't get the best view from the distance I was at but I'm pretty sure each of her limbs were missing when the other bots took her away to Canterlot. I'd be lying if I said it looked good..."

Something inside Dusk quivered like he just learned devastating news...yes she was here to help but for some reason, this felt personal. "Solaris said he would be hereafter our meeting."

"He got here after the battle ended and came to make sure you were okay, Blitz told him what happened to the Queen which he then seemed to rush his way back to Canterlot." 

'Probably to fortify defenses back in Canterlot...' Dusk mused pacing around the room, then he stopped frozen in his tracks. "Did they attack Canterlot?" 

"Well we haven't gotten word from them yet but I would think we would of see damages or smoke at this distance." If the same brutality that attacked Ponyville hit the capital there were sure to be great visual signs with how relatively close Canterlot is. 

Another one of Dusk's fears has been quelled for now. "Alright, so what's going on outside?" He hated being so in the dark, a whole new world was unfolding right in front of him and he had no way to react. AJ brought himself closer. 

"Well there's a huge wall around us, those junk heads practically kicked us out of the farm cuz it was too close to the forest and took our jobs for themselves...to be fair I'm not going to fight them on this for now. I may be stubborn but this is a whole nother beast. The family has been crashing at friends' houses until those bots 'accommodate', us so they say, whatever that means." The farm pony looked miffed.

Blitz went on. "Everything is kinda normal despite the fact we can't leave until we get an 'all clear' and that there's a guard every block watching us and sometimes helping out with chores...it's pretty bizarre Dusk." Saying this Blitz popped open a window and pointed out to the town below. 

Dusk looked down to see those androids from before patrolling the streets. They stuck out with their black shine in the technicolor wasteland that was Ponyville. The androids on top of the wall holding up guns really made this look like a prison yard. "Last question Blitz, why the flesh mass?" 

Some sick sense of amusement lit up in the speed Pony's eyes. "Ohho that was brutal, the robot Queen blew herself up and that huge flesh monster in one huge ass explosion and then the wall started shooting like a million times. But after that a bit of it is still there moving around sometimes. I'm not sure why those tin heads haven't destroyed it yet but they've been burning it every time it moves." 

Dusk sighed inwardly. "Just great another 'unknown' to deal with." He started towards the exit. "I need to speak to who's in charge of these aliens, stay here and keep overlook on the town." Like the wind, he was gone.

Blitz gruffed. "Yes your 'majesty'." 

"You think we should be doing something...I dunno, more important than sitting around here all day?" AJ asked. 

"Nah, intergalactic peacekeeper isn't really our strong suit. For once I think it's best for Dusk to handle the hoof work on this one." Blitz didn't trust himself or AppleJack not to start a galactic war on accident.

Scotch sat there preparing tea looking a bit gloomy. "I feel really bad for Dusk, he has to deal with so much and doesn't have time to spare finding Spines. The two winced at the name, due to the increasingly chaotic events these past days the missing dragoness just couldn't find the time to be relevant in their minds. 

___

"I need to know what happened while I was out." Spines sat propped up on a modified chair that kept her upright despite her lack of appendages. Her father Solaris sat by her side to support and witness this war council meeting she set up. 

Spines was doing well to ignore the glaring issue that was her crippled state but the thing was no one cared. In the room and out there with her loyal followers, no one would question her ability to command or fight. The Androids of Unity will serve and fight to the last under her no matter the injury, affliction or even mental state, pending very specific circumstances. 

Right now she needed to know how many Spawn were left, the state of Ponyville, and the progress of her forces. She needed to get those dormant moon forces down ASAP before another potential wave. With her and Bek out of the picture, they were short on heavy hitters.

The few Captains, Majors, Lieutenants, etc, she had were sitting around a holographic 3D map of Equestria. With the sudden destruction of Commander Bek there left a power vacuum in her rank they were still calculating how to fill. Speaking of-

"We've found the remains of Commander Bek that were salvageable inside the remains of the Clot Spawn." Captain J3-90 'Jems' presented the preserved mangled corpse of Bek. The only thing that survived was an arm and bits of the head. Spines frowned at the image, the one who guided her through her start as Carbon, was gone. "We can rebuild him." Hope struck Spines. "Fragments of his brain unit can be pieced together with a blank slate, we need more resources first but once possible he can be remade, he will not be exactly as he was before but the 'soul' as the other Generals put it will persist on." 

She thought on this, if even a chance existed for her right hand to be brought back she would take it. "Yes, please do all you can to restore him." Jems saluted as he motioned for two grunts to take the corpse into R&D for a deep bit inspection. 

Solaris was next to speak about something he has been worried about days prior. "Listen all of you." All took attention. "Days ago during the battle of Ponyville before my group began leaving Canterlot after you all left we heard an unearthly loud boom coming from the base of the mountain. Many of us felt a kind of 'static' sensation but none of my men can figure out what caused the phenomenon. 

lieutenant KI-88, an esteemed unit named Korite brought up a schematic of the ship showing the bow. "I wish we had this information sooner your Highness. This explains the sudden loss of power near the front area near the same time you described." The report showed several stations suddenly went offline but what made it not warrant investigation was the fact the whole ship was prone to losing power in several sectors due to the fact they ran on a backup grid. But losing several stations all at once did raise non installed eyebrows but the emergency battle and Spines' surgery took the focus off the rather small issue. "If you were able to feel a static surge all the way up the mountain then we have a high likelihood of energy weapon of some sort, possibly an EMP." The room became frantic with orders from the commanders who moved their troops with their wireless connections. Spines was relayed information as it came through her earpiece.     

in minutes a hull sweep was made, logs checked, Units counted and the outside searched. No hull breaches, security feed showed nothing out of the ordinary, all Units accounted for but what the search party found but the whole ship on high alert.

"Blood?" Solaris asked for clarification.

"Void blood Father, pure corrupted Void blood in the process of infecting the landscape." A scrub team was sent out quickly to cleanse the zone of the contaminate. Small droplets of dark purple scattered near the base of Canterlot, already starting the process of coagulation into Spawn but worse of all... "Fresh Void blood here can only mean one thing." Spines said in horror of the new threat unfolding. "He's here. The Overlord from centuries past is here!" One Unit patched an emergency comm to her. 

"General, we've found that the trail leads to a freshly made opening into the mountain, we sent a drone in and it confirms the target made it to the Void battle crui-zzZZtzz!" Her comm cut off followed by the violent shaking of the room...no, the entire ship. 

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" She ordered from her troops while slumped into her floating chair. Solaris struggled to keep standing from the violent tremors. 

One of them, she couldn't tell which, shouted back. "VOID CRUISER IS PREPARING LIFT-OFF!" She felt an unusual sense of dread at the simple statement. The King took a step toward his daughter with confusion and fear. "What does this mean  Spines?!" The shaking grew more powerful.

Solaris looked his daughter in the eye but what he saw was not the daughter he knew. "...Canterlot will be destroyed." She said void of emotion. A matter-of-fact statement the once optimistic Spines said without an ounce of spirit in her. "We're all going to die here." 

As if heard the sound of an engine took to eardrum splitting sounds. The inhabitants of the room were flung violently into the wall.

The mountain shook.
> Shudder
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines woke up to the noise of blaring sirens that remind her of a wailing dog. Her neck felt like it was up taking an enormous amount of pressure...she soon realized she was upside down doing a headstand with no support. Like a sack she pushed her body forward enough to lie flat on her stomach. It was dark and her eyes seemed to refuse to shift into night vision, aside from the siren her ears rung and she saw spots of white every so often, her head was killing her. "...Fa-...father?" It came out slurred as a bit of her tongue dropped out of her mouth unable to return. She felt metal prod and poke at her whenever she tried to move, a bit of focus in the dark told her she was surrounded by broken bits of the ship, trapped.  

It began to shake again, not as violently as the initial rupture but enough to shake around the ship once again. Bits of metal fell on her head and a large lump of something just narrowly missed falling on her by a few inches. 'Right....the ship...' Trying to figure out what to do now the immobile dragon tried her best to find an exit by focusing on her oddly nonfunctional night vision. A bit more effort and she could just make out the familiar shape of an Android made in her image, yes the form that nearly crushed her seconds ago was one of hers. Without her visor or ability to focus her implant, she couldn't contact the inactive unit wirelessly assuming it was even still functional. 

With what little power she had she headbutted her soldier in an attempt to get a reaction but when she made contact something in her brain surged like a lightbulb and everything went black.

___

Spines found herself looking right at her rather dead-looking face, slowly she got herself up to view the more lit room full of broken metal, it shook a little again. This sensation was familiar, no sensation but she could read everything around her like data, yes she was in the body of her soldier. Spines looked down at her metal claws and legs with a feeling of deep loss. But now was the time to act, first thing is to get her body out of here.

It was odd grabbing her own head to see her own face, one of her eyes was massively dilated while the other stuck in slit form. 'Concussion....' The weight on her brain made all the more sense now, being in the mind of the Android felt somewhat restrained, like more complex movements took more effort to control. She had no idea the effects of mentally controlling an Android while concussed but she had to move urgently. Gently she picked up her own body like a sack of potatoes and made her way out of the room. Out in the now tilted hall, she could see other Androids of various types run around to hull breaches and points on fire to douse them. She placed her body down face up.

"Spines?" Turning around she saw her father coming out from the same room with a few visible cuts and bruises but nothing serious. Ignoring the robot in front of him the King went down to address her form. 

Spines didn't have time to explain her state as another tremor reminded her of the potentially cataclysmic event unfolding. "Keep her lying down and rested, I'll go stop the quakes." He barely even registered her words and nodded. Then she ran down the hall as fast as her body allows. 
___

Being an android was not too unlike being flesh, her state of mind was more or less the same aside from the strain she felt holding onto this borrowed but other than that it was like looking through glass eyes that could see more of everything.

She had a mental map of her surroundings and knew where to go speeding around the long halls of her base, another tremor almost made her lose her footing. She didn't have time to group in forces or create a task force but she let out a wide-ranged message to all who could listen. [This is General Spines ordering all available units to support me in invading the enemy ship. We must stop their takeoff or countless lives will be lost.] Not to mention the anarchy that would be caused by the loss of the Capital and monarchs. The Void ship's engines were positioned near the face of her ship, once they ignite they too would likely be destroyed. All their progress, everyone's efforts would be obliterated in one move.

The Lead Android brought out her arm cannon and fired a powerful burst into the glass viewport in the command deck, shattering the glass. Hopping out the gravity shifted and she began falling down into the base of the hollow mountain. Her boosters kicked in taking her up to the nearest breach on the enemy ship. Looking up Spines could see the massive tri engines charging up a purple hue, rocks began falling all around her, with some easy dodgine she made it to her location untouched. Her booster could only take her so far to the front where she was only close to 20% the distance from the command deck. Some numbers crunched in her head that showed the chances of her making it on time, a quick hundred possibilities loaded in but not one showed a success chance of over 15%, she didn't ask for those calculations but chose to let those grim numbers motivate her to change fate and save her first home and Kingdom of her Father. 

Kicking open the already torn metal plate still proved difficult but eventually, she managed to crawl through the interior inside. It was dark inside but it meant nothing for her installed night vision. Just like before the inside was rounder than her ship and had purple walls. 

Her internal system brought up a schematic of the ship-based on the design, it wasn't sure to be fully accurate but a good place to start. 
___

The biggest worry of the robotic Spines would be the absolute uncertainty when their due date was up, at any second she could run out of time and lose everything. Her body was equipped with a left arm cannon and a glowing green blade, being a freshly built unit gave her an edge over the ancient built drones she fought. These insect-like androids were a different battle compared to the savage Spawn. The Drones fought calculated, going for the best possible strike, blocking and pulling back in order to preserve themselves. 

Her body never tired or hurt when it took a nick or shallow slash she could keep pushing forward without hindrance. Signs of rust were shown on many enemy Drones, some were missing limbs or were incapable of moving in ways they should. This let her tear them apart like grass but even with the ease of battle she was getting distracted from her goal, so when there was an opening she would flee or avoid battle altogether. The many holes in the interior made the trek that much easier, now she was about 60% the way there in only 20 minutes. 

Now she was in between walls slinking past enemies while climbing up higher to her goal. The tight space full of shrapnel and sparking wires didn't affect her in the slightest. It was lucky the ship is in a far worse state than her's, inoperable Drones scattered everywhere and a cut power supply would explain the darkness and lack of turret defense a warship like this should have. If this kept up for a bit longer she would make it faster than anticipat-! The bottom panel she crawled through made a strained creaking noise and gave way to the weight of her form.

Falling to the ground she landed safely into another hall that had a few differences, namely the side room with the giant containers. They all seemed smashed to bit and some figures inside appeared in bits put one of them looked to be in the nominal condition given the circumstances...

*ZEET ZEET* A odd and startling noise rang out behind her and as she turned to look up at the source of the siren going off the container burst open at a ridiculous speed just missing her by a few feet. What came out from it was a whole lot faster. It was lean, slick and fast as all heck. A towering centipede-like Drone aimed right for her head with its claw mouth but just missed its mark when she blasted its face point blank with a mid charged shot, a perfect riposte she grinned internally. 

One of its pincers fell off and its six small eyes seemed a bit soot up but it made another jab at her which she dodged again and again but this was no easy feat as every strike would nick and scratch her bit by bit. This viper-like bullet of a Drone only needed one good strike to make her inoperable. It sped forward again and as Spines made her move to dodge and unsheathe her blade to cut off the head she found herself unable to move correctly, a vicious haze took over. 

With what little control she had over her form she poised her blade forward and locked her arm in place, the Drone was too fast to stop itself properly but in an unexpected shift of movement, the enemy coiled its body mid-flight and moved around her blade enough to avoid a vital strike to the head but sacrificed 3 of its eyes getting cut out in the process. 

The robot dragon still could not evade and was grappled by its remaining claw. It trashed about the halls full force at high speeds taking her who knew where. She could do little to escape with her current state of mind and when she tried to bring back focus she found her right eye looking at the worried face of her Father. 

Words could not explain the feeling of one side of your brain in a calm environment while the other clung to life desperately. Solaris didn't seem to notice her awareness due to that eye already being open. On her left vision, her face impacted a wall hard enough to crack her visor. 'Need to....focus....' But no matter how hard she tried she just could not bring her mind to order, if she lost the signal she would truly be useless to stop the destruction of Canterlot. Her left side showed a warning of structural weakness in the torso area and in the left arm joint. She wasn't going to last much longer like this. 'C'mon....focus! Something inside her brain felt like it was being encompassed by thousands of hands and a cold flush went over her, she found her way back into the system and took full control over her borrowed body, she had no time to think about what just happened.

Back in the saddle she plunged her fist into the bladed mouth of the Drone and fire a mid-charged blast. This was enough to end its rampage. 

Getting up Spines began running a short diagnostic on her body she found her left arm was broken from several joint points making it hard to move, her head cracked open in three locations revealing a critical weak point as well as several small punctures and indents on her torso. 

No time to wait for backup or to repair even the simplest of damages. Every second was vital. Looking into her internal map she quickly devised a route to make up for the lost....time? To her inaudible shock, she found her destination was only a few meters away, that trashing bug took her exactly where she needed to be a record time. 'Thank Solaris' she thought while hoofing it to her end goal. 

Staring at the broken door that led to the captain deck she hesitated for a moment. She knew she was not ready for this battle, Tendrix couldn't stop it at full power, she was a handicapped mess that wasn't even here to do the battle properly. This body she controlled was broken and weak....but she knew she didn't have to fear for her life, no, her mortal body was safe now in Father's care. While she regretted sacrificing this loyal soldier fighting an enemy too powerful to even imagine there was no other option. What she truly feared was losing, not being able to do a dam thing to the Void Demon, failing to save tens of thousands of lives due to her inadequacy...Tendrix should be here but he chose to save her life over his own and now Canterlot is paying the price. 
Tendrix should be here, he knew what to expect.
Tendrix should have been leading the defense of Ponyville, he would've saved Bek.
Tendrix should have never followed her out of the Everfree, it cost him his life.
Tendrix should never have saved...her, it was the catalyst for this destruction.

A cloud went over her mind that made her advance stop, it was unnatural but familiar...something she felt in the Everfree. She wanted to run away or at least wait for the backup to repair her body...for someone else to take command. She couldn't do this, she was terrified. 

Spines felt suddenly clear, the cloud was gone and the fear and hesitation went with it. 'Go' A distant but familiar voice rang deep within her mind. 

She went in.
> Duo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the command deck was dark and looked exactly what a crashed ship would look like. Seats tossed about, windows shattered, lights flickering in the dark that briefly showed a massive figure in the middle of it all. Fear Spiked in the dragon, the source of so much suffering was only a few feet away. Forcefully she pushed on, trying to see it as a video game to desensitize herself. 

The demon of legend, the Void of Death and the destroyer of the Old Gods was her final opponent. To kill it would save Canterlot and possibly the world, this was her endgame. Courage welled up in her and she shot out like a dark with her blade unsheathed, she plunged down unexpectedly right into its large head. A direct hit! Her monetary shock and awe were quickly diminished when she saw no reaction, no scream or even reflex to the should-be fatal blow...

hopping down in front of it she flashed her hud's LED to see a nightmarish sight.

It was torn almost in half, purple blood leaked from its missing right arm...no, not just the arm was missing but a whole chunk from its torso too. She could see the flesh wriggle and writhe and several beating objects she determined to be its organs. "What the fuck?" She choked out.

"Hm?" Its deep violet eyes shot open and peered down at her. Blood trickled down its face from her attack. "That was you?" It asked and gave a deep chuckle, its voice shook her, it pounded on her mind and she wasn't even here physically. "I had assumed you were a bit of falling debris..." It got up, somehow it got up as if its flesh and bone wasn't out in the open. Bits of armor it wore fell off and some chunks of flesh fell with it. Blood pooled at her metal feet. "This is what happens when you conjure a Xon without the proper equipment...but it was worth it to distract your little army."

Spines could only assume it referred to the Blood Clot...to have the will to mutilate oneself, for a distraction? Quickly she scanned the room to see where the ship's controls were but to her luck it could not be found due to insufficient data her body held within, it could only determine the most likely areas it could be and without the know-how on turning it off she had to opt to the more risky method of destroying the panels themselves. The obvious obstacle would be the brutal demon before her, this Void...she had no battle tactics on how these things fought but she knew it didn't take pain the way she would expect a physical being would, headshots apparently didn't work either at least at her output of damage. The room had no real vantage or cover points aside from the council behind her...it didn't look good, that was what she came to conclude. 

"What brings you to my domain tiny drone. I expected a leader of yours to be here, not the fodder." Slowly it picked up a glaive-like weapon that was rather small compared to the size of its handler. She tensed up to move. "Bring me a challenge little one, run and bring me someone worth the effort." Like lighting it swung its blade in a forward arc. She swung herself back just enough to avoid losing her torso, the same could not be said for her tail. About half of it came clean off, nothing much to cry about but it was a bad first start to this battle. 

'It has good reach but it's missing an entire portion of its right side, attack the open flesh, that's all I can hope to do.' Her fear held her back from advancing it like she would on any other enemy. This was something Discord feared, a God Slayer to her belief. But it had a gaping wound right in front of her, if there was ever a time to strike it had to be now. As she landed she opened up a quick charge blast aimed at its pulsating wound.

It didn't seem to anticipate this or was simply unable to and took the bolt of plasma mid-center. To her shock, it actually grunted in discomfort and pulled back. "So you have 'mind', a drone would have gone for the head, but you know how to think." It grumbled as its flesh began to writhe from the searing sensation. "But that will be all you get."  It stabbed forward with incredible speed but still she narrowly side-stepped and tried to fire another burst attack on its flesh but it brought its massive arm in and blocked. Its rock-like hide didn't even singe with her attack, she expected as much knowing Tendrix couldn't kill him but to her luck, she had a chance she didn't.

"One hit will tear you in two and we can watch my rise to power together as you lay shattered little tin solider." Spines felt a haunting sensation crawl down her nonexistent skin. She didn't like how calm it was, from what little she heard she expected a wild bloodthirsty beast but this one seemed to be calculating every step she took with those blazing eyes. She couldn't get a hit in now that it was on the defensive but she knew her sword could at least penetrate its armor from how cracked open it seemed to be. Slowly she powered down her gun arm and held out her blade.

Silently they stood only a few meters apart, to her surprise she could see a slight look of hesitation in its eyes, it made her wonder just how much of a threat she really was to this monster in this state. Perhaps it knew that an unlucky step could actually spell doom? She didn't want to get ahead of herself before she even made her attack. Another second passed and she noticed just how focused it seemed in keeping its exposed organs covered...

Without warning she made the first strike like a bolt she flew through the air aiming at its still covered flesh, the Void seemed somewhat amused seeing her go for a definite kill point and prepared to make a single clean stab and impale her. "I expected better." It chided but as it attacked Spines suddenly activated her thrust jets on her right side at full blast which jerked her whole body left and avoided the glaive's strike by an inch. Aiming her blade up she made a fierce double stab at both of its eyes that were still wide in shock from the misdirection it fell for. 

The Void made an unearthly bellow and trashed around blindly while Spines fell behind its back and slashed a bit at its heel. Again it shouted and swung its blade back so fast she could not dodge fast enough to avoid losing a better portion of her left side fingers. A flash of remembrance went across her from her real-life injuries but she forcefully pushed them down. "Enough of this game." Rolling back she saw the Void tear off its armor chest plate to reveal a pulsating large 3rd eye aimed right at her. Now within sight, it stabbed at her and managed to nick a bit off her side and out sparked some electricity. Her internals warned of the several compromised components too numerous to ignore. Quick diagnostics showed she could only function for another 45 seconds before her nonvital parts had to be shut down to retain basic function. 

Swearing her luck, Spines ran numerous more scans of the room to find the control deck as she dodged another swing. 33 Seconds She could barely keep up as is, she wouldn't last another second if her battle systems shut down. She sidestepped a crushing blow. 25 Seconds. Her scans came up with a single result showing the ship controls were left to where the Void's seat was and it showed how to activate the emergency shut down. 

With her declining strength, she leaped past another narrow jab at her chest. At least she was still faster than this tumbling gorilla. 14 Seconds Now on the counsel she scanned the alien controls and odd symbols that must have made up the Void's language. Just like her suit told her she pushed the left-most square key and slid down the black knob halfway- The Void was already upon her and despite being able to move away easily she chose to sacrifice this body and slam down hard on the glowing key. 

Not even a blink in she found herself flown across the room in two pieces. The timer didn't even matter anymore with the dozens of alert messages she was receiving. Clear fluid dripped from her chest cavity, her lower torso sitting a few feet away from her. Amidst the chaos, her body was going through she felt relieved to be able to save Canter- "How pointless." 

The Void spoke as it pushed down a few buttons on the counsel she was at a second ago. To her dismay it already turned the engine back on with another violent rumble in tow, in her rush she forgot about the Void just turning it back on. She felt like a fool as her internals began to shut down one after the other. First her vocal processor then motor functions and audio receptors. She forcefully diverted power to keep her optics online a bit longer, she had to keep seeing, to maybe find a way to beat the demon that had plagued her world. It came upon her looking down with its pulsating black eye, it raised its foot to crush her. 

But as it made the motion a sharp tendril pierced through its chest and eye, it turned back to see a jarring sight. 

It was her...Spines with all her limbs intact stood there with a glaring white sheen in her eyes. Her arm outstretched into a black tendril that returned to a normal claw as if it were made of clay. In retaliation, the Void stabbed its glaive in an attempt to cut off the dragoness's head but met nothing when it seemingly fazed out of existence only to appear right in front of the Void's wound. With its arm outstretched, the Void couldn't move quick enough to cover its damage, with that the dragoness drove her black claws into the Void. 

The dying form that was Spines saw the enemy writhe in pain from the impact, but such a small attack shouldn't cause su- mid-thought the Void's wound bled out tendrils and even more disturbing its eye pulsated as it looked around in frantic horror before it exploded out more tendrils. It took a step back and Spines' body took a step forward with a look of sick satisfaction. Every second another few tendrils would shoot out of the Void's body until it had more pins than a pine tree. Finally, it stopped moving and kneeled over, but her body didn't see that as enough and somehow caused the Void, the once thought God of Darkness, the harbinger of Doom, to explode in a gory mess of flesh and blood all over the room. 

Her metal form now covered in purple fluids of her dead enemy began to corrode away faster than acid. Alert messages plagued her mind furiously until she was once again cast back into uncertain darkness. Unknown if she would return this time.
> First of Many
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines' transition from metal back to flesh was instant but clearly not at the same time as she found herself seated and surrounded by her units and her father. They circled her with their blank stares aside from Solaris' worried gaze. 

Slowly Spines processed the information in her head and almost instantly started panicking "The Void ship is going to take off!" She tried to get up in haste but came to the crushing remembrance that she was still without her limbs. Calmly, her father put his hoof on her shoulder.

"But you said you already destroyed the command deck, and that was hours ago." The androids around them also seem to chatter in confirmation that the threat was long over. 

'Hours?' She had no memory of something like that, in fact, the last thing she recalled wa- "...Can you remind me what happened after the first earthquake, I think I hit my head pretty hard back there..." She needed to know if what she saw back there was true.

Solaris looked at her quizzically but nodded. "When I woke up an android placed your unconscious body with me and took off towards the Void ship, for some time I focused all the healing magic I could on your injuries until..." He seemed unnerved recalling this part. "You suddenly sprang to life, but you didn't seem to hear my voice no matter how much I called...and then you grew these black limbs and took off faster than any land creature I've ever seen." Spines' took this in while nodding, so it was true. "Not long after you had returned covered in this acid-like blood, you told your soldiers to hunt and destroy any Void while taking control of the enemy control center, but your voice was distant...completely numb. After that, you just collapsed when your limbs disappeared and here we are now."

She had to think about this while not freaking out. Silently she took a breath and remembered how her soldiers were on the verge of euthanizing her back when Ponyville was under siege, under the idea her body may have been 'lost'. The important thing was she was still here and aware of her existence. "How goes the subjugation of the enemy Void ship?" For now, she had to assess the current issues before her.

One of her battle commanders sprang lit up in an interesting show of jubilation for an android. "We crush them like the bugs they are, their petty numbers are no match for our superior technology. We'll have the ship wiped clean by this planet's cycle end." Spines took note of its vivid body expression and more fluid vocabulary, another advanced android like Bek perhaps? She had to keep a list of the 'unique' soldiers in command at some point. 

"See to it the ship is stripped of its vital components so it will never be of harm to us again Commander..." Her HUD gave her the name "Dynamo." 

Said Commander nodded. "Pending your approval, the tech bots would love to strip that hunk of rubble into something of value. Meaning our engineers are ready to repair our hull and the mass fusion core plus various build stations for the soon-to-be expansion project on the planet." It seemed excited at the prospect of 'bigger ventures'. 

"I'll want a full document on what is pending for R&D first but you may begin stripping that nightmare for hull repair." Dynamo saluted and marched off. She waved off the others with various orders to upkeep the ship, except for the lead in biological hazard control. A unit named 'TO-77' she already named 'Tox'. She brought up an unusual level of severity in her question. "The body of the Void Leader, or what remains of it, I need to know what's being done to purge its presence before its blood gestates some new horror. She knew what a lot of void blood could conjure, but what of a corpse? 

"Not to worry General for the Void has been swiftly vaporized and remains scrubbed. It was now time for Spines to relax, the nightmare was finally over, the Spawn, Void Ship, and Commander all dealt with no casualties. She hoped Tendrix was proud. "One thing to note General, the corpse of the Void did not the specifications of a High Commander." 

Like ice, she froze. "Excuse me?" She felt a new ball in her chest form up. 'It can't be...'

"DNA signatures match to that of a mere 5th Rank Sergent wearing the battered armor of a Commando" It said so nonchalantly but to Spines she felt as if the world was caving in on itself... 

How could it be possible that something with a mid-rank such as Sergent, be able to cause such destruction? If what Tox said is true then a single ship of these things could take over her world overnight. She remembered the things Tendrix said, wars, ships, and soldiers that destroy worlds. It made her realize just how big everything was now and just how powerless she seemed compared to it. "By Solaris..." She needed Tendrix with her more than ever now, she needed guidance or at least some sense of direction on what to do next. 

Then she mentally slapped herself, she needed to stop looking to others to do her job for her. "I'm the only one who has the means to even try to fight them off." Then she wondered if there was any point. The Void seemed to not exist anymore, she found it odd that no survey ship has come back to rescue their massive ship, for that matter why didn't Tendrix ever get rescued by his army if he was such a big shot hero? Perhaps both armies killed each other off eons ago.

Still, she had to fortify her power across the land like she always intended to, form an alliance with her Father's land and become a powerful and advanced nation...and to do that she had to stop feeling sorry for herself and get back to work. If by chance the Void were to ever return she needed to be ready. 
First thing first, she needed a new suit.
> Some Changes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines had felt this was a long time coming for her and her entire force of Androids. All it took was one focused order through her headpiece given to every nonessential worker in her command "CLEAN THIS DAM SHIP UP!" She was tired of sifting through rubble and blown open plasteel every time she had to move through the hulking beast of a ship. Then every few moments a flicker of the lights or spark of errant wires would ruin the dark atmosphere. Gaping holes that reach over several rooms and much more that Spines always took notice of but only now had she finally decided she really hated it. 

Since the current Void threat has been taken care of and all the bodies have been properly put into containment she had a chance to work on personal issues. Her hover chair lazily strolled through the halls as workers dutifully and somewhat hurriedly hauled trash and slag off to be melted in the ship's core to be remade into new components to restore the many many hull breaches. With the Everfree cleared of the superior threat her forces made quick work in setting up more quarry zones to harvest valuable resources. The untouched landscape of Everfree made in a highly abundant resource zone she was too happy to claim for herself. With these new materials, the ship would soon be brought back to its ancient former glory. 

At the same time, the long-since missing cargo pods filled with unactivated androids were being brought back. An aquatic excavation team managed to drill their way through the ocean floor and recover one of the missing pods. The thing was so massive it required a load transport to haul it back to base in a timely manner and would arrive in only three more days. The cargo that was lost on the moon has been located thanks to satellite coverage but an Astro unit still needed to be made before she got that back. More troops meant more work to be done. 

With the Void gone Spines felt a certain serenity in her head, a weight that has been lifted that grew every day when she walked into the Everfree as a naive kid. Unaware of the true horror the world hid from her...not like she matured much in that short span of time but dam PTSD sure should be setting in soon..."I hope they have therapist androids on this thing" She muttered as the hoverchair moved further to her destination by her mental command. 

Still, it was not as if she was truly free of fear, a distant yet unimaginably large threat was looming over her. The mere concept that the unholy abomination that was already mortally wounded she could hardly even damage was only a mid-tier creature in an army that blew through planets like ants...how could she possibly stand up to them? At the moment the only hope she had was the possibility the Void as an army were destroyed so many eons ago. But that idea required the thought of just who else was out there among the stars. 

Tendrix's existence and this 'Unity' prove that powerful opposition existed battling the menace but that did not fully mean they were all good. Tendrix was a powerful leader suffering from some kind of mental trauma and millions of years of isolation so no telling how he was in his prime. Was he a hero or an even bigger threat that just couldn't remember his past? Unfortunately, there was no way to get more information as the Androids were unable to tell her any information regarding the works of 'Unity'. She also doubted the best hackers in all of Equestria could hope to even begin understanding alien machinery and code that goes beyond her world by hundreds in not thousands of years...

She oddly rested her face with her stump arm and sighed while her chair entered another room, much more lively than the others. Filled with the sound and smell of soldering metals from repair workers and the tech Androids she grew accustomed to ever since Bek introduced them to her. 

The Master Technicians who built her original suit and current implants were hard at work with a new more intricate design made to assist her new 'condition'. Four slim Androids with identical appearances seem to work together in tandem as if they were one body. Silently passing odd tools to one another, handing one a piece or component to add to their latest masterpiece. With no real way to tell them apart, Spines have come to call them the 'Quartet' as watching them was like a well-choreographed dance she could watch all day. 

One of them flexed their head back to look at her while still wrenching two components together. 'You have come at a most opportune time Lord Spines.' Its monotone voice had an odd splash of character she couldn't properly pin down. She smiled a bit at the work they were doing, according to them this ship was not designed for medical related advancements but with the renewal of fresh resources and precious materials from the Everfree they were able to conjure up some inventions that were once impossible days ago. Spines moved her chair up closer to get a better look at the design and felt her heart ball up in her throat, giddy at the sight.

What Quartet sped to finish were two bionic arms and legs for her, ready to replace what was lost. Spines should have gotten on this project the second she became crippled but her despair and general inability to just believe such a thing was possible and not fiction clouded her mind until yesterday when she realized what a fool she had been. 'Of course these guys can do this, they can do pretty much anything. All I need to do is ask.' Despite the facts a trivial thing like arms and legs are made in mass every day for her forces she found that making a 'organic' advanced prosthetics like these took a lot more detail and nuisance given the fact organic brains were a lot more complicated than AI. 

Before R&D would even begin construction of her arm they needed to take very...*invasive* scans and proddings of her brain. They needed to be precise and despite the brain not having any pain receptors having a metal pole slowly digging around in her grey matter was not a feeling she thought she would ever get over. Apparently this tech is far more archaic than what was possible but given the lack of proper work station they had to make do. Her arm and leg plates were earlier replaced with powerful magnetic slot pieces that were also directly hooked into her brain thanks to several small surgeries where small chips were implanted into her muscles and bones to create a perfect link to her brain. Such a procedure left certain impact mark scars across the sides of her legs and arms, it was worth it.

Quartet gave an affirming nod to her and guided her chair over to a slot on the floor to hover over. Two large claws gently lifted her off her chair into the middle of the room. One of the Quartet lifted the right arm over to her and for the first time she got a full view of it. It was a deep shade of purple that looked not much different from her old arm if you ignored the clear robotic articulation at every joint. 'You are likely to feel some mental strain once this is attached'

Spines nodded, wanting nothing more than to get this over with and restore what the Void took from her. With that Quartet easily just moved the arm over her right side and at that second the two pieces came together somewhat violently given the magnetic pull. She jolted from the force and a moment later from a new flush of sensation, they were not kidding about the strain. Her brain trying to understand and catch up with the millions of dead neurons that just fired up again. She struggled with it as her new arm and hand started to twitch to life, claws moving. She could not help but whine softly until...that was it.

Just like that it was over, her mind at ease and now she found herself with a new working arm. But without any warning the left was slotted in as well. And once more she was pitted back into a mind surge although far less aggressive this time as her head seemed to adapt to the process. Again the surge stopped suddenly, a moment passed to collect her thou- Quartet proceeded to add both her legs in at the same time. Clearly subtly wasn't in their programming.

"SHhiit guys!" She gasped. 'It is good to get it all in one go no?' Was their response, Spines could only sharply give em the 'finger' something she was now once again able to do.

Her brain a bit cooked but it was done. The claw left her to the ground and for the first time in days she stood up. Looking down at her new legs she mentally yelped almost forgetting the lack of feet now. Yes it was noted that to have more efficient mobility they must opt out of her old style of legs and adapt to a design similar to her Androids. From the base of her legs that were of normal width they would slowly become thinner and thinner until they sat on the floor as pin pricks. The only reason she was not falling was due to the brain implants tricking her mind into thinking this was normal, her sense of balance was nearly perfect. It was an odd choice to leg go of the legs she once knew but the talk of her new advantages of mobility were too good to pass up, speaking of...

She strode around the room, feeling as light as air for the first time in awhile and smiled. Then her smile became more aggressive and she started shadow boxing the air at speeds that were once impossible. Her new limbs were incredibly light but at the same time hyper durable. "Alright boys, I'm going outside to take em for a test drive!" Like that she trotted off like a lightning bolt.
> New You
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was odd really, these new limbs. She could feel them in an odd electrical way, nothing similar to flesh and blood but a new sensation hard to pin into words. But for the lack of a batter term she could once again 'feel' the world around her and to have been denied that basic aspect of life only to restore it made her beam. 

She felt the walls as she ran across the halls, taking a moment to stop and feel one of her Android's face. Spines found moving around easy to the point where she felt like she was moving around in a suit again, her legs designed for fast movements, she jumped across a gap in the floor, slid under a massive chunk of rubble and without thinking she bolted out of a gaping hole in the hull into the outside cavern under the mountain. She laughed dashing up the the curved shape of the ship, her legs strong enough to go up the steep curve with little issue, if she took a moment to think she would realize the sheer danger she was putting herself through. One fatal misstep and she would plummet without any jets, hardfall boot or reinforced exoskeleton to break her fall but even if she thought about it she would keep running, she needed to feel alive again. 

At the top of the massive ship she could peer down at the dark abyss her eyes adjusted to and with a bit of zoom thanks to her eye implant she could see the Void ship and her units slowly tear the thing down bit by bit to harvest for repairs. She wanted that thing gone as soon as possible but even still it could take over 6 months at the rate and numbers her forces were in. The few remaining Void inside were being dealt with extreme prejudice, hopefully the last Void remnants on this entire planet. She let herself down a bit oddly given the sleek curve of the ship, making sure to keep her center of balance in check to not slip off. Seeing them work like ants made her smirk a little. Seeing one cut open a panels with a cutter tool and two others remove the piece and haul it off back to her ship to be melted and repurposed into all kinds of things.

She remembered what some of the techs told her about having a fully functional Void ship in their captivity. Such a things is a very rare event for Unity given the fact defeated Void ships are known to self destruct to leave no chance for them to hack their computers or steal valuable materials. According to the salvage crew there are a few highly well contained lockers that could have who knows what, for now they are to be left alone until a proper 'safe cracker' unit can be made. The techs are also excited to begin cracking down on some firewalls to learn about some highly classified Void info. Though she wondered what point would it be at this point, not like she had any plans to go out into the stars to start hunting down Void or anything, still, info is worth its weight in gemstones. 

Sitting there with her thoughts she started to wonder what's next for her. She had her body back so nothing was stopping her from going back home and seeing the one's she loved. Slowly Spines inspected her right arm, hearing the servos move as she flexed her metal claws. Staring down at the thin pin legs she now had, the many scars across her body, her robotic eye. All these visible implants made her look more machine than dragon. "How can I go back home like this?" She muttered, she knew for a fact there were many Ponies who despised the unknown, could they look past this and still see her for who she was, is? 

"Yeah looking like a freak of nature really has its issues when the entire population is filled with xenophobes." Hearing this voice right next to her ear caused Spines' instincts to flare up like a star, spinning around while vaulting back a step to give her some space, the palm of her claws glowed with a turquoise glow primed to fire at... Discord? "Hi Spines." The God of Chaos waved with a grin.

Spines let out a heavy sigh and felt her face flush in an odd mixture of relief and anger. "Solaris dammit Discord what in Tartarus name are you doing here?"

The slithering beast flew himself closer to the dragoness who was just putting down her arms when suddenly her eyes flared up again in new rage. It was too fast for him to react to but in that moment he found two metal claws gripping on his throat area. Unexpectedly the grip of those claws could crush diamonds with ease. "You son of a bitch! Where were you when I needed you?? When *everyone* needed you! You have any idea how easy it would of been to beat all those demons if you were just there for us!?" The draconequus could only make strained yelps as the life was being choked out of him, Spines held the grip a little longer expecting him to do something ridiculous like letting his head fall off or turning her claws into rubber...but all she could see were the noncomical frothing of the mouth and slight blue tinge that was enveloping his face, his misshapen hands writhed around wildly in panic.

Having an odd feeling about this she let out and let the snake like god slink to the floor gasping for air. "Discord what the hell? This is nothing for you."

Still he continued to gasp and grip his throat. "...my goodness Spines...you need to have permission first...before you do that..."  The jokes come as expected but he still looked like he was on the verge of death. Slowly he brought himself together. "...thing is dear Spines...I *did* try to help before the whole war for Ponyville thing started, guess what, nothing I can do can do any meaningful harm to them. Do you realize you almost just killed me?" He gasped once more, letting himself coil back into a more dignified shape. 

She looked at her hands. "How could that be possible? You're a god."

"And yet I was absolutely demolished by that 'Void' demon so many eons ago. Something about those things, those 'interlopers' should not belong in this dimension. The material your new fancy arms are made out of ignore the pure chaos that I am. I have no explanation for it either, those demons, your tin bots, this blasted ship, nothing. Observe." He snapped his fingers...nothing of note happened. "See I was trying to turn this ship into a massive outlet mall with an absolutely fabulous food court but-" He started banging on the hull with his tail. "Nada, so this is what it's like to feel mortal" He lightly felt his throat in a thoughtful manner. "What a sensation. You'll make a masochist out of me yet kid." 

Exasperated Spines let out a gruff yell. "Shut the fuck up Discord!" 

___

The two strolled down another hall inside the ship, Discord floating lazily around her. "Nice legs toots." 

The General gave a low growl but answered sarcastically. "Thanks, I picked em out myself...so I could really just kill you whenever I want then right?" She gave a mixed look to him.

Discord eyed her cautiously. "Maybe, but I promise you it won't be easy..." She left it at that, anymore prodding on the topic would more than likely strain their odd friendship. 

"So how does all this stuff from space make your godlike powers useless?" This she had to know. 

Said being with godlike powers just waved her off. "I haven't the foggiest, well except for a theory actually. It is my belief this stuff isn't just from outer space." He picked up a shard of glass on the floor and studied it closely. "Something about this glass radiates an...'odd' sensation, almost as if it did not belong in this space to begin with."

"Meaning?"

"Another dimension, I would bet some bits that these creatures come from somewhere beyond the very confines of this world. Even further then what I am able to travel and that is just a scary thought for sure. Imagine it, possible worlds beyond our understanding, perhaps even different laws of reality that not even I could comprehend. Now *that's* chaos."

Spines was silent for awhile, such a concept made her think about some things in a new light and for some odd reason, her heart...no, something much deeper than that, ...her *soul* felt a small tremble.
> The Help
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spines stood atop a very thin pillar set up by her legion, keeping herself up in a tree position she stood absolutely still. she felt it was important that she got used to the new legs by testing them and herself to the limit. She opened her eyes and took a step forward on a tight rope across a small gap, while she was never known for her great balance she was aided by the automatic sensors in her brain making her senses and balance highly advanced. As if walking down a street she went across it like nothing. "....I'm stalling myself aren't I?" She sighed to the only one in the room.

"No, really? I just hadn't noticed these past three days you spent mulling around this hunk of junk." The only other organic lifeform on this ship, Discord, threw another empty glass of mimosa into the gap, thus adding to the semi dangerous broken glass pit she could fall into if she slipped up...that is if glass could even hurt her at this point. Spines just rolled her eyes at him. "Look, I get not wanting to go back to Dusk and the rest of his merry band of misfits yet because you're a freak and all-"

"The fuck?" A small flicker of fire ignited in her eyes directed at him. 

Discord held out his hands defensively. "Don't worry I'm a freak too, I got the F word pass my sister from another race." A gold chain and sunglasses materialized on him. The absurd response doused her anger and added sheer bewilderment. She also noted how easily she seemed to feel anger recently, "What I am saying is I get it. It's hard sometimes to break that barrier but what I am wondering is why you haven't at least told your father  lord sunbutt yet."

She stayed quite for a moment, for awhile she had been sending envoys to tell her Father about the updates on her forces progress with repairs and the current state of peace they were in with no traces of Void left behind. For some reason she didn't want anyone to see her new state yet, it was just so unnatural, something out of fiction she was unsure anyone but a Lord of Chaos and her loyal followers could accept. "...At what point do I stop being me?" Flexing her cybernetic hands again, feeling the electric hum inside her. 

Discord hummed a bit, not knowing how to console another. In all his life he never really got to know another person who felt this certain kind of isolation. "Look kid...forget about what you look like, just remember what it feels like being you and don't forget it. If you can do that much then you'll never lose yourself." With that the Chaos god faded out of the room. Leaving the altered dragoness to her thoughts.
___

Spines stood with her arms crossed on top of the loading dock, looking down at the androids scrambling around as the large loading ships touched down. Casually she hopped down from her platform to see the new content they brought from under the sea. Inside one of the large rectangular loading/retrieval ships she could see all kind of storage units that still had some seaweed and barnacles clinging one them. She was excited to see the insides of these ancient containers, more units of course, but she was told all sorts of devices could be in them. "Let's get these things opened already!" In haste the androids rolled the boxes out of the ships. Of course they wouldn't actually just crack them open like that, a few initial scans and tests had to be fulfilled to make sure no potential explosives or exotic pathogen was inside them.

One by one the crates passed inspection and were opened to be sorted through. The first few were the as expected androids, she was told they were of a lower quality build so they would be best at menial tasks and not to be made sentient for the time being. She wondered a bit if the concept of denying an inanimate object the right to sentience was some form of slavery. "Oh, now that's a real mental puzzle there." Much like many problems in life she simply chose to ignore the quandary.

Other boxes were filled with pure materials like platinum and a jet black material she couldn't really pin down by sight. Apparently it was some kind of super material found way beyond her planet called 'Yon' her engineers and R&D department were scrambling like crazy to take their fill. All the while arguing with the other department on how this should be used for hull improvements or armor. She didn't get involved since they seemed unusually rabid at the topic. 

'General Spines, I believe you may want to this.' On the other side of the loading room she saw a large box with many odd labels on the sides. The door was shut and unlike the others that only needed to be pried open, this one had a palm scanner. Next to it was one of her Captains. She believed his name was 'Lead' ''Now this is rather unexpected, our manifest only showed low clearance materials, not a category five unit...we will not be able to open this'

"How come, don't I have authorization?"

'Much like before, you lack the given credentials of one with higher authority, just as well you are not apart of the official Unity data roster, until we make contact with an out-' As he spoke Spines' mind began to drift back to the container and the vague shape that somewhat resembled a claw print, she needed to see what was inside, maybe strong androids or some cool high tech stuff like a...a mecha she could ride inside of! In a flash she placed her claw on the scanner and in an instant the scanner gave a curt buzzing noise in response also the several megajoules that raced across her body.

___

'CLEAR' It was electricity that tried to kill her and it would be electricity that would bring her back. Spines woke up with a jolt to the often familiar feeling of pads compressing on her chest. Another burst of energy that really woke her up this time
"OK I'M UP." 
Honestly, this time she was just more annoyed than freaked out like last time. Lead looked down at her with what she swore was a look a disproval from his unchanging face. The med unit walked off with his job done. 
'My apologizes for not explaining the self defensive reaction first, were it not for your inorganic arms you would of surly have melted to a charred crisp, they dissipated the worst of the surge.'

Spines just slowly got up while muttering. "Well aren't I lucky to be a amputee. Why the hell is the self defensive so dam violent? Like at least give me five tries sweet Solaris." 

'In normal circumstances that would be the case but it appears this specific device has been set to automatic rejection, the reason behind this is unknown as we cannot even ascertain the contents of this one.' She could still feel static in her teeth and a hollow ring in her ear, but considering she came back from death a third time in the course of the month she decided she was doing pretty good. 'I doubt we have the proper fire power to open this up without damaging the contents, if only we had some emergency blood from a ranking general.'

Spines flexed her arms to kneed out the strict feeling the shock gave her. "Emergency blood?" 

'Yes, these scanners can also accept blood samples from authorized personal in a rare emergency event where the higher rank cannot open the doors themselves. That in itself requires further authorization from Captains and Charge Overseers like us to decide if such a process is correct given the situation. If we once had some samples on hand they would have long expired even if their cold storage ports were still functi-'

While he explained Spines started having a flashback to her time on that dreaded field of death with the Spawn army 'blood of the general detected' wasn't it? What exactly did it mean, she never really had a moment to think about it much after getting blown to bits...Tendrix also did say something about her blood being something oddly similar to his past, what did it mean?
Feeling impatient that Lead was still somehow elaborating the lore of authorization panels she made another possibly idiotic decision by biting down her teeth on her inner lip to bring out a bit of blood in her and from, what she considered a safe distance from another surge, spit out a ball of blood right onto the scanner. Lead saw this all unfold to his absolute bewilderment.
'My Queen, what the fu-' His unandroid like response was drowned out by the loud affirmative tone the scanner made. 
Both stood in awe as several hissing sounds came out of the door, the amount of locks inside must of been insane. The second the panels fell open she was already partway inside despite Lead, and other units who were about to do several scans, protest. 

All that bravado and buildup was setting Spines over the edge, she had to find out what the big deal was and inside the container she sure found it.
In the back end glowed an odd black light out of a cylinder like device. She stopped for a moment to marvel at the black swirling tube. It almost looked like a lava lamp....so very mesmerizing, but the second she was getting into it a hand slammed on the inside of the glass, scaring the life out of Spines. "Wha-?" She gasped as the hand balled into a fist and punched the inside. "Woah, guys!?" She called back to see her units were frantically calling her back. As she was about to dart back to safety she couldn't help but stop when she heard the sound of shattered glass and draining liquid behind her.

Slowly she turned around to see a black hand through the hole it just made and what was more terrifying were the two red eyes staring right at hers.
> Her
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Holy shit." Was all Spines to breath out while stepping back from the creature in the cracked tube. It made a unearthly noise as its hand felt around the edges of the glass, it's red eyes seemed to look around but mostly at her, in a flash decision it seemed to make just now it started bashing its head into the glass franticly to escape its confinement. "GUARDS!"

Something about the way it moved and looked at her frightened Spines, those eyes were unlike the Spawn and seemed more calculating that the Void she faced, this was clearly intelligent and it was desperate to escape. She was without her power armor and these arms were not fully designed to fight yet. Another bash of its skull and the glass fully shattered, she was already out of the container and behind her guards who held their spears in a defensive position. While she was not defenseless she had this gnawing feeling inside her core not to fight whatever this was, almost like it was instinctual. 

The thing scrambled to the ground in a frenzy and quickly rose to around less her height, bipedal but what was most odd from its silhouette was the protrusion coming out of its head. It walked sluggishly out of the container into the light, there Spines saw its pale white skin, clawed feet somewhat like her old legs. Something to add to the confusing nature of this creature was the black points on its skin that seemed to fade and appear around its body without pattern, although its hands were fully black which slowly transitioned to white by the elbow. Its hands were clawed too but it seemed to have purple knife like nails that dripped an unknown liquid.

Spines took a moment to stop looking at it when she noticed the androids were holstering their weapons and began to bow. Although her newly made units in her image stayed by her side in continued defense."We are at your command General Ivy" Now fully in the light Spines got a good view at its face. Those formless deep red eyes that stared right at her, that protrusion she noted earlier now appeared more like a stem that curled around the back of its head and rested on its neck, she called it a stem because its tip ended with a absolutely vibrant flower like shape, filled with so many brilliant shades of warm colors that almost seemed to change naturally. It was by all accounts naked but similar to her own body as nothing could be seen. 

This thing...no, she was beautiful, stunning, so many things she wanted to say but was stuck in awe. And that moment of awe let her defense down, this Ivy moved like smoke, elegant and seemingly formless in a way she could not react to her appearing right in front of her. Spines could only stand in a mix of horror and acceptance. Never once did she stop staring at those endless abyss that were her eyes. "Can not be" she whispered in her ear, her gentle and cool voice made Spines unexpectedly shiver. Then Ivy opened her mouth to reveal a thin forked tongue also similar to her own, she also noted the inner flesh of her mouth was purple and a frightful double row of shark like teeth. 

Spines' eyes widened as Ivy glided her tongue across her face once, it surprised her yes but what really made it a shock was the sound of acid burning on her face. She knew this sensation before from bathing in draconic acid baths back at the badlands. Such a thing could not hurt her but it was still a surprise to see this creature seem to leak this venom. "What are yo-" The shock let her jump out of her daze and try to confront this mystery woman but the moment she noticed her mouth was open she dived into her mouth like a starved animal. 

Spines panicked as the situation grew that much more confusing as her mouth was invaded by Ivy's acidic tongue. She tried to pull her off using the full hydraulic strength of her arms but found she could not budge the white creature off her no matter how hard she pushed, just what was this thing made of??

There were sounds Spines never thought she could make as she struggled in vain, feeling an odd rising feeling of giving into whatever this was. Her insides burned with the acids leaking into her softer flesh, still unable to do any damage but enough to hurt somewhat. Just like that is was over, Ivy looked into Spines, eyes again but this time is a mix of confusion and disdain 'Not him' She accused. 

Spines was still reeling from that but only once she was done did she realize just how fast her energy was leaving her, like a rock she fell but the android made in her image held her bridal style before she hit the ground. Ivy appeared now more stable and no longer sluggish, it was as if she took some of her vitality. "Clearly you are not him...and yet you taste so...familiar." She seemed lost in thought but now had a moment to survey her surroundings "Where are we?" Spines tried to provide an answer through her haze but one of the Tendrix android beat her to the punch. 

'Our exact location is still undetermined as we have been lost in a dimensional rift for over 9999999999-' It droned on. "Thank you, I understand." She cut off, then she looked back at Spines in a more curt manner. "But who is she?" 

'An inhabitant of this world, Lord Tendrix gave this draconian full clearance as well as status as a General but lacks proper clearance of deeper authority.' Ivy hummed at this. "Where is Tendrix?" Spines felt a shiver down her tail. 'Status unknown Mam, last known action was crawling inside the body of General Spines to fix her broken body. There is a chance he is lost.' 

Ivy stared at Spines again. "I knew I tasted something else familiar but I could not pin it down. I strip you of your status as a general until I figure out what has happened while I was gone." Spines felt a certain level of shock at the sudden decree, she knew this wasn't her title to bare but she had to have some semblance of authority especially from this mystery alien, if she decide to her world would be destroyed in days. 

"Hold on Ivy, can we first-" Ivy appeared in front of Spines holding her claws close to her neck, something told Spines they would tear through like nothing. 

Ivy looked more understanding then she had before. "No need to panic, Tendrix trusted you enough to save your life I hear, but understand my authority and the fact I have not yet found a reason to trust you yet, give me some time to find that out myself and for the mean time come with me and let us talk about this world and what happened to our friend Tendrix." It was a rational response, something Spines would be a fool to protest. Ivy retracted her claws and beckoned her forward. Slowly Spines got up but needed her android to lean on every step of the way.
> The Real Commander
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ivy grew tired waiting for the energy drained dragon to catch up every few steps, she wanted to talk about the events that have gone on since she was placed in that tube, clearly something really bad happened given the visible damages around the ship that were only somehow now being repaired...how long was she under again? Then there was the issue with Tendrix. 

She looked back at the stumbling dragoness, she knew she tasted something else familiar when she was draining her but to think Lord Tendrix himself would sacrifice his own being to some random inhabitant of some stone age planet... Ivy became very impatient so she stood towards the mystery woman and grabbed her by the cybernetic hand, clearly their technology, and easily hoisted her up bridal style. Spines was still too dazed to resist her toying with her body and just accepted the manhandling, her android that was protecting her looked genuinely conflicted in giving up their leader.

Ivy took note of this apparent hesitation, she didn't recognize this model of android and could tell by the material quality it was freshly built, clearly not fully loyal to her but to this dragon. She mulled about the concept but quickly came to allow it, let the dragon keep her minions for now instead of hard resetting their loyalty matrix. She only allowed this because she already knew not even an army of them would prove a challenge if they revolted. 

Once more she came to the attention of the barley conscious dragoness, by how soft her features were she could tell she was new to all this, especially given the still fresh scaring around her removed limbs. She just had to know more about this specimen. 
___

It was a haze, Spines fought her way out of it once she got a grip of her senses again. It felt as if she was whisked away from the loading zone and was now seated in front of the pale white creature in the command room. Ivy had her hands clasped together while holding a neutral look. "Talk, I want to hear it all. Start from the beginning." She said simply.

It didn't take long for Spines to gather her thoughts, the beginning? If it meant from way back when she first learned of the Void then... "...When I was a young girl, I found a book..." This would be the second time she had to recount her tale.
__

"...and that's where we leave ourselves here." She finished. Ivy was a good listener as though out the story she only interrupted to ask an occasional question or clarification. 

Ivy was busy adding all this information together...millennia, Void, Tendrix... it was so much to find out about. How could she have been in stasis for so long? And what of Unity, her brothers and sisters in arms...her valued companions. The fact that a planet such as this had only *now* come under attack by Void influence and in fact only by a long lost solider proved the war was not yet lost...but she had no idea what was happening out beyond the stars. Something else was really bothering her. "Your blood, your DNA. How was it able to bypass our security?" It was a DNA scanner for a reason, some of the best security in the multiverse that should be impossible to crack, it would of been easier to open the container using a spoon and a lot of free time. 

Spines wasn't too certain herself but actually had a theory about it. "I think it's because Tendrix is inside my body, maybe he is also integrated into my DNA and it was able to fool my suit and the scanners." 

Ivy thought about it but was left unsatisfied. 'Even if she was truly coded with his DNA to the deepest level the scanner should of found the alterations as unfamiliar and shut her out...the only possible explanation I can think of would be....' Then something dawned upon her, her memories still coming back slowly after being in stasis for so long. The species, color, even name...could it be possible that- "By the Gods the Lord General needs to see you as soon as possible." She spoke almost in awe at her revelation. 

Spines' eyes lit up at that name, 'Lord General, she heard it once back at Tendrix's abode. Generals were important in war she knew, but one to carry the title of 'Lord'? "Who's the Lord General?" Something she felt like she should know. Ivy looked somewhat conflicted, she knew some kind of truth she was hiding from the dragoness. 

Thinking about it further Ivy decided it was not her place to reveal this information yet, who knows what kind of backlash it could cause. "You will know in time, for now I have decided I can trust you as an ally." Yes, knowing what she knew, Spines could truly be trusted with her life even. Given what she knew from her story, the accounts of the androids and this 'truth' Spines was deserving of trust. "From this point I give you the official rank of Lieutenant Commander of the ship. With this officially given rank you will have the previous authority you held as General and now some of our data stores but as you are no longer General you are unable to direct command that overrides my own as well as large scale operations without my say so. Keep your title as Queen, I do not care." 

It was odd for Spines to hear all this, theses were like very important titles right? Given what she told Ivy it was clear her experience was extremely minimal and she knew very little about commanding. Honestly she expected to never get to have any part in this army again and be kicked out the second she stopped having relevant information. It defied common sense to let her not only stay but be in such a position of power still. She had questions but Ivy seemed to have read her mind.

"Trust me when I say your sudden repromotion is not without requirement, I know you can truly earn this title which is why I am already giving it to you, but as you are I'd say you only stand as a notable Captain maybe...that is why I am going to personally train you and make you reach that potential. Just note you will never reach the rank of General again until you lead armies, raze worlds of evil, save the universe at least once of twice. The fact you even had it at all is a disgrace to the title, one you of course are forgiven of." 

The way Ivy spoke to her was conflicting, a combination of harsh reality and soothing words of comfort. Something ranged in her head though 'Saved the universe? Surly that was a joke right, because if not then what did the one before her do to earn that title herself?' Before she could inquiry further the alien grabbed her by the hand and pulled her across the table like a sack of apples. 

"We are going to start training now!" A sudden glee overtook Ivy's tone, something oddly sadistic could not be hidden from Spines however. "I always wanted a toy I could break, fix, break, fix. When I am done with you, you will beg for death." Someone shouldn't say that with such jubilation Spines thought in a panic. She tried to resist her grip and maybe run but Ivy just griped harder, hard enough to put a crack in her hand, her highly advanced, extremely fortified hand...

"I'm going to fucking die."
> Deep Dark
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was not exactly in her plans to suddenly commit to a strict training regiment by an alien but odder things have happened to Spines as of late. She never even agreed to this but Ivy seemed...very scary, she had an aura of domineering strength that clearly outclassed whatever power she had, which only made her think about why was she in that container, the androids remarked how her crate was not a normal part of their manifest. 

Well, Spines had little time to ponder as she narrowly avoided another swipe of the poisonous claws of Ivy. She wanted a first-hand experience of just how tuff her new 'toy' was. Once again she dodged another swipe but she knew she was not taking this seriously, every time she peered into those crimson eyes she saw a devious joy that said she could die at any second if she felt like it. "Your reflexes are too slow," Ivy said, suddenly getting well within Spines' strike zone. 

Seeing an opportunity the dragon tried to swipe at the pale creature she aimed at the chest for a clean hit but only an inch away from contact she was gone. Spines had zero time to react as her body was slashed by dozens of thin slices around her form, she could feel the claws penetrate right through her scales but only very thinly like a paper cut. The second Ivy was gone she seemed to appear to her left with her claws outs looking pretty fresh with new blood, her blood. The last thing Spines saw before passing out from the poison in her claws was Ivy's eyes as she slowly licked her blood with a very statistic smile. "Not again." She was getting tired of knocking out. 

But knocked out she was not as Ivy appeared behind the falling dragon and delivered a solid strike on her head which was enough to snap her out of her fading mind. "Now's not the time for that!" She declared while holding Spines up from her fall. "It's clear you'll never be able to hang around the big leagues like this." 

A question rises inside of Spines, something she was keeping in the back of her head until now. "Is there even a point to getting stronger anymore?" With this Ivy frowned. "I mean, the world is safe now right? All the Void were cleared off the planet and there's not even a trace of them anywhere near, it's a big universe after all." A look of disappointment grew on Ivy, she let go of her grip on Spines and let her fall to her knees. 

"Sorry to tell you this luv, but you're in the presence of evil you couldn't hope to comprehend now. You're a part of this story just like the billions of others out among the stars all fighting for the unified right to keep on living. Whether you know it or not your little world could burn in a matter of moments if the eye of our enemy is focused here." Her gaze dark.

Spines sat in her low position trying to comprehend such information, just how bad is it out there? "But...all that stuff happened like millions of years ago right? Who's to say that anything you guys know even exists anymore?" 

Ivy didn't seem fazed by this comment. "Trust me, you'll find that the more you know out there the less you know, one of those things being time and space itself, this world has been untouched by real war for a reason...for all we know it's only been mere moments for them out there. The point is you can't afford not to be strong anymore, were it not for Tendrix and our technology your world wouldn't stand a chance to just one individual Void, the truth is Spines, you should be scared." Her tone grew deeper and her stance tighter. "In fact, you should be terrified of what's out there." Something in her red eyes shifted oddly...in a way Spines couldn't really describe, it was as if...a deep abyss was just revealed to her. Spines tried to get up but her knees buckled. "You should also be afraid of those you walk with now." Her mouth unhinged. her body opened up pores unseen before and sprout out sickly-looking white tendrils. They all stared at her as her body folded around more and more in ways she didn't think were possible until Spines was staring right into some unholy abomination too horrid for words. 

In words as cold as the void itself, it spoke to Spines. "GODS WALK AMONG YOU" If her bladder wasn't already replaced with a cyber organ she would of swore she had pissed herself just now. She forced herself to blink to not see the horror, and when she did it was gone and Ivy was back looking rather bored still looking down at the flabbergasted dragoness. "Get what I'm trying to say?" She smiled sweetly. Spines began crying.

___

"What...is it?" Dusk couldn't help but shudder seeing the Androids once again stab the writhing flesh with a spear with a high electrical current. It's been days now and no matter how much work the Androids do in the town the cage system set up for this...thing, never seems to change. Finally, Dusk had enough and needed to know what in Solaris' name was going on.

"The remnants of the enemy that is continuing to regenerate at a fast rate" The Android on guard said simply as it drove another prong into the flesh. Dusk winced at the flash of light. 

"Is there no plans to destroy it...or at least get it out of the town?" He knew the solution must of been more complicated than it looked but he needed to know what was holding them up. 

"We are in the process of building a foolproof safe method of transporting this mass of flesh to our furnaces to safely dispose of it for good, until then we cannot afford the chance of chunks escaping and creating new forms. Dusk just gave a simple nod and left, he did not want to hand around that thing for too long. 

Things were slowly getting back to normal all things considered despite the...everything else going on. It was hard talking to the occupying forces however, they were kind to all and respected the authority of Dusk but when pressed on hard questions they would divert the conversation. It was to be expected and he didn't want to anger any of the powers that may be watching, notably the unseen Queen. Dusk didn't want to be left in the dark like this so he went to the only place he could think of to get answers, Canterlot.
> Here
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Soooory, c'mon I said I went too far already!" Spines made a steady advance to...somewhere away from Ivy with a hurried step. Already her mind was shoving those images away from her memory. "It was just a joke okay?" Ivy was only a cautious step behind her with a look of genuine worry, she didn't think about the new girl's threshold when it comes to the horrors of reality, it has been a while since she interacted with anyone and just wanted to have a bit of fun. She made a move to put a hand on Spines' shoulder to try to comfort the scared girl- 

Spines kept up her stride away from her fear until she hear the sound of something slumping behind her like a sack of potatoes...she didn't want to look back but the sound was too familiar to a body- "YAAA!" Spines couldn't suppress her shock seeing the form that was once Ivy on the ground in a growing pool of deep red viscous liquid. In a haste, she tugged on the stem-like head protrusion to easily drag Ivy out from the stuff but the more she dragged away the more she realized the liquid was pouring out from Ivy's mouth and eyes. Spines didn't know what to do, not like she could stop the 'bleeding?' in any way. Before she could think of anything else two units appeared from around a corner in a rush. The two passed by her and dived down to Ivy, in unison they unhooked some tools from their slim bodies like building blocks and quickly created a basic form of a stretcher.

Spines made a move to try to assist but one of the two made a quick but light swipe at her hand. "Worry not, it is now in our hands" He assured as they finished setting Ivy up, Spines couldn't believe the liquid was still pouring out without stopping, Ivy made several agonized grunts and twitches. A third unit came from another end of the hall, this one holding out several devices that seem medical in nature. The two units hoisted her up while the third injected some oddly colorful vials into her arms and neck multiple times. This went on for a minute or two until the last, right in her left eye. Once that all went through the copious amount of dark liquid suddenly sparked to life and in a shocking move all flooded back inside the alien being despite it being impossible for one to hold in that much liquid. Ivy was compulsing heavily the entire time until the end of it, the soldiers kept her arms down the entire time. Spines could only stare on in horror.

___

About an hour passed since that moment and now here Spines stood against a wall in the only medical room in the entire ship rebuilt in a rush to accommodate the newly infirmed General. Said General was lying in her bed with what could be said to be several dozens of IV tubes running into her body in various locations from the upper torso, arms, and head. Ivy finally had a moment of clarity from the whole mess to now talk with Spines. "Yeah, I forgot why I was in that tube in the first place after all this time." She said weakly but still with a hint of mirth. 

"What...was all that?" Was the only thing Spines could think of. 

Ivy thought for a moment, remembering a rather brutal memory. "I got a little cocky on a mission, was a big one too. Lot of big players were involved and I was leading an important task, thought I could do it all on my own...then I took a bad step...or maybe I was just outmatched..." Ivy sighed a little, wincing as she did so. "Got hit really bad by someone you don't want to get hit by, look here" Ivy didn't even need to point at it for Spines to now see the gaping cavity in Ivy's chest. Surely that wasn't always there before right?? It looked really bad, something in between a gouge and burn but somehow still sizzling and pulsing, Spines could see some unknown organs in there, some looked torn open. "I was hiding it by growing some extra skin over it, tho years in the pod made it numb for a bit until I finally remembered...yeah as you can see I'm dying fast here." Spines nodded grimly, she knew already from this damage but just didn't want to confirm it. 

"Any normal day I could just heal something like this right up in seconds, but this bile continues to burn slightly faster than I can regenerate, the pod kept us both still, we were in a warzone so I was shipped into storage for safety until we could get back and do some real operation. Started to realize I was in that thing for way too long, agony in absolute silence. Thing is my species is rather good at staying in one place for what could be forever, so I went into hibernation once I realized no one was coming for me. I'm happy to see the ship still mostly intact, I assumed we lost and I was all that was left, floating in an infinite void waiting for the death of the universe..." She closed her eyes in an attempt to hold back some welling-up tears. "Even...even if this is the end for me...thank you for waking me up one more time" She shuddered. Spines tried to say something meaningful but found Ivy had stopped moving or interacting. 

"Hey...Ivy??" Before dread could really set in a medical unit came before her to quell the fear "General Ivy is stable for now, she will continue to live in this state for some time...issue is the many mixtures we are using to replicate her species's complex biology have gone expired a very long time ago. Us using them here was a shot in the dark that is working for now thanks to Ivy's sturdy resilience. But she won't last forever. The vials boost her regeneration in many areas that keep the bile in a stalemate, but any number of things can go wrong at any moment." 

With that information Spines was free on her own once again, it seemed nobody would stick around her for long. She didn't get any real answers out of Ivy either. She only knew her for a small amount of time but could tell she couldn't even come close to her mysterious power or skills and to think something out there managed to do that to her only forced her to remember just how violent the world outside her own was. 

Still, even with all this going on she forced herself to think about just how big the universe was. The enemy in her world was gone for good and the one friendly but slightly dubious character Ivy was now indisposed of. Control was back in her claws, it seemed the wors-

___

Out in the reaches of space, beyond to solar system that Equestria inhabited, opened multiple portals in reality. Out of these portals stepped out several figures shadowed by the starless void, quickly one of them began scanning the surrounding bleakness with a high degree of speed. The other figures scanned too until a few moments in one pinpointed the source of the errant signals. Yes...the one planet that appeared only a sand grain to them at this distance. "Here," one said in a gruff commanding voice. 

"Prepare for collection detail."

___

-t was behind her. Spines nodded with a slight smile.
> Old Blood
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something Spines didn't take into account or even had a way to prevent in time, was the last moments of the Void Soldier. Before its death, it sent out a hyper-long-distance distress wave. It was only on for a few moments but it was more than enough to break out into dimensions beyond. Spines did not know that it was rather quite loud and busy out beyond the stars she knew and ears were listening in on any and all errant signals from hidden worlds. Yes, a truly undocumented world sending out a military distress signal, encoded so only those with special gear could know just who was in need of aid, but that didn't matter to most, an untapped world of potential prize and profit was abound. 

Short scans showed a temperate world, capable of habitable life, natural resources aplenty...yes. Research potential for some, being able to discover new flora or fauna, new discoveries, food, and scientific breakthroughs!  Others saw only coin, yes, rare minerals, possible dig sites, and potential future slave force? Well this world clearly has no spaceport or outer world transmissions to put them on the omniversal map, easy to exploit and conquer. 

And for two certain groups, they saw something very interesting, Void signal. Out in space, a large imposing figure in charred and cracked armor looked at these readings. "Sloppy for a Void, this encryption was rushed and sent everywhere, *everyone* knows about this little planet now. Any good Void would send a very direct code to only certain held areas...so just what is going on here?" The armored figure put a helmet on his head. "We might have gotten lucky here, we might of found our missing Generals." He called over to the many soldiers in his command through the comms. "Prepare for battle, we're surely facing Void in mass once they pick up this signal too. Pray this world won't become a crater by the time we arrive." Several nods and affirmations came about. 

At the same time in another deeper outreach of space swarmed some of the most malicious and evil of creatures. The Void in full force as a unified army pondered on this signal, this level of sloppy encryption deserved execution alone. But those numbers on the encryption explained where one ship during a rather important battle went...along with a capital Unity warship in tow...that would mean several high-ranking enemy units were stranded on that world. Yes, the next course of action was clear, eliminate any surviving forces on that planet whether it be Void or Unity. Such a mockery of their military would not be forgiven, this mistake will bring Unity to this planet for certain, and this world will burn by the end of it.

___


Thankfully Spines still had general control of the ship and her units just as before. Would have been a serious issue if she was demoted leaving all these bots to their own devices, who knows what might happen then? She had no real prospects now, she petitioned to somehow find a way to help Ivy but she was told about the mass complexity of her species' biology,  Long story short nothing could be done without some of the most experienced medical units out there.

She decided to keep up with the unloading of the undersea storage lockers which went off without any more distractions, several dozens of new units to activate and give tasks to, bringing up efficiency to whole new levels. That left the storage units still on the moon and with luck, the sea salvage operations made short space travel possible with just a few days of building up functional craft. She wondered if some salvage on the moon could save Ivy...or at least a new stasis pod not under use given Ivy broke her beyond repair leaving hers. 

It felt liberating to be free of danger once again, Spines reported the events of the last few days to her father who was also busy at work making their nation adapt to the new world of incredible technology. "I see, the fact that another alien is on our world should not be something to just ignore even if she's infirmed. You may have the loyalty of these automatons but we can not predict the actions of these off-worlders." King Solaris was still coming to terms that their world was not just the only one out there, now the fact came that at any point other worlds with other ambitions could arrive at any moment, and with the actions of the Void we now know that some truly evil ones exist. The only option was to adapt fast with the aid of these automatons, if it is true that they are the force repelling the evil among the stars then truly there could be no better aid right? 

He just hoped this was the last he ever needed to hear of out worlders. These past few weeks were far too much for one planet to endure he felt. As the father and daughter conversed on the progress from both their ends a light on her helmet's comm lit up, meaning some of her units had urgent news. Without putting her father on hold so he too could hear this she opened up the channel. "Your Highness, we have confirmed signals on multiple unknown and known craft entering the atmosphere at high rates."

"SHIT!" Spines let out, not even considering her father in earshot. Both of them stared at each other through the hologram in absolute shock at the news. "W-what are they here for?" 

"Unknown, but assessments show several crafts are of differing allegiance and/or profession, seeing signs of unarmed and armed research vessels, mining craft, civilian craft as well as more often seen slaver ships with highly armed escorts."

Thoughts riled like crazy in her head, it was all happening all too fast. "What do you suggest we do?" Something like this was a loaded issue, her knee-jerk reaction was to blow them all out of the sky before they got close, but she knew enough to consider the bigger picture, who would she piss off by blasting a couple of ships? Don't want to risk blowing up some high religious prophet right? 

"We lack orbital cannons to intercept the slaver ships and attacking outright as a first response will take away our element of surprise as they have no way of knowing of our location as is. The war console suggests we watch and wait on their actions with our all-seeing eyes around the planet. Keeping the population safe as a priority." Already Spines was off to one of the newly finished teleporter stations, Solaris took it upon himself to warn his people and issue an immediate lockdown of the kingdom, no one is to leave and anyone outside the kingdom is to return to any settlement held in control by Spines' forces and protection. Sending messages immediately to every settlement using magic and ordering the few automatons in his care to spread the word and escort anyone back to safety. Warning other nations would be a lot harder, especially those unallied. 

Spines rushed over to the telepad set for Ponyville, she was given many various set prediction paths on where the Unknown forces would land. Some still a few days away in the solar system, and some able to warp in near orbit who were very close. The first being a small fleet of ships marked by her Units as 'Slaver' Of course the name itself raised many alarms, they were landing in a clearing in the Everfree, she needed to be there ASAP! 

These would truly be the final days of this world's quite lifestyle. A new age has begun with a bang.