What happens when a stable full of pre-war technology
What happens when a stable full of pre-war technology opens for the first time in 200 years. what happens when said stable is on a warpath? and most importantly, how the hell did shining armor raise this damn child!
NOTE this is an alternate timeline, aside from general lore and the basics of the story, it has nothing in common with the canon story line, certain characters and locations aside.
Once upon a time, in a crystal city surrounded by nigh endless snow....
...There was war. The reason this war started, was as always, ultimately trivial and pointless, and has been lost to time. The war was long and bloody lasting many decades, with neither side able to remember why they're fighting. Many lives were lost, mostly military casualties, some not, be it petty revenge, insatiable blood-lust, or just a simple accident, though accidents were rare in the final days of the war, they all lead to pure terror and loathing.
With the civilian population too busy fearing for their lives, the crystal heart at the center of the crystal jewel slowly faded, till one day it fell to the ground with a gentle tink causing more terror than any pony could have predicted. The streets were filled with rioters, usurpers to the crystal throne, and with the local guard unable to stop all this madness, the Princess sent for her most trusted Guards, Colonel Steel Heart and his escort, to take her one-year-old daughter to the safety of Stable 47, Code-Named: "Citadel", which was set to be the last home for the crystal ponies, if the worst were to come.
The Citadel was the most advanced stable ever created, designed with the sole purpose of being a completely self functioning underground city, for it was designed to house the entire crystal empire and all her citizens.
The Citadel had all anyone could want when it came to an underground paradise, factories, housing, enough hydroponics to feed 6 times the Citadel's maximum capacity of 300,000, and sizable armory with enough gear inside to arm 75,000 with prototype fusion cell based laser weapons, and 20,000 of them with T-51 Power armor even leaving them with the capacity to make more ammo and weapons if needed.
Now, surely this seemed a little much doesn't it? Surely there will be no need for such a heavily fortified stable..... only time will tell.
I can't believe this. I should be back in the city with my wife, Lily Breeze, I should be back there keeping the peace! Instead I'm out here in the damn snow with this bastard child.
"Gah GA!" Spouts the little ball of terror from the carrier attached to my armor that Princess Cadence demanded I use.
"Yeah, keep talking shit, Flurry, and we'll see what happens." I mutter as I boop her nose.
"Hey Steel, why are you talking to the baby?" My first lieutenant, and best friend, Blue Gadget asks, as he sneaks up behind me, while I watch the little demon giggle at my plight, causing me to jump in fright.
"GAH, Dammit Blue! What did I say about sneaking up behind me!" I yell at him, trying to avoid his question.
"It's not my damn fault you can't hear a guy in power armor, Steel! You need to get your damn ears checked." He tells me, and sure enough he's wearing a set of T-45 power armor covering his blue fur and cartoon bomb cutie mark. He has a missile launcher attached to his shoulder with a combat rifle welded to his side.
It may not be the best gear he's wielding, but it's better than the combat armor plates covering my white fur and black 3 talon strike cutie mark, or the shotgun attached under my wings and the 10mm pistol holstered on my side. Well, at least I have a serrated combat knife.
"You're avoiding the question, Colonel." I turn to my side and spot Major Onyx Scepter, a local crystal pony, and one of the few locals in my division.
His black crystalline fur and magic spear cutie mark is also covered by combat armor, only he's wearing a standard set with less pieces on it than my more sturdy set of combat armor, not that he needs the extra pieces, if anything they would only hinder his movement. And somehow, despite not having any magic, he is an expert shot, hence the marksman hunting rifle fused to his side.
Now letting Blue sneak up behind me was my own fault, but Onyx has an uncanny ability to not be heard and seen, so much so I'd swear up and down that he dabbles in dark magic if I was asked in court.
"Why are you over here threatening the Princess where you think I can't hear you?" Shit, I was hoping he was going to drop it.
"I don't know what you're talking about Major." I state with an air of authority, hoping he will back off.
"Fuck off with that rank shit, Steel." Dammit, I almost forgot about Blue again
"What's got you so worried anyhow? We're on our way to a stable for Celestia's sake! We're about to be in one of the safest places in the world so what's got you down?" Blue Gadget exclaims as I turn back towards our objective.
"You know damn well why I'm 'down' lieutenant." I snap at him. "I'm going to be all safe and warm in a stable behind hundreds of feet of steel while my wife is back home in the middle of a fucking revolution!" I spat.
For once Blue Gadget has nothing to say, a look of understanding crossing his face. The awkward silence goes on for several more miles until Blue Gadget attempts to break it, before I cut him off, not in the mood for apologies.
"Onyx, what are we going to be dealing with once we reach the stable." I ask him, knowing he took notes during our, ironically, brief briefing.
"Well Colonel, we are currently on our way to 'The Citadel' or stable 47. It's a 'Super Stable' if you will, designed to hold the Crystal city's entire population, with a maximum capacity of 300,000. It currently has a skeleton crew of 25,000, one fifth of which are guards, with the rest filling in roles of maintenance, hydroponics, research, and industry."
I interrupt ,"Whoa, what?" I ask "I knew we were on our way to a stable but, Stable-Tec is building stables throughout Equestria aren't they? When did they get the resources to build this?" I question curiously.
"They didn't." responds Onyx "this stable was designed and built by the Crystal Empire Royal Government, Stable-Tec had no part in this stable. This stable is incredibly top secret, Princess Cadence hasn't even informed the Equestrian kingdom or their ministries about its existence." Onyx helpfully elaborates after seeing my look of complete astonishment.
"Yeah? Well, why couldn't we take a truck or something to the stable, Onyx?" Pipes in blue, seemingly sour that I cut him off.
"Like I said, the stable is top secret, emphasis on secret." Onyx responds shortly. "And I do wish you would refer to me by rank, Lieutenant." Onyx finishes, giving Blue Gadget a glare that could melt steel beams.
"Ha! Yeah whatever, Scepter, lets save ranks for when we're in the presence of our superiors, yeah?" Blue responds nonchalantly.
"I am your superior, Lieutenant." The Major counters hotly.
As my escorts argued behind my back I turned my senses to the environment, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, that is, until Flurry Heart drew my attention.
"And what do you want, You little ball of evil?" I quietly question Flurry Heart, cautious but confident I won't be heard due to the fact that my two escorts are still arguing.
The minuscule terror giggles at my insult and uses one of her hooves to boop my snoot, forcing me to scrunch violently.
"Why you little..." I stutter off as I feel something wrong.
I look around, trying to figure what's causing my sudden paranoia as Flurry Heart tries to get my attention again. I try my hardest to spot something unusual in the endless snow storm, but with how hard the snow is coming down right now I can barely see a yard ahead of me. I look to my right and left but all I see are light shimmers in the snow from the snow fall. Desperate to find out what's wrong, I activate the Stable-tech arcane targeting spell, or S.A.T.S., from my pipbuck. Suddenly one of the shimmers I was looking at moments ago form a shape, a very familiar shape.
"AMBUSH!" I all but scream as I dive forward into the snow, getting my wing grazed by a bullet and igniting my feathers, which was fortunately put out immediately as my body hit the snow.
"What in Tartarus!" Blue Gadget yells as he panic fires his rifle in the direction of some shots that dented his armor "How did they get this close!" he demands as he gets a short yelp for his efforts.
"Do you not see the Colonels Wing? Those are Z.R. Rounds, So they must be using invisibility cloaks." Onyx Scepter calmly replied as he fires 3 quick shots from his pistol, getting some satisfaction as he hits his target "Use your S.A.T.S. if you want to hit them" he finishes as he fires again, seemingly weaving around bullets all the while.
Blue Gadget fires his rifle again, and seemingly electing to follow orders for once, manages to land a hit, causing a zebra to appear in the snow, a spurt of red coming from their shoulder staining the pristine white snow. I manage to reactivate my S.A.T.S. just in time to pump a shell into the side of a zebra trying to put a shock sword through Onyx’s back.
"Die Equestrian slave!" Is the only warning I get, giving me barely enough time to roll out of the way as a shock sword cracks into the spot Flurry Hearts carrier was not moments ago.
I receive no warning as I get bucked across the face, knocking my shotgun loose from its holster. I manage to pull out my 10mm with my hoof, before firing a couple of poorly aimed rounds, receiving a slash to my chest plate as a reward.
As, she swings again, aiming for a final blow, I manage to block the swing with my pistol, and using my other hoof to pull my knife off my left thigh, I carry out a slash across her invisibility cloak, breaking the spell on it as I buck her unguarded stomach, causing her to yell out as she falls off.
"So, you aren't completely useless" The unknown zebra spats as she gets up. "Come then, let's see how good you really are. " She demands as she re-enters her combat stance, forcing me to enter mine.
Before she can charge me again however, a bright flash pierces the snow behind her, causing the four of us, my team and the last zebra in front of me, to stop and shield our eyes.
As I uncover my eyes after what felt like an hour, I make out the shape of a mushroom cloud from the crystal city.
"Dear Celestia..." Mutters Onyx as he sees what caused the flash, completely stunned, as is everyone else on the field, the zebra I was just preparing to kill staring at the dark cloud through the snow storm behind her.
I'm the first to snap to my senses, "The blast wave… We Have to outrun the blast wave! To the stable. Now!" I shout as I turn in the direction we were heading when we left the crystal city, bringing everyone to their senses as we sprinted headlong towards the stable.
"Colonel!" Onyx Scepter says as he catches up to me "What about the zebra?" He yells into the wind as I peek behind my shoulder and see the last zebra from the ambush sprinting behind us.
"Let her come, Major, we don't have time!" I ordered Onyx, trying to increase my pace as I spotted the Stable doors in the distance. "Were almost there, come on!" I say as I try to spread my wings, only to be painfully reminded of my burns.
I slam the cord from my pipbuck into the console as I start inputting the access codes. "Type faster you Pegasus fuck!" yells out the zebra mare as she comes up behind us.
"Shut the fuck up you striped bastard, I'm trying!" I demand as I finally put in the code. A loud clanking noise can be heard as the pressure seals on the door disable one by one. I turn to look at the crystal city one last time as the door finally opens.
"Lily..." I utter just as we get hit by the blast wave, getting launched inside the stable and slamming against the opposite wall.
Forever seems to pass as I lay there, completely unable to move my body, on the verge of unconsciousness when I see blurs move past me, and hear the rhythmical locking of the stable door, finally giving into the darkness.
The first thing I hear are sparks. I try to look around but find that my body feels as if it was left in a tub full of ice.
After some time of only hearing sparks and muffled noises nearby, I finally opened my eyes to see… nothing. I immediately assume the worst until I spot bright sparks among the darkness and realize that, wherever I am, the lights are just off.
While I let my eyes adjust to the darkness I feel around my bed, only to find that, contrary to what I first thought, I seem to be in a tube of sorts and not a bed. While I'm feeling around the tube one of my hooves slides over a lever and in my half-awake state I decide to pull it, causing a loud hissing to echo across the small room.
By the time the pod has fully opened, my eyes have adjusted to the darkness and I'm able to pull myself out of my pod using my front hooves, only to fall to the ground. My hind hooves seem to be asleep, preventing me from standing up.
I am content in waiting until I hear something hit the floor next to me. I whip my head in the direction of the sound as fast as i can, which isn't admittedly all that fast considering i feel like a Popsicle, but i did my best.
As soon as my vision adjusts I see a zebra, I think, and she looks at me, seemingly just as confused as I am. We stare each other up and down, and besides the obvious stripes, I notice scars crisscrossing her body, as well as a Glyph on her flank that seems to be 3 interlocked rings. When I look at it, it reminds me of a sporting event a long while back, but I can't remember what it was called for the life of me.
“My eyes are up here” the Zebra smirks at me, making my green eyes snap up to her violet ones.
“I’m sorry.” I excuse myself “It's just that, i don't really remember too much of… anything really before i woke up.” I justify after a few moments “Do you remember anything?”
“No.” she says hesitantly “I don't remember anything either, Who are you?” she inquires, seemingly disoriented by her lack of memory.
“Well, I was hoping you would know that.” While I'm saying this I'm finally able to feel my hind legs and stand up “Need some help?” I offer her a hoof.
“Thank you.” She responds, accepting my hoof and standing up. “Look around, maybe something nearby can tell us who we are.” she commands, seemingly by instinct.
“No problem.” I tell her as I wipe some frost off my fatigues while I begin my search for a light switch.
Fortunately, I find it with relative ease, but upon flipping it all I get are more sparks.
“That's odd.” i muse. While I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with the power, my newfound zebra friend calls me over to a terminal.
As I walk carefully towards her, as to not trip on anything in the dark, I point out “How does the terminal still have power? Everything else isn't working.”
“Well, it may be battery powered and such.” she responds as i settle down next to her “But it doesn't matter, look i found two files on here! One is labeled ‘Colonel Steel Heart’ and the other is labeled ‘Veteran Legionary Tahiya’”
Once she finished her sentence, she clicked on Colonel Steel Heart. At first it seemed as if it was just numbers and letters, until i realized that it was medical information.
“Lets see here” i state “3.8 feet tall, white Pegasus, 3 strike cutie mark?”
“Seems to be you, Steel Heart.” She states “Which means i’m most likely Tahiya.” we silently revel in our success, until i state the unfortunate.
“While it's good we know who we are now, we still don't know why we are here.”
Before Tahiya can respond however, a klaxon starts to blare, activating emergency lights, followed by gun and laser fire erupting somewhere in the distance.
“WARNING: HOSTILE FORCES ENTERING C.O.R.E. DEFENSIVE PROCEDURES ENGAGED” a feminine robotic voice announces through a nearby speaker as two ponies walk in wearing white armor with similar designs to plate-mail of old and wielding some sort of laser weapon I've never seen before.
“Return to your Cryo-pods immediately subjects #1 and #2.” they order simultaneously, aiming their rifles at me.
“Wait, what do you mean Cryo-” I'm cut off by the sound of laser fire as Tahiya dashes to the side of one at an incredible speed, tearing his laser rifle out of his battle saddle, quickly smashing the butt of the rifle into his face, sending him to the ground as she pivots around on her hind hooves firing the rifle using her front hooves into the other ones chest, leaving a gaping wound.
“How in Tartarus did you do that!” I shout out. I don't get an immediate answer as the other laser rifle smacks into my hooves.
“I have no idea!” orders Tahiya “But i'm guessing it has something to do with my rank!” She asks while I take the battle saddle off of one of the robots, herself apparently electing to keep using her front hooved firing technique.
“Ok, so maybe it's muscle memory?” I respond, hoping that's the case, because I can't remember a damn thing.
“A mystery for another day, Steel, but we have to go, now!” she says as she pops her rifle out the door firing a couple of blasts down the hall with sparking noises following as she ducks back in.
With a click I connect my new laser rifle to my saddle, just as two more ponies barge into the room, knocking Tahiya over. Before they can do anything further, I blast them with two well aimed shots, fortunate enough to have retained some muscle memory.
“Disen……….pods.” What's that voice? Where am i? Who am i?
“Admini........Adren……….Three a...Four.” Focus, one thing at a time, the voice, it's feminine, if monotone. an-Whoa! What the hell was that!
“We don't have time for them to wake up, Prism! Administer Shock Therapy, now!” Wha-
“AAAAAAA-FUCK!” Pain, pain, so much pain!
I Spasm violently, hopelessly seeking to remove the source of the shock. Eventually, the shock comes to an abrupt end, and the pod I find myself in hisses open.
“Welcome to the land of the living, lieutenant Gadget, Major Scepter.” says a voice off to my right, nodding to me and someone on my left.
First I look at the voice as it speaks, finding a brown-eyed white unicorn in a lab coat, covering his cutie mark. When he nods to someone beside me I turn to look, only to find myself gazing into a pair of deep, blue eyes, ogling me back.
His eyes were like sapphires indented on his black crystalline fur, the sparkles from his fur perfectly resembling the night. Yet somehow, the longer I looked, the brighter he seemed to become.
“Ahem.” I reluctantly managed to break eye contact and bring my attention back to the unicorn.
“My name is Doctor White Hooves, head of the Department of Defense with C.O.R.E., or the Council Research Entity, and as of this moment we are in a bit of an emergency, so we are going to have to be fast.” he, or rather Doctor White hooves, quickly explained, not giving me or my newfound compatriot time to get our bearings.
“First let me ask a couple of control questions, to make sure you still retain cognitive functions, now, question one, what is three times three?”
“Nine.” comes our simultaneous response.
“Good, good, now, question two, what are your names?”
“Uuum.” comes our simultaneous confusion. am I Gadget or Scepter?
“Ah, that is, rather unfortunate.” He expresses with a shake of his head, quickly chirping back up and pointing at me. “Well you are Lieutenant Blue Gadget.” and then he points to the living rock besides me. “And you are Major Onyx Scepter.” He turns his back on us.
“Now for a quick test, if you don't mind.” i once again don't get to voice my opinion as i get hit in the back of the head, i didn't flinch however, as i turned to find… a smashed apple covered in a yellow magic.
I turned to question the doctor only to stop as I saw Onyx Had managed to catch the apple before it reached him, he must have the best reflexes i have ever seen. He looks at me, and while it must be my imagination, I think I see a tinge of red touch his cheeks as he sees me staring.
He quickly turns to the doctor, breaking eye contact with me, again.
“Perfect. Everything is working perfectly.” The doctor states with a grin.
“And what was that, Doctor.” Onyx states with a slight growl, no blush visible. it was probably just my imagination anyway.
“Calm down, it was just a test, to see if our modifications worked!”
“Modifications?” I slip in.
“Yes, each of you have been given a serum for enhanced speed, accuracy, reflexes, strength, and durability!” he states with some enthusiasm. “Fortunately, the serum worked, now we can begin mass production!”
“Hold on, why would you need to mass produce a serum like that?” Onyx butts in “And are you implying that you experimented on us!” Onyx is bristling at the implied series of events.
“Well to answer your second question, yes, but merely because we had no one else available I assure you. And Prism here can answer your first question, Prism?” He calmly gestures at the roof, a sparkling hologram appearing from above in the shape of some unicorn-pegasus hybrid. a pegacorn?
“Hello, as The Doctor has just informed you, my name is Prism, and I will be giving you a brief history of Stable 47, or the Citadel as most call it now, since you first entered the Stable two hundred years ago.”she explains in a slow, monotone voice, a clear contrast from the doctor.
“Wait, two hund-” Onyx started, but was immediately cut off.
“Two hundred years ago the Stable closed to save the occupants inside after evacuations from the Crystal Empire failed due to unknown reasons.” Onyx, seemingly miffed at being cut off, attempts to force his question back in when a yellow bubble appears around his mouth. A quick look towards Doctor Hooves is all it takes to confirm who cut Onyx off again. White Hooves is sporting a slight smirk and a now glowing horn.
“Sorry you two, but we need to hurry things along, we are starting to run out of time.” answers White Hooves to our combined glares. Seeing me preparing to voice my opinion as well, a bubble appears around my mouth as well. He turns back to Prism “Please continue, Prism.”
“Thank you Doctor, now, You and two others, a pegasus and a zebra, were the only ones that made it inside before the end of the war, although the reasons why you were initially on your way here has been cleared from my database.''
“Upon your entrance, you and the others were launched against a wall opposite of you by a blastwave of enormous proportions, radiating you to extreme levels. It is truly a miracle you are even alive.” She seems to look at us apologetically, although that is hard to tell with her monotone voice and uninterested movements.
“With the current equipment of the time we were unable to resuscitate you. There was, however, experimental cryogenic pods which you could theoretically be sustained in until the equipment was prepared.” That explains why we were frozen at least.
“For the first fifty years, everything ran smoothly, with a strong security force, a stable economy, fresh food, water, and air. Even completely self sufficient power from the crystal reactor. Yes, everything ran smoothly, until the Split.” Upon spotting my confusion she seemingly remembers we have no idea what she is talking about, and decides to elaborate.
“You see, the Split occurred when a movement started in the industry sector called ‘The Forge-Burned’. It was a religious movement at the beginning, with everyone who followed the faith following a clergy of priests called the Fire Maidens.”
“The religion spread quickly, seemingly the more that had seen the Fire Maidens, the more who joined their movement. Soon enough, Forty percent of the stable, which contained forty thousand residents at the time, followed the Fire Maidens, with the oldest followers valuing their orders over the overmares.”
“With this sudden shift of power, the overmare was rightly threatened and ordered their arrest. At which point everything went wrong.”
“The Fire Maidens had expected the overmares reaction and had made their own private army who forged crude melee weapons and armor, which while weak compared to Stable Securitys guns, they had the vast number advantage, leading to stable Security being pushed out of the industrial sector until they managed to halt the tide of ponies with superior firepower in tight, long corridors.”
“By the end of the fighting, there were an estimated ten thousand casualties in total, wiping out a fourth of the stables population in a weekend. A truce was made between the overmare and the Fire Maidens. But with this truce, the overmare became more dictatorial with her powers, going as far to stop elections and to put all remaining productive capabilities they had into creating an army.”
“Upon the cancellation of the electoral process, the ponies of the research wing Split from the main Stable Government, who renamed themselves Supreme Stable Command, and formed the Council Research Entity. We employed a series of plasma shields which don't require constant magical upkeep, and instead rely on the reactor, to separate the research wing from the rest of the stable, eventually creating a defense force of synthetic ponies, to enforce the councils laws in our portion of the stable.”
“Thank you, Prism.” White Hooves says as her hologram Disappears and he cancels his magic hold on our mouths. He proceeds to face us and ask “Now, do you have any questions?”
Onyx, being the more observant one, was the first to ask “Yeah, i do, who controls the power, food, and water supply? If they have not surrendered to each other in a hundred and fifty years, i don't see one of them controlling such things.”
White hooves let out a bark of a laugh. “Ha! You're an observant one aren't you? Well, fortunately, the Fire Maidens and the overseer were smart enough a hundred and fifty years ago to realize that would be a problem, so it was written into the truce that three neutral parties would be made to control such things.” Two guards walk in wearing some white armor and carrying extra pipbucks.
“Here take these pipbucks and go to the local map tab while i explain.” We take the pipbucks from the guards and strap them to our hooves, proceeding to follow the doctor's instructions and open the local map.
“Firstly, we have Paragon, they are the ones that run the reactor at the center of the stable, they are very strict, with a strong chain of command, but are well trained and reliable.”
“There is the Pertanian, who runs the hydroponics farm near the bottom of the stable, they have Far less organization than Paragon, but that can be expected from the numerous workers in their employ necessary just to keep the massive farm running.”
“And finally there is The Hub, a company at the top who controls the Massive Atrium near the Blast Door, originally placed there to keep any one faction from seizing control of the exit, but now acts as a central meeting area for traders, and traitors, from all of the factions in the stable.”
On the map, we see a large cylinder like design for the stable, with elevators, stairways, and even the occasional train running from one side of the stable to the other. I quickly realize that with the exception of the Pertanian, who control the entire bottom floor, Paragon and The Hub make up the middle of the stable, like a smaller Cylinder in the middle of a bigger one, leading from the bottom of the stable all the way to the top.
In total there are four, albeit massive, Sectors, each one thirty to fifty floors, with The Forge-Burned occupying the Industry sector with fifty floors in it, Pertanian occupying the Hydroponics floor with fifty more floors, Supreme Stable Command, or S.S.C. as it appears on the map, occupying the Security sector of the stable at the top of the stable with forty floors, and C.O.R.E. occupying the research sector with just thirty floors. The S.S.C., C.O.R.E., and Forge-Burned made a ring around the Paragon and Hub, with the Pertanian being the only floor without a central area, making the Paragons territory cover sixty central floors and The Hubs territory covering the remaining forty.
“Now, is there anything else?” states White Hooves as we look up.
“Yeah.” This time I'm the one with a question. “Two actually.”
“Oh, well please hurry, we have important business to get to.”
“Firstly, what was the serum you injected us with?”
“Oh, we just call it the ‘Alicorn serum’ beyond that, you will need to get the proper clearance level to know anything else about it. Now, What was your last question?” he quickly rattles off and changes the subject, much to my annoyance.
“Ok, I'll get that clearance, but for now, why do you keep stressing that we are on a time limit?” he appears to become nervous as he opens his mouth.
"Well, you see-" Suddenly a loud crash can be heard as the power cuts out and red emergency lights power on.
“Please follow us Doctor Hooves, We need to get you and the rest of the council members to the council chambers.'' The two synthetic guards begin to motion the doctor out of the room, one going ahead of them and peeking his head out of the door to ensure the immediate vicinity is secure.
The sudden movements from the synthetic guards seemingly caught the Doctor off guard, and he tripped over his own hooves.
“Watch it! I can walk by myself, I don't need you dragging me!” The doctor spouts angrily at the guard beside him, losing his composure before he picks himself up. With a swipe of his hoof to wipe off nonexistent dust from his lab coat he turns his head to face me and Onyx.
“As for you two we unfortunately do not have the time to refreeze you, nor can I take you with me to the council chambers, security measures, you understand.” he turns back to the exit whilst using his magic to press a few buttons on his pipbuck.
Immediately after he stops pushing buttons four more guards teleport into the room, surrounding Onyx and I. Their sudden appearance causes me to jump with fright, but Onyx seems completely unphased, instead opting to instead push his side against mine and take a defensive stance, a protective snarl beginning to take place on his face.
Despite the aura of intimidation he is exuding, I feel oddly calm at his side, seeing how his stance is aimed at protecting me as much as possible, rather than himself. I do find his attitude rather odd, seeing how I had practically just met him, we haven't even had a full conversation yet!
In response to Onyxs Sudden moves, the guards collectively turned and faced us. raising their Laser rifles towards us, they begin to threaten us with them, trying to cow Onyx into submission. He remains undeterred,however, and simply snarls more aggressively.
Doctor White Hooves, seeing the sudden conundrum we were in, simply chuckled to himself before deciding to turn around and remedy the situation. He signaled to the guards to lower their rifles and as they did, he turned to face Onyx.
“Calm yourself Major, these guards are here to escort you to a secondary location, merely to ensure your safety.” With a couple more taps on his pipbuck, I hear a ding from my own pipbuck. I raise my pipbuck to my face, trying to keep the fords in my line of sight, and spot a sort of checkpoint on the map leading deeper into C.O.R.E. territory. Out of the corner of my eye however, I notice that Onyx hasn't calmed in the slightest, and in an effort not to lose the only allies we have, I lean down and whisper into his ear, hopefully being quiet enough so the guards around us don’t hear me.
“Listen, Onyx, i know we all just met each other, but it's probably in our best interests to go with the gua-” Onyx cuts me off in an aggressive but just as quiet whisper.
“It's like you said, we just met each other, and I have no reason to trust any of them!” I stumble a little bit as he pushes himself against me just a tad harder.
“Well for someone who doesn't trust people he just met, you're awfully close to me right now.” I say in a hushed tone, attempting to subtly signal with my eyes to him the non-existent space in between us. Fortunately, he seems to get my signals as he turns his head in my direction, allowing him to see the lack of space between us, causing him to blink a couple of times in confusion.
“I-ah didn't realize- sorry.” he mutely replies, his posture quickly relaxing as he takes a couple of steps away from me, with a slight sparkle coming from his cheeks, all the while looking anywhere but me.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Gadget, it would have been quite... troublesome if we were to lose the two of you.” Doctor white Hooves says with a spin as he heads to leave with his escort.
“Escort them to the secondary location you four, we don't have all day now.” are his final words as he leaves with a slight jog out the room.
The guards turn to me and Onyx, before signaling us out the door.
“Like the doctor said, we don't have all day.” and with that they led us out into the white, smooth hall. Onyx and myself exchanging brief glances before following them out the door into the smooth, white halls, red emergency lights going off above us as our only source of light, the guards however seem completely undeterred as their synthetic eyes glow softly, apparently some form of night vision as the guide us to our safe room.
Onyx Presses his side against me as we walk in the dark halls, his slender form seemingly doing wonders for my nerves as I do my best to keep my eyes on the guards in the flashing red lights.
We continue for some time, I'm not sure how long, before we hear the first gunshots, followed by rapid laserfire, with a symphony of loud erratic screaming. The guards, previously holding a slow pace, quickly speed up, Onyx having to lead me as I quickly lose sight of the guards, rounding a corner only for Onyx to pull me back as a gunshot rings out and pings against the wall near me.
“In the name of the S.S.C. you are to lay down your arms and surrender to us imm--!” gruff voice demands from around the corner as i finally spot the dead bodies of our Security Detail, both with clean rounds to the head, sparks and blood flowing from the wounds, before he is cut off by a loud warcry.
I peek around the corner as Onyx zips past me into the hall, watching as Ironclad Ponys Charge into the ranks of the S.S.C, their Magically charged swords cutting through their armor with ease, The S.S.C. retaliating with incendiary shotgun shells, those not able to shoot them throwing hoof grenades down the hall into the veritable horde of ponies charging towards their position.
“Blue!” I snap to attention as Onyx Shoves the laser rifle into my hooves, by the time I look back up at him he is already blasting the rifle indiscriminately down the hall into the mosh pit of ponies.
Aiming my rifle down the hall, i can't help but wonder what the fuck i've gotten myself into, joining my Ally in engaging the mess down the hall.
“Tahiya, Look out!” I tilt my battle-saddle and fire multiple blasts through somepony that appeared out of a doorway behind her, briefly lighting up the hall as the red lasers manage to pierce his armor.
Tahiya turns around to find the dead pony on the grounds and nods thankfully towards me, charging down the hall once more, shooting at anything that comes into view. We had successfully left our room and wandered the dark halls until more of the white armoured ponies appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.
I watch enraptured as she single hoofedly wipes out a wave of them almost all by herself, weaving left and right as those that aren't immediately killed by her superior aim desperately fire on her, hoping to get a lucky shot as she tears them apart.
I, meanwhile, run damage control, covering her rear from anypony smart enough to wait for her to pass before trying to get her from behind. I keep to a slower pace, not sprinting like her but rather just running down the hall, shooting anyone that peeks out, occasionally checking my own rear as well. Somehow, i always get lucky because whenever i look behind me someone is just peeking around the corner, and i manage to hit them with a clean blast before they can set up their shot.
Eventually they seem to pull back from us, giving us time to recuperate, Tahiya taking the chance to rest from her crusade while i loot the nearby bodies, dumping our empty batteries for fresh ones, taking the chance to try and take some of their armor, which has proven resistant to our rifles, but it's too dark to get off their body and leg pieces, so i just snatch their white helmets and return to rest with Tahiya.
“You did a good job Steel.” I blink in surprise at her praise, causing me to fumble one of the batteries for a moment.
“Are you kidding me? You were fantastic! You tore through their ranks with ease, I just followed behind you!” I gushed at her, and I wasn't overreacting in my opinion, she was truly a force to be reckoned with. She snorted at my praise, obviously caught off guard.
“I thank you for your kind words Steel, now hand me one of those helmets, I wish to see the armor of our enemies.” she responds, causing me to remember the helmets and pass one to her as i try on the other one, fitting surprisingly well. Just as i put on the helmet the visor lights up, letting me see the now blood covered walls properly for the first time.
“Wow, these things got night vision!” I spout in amazement, Tahiya sliding her helmet on too, looking over and giggling at my look of amazement, seemingly able to overlook the amount of bodies in the hall.
“You know, you look cute when you're excited.” she smirks at me as I blush in the darkness, the high quality night vision easily letting her see the blood flood to my cheeks.
“And easy to tease too! I like that.” she gazes into my eyes as she leans her blood soaked face close to mine. My eyes staring back for a moment, before I break eye contact looking for a way out of my embarrassed position, only for the noise of combat to erupt nearby, her head snapping to the doorway it’s coming from, quickly getting on her hooves and jogging towards the door. I follow her as I thank the universe for getting me out of that, not exactly keen to make out covered in blood and surrounded by bodies.
I catch up to her at the door, the sounds of fighting much louder now, yet still sounding distant. Tahiya and I glance at each other briefly and she opens the door to be greeted with… Nothing.
Well, not nothing, but not the heavy combat i was expecting. The sounds of combat are much louder now, but all I see is a wide room, connected at the two sides by a bridge and a bunch of Ponies wearing crude metal armors and wielding swords, axes and maces. The ponies seem to be trying to sneak around as they place these sacks around the bridge, one of them spotting us.
“Synths! Our covers busted!” The mares voice yells out, pointing at us as she throws off the sack and draws her axe. We are charged by the rest of her Allies, Tahiya counter charging while I hold my ground for the best accuracy.
Tahiya once more tears through their ranks, this time opting to drop the laser rifle once she gets in close and ripping swords out of her opponents hooves, slicing in a beautiful display of skill while I slowly advance, providing fire support with clean shots.
I quickly reach the halfway point on the bridge as Tahiya is forced to hold her ground as a sort of choke point at the end of the bridge. I watch as she knocks someone over the edge and as i look down i finally realize where all the sounds of combat originally came from.
I look over a warzone going on below us, a horde of crudely armored ponies like the ones we are fighting and ponies wearing what seems like blue uniforms with green armor pieces on their bodies, both engaging more of the white armorclad ponies we fought before. As the body smacks to the ground I see a whiteclad pony standing next to somepony in power armor look up at me, making eye contact with me before he turns to shoot off a Metal clad pony holding onto the back of the Power armored pony.
I snap back as I hear a scream, Tahiya landing at my hooves with a massive cut across her side. I look up to see an absolutely massive pony wreathed in Thick Metal wielding a Large sword and shield, he has a massive wingspan, but unlike my feathery wings his looks to be made of white leather, standing out from his black fur, his tail with a white stripe through it as well, his fanged maw grinning at me savagely from under his helmet.
“Greetings pegasus! I haven't seen one of your kind in anything but old books! I thought for sure you were extinct!” he smiles widely as he licks his blade of Tahiyas blood, staring me in the eyes
