Silver immediately noticed Robin's gear, and chuckled. "I remember seeing those at your funeral. I should have figured you would want them back." He understood getting attached to equipment. His own armor was more than a millennium old, and his swords had been forged over a century earlier. "The quality is excellent. Did Moon Shine make them?"
Venquis delved deeper inside of the facility, taking his route of the odd floors. Floor One presented nothing of use, just record books used by the Republic to confirm the arrival of guests and officials. Inside Floor Three, the Eriborian began to notice more activity in the floor layouts. Floor Three was the barracks, which was devoid of life with the exception of a Equestrian solider getting equipped with his armor, which Venquis took down in a single blow to his chest. It seemed that the floors he had been travelling through were utterly usless, being the standard layout of a typical Equestrian office. Of course, Venquis obviously knew that Equestria was hiding something sinister inside of the building. Room Seven had several hundred children, all of them Equestrian and various gender and race inside large tubes of a green liquid, cords dangling in the liquid that monitored them. Venquis walked around the room, quite shocked about what was being presented around him. He soon found a large wooden table in the middle of the room with several notes and recordings scattered across. The Eriborian took the first document that came to his eye, a scientific analysis on the left hand side of the table near the edge. As he read the studies, something was very,very wrong. "These children....she's turned them into monsters." Venquis said to himself. As he placed the document down, another document connected to a clipboard came across him. Unlike the detailed presentation that he just read, this document had only five badly written, almost scribbled words on them, as if the scientist that had written it tried to leave in a hurry. It only said. "Do not enter Room 10...." Venquis then looked at the tubes once more, and only one thought entered his mind. "If she were to experiment on Ryborians, what would she make?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ocean arrived nearby not long after Silver, dressed in the same sleek blue armour she wore until her funeral, and still continues to wear until this day. She remembered the gifts that were given by Venquis, the two Ryborian Spell-Daggers or "Helacrusa", exclusively made for her. To her mind, it seemed they can turn anysort of weapon into a spell-something, and only them alone can do so. She stood nearby as she looked at her two daggers before sheathing them
"Not just moonshine, These were a joint effort between her and the top Blacksmith of every nation from Boardor to the Crystal empire and Dragon Clans. All taken from ancient Ryborian designs archaeologists found. Celestia always wanted the best and so she'll be ended by the best." Robin replied to Silver smiling. as he tore off the red cape replacing it with his old forest green one he always wore.
"Interesting..." Silver grinned, and pulled a small pouch of glowing gemstones from his pack. "Moon always added a little... extra feature... to her work. Did you ever wonder about the small hole near the arrow rest? It's designed to hold an enchanted stone. These here are fire rubies, ice diamonds, and storm emeralds. Pop one of them in the slot, and see what it does to your arrows when you fire them." He turned to Ocean. "I hope you're ready. If all goes according to plan, this will be our last mission before the final battle. We need to get in, place the Rings, and get out. Once they've had time to work, Celestia's magic will be gone, and she'll finally be vulnerable. When she is, we're going to throw our whole bucking army at her."
Robin Grapped a fire ruby and placed it in the slot. He then fired an arrow which was automatically on fire. He then got an Idea. "Silver have you ever heard of industrial diamonds. Its basically Stallion made diamonds. I was thinking we get the top scientists to work on a Gem combining Ice, Lightning and fire all in one."
Ocean nodded as she then looked at both of their armours. Ocean’s was fairly plain, and appeared like a custom made Flare armour. The truth was, Ocean’s armour was the inspiration for the armour that was worn by the Flares. Ocean’s was navy blue in colour unlike the Flares, and had several white stripes across it, with the symbol of the Lunar Republic she asked to be added on. Unlike the Flares armour, Ocean’s provided maximum agility while keeping with the protection equivalent to Ranger armour. “I’m not exactly sure who built mine, but apparently Crimson came up with the design alongside some Equestrian Agents he served alongside when he was younger. Crimson’s armour was the black and red one you’ve seen, but i remember him telling me that he used to wear a brilliant white set of armour during his days as Celestia’s personal agent.” Ocean replied. “He’s likely to wear it during the final battle to add an insult to Celestia.” Ocean then turned around to face Silver directly. “Disguises won’t work very well, and there is no point in dressing up really. We might as well find this bunker she’s in, place the ring, and get the hell out of there. Fighting is out the question. Even at her current state, she’s likely to turn the battle in a one sided curb stomp victory for her. Not to mention she’s surrounded by at least 300 Elites, the ones who still haven’t defected to the Republic.” Ocean said before cracking her neck and stretching. “Word has it that the Ryborian Legions are going to arrive soon, so any form of military that is still loyal to the Phoenix Queen will be massacred, there’s almost no point of the Republic sending military to assist, I personally believe they should focus on rebuilding the damages done by the Empire. Shall we head off ?”
"Three hundred Elites?" Silver laughed. "This will be a cakewalk. Let's move." A hot-air balloon was waiting just outside the gate, and Silver climbed into the basket and motioned for the others to follow. "It may not look like much, but that's exactly what we need for this mission. Celestia won't be expecting us to arrive in something like this. We can be right on top of her camp before she realizes that anything is amiss."
Blackout and Cricket climbed in, and Silver began untying the rope that held the balloon in place. He looked questioningly at Ocean. "You coming? It's going to..." "Did you think I'd let you leave without me?" A familiar voice made Silver's jaw drop, and he turned around to see Nightshade approaching. She climbed in beside her father, and grinned wickedly at him. When Silver finally managed to speak, his voice was little more than a croak. "You... you... you were dead!" Nightshade kept smiling. "I got better."
Ocean hopped into the balloon and found herself utterly surprised to see Nightshade literally standing right next to her. She had no idea what to say to what was happening, she was utterly confused on how Silver's daughter had managed to "get better". When she finally did speak, she tried to spit something out. "Well..this a surprise." Ocean said, looking sort of embarrassed on her choice of words. Soon, the balloon headed to the north towards what appeared to be a small camp consisting of a campfire and two guards right next to the ruins of Old Canterlot. Despite it's size, and lack of presentation, it was still a camp. The camp appeared to be something ripped out of a stereotypical 'holiday in the woods', but nearby the campfire and wooden logs was a large stone structure disguised as a garden shed. "She's inside, underground." Ocean said plainly. "Sucks that we wont be able to take her down from the air, i would have enjoyed that." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Eriborian headed down to Floor Nine, where more monstrosities were being presented towards him in more green tubes of liquid. Unlike the children he had seen in Floor Seven, these children were already half mutated. Children's entire limbs grew larger then their entire bodies, appearing like it was inside out. Their muscles were also expanding, especially in the upper torso section where the mutations seemed to be taking hold in it's current stage. The further he traveled, the more children he seen and the more and more complete the Juggernaut conversion process became. There were children with no eyes, the holes originally holding them serving as empty windows to the world. Venquis Razona, the Eriborian of Ardelan and Windaria also noticed something out of the ordinary with this conversion process. All of the mutated children became genderless and, according to a report he read on Floor Seven, completely sterile. It was most likely a countermeasure Celestia ordered incase the Juggernauts ever took the impossible chance of going rogue. Disgusted, he left the floor and headed back down to find his Doe companion before facing them on the final Floor. After taking the elevator, he found himself in a hallway that went left and right and three doors that appeared on either side, with the biggest one being directly in the middle just outside of the Elevator. The walls were a charcoal black, cold and lifeless and had two banners of the Empire on each side nearby the Door. He leaned back against the wall and awaited for the arrival of Tricorna
A blinding light filled the hallway around Venquis and Tricorna was standing next to him. "I found nothing of value... Sad... We have three rooms left, which are we going to?" Sparks flew off Tricorna as if her power was trying to force itself out.
"I also would have preferred aerial combat, but I was expecting this. The Phoenix Queen is insane, but she's no fool. She wants to maintain every possible advantage, especially now that she knows we can hurt her." Silver waited until the balloon was directly over guards, and grabbed two heavy steel spikes from a bag at his hooves. With precision accuracy that had come from years of practice, he dropped the flechettes onto the ponies below, piercing their skulls and killing them instantly. "That was the easy part. Now all we have to do is infiltrate an impenetrable bunker, fight our way through an army of some of the deadliest ponies alive, place not one, but THREE rings on the horn of the most powerful creature the world has ever seen, and then somehow get back out alive." Silver laughed, landed the balloon near the 'shed,' and climbed out. "Let's have some fun!"
"Lead the way, but save some for me also." Ocean said jokingly as she pulled out her new daggers, twirled them between her hooves and got into stance as she went towards the shed door. Despite being a well built bunker, the entrance to such a secret facility was almost laughable. All it took to enter the facility was a doorknob that appeared to be built into the shed's floor. Ocean jumped down first and looked around the hallway, which was completely empty. She looked back up at the entrance hole and signaled that the coast was clear, allowing the others to enter. Of course, Ocean was also ready for action the moment they were spotted. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Nothing of value? Goddess, you should have seen what i found...." The Ryborian replied. "Now, I've memorised a map of this room in particular, due to it's immportance of some documents I've found. Now...." Venquis pointed at the door to the right, following up by pointing to the left door. "That is a storage cabinet that houses brooms and buckets and so forth. That one over there is the scientists resting chambers,so nothing really exciting here. However...this room only had this big question mark on the map, so something must be hidden behind here that not even the head scientists know. Strange." Venquis pulled out Moonsaber and walked through the door with Tricorna, his jaw dropped at what he had seen. A tube of blue liquid contained one completely bald and naked Ryborian slept inside. A crystal powered these tubes and also appeared to give these subject power. It seemed that Celestia was not only working on experimenting on children, but also Ryborians as well. The subject was encased in a titanium shell, also surrounded by a force field powered by another machine nearby. Whatever they were working on, it was very....very bad. "Ryborian super soldier's, just when this day cant get any worse...." The Eriborian remarked before picking up a report and reading it in a loud and clear voice. 'The Subject, known as Devokira, named after the Ryborian God of Destruction is the first creation of an artificial Ryborian program. The objective of the program is to create a subject who's abilities have been increased ten fold, and eternally serve the Phoenix Queen. Upon completion, the subject's DNA will be taken to further enhance the Juggernaut program. After completion, the Ryborian in particular will serve alongside our nation. With the powers of the subject being what the Flares call, a 'One Pony Army'. We believe that this subject is one of the keys to winning the war." Venquis placed the list of notes down once more before burning it. "Insulting the gods by naming this....thing after them? Really shows how deep the hole goes for the Empire at the moment." Just then, the door to the facility locked shut. Upon turning around, they seen the leader of the facility and the commander of the occupation of Ardelan. It seemed like Base Jumper got sick of waiting for the fight to come to him.
"Lady, gentleman. I am here... As planned." Base stood before them, holding the dark matter hammer. A large tube sat on his back. "I'm going to make this simple. You two cannot leave. There is no way out. If I die, this entire building will implode upon itself, trapping you here, and destroying everything within the facility. As we speak, your friends are beginning the final attack on Celestia... My last job is to ensure you two don't make it there..." He slammed his hammer on the ground. "And if I have to take out these abominations in the process, then so be it..." Tricorna stared at him. "I hope you are ready to pay for what you have done." The blind rage hidden behind her eyes, suddenly took over. She saw red and charged base, slamming into him before he could react and sending electricity through his entire body. She pushed him clear to the wall behind him, before jumping back and roaring.
Robin Jumped down and did a quick placement of the fire gem. Over the course of the balloon flight he practiced switching between the 3 gems managing to get the time down to 1 second. He launched a fire arrow down the hallway which luckily and unintentionally hit and lit a wall sconce.
Silver could hear the sound of armored hooves running in their direction. "We've got company. Fifty at least. Heavy armor. Probably Elites." He drew the Blades of Tartarus and flew towards the sound of the approaching enemies, quickly disappearing around a corner. Nightshade sighed. "He won't need our help. Let's see if we can't use this little distraction to sneak further in."
Venquis charged at breakneck speed towards Base while Tricorna electrocuted him. The moment the doe was done as she jumped back, Venquis lept over her and came down towards the still dazed base and delivered a blow that would otherwise instantly knockout a normal pony directly on his left cheek. He was not going to kill him just yet, he would rather let Tricorna have the honor. He pressed Moonsaber directly at his exposed throat, a single twitch from the Ryborian and he's dead. Venquis looked directly between his eyes, speaking in a deep dangerous growl. "It's a surprise to see that at least one of the traitors made it out alive. Those who did not commit suicide or were killed by Equestria were executed by what remained of our race. I wonder.... what drove you and the original seven traitors to abandon our homeland. Dovian abandoned the homeland because he seen us a heretics, Quenka Dantyania betrayed our own kind because he wanted to serve the greater good. Those six are dead, the survivors killed by my hooves." Venquis then threw Base across the crater that he created when he hit the wall, throwing him back to Tricorna. "My crown was passed to me by my father, and his father before him. I was born to be the Eriborian! It is my birthright, given to me by the Nine Divines! You serve for a dead queen, and in the same breath, you curse the crown that protects her? You dare think of me as an Equestrian murderer? And the lineage of Eriborian's who have reigned before me being compared to them? The great Razonan royalty of Ardelan! Who forged the land form the ground up, who made it noble and pure, who gave it order, meaning and faith for the future! To over forty thousand of years of loyal subjects, and it was then questioned by those seven! As our homeland died because it was forced by you and them! Forced by you Falahindra - A PATHETIC TRAITOR TO THE DIVINES, OUR BLOOD AND OUR HOMELAND ! I AM VENQUIS LUCIAN RAZONA! I AM THE ERIBORIAN OF ARDELAN! I AM SIHANA'S RIGHT HOOF! You will NEVER TO SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!" -------------------------------------------------------------- Ocean then quickly followed Nightshade and took the most of the opputunity given to them. Ocean soon heard the sounds of shouting, sword and weapon clashes, then eventually silence. "Cant help but admit feeling sorry to those Flare scum, they had to face their death by facing him."
"Listen well, fool. For these will be the sweetest words you will hear before you die." She caught Base as he flew towards her, and slammed him down to the ground, standing on him. "At the mother's wish, I will kill you. For some reason she wishes you not to suffer. Sweet, over. If I had my way, you would suffer for weeks on end! You would be burned alive, healed, and burned again. The recording of your pain shall play on repeat endlessly for you as you are healed, to remind you of your endless fate-" Base brought his hammer up and smashed Tricorna's side, a spark of her electricity catalysing the hammer, causing an explosion which sent Tricorna to the far wall. Base slowly stood up and his body glowed a faint purple, similar to Nightmare Moon's mane. "I have suffered... far worse than anything... you could bring upon me... I had cared for my people and... while it has been... so long... I cannot remember why I betrayed them." He took several slow steps towards Venquis, each one echoing as if he was stepping with 3 times his natural weight. "But... I must do it... again..." The sound of a heart beating far faster than it should echoed throughout the room as he suddenly charged Venquis.
Venquis, already unpleasant about Base's motives and apparent charge towards him, watched him as Moonsaber glowed gently. The moment Base got half a meter, the Eriborian slammed his glowing weapon onto the ground, producing enough energy to send Base upwards in the room. The Ryborian then joined his opponent as he lept up towards Base and began a volley of attacks where slashes him seven times with Moonsaber producing a fire spell to further augment the damage, kicks the other Ryborian twice and then proceeded to slash him four more times. Once he knew that Base was starting to have enough, he sent him downwards with a powerful finishing blow where the ground around seemed to explode in hellfire. However, Venquis caught Base to not only force as much damage as he could, but to hurt the traitor even more. He picked him up and proceed to strangle him almost effortlessly. "Do it again?" Venquis said quoting his opponent. "You really are pathetic, aren't you Falahindra. You never cared for our people, yet you seem to pretend like they still mean something to you. You do not comprehend you existence in things" Ven said as he then threw Base through a wall, causing extreme damage to the crater that Base had created, and also cut his due to the speed that he was flung him through the metal wall. Venquis then paused for a moment, then laughed slightly. "Rapid heartbeat, aura, heavier steps leading to an unnatural power increase." Venquis said, listing off the things that he had noticed. "About a year ago, one of my friends placed a restriction onto me to limit my powers to prevent mass devastation and keep the balance of nature. He inscribed them on my hooves, and are invisible until they are broken completely." He said, raising his hooves while his opponent struggled to stand. The symbol that was inscribed on his hooves suddenly appeared and glowed brighter then the sun for half a second before shattering like a broken window. Venquis smiled as he looked back up at his opponent. "I was going to reserve this on Celestia, but....you shall be a good exception. Now....HIT ME!!!"
Robin followed the two mares hearing the battle cease in the corridor. However the little distraction did come at a price. The sound of the fighting was loud enough for a pony to hear it and set off the alarms. "There goes Secrecy, for silver at least. They still think its just him."
