- >Your boots clunk heavily on the tiled black floor.
- >*"Anon, you haven't told me what your plan is yet."
- "I am going to be friendly."
- >*"I don't understand."
- "You have insisted that I remain cordial and amicable on this planet. I shall remain so during this encounter."
- >*"Are you going to ask them nicely to cease and desist?"
- >You could detect the faintest hint of sarcasm in the AI's voice.
- "Yes."
- >Pearl is stunned into silence as you emerge into the club proper.
- >Lasers of light speared across the dark room, illuminating tiny portions while larger floodlights swung in wide arcs, making every inch of the room brightly lit and then suddenly plunged into darkness.
- >The lights were tuned to the music: every beat sent them in a new direction.
- >You saw Changelings dance between the areas of light, some moving to stay in the spotlight, while others seek darkness.
- >A strange dance of light and dark, pairs would attempt one partner to stay basked in light, while the other was veiled in darkness.
- >The music is deafening as you shoulder your way around the edge of the room.
- >Opposite the door is a raised platform that spews light into the clear dome ceiling and into the darkness beyond.
- >You guess that's where Thrystra will be.
- >None of the Changelings give you a second look; the atmosphere is thick with bodies and light.
- >You reach the ramp and are stopped by yet another bouncer-guard.
- >"Thrystra's up there! Who are you!?" it shouts to be heard over the blaring music.
- "I have matters that require her attention."
- >"You and everyling else! Get lost!"
- "An assassin is on his way, I am here to warn her of the danger."
- >You flare your optics brightly.
- >The Changeling squirms, chattering to itself and lets you pass in a panic.
- >Your boots thud against the ramp as you reach the threshold of Thrystra's platform.
- >The music fades away to a murmur as you step off the ramp.
- >"Now now now... what have we here?"
- >A larger, lither Changeling lies over a couch admiring the lights gleaming through the clear dome into the cavern.
- >"I haven't seen one of your like before... and I am very much familiar with the delicious morsels that fill our world," she hisses.
- >The Queen steps up from the overstuffed cushions and eyes you with bright green eyes.
- >A pair of insectoid wings buzzes against each other.
- >Her eyes squint at your optics, trying to discern something from them.
- >The Queen's head tilts to the side, confused.
- "I have come from Ponyville."
- >Thrystra smiles knowingly.
- "My message is that you please cease your attacks on the p0nies at once."
- >Her smile grows.
- "They do not wish an open conflict."
- >Thrystra bursts into laughter.
- >"You think, honestly, that such delicious prey can escape its predator so easily?"
- >Your face hardens invisibly behind your helmet.
- >You answer the Queen with silence.
- >A bright green dome suddenly appears over your head, pushing downwards.
- >"Every day the p0nies never cease to amaze me... such a naive nature... they are so tender!"
- >The lime green wall forces you to your knees.
- >"But this... this is new... I will surely sample you later..."
- >The green shield forces you through the floor.
- >You find yourself in a pitch black room.
- >Your optics trace the walls, showing a cell surrounds you.
- >The surfaces sheen in the light of your optics.
- >You can pick up, very faintly, the music from the club.
- >It seeps up through the floor.
- >*"Anonymous, it is not like you to allow an att--"
- "Pearl."
- >*"Yes, Anon?"
- "Do you remember what I said to the guard at the door?"
- >A moment passes.
- >*"I don't see how your words relate to being captured."
- "I will not tolerate rudeness."
- >Pearl remains silent as your scanner identifies the thinnest portion of the walls.
- >Doors were the primary weakness of any structure.
- >You would not be denied.
- >You trudge to the door and raise a gauntlet.
- >You aim for the center.
- >THUD.
- >The metal crashes against the sickly black stone.
- >The shine is dampened from the impact.
- >THUD.
- >THUD.
- >You raise your boot next.
- >THUM.
- >The reflective sheen is broken in some places.
- >Progress.
- >You twitch and roll your fingers together.
- >Both fists slam and thunder against the door as you punch it again and again.
- >STRUCTURAL WEAKNESS WIDENING.
- >Intuitive computing was helpful.
- >You move to the opposite end of the room and hug your massive gauntlets together.
- >A sickening SMASH erupts through the corridor as your colossal suit careens through the solid stone door and into the opposing wall.
- >Nothing on this planet was prepared to face what was coming.
- >You felt it in your chest.
- >The one thing you hated the most.
- >Containment.
- >Capture was the very first thing clones were taught about.
- >Never, under any circumstances, was capture an option.
- >You were trained to never accept captivity.
- >Your massive gauntlets dust the powdered door away.
- >You were taught to always contain your emotions.
- >Especially the one that boiled up from your very core.
- >Clones were calm and collected.
- >The perfect solder.
- >But in an escape, they changed.
- >The stoicism evaporated.
- >The logic ceased.
- >Recapture was not an option.
- >There was one choice left.
- >Your arm-blade slide forward and lock into place.
- >Rage.
- >A dozen Changelings erupt from down the corridor to stop you.
- >Three of them are immediately caught in a brutal smash, leaving them pasted together against the wall, their bodies mixed and stirred together.
- >Another pair are impaled against your blades, their bodies serving as ammunition as you dismember them in a throw.
- >More Changelings fall in the chaos, you squish them beneath your boots.
- >The carpet adorning the shiny black floor soaks in grayish blood.
- >One Changeling remains.
- >It skitters up to the lighting, trying to hide between the dead-straight silver.
- >Your Linebreaker impales him and sticks into the roof.
- >You yank hard on the chain, bringing part of the ceiling down with the dying Changeling.
- >You don't finish them, instead leaving the carnage for another to find.
- >You had one target in mind.
- >The hallways are strangely empty as you try to find your way out.
- >Your computer is helpful to keep a map, so you don't lose your way.
- >Your rage does not subside.
- >It fumes and fuels your search for the exit, which you eventually find.
- >Stepping out onto a platform, you suddenly feel dizzy.
- >Changelings flew between buildings; this was a platform for them to land on.
- >It was also at least five hundred meters up.
- >A Changeling's eyes widen as it sees you stomp out the door.
- >It scurries to the end of the platform, but you're faster.
- >Your gauntlet snatches its delicate insect wings, while your boot pushes it off the edge.
- >The wings tear free, leaving the Changeling behind as it screams to the streets below.
- >Your helmet peers over the edge.
- >The Changeling splats against the glassy window of the club's dome, entrails ruining the crystal-clear finish and light show shining through.
- >ESTIMATED DISTANCE: 537 METERS.
- >You clench your fists.
- >You jump off the edge.
- >Weightlessness was a familiar sensation.
- >The same as a combat deployment in a pod.
- >The distance counter boils away, the numbers counting down faster than you can track.
- >The dome rushes towards you, and you can see you'll land right where you want to be.
- >You prepare your knees.
- >SMA-THUUUUUUUUUUUMPH!
- >Shattered glass rains down on the party, cutting and causing a chaotic panic.
- >You rise slowly from your knees out of the small crater, glass still raining down around you.
- >Thrystra's eyes completely cover her face as they widen ever more.
- >She topples over herself trying to back away.
- >Her mouth sputters as she tries to bring voice to her terror.
- >You see the lime green aura materialize from her horn, which appears as if bites are taken out of it.
- >Your gauntlet shoots forward, gripping the glowing horn.
- >And tightening.
- >The Queen shrieks in pain, her holed forelegs swatting at your impervious arm.
- >You hear a crack.
- >She's screaming.
- >Your armored fist slowly crushes the Queen's horn, emitting sickening cracks of bones breaking.
- >The Queen writhes in agony as you release her.
- >You would not tolerate rudeness.
- "My message is that you please cease and desist your attacks on the p0nies at once."
- >Pained cries are your answer as Thrystra paws at the powder that used to be her horn.
- >You turn swiftly and stomp away from the chaos, music and screaming still blaring behind you.