"Applejack!"

What in tarnation? I turn around and jump back at least five feet when I see a blue... something standing near me. It didn't look solid, which was proven when I threw a rock at it and it went straight through the thing. I then noticed that it stood on two legs with a weapon in it's hands.

"Mack?" I ask tentatively. Surely it couldn't be him as he was... solid while this thing certainly isn't.

"The one and only," the thing replies with an amused tone.

"You motherbucker!" I shout before my mind can catch up with my mouth as I try to punch him. My hoof just travels through his... apparition, causing me to fall to stumble to catch my balance. I look back at the apparition with tears in my eyes. He continues looking the same direction he did before, though his shoulders are now slumped forward and his rifle is nearly touching the ground as it hangs from one hand.

"AJ? Can you come back to where you stood before?" he asks in soft, regretful tone, motioning to where I had been sitting in grief.

"Why should I?" I yell, staying behind his apparition, "You left me here with no goodbye or nothing! So why should I do anything for you?"

"I understand your anger, AJ," he says in that regretful tone as he continues to stare at where I was before. Why is he not looking at me? "I understand that it was sudden but... stronger ponies than Celestia and Luna are manipulating things in the world."

"What?" I ask blankly, my mind spinning. Stronger ponies than the Princesses? Ain't possible!

"If you could please come and stand in front of me," he says again. Slowly, I do what he says and walk around the apparition to sit in front of him. I look at the blue slit that I assume is his visor and try to imagine his hazel eyes looking at me. From his tone, I imagine them looking guilty and slightly hurt.

"I'm sorry that I left AJ but this... being is very bad news for all of the world," he explains from behind that helmet, "If we didn't go on this mission..."

I flinch as he suddenly turns to his left, weapon snapped up to his shoulder and sweeping in tight arcs from left to right. After just a couple seconds, he lowered his rifle halfway and looked back at my image.

"I-I have to go. AJ, I lo-"

The apparition suddenly winked out of existence, cutting Mack off mid sentence.

"Mack!" I shout, jumping at where he had been standing a moment ago. What was he going to say? It sounded like... but... it can't be. Not through a message...

I let my rump connect with the ground again and stare straight ahead as fresh tears begin to roll down my face. When the realization finally came, I let my head lower so my gaze settles on the dirt below. He doesn't expect to come back.

I reel on the watcher, fire in my eyes, "Why the fuck did you cut me off?"

"Because you have company," Hiana replies evenly. Looking behind her watcher, I notice tons of red lights moving down the hallway to me. Now that I'm paying attention, I hear their metallic legs scraping against the floor and walls.

"Fuck."

"Indeed."

Turning to the hallway that had just opened, I see that it's lit by soft red lighting. Better than this corner, I reason to myself before sprinting down the new hallway. My boots pounding against the floor ring in my ears as I sprint as hard as I can. Glancing back, I see that there was no bulkhead to save me this time. The mechanical killers rounded the corner and began to follow me, some hardlight rounds reaching out for me. Firing over my shoulder, I look back down the path-

to see that I'm about to hit a wall.

"Fuck!" I curse before swinging around the turn into the next hallway. I vaguely notice the decline of this hallway as I continue my dead sprint. Glancing back, and up, I see the machine whirling around the corner.

"Why can't anything be fucking easy?" I shout to the air as I magnetize my rifle onto my back and continue to push my muscles into an even faster run. Another turn was quick approaching, the wall being a give away to it's existence.

Getting to the turn I notice that it's a turn that involves a chute that goes straight down. Also, I notice that I noticed the chute a little too late.

"MOTHER FU-!"

Opening my eyes, I see my HUD is angrily flashing at me, all of the icons a blood red color. I notice that it isn't that same as when Hiana took over my armor. Something was actually wrong with the armor itself.

"Ugh," I groan, as I move my hand to my head. A lance of pain shooting up my side ends that movement after it barely began, another groan escaping my lips. Using my HUD, I find and open the medical diagnostic to find several parts of my body flashing an angry red. Damn, I curse as I shut off the diagnostic, this armor doesn't have medication or painkillers?

As if on cue, I feel something prick my skin all over my body. Not a second later, the pain begins to ebb away. Guess it does, I think with a smirk as I now fight my way to a sitting position. Looking around, I notice that I'm sitting on a metal floor surrounded by darkness. I flick on my flashlights but they only sputter and die, leaving me literally in the dark about where I am.

Sighing, I push myself to my feet, clenching my teeth from the pain as I do. The painkillers were strong but they weren't that strong. The wearer of the armor still had to function afterall. I cough, feeling something wet come up into my mouth. Not wanting to repeat last time, I remove the helmet before the next coughing fit sends some blood onto the metal floor.

Magnetizing my helmet to my armor, I reach for my rifle to find that it's missing from my armor. Looking around, I see nothing but the impenetrable darkness. Muttering a curse, I pull the pistol and give it a brief look over before looking at my surroundings. Shrugging, I pick a direction at random and walk, pistol half-raised.

Feeling like someone is watching me, I look over my shoulder to see a red blur disappear into the darkness. Stopping, I raise my pistol at where the blur was.

"Come out now!" I shout, hoping that it would reveal itself. After two minutes of nothing, though, I realize that it is either gone or stalking me from the shadows. Turning back in the direction I'm walking in, I take a step before running into something metal. Following it up, I have to crane my head back as I do. It goes up and up... and up. Finally-

"Holy shit."

A/N: CLIFFHANGER! Haha.

In case you haven't noticed, I have changed my pen name to include Sandstorm Ink. It will not stay that way. A couple days from now (when I can) I will change the pen name again to simply be Sandstorm Inkwell. Any concerns with this should be addressed to me via the Private Messaging system. Thank you.

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