Chapter 1: Awoken

(\PoV: Lightning Flash/)

Breathe out… "Warning. This unit has been moved from it's original location." WHAT?!

"H-how?!"

The feminine alert voice for the pod continued, "Scans indicate that the movement was caused by a high-power alicorn with an uncatalogued magical signature."

Alright. Good news, Umbra did not get through the G-Krystal. Bad news… "Where am I and how long have I been out?" I ask the M AI.

"Scans indicate pod is holding altitude at over two-thousand hooves above current sea level just northeast of Mt. Alicrom. Chrono-record error. No data recovered." All in all it could be worse. I'm likely in a pegasus city, startling some of the inhabitants. It's annoying to not know how long has passed, but I can work well enough without it. The fluid should be low enough to open my eyes now…

I do so, and am greeted with the sight of myself somewhat drenched by the slowly-retracting fluid. So the reflection screen is still up. Perhaps the one-way function still works? "AI, activate one-way filter."

"Acknowledged." The crystal In front of my shimmers, and becomes slowly transparent to me. I see what looks to be a… Factory of sorts. Dark cloud-metal has been used throughout it, and many machines are hissing away with steam occasionally spurting out. What's this? Strange tubes dully colored like the colors of a rainbow? Interesting…

Suddenly, a great deal of pegasi wearing… Blood-stained armor of some sort? Oh, and some with lab coats… again blood-streaked. And one appears to be talking into a box on his shoulder. No, not a box… A Radio? How did they manage to get one of those? Did they make and invent their own? Possibly. No telling how long it's been for anyone who survived…

One of the armored ones, a caramel mare with a light gold mane and tail, steps forward and lightly taps the crystosleep casket. She appears to have what looks like a human tazer. Hmm… Looking at the armor it's almost as though she's a ponified human law officer. Though the bloodied gear is disconcerting, perhaps this place is…

At that moment, liquid rainbow fills the strange cylinders in the back. No… That… That ritual… These pegasi…

Have sealed their fates!

"Initiate emergency glassification." My voice says flatly, cold fury pouring through my veins. The pod begins changing its molecular structure to that of oblique stained glass, eliminating many of the now irrelevant protection and stasis spells. There are three known types of rainbow. I use Telekinesis to unsheathe my hardlight blade. Hard rainbow, extremely rare and the strongest material ever to be found. Ineffective for armor due to its pure inflexibility. Soft rainbow, which is the illusion created by shining light through water droplets and coincidentally the shorthoof for magical aura. My horn glows with a great swirling mass of blue and gold.

Finally, there is liquid rainbow. It makes for some of the most vibrant dyes known, and doubled as an ingredient in spicy meals. That was before its origins were discovered. The only way to synthesize liquid rainbow is from blood, the younger the better. Normally, this would not be an issue aside from revoking its use as a substitute for hot sauce… But the factory that produced it turned it into taboo for the Imperium. The Repulse spell finishes charging. We hadn't yet found methods to synthesize blood alone. The factory had imbedded itself in the pegasus city of Aazaal Kriith. The irony was immense, the city called 'Merciful' was the site of the most elaborate mass murder scheme in its age.

I cast the spell.

The shockwave pulses out from my body, sending out a wave of pure force in every direction, causing the glassed pod to shatter. The world seems to pause as both heightened reflexes from countless battles fought, won, and lost, and my own magically augmented senses register the lagging looks of shock on the faces of my adversaries. Primary objective: incapacitate all hostile forces and secure the area. Secondary objective: gather information by use of mindlink.

I moved, knocking the caramel mare out with the hilt of my blade before swiftly delivering a slash to the guard directly behind her. The slash ignores his armor and carves him almost in twain, but I pay it no attention. I charge a Chain Bolt spell and fire it in less than a quarter of a second. The deadly bolt hits a scientist in the center, causing the deadly spell to lead to all of the others. The blue and gold lightning turns those pegasi still standing into nothing more than so many piles of ash and scorched clothing. The only two spared this grisly fate are the one unconscious and the one already dead.

The world returns to normal, the entire engagement lasting not even five seconds. Damnable crystosleep, it shouldn't have lasted any longer than three! But, I digress. I look back at the only two others that were not currently ash. The corpse's blood is already in a large pool beneath it, its internal organs spilling out from the nearly-halved pony. All things considered, still better than if the Flayers had gotten to him. However… I look away from him and to the caramel mare, whose fate mark seems to be that of a lit candle, flickering in some unknown wind.

I grimace. Mindlinking is dangerous, and permanent brain injuries were common back before healing spells grew in leaps and bounds. Not to mention that I don't know the first thing beyond battlefield healing. Nevertheless, it must be done if I am to rescue the youths. I charge the spell, then remove the pegasus mare's helmet and tap my horn gently on her head.

Instantly, images and memories flood my vision. I brush most to the side carefully, slow is smooth and smooth is fast, after all. However, I do notice several important memories,(language is still the same, thank Faustus,) enough to not only get the layout of the facility, but also this mare's history. Her name is Bright Flicker, she was born twenty-two years ago. She got her mark while trapped in an avalanche with others. She only accepted the offer to work at the factory because her boyfriend asked her to join him. It turns out that said boyfriend was security chief until-Oh, apparently until I nearly bisected him. Thankfully, Ms Flicker won't mind that much, considering that recent memory says she hates him. Oh? What's this? She and multiple other guards were planning a coup to overthrow… A prodigy in flight capable of creating an Aura Blast. Vik.

I exit the mare's mind and preform a diagnostic spell. Nothing, good. I cast an Awakening spell. She wakes slowly, and rubs the back of her head with a hoof. "Uhg, what hit me?" I silently cast an invisibility spell. Her eyes open as she begins to get back up to a standing position. She suddenly comprehends the lack of other living ponies in the vicinity. "What the…" She sniffs, and turns to look at the corpse just next to her. "Woah… Hmph, bastard." Then she looks past his corpse at the piles of ash and clothing. "…Well, horseapples. If only I could find whoever did this, then I'd be able to stop that madmare for good, and shut down this pit of Tartarus!" Not much for contract loyalty in this one. Thankfully, her loyalty in other areas is far stronger. Though 'tis sad that one can achieve this level of familiarity with violent death as to be relatively unconcerned with it. Then she turns around, (as my strike had been able to spin her to face the dead first,) and looked at the glassed remains of the crystosleep casket. "Huh. So… Maybe it was the crystal?"

I do believe that is my cue. I decloak while speaking. "More specifically the one inside it, Ms Flicker."

(/\)

...Nothing appears.

So. FanFiction is deciding to be non-cooperative in receiving Word documents. Oh well. This is the actual Hunter here. just some quick things of note.

One: the Cliffie. Yeah, I know, I suck and you all hate me. Kindly bear with me for a while, as I'm shortening the chapters in this one with the exception of arc intros. This can be considered the 'Awoken' or 'Rainbow Factory' arc.

Another thing: Lighting Flash's utter OP taketown of those ponies. Does this really require an explanation? He's a frontline general who makes a habit of fighting alongside his men whenever they'll let him, and an alicorn of an ancient empire on top of that. I think this to be a sutiable explanation of the utter ease with which he is able to anihilate.

Third: Lightning's seemingly Naruto-level luck thus far. Let me make this clear: he managed a Nat 20 on this roll. He won't have nearly this level of luck later on, (though he'll wish for it!)

Fourth: The dissapearance of Hunter, Shadow, and Umbra. They may appear again, they may not. I'm still trying to decide on that.

Fifth: OC's and OC races. I, as always am open to any suggested characters or race, provided a basic description is given. I can work with "A male gray dragon that hates other dragons". I cannot work with "Give me a dragon OC". My apoligies, but I like to think that OC submmisions are an extension of the mastermind behind them, and I would hate to not do them due justice to that fact.

Well, that's about it. So without further ado, farewell!