Ch 6 Honestly, I'm Hurting

CH 6 Honestly, I'm Hurting


“To believe all men honest, would be folly. To believe none so, is something worse.”

Thankfully, even with a slight bit of turbulence, we managed to get back to Neo Oasis just before the clouds re-assembled high above with prisoner in tow. Well, not exactly a prisoner, more like a pawn who was mesmerized by my good looks and high charisma to stay perfectly calm and relaxed, as if I was one of his mates. Well, until I did something like shoot him in the back or something stupid like that, which would cancel the effect. Intimidation is after all, the strongest ability a pony of my standing can use to turn foes into temporary allies, and I have yet to meet another pony with a similar skill.  

Oddly enough, I was feeling as if somepony was missing. Eh, head count was not my speciality, I know I told everypony to board for debriefing and the like so nopony would have stayed behind. The shantytown was rather lively today if anything as we flew over it by several miles, bypassing the plasma mine field and the gaping heads of zebra and ponies merged into the dirt via some random megaspell. Not sure if they could be considered ghouls, but they freak out a lot of poachers trying to break in by screaming on detection to alert my soldiers. Anansi stayed silent thoughout most of the trip, even as I joked with some of the stallions about how much bottlecaps were coming our way once high command sucked the lake dry of all it's CO2 content. I mean, we're talking thousands of tons of pure carbon dioxide, and that could easily keep several of our thunderheads afloat for a few years. 
 
Of course, even when landing, there were a few onlookers checking us out as we unloaded off the ramp and carried our gear in the central command hub nearby. I really wanted a shower in my private tent, but I had a debrief to attend with my less-than-adequate generals who mostly lazed around in my absence. Two of the guards stood lazily-high at attention at the command tent, doped up on khat no doubt, but I ignored their drug use for now. I am gonna kick so many flanks if I find out they haven't been doing their jobs awhile I was out. Four of them, all in Wonderbolt-styled armor, stood up as I angrily trotted in, clouds of smoke surrounding me.

"Oi, you lunks! What's with the donkey-poor greeting committee outside! I hope you've managed to get some stuff done in my absence like I wrote down!" I bellowed, causing my generals to shudder at the sound of my voice. Of course, given they were the best the Enclave could come up with on short notice when sending me down to the Zebrican continent, I at least worked to recall their names. Somewhat. Red Tide, Dark Tide, Deep Tide and Shallow Tide were for the most part, tan-furred stallions with neatly trimmed manes and bushy mustaches, quadruplets to be exact, meaning they all graduated at the same time with high marks, but were forced to work under me during my war games performances. They didn't like me, and vice versa, but that's beside the point. "Ah...apologizes, Commander Smog. We were just finishing up sending for a Vertibuck to start pumping the CO2 out of the Lake you found. As well as setting up a new settlement of farms to be guarded." -Farms?- 'One of the issues Zebrica has is that unlike basic Earth Ponies, Zebras tend to over-till or burn the soil and trees until it becomes useless. Give or take 200 years of them going from place to place and you did the zebras ended up causing a Dust Bowl scenario, one so bad not even raiders wanted to stick around. Of course, a good portion of is poppies or khat, both controlled drug substances, but that stuff is harmful to most species either way. But that's why I made contact with the deer-kin, trading security in exchange for the means to rejuvenate the soil even if it's been Tainted.' I explained, given Anansi no doubt didn't know of the conditions the land had been going though. Come to think of it, even if the war didn't start, the desert would still be spreading due to poor farming skills. "Is everything okay, sir?" Oh, right, when I talk to the bookworm, I seem to be have a gazed look on my face like I'm deep in thought. Better answer. "Fine, just planning a few things for the next trip." "You're leaving already? We need you to keep the town secure." Red Tide groaned, the slits in his helmet showed signs of bags under his eyes due to lack of sleep. "Noooo...that's your job. Apparently, old fart-head appointed me Head Commander of the Zebrican Enclave. Something about Meteor Shower getting killed by Guerrilas or something, I wasn't paying much attention. I need you four to stop squabbling and get the Steel Rangers to the phone when you can." I said firmly, as we desperately need to get our numbers back up despite the influx of new Zebrican locals being recruited. Plus Steel Rangers pack all sorts of explosive weapons that the enclave can't carry lest it weighs them down. "You sure about that, Commander? Each time they send a group, their airships get blown up by the Legate's anti-aircraft turrets or something. Besides, they dislike us." Shallow pointed out grimly. "Eh, that's why we'll just go under their noses as usual, via the smuggling routes. I'm more interested in scribes anyways, and as I told Harbringer before, I believe a joint partnership would fare well in getting rid of all the useless munitions and unexploded ordinance. With all the junk removed or disabled, we'll proceed with Operation Broken Sky to seed the clouds with revitalization potion." I said, only to be cut off by Red again.   "Doesn't that stuff usually cause side effects on living tissue, like leaves and branches sprouting out of the skin? I mean, it was once known as Swamp Fever for a reason before we took out most of the side effects." I rolled my eyes at that remark, naturally.  "Yes, Red, that's why we'll be announcing the downpour ahead of time so everypony can go inside their homes or find suitable shelter. Hopefully we'll be able to get Brahmin to visit here as well to fertilize the land once the potion takes effect." "Yes, it is kinda a bummer they went extinct in this peculiar continent. But we'll also make sure the local tribal leaders as well as the warlords know ahead of time to get their kind to safety." Deep muttered, no doubt super drowsy from overworking on paperwork. "So, now that that's done with, what have you got for me?" I clapped my hooves, awhile taking a seat to go over what they've been doing during the days of absence. I mean, come on off it, not everything a commander does is go into battle and kill enemy combatants. Taking care of the army and controlling the terrain of war is the upmost tactic in making the world safe for everypony.

"Well, if anything, we followed up on that tip by tailing a small caravan of zebra who soon wound up captured by LRA soldiers. As you can guess, the kids were separated from their parents to be 'brainwashed' with that red powder gunk into obedient soldiers, awhile the mares were made for breeding stock for those nasty hybrids (good luck), and finally the male zebras were sent to the Pit in Neighgera. So we deployed 3 teams to liberate the camps where the colts, mares and male zebras were kept, killing their captors and interrogating the camel supervisors who were over-seeing the mining operations." Deep said, giving his report on what he accomplished, of which I nodded in approval.  "It will be a rough job of de-toxifing the colts of the powder's mind submission effects, but we are making progress in retaking the mines inch by inch despite heavy resistance and insane cultists carrying explosives hiding amongst the miners." Nicely done, Shallow, you're definitely getting that raise. "Likewise, we have retaken the rare metal mine in Catro, where the Anubis Jackals have been powerless given our drones are immune to their death curses. We should have new factories pumping all sorts of supplies and mechs to help with the regular mining and farming efforts. General Highwind has seen to it personally with his control of mechs to keep them under control after all." I don't like Highwind, but Dark Tide has always had a good sense of keeping things steady and focused. "And the annexing, how goes that?" I asked curiously, given we need to get more space for all the refugees that come here. "Slow, of course. We've hit a rut in the skeleton coast area, as those nasty Nyx pirates keep blowing up our convoys and supply trains. Not to mention they've herding a vast amount of Oryx refugees from some of the burnt-down villages to assemble siege weapons and new ships. It's hard to set up cloud tracks when they have the power to sever the links, so we're  few months behind." Shallow groaned, the bad news hanging over like a black storm cloud of despair. "Hmm...well, just go around that area for now. We'll ask a bunch of Lechwe and Sitatunga mercs to handle that problem of sinking their ships until we can properly secure it. As well as hire some cloud gremlins to electrify them every few miles, since those Nyx hate lightning for the most part. All and all, good job, everypony. Keep me appraised awhile I go out to take some territory, dismissed." I said, casually walking out of the tent back into the poorly organized slums. I could hear them grumbling and cursing me out for giving them more tasks to do, but I didn't mind this time. All I cared about was showing that freakish ghoul on the Ziz that I'll play his stupid game, even if I have to lay waste to half the country if need be. Well, not lay waste, but I'd definitely take out the bad ones. I'm tired and sleepy, okay? Sheesh... -You hear music? I hear someone rather...nostalgic.- Anansi's murmuring did draw me to start picking up a fresh beat I couldn't place off hand, so I casually trotted through the marketplace, dodging wallet-snatching cretins and zealous shopkeepers alike until I came across it once more. It, of course, was a somewhat rusty Spritebot with a mini-turret on it's bottom half, designed to utterly blow gaping holes through Rhinos back in the day due to it's explosive .50 cal rounds. Dinged up too, looked like it had been going through a camp of poachers shooting wildly at it but not dealing enough to disable. "Not you again...." I groaned, really not in the mood for this sort of thing. Was it really a month since I've seen it last? I really needed a freaking aspirin and root beer to deal with this throbbing headache. -Ah, is this a friend of yours?- Anansi asked, causing me to wince in annoyance.

'Friend, no...it's that annoying spritebot hacker. He usually pops in once a month to tell us about things going on in Equestria, mostly about the bad stuff and some heroes emerging here and there. As well as telling us where certain supply depots and warlords are set up so we can take them apart. We've tried blasting him a few times to ward him off, but he just keeps coming to share stuff in a new spritebot, mostly to me since I'm one of the few that tolerate his jabber.' I muttered, watching as the spritebot hovered closer and closer to the tent, folding my front limbs impatiently. "A little early for a news report, don't you think?" "Ah, but it's to be expected when I heard you were causing quite a ruckus with some of the faction armies. I was quite surprised the Ziz actually blew up a Graveyard Site, given they rarely interfere. In any case, I have found some information on the Seed Vault that drifted over by the Skeleton Coast and sent the exact coordinates to your pipbuck." The flapping orb robot chirped in it's digitized tone. Hmm...the Seed Vault, I have been looking for that for a while now. I mean, when the Balefire Bombs went flying every which way, the glaciers and the northern polar ice caps to the Griffon's territory were also hit melting whole portions of permafrost and raising the ocean levels by a few inches here and there. I could get a lot of vegetables planted if it survived the explosions.
-Wait....that voice. Spike? Oi, I need you to relay a message for me.- 'Why?' -Because, you nut, he's a trusted associate in the MAS. I thought he died just like everyone else. If he's alive, maybe there's a chance to turn things around. Tell him that GoE is flowing freely.- 'That sounds stupid, but whatever. As long as you don't use my voice, I'll tell him.' "Anansi? Is that you in there? Oh wait, you can't speak unless your host is out cold. And yes, flowing as well as they should...but the holders are dead and their descendants scattered to the wind." 'What's he talking about?' -Special project linked to the Ministry Mare's DNA. I'll talk to you about it later. Just tell him I know that there's still a chance the lockdown is active on that one stable.- "Oh, okay. He says the lockdown is active on a certain stable, though I have no idea what that means." "Nor should you, as there are certain projects that could devastate this world far worse than it is now. So don't push Anansi too much on that stuff, okay? Come to think of it, there were 6 of them that were allied to the ministries whom I met before my nap." -Tell them that they were taken to the Six Points of Zebrica, though I'm not familiar with that term. Mostly as hostages to thwart me from doing anything like re-hacking the GoE to start on it's own without a DNA scan.- "Oh, the six points? Well, there's Mt. Killamarejaro where my girlfriend lives in secret, the Skeleton Coast where the Beholders hang out, the lost Cloud City of Timbucktu where the Poachers dwell with their trophies, Victory Falls in Zebrabwe  where the main fleet of Nyx ships keep their loot, the Pyramids of Anubis where the Jackals carve sacrifices on a constant basis, and the Okapivango Delta Park where the Guerilla Forces keep prisoners." "Well, as you may have heard, we already taken down the Jackals so it's unlikely his friends would be found there. I suppose we'll start at the least guarded spot at the Skeleton Coast. Beholders are pretty easy to beat in any case." I mentioned, as I have seen to it a massive bombardment of that site about a month ago. Think of them as giant tennis balls with hundreds of eye stalks and a gaping maw that spews balefire gas, floating about four feet above the ground, they are not to be messed with without a army backing me up.

"Oh right, you guys don't mind if I set up a radio communications tower, right? I bet you'd love some music down here." That caused me to snort a bit, but agreed nonetheless. "Fine, do as you wish. I'm not much of a radio person given my Pipbuck lacks that function, but it could improve morale." -You know, if we find my friends, one of them has experience in making them the way they are. Not to mention she can improve the S.A.T.S. so you don't lose a lot of AP during fights, and get your E.F.S. re-uploaded to detect enemies better from far away.- Anansi pointed out, annoying me once more. 'Fine, we'll do that sort of thing as a side-quest. But we're still annexing our turf either way. Hopefully we won't cause the Poachers to march in awhile we're away.' I stated firmly, as rescue missions were not my cup of tea right now. -Who are they?- He asked curiously, in which I gathered my thoughts before answering.
'Noponies that are important, they geld other ponies who misbehave, to take the fight out of them and then place explosive collars to keep them in check should they get the courage to strike back. Though they mostly cut off the strongest one's head off and put it on a trophy wall, along with any other equine or carnivore they come in contact with. I've found dozens of abandoned houses filled with taxidermied victims, made into rugs or statues or wall coverings. And they often air-drop selfies of their kills in the main towns to scare the local civilians and to cause enormous amounts of sorrow from those who have lost kin to them. Strangely enough, they only stick around here, stealing jeeps and snatching ivory from rhinos and elephants now and then.' "I'll leave you two to your work then. You have my number, right?" "Yes, though as I keep reminding you, we've only got half of the cell towers working down here and we're still working on fixing the underwater connection port due to the Miretank's interference." "Okay, I'll see what I can do on my end. Ciao, Anansi." With that, the spritebot's connection was severed as it flew off playing random radio music elsewhere.   
"So...how do you two know each other?" I inquired, a tad curious as to why he would know the enigmatic Watcher who refuses to keep out of my territory. -Heh, back then he was just a little guy. But he was a great assistant to Twilight, as we poured through thousands of projects designed to make the world a better place. After the instigation of the library, I was assigned to her personally to repair and rewrite all the books back to normal, and Spike often brought me a fresh meal of papers Twilight sent me. I'm not sure where he is now, but given how long it has been, he's most likely a adult dragon who now guards one of the biggest secrets I've made, a radiation-nullifier.- "Wait, it cancels it out?" This was big news, but not enough to put plans on annexing on hold just yet. -Eh, I've never tested it on a planet-wide scale, but it should erase a good portion of it in Equestria save for whatever the toxic waste has done in the water. But I need one or more of my companions to break the failsafe encryption as I've said, as only a Ministry Mare or their descendants could activate it. If the DNA of the descendant degrades over the generations, there's a good chance the device would self-destruct. Once that's done, it'd be a piece of cake for me to destroy all the megaspells affecting Zebrica.- "Hmmm, well, if that's true, we'll have to assemble a strike force to get to each of those targets and see if they are still there." Wandering over to the main barracks, I brushed the cloth door aside to see a bunch of non-Pegasus recruits basically roughing each other on the practice mat. You know, like with the stomping and grappling and sweaty-grabbing of horns? 2 mares, 3 stallions, despite the fact they weren't horses but on a genetic level were similar. "Attent-hut! My name is Shady Smog, your new commanding officer, as well as the newly elected Head Commander of this here army. Or fleet, whatever. You have been selected as my personal troop to protect me from harm, as well as to keep my divisions in check. Thus, each of you will be promoted to Lt. General as of today. So I'll give you each a turn to introduce yourselves and what makes you 'special' given it was my generals who recommended you to me a few days ago. I'll start with you." I pointed with my hoof toward the old Impala who was in the midst of sharpening his dual-bladed katana. It seemed each of them had a low budget Pipbuck around their wrist, designed mostly for storage and mapping.

"Hmmph, just because you have a high rank don't mean much if you can't keep up. But sure, call me Konda, chief handler of the Assassin Corps in this region. And my SPECIAL perk is Ninja (Ranged sneak attacks do 3.5x normal damage and melee sneak attacks do 10x normal damage) as well as Blitz (S.A.T.S. melee distance is increased even more, and the farther the Blitz distance, the greater the damage). I was planning to do some training on Sneak, but well..." Suddenly he vanished, and his long serrated blade crossed across my throat via flat side, as if he had somehow teleported in a flash of light, "When I can go this fast, why be quiet?" "I see....now get that away from my neck or get you and your herd court-martialed." I seethed angrily, getting the point that this guy, despite his age, had some skill as a true assassin.

    A small female dik-dik smirked, her body covered in a makeshift Enclave Medic Uniform shrunken down to fit her form, in which she could store lots of different drugs and bandages, "I'm your top field medic, Mazo, so don't give me lip about my size. I have been upping my game up to Lv 4 on this device, so my Medic (Stimpaks and RadAway restore all lost health and radiation, and work much more quickly) talent patches you up. Just don't bother asking for addiction treatment, only an idiot asks for Hydra or Dash." The dik-dik huffed, leering towards me with a faint blush on her face. What was that about? 
     One of the Topi nodded, dressed in the barding of a Enclave Bombardier which is in charge of carrying heavy equipment and handling of artillery weaponry, "I am Lusaka of the Atomsmasher Corps, anything that blows up, I handle quite well due to my Demolition Expert and Bloody Mess perks, which contribute to a ton of unfriendly fire in a wide area. I also have a tough exterior and can craft any armor from the smallest of scraps."
"I'm Ono of the Technical Division, all robots and machines are my hobby in general, though I am also good with hacking them. And I'm quite a good rifle shooter as well, with Sniper as my main perk." Okay, not sure if I need the
   The last one, a lanky yet short-haired Okapi suddenly woke up from a self-imposed trance, before turning towards me a tad uncomfortable, as he was emitting a greenish glow around his body for some odd reason, "Hmm, I'm last? Sorry, I'm still new to all this. I'm Gobarau of the Builder Division, though don't count on me to watch your back. I'm mostly a loner who can break into doors, steal anything nailed down, go into highly irradiated areas due to my ghoulish/rad resistant perk and create bases of any kind as long as I have a workbench."
"Excellent. Now then, we have much to do-what's the alarm going off for?" And that's when Acid Drip flew in, crashing in, knocking me over in a huff in front of the others. "EMERGENCY! We've got a incoming pride of Glowing Lions coming in from the northeast! And it looks like they've been armored up to resist laser fire!" He yelled, not even bothering to apologize getting off me and proceeded flying back out to get the news out to everyone. "Okay...for the record, that did not happen. For now, we respond to the alarm in a calm fashion. Follow me." I growled, steam pouring from my hooves and nostrils in anger which startled the crew of recruits unaware of my abilities. Walking out of the tent with lt. generals in tow, I barked orders to the various soldiers to get our defense array in high gear."Okay, ya bums! Unlock the trapdoors, get the civilians to the underground bunker and amp up the generators. I want snipers ready on the roofs, with mortars ready for rapid deployment and everypony has to get the earplugs. And of course, electrify the barbed wire. It's time we unleashed the Bass Cannon on these savage beasts as well."

-Technically, they are smart enough to have a harem.- 'Yes, fine. But they are jerks nonetheless, and thus will be punished.' I replied, slightly annoyed since I didn't care. "Let's move out!" I called, as several dozen air tanks, chariot bombers and a few Vertibirds took off to start shooting and bombing the pride to weaken their approach until our preparations are complete. Truly, I am definitely going to need a shower after this onslaught.

Meanwhile.....Anansi turned around to the black space of Shady's mind, as he was busy finishing up cleaning the brain of clutter and putting in proper 'furniture' made of remade brain stems. "Ah, hello. I don't normally break the 4th, but since there's no one to talk to, and it'd be a while before the fathead loses consciousness again I figured those reading this could need a bit of help. You see, back in my day, when a nation threatened war with weapons of great devastation, teaching foals and fillies how to survive is a must in their schools. So I took part of writing up the curriculum. The first lesson is what to carry when you feel the word is about to end. And that is a emergency kit, one filled with two radios (hoof-cranked, with USB charging port), water filtering pellets via deer magic with several hundred gallons stored in a zebra talisman, RTE Bars, mini-liquid soaps, collapsible biodegradable cups, mile-long range shake-charging flashlights, first-aid kit, rebreather, whistle, dust/gas masks, wrench/screwdrivers, lots of bobby pins, garbage bags, collapsible shovel, can openers, prescription medicine, extra lens, tons of bottlecaps, Radaway, RadBug Repellent, maps for anypony not having a pipbuck, matches/lighter, paper rolls (we're not savages after all), chlorine bleach (just in case the talisman fails, as 16 drops of it in a gallon of radiated water can clean it up quickly from experience), a sharp, non-dulling knife, a whittling stone to sharpen it, and a compacted cloud mattress with 'blanket'. It is also a good idea to go to the library before heading to your local bunker, which is marked with a yellow biohazard sign, to obtain books based on food preparation, archery, tent making, colt/filly scout survival books, caring for children, self-martial arts, history books, and how to rebuild society by fixing what is destroyed when the EMP spreads over all electronic devices. As well as a static cooler since they have a internal power supply to keep your food cold. And that's all we have time for. My, what a world we all live in, eh? See ya soon!"
Meanwhile, far away in the very heart of Zebrica, a slightly limp bookworm menacingly grinned ear to ear at the hundreds of screens showing the epic battle about to unfold on Neo Oasis via thousands of bionic cockroaches (yes, they're a thing), armed with electronics and camera eyes. It took him over 20 years to recover after the damage Anansi did to him, but his species was well-known to take much worse and live long lives as long as they had access to reading material. As well as living flesh, as his dank lair was full of various ribs, leg bones, claws, skulls, wings and other body parts that his henchman snacked on afterwards. Around his waist was a Pipbuck, set currently at Lv 51...though it was a mystery as to why he would ever need such a device. "Ah, it has been so long, my esteemed rival.  Awhile you were busy sleeping, 200 or so years have passed, and I have rendered most of Equestria uninhabitable for those grass munchers, killing millions in the process. And yet, here you are, choosing to defy my reign of destruction and save the equine race. How I wish I would just wipe you out from existence right here and now-do you mind?" Mmoatia's seething and rambling was cut off by the rather loud munching of a buffalo hide, done in by his 2nd in Command, Grand General Azrael, who headed the 5 Armies and their Commanders across the continent and left devastation and horror in their wake.
   "Wheeharat? Watchahing them kill each otheer makes me heeheehungry." The hulking, overly ripped hyena hybrid chuckled, snarfing down the ribcage like it was made of taffy. To say the gruesome 9 foot beast was overpowered wasn't enough, as he had a specialized Med-Pack on his left arm, designed to inject a semi-lethal cocktail of Buck, Rage, Hydra, Med-X, Dash, Steady, and Stampede should he need it in battle, with a slight blend of Mint-als just to keep him relatively sane but not smart enough to attempt a coup. Of course, once the drugs wore off, it was a simple matter of de-toxing him to cure needless addiction. He marked hundreds of cuts across his body with his 3 foot long star-metal engrafted claws, each one of a skilled warrior that he consumed raw in combat to absorb their fighting abilities and talents. "You do realize we have a mess hall for this sort of thing, right? To eat so closely is a distraction, and the crumbs of carrion could get in the keyboard." "Thahat reminds me, didn't you install mini-grenades into those roach drones? You could turn the city into a inferno in seconds." "I could, but given I was only aware of this shantytown's location two days ago with my rival living in it, this is just a knock on his door to let him know I'm aware of his existence, and to scour for weaknesses in their territory. We can do that later."

     After all, what was the destruction of such a insignificant village to him when he had an entire world to burn down to cinders? To him, the living fortress monolith he lived in, operated mostly by the vicious Zimwi, was a masterpiece of the most advanced science and most ancient of magics, hidden in plain sight yet designed to make anypony forget it is even there. In each room below his observation deck, there were balefire phoenixes constantly dying and being reborn in a airless vacuum area, mermares and kelpies being cooked on a hot surface filled with warm water, mimickers constantly being smashed by sledgehammers, Brahmin being subject to the foulest smells inside a landfill, dragons constantly stripped of their scales piece by piece...to him, their screams of pain and agony only brought him joy. In his personal fortress of suffering, there were hundreds of levels where torture and suffering were just the tip of torment, where death is just the beginning for so many, where hope died after generations of torture from birth to death and where even souls find no relief as they are converted into spiritual energy to power many of his machinery.  Even the proud alicorns lured by rumors of dark magic, were crippled of horns, wings and legs, sucked dry by the magic-absorption devices around their necks, and dampened any possibility of re-connecting to the Mother's hivemind to crush their resolve. "Still, you hahave always said that you wanted a do-over in killing thee guy. I could harharhave a pack of Zimwe shred that place down to splinters easily." Azrael growled, sneering at the confident face of Shady as he barked orders on screen.
"My dear Azrael, why ever do you think I care if my rival lives or dies? To me, he is just a nuisance to my plans in general. I gave him the option to live solely so he can see I already won. The fact he has no idea how to stop me brings only the greatest of pleasures, especially now that I know the Gardens are soon to be in my grasp once I thaw out the others to do my bidding." "Yes, but as you said, he has the support of the freaking Enclave backing him up. We may have gained the trust-" "Trust? Never utter such a word again, trust is weakness in itself. What I have from those sorry excuses is their compliance in exchange for not wiping their measly hides off the map." "But-" "Look, he has allies, but I haven't been scouring the wasteland of Equestria for nothing. If that punk has the best of the best working as his elite commando unit...then I'll have the worst of the worst rip them apart should they interfere with my plans. Let us adjourn to the cryopod overlook." Getting off the chair made of bonemeal, Mmoatia slowly made his way, with Azrael in tow, through multiple hallways where the suffering of the thousands held prisoner echoed throughout the complex. Along the way, Azrael noted the various shipments of the latest in armor, weapons and extremely potent drugs that were ready to be deployed to Equestria. There were all sorts of buyers who wanted to control the world, like raiders, slavers, dictators, cyborgs, Evil A.I. bots, aliens, beings from alternate dimensions, mad scientists, griffins, the Legate, and so many more, though in the end, they were unaware their supplier was using them to spread his influence vis middle party suppliers. There are also the chambers of experimentation on those who defied his absolute rule, subject to mutations, of cybernetic implants, to become helpless bio-brains installed into killer machines the size of skyscrapers, to be inscribed with runes of dark magic that corrupt the soul into savage beasts, and so on, kept behind null-status fields to keep them locked away until his master desired their release. Best to keep them chained, lest they mess with the BIG PLAN his master was always ranting about.   Aztael stopped  when they reached the balcony leading into Bio-Tech Lab, a football stadium-sized area filled with hundreds of green cryopods and dozens of super computers (including the Mareradamus Mk III), where a single Zimwi in a moss-covered lab coat stood at attention staring at the Bookworm with baited breath. He disliked how tall those spike-covered, gecko-like creatures were, towering over giraffes so easily with their frilled manes, but was designed to strike silently before a alarm could be raised, with it's eight legs moving as quick as quicksilver. They were de-classified as a actual species because it was Mmoatia who created them as a hybrid to follow his orders without question, to abduct new victims and to run his massive facility day and night without the need for food, sleep or even fun. "You honor me with your presence, my liege. Are you here for the new hybrid cold-resistant mosquitos designed to spread airbone disease in the Crystal Empire?" The Zimwi snarled politely, in which the floor beneath them became a elevator lift to the ground level. "Not so much, though I will look into it after. I am more interested to see if Project Afterlife has been finished on schedule." Mmoatia grinned, his eyes glistening with the thrill of science. Though if anything, if the Zimwi got out of line, it would become his next meal on a dinner plate. "Yes, yes, of course." The Zimwi nodded repeatedly, bobbing it's frilled head up and down, as the two approached it, pointing to 6 different pods obscured in purplish ooze. "As you instructed, they have been brought to the prime of their youth, but without the unnecessary memories or empathy for others. We have also procured the needed amount of Star Metal from the Cradle itself, melding and warping it due to our talented blacksmiths that you trained in person." "I see...you may go now. I want to see them myself." Mmoatia said bluntly, in which the Zimwi bowed before cloaking itself in the darkness and vanishing into the shadows.    "This, my 2nd in Command, is what the fruits of my labor have come up with. It had not been easy, but I had found the main cause of raiders popping up: tainted water filled with the impurities of Nightmare Moon and radiated by balefire. From what I could tell, it was linked back to a small hot spring near that accused cat country Abyssinia, that flooding caused small streams of it to go into nearby water sources and wells common earth ponies bottled up and sold for profit. Of course, most raiders just do it for laughs or caps, but the water itself amplified their darkest of thoughts and amplifies it to high levels of insanity and vileness. all of whom I 'rescued' and began to treat with the best Flux care, followed by mental re-conditioning that my partner Starlight came up with. I will reclaim the Savanna with these as your lieutenants." He flicked the switch nearby, as green smoke poured out the sides of the containers, their occupants slowly waking up to their first order. "Since we are running low on fresh meat to guard my brethren, outside of those who have sworn loyalty to me, I will first use them to cause the most chaotic of break-outs, then send each of them to work along-side the Five Army Generals. In other words, do not fail me, General Azrael, unless of course you wish me to place your soul inside a book and burn it like your processor."

   Azrael grinned maliciously, as if savoring the thought of clashing with his master, as the six pods opened all the way to reveal six pairs of green, dark magic-imbued eyes, followed by the sound of 24 hooves walking down the stairs. "My name is Grand Commander Azrael. Your designations are as follows: Darkest Dawn, Gust Front, Tomb Stone, Turncoat, Rotten Kore, and Dead Stop. Any questions?" "Yeah? I have one." The one known as Darkest Dawn giggled manically, raising a crooked black branch with a bluish crystal with her unicorn horn magic, imbuing it with enough power to obliterate a small citadel, "When can we start the 6th Extinction of Ponykind?" "Heh, heh, heh....this is getting interesting." Discord chuckled to himself, checking out the assortment of the most dangerous beings on the planet being brought together once more to end all life as he knew it from his portable X-Ray telescope, chewing down on living gummy bears in the process as he waited for his time machine to recharge by the abandoned gas pumps. "Should've got the algae powered one though. Tch."
Darkest Dawn (Twilight Movie specter) 
Gust Front (Dash-Energy Ripsaw) Tomb Stone- Pinkie (3 Starmetal light as air Wrecking Balls, filled with all sorts of deadly weapons) Turncoat(Rarity-3 Diamond Beam Sabers), Rotten Core (AJ- fully equipped Ranger suit with jetpack, and bunker-buster gauntlets)  Dead Stop (Fluttershy-Butterfly Swords)
New Perk!
What Karma?-Given you're a narcissist Pegasus who barely cares about others, your actions will not result in negative karma no matter what, even if you loot bodies and shoot sables in the back. However, it will annoy Ananzi to no end.

Friend of a friend: Your allies will trust you, despite also being top in their own fields with high level perks. Just try not to stab them in the back and run away when the going gets tough.