Project Mechillion

by Ronocorian

Chapter One: A Strange Awakening.

Steelwing woke from his comfortable bed in Canterlot, uneager to rise from his warm cover and bed and squinting his eyes at the beam of light radiating from the window in his luxurious suite in the palace. Celestia had given him and seven other ponies these suites following their initiation into the experimental weaponry program that she was running after the incident at Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza's wedding with the changeling invasion that took place there.

He stared in the mirror, unable to assure himself that his current situtation was even legitimate. He saw the reflection of his grey face, with his icy blue eyes and the various scars that decorated his face in an array of lines running from his forehead to his lower jaw, and along his jawline running into his sturdy but small neck staring back at him.

He remembered how he got those scars, and shook his head as a flashback overtook him.
"No, not now, flashbacks can wait till later." he thought to himself, knowing that he had places to be. Princess Celestia was not one to keep waiting.

He threw his flight goggles around his neck, and quickly washed up before departing his room to reach todays training point, many thoughts went though his head. "What is this "Project Mechllion, what am i doing here" were two of said thoughts. What Steelwing didn't know, was that today would change his life forever. As he strolled down the clean white hallways illuminated by the gentle magical lights that rested on the walls, he saw many familiar sights, after all, he had served in Luna's Shadowguard for quite a time, one thing he wasen't used to however was the stares other ponies often gave him, the way they saw his face and quickly looked away, were they...intimidated? by this strange scarred pony walking before them? or did interest just get the better of them, his answer was quickly answered when ponies deliberately started avoiding him, making great effort to stay out of his path, maybe it was the scars, who knows. Whatever it was, he liked it.

He arrived at his destination, and it was nothing short of breathtaking. "Holy Shi..." he thought to himself as he looked up at the 7 foot metal door infront of him, the door was solid steel, emblazoned with the insignia of Princess Celestia on the left hand side, and Princess Luna on the right, he looked for a way to open it, when he saw what looked like a scanner. He looked closer to investigate, it turned out his suspicions were correct, it was indeed a hoof scanner but as he scanned around the door, he also saw what looked like an optical scanner. Thats when it hit him, "Thats why they needed my eye and hoof yesterday" he chuckled to himself at the thought, how could he have been so stupid.

Steelwing pressed his hoof onto the pad and positioned his eye onto the scanner.
Scanning successful. An electronic voice boomed from the speaker.
"Identification: "Rono" Steelwing, Codename: Four, Two, One, Ochelon; Division Alpha, Classification; Specialist, Pegasus. Access granted.
The door slid open from a pivot in the middle, sliding apart from the left and the right, and the middle slowly retracting into the floor. He entered the room, and five pairs of eyes turned to look at him.

Only four of those did he recognise; "Jak" Ironhoof, as he liked to be called, an earth pony with a brown coat and a white mane, he had a firm friendship with Ironhoof from the early days of childhood, a daredevil mercenary with a care for very little except the cash, and oh, he loved explosions too. But at the same time, one of the greatest tacticians ever to set foot in equestria. Him and Steelwing had seen combat together on more than one time.
He also recognised "Jade" Shadowhorn, another familiar face, but they were more recent friends, Jade was however, a much more mysterious unicorn, with his dark coat and crimson mane he was a rather frightening sight, but a formidable magician in combat, some say he rivalled even the renowned Twilight Sparkle. Steelwing had seem him make items explode, just by looking at them, he knew there was more to it than just looking at the item but it was still pretty intimidating, some said his special gift was to speak to the dead, but Steelwing doubted this highly. Shadowhorn and Steelwing had also seen combat together, while serving under princess luna as two of the revered shadowguard. Steelwing knew that he was surrounded by the most deadly combatants in Equestria. And he trusted them both completely, having them here gave him a great sense of security, he wasen't going this alone this time.
Of course he also recognised the familiar faces of Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, Celestia beckoned him over with a nod of her horn.
Luna smiled after seeing him and said in her unusually soft voice "It is good to see you again Steelwing."

He replied to Luna with a similar greeting "It is also good to see you Luna, i am glad you are well, as with you Celestia." They both smiled at him, then turned to watch the door, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the last four ponies to arrive, Steelwing moved back into the group to talk to Shadowhorn and Ironhoof, and find out just what this was about.

"So then guys, what the hell is this about?" he said with a slight chuckle."
"Oh, you're going to like it. a LOT." Ironhoof replied."
"Some kind of secret ultimate weapon." Shadowhorn said as he looked around the room suspiciously.
"I guess that means that ill like it." Steelwing replied sarcastically

Rono turned his attention back to Princess Luna and Celestia.
"Excuse me your majesties, but what are we waiting for?"
Luna was the first to reply "There should be eleven ponies here, us included, 9 of you"
"So, we're erm...waiting on five others?" Steelwing stated
"Quite" Celestia replied. Over the next five minutes Steelwing, Ironhoof and Shadowhorn got talking to the other ponies and discovered they were quite intimidated by their presence
"Luna and Celestia have told us great things about you" a white pegasus simply stated
"Oh?" Steelwing replied as he turned to look at the pegasus, as he looked into his eyes, the pegasus moved his head and stared at the ground.
"Y...yes...sir" The pegasus said
"Sir? why sir" Steelwing asked, confused at the time, Shadowhorn and Ironhoof shared his expression of confusion.
"Didn't you know? you three are the team leaders, the other six of us are under your command" A orange unicorn replied shyly.
"Team leaders?" Shadowhorn, Steelwing and Ironhoof all looked at each other with confused faces.
"Thats right my little ponies." Princess Celestia said as she gently approached them, causing their faces to turn and look at her and notice the other five ponies behind her.
"It is time to explain why you are here my faithful servants."

They were led to an immense dark hall, the hall was dark as they entered, and as the lights flickered on, they saw what they had been recruited into, but they didn't quite believe it.
"What the fuck..." Said Steelwing as he looked to Ironhoof and Shadowhorn, both their eyes wide and mouths agape much like his own, and before them, stood nine giant humanoid mech suits. three of each kind, one kind resembling that of a humanoid unicorn, with strange pipes coursing with orange, black and crimson fluid.
"This is the Shadowhorn Decimator, a ten foot mecha that will amplify the pilots magical ability sevenfold, Shadowhorn, the mech has been named after you as you are the team leader of squad Omega. Codenamed Black Dusk." finished Princess Luna. "Moving on..."
As they averted their gaze to the next set of mechs their eyes widened even further as they saw the earth pony version of the unicorn mech. It was bigger, bulkier and had a horrific variety of weaponry attached to the arms, aswell as this, they seemed to possess a faint but visible blue shimmer around them.
"We call these the Ironhoof Juggernauts. Obviously due to the eight inches of steel armor plating we have fit them with. they also have state of the art melee weaponry and plasma shielding, although that, aswell as most of the content in these suits is still in its prototyped phase, but these things can take a pounding. Finally..."
"The Steelwing Valkyries" finished Luna. "Imagine these as a giant flying pegasus fortress, and you have the suits that you can see infront of you. They can alter to adapt to ground fighting or air to air combat and can also function as a bomber.
Steelwings mouth dropped. he was looking forward to controlling this.

"As with Shadowhorn, the other set of mechs are named after you Ironhoof and you Steelwing as you will be leading your team of two wingmen under the codename Ragnarok, "Celestia's Might" for you Ironhoof. and Valkyrie, "Luna's Will" for you Steelwing. The controls are simple, imagine something to happen, and it does. Good luck out there, we're sending you on your first mission immediately, get ready to leave, you do so in two hours. you will be briefed in an hour and a half. I will see you then, i suggest you play around with your new toys.

All three of the ponies looked in the direction of the others, curious of what the others wanted to do next.
"Well. Its practice time, ill catch you guys up later." Said Steelwing, walking away.