In the dark expenses of space, somewhere behind the moon of the alien world, hung a giant metal ring. It was so large that, if it had instead been between the moon and its world instead of beyond, it would have been visible to the naked eyes of the world’s many inhabitants. It had floated there, silently, for times longer than any memories, possibly as long as the world itself.
That inactivity could not last forever.
The ancient construction began to shake, almost groaning in complaint at being roused from its eons-long sleep, as energy began to course through it in the form of large green arcs of light. The various debris and small meteorite that had been trapped by its gravitational pull were suddenly scattered by the huge wave of energy that exploded from the centre of the ring, growing like a maelstrom of brilliant energy from a single point to reach the outer rim of the ring, being barely contained by the ancient structure.
In small flash an object emerged from this maelstrom, a vessel, ridiculously undersized for the size of the structure. It was a sharp dark purple shape that seemed to be composed of three pyramids stuck together into an arrow shape, with long struts topped by engine extending from the three corners of the end pyramid. Soon afterward another flash marked the arrival of a second craft, this one smoother with a rounded nose and a larger rounded aft section. Panels were lining the front of the ship and two engine pods were attached to the aft section.
“Status report!” Called a smooth, but firm feminine voice on the bridge of the first ship.
The source of the voice was sitting on a chair far too big for her in the darkness of the ship’s cavernous bridge. In front of her, through the large rectangular view port at the front of the ship she could see the gleaming blue orb of the planet in the distance with the moon in the foreground. The figure’s red eyes swept to her left where another figure, standing on a floating platform approached a large computer console to which, in an obviously haphazard way, was attached a smaller keyboard with glowing controls. The soft glow from the yellow keys and status screen revealed a dark blue figure of gleaming metal standing in the darkness.
“Navigational computer is calculating our current position, database is too limited to tell us immediately if we are indeed where we should be. We did not sustain damage during transit.” Replied another feminine voice, but this one much lower and with a strange accent that made her roll her ‘r’ and put more emphasis on vowels that was normally necessary.
“Off course we didn’t.” Said a higher pitched female voice with a tone of sophisticated outrage somewhere to the right of the giant seat “This old shuttlecraft might have been in the Chaar Museum for vorns but it’s classic die cast construction, its made to last! Such beauty and elegance and to think it might have belonged to the great…” Continued the voice with breathless appreciation, the glow from a few indicators revealing a white and gold arm as she caressed the console lovingly.
The white figure’s tirade on the History of their ship was interrupted by an alarm sounding off next to the dark blue figure.
“It is the Maximal ship! They have followed us through the vortex!” Said the second voice, turning to the female sitting on her throne-like chair.
“How bold of that little girl.” Commented the red-eyed figure, bringing a green metallic hand to her chin. “Transfer power to the thrusters and give me manual command, I want to be ready by the time they fire on us.”
The sound of metal on metal was heard as a dark form in the shadow near the white and gold one sent a fist into its other hand “I say we blast them out of the sky!” Came a harsh and scratchy female voice that didn’t seem to match the large shape in the darkness.
“You brutish idiot!” Came the reply from the star ship enthusiast “This shuttlecraft hasn’t been in used since the Great Upgrade! The plasma canons accumulators were taken out when it became a museum piece! All we have are the point defence turrets in the aft section and we don’t have enough juice to bring down an entire spaceship.”
The large figure turned yellow eyes to the gold and white female behind her “So what? We just let them bring us down with their dinky exploration ship?!”
That one was not impressed by the looming shadow that was bigger than her “I was thinking of a more…personal approach? I think you would appreciate a boarding party, yes?”
“That does sound like my kind of party,” said the large figure, chuckling.
A cackle came from somewhere at the back of the ship “I still have a few bombs left.” Said a male figure, a glowing purple visor narrowing as it resume its cackling.
Another alarm however cut short any promise of party.
A green fist slammed on the nearest armrest of the large seat “What is it now?”
The dark blue figure gasped “The space bridge! It… it is destabilizing! It will explode in less than a cycle!”
“Oh scrap…” came the low voice of the lone male on the bridge.
Princess Luna Equestris, Princess of the Night and sole Monarch of Equestria, suddenly stood up from her seat at her desk with a gasp, flaring her wings widely.
“Princess? What is it your highness?” Asked Night Ranger, one of her pegasus Night Guard, concern on his face.
“It…it is gone!” said the Royal Pony Princess, moving toward the room’s large window.
“What is gone your highness?”
The Princess opened the large window with her magic and took stock of the night sky “The Ancient Ring! The ring that always stood beyond my moon since the day of my birth. I never really think about it, but now I find that it has simply vanished, snuffed like a candle in the dark.”
Night Ranger moved further into Luna’s study “What…what does it mean?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have an answer for you.”
The rounded ship had landed in a secluded valley among a grove of pine trees, a lot of which had been knocked over or even caught on fire as the large ship had partially dug its nose into the ground in what seemed like a fairly shallow crater for such a large object. With a mechnical whine hoses extended and sprayed some sort of foam to quell the fire surrounding it.
Inside the darkened circular bridge of the ship a red metallic hand glimpsed only in the electrical arcs caused by a broken monitor could be seen toggling a few switches “Fire’s taken care of. Ya doin’ okay Elita?” Said a young feminine voice with a twang, looking at the prone form next to her.
The figure stood up in the darkness and rubbed its head “I’m okay Small Foot… didn’t have time to strap in is all… status report?” said an older female voice with a tinge of authority.
Golden hands raced over a light up keyboard while a smooth female voice spoke up, the wisdom of age almost palpable in her timbre. “Main reactor was shut down to prevent melt down, we need to restore structural integrity to the engine room before we can begin the restart procedure, secondary power generator stable and should provide all we need for now. Hull breaches in sector 3, 7 and 12, we’ll need to use the aft hatch to exit, the front of the ship is buried.” A pair of explosion rocked the ship, reverberating through its metal corridor, causing the hands’ owner to sigh “And there goes the atmospheric thrusters. They did their best to slow our descent but they overheated. We’ll never be able to lift up without replacement.”
“Where…where are we Flareup?” Asked a soft and meek girl’s voice from somewhere at the back of the bridge.
Flareup’s golden hands kept dancing on the keyboard “Long range sensor were burned out by the explosion of the space bridge, without them I can’t analyze the radiation and light pattern of any visible star. Suffice to say we are on a Terra-class planet; atmosphere is 98% similar to Earth’s own, gravity is within acceptable range. I am detecting trace amount of atmospheric pollutants. Glyph can you analyze them?”
A few beeps came from another workstation and the soft voice came up, green eyes looking up from the screen below her “Those are consistent with a steam-capable civilisation.” She said softly.
Flareup gasped in surprise as a loud beep came from her console.
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Came a gruff male voice as a short figure walked in, dropping a fire extinguisher with a loud thud “Don’t tell me those ‘cons are already on our trail.”
“No such luck Fixit.” Said Flareup with a smirk “I’m afraid we got ourselves a more serious problem.”
Meanwhile in the Everfree Forest the sharp-angled ship was faring no better. Somewhere in a large dark canyon the purple ship had embedded itself deep into the cliff face, its first pyramid almost completely disappearing into the rock. The dark bridge was even darker now, the large view port having collapsed as rock had collapsed through it, taking out a few sources of light as well.
“Howlback, what do you mean by unknown radiation?” Asked the voice belonging to the female on the large seat.
The dark blue figure looked up from her workstation “I am sorry Lady Esmeral. The computer, it does not recognize the type of radiation. All that I can determine is that it neutralizes Energon. Scans indicate large deposits of Energon, natural Energon, in this world’s crust, but all of it inert.”
“Well that’ll make it easier to carry.” Said the taller figure as it played around with the rocks that had fallen from the rock face before crushing one with its large feet and revealing a deep blue gem within.
“Fracture you fool.” Scolded the sophisticated voice of the white figure as she picked the gem. “Making inert energon into a useable fuel is not that easy!”
“Scylla is right.” Said the male voice, its owner stealing the blue jewel from Scylla “This gem for example looks like a sapphire but its really inert energon. You could blast it and it wouldn’t even explode, such a shame.”
“Hey another one! This place is lousy with gems, how many you think are inert Energon?” Said Fracture, having crushed another boulder and revealing a blood red ruby.
“It gets worse Divebomb.” Said Howlback while ignoring Fracture “This radiation will force us into stasis if we are exposed to it for too long. In the ship the shielding blocking cosmic rays will protect us, but if we are to venture through this world for the object of our quest I suggest we adopt alternate mode based on local life forms. They would provide natural adaptation and allow us to consume organic food to supplement our energon reserves.”
“Well done Howlback, we’ll follow your suggestion.” Said Esmeral as she dropped down from her seat and took the jewel from the shorter Divebomb “I’ll let you find me a suitable form… in the meantime I will go prepare a…scouting party for our Maximal friends.”
Esmeral let out a suitably evil laugh, eliciting a cackle from Divebomb and Fracture.
Market day was slowing down in Ponyville after the lunch-hour break when the white Pegasus and her dog came into town. Not many of the ponies took notice of her, as this was a busy day. The white pegasus pony had a single bag awkwardly slung around her neck and one wing, and her raspberry mane seemed really unkempt. With her sea-green eyes she scanned the stalls and the bustle of the little town with a certain amount of unease. Multicoloured ponies and unicorns were trotting along and a few Pegasus were flittering about, everyone engaged in the bustling activity that was the Ponyville market place. She looked down at the dog that was only about a head shorter than her. It was a really shaggy bearded collie, almost all white but with a reddish brown patch on its back and around the eyes. It wore a red handkerchief around its neck, emblazoned with the same strange face-like mark that could be found on the pegasus’ flank.
“Go sniff around town and see if you can spot some of our ‘friends’ from the Vanquish.” She whispered
The dog nodded and went off to walk around the edge of town while the pegasus ventured into the market on hooves, trying to look interested in the wares. She stopped by a cart selling apples where an orange earth pony was concluding a transaction with a pink pegasus who had a saddlebag filled with groceries to which she was adding a paper bag of apples.
“That’ll be three bits!” Said the earth pony with a hat.
The pegasus handed a trio of silver coins and the earth pony thanked her. They exchanged some wishes of a good day and parted way.
“And for you m’am, what will it be?” Asked the orange pony, turning to the white pegasus who suddenly looked surprised at being addressed.
“Huh… nothing for me just now thanks, maybe later, bye!” She said quickly before stepping to the next stall.
The orange pony shrugged and went on trying to sell her apple to the next customer.
A unicorn stallion holding a pair of bags with telekinesis suddenly appeared in the path of the white pegasus “New saddlebags young filly? Only fifteen bits! It’s a steal!”
The pegasus stared at the bags floating in the air for a second and looked around, realizing that not only was he addressing her but nobody else seemed to be surprised by the strange display of unknown powers.
The pegasus gave a nervous chuckle “That’s mighty tempting but I’m actually short on… bits right now, thank you for the offer.” She said sidestepping the salesman.
The pegasus looked around the marketplace, failing to find any stall that would match what she was looking for, and so she decided to head further in the town, hoping that a more permanent store would offer the service she sought. She passed by a store that seemed to sell sofas and quills and another specializing in ventilation apparatus of all kind. She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at the odd choice of specialty stores in what she assumed to be a small community. She was so busy examining the signs of the various businesses she did not notice the purple unicorn staring at her from behind a pair of yellow sunglasses. The unicorn had a short black mane and a straight tail while on his flank, in yellow, was a cutie mark shaped like a bug’s head. He looked at her from across the busy street, seemingly not seeing the other ponies and as soon as she had turned the corner, he slowly followed her.
As the pegasus turned a corner she heard a small voice telling her to watch out, as well as a buzzing sound not unlike a small engine. She turned just in time to see a young orange pegasus with purple mane on a scooter careening towards her, a wagon carrying a pair unicorn filly in tow. The white pegasus barely flinched while the scooter and its occupants bounced off her flank like it was a solid wall.
“My goodness! Are you allright?” asked the white pegasus, gasping in surprise.
The three little fillies were sprawled over the road, two on their back and one on her stomach. The orange pegasus got up first, shaking her head.
“Don’t worry, we wear safety gear,” she said, tapping her helmet. “What about you?”
“I’m undamaged,” replied the white pegasus with a smile.
"If you want to put it that way," said The orange pegasus, looking rather confused at the odd phrasing.
"You really shouldn't go so fast in the middle of town, Scoot," said the greyish lavender unicorn filly as she helped her white friend put the wagon back in its upright position.
"Yeah that was scary!" Said unicorn agreed.
"Please, don't blame your friend, I'm the one who wasn't looking where she was going," said the adult. "I don't know the town so I too was busy trying to get my bearing to look around."
The three fillies eyes grew as big as dinner plates at the sudden realization.
"You're new in town! Cool, we don't get lots of newcomers! My name's Scootaloo, these are Dinky and Sweetie Belle!" Said the excited little pegasus.
"Nice to meet you three, my name is Elita Wild," answered the older pegasus, inclining her head.
"That's a weird name."
"Scootaloo! Don't say that!" Chided Dinky.
Elita chuckled. "I guess it is kinda weird. You can just call me Elita."
"So, where do you come from Miss Elita?" Asked Scootaloo, hitching her scooter back to her wagon.
"Perihex," answered Elita, before she could stop herself.
"Parihocks?" Repeated Sweetie Belle, clearly confused by the new word. "Is that in Prance or something?"
"Yes it's a small place far to the north. Really far from here," quickly added the older pegasus, clearly nervous.
Scootaloo smiled at the taller pony as she got back on her scooter. "How about we show you around town! We'll show you all the best places!"
"Yeah!" Said both unicorn fillies at the same time.
"It'll be fun," added Dinky.
"That's really kind of you kids," began Elita, shaking her head, "but I'm not staying here long. I just need to find a place to sell the gems in this bag and then buy a few supplies before leaving town."
The three filly looking at her with clear dissapointment on their adorable faces was enough to make Elita reconsider her current mission. Those little ponies were just too cute.
"I suppose you could always show me the stores I need to find," she suggested.
All three fillies cheered at that.
"My sister uses gem in her dress designs all the time, I bet she'll buy your gems!" Suggested Sweetie Belle.
"My sister runs a jewelry shop, she needs gems all the time!" Pointed out Dinky.
"Rarity's boutique is closer," added Sweetie, pointing to a round and richly decorated building not far from where they were.
Scootaloo loudly sighed. "Com on, your sister is way too...frou-frou-y, can't we go see Sparkler instead?"
"I don't mind, besides we were going there to drop off Sweetie in the first place," pointed out Dinky.
The little orange pegasus groaned, making Elita chuckle softly at the scene. "Fine!"
Elita smiled broadly. "Lead the way my little tour guides!"
None of them noticed that a second purple unicorn had met up with the first. The pair of identical twins watched the four run down the street, their movements eerily synchronized.
It was about an hour later that Elita, Dinky and a very bored Scootaloo finally exited from Rarity’s shop. Elita’s mane had been brushed and the natural curliness of her hair had established itself, giving her two big inward curls on each side of her head and an inwardly curling fringe bobbing above her forehead. Her tail looked puffier than before, with small curls, looking suspisciously like a magenta cloud. Furthermore she was now sporting a pair of proper saddlebag, both in a bright yellow colour and adorned with a jewel like symbol. The pegasus looked back with embarrassment at Rarity as the unicorn, alongside her sister Sweetie Belle, also left her boutique. Elita’s old bag was levitating next to her head in a shimmer of blue light.
“You really didn’t have to go to so much trouble Miss Rarity. The bits were enough, you didn’t have to style my hair and give me new bags.” Said Elita, smiling awkwardly.
“Nonsense dear! I was just about to run out of gems for that latest order and you just saved me hours of trekking by virtue of your fortuitous appearance! Besides it would have been a crime to leave such a silky and bright mane in that dishevelled state! You look positively stunning now!” Said Rarity with a big smile “Plus that old…satchel of yours…” she continued, searching for the correct qualifier for the bag that floated next to her “It looks like it was made out of a tarp by very inexperienced hooves, I’m surprised it held together until now. My old bags might be out of fashion this season but they still carry more elegance and are obviously more comfortable than this thing. If you don’t intend to keep it I’ll dispose of it for you.”
Elita’s smile turned brighter “Guess it would be rude to refuse your generosity. Dispose away! Thank you again Miss Rarity and if I find more gems I’ll be sure to bring them to you. I hope you have a nice day.”
“See you tomorrow at school Sweetie Belle,” declared Dinky.
“See ya!” added Scootaloo.
There was some exchange of well wishes and some waving and the two groups went their separate way. Sweetie Belle stayed behind with her sister while Scootaloo and Dinky followed Elita back toward the center of town.
The sisters went back inside just in time to miss the passage of the two sullen purple unicorns.
“That took way too long,” complained Scootaloo, “we really should have gone to Sparkler’s store instead, even if it was further away.”
“I thought it was fun,” simply said Dinky.
“Anyway, where do you want to go to next Miss Elita?” asked the little pegasus.
“I need a blacksmith, or anyone handy with metal.”
Scootaloo looked confused “Handy? What does that mean?”
Elita looked embarrassed for a moment. “I mean…I mean someone who’s really good at working with metal and can do all sorts of custom orders.”
“The best blacksmith in town is old Ironworks,” said Scootaloo, “my dad buys wagon axles from him all the time. He actually lives on the outskirt of town by the river. Dad says he’s a bit of a hermit who only talks to pony to sell his stuff.”
The white pegasus nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
The three then set off toward their next destination. Elita hung back slightly, walking alongside the wagon and following Scootaloo. As they passed buildings the fillies, mostly Dinky, would tell Elita about the various shops and inhabitants of the quaint little town. Soon, however, the trio reached the outskirts of the town centre where buildings got sparser and rarer. They went passed the schoolhouse, Dinky explaining that her mother was a good friend of their teacher, and soon found themselves on a dirt path leading to the more rural portion of the town's territory. Without buildings to talk about, and much to Elita's uneasiness, questions began to be more personal.
"What do you do Miss Elita?" Asked Scootaloo.
"I'm...captain of a ship," the pegasus answered.
The little filly looked impressed. "Woah, cool...but aren't you a little far from the sea?"
Elita chuckled. "You could say that yeah. It's part of why I'm not staying in Ponyville for long."
"So your cutie mark doesn't have anything to do with your day job then," commented Dinky.
The older pegasus blinked in confusion. "My...cutie mark?"
"Yeah, it's a mask right?" Said Dinky with a smile.
Comprehension dawned on Elita's face. "Oh you mean...huh I guess it is a mask...you might say there is more to me than meets the eyes," she said with a wink.
She glanced back toward her flank, where the symbol in question was. It was then that she noticed them: a pair of identical unicorns in sunglasses. There was no one else on the road beside their little trio and the pair of unicorns, as such the duo stood our like a sore thumb. Or a sore hoof, considering the situation. The two unicorns clearly realized they had been caught and hastened their pace.
"Dinky, Scootaloo, you two wouldn't happen to know these two unicorns right?" Asked Elita, motioning toward the mysterious pair with her head.
"No," answered Dinky after a second.
"I'd know if there was any weirdos like that in Ponyville," simple said Scootaloo, frowning.
The horns on top of the unicorns’ head suddenly split cleanly in half along the length, and purple energy began to crackle around the appendage.
"Run!" Shouted Elita, pointing forward. "Go! As fast as you can!"
Scootaloo heisted for a second but the moment Elita leapt to the side to dodge a blast of purple energy she sent her wings buzzing and sped off in the distance. Now that the bystanders were racing ahead, Elita reached to her chest and pressed an invisible command.
"Elita Wild to Small Foot, I got two Preds on me, I'm on the north side of town, follow my signal!" She said, before galloping off after the fillies.
Just in time as another blt of energy vaporized the ground where she stood a second earlier.
"On mah way!" Replied a voice with an accent from the ether.
Elita quickly caught up to the two fillies, dodging a pair of blasts on the way. Dinky was shrieking everytime a blast resounded over the countryside, while Scootaloo was simply focused on her driving.
"What's with these guys?" Asked the little orange pegasus.
"They're after me, you girls go into the wood, I'll draw them to me and you go back into town as quickly as possible," said Elita, referring to the forest ahead where a fork in the road lead a path to disappear between the trees.
"What about you?" Scootaloo asked.
"I can handle myself, just not with you two in the line of fire! Just go, I'll meet you back in town."
The two pegasus nodded to one another. Elita kept galloping down the main road, while the filly took her scooter into the wood, asking her passenger to hold on tight as they kept over a bump in the path and disappeared in the shades of the trees. The white pegasus glanced over her shoulder at her pursuers, and she saw her worse fear at the moment. She must have spent too much time with the little ponies and her enemy then considered them her allies because one of the twins dashed into the woods while the other kept up the chase.
"Scrap!" She cursed, skidding to a halt.
She bravely turned around and charge straight at the strange unicorn. He let loose a pair of blasts but his pegasus prey managed to avoid, if only just barely, the two attacks. She was almost upon him when she lept high, sailing over the stalker's head. Elita spread her wings wide, catching the wind with surprising ease and clumsily managing to glide toward the entrance of the forest path. Elita landed and took off galloping into the woods.
Scootaloo cursed her bad luck as she brought her scooter to a stop at the base of a rock cliff. She had taken some sort of wrong turn trying to lose the unicorn that had went after them, and instead had ended up in some sort of clearing at the base of a solid wall of stone at the end of a short canyon.
"What is that doing there! Stupid rock face!" She said, getting off her scooter.
She had recently taken up rock climbing, but it had always been on a specifically designed wall. Tried as she might, she couldn't find any decent hold on the rock surface. What little there was turned out to be way too unstable for a safe climb.
"What are we going to do?" Asked Dinky, suddenly hearing the hoof stomps of their pursuer.
"Grab a rock, we'll show this creep not to mess with us!" Boldly declared the pegasus, clutching a stick in her fore hooves.
"Okay," replied the unicorn, doubt in her voice, as she grabbed hold of the biggest rock she could with her telekinesis.
The hold was a bit wobbly, but she had been doing lots of practice recently and Dinky was sure she could throw it relatively straight. They heard the sound of twigs breaking and the weird unicorn emerged into the small canyon space and slowly made its way toward the two fillies. Dinky couldn't help but flinch in pain when it's horn split apart down the middle. Horns weren't supposed to do that! The little unicorn decided now was the time to act and just propelled the rock right at him. The rock flew into a wide arc and just as it was making its way downward, a blast of purple energy left the split horn and obliterated the rock before it could reach its target. The two fillies were pelted by pebbles resulting from the explosion and the shock made Scootaloo drop her stick. Rather than pick it back up she grabbed hold of Dinky and the two clutched to one another in fear.
"Leave them alone!" Shouted Elita, suddenly appearing from the forest and tackling the unicorn from behind.
The unicorn went sprawling down and Elita lept on top of his back, then bounced away to land, wings spread wide, right in front of the fillies in a defensive stance.
"I'm sorry for dragging you girls into this, but trust me when I say this: I'll protect you," said The white pegasus.
The unicorn got up and stood there, his expression stoic and impassible, despite the recent attack by Elita, and the pegasus now glaring daggers at him. The two stared at each other’s in silence for what felt hours to the two little fillies, but was in actuality only thirty seconds. The unicorn only broke his unreadable stare when his twin arrived. The two nodded at one another, signaling they were ready to move. Elita seemed to under stand what they were about to do and glanced back at the fillies behind her.
"Girls, do you trust me? Do you trust me when I say I'll protect you and don't want to see you harmed."
"I guess," said Dinky, while Scootaloo nodded.
That's when the two unicorns spoke for the very first time. They spoke, not with a anything resembling a pony voice, but with the sound of metal rasping on metal. They spoke without emotions and in such perfect harmony it sent shiver down the spine of the little ponies. They spoke a single word.
"Terrorize."
Then the two unicorns seem to just...explode! Turning into a swirling mass of pony shaped pieces and black metallic component with the sound of whirring gears and turning cog. Their forelegs seemed to split into two lengthways, one half extending into long segmented arms that sprouted vicious energy scythes at their ends, while the other half turned into long insectile legs. Their hindlegs also extended into segment and moved to join the forelegs at the base of the neck. Said neck grew longer, while the pony ears turned into long antennas. The head collapsed away and the split horn found itself to the front of an egg shaped head equipped with a single glowing purple glass eye at the centre of what one would consider a face.
In the end, there was no unicorn pony in front of the group, but pair of robotic praying mantis in purple and black with a few yellow patches of yellow around the joints, wearing pieces of a unicorn like a discarded disguise.
"Elita Wild! Maximize!"
It was Elita's time to suddenly transform with a similar, yet different, sound. Her transformation was a lot less frightening, consisting mainly of standing on her hind legs, her forelegs swinging over her back and attaching between her wings, her face turning into a chest plate and new arms spouting from her sides. New, dark pink, metallic body parts had suddenly became visible all over her body. Her hind legs looked like they had turned into boots, her wings were straight like two sheets of metal. Her mane and pony ears were still attached to her head but it looked different now, she had a much flatter face and her eyes were a solid blue color. Her new arms ended in fine looking fingers that furled and unfurled a few time, as if testing their new flexibility. It was so alien, and yet her whole body still seemed feminine somehow. She turned to the two fillies and gave them a smile before she charged the two monsters.
Scootaloo and Dinky stared in awe. They had never seen anything like it, but for some reason they both felt they could trust this mysterious stranger. Dinky considered that anyone who had listened to her talk about Ponyville all afternoon like that couldn’t possibly be a bad pony…or person. Plus her mother, the best in the world, had always told her to not judge others based on their appearances. Scootaloo on the other hand just thought she looked really cool.
As Elita ran toward the two insect-like robots two feather-shaped blades extended from her forearms. One of the two creatures also charged to meet her in battle. It swung one of its scythe-like blades downward, only for it to be deflected by Elita’s blade. The former pegasus sent her blade forward to stab at the creature’s neck but it used its other blade to the block the strike. The pieces of his unicorn horn that formed mandibles started to charge up with energy so Elita Wild retreated from close combat. The creature let loose a blast of purple energy at the ground where she had stood a second ago. Elita looked at her other opponent and quickly tumbled out of the way of another blast, retracting her blades in the process.
A compartment on her thigh opened, allowing her to extract a handheld weapon that had apparently been stored inside her own leg. The weapon unfolded into some sort of futuristic crossbow. The weapon allowed Elita to fire beams of blue light at the two monsters that dodged rather efficiently. The one furthest from Elita spread a pair of translucent purple wings and used them to aid him perform a leaping charge, both scythes poised to strike.
Jets of flames escaped from the hooves stored on Elita’s back and, about as fast as Rainbow Dash, she flew in a direct collision course with the enemy. Extanding her free hand she decked the creature across its cycloptic head with a devastating punch that sent it thumbling down to the ground on its back. Elita rained blasts from her crossbow while she hovered above the second enemy, but took one glance toward Ponyville before diving down and trying to kick the robotic monstrosity. Her kick failed to connect but it forced the creature to back against the wall of the canyon.
“This is over!” She said, leveling her crossbow at the cornered enemy.
“Elita!” came the scared cry of Scootaloo.
The bipedal robot turned to the little fillies and saw them being threatened by the other creature she had sent crashing a few seconds ago. It had its blade raised and ready to strike. Elita gasped and swung her crossbow to aim at the assailant, but only to be blindsided by a purple blast that sent her flying a few feet away, sprawling on the ground. Her weapon flew out of her hand and landed in the grass further away from her. She hissed in pain as she surveyed the smoking impact the blast had left in her side, but decided to ignore it in favor of grabbing her weapon.
Sadly another purple blast destroyed the weapon before she could grasp it. Elita was suddenly paralyzed by fear when both Dinky and Scootaloo let out a terrified scream.
That’s when a new figure entered the fray. Diving from the top of the cliff came a large bearded collie, landing right on the back of the creature threatening the little ponies.
“Yeeehaw!” it cried out with a female voice that reminded Scootaloo of one of Applebloom’s cousin. “You insecticon varmints leave these nice ponies alone ya hear?”
“Did that dog just talked?” asked Dinky, while said dog sank her teeth into the creature’s neck.
“Smallfoot! Deal with that one, I’ll take care of the other,” ordered Elita, getting back to her feet and once again extending her blades.
Elita then charged her designated target and the two began a complicated dance of blades, exchanging blows without actually piercing the other’s defenses. Meanwhile the other one was bucking like a mad bronco and managed to throw off the dog that had landed on its back, but not before it had left marks on the creature’s neck that oozed a glowing blue liquid.
“Smallfoot! Maximize!” called the dog, transforming in midair and expertly landing on two feet.
She, as there was no mistaking from the voice, too was a bipedal robot. Her shin retaining the fur of her previous dog form with red feet extending from the bottom, while her thighs were silver and metallic. Her body was mostly blue with a red square in the abdominal region, and her dog face was on her chest, not unlike Elita’s pegasus one. She kept the rest of the dog’s head, ears and all, over a red robotic head like some sort of furry hoodie. Her face was white and flat like Elita and her eyes were barely visible behind a teal visor. From her shoulder her front dog paws were hanging limp while she had new red arms that ended in a hands like Elita, although her own were blockier and bigger.
Smallfoot formed one of her hand into a fist and smacked it against the palm of her open hand. “Ya ready fer some roughhousing bug?”
The bug in question lunged at her with a scythe extended. Smallfoot dodged with a spin and grabbed hold of the creature’s arm right behind the blade. Using its momentum against it she swung the monster over her shoulder and sent it to the ground on its back, once again. She rushed toward it and threw herself at the ground, driving her elbow down into the monster’s gut. It let go a howl of pain just as she quickly got up. She grabbed the bug by its abdomen and swung him around, sending him crashing into the nearby rock wall.
“Eat some GB-class blaster!” she declared, extending one of her arm forward and presenting her palm to the dazed creature.
A hole opened into her palm and a red hot blast of energy shot out from the hole, hitting the creature right in its damaged neck. There was a large explosion that left a hole in the rock wall and its head landed at the feet of the two little filly. Its single eye grew dull.
“Cool!” said Scootaloo, in awe.
“I think I’m gonna be sick,” mumbled Dinky.
Meanwhile Elita and the other bug had gotten stuck into a stalemate, both of their blades blocking the other’s weapon, however the insect had one other tool at its disposal and its mandibles began to glow with gathering energy. Elita’s foot shot upward in an impressive display of flexibility and she kicked the creature right under the chin, causing it to fire its blast upward. It staggered away from her and quickly took notice of his partner’s demise and decided it was time to retreat.
“Oh no you don’t!” declared Elita, firing her jets.
“Hold yer horses captain!” said Smallfoot, putting a hand on Elita’s shoulder before she could take off, “Ya can’t leave me alone with the natives!”
Elita’s jet petered out as she looked back at the pair of filly, the orange pegasus now poking the monster’s head with a stick.
Elita sighed loudly, the implication of what had transpired finally hitting her. “So much for the robots in disguise routine.”
Author's Note
And here we go. Phew! That took me longer than I expected.
Elita Wild's robot design is inspired by THIS incredible Rainbow Dash Transformer design by Inspectornills (go check the rest of the collection it's pretty cool!).
As stated this fic takes place in the Lunaverse, but there shouldn't be much you need to know to enjoy this fic:
1-A thousand years ago Celestia went mad with greed and became Corona the Tyrant Sun. Luna imprisonned her into the heart of the sun and managed to rule alone for that time, partially crippled by the irrational fear of becoming like her sister.
2-Her personal student, Trixie Lulamoon, became the Element of Magic. Despite her abbrasive personality and a bad first impression she made friend with five other mares in Ponyville who also became Element of Harmony: Lyra Heartstring (Loyalty), Raindrops (Honesty), Carrot Top (generosity, and best L!Pony), Ditzy Doo (kindness, and Dinky's mother) and Cheerilee (laughter).
3-Corona was defeated but is still currently on the loose, plotting mad schemes of revenge.
4-We use the name Ditzy Doo instead of Derpy Hooves. Deal with it.
That should be it for that angle for now.
