Chapters Super Pony Taisen
It was a pretty average day for Ponyville. Pinkie Pie was in Sugarcube Corner preparing another batch of muffins, Rainbow Dash was done with weather duty for today and was currently napping on a cloud, Applejack was bucking apples at the orchard, Rarity was making more dresses, Fluttershy was tending to the animals and Twilight Sparkle was studying. Suddenly Twilight was interrupted from her book as her dragon assistant Spike let out a displeased groan. “What's wrong Spike?” she asked. For a few days now Spike seemed less energetic and knowing Spike literally since his birth she wanted to know what was bothering him. “Oh it's nothing.” he responded in a bored tone. “It's just that nothing exciting seems to happen lately.
It was true, after the catastrophic Gala things seemed to have calmed down somewhat around Ponyville and while Spike was not so enthusiastic about these quiet and peaceful times Twilight was more than glad when she remembers all those risks she took during the last year. Nightmare Moon's return, the sleeping dragon, the parasprites, the Hydra, Rarity getting ponynapped by the Diamond Dogs. The list went on and on. With a sigh she looked up from her book and turned to face Spike. “I think it's nice that we get a break from all these dangerous situations. Seriously I felt like a disaster magnet.”
Spike jumped down from the pillow he was resting on. “I'm not saying that I want to be in danger but at least a little adventure would be nice.” Suddenly Spike felt a very familiar pressure building inside of him, a letter from Princess Celestia. With a burp and a green flame a scroll materialized in front of the baby dragon. Eagerly he opened the scroll and cleared his throat.
My most faithful student Twilight Sparkle,
you will be pleased to know that your thesis about the existence of cultures even before the birth of me and my sister has been met with great interest by the archeological society of Canterlot.
“They liked my thesis? Wow, that's great news. I hoped to catch up on other study fields than magic and friendship since I have neglected those quite a bit.” Twilight interrupted with a happy grin on her face but Spike just cleared his throat again and gave her an annoyed glance. “Oh, right sorry Spike.”
“Where was I? Oh yes...
archeological society of Canterlot, and in fact Professor Digger requested your presence for two weeks for his next excavation in the Coltave Desert.
Twilight couldn't believe what she just heard. She would get a chance to do some field research with the well known archeologist Professor Digger. She could only stare in disbelieve at her assistant while her mouth hung open.
If you are interested in partaking this expedition please send your response to me I also took the liberty of asking the Professor if you could bring your friends along and he said that he wouldn't mind.
I hope that you can learn a lot about the unknown past of our world should you accept this invitation.
Signed, Princess Celestia
“So what do you say?” Spike asked while putting the scroll away. Twilight recovered from her mild shock and immediately levitated an empty scroll, a quill and a bottle of ink towards Spike. “Take a note please.” Spike who looked forward to the expedition eagerly took the writing utensils. “Dear Princess Celestia, I am really happy that Professor Digger liked my thesis and offers me this unique chance of getting some field experience in the field of archeology and of course I would like to bring my friends. Your most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” Spike wrote down Twilights name and immediately send the scroll to the Princess. Twilight meanwhile rushed to the door. “I'm telling the others about the expedition. I hope they have time to come along.” Spike rushed over to her and jumped on her back. “Yeah this is gonna be amazing. Just like in those Coltana Jones movies.” Spike had a giddy expression on his face as he imagined action packed adventures and dodging deadly traps in ancient ruins. Twilight on the other hand just rolled her eyes. “Oh come on. Archeology is nothing like that. I'm sure that we will just look for some old ruins, study them if we find any and report our findings.” But Spike would not have his illusion shattered. “But some of those ancient traps might still be active.” Twilight rolled her eyes yet again and made her way to her first destination Sucarcube Corner.
Pinkie Pie was preparing a fresh batch of Muffins as Twilight came through the door. She knew that she should get straight to the point if she wanted to finish this conversation before nightfall and Spike knew that Pinkie always safes one chocolate chip muffin for him and he immediately got off of Twilights back and grabbed it. “Hi Pinkie, I just got a letter from Princess Celestia, Professor Digger wanted to invite me for an archeological expedition and I was wondering if you wanted to come along.” Pinkie Pie let out the same gasp she gave Twilight when she first arrived in Ponyville. “An archeological expedition really? Oh this is gonna be so exciting. Just like in those Coltana Jones movies I hope we find some ancient honey because I heard that honey never goes bad and I always wanted to bake something with thousands of years old honey...” Pinkie continued he motormouthing while bouncing through the room. Twilight decided that it was best to move on and look for Rainbow Dash. “I'm sure we'll find something but now I gotta go and tell the others. Come to my house before noon in a week, bye.” With those words Twilight slipped out of the bakery with the now muffin munching Spike back on her back. Now for Rainbow Dash.
She managed to find Rainbow Dash on a cloud near the town center and called her. “DASH! CAN YOU COME DOWN HERE FOR A MINUTE?” The rainbow maned Pegasus stretched, yawned and flew down towards her. “What's the matter Twilight?” she asked a little annoyed about being woken up.
“I have been invited to an archeological expedition. A chariot will pick us up at noon in a week do you want to come along?” Rainbow Dash perked up at this. “Really? Like in those Coltana Jones movies?” Rainbow Dash had an excited grin on her face at the prospect of adventure. Twilight already gave up and just sighed. “Yes, just like in those movies.” Spike meanwhile was bouncing up and down on Twilights back. “This is gonna be great! I hope we find some cool treasure.” He said with the same excited grin on his face as Rainbow Dash. She meanwhile had other interests. “And if someone else wants to steal the treasure I am going to kick his flank.” To elaborate this she did some karate kicks in midair. Twilight on the other hand got more annoyed by the minute. “Yeah yeah that's great but I still have to tell the others see ya.” With that she trotted off leaving the blue Pegasus to her own fantasies.
Her next stop was Carousel Boutique. The sound of a bell announced her arrival to Rarity who was currently stitching together some fabric. She turned around to greet her customer. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique what can I do for... oh Twilight how lovely to see you today.” Spike was already in love-love land by the time the Boutique was in sight. “Hello Rarity, I came here to ask you if you want to come with me to an archeological expedition. I have just been invited by Professor Digger.” Rarity looked unsure if she really wanted to come along. “I don't know, this sounds like awfully dirty work.” Spike quickly shook himself awake from la-la land and started to stammer. “B-but you won't have to dig yourself. I can do that for you. Also Pinkie and Rainbow already agreed to come along.” Spike stared at his crush with a hopeful glimmer while Rarity was thinking. “Well.... I suppose I could use a little change in scenery and besides, I finished a pretty big order recently so I guess I can afford to ask somepony else to watch the shop for me.” Spike was ecstatic at this. “That's great! A chariot will pick us all up at noon in a week.”
“At noon next week. I will be there. Thank you for the invitation.” Rarity said with only a slight tinge of excitement. Twilight then proceeded to leave. “Okay then Rarity. I'll just have to ask Fluttershy and Applejack now. See ya.” And with that she was already on her way to sweet apple acres.
Twilight and Spike found Applejack having a small break with her Granny on the front porch of the farm. They told her about the expedition but Applejack didn't seem too enthusiastic. “I don't know Twi.” Applejack sounded unsure if she even wanted to go. “All this researching stuff really isn't my cup of apple cider.” But before she could say anything else Granny Smith interrupted her. “Of course she can go.” Applejack looked taken aback. “But Granny, Ah have to help Big Macintosh with the applebuckin.” As if on cue the big red stallion came around the corner. “Nonsense, there's not much else left I can do the rest myself and you deserve a little break.” Applejack almost wanted to say something but Spike peeked over Twilights head. “Come on. Pinkie, Dash and Rarity already agreed.” He had a dreamy look in his eyes at the mention of the white unicorn. At this point the orange earth pony finally admitted defeat. “Oh alright Ah'm goin.” Twilight smiled, glad that Applejack could come along. “Great, we'll meet at the library before noon next week. Now excuse me please I still have to invite Fluttershy.” They said their goodbyes for today as Twilight made her way towards Fluttershy's cottage.
Fluttershy already spotted the two of them as she fed some bunnies in her garden. Twilight trotted over to her and told her everything but the yellow Pegasus only looked scared. “I-I don't know Twilight. Archeology sounds really dangerous. Pinkie showed me a Coltana Jones movie...” Twilight resisted the urge to facehoof and instead put it on Fluttershys shoulder. “Oh please, these movies give you a very unrealistic image of archeology. I guarantee you that it's going to be completely safe.” Spike looked a bit disappointed but the meek Pegasus seemed relieved. “Also all the others have already agreed to come.” The reason why Twilight asked Fluttershy last was that it would be easier to convince her now that she already had everypony else with her. “But what about my animals? Who's gonna take care of them?” Twilight completely forgot about this. “Oh no you're right. Do you know anypony who could take care of the animals for you?” Fluttershy pondered for a moment. “Well, Bonbon is also good with animals even if she doesn't show maybe I can ask her. The purple unicorn had a hopeful smile on her face. “Okay you do that and if she says yes we'll meet at my house next week. A long-distance chariot will pick us up.”
“Okay then but I should probably get inside now it's starting to get dark.” Indeed the sun was already sinking down on the horizon and Spike let out a big yawn. “You're right and Spike here needs his good nights rest.” The dragon wanted to protest first but a big yawn betrayed him. With a final wave Twilight made her way back to the library with a big grin plastered on her face. She couldn't wait until tomorrow, an archeological expedition with all of her friends. This is gonna be so much fun.
As she arrived back at home Spike had already fallen asleep. She gently levitated Spike on his bed and went to sleep herself.
Deep in the Everfree Forest:
It was an unusually quiet night in the Everfree Forest as a malicious presence could be felt in the old ruins of a palace no longer in use. The shards of armor that were left behind after Princess Luna was purged from Nightmare Moon at the last Summer Sun Celebration were glowing with an eerie blue light. Slowly the shards moved ever closer to each other until they finally touched. In a sudden whirlwind of blue fire, a dark figure appeared. The midnight blue alicorn known as Nightmare Moon was back.
For a minute she just stood silently, breathing in the cool night air until she finally spoke. “Those foals really think that they could destroy me so easily- hehe,” Nightmare Moon gave out a chuckle so cold that anyone present could have almost felt the temperature in the room dropping. “I yet have to play out my trump card. Soon the false Sun Goddess and my old host will pay.” Nightmare Moon made her way outside and looked into the distance. “But first I have to make a few preparations.” She closed her eyes and let out another cold chuckle. “And this time I will make no mistakes. The elements of harmony will be the first to fall. I am going to crush them all under my hoof.” Her chuckle grew louder and louder until it became a cruel, mad laugh.
One week later Twilight and her friends met at the library after Pinkie threw a 'see you in a few weeks' party. Everypony was ready for the trip and Rarity and Fluttershy managed to get Lyra and Bonbon watch the boutique and the animals. Their other friends and family gathered to see them off as a larger than normal chariot pulled by a whole team of pegasi arrived. After saying their goodbyes they took off towards the desert where Professor Digger was already waiting for them.
Two weeks had passed since Twilight got the letter from Princess Celestia and she and her friends already made themselves at home at the camp the expedition team set up at the dig site. Professor Digger lead Twilight as well as her friends and an excavation team through a cavern they discovered under the dunes of the Coltave desert, and they all had miners helmets on their heads to give them light as they went through the tunnels. Professor Digger was a middle aged, sand colored earth pony with a dark brown mane that he kept cut rather short and a shovel for a cutie mark. Ever since they arrived the Professor and Twilight have been talking almost non stop about recent findings and ancient cultures. The others were not so enthusiastic about the entire expedition. Spike, Applejack, Pinkie and Rainbow Dash hoped the entire trip would be more exciting while Fluttershy and Rarity stayed in the camp above because the shy Pegasus was afraid of the dark caves and the fussy fashionista didn't want to get dirty.
“These caves have been formed by earthquake several thousand years ago. But geologic measurements predicted that there might be even more deeper underground. A perfect place to search for relics from ancient times.” Professor Digger showed more than just professional enthusiasm as he explained this to the inquisitive purple unicorn. Twilight trotted next to the Professor the entire time and bombarded him with more and more questions that he was more than eager to answer. “You know Ms. Sparkle, it doesn't happen very often that I find someone who is so eager to learn about archeology.” His expression became a bit annoyed. “Most Ponies just assume that archeology is like in the Coltana Jones movies and then get bored with the real thing.” Twilight just rolled her eyes as the ground suddenly collapsed under her hooves. She screamed while Professor Digger tried to grab her but he was too late and the purple unicorn fell into the darkness. Rainbow Dash reacted first and flew after her. Twilight kept screaming as she fell into the dark hollows below until she suddenly stopped. Slowly she opened her eyes to find herself safely in the arms of the rainbow maned Pegasus. With a sigh of relieve she wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and thanked her rescuer. “Whew thanks Dash, I almost would have ended as a pancake on...the....” Twilight stopped talking and looked with big eyes at something behind the Pegasus, illuminated by the miners helmet that managed to stay on her head. “What's the matter? Oh Celestia please don't tell me you're gonna be sick.” Rainbow Dash frantically looked for a good place to set the stock still unicorn down. As she looked behind her almost all movement except the flapping of her wings stopped.
“ARE YA'LL ALRIGHT?” Applejacks fearful shout shook the two ponies out of their stupor, Twilight was the first who managed to say something. “WE'RE ALRIGHT BUT YOU NEED TO COME DOWN HERE! WE FOUND SOMETHING BIG!” she called back to the other ponies above. “BIG?” the blue Pegasus yelled as if she couldn't believe what she heard. “THAT'S NOT BIG! THIS THING IS URSA GRADE HUMONGOUS!” This captured the interest of the ponies in the cavern above. Professor Digger mentioned for his team to let some ropes down and after a minute the Applejack, Spike, Professor Digger and Pinkie, who found the descent really funny slid down on the rope. All eyes were on Twilight and Rainbow Dash who managed to get on the ground but were still staring into the same direction. The other ponies turned their heads to see what got the two of them so entranced and almost lost their grip as they saw the object.
A gigantic, red drill was pointing in their direction. The drill was attached to a black ship-shaped object, in the middle was something that looked like a giant buzz saw, behind the saw there was some sort of tower attached to the object and to the side they could see fins sticking out of the giant metal ship. Everyponies mouths were hanging open as they reached the ground. Twilight turned to Spike. “We need to tell the Princess about this ASAP.”
Authors notes: Yep a crossover between My little Pony: FiM and Super Robot Taisen Original Generations. I often have ideas for crossovers in my head but now I'd like to actually write one for a change. This is my first fanfiction so I'd welcome any critique as long as it's constructive and please excuse minor grammar mistakes. English is not my first language.
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 2 Test drive
Two weeks have passed and never before has a letter caused such a commotion. The archeological society of Canterlot and the engineers association were gathering with the princesses to prepare for studying the steel ship as they called it. Princess Celestia has requested for the elements of harmony to stay at the dig site offering to send servants from the castle to take care of their duties in Ponyville as well as bits from the royal treasury to make up for eventual losses. But right now she made her way through the marble hallways with her sister by her side. She already heard the chatter of the archeologists as well as the engineers who have been summoned due to the mechanical nature of the ship.
“Are you nervous sister?” Luna's inquiry shook Celestia out of her thoughts. Her eyes still on the large wooden doors that lead to the meeting hall she sighed. “Of course Luna, the time before our birth is a mystery even to us and finding such an artifact.” The smaller Alicorn understood what her sister meant. They did not even know where they really came from and everything before they 'came to be' was completely unknown to them. That is why they always had a soft spot for archeology. “I know what you mean Tia, but maybe this steel ship can finally provide us with some answers.” Luna smiled weakly she still feels guilty about Nightmare Moon and tries her best to hide her discomfort.
Finally they reached the door and Celestia wasted no time opening it. As they entered the hall the chatter of the scientists ceased and they stood up and bowed respectfully to the Princesses. The large hall consisted of three rows of benches on either side of the room as well as two thrones for Celestia and Luna. One Celestias side were white banners with a sun symbol on the wall and blue banners with a moon symbol on Lunas side.
As the alicorn sisters reachd their thrones the sun princess looked into the crowds before finally speaking. “Please rise, we are here to discuss an important matter.” Almost in synch the scientists stopped bowing and sat back down and Celestia continued. “The subject for today’s meeting is the steel ship found in the coltave desert. Professor Strata, could you please read Professor Diggers report to us?”
At this a green earth pony with a brown mane rose from his seat. He cleared his throat and levitated a scroll out of his bag and in front of himself then he began to read. “The object in question is a ship-like structure made out of steel hence why we call it steel-ship. The age is unknown as well as who build it.”
With a deep breath the Professor continued with the description. “It has a large drill for a bow, the buzz saw in the middle seems to be made to keep rocks from hitting the tower behind it. Said tower seems to be the bridge of the steel-ship. We have also found what looked like cannons on top and on the side of the ship indicating that it was made for fighting.” Strata wanted to avoid using the word 'war'. Equestria in all of it's history only came close to a war once. At this he nervously glanced at Princess Luna who held her head down in shame as if she knew what he was thinking.
“There are wings on the side at the length of the tower and at the back there were several openings. We believe that these openings are some sort of propulsion system.” With that he finished describing the steel-ship and continued with the rest of the report. “While cleaning the hull the Pegasi have found what looks like an entrance for personnel on the side as well as four large openings above the wings, two on each side. The personnel entrance height and length indicate that this ship was made for bipedal creatures with an average height of 1.8 meters. Professor Digger is currently waiting for the engineering team to arrive so they can take a look inside.” With that he concluded the report and looked at the princesses expectantly.
“Thank you, Professor Strata.” After a polite nod the Professor sat back down and Princess Celestia turned to the other side of the room. “I trust that your engineering teams will find out how the technology of the steel-ship works Professor Clockwork.”
The rows of the engineers were only half full. Engineering was not a very lucrative field in Equestria despite there being those who could call themselves 'royal engineers'. After all why would you need technology if magic can do the job just as well. Engineers and machinery were mostly used in towns and cities with a little to non existing unicorn population and even those mostly just worked with whatever they got. Such a technological masterpiece was unfortunately far beyond their current understanding.
A brown unicorn with a metallic silver mane rose from his seat. “I'm afraid that's hard to tell. From what we heard whoever built the steel-ship must have been technologically far more advanced than us.” He closed his eyes and began thinking. “The only way to actually figure out how the steel-ship works would be to go inside and try to use it. Experimental trial and error if you wish.” He opened his eyes again and looked expectantly at the sun princess.
“Thank you for your honest answer Professor Clockwork.” Again the nodded politely in at him. “We now know roughly what they found but we still don't know what exactly we are dealing with. I would recommend that we adjourn this meeting and continue as soon as we get the reports from the engineering teams that have been sent to investigate.”
Various murmurs of approval resonated through the hall. “So it is decided. The meeting will be adjourned and we will continue as soon as we get a report of the engineering teams.”
With that the meeting concluded and the scientists left the hall, most of them chatting among themselves.
The princesses were still sitting on their thrones. Celestia looked at her younger sister who kept quiet during the whole meeting. “Please tell me what's bothering you.”
The night princess was taken by surprise but quickly composed herself and whispered. “Oh, it's nothing.” But her older sister didn't believe her. “You are still feeling guilty are you?” The smaller alicorn wanted to protest but was cut off. “You know that nopony blames you.” A tear rolled down Luna's cheek. “I do.” With those words the younger alicorn ran off before her sister could stop her. Celestia could only watch and hope that the damage that Nightmare Moon and the banishment have done to her sister would heal.
While the meeting took place Twilight had already welcomed the two dozen engineers that were sent to study the steel-ship. They got almost all of the exterior cleaned up and were now waiting for the first trip inside the metal monstrosity. Pinkie Pie, Spike and Rainbow Dash were most excited about this, they would spend most of their time at the makeshift guard stations that were set up on the openings above the wing trying to get a look inside. Even Rarity and Fluttershy were intrigues by the ship even though the timid pegasus pony was more afraid then interested.
After their descend it took them a few moments to shake the engineers out of their stupor.
“This is amazing.” Said Spark, a blue Unicorn with a blond, frizzled mane and what looks like a thunderbolt for a cutie mark. “If whoever built this must have been at least a thousand years ahead of us in technology.” The rest of his colleagues chattered enthusiastically among each other.
Then Professor Digger stepped forward. “We have already made out an entry point.” The archeologist pointed to a rope bridge that has been build on the side of the tunnel leading all the way up to one of the wings. “There are some opening just above the wings. We'll take those to enter.” The other scientists nodded in agreement and followed the Professor.
Professor Digger, the engineer teams and Twilight and her friends made their way across the bridge. They had Rainbow Dash carry Pinkie as they discovered that the giddy pony made the rope bridge sway in dangerous ways. “This is so exciting we couldn't go inside for so long but now we can finally take a look inside oh I'm so excited about what this thing looks like inside.” The pink party pony rambled on but Rainbow Dash was not annoyed this time.
“I know this is gonna be so cool I hope they have lasers in there that would be so awesome.”
Twilight sighed at the wild imagination of her friend as they arrived before the entrance. Professor Digger spoke briefly to the guard stationed in front and then they could finally go inside.
As they went through the long tunnels, miners helmets on their heads they first noticed the rail that led apparently all the way to the back. Fluttershy first refused to go inside until they promised her that there was absolutely no danger inside and Spike was carrying a lantern for Rarity because she didn't want to wear 'one of those ugly hats'-
The other unicorn turned his head around. “Oh please Ms. I'm no Professor, just call me Spark. As for the rails, I don't know but there's a theory that you can use rails for a slingshot-like launch system where a hook gets attached to the object you want to launch and that hook speeds the object along the rails until the rails end and the object gets propelled forward.”
“So they launched something with this?” Twilight asked.
Spark just shrugged. “It's the most likely answer since the rails lead directly outside but the question is what.”
Suddenly one of the engineers yelled. “Come quick there's something written on the wall!”
The other ponies ran towards the engineer who called them. Their miners helmets illuminated the words on the wall.
“I know this writing.” Professor Digger stepped directly in front of the wall. “This is the same old writing style I found in some other ruins.” The Professor squinted his eyes and concentrated on the writing. “Ku-ro-ga-ne launch dock 4.”
Spark came up right next to the Professor. “I knew these rails were for launching something but what's a Kurogane?”
Professor Digger shrugged. “I guess it's the name of this ship.”
Pinkie Pie meanwhile bounced past the engineer team. “Oh Kurogane, I like that name. Nice to meet you Kuro!” The others gave her a puzzled look as she said hello to the ancient artifact.
Rainbow Dash grinned. “Kurogane, sounds cool. It sounds like a name for a superhero.” She struck a pose to emphasize her point.
“There's a door here!” One of the ponies has continued to look around while the others looked at the writing. The rest of the team galloped over to where the voice was coming from. In front of a steel door with no handle. Spark looked at the door confused. “How do we open a door without a handle?” He looked around trying to think when he saw a pad with several buttons on it at the side of the door.
“Could this be used to open the door? Stand back everypony I'm going to try and get this unlocked” Every pony took a step back as he reached into the pad with his magic trying to make sense of it but before he could do anything something happened. The rest of the ponies gasped as a little glass window on the pad started to glow with a green light.
Spark too gasped as he noticed the glow. “Incredible, this device absorbed my magic.” He smiled now that he knew how to power this ship but that smile fell as he realized what this the buttons and numbers on the pad meant. “Oh no, we're gonna need a code to open this door.”
“May I try it?” Everypony turned around to look at the yellow earth pony who just spoke. His name was Cogwheel. He had a steel gray mane that was kept short, wore thin brimmed glasses his cutie mark was a pair of cogwheels.
Everypony was a little confused but Spark still stepped aside to let him try. Cogwheel was now in front of the pad. He had to lean on the wall to reach it but as he was high enough he held his hoof in front of the pad and closed his eyes in concentration. Twilight and her friends, Professor Digger, Spark and the rest of the engineering team stared with fascination as Cogwheel slowly started to put in number after number.
With a last click the pad started beeping and the door opened up. “The code is 519372.”
Cogwheel rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I always had a... connection with machines. In fact I got my cutie mark on a school trip when we visited a factory. One of the machines was busted and the repairponies were trying to figure out what was wrong. I was curious and took a closer look and as I touched the machine I somehow just knew what was wrong.”
Pinkie Pie let out a loud gasp. “Oh my gosh. That's just like my Pinkie sense just with machines. This is so awesome.” Faster then it should be possible the pink pony rushed to Cogwheels side and pulled him into a hug. Twilight meanwhile decided that if it was really like the pinkie-sense she shouldn't challenge her luck again. Instead she suggested that they moved on and everypony was more than happy to oblige.
They moved through the steel corridors of the ship with every single hoofstep vibrating through the halls. Rarity's interest in the ship slowly started to diminish. “Did the builders of this ship have no sense of style at all? Nothing but cold metal wherever you look. I really need to spruce this place up.” The other ponies just wondered how the fashionista could possibly think about renovating an ancient artifact of unknown age and origin. The only one who wasn't put off by her sense of priorities was the purple dragon on Twilights back.
“Oh why thank you Spike.” The white unicorn looked pleased that at least someone agreed with her while Spike just had a giddy grin on his face.
Then the ponies come to an intersection. “Now wich way?” Twilight asked. Spark trotted up next to her. “I'd say you and your friends come with me and half of the team while the other half explores the right side. Cogwheel, you stay here so that we can easily reach you in case we run into any mechanisms that we can't figure out ourselves. Alright then, let's go.”
The two teams went their ways and soon enough Twilights team reached another door and Spark stopped the team. “Hold on. We'll try this door.” Spark lit his horn and transferred some of his magic into the keypad next to the wall. As it came to life he used the code given by Cogwheel and the door opened.
As they entered the room the first thing they noticed were several open pod-like objects on the wall. They were open and inside of them were seats that had strange sticks with red buttons on them on the armrests and upon closer inspection they saw pedals on the bottom as well as a glass panel with a board full of buttons below directly in front of whoever sat in the chair.
“What in tarnation are all these for?” Applejack asked while inspecting all the deviced inside of the pod.
Rainbow Dash was also puzzled by these strange seats. “Hey Twilight do you think you can power the whole room?”
“I'll try.” With that Twilight focused her magic and slowly fed it to the machines in the room. Everyponies eyes went wide as light started to flood the room revealing another door behind them as well as a large window. The glass panels inside the pods started to display what looked like the desert outside. Finally Twilights horn stopped glowing. “Okay that should do it.”
“Well done Ms. Sparkle. Could you take a look at this please? The rest of the engineers please see what's in that other room.” Spark called over from the last pod on the wall. As Twilight trotted over to the pod she noticed that the glass display in this pod not only showed a desert landscape but also some numbers and bars on the sides. The most notable thing was the bipedal shape in the upper right corner. It looked like it was wearing armor plates. The hands and feet were covered with heavy boots and gauntlets, the shoulders were triangular and the head was mostly faceless with some sort of slit where the eyes should be and almost horse-ear like flaps on top of it. Spike stood on Twilights back looking over her head. “What is that thing Twilight?”
Twilight was thinking but she couldn't think of anything similar to this. “I don't know Spike but I'm going to get a closer look.” Spike hopped off of her and the unicorn went into the pod. It was strange to sit like that, the only pony that could comfortably sit in this chair was probably Lyra. Then came a shout from the other room.
“We have some sort of control panel over here.”
“Is it for these seats?” Spark shouted back.
“No idea we're going to try one of these buttons.”
Immediately after the engineer said that a startled cry came from Twilights pod.
“TWI!” Applejack tried to stop the pod that was closing, trapping the unicorn inside but to no avail. “DASH! Go'n get Cogwheel!” The Pegasus immediately darted out of the door and through the hallway.
Fluttershy looked ready to cry while Rarity tapped her hoof on the pod. “Oh my goodness, are you alright Twilight?”
From inside the pod came a slightly muffled reply. “Don't worry I'm fine.”
“Don't worry Twi, Dash's getting that Cogwheel fella. He'll get ya outta there lickety split.”
The first thing she tried were the pedals and since she couldn't reach them with her hoofs she used her magic to push them down. Suddenly the pod started to vibrate alarming the ponies outside while the landscape on the display in front of Twilight started to move as if she was moving forward. Startled she lost her magic grip on the pedals and the pod and the display stopped.
“Twilight darling, what are you doing in there?”
“I don't know Rarity I just pushed down the pedals and the landscape in the display moved as if I was moving forward.”
Twilight heard something drumming on top of the pod.
“Do it again, do it again.”
It was obvious that Pinkie Pie wanted to have some fun with the pod and Twilight decided to indulge her and pushed the pedals again.
“T-t-t-t-this i-i-i-is fu-u-u-u-n.”
While Pinkie was shaking on top of the pod Twilight was inspecting the other devices inside the pod. She poked at the sticks on the armrests and noticed that they could be moved forwards and backwards. She pushed both of them forwards and now the display showed two, gauntlets covered blue arms that seem to come from Twilight.
“Spark! I think I found out what these pods are. They are some sort of training devices for piloting that bipedal thing we saw on the display. It's some sort of vehicle.”
Before Spark could reply the door to the room opened and Dash darted in with Cogwheel in her arms. The poor pony looked shaken but he quickly regained his composure and asked.
“Where is the control panel?”
Spark led him to the other room and just a few seconds later Twilights pod opened.
“Thanks for getting me out of there.”
“Not at all Ms. Sparkle.”
Suddenly a pegasus pony from the other team bolted through the door panting heavily.
“Come quick. We found something huge!” He said between breaths.
Everypony galloped after the pegasus who was remarkably fast for barely being able to breath. They came through another door into a huge hall and what they saw made them all gasp especailly Twilight and Spark. The steel giant in front of them stood at least 20 meters tall with blue armore covering it. The hands and feet were covered in what looks like heavy boots and gauntlets. The helmet showed no face except a red slit where the eyes should be and had two flat 'ears' on top of it. It was the same thing Twilight saw in the pod.
Everypony stood in awe at the sight while Fluttershy hid behind Applejack but Twilight had a glimmer in her eyes.
“It's... beautiful.”
Everypony forgot their stupor and instead gave Twilight a weird look.
Deep underground in the Everfree Forest the tall dog-like creatures known as diamond dogs were digging. But this time it was not for gems. Nightmare Moon herself descended into their mines and promised them a lot of diligent and most importantly quiet unicorn slaves if they helped her find a treasure she buried long ago. The dark alicorn did not take over the body of her ex-host Luna in a mere moment. She had moments in which she took control without Luna remembering and with the heavy depressions she felt back then it was easy to fill her mind with false memories to keep her from getting suspicious about the sudden blank spots.
The diamond dogs already found the underground ruins Nightmare Moon chose as a hiding spot for her treasure a thousand years ago and now it was just a matter of time until the key to her victory was dug out and she could crush Celestia, Luna and the elements of Harmony. “I found it, I found it!” The sudden yell of a diamond dog broke Nightmare Moon out of her daydream. She immediately teleported herself to the chamber where the yell came from. Large parts of the chamber were still covered with dirt but the most important part was right at the end of the chamber.
Nightmare Moons horn glowed as she removed the dirt from the large stone plate in front of her by herself. The last thing she needed is one of those dirt-dwellers to ruin the plate by scratching it up with their dirty but still very sharp and durable claws. In less than a minute the stone plate stood clean before her as if it was never buried and the words carved into the stone were now readable. Magic spells and instructions for the creation of giant golems. Not just pathetic small golems barely any bigger than a pony but huge monsters that can tear cities apart. Nightmare Moon began to chuckle, that chuckle turned into an evil laugh that caused the diamond dogs in the chamber to cower in fear.
As she finally calmed down she had a cold smirk on her face. “Now there's only one thing missing.” As if on command a small diamond dog, barely the size of a pony filly meekly stepped into the room. “M-mistress, I-I've returned.” Nightmare Moon turned to see the spy she sent to Ponyville to spy on the elements.
“Ah yes, what can you tell me about the current situation of the elements of harmony?”
The spy gulped in fear. “They were not there.”
“WHAT!” Dark flames engulfed the dark alicorn. This was bad. What if they were in Canterlot. If they were so close to the princesses she could not harm them before either Celestia or Luna found out. “WHERE ARE THEY!”
The small dog was cowering on the ground, covering his head with his arms. “I found out t-that they are in the c-coltave desert helping some pony called Professor D-digger.”
Suddenly Nightmare Moons rage stopped. Her furious expression changed into one of surprise until it finally grew into a wicked grin.
“In the desert. Far away from the Princesses or any civilization. This is perfect.”
One of the braver diamond dogs slowly approached her. “Does this mean we get the unicorn slaves?” The dog flinched as the alicorn turned to him but despite his fears she still seemed happy. “Oh have patience. I have to overthrow the false queens first but afterward I will give you your unicorn slaves. And a muzzle for each and every one of them.” Nightmare Moon was not lying. She figured out that giving them to the diamond dogs would be a fitting punishment for all the unicorns that refuse to obey her after the became queen.
“Now, I want you to clear out the rest of the ground in this chamber.” Then she pointed at a magic circle that was drawn on the stone plate. “And then you take some chalk and draw that symbol on the ground.” Her feature grew darker again. “But don't dare to mess this up. If a single line is off I will turn you into one of the gems you love so much. I will now go to rest. Do not wake me up before the circle is finished.” With those final words she teleported away to prepare for the spell she would cast soon. The diamond dog gulped. “You heard her. Clear the grounds and get me the best drawers you can find.” Half of the dogs in the chamber started clearing the grounds while the other half darted off to into the other parts of the ruins to find some drawers. Rex, the diamond dog in charge wondered meanwhile. Was it really a good idea to follow the orders of the evil alicorn?
One week has passed and everypony on the dig side has been busy with the new discoveries inside the Kurogane. They quickly decided that the best course of action was to try and reactivate the large steel statue or Gespenst MK II Type TT, as it was written on the side of them, to learn more about it. Twilight volunteered to be the test pilot and spend the week inside the simulator pod for training while the engineers were trying to get it fixed up to the best of their knowledge. They couldn't really make much sense of all the wires and circuits so they limited themselves to just replacing everything that looked damaged with something that filled a similar role.
The Gespenst was in a remarkably good state so the repairs were quickly finished but there were still other similar objects in the hangar. Some other Gespensts wich appearently also came in red, green and white. Some of them had three metal rods on one hand.
There were also two other steel statues in white and yellow that were different from the Gespensts. Their heads were rounder in form and without ears, on each hand were three metal tubes and on the shoulders were large barrel-like objects. Professor Digger translated their name as 'Schutzwald'.
Lastly there was one 'Guarlion' a much slimmer steel statue. It's body actually very thin and there were what looked like small fins on the side of each of the shoulders.
They learned that the hangar and the launch dock were connected and that the slits on the wall were in fact not decoration but a large door. After they were done with the repairs Twilight and several other unicorns levitated the Gespenst outside were they build a tent around it to protect it from the sand until the test drive.
The next day the dig side was bustling with activity. The engineers were checking the Gespenst one last time before the test drive. Twilight was already sitting inside of the cockpit while Spike was on the framework that was errected for maintenance and entering.
Dear Princess Celestia,
you will be pleased to know that we learn more and more about the steel-ship or Kurogane and that we even managed to reactivate one of the steel statues we reported to you last week. In fact I am going to perform a test drive shortly.
If everything goes well I'm sure that we will find many uses for these marvelous pieces of technology.
We will continue exploring the rest of the ship after the test drive.
Please wish me luck.
Your faithful student Twilight Sparkle.
Spike send the letter to the Princess and wished Twilight good luck himself as the cockpit hatch closed and the dragon made his way outside where the others were waiting to watch.
He sat down next to Rarity of course who was wearing a sun hat and sunglasses.
Fluttershy was next to her shaking a bit in anticipation and also because she was worried that something might go wrong.
Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie on the other hand were just as excited as Spike and Pinkie even got some popcorn from... somewhere.
“Oh my gosh this is gonna be so cool! I can't wait to see that steel statue moving.” Rainbow Dash was fidgeting in her seat the anticipation was almost driving her insane.
“Ah know sugarcube this trip turned out to be not so boring after all.” Agreed Applejack next to her.
Some pegasi then flew to the tent and pulled it open. Everypony leaned forward eager to see the Gespenst in action.
Suddenly Pinkie started to shake all over. “D-doozy!”
Rarity and the others looked fearful at their shaking friend. This was the worst possible time for a doozy.
Twilight was sitting in the cockpit meditating one more minute. Since they couldn't refit the cockpit for a pony yet she would have to use her magic to move the Gespenst but she trained the entire week for this. She took a glance at the numbers and bars on her display.
After learning a bit about the ancient language the builders of the Kurogane and the Gespenst used she found out that these numbers, bars and the Gespenst in the corner were there to show her the status of the steel statue. Energy, armo, speed some navigational devices. Finally the tent was opened and she prepared to move out as she saw something moving near the camp. First she thought it was a mirage as the sand rose in one spot but it was real. The sand near the camp started to build up and formed two large, bulky arms and a head. It was a sand golem but nothing Twilight has ever seen before. It was huge, almost the size of the Gespenst. The golem then started to move heading directly for the viewer seats they had set up for the test drive. Twilight gasped.
“It's going to attack us.”
The ponies on the ground were in panic. Many were running away, the pegasi took off into the sky. Some ponies headed underground while others were too shocked to move.
Fluttershy was one of the latter ponies and only stared wide eyed at the large sand creature that was getting closer. Rainbow Dash saw that Fluttershy was too scared to move and headed back to grab her but she would not be able to reach her in time.
Fluttershy still couldn't move and instead closed her eyes as the sand golem raised one of it's bulky arms. She waited for the end but instead she heard the sound of something heavy hitting the sand. As she opened her eyes she saw Twilights Gespenst with one fist buried in the golems shoulder causing the raised arm to collapse.
Rainbow Dash reached Fluttershy and couldn't help but stare at the two giants.
Inside the cockpit Twilight pushed a button to activate the speakers.
“DASH! Take Fluttershy and get her to safety.” She threw another punch to the golems head while Dash followed her lead and took off with Fluttershy in her hoofs.
Then the golem suddenly grabbed the Gespensts head with the other arm and lifted her off the ground. Twilight was shocked at the golems strenght and before she could react the golems other arm regenerated and he punched the steel statue. The punch hurled Twilight several a good dozen meters away and the golem threw some of its sand at the fleeing pegasi.
The sand has hit Rainbow Dash who couldn't fly so fast because of Fluttershy and knocked her out. Then the golem made its way to the unconcious pegasi.
Twilight groaned inside of the cockpit. The impact shook her up pretty badly and blood was running out of her nose after she hit her nose on the pad in front of her. Then she saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy on the ground and the sand golem almost reached them. Frantically she got the Gespenst to stand up again and acivated the thrusters, making her glide over the sand. She would not make it in time.
All Twilight could think of was 'I need to save them, I can't let them die!' Then something new popped up on the display it read 'T-Link Ripper ready' Twilight briefly wondered what a T-Link Ripper was as she saw one of the buttons she was still unfamiliar with light up. Desperate to save her friends she pushed the button.
Rainbow Dash slowly came back to her senses. She stood up but her legs were still wobbly and she coughed up some sand. Then she noticed a huge shadow covering her and looked up at the giant sand fist that was raised above her. Now even she was too afraid to move as she stared at what was certainly her doom. But instead she just heard a sound like a boomerang flying through the air as two green glowing disks flew through the air and slammed into the golem, ripping huge chunks of sand away. Rainbow Dash managed to cover her eyes in time as the sand rained down on her.
Twilight couldn't believe it. After she pushed the button two compartments opened on the Gespensts sides and two metal disks floated out of them. Blades popped out of them and started to rotate. The T-Link Rippers started to glow bright green as they flew towards the golem tearing away the sand and revealing a large red orb.
Sudden realization hit Twilight. Of course, a golem of this size needs some sort of power core to hold it's form up. With new hope Twilight speeded towards the golem. As she reached it the golem slowly started to reform itself. She barely managed to grab the core before sand covered it again.
Twilight started to press the core between the Gespensts hands as one of the sand golems arms regenerated. It lifted the arm to bring it down on Twilight but before the huge arm could reach her the core shattered with a loud crack and the sand instead harmlessly rained down on her.
Twilight was completely motionless in the cockpit. She won, she seriously defeated a gigantic sand golem. As she saw Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy behind the now crumbled golem she smiled. That smile grew into a laugh of relieve.
“Thank you Gespenst. Thank you for saving my friends.”
The few ponies that were still nearby remained silent at first but then began to cheer at Twilights spectacular victory.
Above them a dark purple cloud hovered in the air. For the very first time Nightmare Moon was speechless. She couldn't possibly foresee THIS. Now the element of surprise was ruined and worse, they had something that could defeat her giant golems. There was no other choice now, she would have to prepare for war.
Authors note: Aaand the second chapter is done. This is the first fight scene I've ever written and I hope you all like it. Unfortunately I'm still currently without beta reader so until I can find someone I'll just have to revise the chapters if one of you can find errors so please leave comments and (constuvtive) criticism.
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 3 Team M6
After the giant sand golem was defeated the ponies who fled slowly started to return to the camp. The damage was assessed and repair crews started to work. Thanks to Twilight nopony got hurt, and instead the pegasi flew towards the Gespenst MK II and got the still shaking Twilight back to the ground. While the pegasi still congratulated her for her victory, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash rushed over to Twilight. Fluttershy pulled her friend into a soft but firm hug.
“Thank you Twilight.” Fluttershy still had tears in her eyes. “I was so scared I thought I was going to die.”
Twilight returned the hug to comfort her friend. “Don't worry Fluttershy, the sand golem is gone, thanks to the Gespenst.”
Meanwhile Rainbow Dash's mood was completely different. “That was AWESOME Twilight, how those green disks slammed through that sand monster, and then you rushed forward and CRACK crushed that red core thing.” The awestruck pegasus kicked some sand and made a crushing motion with her hoofs to accompany her own retelling of the fight when she suddenly remembered what she actually wanted to say. Her voice became softer. “Thank you Twi, I really thought I was a goner.”
Twilight said nothing, she was just glad that her friends were safe. Then she saw Professor Digger and Spark rushing over together with the rest of her friends. Pinkie Pie immediately tackled Rainbow Dash down hugging her fiercely while Rarity went to Fluttershy asking her if she was alright. Spike was on Applejack’s back and his face showed deep admiration.
“That was amazing, Twilight. You totally smashed that thing to pieces.”
Twilight couldn't help but to blush at the praise she got, but her mind quickly began to form the core question.
“Thanks Spike, but who could have sent that golem?”
Every pony was confused at this.
“That what?”
Twilight explained to them that golems, beings made out of animated rock, sand, dirt and sometimes even gems and clouds were commonly used in oldern times to carry out menial tasks. Then some bandits found out how strong golems were and used them for their evil deeds, and not even the royal guards could stand up to the golems. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna saw how dangerous the golems were, and used the Elements of Harmony for the first time to dispel all golems and hide away the knowledge how to summon them.
“So, that was a golem that attacked us?” Rainbow Dash shot a nervous glance at the sand hill that was the only proof that there ever was a golem as if she was afraid the sand would form a giant monster and attack again.
Twilight just shook her head. “I don't really know; from what I've learned golems are supposed to be much smaller, just a bit taller than a pony. Who could have summoned a golem of THAT size?”
Spike meanwhile got out a scroll and a quill.
“We should report this to the Princess.”
“Good thinking Spike. Maybe she can help us to figure out who attacked us. Oh, and Spark?” The other unicorn who was inspecting the Gespenst turned his head towards Twilight. “I have a feeling that this wasn't the last attack, it would be better if we got the Gespenst ready to launch if that happens.”
Spark just nodded. “We are actually way ahead of you. While you were training we took careful data of the controls. I think we should be able to refit them for a pony now. After that we can try to repair and reactivate the other steel statues. But first we will test it with the training pods.”
“Calling dibs on Guarlion.”
Every head turned towards Rainbow Dash.
“You heard me, I'm going to pilot one of these. I will pay Twilight back for saving my life.”
Twilight wanted to protest first but then came the next surprise.
“I think I'll take a Schutzwald, I mean, if that is alright with you. I don't want to just sit there and be protected by everypony while I do nothing.”
Everypony stared at the yellow Pegasus with surprise bordering on shock, but Pinkie just grinned.
“Okie, dokie, lokie. I'll take a Gespenst just like Twilight.”
“Ahm helpin’ too! Give me one of dem Schusswalds, or however ya'll pronounce that.”
“And I guess that leaves one Gespenst for me. While I detest fighting, I will not allow some ruffians to hurt my friends.”
Twilight beamed with joy at the support of her friends. Spike already was an Twilight's back with an idea forming in his mind.
“Alright you guys can be team Mane Six!”
Every pony stared at Spike in confusion while he just shrugged.
“What, you never heard it? After you defeated Nightmare Moon and became friends, some ponies started to call you the Mane Six.”
Dash grinned at this. “That's awesome, sounds like a great name for a team of heroes. Any objections?” Dash looked at her friends who kept silent. They actually liked that name too, but were still surprised that they were famous enough that their group had its own nickname.
“It's decided then. We'll be team Mane Six, or M6 for short.”
Spark trotted over from the Gespenst and couldn't help but smile at the girls energy even after such an event. “Very well then, the engineering team will refit six training pods to accommodate you while Twilight teaches you the basics.”
The girls nodded and Twilight stepped forward. “Alright, but first things first. Spike, take a letter to the Princess.”
Dear Princess Celestia,
I must inform you of an attack that has occurred during the test of the Gespenst MK II Type TT. A giant sand golem about 20 meters in height attacked our camp and even tried to kill Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
Fortunately, I managed to defeat it using the Gespenst's secret weapon, the so called T-Link Ripper.
The one who summoned the giant sand golem might attack again, so we are taking steps to prepare ourselves; in fact as I am writing this letter we are getting ready to reactivate more of the steel statues to defend ourselves against any further attacks.
I hope that you are safe.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle.
Princess Celestia read the letter again as she stood in front of her sister’s room. She dreaded the task ahead of her, but keeping it a secret from Luna would be even worse. Summoning giant golems was magic of such a high level that only alicorns were capable of performing the rituals. And the only other alicorn they knew of was Nightmare Moon.
“Keeping it from her would only make it worse.”
Celestia repeated that mantra in her head as she opened the door to her sister's room. The younger alicorn was lying on her bed and turned her head towards her sister.
“Oh, hello Celestia, is something wrong?”
Celestia swallowed a lump that has formed in her throat.
“Yes there is. While testing some of the technology found in the Kurogane, Twilight and the others have been attacked by a.... giant golem.”
Celestia didn't need to say anything else, as a terrible understanding showed in Luna's eyes, and tears started to form.
“But, the only other alicorn than us is.. Nightmare Moon.” The last part came out as a weak whisper as the tears started to flow freely.
“I'm afraid it's true little sister. It seems that the Elements of Harmony did not destroy Nightmare Moon, but merely separated her from you.”
Celestia waited for a reaction from her sister, any reaction, but Luna only sat there motionless with a haunted look on her tear stained face. Celestia edged closer to her little sister, and finally held her in a tight embrace. There was nothing she could say now. Telling her that everything would be alright would only sound hollow at this point. The only thing Celestia could do at this point was to hold her little sister tight.
At the same time, Nightmare Moon was standing in the middle of a magic circle. It was too soon for her to panic. The sand golem was defeated, but it was not like it didn't take that strange steel statue no effort to do so. All she had to do was to summon more golems and have them gang up on the enemy. After all, she planned to summon an entire army anyway. As the next golem core formed in front of her, she levitated it gently to an entire pile of cores. Soon she would be ready to crush the Elements of Harmony for good.
Shortly after warning the princess about the giant sand golems Spike burped up princess Celestia’s response. The letter stated clearly that those golems could have only been created by an alicorn. Even before Spike actually got to Nightmare Moon every pony already knew who it was. Between the shocked whispers Applejack was the first to speak up.
“Wait a darn minute there. Didn’t we ya know, destroy Nightmare Moon with the elements of Harmony.”
“Yeah, we kicked her flank.” Rainbow Dash accompanied this with a wild kicking gesture.
In the background Rarity was trying her best to calm Fluttershy down. The timid pegasus girl has been afraid of Nightmare Moon the first time she met her but now it was even worse, the evil alicorn not only has those giant golems at her disposal, she made it perfectly clear that she was after the elements of harmony. Fluttershy managed not to look to scared but on the inside she just wanted to hide somewhere safe until everything was over. She only hoped that her friends could protect her with the steel statues.
Finally Twilight spoke up.
“Calm down everypony. I know that this is really bad news but you forgot one thing.”
The whispers stopped as every pony looked at her with clear confusion on their faces. Twilight meanwhile just pointed a hoof at the Gespenst MK II.
“We have this powerful machine to back us up, with the Gespenst and the other steel statues we can fight and beat Nightmare Moon once and for all.”
Some ponies were still uneasy but the rest of them shared Twilights faith in the large machine. Nightmare Moon may have giant golems but they had their own giant protector and there are gonna be more of them, they will be ready.
Two days later the training pods were finally ready. Twilight already taught her friends the basics how to pilot a steel statue, and at least Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack were eager to get started. The engineering team just finished explaining the changes inside the cockpit, and Twilight was actually glad about this. She could use the old controls with her telekinesis, but it would be easier to focus if she didn't have to.
“Alright, after some fidgeting with the controls back here, I think we figured most of this out.”
Cogwheel was quickly promoted after it got apparent that he was the best pony to figure out how everything inside the Kurogane worked, and right now he was at the controls of the training room while Team M6 were already sitting in the training pods, and took a look at the new controls.
The pedals were now positioned at their hooves, while the control sticks on the arm-rests now have 'cups' in which a pony could stick her hoof in, and only had to bend it a little to get to the buttons. The seat itself had a few cushions and a hole for the tail added to make sitting in there a little more comfortable.
“I figured out how to change the steel statue assigned to each pod and how to give you simulated weapons to test.”
The girls were a little uneasy at this. Weapons were almost unheard of in Equestria; even the royal guards relied on their strength and magic, and now they would learn how to use weapons, even if it was just a simulation.
“Twilight will have her Gespenst MK II Type TT equipped with a beam sword and a megabeam rifle. Rarity gets a Type TT too, but with a 'divine blade' and a machine gun. Pinkie Pie's regular Gespenst, the one with the steel stakes sticking out of one hand, will be equipped with a steel knife and a boosted rifle. Applejack's Schutzwald will have a M16 shotgun and a steel knife, while Fluttershy will have a repair module for on-field repairs, and lastly Rainbow Dash has a Guarlion with a burst railgun and an assault blade.”
Twilight and her friends made a mental note of the names of the weapons they will learn to use.
“There are also weapons built into the steel statues. The Type TT has the T-Link Ripper and a gatling gun a little below the neck, the regular Gespenst has a gatling gun and a jet magnum, which we guess are the steel stakes on its hand. The Schutzwald also has a Gatling gun, and the triple tubes on each arm are so called auto-cannons, the large tubes on the shoulders are called 'Twin-beam cannon', and the Guarlion has auto-cannons built into it's chest, and something called the sonic breaker. Very well then, if you are ready we can begin.”
With this words the pods closed and an artificial landscape showed on each screen. One thing that was different about the desert shown on the screen were the goal posts marking a racing track.
“We will start with movements. All of you are in 'separated areas', so you don't bump into each other. Just move through the goal posts. Ready? Go!”
The girls moved swiftly between the goal posts, only occasionally missing one when Pinkie was being too jittery or Rainbow Dash flying too fast to get a curve right, but otherwise the test went really well.
“Very good girls. We now move on to target practice. You should soon see red crystals floating around, these are your targets. I will have the training pods highlight the buttons you need to push for selecting each weapon, and you use the hoof controls to aim and fire. Ready? Go!”
As soon as Cogwheel was finished the red crystals were appearing in front of them.
Twilight professionally picked one after another, the megabeam rifle's red beam breaking through every target. Occasionally one of the buttons on the controls in front of her would light up indicating a change in weapons. Next were close combat weapons. The controls for them were a little different. Instead of aiming and pushing a button, they had to use the 'cups' to swing the weapon.
Applejack had a quick transition. It seemed like the shotgun was designed for close combat, so she already was near the targets anyway, and somehow it just felt proper to fight up close and personal. She was in range of the first target and swung the steel knife against it, cutting neatly through the fake enemy. After a few more another button was lighting up, indicating another change of weapons.
Rainbow Dash was actually having fun. First there was a race, and there just was something cathartic about shooting and slicing up those red crystals. As she pressed the next button a blue field appeared in front of her. The cyan pegasus was a little unsure what to do now until Cogwheel gave some instructions.
“The sonic breaker seems to be a force field designed for ramming attacks.”
Rainbow Dash just grinned and faced the next targets while pushing the pedals all the way down. The Guarlion flew at speeds that amazed even her while effortlessly smashing through the targets.
Fluttershy meanwhile got a little special training with the repair module instead of close combat training. In front of her was a very beat-up looking Gespenst. Cogwheel told her that the torch of the repair module needed to be used very carefully, or else she could accidentally disable the steel statue she was supposed to repair. Fortunately, being careful was second nature to the timid pegasus, and the Gespenst soon looked as good as new, after she welded the torn hull shut.
After a few more weapon switches they decided to call it a day and move to performance reviews.
“Alright everypony this test went actually really well. Twilight, you performed best in terms of accuracy, but to be honest, you could use a little more 'feeling'. Your movements seemed a bit too artificial.”
“Applejack, your close combat performance was top notch but your movements were a little stiff. Try to move a little smoother.”
“Pinkie Pie I'm actually surprised at your accuracy with the boosted rifle. I think you should be on long range support.”
“Rarity, while you showed a good overall performance, you were a little too focused on moving elegantly, and sacrificed efficiency.”
“Rainbow Dash was definitely the fastest, but the problem is that you tend to overshoot your targets, so try to slow down at least a bit.”
“Lastly Fluttershy, I'm sorry to say that but you are too insecure. You moved through the goal posts too slowly and hesitated at every target, but your repair performance was flawless.”
“That concludes the performance review, I think you all did well today, and should be able to defend the dig site without a problem when we get attacked again. Alright, you're dismissed for today.”
Twilight and her friends nodded and made their way outside where they chatted.
“Oh I can't wait for the bad guys to show up now. Guarlion is gonna smash them all.” Rainbow Dash punched a wall to emphasize her point while Rarity just rolled her eyes.
“Oh please, I would be very glad if we never saw one of these golems again,” she said.
Fluttershy remained quite. She felt a little nauseous after training. Not only because of the harsh movements of the pod, but because she started to realize that volunteering to pilot one of the steel statues might be more than she can handle. On the other hoof, with her on repair duty she might not even really have to fight, she only had to make sure her friends could continue fighting. The thought made her feel a little easier. After an hour or so they decided that they should get a little rest. Tomorrow they would practice moving through narrow corridors. The camp had been moved, and a tunnel is being dug out so that they could drive the steel statues directly out of the Kurogane and outside, so they could avoid being attacked before they were ready to fight.
Three days of hard work later everything was ready for the first field test of Team Mane 6.
“No reason to worry Fluttershy, we're not being atta...”
Before Fluttershy could finish reassuring herself, they saw something approaching from the distance. This time there was not only one giant sand golem, but eight of them. Now even Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were getting nervous, but Twilight remained calm and gave them the battle plan through the communication system.
“Alright girls, here's the plan.”
“Applejack will move in first. After that Rarity and I will join you. Rainbow Dash, you bombard them with the burst railgun from above. Pinkie, you stay back and shoot any exposed core you see while Fluttershy stays with you. Anypony whose steel statue gets damaged goes to Fluttershy for repairs. Get ready, here they come.”
Like planned, Applejack went first, shotgun held before her, ready to shoot as soon as the golems got in range, while Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash followed closely behind her. As the first golem came into range, she shot a burst from the shotgun at it, and while she missed the core it was quickly pierced by a bullet coming from Pinkie Pies. Applejack was quite frankly impressed at the accuracy and reflexes of the pink party pony. Unfortunately, these thoughts distracted her just long enough for one of the sand golems to get close to her. In the last moment, she threw the Schutzwald arms in front of her to stop the giant fist from slamming into her chest.
Rainbow Dash saw Applejack defending herself from one of the golems. She flew over to her, while also shooting at another golem that was about to attack Twilight. She didn't quite hit the target, but still managed to do some damage to the golem. Twilight saw her chance and shot the megabeam rifle into the sand golems chest. The sand around the impact area started to melt down, and the golem started to crumble as Twilight apparently managed to hit the core. With that problem solved, Rainbow Dash took aim and shot the arms of the golem that was currently holding Applejack's Schutzwald off. Applejack took the chance and activated the auto-cannons, sending volley of bullets into the chest of the golem until she found the core and destroyed it.
Rarity in the meantime used the machine gun to shoot the sand away from the golems core so that Pinkie could finish it off with her own rifle. As the golem crumbled, she shot a quick look to Twilight, who sliced through another golem with her plasma cutter, when she suddenly noticed something. Three of the golems were missing. Rainbow Dash seemed to have noticed it too.
“Hey what happened to the other golems?”
Before anypony could answer the question of the cyan pegasus a large blast of sand shot out of the ground behind her, hitting her straight in the back. Rainbow Dash let out a startled scream as she lost control of the Guarlion and plummeted to the ground. As she crashed, she hit her head on the display and lost consciousness.
“DASH!” Applejack was on her way to help her friend as something grabbed her from below, and caused her to fall down too. The remaining sand golems then rose from the ground behind Applejack's Schutzwald and the Type TT's, and before Rarity or Twilight could react, they were thrown flat onto the ground.
Fluttershy yelped and covered her eyes with her hooves. This wasn't happening, her friends couldn't be... even Pinkie Pie started panicking as she fired blindly at the golems, as they rose their arms to strike her friends down. Fluttershy's whole body was shaking.
“Why won't they stand up? How could this happen? How...”
Suddenly a strange feeling surged through Fluttershy.
“How.. HOW DARE THEY HURT MY FRIENDS!”
Rarity closed her eyes, not wanting to see her end coming at her, when she suddenly heard a strange howling sound. As she opened her eyes the sand golem was crumbling with most of its chest missing.
Pinkie Pie meanwhile was staring in shock at the Schutzwald that was piloted by the normally timid Fluttershy. Two large beams of brilliant blue energy shot out of the big tubes that were mounted on each shoulder. Then another set of beams shot out, hitting the golem that stood behind Twilight. That golem, too, was crumbling. The second the beams vanished, leaving behind a large hole in its chest.
Finally Fluttershy turned towards Applejack.
“I'M NOT GONNA LET YOU HURT JACKIE!”
With that furious scream, she charged the twin beam cannons one more time and two beams of energy effortlessly blasted through the last remaining enemy, until it crumbled into a large pile of sand.
Fluttershy was panting heavily as she finally calmed down. She couldn't believe what she just did. Her friends opened communication channels, and their relieved faces were shown at the side of her screen. Even Rainbow Dash seemed to have regained consciousness, and was groggily asking what happened. Twilight answered her question.
“The sand golems almost got us, but Fluttershy saved us and destroyed the golems.”
“Wow, great job Fluttershy. You really got it in you when things get rough.”
Applejack and Rarity could only agree with Rainbow Dash. After all, this wasn't the first time that their friend showed surprising toughness. Pinkie Pie seemed to remember too.
“That was super fantastic Shy, I was already panicking and all like 'oh noes what should I do now', but you just aimed at those meanies and BAM BAM BAM, shot them all down. Just like when you actually made that mean full grown dragon that threatened to cover the entire sky with his smoke cry, or when you won a staring contest against a cockatrice.”
The others ignored the hyperactive ponies motormouthing, and congratulated Fluttershy on her victory.
The yellow pegasus had a calm smile on her face. Just moments ago these steel statues were so frightening to her, horrible weapons of destruction, but now she knew better. They were shields made to protect the loved ones of their pilot.
Authors note: And chapter three is finished too. Sorry for the late update, but I am a little tardy. Don't worry though, unless I say otherwise the story will be updated. Personally I think this characterization for Fluttershy fits perfectly. Normally shy and scared, but may Celestia have mercy on your soul if you hurt one of her friends.
As for the ponies calling the PT's steel statues, they're going to learn what they are really called later, but until then I think steel statue would be a good description for anyone who doesn't know what a robot is.
Special thanks to my new proofreader Midnight Moon.
Silly little Omake #1:
(Takes place during Twilight's test drive)
The large sand monster was closing in on Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who were knocked onto the ground. There was no way Twilight could reach them in time. Suddenly Twilight felt strange. It was like her blood was boiling inside of her veins, and words were lighting up on the Gespenst's screen.
Ultimate Gespenst Kick. Shout Now!
Normally golems were mindless piles of whatever material the summoner chose, but even the golem felt a sense of dread behind it, so it turned around to see what could cause that fear.
The Gespenst flew high into the air until it stopped and arcs of lighting were sizzling all over its body.
“ULTIMATE!”
The shout of the purple unicorn could be heard far and wide as some of the ponies that were hiding and fleeing turned to see whats happening.
“GESPENST!”
With the next shout the Gespenst started to spin wildly, and the tip of its right 'boot' started to radiate a bright blue light.
“KIIIIIIIIIICK!”
The last shout almost deafened some of the ponies that were too close to the scene, as the Gespenst flew straight at the sand golem with its leg outstretched. The creature was too scared to move despite supposedly being a mindless slave to its summoner, and so it could do nothing as the kick connected.
An enormous explosion shot tons of sand high into the air, burying almost the entire camp. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy managed to dig themselves out, and as their heads peaked out of the desert sand Rainbow Dash could only think of one thing to say.
“That was the best thing I've seen in my entire life.”
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 4 The Kurogane lives again.
One day after the second golem attack Twilight and her friends were already training again. This time though Fluttershy was a lot more secure and did a lot better in the simulation. As they got out of the training pods they saw Digger and Spark standing in the room already waiting for them. Twilight, being a science enthusiast herself, immediately trotted over to them. After what happened already they all were ready to just drop the titles and the entire team was practically already friends.
“Hello, Digger hello, Spark. Is there something I can do for you?” Twilight asked while Spike already hopped onto her back.
The two scientists seemed really excited about something, surely they must have found something big inside the Kurogane which was still mostly unexplored.
“Indeed there is.”
As they made their way Spark told her that they found some sort of machine in the area that should lead to the bridge. At first they thought that it was a broom closet or something, but then they saw a control panel on the wall, and one pony of the engineering team told them about an idea he had some time ago. His idea was pretty much a small room inside a shaft that could be moved up and down using strong wires and the simple steam machinery Equestria had to transport ponies vertically. Apparently his idea was pretty popular in Canterlot’s engineering circle since the city had a lot of tall towers and walking the stairs to the highest point was flat out torture, especially for elderly ponies.
Since they still have not found a staircase that could lead them to the bridge, they thought that maybe, if the builders of the Kurogane were technologically much more advanced than them, then those elevators, as the engineering pony wanted to call them, might be a common thing for them. As Spark finished explaining this to Twilight and her friends, they already reached the elevator. Digger was the first to get inside and the other ponies followed.
“Now then Twilight, please power the elevator and then we can hopefully reach the ships bridge.”
As Twilight’s horn started to glow Digger continued telling her his plans.
“At first Spark wanted to power this thing himself but I thought it would be better to take a unicorn with your power with us. Since this ship probably needs a tremendous amount of power we’re probably gonna need more than just one normal unicorn to power the most important room.”
The light inside the elevator went on and the control panel beeped, indicating that it was ready for use. Digger pushed the ‘up’ button, and as the elevator closed its doors and slowly started to move upwards he began to think.
‘They only had limited power for each room before they needed to feed another dose of magic to it. There is no way the builder of the Kurogane powered the entire ship by magic alone. It would need half a city worth of unicorns just to keep the important rooms powered up at all times.’
Before he could continue his thought a loud ding told them they reached their destination and the elevator doors opened. Twilight then concentrated again to feed energy into the nearby machines and the room lit up.
Directly in front of the elevator was a large chair for the captain in front of a steel desk. sporting a few screens that slowly started to light up. displaying various messages as well as control panels. Underneath the platform were several smaller stations. neatly lined up in some sort of spearhead. right in front of the window that showed them the cave outside. so that nopony of the bridge crew would block each others view.
Before anypony could analyze the room any further. one of the control stations made a loud alarming noise. Rarity balanced on her hind hooves so she could hold her ears shut.
“What is that ghastly noise?”
Spark and Digger trotted over to the source of the noise, and Digger started to read the words displayed on the screen.
“Warning. Generator offline. Energy reserves critical.”
Sparks eyes lit up. That was it, that generator must have been what originally powered the ship. If they found the generator, then the unicorns wouldn’t have to feed their magic to the Kurogane the entire time. Spark announced this plan to the other ponies.
“That’s fine an all, but how are we s’posed ta find that generator?”
“That’s a good question Applejack. I’ll try something.”
With that, Spark turned to the still blaring control station and tried to type in the word generator.It seemed like a good start, the warning message vanished. Instead a model of the Kurogane popped up on the screen. It was a birds eye view of the ship, and while most of the model was shown in a dark green color, except for a few rooms that were highlighted in a much brighter green. Upon closer inspection Spark noticed that those were the training room, the hangar for the steel statues, and some other rooms that the archaeologists and engineers powered up to use as sleeping quarters. Then the word ‘Main Generator Room’ popped up next to the model, and a yellow line pointed from the letters to a room still unknown to the ponies that was now highlighted in a bright flashing red.
“That room there must be where the generator is located, wait a second.”
Since his first attempt was successful, Spark tried to type in ‘Activate Generator’ but instead a new message popped up.
“Energy reserves too low. External energy input needed.”
Rainbow Dash fluttered directly behind Spark.
“So? Does that mean this thing needs a kick-start?”
“Looks like it. Twilight, you and your friends gather as many unicorns as you can and go to the generator room. It’s time to breathe new life into the Kurogane.”
Spark grinned, barely able to hide his excitement. The other ponies, with the exception of Fluttershy and Rarity, seemed to be equally excited. As they made their way back down and to the crew quarters Spike was already practically hopping up and down.
“I can’t believe we’re finally getting this thing started properly, I can’t wait to see that the Kurogane can do.”
Twilight could no longer contain her own enthusiasm.
“Me too, I’m really starting to love this ship and the steel statues. This combination of form and function is simply perfect.”
“About time you get a cooler hobby.”
Twilight craned her neck around to give her assistant an offended look.
“And what exactly do you mean by that?”
Spike started to stammer nervously.
“Uh.. I just... I mean... LOOK WE’RE HERE!”
Twilight turned around just in time to avoid slamming into the door that lead to a large room with several tables and seat that was obviously some kind of mess hall.
Inside the mess hall, most of the engineers and archaeologists were chatting with each other, or playing various games that they brought with them for entertainment. All eyes were on the purple pilot of one of the steel statues as she stormed inside and called for attention.
“We have a way to power up the entire ship permanently, all unicorns follow me!”
Twilight did not need to repeat herself as all unicorns in the room practically fell over each other hurrying to the door in their sudden excitement, and even some earth and pegasus ponies rushed out of the room, presumably to tell their friends about what’s going to happen. As soon as Twilight was sure that every unicorn was following them she lead the way to the generator room. On the way there some other unicorns as well who were not in the mess hall, as well as Cogwheel, and after just a short gallop they reached a large door that said ‘Generator Room’.
“Are you sure this is going to power the entire ship?” Cogwheel asked Twilight while working his magic on the control pad next to the door.
“Pretty sure, we were on the ship’s bridge and Spark is standing by to power the generator once we get things started.”
At this Cogwheel seemed taken aback.
“Without me? But I wanted to see the bridge.”
The yellow machine-lover was a little disappointed that he couldn’t be one of the first ponies to see the Kurogane’s bridge, but he quickly perked up again. At least he would be the first to see the heart of the Kurogane. With a sudden hiss the door to the generator room slowly opened, and Cogwheel did not waste a second to enter the room. The other ponies followed him, and with a fair bit of concentration Twilight managed to get the lights to work.
As soon as she opened her eyes again she saw the generator. It was a cylinder shaped machine, almost as big as a house, with a large bladed wheel inside. To either side of the room stood several rectangular pillars that reached up to the roof, and at the base of these pillars were other machines with still empty displays and control panels. Twilight could only guess that those helped the crew check on the generators status and adjust the large machine. Cogwheel noticed them too as he finally managed to pick up his jaw from the floor, and snapped some unicorns to take position at those control panels.
“Alright everypony, on my mark you slowly start to feed your magic into the generator. Are you ready?” The machine-whisperer looked around to see that everypony was nodding nervously. “Ok, ready, set, start!” Immediately Twilight’s, Rarity’s, and every other unicorns horns glowed and their magic flowed into the machine. Cogwheel placed a hoof onto the generator and closed his eyes.
“Come on everypony. I can feel it. Just a little bit more.”
Some of the weaker unicorns collapsed as the flow of magic got stronger with each passing minute. Cogwheel hoped that the rest of the unicorns could supply enough magic; it would take at least two weeks to get more unicorns, and any newcomer would be in danger of being attacked by a sand golem.
Meanwhile on the bridge of the Kurogane Spark was fixated on the soft glowing screen. A few minutes ago a bar, showing the generators power status, showed up on the screen and started to fill. Only a tiny bit more and he could finally start the generator.
Behind him stood Digger, who was almost chewing on his hooves with anticipation. All those machines on the bridge could store immeasurable knowledge. About the past, about the Kurogane itself, maybe even about a time before the princesses. Finally a beep informed them that the generator now had enough energy to be started.
Spark wasted no time and immediately gave the command. The screen changed again.
Starting generator.
Power output at 5.35% and rising.
Spark and Digger were overjoyed and actually started to do a little victory dance.
Power output at 21.41%
Slowly the other screens on the bridge started to light up.
Power output at 34.71%
In the halls of the Kurogane all lights started to flicker to life.
Power output at 52.23%
The training pods. along with many other machines that still remained untested, also started up.
Power output at 67,91% thrusters operational.
Spark and Digger briefly wondered what those ‘thrusters’ were as they watched the energy reading climb higher and higher.
Power output at 83,28% Weapon systems operational.
This message was accompanied by a nervous gulp by the two scientists. Some time ago they would have probably disarmed the weapons as soon as they had been found, but now they’re gonna have to use them eventually.
Power output at 100,00% Titanic Drill operational, Kurogane fully operational.
Spark and Digger cheered as they read this. They did it, an ancient ship full of highly advanced technology was still functioning, and now they could make proper use of it. The engineer and the archaeologist sat down and tried to see if the Kurogane had some sort of database. Digger suddenly started to chuckle when he saw Spark’s puzzled expression.
“Sorry, but I would have never thought that we would work together one day. And especially not to prepare to fight Nightmare Moon.”
Spark then joined in, both of their chuckles grew into hearty laughs. Spark was the first to calm down.
“Yes, the entire situation is just so absurd. But say, what got you into archeology anyway?”
Digger was a little caught off guard by the sudden question.
“Well, it might sound weird, but somehow I just like all that ancient stuff. Even as a little colt I was often digging for treasures, and while all my classmates would groan if the teacher organized a field trip to the museum, I was the only one looking forward to it.”
Digger looked at the ceiling with a nostalgic look on his face.
“Sometimes I would look at the displays in the museum for hours, trying to imagine what the ponies of those times were like and how they lived.”
A smile crept onto his lips.
“And finally my dream came true. The curator of the museum was impressed by my curiosity and eventually he offered me a job in the museum. I thought I couldn’t be any happier until my various theses about ancient cultures got the attention of the archaeological society. From that day forward I was truly living my dream.”
Spark had a calm smile while listening to Digger’s story. He had to admit that he was always a little emotional, and Digger’s story was actually touching him. It would only be fair if he shared his story with him.
“My motivations for getting into engineering are not really a lifelong dream of mine. Instead I’m doing this for my mother.”
Digger was a little confused at this. “What does your mother have to do with this?”
“She was an earth pony. As you may know there are not many earth ponies in Canterlot where I grew up. Lately more earth and pegasus ponies are living there but during my foalhood my mother was really a minority there.”
His expression grew slightly sadder.
“Since the city was built with unicorns as standard citizens, in my mind mom often struggled with her daily routine. So many things required magic and my mom constantly had to ask random strangers for help. Of course everypony was happy to help her, but she was still uncomfortable so I got into tinkering.”
The sadness slowly left Spark’s face.
“I made a claw she could use to grab things. With that she could do a lot more things that would normally require telekinesis. I upgraded so it could extend for more reach, and I even invented an energy storage device that my mom could use to turn on the magic powered lights at home without my help.”
A look of determination formed on Sparks face.
“But that was not enough. So many other earth and pegasus ponies had difficulties because they lacked magic so I decided to become an engineer. To make everyponies life easier.”
Digger looked at the blue unicorn with admiration, Spark dedicated his life to help ponies all over Equestria, he felt proud that he could call him his friend. A loud ding interrupted their reminiscing. Twilight and the others were now back and they brought Cogwheel with them. Twilight and Rarity looked exhausted from spending so much magic, and the little purple dragon was fanning the white unicorn some fresh air while holding a glass of water in the other hand. With a quick thanks the purple maned fashionista took the glass and elegantly nipped on it. Spark congratulated them on activating the generator.
“Finally, now we have the entire Kurogane powered up at all times. Now we can try to find out more about the builders of this ship and the technology they used. If we’re lucky and my theory on these screens and controls is right, then maybe the old crew left their knowledge behind. Cogwheel, could you please go to the captains seat and try to find something that could help us?”
Cogwheel nodded enthusiastically. He loved this ship and all the machines; it was like an adventure for him. Sometimes he felt like he was visiting a faraway land and met new ponies with completely different cultures. He sat down in the captains seat as well as he could and started reading the machine.
Cogwheels eyes were closed and he concentrated on the contraption in front of him. What he felt was different from everything else. He was not just getting in touch with another machine, no, he was connected to the brain of the entire ship, and he was looking for the memory. Without even realizing it, he started to type away on the control panel before him. He knew what he was looking for, and he knew he was getting closer to it.
Behind him, Digger, Spark and the girls watched in awe as Cogwheels hoofs were dancing over the control panel. Finally they stopped. Everypony was now looking at the screen. The words on the screen said: “Main database.” All of them started to cheer. This was what they were looking for, the entire knowledge of the Kurogane.
Later that day Pinkie threw one of her famous parties. All of the archaeologists and engineers were celebrating the reactivation of the Kurogane. Since Spark and his engineers prepared for a long stay they had enough supplies for Pinkie to bake a few cakes, and even bobbing apples and other party games.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash meanwhile were competing at a dartboard. It was Applejack’s turn and she hit perfect bulls-eye.
“Not bad, I hope your aim inside your Schutzwald is just as good, or else those golems will wipe the floor with you.”
Applejack winced a bit at that.
“Did y'all have to mention that? Besides, who was the first to kiss the dirt again?”
“Not fair! It was a sneak attack!”
Meanwhile Fluttershy and Rarity were idly chatting at the snack table while drinking some punch.
“I’m still exhausted from earlier. Who would have thought that the Kurogane needed that much power?”
Fluttershy gave her friend a sympathetic look.
“Well, it IS a really big ship and besides, now it has its own power.”
“That’s true, and the hallways are a little less creepy now that the lights are permanently on.”
Rarity sipped on her punch while looking around the room. Aside from the party decoration and games the room was pretty barren.
“Still, I’ve got to spruce this place up. Everything just looks so... sterile.”
Fluttershy nodded in agreement. She also thought that the Kurogane could use a bit of color.
Pinkie Pie, who left the room a little early saying she forgot something important, came back with a large banner in her mouth. She went over to Twilight, who was dancing at the moment, and asked her if she could help her with the banner.
“Just hang it there over the snack table. Don’t worry the tape is really strong. I always use it for hanging up banners.”
Twilight did as instructed, as the banner was up all ponies who saw it would smile at the words on it.
Happy Birthday Kurogane
Authors note: Chapter 4 done and complete. At first I wanted to introduce the Wildraubtier in this chapter, but then I thought that I have concentrated too much on the action in the last two chapters, and decided to let things calm down in this one and use it to flesh my OC’s out a bit.
Also a little fun fact: At first I had a completely different vision for a SRW/MLP crossover. My first version was a story about Luna landing in a multi-mecha-crossover SRW world. My idea was that after her return from banishment, a council of other gods showed up and demanded Luna’s execution. To protect her sister Celestia send her to a dimension in which the residents had powerful steel machines that she hoped could defeat the gods that would try to kill Luna. I even had some series I would have included but now the idea is up for grabs to anyone who is interested. The series I would have included are:
-Shin Getter Robo Armageddon
For Banpresto originals I had some candidates:
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 5 Wild Predator
Dear Princess Celestia,
You will be pleased to know that we have been able to reactivate the Kurogane, the ship can now supply its own power. Spark and Digger have been diligently searching the archives on the bridge of the ship and while they could not find out anything about the former crew of this ship, much to Diggers disappointment, we now have more data about the technology behind the Kurogane.
One thing we learned was that the steel statues are actually called: 'Personal Troopers' and that they come in two types.
So far we have piloted the so called 'Real Robot' types, smaller, weaker but faster Personal Troopers.
The other type are the slow, tough and strong 'Super Robots'. While exploring the Kurogane we have found other hangars and while most of the Personal Troopers stored there are in a very bad shape we can still repair a few of them with the spare parts we have found in the storage area.
I hope that we can resolve this crisis quickly before Nightmare Moon causes too much damage but I am certain that, with the help of the Personal Troopers, everything will be alright again soon.
Your faithful student
Twilight Sparkle
Spike rolled up the scroll containing Twilight’s status report and send it to the Princess with his fire.
It has been one week since the generator of the Kurogane was reactivated, much to the delight of every unicorn on board, and during the whole week Nightmare Moon has not made a single move. Most of the crew were thankful for that but other were nervous; this could just be the calm before the storm.
For now the mess hall was full of ponies currently taking a little break, including Twilight and her friends.
All chatting and eating in the mess hall ceased as a voice came from above.
“Hello, can you hear me? This is Spark speaking, we have found a device that allows me to speak to all ponies on the Kurogane at once. This will surely prove to be very convenient since we don't have to search the entire ship anymore when we need somepony.”
Some ponies were searching for the source of Sparks voice as said unicorn continued his announcement.
“Anyway, as you all know the past week has been suspiciously calm and some ponies voiced their concern that Nightmare Moon might try to isolate and starve us.”
A singe of fear went through the crew members, if that was true then that could mean that Nightmare Moons golems were surrounding the Kurogane, waiting for any supplies to try and make their way to the ship. Before anypony could panic Spark continued with a plan to counter this problem.
“To deal with this possible threat we have come up with a plan to secure our supplies. We have readied three more Personal Troopers for repairs, our data shows that these PT's are stronger than the current Gespensts and Schutzwalds we are using, and two of them are capable of flight. One of the flying PT's will get new supplies while the other two will strengthen our defense.”
By this point most ponies have calmed down again. After all, with more and even stronger Personal Troopers there was nothing to worry about.
“We would like to start repairs as soon as possible so I'd like to ask the repair crews to start immediately after lunch. The new PT's are ready in hangar 2. Team M6, please report to the training room after lunch. This is all for now, Spark over.”
Immediately after Spark finished his sentence, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie started to speculate about the new PT's.
“Oooh this is so exciting! I bet the new PT's look even cooler than the Gespy's and Waldi's, and I hope they can do all sorts of neat tricks.”
“Two of them can fly. It's clear that I get one of them.”
The two of them continued their chatter until their lunch break was over. As they made their way to the training room, Twilight tried to imagine what the three PT's that are currently in repair might look like as Applejack pulled her aside.
“Can ah talk to ya Twilight?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“I'm not sure if y'all noticed it, but sometimes ah think Rainbow an Pinkie take the whole thing not serious enough.”
Applejack’s expression grew uneasier with every word.
“Ah hate to bring it up, but with Nightmare Moon’s golems and our PT's we're basically fightin... a... war.”
Twilight almost stopped in shock as Applejack reluctantly breathed out the last word. Was she really too busy gushing over the shiny, cool robots to notice that Equestria, the eternally peaceful nation was on the brink of war? Suddenly she felt sick, realizing that she was somewhat looking forward to testing the new PT's, looking forward to fight. On the other hoof, without the PT's she and her friends would be dead by now, and it was not like they could just ignore Nightmare Moon and her golems.
Applejack meanwhile regretted bringing that up, but then again the truth had to be said. Their only hope to avert the worst case scenario was to try and take Nightmare Moon out as fast as possible. Up to now the only ponies really involved are themselves and the other ponies in the Kurogane. They could still prevent anypony else from being dragged into this.
Their musing were cut short as Cogwheel greeted them in front of the training room.
“Hello girls, are you ready for today's training session?”
Almost all of the six were nodding enthusiastically, only Twilight and Applejack looked uneasy, Cogwheel noticed that and asked what was wrong.
“Oh, it's nothing Cogwheel, just been thinking a little.”
“About what?”
“Nothing important.”
Twilight blurted her answer out a little harsher than intended, Cogwheel didn't really buy it but he decided not to pursue this any further for now.
“Anyway, today's training is gonna be a little more special.”
Rainbow Dash immediately perked up at this, she flew directly in front of the mechanic and proudly puffed her chest out.
“You mean because of the new PT's? Alright, I'm ready!”
“Actually, the pilots for the new PT's are Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Pinkie Pie.”
The cyan pegasus was dumbfounded at this.
“But, but I'm the best when it comes to flying! Why didn't I get one of the two fliers?”
“Simple, the first flier is a long range unit and Pinkie Pie has the best accuracy.”
Pinkie Pie started hopping in circles with glee at the prospect of getting a new PT. Twilight and Applejack were a little worried at this; doesn't Pinkie realize that she is basically getting giddy about a weapon?
“The other one is unique so far as in being able to transform from a bipedal form to an almost birdlike flying form, making it a good all-rounder, which is also gonna be part of today's special training. And Twilight has proven that she to is a good all-rounder.”
Despite the fact that she was still a little shocked from the earlier revelation, Twilight still couldn't help but to wonder about this transformation process. Was this like transformation magic? She highly doubted it but, it still left her mind wandering, which she was thankful for.
“And lastly there is one close combat ground unit that’s gonna be perfect for Applejack.”
Applejack nodded reluctantly, still not comfortable about the whole situation.
“Well then, if you don't have any questions, I'd like to start the training session now. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Rarity will get the usual training. Applejack, your new PT is going to be much harder to handle so you are going to get advanced training. Pinkie Pie, you're going to get a combination of flight and long range practice, and Twilight will get flight training as well as practice for the transformation process.”
With the last instructions over, the mares made their way to the simulators to start their training.
A few hours later their training was over and while Pinkie Pie mastered the combination of sniping and flying almost naturally, Applejack and Twilight had a lot more trouble adjusting to the changes. Their friends noticed this and Rainbow Dash was the first to ask them what was wrong.
“What's the matter with you anyway?” She started, still disappointed that she didn't get one of the new units. “You're getting brand new PT's, shouldn't that cheer you up?”
At that point Applejack snapped, with the anger over her friends obliviousness to the big picture running free she started yelling. “Cheer us up? Darn it Dash we're gonna be fightin in the first ever war in the history of Equestria, an now we're s'posed ta get giddy over our new weapons?”
The other mares stopped dead in their tracks at Applejack's outburst. Rainbow Dash looked offended and put on a glare of her own.
“Hey! I never said I liked what's going on here, I just said the PT's are cool.” The cyan pegasus crossed her arms in front of her chest in a defensive position but Applejack didn't calm down.
“An just what are those PT's?” The farmer asked while getting closer to her rainbow maned friend. “Weapons, don't try ta tell me dat's a lie. You just take this whole thing too lightly, this ain't a game Rainbow Dash, an we're not getting new toys here.”
Rainbow Dash now had her face directly in front of Applejack's and the two of them were glaring straight into each others eyes, but before Rainbow Dash could counter, the two of them were interrupted by Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie grabbing them and forcing them apart. Pinkie Pie gave them on of her rare scowls.
“You should both be ashamed of yourselves. We're friends, we're not supposed to fight, and besides.” At this point the pink party pony smiled again. “You're both right anyway.”
The two mares that had been fighting just now were now looking at Pinkie with a puzzled expression on their faces.
“It is super bad that this big mean meanypants Nightmare Moon is back and wants to fight us, and the Personal Troopers are not toys, although they would make super awesome action figures.” At this Applejack shot Rainbow Dash a cocky smirk while the cyan pegasus glared at her. Rarity rolled her eyes and continued for Pinkie Pie, who obviously lost her train of thought, a train that never arrives at its intended station.
“Anyway, what Pinkie is trying to say is that it's not the PT's that are bad. If we handle them carefully they are knights in shining armor that protect the innocent and deliver justice unto all evildoers.” Rarity's eyes glossed over as she delivered her romanticized vision of the Personal Troopers.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash were now looking at each other guiltily, feeling bad for fighting each other while a more serious threat loomed over them. Applejack found it easier to swallow her pride and apologized first. “Sorry Rainbow, ah shouldn't have snapped at ya like an angry rattler.”
Rainbow Dash was still a little hesitant. “Apology accepted, and... I'll take this a little more seriously now... promised.”
“Apology accepted.” Applejack smiled, she knew that this was probably just Rainbow Dash’s way of saying sorry.
Twilight meanwhile started to cheer up again. Her friends were right, they were not to blame for this fight, and neither were the Personal Trooper or the Kurogane. The true culprit was Nightmare Moon, and they are going to stop her once and for all.
A few days later the day for Twilight’s departure has come. It was already afternoon. The other girls and their PT's were already making their way out of the cave where the Kurogane was lying. Cogwheel, who also trained to be a PT pilot, would take Twilight’s Gespenst to give the illusion that she was with them. The plan was simple; Cogwheel and the other girls start a diversion, and in the middle of the fight, Twilight would come out with the new PT and immediately go into flight mode and make her way to Ponyville. Spark was giving them a few last instructions over the intercom.
“Remember, you don't have to defeat all the golems. Just hold out until Twilight is in the air and retreat immediately. Twilight, you'll wait until Fluttershy and Applejack perform their part of the plan. I just wish we had more time to finish the other two PT's, but we're already dangerously low on food.”
As they reached the surface the sand began to shift and a dozen of sand golems shot out of the ground. Rainbow Dash took to the skies and started her first bombing run on the grounded golems; a cluster of three was her first target. The shots from her railgun sent sand flying everywhere. The cores were still active but Rainbow Dash had a followup in mind. She pulled the Guarlion down and flew dangerously low, then a blue force field appeared in front of her while she accelerated to ramming speed.
“This is revenge for last time you overgrown sandcastles. SONIC BREAKER!”
With a mighty battlecry, the sleek robot rammed the sand golem in the middle of the formation, and the core shattered upon impact. The force of the impact resulted in an explosion that blasted the other golems and send them flying.
Applejack looked terrified, her friend was right in the middle of that explosion. Before she could worry any more a blue streak shot out of the flames and into the sky. Applejack let out a relieved sigh and turned back to the other golems.
They had carefully rounded up the rest of the golems in a tight group, concentrating on evading their fists and the occasional sand thrown in their direction. Then Cogwheels face appeared at the side of the screen.
“Alright girls, now or never.”
The mares knew what to do. Rarity and Pinkie Pie activated the split missiles and two slim, black containers that were strapped to the back of their Gespensts shot towards the golems. Before reaching their target those containers opened up and shot several smaller objects forwards. Those missiles were almost like spearheads raining down on the enemy. The multiple explosions shook up and stunned most of the golems and only a hoof-full were still standing upright.
This was the signal for Applejack and Fluttershy. They took aim and fired the twin beam cannons at the golems they thought were the most dangerous for Twilight.
Twilight meanwhile hated having to stay behind as she watched the battle from the shadows. Everything seemed to go smoothly for her friends, but she still wanted to help. But then again that would threaten the entire plan. They had already sent the Princess a letter with a list of the supplies they needed and how Twilight was supposed to haul them back. They even equipped the new PT with hooks so that she could use steel wires to strap the crates onto the PT.
Twilight got ready to move out as she saw Rarity and Pinkie fire the split missiles, her own signal would be next. As two brilliant blue beams were shot from the Schutzwalds, Twilight bolted out of the cave.
Her new robot, the Wildraubtier looked a lot like a white Gespenst only a lot slimmer in design. Just underneath the 'chin' was a red, hollow armor plate. The shoulders were not standing out as much as a Gespensts, and the hands and feet were not covered by the thick gloves and boots; Instead, there were just small turbines on the each side of its feet. On the Wildraubtier’s back were two panels, each with a large fin attached to it. In its hands it held a hyperbeam rifle that was almost as long as the Wildraubtier was tall and as thin as its arms.
The still recovering golems barely had any time to register the newcomer before she took into the air. As soon as the Wildraubtier reached sufficient height it attached the hyper beam rifle underneath its right arm. Afterwards the arms folded together in front of the robot, and the panels on its back were brought to the sides of the Wildraubtier, and the fins folded out so they stuck out at the sides with smaller fins sticking out of the back. Next were the legs; They bent towards the back of the Wildraubtier and then bent again at the knees so the feet still pointed down. Lastly the head bent backwards together with the red armor plate on its chest and the plate went over the Wildraubtier’s head, completely covering the face.
The bridge crew of the Kurogane watched the entire process using the cameras of the other PT's and cheered as the transformation was confirmed successful, and Twilight was smoothly soaring through the sky. Spark opened up a communication channel.
“Congratulations Twilight! Now fly to Ponyville and get the supplies quickly. I hope they got everything ready in time.”
“Alright, I'll be back soon so please hold out until then. Bye and good luck to you.”
The rest of team M6 joined in.
“See ya'll later sugarcube, tell ma family ah said hi.”
“When you are in Ponyville, could you be a darling and fetch me my facial cream?”
“Alright, time for you to set a speed record from the Kurogane to Ponyville so I can break it.”
“Please be careful, and.. could you see if my animals are alright. If that's okay with you I mean.”
“Whoohoo, go Twilight! You have to remember the cake and the party decorations for your welcome back party. First I wanted to make it a surprise party but you have to get the cake and decorations so you would know there's a party...”
Pinkie Pie continued to motormouth as Twilight was already flying towards Ponyville. The unicorn pilot was flying as fast as she could over the dunes. Occasionally a sand golem would rise from the ground but she was already gone before they were even fully formed. Her friends were counting on her and there was nothing in the world that could stop her now. After flying the entire night, the sands vanished and the Everfree Forest came into view. She would be back in Ponyville shortly.
Every single pony in Ponyville was on the edge. A few weeks ago the news of the discovery of the mysterious ship and the steel statues fueled excited chatter everywhere. Princess Celestia did not believe in keeping secrets from her subjects, so everypony in Equestria quickly learned about the amazing technology professor Digger and the Elements of Harmony discovered.
Everyponies imagination ran wild, until they were shocked by the news that the dig side has been attacked by giant sand golems. It was never officially confirmed that it was Nightmare Moons doing; her return was still the most common theory among pony folk.
But now the ponies of Ponyville were eagerly waiting for the arrival of Twilight Sparkle and the Wildraubtier. In order to avoid panic the town has been warned about Twilight’s supply run and about the so called Personal Trooper she would arrive in.
The estimated time of arrival has come and almost every pony in town was gathering early in the morning to see the Personal Trooper. Some ponies had several crates ready; They have been told to use steel wire and a strong holding frame that could handle high speeds.
“There she is!”
A pegasus pony that was sitting on a cloud shouted while wildly waving into the direction of the Everfree Forest, drawing the attention of all the other ponies. A spec could be seen on the horizon; It got bigger and bigger as it got closer to the town. The ponies eyes were glued on it as if they were watching a meteor shower. Finally the Wildraubtier arrived at the town center and hovered in the air.
Some pegasus ponies wanted to get closer to the strange machine but then it started to 'unfold', changing into a bipedal shape. Suddenly a loud voice came from the PT.
“Uhm, could you give me some space to land please?”
The ponies on the ground picked their jaws up from the ground long enough to comply with Twilight’s request.
As soon as she had enough space, Twilight brought the Wildraubtier down to the ground. The small tremor caused some of the still awestruck ponies to fall down. As Twilight opened the cockpit hatch and showed herself, the citizens of Ponyville bombarded her with questions.
“What is that thing?”
“How can it fly?”
“How does it transform?”
“What is that thing it's holding in its hand?”
“Can I fly it?”
Twilight tried in vain to get the ponies to listen but they just kept on asking question after question. Their initial fear of the Wildraubtier vanished after they saw that their town librarian was controlling it and they got closer. Some pegasus ponies were shoving each other away to be closest to Twilight.
Suddenly Twilight remembered something she learned from Princess Celestia. In the early days of Equestria she and her sister would use a certain way of addressing their subjects. The princess taught her about it, although she wasn't sure if her mentor really thought it would be useful, or if she was just doing it out of boredom.
“ATTENTION!”
The magically amplified traditional Royal Canterlot voice did its job perfectly. All the ponies were now silent and stood, or hovered, in the case of the pegasi, perfectly still.
“I KNOW THAT YOU ALL HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE STEEL STATUES, OR PERSONAL TROOPERS, AS THEY ARE CALLED, BUT WE DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT THEM OURSELVES.” Twilight paused for breath. “AS SOON AS THE CRISIS WITH THE GIANT GOLEMS IS RESOLVED WE WILL FINISH OUR RESEARCH AND RELEASE EVERYTHING WE LEARNED TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. UNTIL THEN I CANNOT TELL YOU MORE BECAUSE OTHERWISE WE'D RISK SPREADING FALSE INFORMATION. NOW PLEASE, I FLEW THROUGH THE ENTIRE NIGHT AND I NEED SOME REST NOW.”
This seemed to satisfy most of the curious ponies as they scattered. Some of them stayed at the Wildraubtier and chatted among themselves, while others returned home or went on with their daily business.
Twilight gasped and panted heavily as she asked on the the pegasi still with her to help her down. She could see why the traditional Royal Canterlot voice was abolished. On the way down five very familiar ponies trotted over to her, Granny Smith, Big Macintosh and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Granny Smith looked a little shaken, she and Big Macintosh looked very worried.
“Jus' what did mah granddaughter get herself into this time? Can you believe that they found this thingamayig buried in the sand Big Macintosh?”
“Eenope.”
Twilight had a big smile on her face. It was nice to see that Ponyville was still fine.
“Hello, good to see you all. After all this crazy stuff with the golem attacks, it's good to finally get out of that cave. I was afraid I would get cave adaption.”
Twilight remembered that case very well. Some miner ponies decided to save some time and space and build their camp inside the tunnel they were digging in. Twilight was learning about geology at the time and was sent to check up on them. It was not a pretty sight when they came out after living underground for a few weeks.
“Anyway, Applejack and the others are fine, no need to worry.”
“What'ya mean no need ta worry? Mah granddaughter is in tha desert surrounded by monsters.”
Twilight bit her lip at this, Granny Smith was right, they were not safe. The awkwardness was broken by Applebloom and her friends edging closer to Twilight with an expectant grin on their faces.
“Say Twilight,” Scootaloo started, the orange pegasus filly looked Twilight right in the eyes. “Is there any chance that you could let us try that cool looking Personal Trooper?” Before Twilight could open her mouth, the white unicorn with the purple and pink hair, Sweetie Belle, continued.
“It looks so shiny and cool, so pleaaaaase just let us use it, just for a few minutes.”
“I know this is really exciting girls but...”
Applebloom interrupted her before the purple unicorn could protest and the yellow earth filly looked at her with the same pleading eyes she used when they first met, the pink bow in her red mane made her look even more adorable. “Maybe pilotin’ one of those is our special talent. Please Twilight, if it IS our special talent and you don't let try it we'll stay blank-flanks forever.” All other two crusaders looked at her with the same pleading eyes that Applebloom used.
Twilight almost gave in but then a mental image flashed through her mind. Ponyville was in ruins, the Wildraubtier was completely out of control and smashed into one building after another. In the cockpit three little fillies were fighting over the controls.
“Move it Applebloom, you're just gonna smash up more houses!”
“Oh no Scoots, you're the one who destroyed the town hall.”
“What does this button do?”
The Wildraubtier fired its hyperbeam rifle, a large beam of purple energy hit the hollowed out tree that served as the towns library and Twilight’s home. It immediately burst into flame and inside the cockpit Sweetie Belle looked sheepish and a little embarrassed.
“Oops.”
Twilight shook that scenario out of her head and turned back to the three fillies.
“NO! No sorry but it is just not safe.” Twilight mentally added 'for Equestria', and the fillies looked disappointed. Applebloom tried again to change Twilight’s mind.
“But Twil...”
“No buts, look, I know you want your cutie marks, but the Wildraubtier is not a toy. What if you crash into a building or accidentally step on somepony?”
Applebloom and her friends looked like they were about to cry, partly because of their disappointment and partly because the thought of hurting somepony with the Personal Trooper frightened them. Twilight felt sorry for the girls; she could sympathize with them. After all, getting your Cutie Mark is an important event in the life of any pony. Suddenly Twilight perked up; She had an idea.
“How about this; As soon as the golem problem is solved I'll see if I can take you for a ride?”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders immediately started to beam again, and pulled Twilight into a tight hug.
“Thank you Twilight, you're so cool!”
Twilight was taken aback by Scootaloo's compliment; Nopony has ever described her as cool before, so it meant a lot to her. Ponies would sometimes compliment her organization skills and intelligence, but she couldn't help but wonder if she was boring. After all, most ponies would not describe reading as an interesting hobby. Twilight was shaken out of her thought by Big Macintosh who removed the fillies that glomped her.
“Now there, let Ms. Twilight breathe here. I'm sure she's very tired.”
The three fillies let go of the purple unicorn and ran off to play some more.
“Thank you Big Macintosh. I'll just take a quick nap at home and then I'll be off again.”
Before she could go she was stopped by Granny Smith.
“Ya'll wanna stay all alone in that big treehouse? Why don'cha stay at our home? ya'll can use Applejack’s room while she's still in the desert.” The elderly mare offered a gentle, encouraging smile.
“Thank you very much Granny Smith, but I don't want to impose.” The elderly mare just shook her head.
“Nonsense deary, as Applejack’s friend you're part of the family, remember? Now Big Macintosh, be a dear and prepare her room.”
“Eeyup.” The gentle giant went ahead of them while Twilight and Granny Smith chatted some more along the way. Granny Smith missed her granddaughter very much and wanted to know everything she did and how she was.
Twilight told Granny Smith all about the Kurogane and the Personal Troopers, she let out a few details about Applejack as she talked about the golem attacks to spare the old mares heart.
Finally they arrived at Sweet Apple Acre's. Twilight told the apple family the rest of the story over brunch, and afterwards she just took a quick shower and immediately headed towards Applejack’s room.
The room was very simple. On one side of the room stood a bed with a night stand next to it. On the night stand were a photo of the girls together and a lamp. Above bed hung a painting of a pony galloping in the sun, and on the other side of the room were a sitting pillow and a desk. There was also a hanger with a lasso hanging on it. One hook was still free, and Twilight guessed that this is were Applejack usually hung her hat.
It felt a little weird sleeping in her friends bed while she was somewhere else, but Twilight was too tired to think about it, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
Silly little omake #2:
Fluttershy approached Twilight with a note stuck behind her ear before it was time for them to head out.
“Uhm Twilight, could I ask you a favor, if that is okay with you?”
“Of course, what can I do for you?” Twilight was more than eager to help her friend, especially after Fluttershy saved all their lives.
“I wanted to make a health drink for everypony and I wondered if you could get me some ingredients while you're in Ponyville. Here's a list with the ingredients I need.” Fluttershy took the note in her hooves and handed it to Twilight with a grateful smile. Twilight took the note with her telekinesis and stuck it behind her own ear.
“No problem Fluttershy, I can't wait to try that health drink of yours.” Twilight was touched at Fluttershy’s selflessness, even when she asks for a favor Fluttershy always has the well being of other ponies in mind.
“Oh thank you Twilight, I hope that my health drink can help you all a little. Oh and if you can't find any ground up gecko tail that's alright, I think I can get Spike to give me some of his scales.”
“Okay then Fluttershy, I'll.. wait what?”
Authors note: And finally I'm done with the next part. Writing the transformation for the Wildraubtier was a nightmare since I couldn't find any videos of it so I had to compare picture of the Wildraubtier in both modes and take a wild guess and it is very likely that I'll revise that part.
Also a little information about the T-Link system in this fic. The T-Link system some weapons use in the Super Robot Taisen game need a psychodriver (telepath) to work. For this fic I decided that unicorns are not the same as psychodrivers but close enough so that their magic can substitute for it, also it is possible for pegasus and earth ponies to be psychodrivers.
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 6 The knight and the stag beetle
It was around afternoon as Twilight woke up, her sleep was uneasy since she never slept through the day before. After taking a quick shower she made her way downstairs where Granny Smith was taking a nap in her rocking chair. Deciding against waking the elderly mare up she made her way outside where she saw Big Macintosh who just finished his workload for the day. He pulled a cart with four barrels behind him and greeted her in his usual calm and polite manner.
“Good afternoon, Ms. Twilight.”
“Good afternoon Big Macintosh. How long was I asleep?” Twilight noticed that the sun was almost starting to set already. Her nightly flight must have been more tiring than she thought; the purple mare hoped that she would be able to reach the desert by evening.
“About eight hours or so. Also these are for you.” With that he pointed a hoof towards the barrels on his cart. Upon closer inspection Twilight could see that the barrels were filled with the most delicious looking apples she had ever seen. She almost started to drool a little.
“Those apples look fantastic.”
“Ah collected only the best apples from the orchard. Ah don't know what kind of food they send with you but just in case ah want to know that mah sis' and her friends are well fed.”
Twilight was moved by the support Big Macintosh showed for his sister. “Thank you, I'm sure Applejack will love having something from home.” That sentence sparked something in Twilight’s mind. “Wait a minute, that gives me an idea.” Twilight galloped back into the house and into Applejack’s room where she grabbed the lasso hanging on the wall. It would greatly boost everyponies spirit if they had something from home so she was going to bring a little souvenir for everypony.
Outside Big Macintosh was still waiting for Twilight to come back. Just a minute later the purple unicorn emerged from the house again and galloped over to him. “Could you do me a favor? Could you bring the apples to the Wildraubtier, my Personal Trooper, I just want to get a few things really quick.”
“Eeyup.” Again not a single word more than necessary. After thanking Big Macintosh Twilight made her way towards Fluttershy's cottage.
At the cottage she saw an old, brown earth pony tending to the animals. Twilight recognized him as one of the gardeners in the royal garden. The princess must have sent him to take care of Fluttershy's animals during her absence. Twilight quickly explained her intentions and the old gardener just smiled and remarked how sweet it was of her.
Twilight looked around for something she could get for Fluttershy and then she spotted the perfect souvenir. There was a photo above the chimney of Fluttershy and a small white bunny. During one of her visits Fluttershy explained to her that she found Angel, her pet bunny, almost frozen to death one winter and nursed him back to health. The photo resting on the chimney was taken when Angel decided to stay with her, and while the shy pegasus took care of a lot of animals, Angel was her only real pet. Twilight couldn't bring Angel with her but at least she could bring her the picture.
As she put the photo into her saddlebag she noticed something tapping against her hoof. Angel was kicking against her hoof and gave her a dirty look.
“Don’t worry Angel I’m not stealing anything, I just wanted to give Fluttershy something from home to make her feel better.”
The small, white bunny seemed to understand and ceased his assault his look changed from angry to worried.
“Fluttershy is going to be okay, I think we both know that she’s tougher than most ponies think.”
That answer seemed to satisfy the bunny. Twilight wasted no time and left the cottage, making her way to Ponyville and to her next stop, Carousel Boutique.
Inside the boutique she was greeted by a guard Celestia set up to watch the store for Rarity. After a quick explanation the purple mare went into Rarity's room to check for something she could take with her. Rarity’s room looked really expensive, with a bed fit for the princess and a finely crafted drawer chest. After a few moments she spotted Rarity's jewelry box. Twilight figured that Rarity would love to have at least some of her accessories, so Twilight put the box and a small mirror that was lying next to it into the saddlebag. Twilight hoped that her fashionista friend will be happy. With these gifts Twilight made her way to Sugarcube corner trying to think of something to bring Pinkie Pie.
At the front door Twilight was still at a loss. What Pinkie Pie loved most were parties but she could hardly fit enough supplies for a party into her saddlebags and Gummy was also out of question. Maybe the Cakes have an idea what she could get for her hyperactive pink friend.
Inside the shop the two owners, Mr. Cake, a yellow earth pony with three slices of cake as a cutie mark and his wife Mrs. Cake, a plump, light blue earth pony with a pink mane and three cupcakes for a cutie mark, greeted her enthusiastically. From what Pinkie told her the Cakes were friends with her father, and when Pinkie was old enough, her parents told her that she could move in with the Cakes and learn to become a baker. After all, rock farming was definitely not the ideal profession for Pinkie.
“Hello Twilight, it's so good to see you again. Would you like something to eat?” Mrs. Cake already held a tray with cupcake ready, but Twilight declined.
“No thank you, I just wanted to see if I can get Pinkie Pie something from home, a little memento or a souvenir.”
At this the Cakes looked at each other and then began to smile. Mrs. Cake went to the stairs leading to Pinkie Pie's room.
“Just wait a moment dearie, I know what you can get for her.” As she went upstairs Mr. Cake explained to Twilight what his wife wanted to get. “You see Twilight, we were actually the ones that started the tradition of every new pony getting a welcome party.” His eyes became a little distant as he remembered the day Pinkie Pie arrived in Ponyville. “We knew she would be a little homesick after leaving the rock farm and her family, so we got all our friends here to throw her a little welcoming party. She still keeps the party hat from back then. I'm sure it can cure her of her homesickness again.”
As Mr. Cake finished the story his wife came back, carefully holding a yellow and blue party hat in her mouth. “Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Cake. I'm sure Pinkie Pie will love it.”
Mrs. Cake carefully put the party hat into Twilight’s saddlebags. “No problem dearie.” Then her expression grew more serious. “But please promise us to keep Pinkie Pie safe.”
Twilight could see the worry in the eyes of Mrs. Cake and her husband, after all Pinkie was the daughter of one of their friends and almost like their own daughter.
“Don't worry, I promise to return Pinkie Pie as healthy and happy as she was the day she left.”
With the gift for her hyperactive friend put into the saddlebags Twilight said her goodbyes to the Cakes and made her way to Rainbow Dash’s house. This time she had a more serious problem than deciding what to take with her. The problem was that her speed addicted friend lived high above the ground in a cloud house.
Twilight considered for a second to fly up with the Wildraubtier but quickly dismissed that thought.
“What am I thinking? I can't fly the PT into Rainbow Dash’s home and I sure as hay can't park it on top of the clouds.”
Twilight tried to come up with other ideas how to get up but none of them would actually work. Even Pinkie Pie's flying machine was out of question; Gilda broke it in her possessive fit, and Pinkie hasn't repaired it since. Pinkie was the only pony in Equestria that could actually get so high with trampolines and balloons, and it would take too long to get her own hot air balloon ready. For one moment she even considered asking another pegasus pony to fly up for her but that idea was even worse.
“I got something for you Rainbow Dash, I had a stranger rummage through your personal belongings for this.” The purple unicorn could only imagine her rainbow maned friend’s reaction.
It was no use, Twilight had to give up and return to the Kurogane soon, the others were counting on her and she couldn't make them wait just for a little gift. Feeling guilty about having to leave one of her friends out she made her way back to the Wildraubtier.
Briefly wondering if she should just buy a gift for Rainbow Dash, Twilight was too deep in thought to notice a pony walking right into her. The impact threw both of the mares to the ground, rubbing her head Twilight opened her eyes again. “I'm sorry I wasn't paying... oh hello Derpy, nice to see you.” Twilight smiled as she saw the mailmare she befriended some time before the expedition. Derpy Hooves was a grey pegasus with a blond mane and some bubbles for a cutie mark. The most striking thing about the gray mare however were her eyes. Derpy Hooves had strabismus ever since she was a foal, causing her eyes to point in different directions most of the time.
Derpy smiled as she saw her latest friend and gave Twilight a big hug. “Hi Twilight, I was so glad to hear you were safe. I got worried when I heard that the dig site has been attacked by giant golems.”
Twilight returned the hug. “Yes, it was scary. Luckily we managed to get those Personal Troopers to work. With them we managed to defend ourselves. Say, how is Dinky and why weren't you there when I arrived?” Twilight was curious why both Derpy and her daughter Dinky, a blond unicorn filly with a light purple coat, weren't there to greet her. Dinky also joined the Cutie Mark Crusaders recently since she also got a little impatient waiting for her Cutie Mark to appear on its own. Derpy however lost some of her cheer at Twilight’s question.
“Oh, it's nothing I just wasn't sure if it would be safe for Dinky.” This statement confused Twilight; why wouldn't it be safe? Everypony in Ponyville knew that Twilight was competent, mostly, so there was no need to worry unless...
Suddenly anger rushed through Twilight. “Derpy, don't tell me SHE is still at it.” The nervous look on her friends face was answer enough.
Hawkeye was the name of a mare that some time before Twilight’s departure called the foal protection agency on Derpy. The grey mailmare was always a little clumsy because of her horrible depth perception so it happened sometimes that somepony would think that she had some other mental issues. Normally it didn't take Derpy long to change their minds, but Hawkeye was both stubborn and persistent, and most likely completely obsessed.
Their first meeting went as bad as their acquaintanceship continued. Twilight remembered that day very well.
The three of them were shopping for groceries as Derpy missed her grocery bag and accidentally hung a bag of tomatoes on Dinky's horn. Mother and daughter laughed about the mistake and even Twilight chuckled a little but then SHE came along. A middle aged unicorn mare with a brown coat and red hair with a pair of binoculars for a cutie mark practically stormed over until she was directly face to face with Derpy.
She ranted on about how irresponsible Derpy was with her daughter and what would have happened if she had something heavy in her hooves but the most hurtful comment was that mentally retarded ponies shouldn't raise children. The wall-eyed pegasus told Hawkeye, holding back tears and anger, that she was not retarded and told her not to be so judgemental when she insults other ponies in front of a little filly. This infuriated Hawkeye even more and so she started stalking Derpy and her daughter to write down every single even so insignificant mistake she made. Finally Twilight went past the mailmares house when she heard sobbing from inside. Of course Twilight asked her what was wrong and the upset mother just showed her the letter from the Foal Protection Agency.
Angry at the obvious culprit Twilight rallied up every pony that knew Derpy and they told the stallion from the FPA what a good mother Derpy was, how she worked hard for Dinky, made sure she stayed in school and always made sure that Dinky was healthy. The FPA stallion was saw how the local teacher Ms. Cheerilee, Nurse Redheart, Derpy’s boss from the post office and Carrot Top, who often babysat Dinky, vouched for her and decided that Mother and daughter could stay together. Both were overjoyed but Hawkeye was furious and promised that Dinky would be taken to 'more fitting parents'.
Twilight was pulled out of her reminiscing as Derpy asked if she was alright.
“Thanks Derpy I'm fine. Anyway don't let her get to you, remember that your friends defended you once, and after the first call, the FPA might not even take her that serious anymore.”
This only reassured the gray pegasus a little.
“Thank you but anyway, Dinky is playing with her friends but I probably shouldn't hold you up any longer, or else your friends may be nothing more than skin and bones by the time we're done talking.”
Derpy was right, with Twilight chatting and collecting gifts for her friends, it was getting late, and the sun was already on its way down the horizon.
“You're right, but I promise we can talk again as soon as the whole crisis is resolved.”
Then the purple unicorn was pulled into another hug by her friend.
“Good luck Twilight. I hope you all make it back in one piece.”
After saying goodbye, Twilight made her way back to the Wildraubtier, but another pony she knew waited for her. Spitfire, the leader of the Wonderbolts was currently hovering around the robot trying to take in as many details as possible; like most other ponies she, was mesmerized by this miracle of technology. The costumed yellow pegasus did not even notice the pilot until she heard a throat being cleared below her.
“Oh what, hey you're Twilight Sparkle, correct?”
Spitfire landed in front of Twilight, a tightly sealed bag was hanging from her neck, on the bag was the symbol of princess Celestia.
“Yes I am, say what's in that bag?” Twilight pointed curiously at the bag.
“Well, the princess wanted me to deliver this bag to you. She said the instructions have been sent to Spike already. She also said the content is very important so try not to lose it, and if you do immediately return for a replacement even if you're almost back at the Kurogane.”
Twilight was a little confused at this, what could be so important that she would have to return all the way from the Kurogane to replace it if she loses it. Spitfire saw the confusion on Twilight’s face.
“She said it's important for future supplies.”
Twilight then levitated the bag from Spitfires neck and on her own she took a look inside and saw some sort of powder, she looked at the Wonderbolt and asked what it was.
“Some sort of magic powder I suppose, the princess said it was very fragile which is why she couldn’t send it to Spike.” Twilight was satisfied with that answer and then she got an idea.
“Thank you Spitfire, by the way could you do me a favor?”
“Sure thing what is it?”
Twilight pointed at the goggles that rested on Spitfires forehead and explained how she wanted to bring a gift for each of her friends and that Rainbow Dash was such a great fan of the Wonderbolts.
“No problem, anything for a fan, and besides, I don't think I ever thanked her properly for saving my life during the Best Young Fliers Competition.”
Spitfire took her goggles off and put them into the saddlebags to the rest of the trinkets.
“Well then, I'll be off now and you should probably be too, give those golems a good one for me.”
The fiery haired Wonderbolt offered a hoofshake which Twilight accepted, and took off to Canterlot at an awe inspiring speed.
One last gift. Quickly galloping to the library, she did not have to think too long about what to bring for Spike. A blue gem levitated into her saddlebags, along with two books for herself. This should make Spike happy and keep her occupied for a little while; recently, she did not have too much time for reading anyway so those two should do for now.
Twilight went back to the Wildraubtier and noticed a large, rectangular steel cage next to it. Inside the steel cage were several crates which she guessed were the promised supplies. She also saw a cart with four barrels next to the cage. That must be the apples Big Macintosh collected. The cage was already closed but Twilight had a different idea. She magically activated the cockpit hatch and teleported herself up. After a few careful measurements she decided that, while it would be a tight fit, she could store the barrels behind the pilot seat so she levitated the barrels up and put them behind the seat.
A team of pegasus ponies then attached steel ropes to the hooks at the side of the cage. The Wildraubtier’s cockpit closed again with the pilot inside and took off into the air were it transformed back into flight mode. Twilight hovered carefully above the cage holding the supplies while the pegasi attached the other ends of the steel ropes, hooking the cage to the Wildraubtier. The task was made a little harder since some of the ponies were intimidated by the machine while other were still in awe. Twilight even had to reprimand one pegasus with a marker in his mouth because he wanted to write his name on the Wildraubtier. After all hooks were attached the foreman flew up in front of her.
“Alright Ms. Twilight, you're good to go and don't worry, these hooks were made for fast travel; so as long as you don't do any crazy stunts the supplies should be fine.”
The foreman gave her a quick salute which she returned despite the fact that he couldn't see it and flew into the air. At first she was worried because nopony knew how much a Personal Trooper can carry, but the cage with the supplies barely slowed the Wildraubtier down. Twilight smiled at how strong her Wildraubtier was and activated the intercom to say goodbye to the ponies below.
“Alright everypony I'm off again, I promise that I and every other pony at the dig site will return safely; those golems won't hurt a single pony as long as we still have the Personal Troopers.”
Twilight believed that these machines can save Equestria and she hoped that the other ponies would believe in them too. The crowds down below cheered at her reassuring words as the Wildraubtier accelerated and sped off in the direction of the desert.
The flight back to the Kurogane was just as uneventful as her flight to Ponyville, if a little slower since Twilight did not want to risk losing the supplies. Even though nothing really happened, and there was an autopilot that could take over some of her duties, the pilot of the Wildraubtier decided that she shouldn't start with her books just yet and look out for possible ambushes instead.
It was already past midnight as the intercom of the Wildraubtier crackled to life. Spark’s face appeared at the side of her screen.
“Oh Twilight, thank goodness you're back! everypony missed you so much.”
The purple mare could not contain her joy and grinned widely.
“Good to see you too Spark, are my friends there?”
As if on command five other screens popped up, showing the other girls, and Spike hopped onto Sparks back. They all greeted her friend back and told Twilight how much they missed her until Spark interrupted them.
“Now now girls, remember that you are supposed to move out and guard Twilight while she brings in the crates.”
All pilot ponies nodded their affirmations. Twilight could now see the entrance of the cave where the Kurogane was lying. The purple mare was already gleefully anticipating the looks of joy on her friends faces when they get their gifts when she noticed something.
“What the hay?”
A huge boulder was flying at her from behind and she noticed it too late to dodge it. The boulder hit her right in the back thruster forcing her to crash land in the dunes. Twilight tried her best and managed to slow the Wildraubtiers descend at least a little. The first thing she did after the rough landing was to look for the supplies. Said supplies were luckily unharmed thanks to the metal cage protecting them.
“Are ya'll alright sugarcube?”
Twilight could see some silhouettes moving into her direction from the cave entrance.
“I'm fine Applejack, but what was that?”
To answer Twilight questions six huge figures rose from the sands. At first the girls expected more sand golems but then they noticed that something was different this time. These golems stood on two legs, further supported by the two gorilla like arms that touched down on the ground and furthermore, they were not made out of sand, they were stone golems.
“Guess we're not the only ones who got an upgrade, still I'm gonna beat those dumb rocks back into rubble.”
Confidently Rainbow Dash sped towards the new golems with her burst railgun outstretched in front of her when another PT moved up to her.
“Wait for me Dashie.”
Pinkie Pie was flying in a new Personal Trooper. This one was primarily white with blue linings along the joints and on the 'gloves' and the tip of its 'boot'. The head looked a lot like the Gespenst but it had two green eyes instead of just one slit. The shoulders were fanned into three thin, rounded plates on top of each other, and six fins were sticking out of its back. The left hand had three tubes to it that looked just like the autocannon of the Schutzwald and in the right hand it held a long black barreled rifle with a blue and white grip matching the overall color scheme.
Inside the cockpit Pinkie Pie was getting instructions by Digger.
“Remember Pinkie, the Weissritter is build for long range combat so keep your distance. Also the oxtongue rifle has two settings, the E-Mode fires an energy beam and B-Mode fires bullets.”
The pink pilot gave Digger a salute. “Okie dokie Diggy!” Then she took aim at the first golem. The oxtongue rifle was held against the side of the Weissritter’s hip to catch the recoil as a bright, yellow energy beam shot out of it and shot the arm of a stone golem off. The giant fell down as it lost one of its supports.
Twilight was impressed by the accuracy, the Weissritter was still a speck on the horizon and Pinkie still hit her target perfectly. The golems reacted accordingly to the new threat and charged towards the new arrivals.
The other new PT with Applejack as its pilot meanwhile was charging ahead of the other ground units. The farmer pony had some difficulties with the controls as the entire cockpit was shaking wildly. Spark explained to Applejack that the heavily armored Alteisen needed stronger thrusters to move properly, and so there would me much more force she had to control, which was fine by the farmer turned pilot. She already proved how stubborn she was in the past and this machine couldn't possibly be more stubborn than her.
The red Alteisen, like the Weissritter, looked a lot like a Gespenst but with much thicker armor and while primarily red it was also painted black on its joints. Instead of a slit it also had two green eyes and smaller 'ears' than the Gespenst, but the most striking feature was the large, red horn on its forehead. The Alteisen’s shoulders were also larger and reached even higher than the head. The front of the shoulders were covered with a white hatch indicating that there was something underneath. On its left arm was an autocannon and on its right arm was a steel stake with a large, round bunker mounted right behind it, designed to drive stake after stake into the enemy.
As the first golem came into range Applejack wasted no time and rammed the tip of the stake right into the chest of the golem. At first it did not seem to do anything to the rock beast but then with just the push of a button the bunker rammed the stake deep into the golem, hitting the core. Without its energy source the living rock formation crumbled, leaving only rubble behind.
“That'll teach ya ta throw rocks at mah friends.”
While Applejack had staked the first golem Fluttershy aimed her twin beam cannons at another one. The blue beams melted away most of the rock but sadly they failed to destroy the core. Fluttershy let out a meek whisper, “Uhm.. help please?”
On cue a green glowing disk flew past the shy pegasus Schutzwald and sliced at the rock golem but it was still not enough and Fluttershy barely managed to avoid a boulder that the half molten golem threw in her direction. Luckily Applejack reached the golem and drove a stake through the almost liquid chest. Again the golem crumbled as Applejack pulled the stake that was now covered with molten rock out.
Rarity looked at the situation. Pinkie Pie just finished another golem that tried to throw rocks at her. Effortlessly she dodged the boulders while firing the B-Mode of the oxtongue rifle, laying the core bare. Rainbow Dash saw the opportunity and told her pink friend to leave the rest to her. Rainbow Dash flew right in front of the golem and activated her assault blade, causing a loud roar as the teeth of the blade got ready to saw through any obstacle. The rock golem raised one of its arms to swat the pegasus and her Guarlion down. The huge fist nearly hit the fast, airborne robot but Dash managed to sidestep the blow in the last second and sliced at the core with the unrelenting teeth of the assault blade. Before it could strike again the core was finally in two pieces.
The unicorn fashionista smiled at how well this fight was going, with the new PT's the other rock golems should prove no threat at all, although it was a little frightening that the new golems could take so much more punishment. The magic in those cores must reinforce the rocks somehow.
Twilight Sparkle meanwhile recovered from her forced landing. Despite the fact that Nightmare Moon was sending much tougher golems now the battle went smoothly thanks to their own upgrade and now her friends were finishing off the remaining golems. Her relieve was then shaken by a loud rumble near her Wildraubtier, the golem that got its arm shot off recovered and was now picking up a part of its old arm, struggling to stand on two feet.
“Girls, the golem Pinkie shot down recovered I need help NO...UGH!”
The rocks hitting the Wildraubtier could not destroy it but Twilights PT was now badly dented, but that was not the concern of the purple unicorn. When they were hit the second time Twilight could swear she heard a yelp behind her, she turned around and looked into the barrel with the apples from Big Macintosh. Twilight’s mouth went dry as she saw a piece of pink cloth sticking out of the apples.
“No, no, no, no, NONONO!”
Applejack then appeared on her intercom.
“Is somethin' wrong Twi? Are ya'll hurt?”
Twilight did not respond to Applejack, instead she carefully lifted the apples out of the barrel and she could almost feel her heart stop as she dug a red maned head out of the barrel. Two orange eyes looked at her sheepishly.
“Hi, Twilight.”
In the Alteisen’s cockpit Applejack also went into shock, that voice couldn't be.
“A-Applebloom?” The farmers voice was shaking, she hoped that she was just hearing voices right now more than ever, but instead she saw her little sisters head rise out of the barrel behind Twilight. “Yes, sis?”
This was too much for Applejack and the farmer pony started to yell. “TWILIGHT, WHAT IS APPLEBLOOM DOING THERE?”
Said unicorn was frantic, “I don't know she must have sneaked into the barrel while I wasn't looking.” Applejack did not respond, instead she pushed the pedals of the Alteisen down to the bottom of the cockpit as her robot reached incredible speed. Pinkie Pie tried to shoot the golem down but as she took aim one remaining golem managed to hit her with a boulder while she was distracted and knocked the rifle out of her hand.
The one armed golem was now trudging towards the Wildraubtier and as it reached the downed PT it raised one of its feet, ready to stomp it into the ground. Twilight held Applebloom and closed her eyes bracing herself for the impact but instead she only heard the sound of rapid fire. The terrified unicorn opened her eyes again to see the golem stunned by a volley of Applejack’s autocannons. As her friend reached them with the Alteisen the red PT grabbed to golems remaining arm, forcing it to turn in her direction. The Alteisen’s horn started to glow bright red and Applejack delivered a headbutt that caused the Alteisen’s horn to slice right through the stone. As the core was visible Applejack jammed the stake into it.
“DON’T. YOU. DARE. TOUCH. MAH. SISTER!” At every word another stake was shot into the golem, and as the last stake went though it, the golem was already crumbling. With the immediate threat to her sisters life gone Applejack turned around to see how the others were doing. Pinkie recovered the oxtongue rifle and finished one of the remaining golems off with Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends already dispatched the last golem.
Inside the cockpit meanwhile Twilight scolded Applebloom.
“What were you thinking sneaking into the Wildraubtier all by yourself?” Twilight was furious at Applebloom, she promised her a ride in her PT once the whole disaster was over and what does that filly do? Said filly meekly tried to explain herself.
“Ah didn't sneak in by mahself.”
Dread filled Twilight, if that means what she thinks it means...
Using her magic she poked around in the other three barrels and to her horror she found three other fillies, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Dinky Hooves. Twilight was now too shocked to say anything to the three fillies that were now looking at her with sheepish guilt as a shadow loomed over them. Directly in front of the Wildraubtier towered Applejack in her Alteisen.
“Applebloom,” the sister of mentioned filly sounded beyond angry like the farmer tried her best not to scream them down right here and now. “You're in big trouble now lil missy,” Applebloom gulped, the last time she made her sister this angry things did not end well. “Once we get back to the Kurogane...I WILL SPANK YOU UNTIL YOU CAN CALL MY HOOFPRINT A CUTIE MARK!” This proved too much for the little filly as she curled up in Twilight’s lap like a scared cat. Even the other Cutie Mark Crusaders were shaking badly. Not that the purple unicorn couldn't understand their fear, even she was scared of Applejack right now.
Authors note:
FINALLY, this one took me longer than usual, I should really set a shcedule for myself. A few paragraph a day should be fine. Also my proofreader is not available right now so please forgive me any grammar errors. I will put this up until Midnight Moon is back and replace the chapter with the proofread one.
Also the little story about Derpy and Hawkeye was an idea for another fanfic I had, should I try to write it now or should I finish Super Pony Taisen first?
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 8 Shooting Star
Everything was quiet in the town of Neighsville; night has already fallen and everypony was already asleep. Many of the ponies in this town were pegasi and unicorns as this town was very close to the Equestrian gem mines. The unicorns would use their gem finding spells to find the precious stones while the pegasus ponies delivered them all over Equestria. In their dreams they were not aware of what would befall them this very night.
Underneath the streets, the Diamond Dogs were digging the tunnels they have carefully prepared over the last week. Tonight would be the time to strike.
A lone pegasus was still up and awake. Droplet was just an average weather pony preparing a light midnight snack in the kitchen when she heard strange sounds coming from the basement.
“Oh please don't tell me the neighbors cat got into the house again,” Frustrated at the prospect of having to shoo a cat out of her house she made her way downstairs with a candle-holder in her mouth.
The dark basement sent chills down her spine; she hoped that the cat wouldn't make any trouble so she could leave and finally eat her dandelion sandwich in peace before going back to bed. As she went deeper she could make out the sounds better. It almost sounded like some sort of thumping.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs the thumping sounds got louder. They seemed to be coming from the wall right in front of her. Droplet was scared out of her mind but she was determined to figure out what this sound was and held her head against the wooden wall.
Before her ear even touched it the tip of an iron pickaxe shot out of the spot next to her with a loud crack. Droplet immediately backed off from the wall before more pickaxes broke out of the wall. Frozen with fear she could only watch as the large dog like creatures came out of the newly formed hole.
The leader of the pack immediately spotted her and gestured to the other dogs to capture her. Droplet tried to flee but as she turned around and started to fly upstairs one of the Diamond Dogs grabbed her hoof. She fell on the floor while another diamond dog bound her wings and mouth with a rope. Droplet helplessly watched as more and more of the large brutes poured out of the tunnels, until finally another figure stepped out and her eyes widened with fear.
The mare of the moon herself emerged from the darkness, exactly like the statue the foals offered their candy to on Nightmare Night. If it wasn't for the rope around her mouth Droplet would have screamed in fear at the pitch black alicorn, but as it was now she couldn't do anything. For one moment it was like her heart stopped beating as Nightmare Moon looked directly at her with an evil smirk on her face.
“Very good, now catch the rest of the ponies in this town and make sure not to damage any of the pegasus wings, I have special plans for them.”
Droplet gulped and stared at the dark mare with wide eyes, silently wondering what the evil alicorn was planning.
In the skies over the desert Rainbow Dash could not possibly be any happier. After being stuck in the Kurogane for so long it felt good to fly again. Normally the cyan pegasus would speed around as fast as possible, but tonight she would enjoy the cool air around her. Looking up she saw a shooting star flying by. On the ground were several other ponies stargazing. Rainbow Dash chuckled; apparently she was not the only one who missed the sky.
The rainbow maned mare made a few more loops and dives before she heard somepony calling out her name. Fluttershy slowly flew up to her friend. With a sigh Rainbow Dash turned around. “Hi Fluttershy, something wrong?”
“I'm sorry to interrupt you, but Spark and Digger wanted to talk to you.” Fluttershy hated having to spoil her friends fun; after all, Rainbow Dash loved the sky more than anything, and being cooped up inside the Kurogane, underground of all things, must have been awful.
“It's okay, it's probably important and besides, now I can finally go for a flight anytime I want again,” Rainbow Dash said, and made her way down to the ground.
Spark and Digger already stood there, waiting for Rainbow Dash with the great news they were about to tell her.
“Ah Rainbow Dash, good to see you so happy,” Digger started cheerfully. “Don't worry, we'll make this quick so you can go back to flying.”
Spark took over, “We have inspected another airborne Personal Trooper that is not too badly damaged, and we think you are the perfect pilot for it.”
Rainbow Dash couldn't believe her luck; the cyan pegasus was grinning from ear to ear at this point. “Seriously, first I can finally practice my air stunts again and now I get a brand new PT?” Overjoyed, Rainbow Dash started to make some wild loops before Spark pulled her down with his magic.
“This also means you're going to have to do some specialized training. This PT has the highest speed of all, this is not something you should take lightly.” This however only encouraged Rainbow Dash, after all she loved to fly fast.
“Are you kidding? Flying and speed are what I was born for, this is perfect!” Before either of the stallions could squeeze in another word the rainbow maned pegasus already sped off. With a sigh Spark turned to his friend.
“I just hope this girl knows what she's getting herself into.”
Digger in turn just nodded and decided to change the subject. “By the way, have you found any information about the builders of the Kurogane?” Even with the war against Nightmare Moon going on, this was still Diggers priority.
Spark only shook his head, “Sorry, even though we're getting better with the consoles each passing day we couldn't find any information about the former crew.”
Digger hung his head low. It was eating him up that they found something so amazing as the technology of a different, far more advanced civilization and they didn't know anything about them. He felt like a bullied foal that had it's lunch snatched away and held just out of reach. With a sigh he tried to change the subject again. “At least all this new technology can help Equestria as soon as the war is over.”
A smile was forming on Spark's lips. “That's true, with a little bit of refitting we could use the Personal Troopers for all kinds of work, construction for example. Also I have an idea for a harness with two arms attached to it that will help earth and pegasus ponies to grab stuff.” Digger was not entirely sure how that was supposed to work and Spark saw the confused expression on his friend. “I know a doctor who specializes in neurology, basically all of our movements are derived from our brain sending electrical impulses through our nerves, to the muscles. If we can make those mechanical arms read the impulses we could make them move as if they were an ordinary body part.”
Digger was fascinated at this explanation, “Wow, I didn't know bodies and machines could interact that way.” The world of biology and the world of machines always seemed to be so far apart for Digger, just like archeology and engineering, yet here they are studying the Kurogane together.
Spark gleamed with pride, “But they do, and with the technology in the Kurogane we can make everyponies life so much easier.” Digger agreed with that but the next statement threw him off guard. “Of course earth ponies should come first.” What did Spark mean by that?
The blue unicorn saw Diggers puzzled expression. “Well, it's just that unicorns like me always have such a huge advantage with our magic. It's only fair that earth ponies profit first from any findings.” Spark could only think of his mother and all the troubles she had in her daily life in Canterlot; after all, that was his motivation from getting into engineering in the first place.
Digger didn't know what to say: In one hoof he appreciated the thought, but he also found it wrong to play favorites like that with something that should be available to everypony. It was the same with archeology; he uncovered pony history for all ponies, not just a select few who were allowed to learn. “I think the technology of the Kurogane should be for everypony equally, and it's not like the princess would allow such favorite playing.” Digger could understand his friends motivations, but it still made him feel awkward. The other pony’s expression grew darker.
“Oh, but a specialized school for unicorns and complete weather control to the pegasi is not playing favorites?” The tone in Sparks voice was getting annoyed, as if he couldn't believe he had to explain his opinion, and quite frankly, Digger found the direction in which this conversation was going bizarre too.
“Of course not, princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is a MAGIC school, so of course earth and pegasus ponies can't attend, and in turn pegasi are the only ponies even capable of controlling the weather.” A few other ponies stood near the two friends but those either walked away or pretended not to hear anything. It was indeed a strange picture, a unicorn arguing that unicorns and pegasus ponies were over privileged while an earth pony was arguing against that.
Spark had enough of this. “It looks like we're not getting anywhere here. For the sake of our teamwork, let's just forget this conversation ever happened,” Digger was more than happy to oblige; the last thing they needed was infighting.
It has been a few days since the fateful night and Droplet was creating more storm clouds with the other pegasi. Soon after the Diamond Dogs took every single pony in her town prisoner they were separated by task. Most of the unicorns in her town knew the gem finding spell and had to dig the precious stones out for the greedy canines. The few earth ponies were mostly pulling the mine carts or were performing other menial tasks like serving food or cleaning. She and the other pegasus ponies, however, were under direct control of Nightmare Moon herself. The dark mare quickly explained that she wanted to make golems out of storm clouds so she could destroy the Elements of Harmony and the princesses.
The thought of helping with this made Droplet feel sick in her stomach, but the runes inscribed on her hoof reminded her that she had no other choice. Every slave had one of these; if they tried to flee Nightmare Moon could just use those teleportation runes to bring them back, and Droplet didn't even want to imagine the punishment that would await her.
After the last piece of cloud was attached four other pegasi lifted the large, red core up and lowered it into the storm cloud. The first time they still hoped that this wouldn't work but those hopes were crushed as, like now, the storm cloud took the shape of a bird and flew off to the area where all the other storm golems would await their orders.
Hanging her head low Droplet continued her task, hoping that the Elements of Harmony could defeat these golems somehow.
Three days later, Twilight and her friends sat together in the large tent that served as the surface-level mess hall enjoying their dinner. The past few days went well so far now that they could finally see the sky again. The warm rays of the sun at day and the elegant beauty of the night sky lifted everpony’s spirits.
Of course, now that they were above ground again, the area needed to be guarded at all times, but thanks to Cogwheel and the other two new pilots, the mares could still have some time together.
Today Rainbow Dash lead the discussion, mostly because whenever the topic was changed, she steered it right back onto her new PT, which she was gushing over like a filly showing of a new toy at school.
“I saw it for the first time this morning, it's so awesome.” Rainbow Dash practically squealed the last part. “It's lean, it's fast and the perfect PT for me.”
Twilight, who studied the machines with an interest she didn't hold for a long time, corrected her friend. “The Astelion is an Armored Module not a Personal Trooper.” The other mares stared at her confused.
“Other than Personal Troopers, AM's have been derived from a fighter jet, that is a combat machine similar to my Wildrautier in flight mode. They all come equipped with a so called Tesla Drive, a special form of booster that allows them to fly.” Her friends started to understand the difference as Twilight went on. “The Guarlion was one of those AM's while Pinkie’s Weissritter was a PT with a Tesla Drive attached to it. The Astelion on the other hoof has two of them on the shoulders.”
Rainbow Dash interrupted her, “You mean those things on the shoulders that are pointing forward?” Twilight just nodded in response.
The others have seen the Armored Module too; it looked a lot like the Guarlion, only with even slimmer limbs. The chest and head were elongated and curved to give better aerodynamics along with the almost flat shoulders. On top of those shoulders were the Tesla Drives that pointed farther forward than even the arms. The Tesla Drives also had missile batteries and stabilizing fins on the side at shoulders length.
All in all, the Astelion was build with speed in mind, and that's exactly how Rainbow Dash liked it. “Anyway, Spark told me the repairs will be done around afternoon tomorrow, then I can finally take it to a test flight.”
At this moment Cogwheel came into the tent and went over to the mares. “Hi girls, what's up?”
Pinkie jumped in front of him, “Oh Dashie just told us all about the Astelion. She said it's super duper fast, even faster than Weissie. Do you know how fast it can go? I wonder if Dashie can do a Sonic Rainboom with it.” Cogwheel smiled awkwardly while Pinkie Pie rambled on; her motormouth can be a little exhausting. Twilight decided to intervene.
“Hello Cogwheel, is it time to switch the guards again?”
Cogwheel nodded, “Yes, Spark said that it's Applejacks and Pinkies turn now.”
Pinkie Pie stopped her rambling and gave her friends a quick salute. “Okie dokie lokie, I'll see you later. Don't worry, nothing can surprise me with my Pinkie-Sense.” Then she hopped out of the tent.
“Well, see ya'll later.” Applejack tipped her hat and followed Pinkie.
After both mares left, the others gathered around the table again. Rarity asked Cogwheel if Spark and Digger made up again after their fight but the technopathic earth pony just shook his head sadly.
“Nothing so far, Spark firmly believes that earth ponies are not getting enough respect while Digger tries to explain that he can't just play favorites with the technology of the Kurogane.”
Word about the fight between the two got out fast. Twilight knew about Sparks problem, she often heard ponies complaining to princess Celestia that since unicorns have magic and pegasi have weather control that earth ponies should get some exclusive rights too. The princess had to agree that they had a point but the dilemma was that there was no way she could give earth ponies those exclusive rights without having to ban other ponies for no good reason.
“Poor Spark, seeing his earth pony mother struggle in a city designed for unicorns must have caused this resentment.” The others agreed with Twilight. “I can remember that princess Celestia considered giving earth ponies exclusive rights to farming and cultivating but that would have forced many unicorn and pegasus farmers to give up their farms.”
Rainbow Dash piqued in. “I think everypony is overreacting to this. It may be true that earth ponies lack magic and flight but with all the fancy tech of this ship that problem might be solved pretty soon.”
Somehow Twilight doubted that, but was willing to give hope a chance. “Maybe you're right Rainbow Dash. Spark already told me about some of his ideas that could even out things a little.”
“Count on it, with all of the inventions that are going to spring from the Kurogane I bet they could even make some artificial wings. Anyway, it's time for me to get some sleep. After all I've got an AM to test tomorrow.” Rainbow Dash flew out of the tent. It was getting kinda late and the rest of team M6 was getting tired too.
“Well girls, I think Rainbow Dash has the right idea. I'm going to tuck Sweetie Belle and her friends in and get some beauty sleep.” After saying good night they made their way towards their own sleeping tents to get ready for the next day.
The following afternoon it was time for Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy to guard the dig site while the others were sleeping. Twilight was currently in flight mode and flew large circles around the camp; nothing was out of the ordinary. Suddenly the intercom crackled into existence, Raritys bored looking face appeared on the side of Twilights screen.
“Have you seen anything unusual?”
“No, Nightmare Moons golems didn't attack for quite some time.” Twilight was more worried than glad about this. “I just hope she's not gathering golems for a mass assault.”
Rarity also became uneasy at the thought, as powerful as their robots were they could still be steamrolled by pure quantity. “Let's hope that's not the case. By the way isn't Rainbow Dash currently in the hangar?”
“Yes, she's doing some last calibrations with the engineering team. I'm so excited about seeing the Astelion in action.” The purple mare was now shifting around in her seat and the now loopy flight path of the Wildraubtier reflected that.
Rarity rolled her eyes, after a while the shock and awe at the large machines began to die down at least a little, but Twilight was still as excited about them as a little filly with her Hearth Warmings Eve gift.
“Now now Twilight, calm down. Besides, we've already seen it so it's not like it's gonna be some big surprise.”
“Still, I want to see how fast it can go. I wonder if Rainbow Dash can perform a Sonic Rainboom with it.” Twilight was lost in her thoughts; there was something more about these robots than just academic interest.
As a filly, Twilight was very picky when it came to toys. Not that she was spoiled, but somehow all of her toys were lacking something she just couldn't put her hoof on. The purple unicorn tried to imagine something, a small plastic model of the Wildraubtier. Something clicked in her mind, toy robots. Maybe after Nightmare Moon is stopped for good she could try and contact some toymakers to tell them about her idea. Before she could let her imagination wander any further she was shaken out of her thoughts by a frantic Rarity.
“Twilight, what is that on the horizon?”
“How long do I have to wait? Can't I just do the test flight now and you check on this operation system later?” Rainbow Dash was really annoyed, after almost bouncing towards her new machine, she was told that they had to make some adjustments and that she had to wait. At first she thought this would only be a quick checkup but no, it's almost been an hour and she was still stuck in the launching dock.
The cockpit of the Astelion was vastly different; instead of having screens to the front and sides it was almost like the walls didn't exist. For Rainbow Dash it looked like her seat was hovering in mid-air with all the technical data floating in the air in front of her.
Cogwheel sighed behind the computer screen; they just learned about operating systems and programming days ago, and even with all the guides waiting in the bridge computer, it was still difficult to figure out. “Sorry Dash, but the OS is important. It tells the machine what to do so you don't self destruct when you just want to raise the arm. Just be glad that the Astelion is so similar to the Guarlion, this way we have a reference.”
Rainbow Dash scoffed, “Couldn't you have done that YESTERDAY?”
“Oh come on, I have to sleep too you know. Also, due to my special talent with machines, Spark and Digger deemed that I should be the only one doing any programming for now, since I can tell if I've done something wrong.”
Before they could continue to bicker the alarms went off and Diggers panicked voice shouted through the ship.
“Attention entire crew, we're being attacked by golems. Evacuation crews are to go up and rescue everypony who didn't flee yet, all PT pilots go to the hangar now!”
Rainbow Dash cursed under her breath. “We don't have time for adjustments, let me out NOW!”
“You can't! The Astelion would probably ignore half of your commands!”
Rainbow Dash cursed again; her friends were in danger and she couldn't do anything.
Chaos reigned outside, the strange storm clouds that Rarity spotted turned out to be a new kind of golem. The storm clouds took the form of birds and thunder crackled through their bodies. Like vultures. they drew their circles over the camp raining bolts of lighting down on it. Twilight, Fluttershy. and Rarity. tried their best to hit them but they were too high for any attacks from the ground to hit them. and Twilight quickly became their prime target, making it impossible for her to get a clear shot.
A purple energy beam shot past one of the bird-like storm clouds as Twilight’s shot was thrown off again because she needed to evade yet another lighting bolt. The purple unicorn knew she couldn't keep this up; the Wildraubtier just wasn't fast and agile enough for this.
Almost all of her friends PT's were in bad shape too; none of the Gespenst’s could fight anymore, Fluttershy lost the twin beam cannons and even the Alteisen lost the machine gun arm. Only Pinkie Pie remained unharmed, probably thanks to her Pinkie-Sense, but faced the same problem as Twilight. The best Pinkie could do at this point was to blindly shoot at the storm golems, hoping to hit the core.
Suddenly one of the storm golems dispersed; Pinkie Pie managed to get a lucky shot at it.
“Did you girls see that? I got one!”
The pink ponies small victory was cut short as another lightning bolt descended. In the nick of time the white robot dodged the lighting. Pinkie could feel her hair getting frizzled by the large amount of electricity. “Missed m- AUGH!”
It was a trap, while she evaded one lightning bolt three others descended around her. One of them struck the Weissritter right in the back, the fins were immediately destroyed and the boosters died down. The white and blue robot fell down towards the dunes with the pilot screaming inside the cockpit.
Applejack saw her friend and rushed towards the landing point. Thunder struck around her. but the Alteisen managed to dodge them. One of the storm golems flew after the falling Weissritter.
“Ah hay no ya won't.” There was no way she'll let those monster kill one of her friends, so Applejack opened up the large containers on the Alteisen’s shoulders. Like a mouth, two armor plates opened up, and a rapid volley of titanium balls shot towards the storm golem.
The golem had no chance as around two dozen of the claymores hit it and detonated. As the storm clouds dispersed Applejack used the remaining arm of the Alteisen to catch Pinkie Pie.
“Are ya'll alright Pinkie?”
The farmer was panicked as she opened the communication channel. Pinkie was not moving and hung limply in her seat.
Tears formed in Applejack’s eyes, was she too late? Then the pink hooves of her friend started to twitch and the orange earth pony breathed a sigh of relief as Pinkie woke up.
“Owwie, what happened?” The hyperactive pony seemed to be a little dizzy but otherwise she was fine.
“Oh Pinkie, never scare me like dat again.”
They managed to take two golems down but six more circled the sky. Pinkie Pie picked up the oxtongue rifle that fell down right next to her and continued shooting at the storm golems.
The battle looked bad for the ponies, the six remaining golems seemed to focus on the Wildraubtier and Twilight couldn't get a single shot in between anymore. Twilight gave the energy display a quick glance, one more shot with the hyperbeam rifle and she wouldn't be able to fly anymore.
Twilight almost gave up the hope to win this battle until something came out of the cave. Two missiles shot out of the cave and collided with one of the remaining golems. As the missiles exploded all attention was directed at the cave entrance. Like a shooting star, the Astelion shot out of the cave and was already high up in the sky.
The ponies on the bridge looked at the fight through the cameras of the PT's. Fear was dominant in all of them as they watched how effortlessly the storm golems tore through the PT's. Digger looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who demanded to know if the mane six were okay and already wanted to get them out of the room. If this didn't turn out to all right, he did not want them to see it.
He approached the scared fillies as her heard an explosion coming from the screen. He turned around just in time to see one of the storm golems going down in flames. Rainbow Dash's face appeared on one of the screens.
“Alright, let me show you how it's done.”
Behind Digger, the small fillies faces lightened up again as they saw the Astelion take flight, and Scootaloo showed an expression of deep awe and admiration.
“She's so cool.”
Rainbow Dash struggled to keep control of the Astelion as the g-force pushed her into the seat, but she still managed to keep a tight grip on the controls. Cogwheel managed to finish the last adjustments on the OS just in time.
Lightning cracked around the lean, white robot as the storm golems focused their attention towards it. Effortlessly Rainbow Dash managed to dodge every single arc of lightning, thanks to the Astelion’s speed and agility and to her own reflexes that have been honed by years of practicing high speed flying stunts.
The Astelion performed a barrel roll as the golem she aimed at attacked her again and deactivated the sonic breaker. A steady stream of bullets shot out of the two small holes in it's chest and pierced the golems core. As the clouds dispersed, a confident smirk formed on Rainbow Dash’s face. “Alright, time to show them what Ponyville’s top weather pegasus can do.” The storm golems stopped circling over the encampment and instead flew towards the Astelion in a V Formation.
The Astelion sped up again but this time she was on the height of the golems as she flew directly at them. Twilight opened a channel, “No! You'll get electrocuted if you ram them.”
“I'm not gonna ram them, you and Pinkie better start aiming.”
Twilight realized what Rainbow Dash was planning, she flew close to the ground and landed in PT mode with the Hyperbeam rifle aimed at one of the golems.
The Astelion continued dodging the lightning strikes as it flew towards the storm golems. With just a few more meter distance left between them Rainbow Dash suddenly shifted her direction. Instead of flying into the golems directly, she flew past them. Rainbow Dash was so close to them that she felt her fur standing up with all the electricity.
At the ground Pinkie Pie wondered why Rainbow Dash did that, until she saw something glowing softly within the enchanted stormclouds, and then she realized it too. By flying past them Rainbow Dash created a gust of wind that would blow the clouds apart. The magical hold the orb had over the storm cloud was too strong to completely disperse them but now Pinkie and Twilight had a clear shot.
Two energy beams, one in purple and one in yellow were shot into the sky, destroying two more of the storm golems. Two more golems down, three to go.
Rainbow Dash let out a triumphant laugh as she looked behind her. “And now, the grand finale!” After getting more distance to the remaining golems, Rainbow Dash took a sharp turn. “Let's so how fast this thing can really go.” With that she pushed the speed pedal all the way down to the ground. The G-forces felt as if an Ursa was pushing her against the seat, but Rainbow Dash didn't let this distract her.
More missiles were launched from the batteries on the Astelion’s shoulders. It was a truly amazing sight to see the Astelion practically dance between its own missiles, shooting new ones every time it evaded another lightning strike. After all the missiles were shot Rainbow Dash pulled up and fireworks erupted as just a second later the missiles hit their targets.
Everypony on the ground watched the spectacle in awe as the Astelion made a loop and descended onto the ground. The pilots of the damaged PT's now left their cockpits, still shaken by the fact that they have been defeated so easily earlier.
Digger made his way up to the surface and to the Astelion with the Cutie Mark Crusaders in tow. As Rainbow Dash got out of the Astelion, Scootaloo rushed forward and tackled her idol.
“Oh Rainbow Dash you were so cool! I mean you are always cool but now even more than ever before!” A confident grin was plastered on Rainbow Dash’s face as she soaked up the fillies praise.
“Well, what do you expect from the fastest flier in Equestria? I'm just glad that Cogwheel finished that damn operating system in time.” Finally, everypony was assembled.
Digger frowned as he surveyed the damage, “Damn, only the Astelion, the Wildraubtier and the Weissritter are still capable of fighting and the Weissritter’s fins need to be fixed in order to fly again.” Out of nowhere Pinkie pulled Digger into a hug.
“Aaw don't be all saddy-waddy, Dashie here is fast enough for everypony who's out of action for now. She can defeat all the baddies in ten seconds flat.”
“Of course I can! In fact, with the Astelion I ca...woah!”
Suddenly the ground began to rumble and sand golems emerged from the ground. A good dozen of them surrounded the ponies. The Cutie Mark Crusaders retreated behind the adults while Dash flew back into the Astelion’s cockpit.
“You jerks just don't know when to quit don't you?”
Dinky shivered as she stared at the nearest golem. She wished so much that she just stayed home where her mommy could protect her. One of the golems formed a large ball of sand in its palm. To their horror the ponies on the ground noticed that the golems did not concentrate on the Astelion but instead they were facing them.
Rainbow Dash cursed as she noticed that she wasted all of her missiles on the storm golems. Her eyes quickly scanned for the first golem that tried to make its move but to her horror she saw that they were all in synch. There was no way for her to stop them and soon her friends and the children would be buried under several tons of sand.
Twilight and the other frantically looked for an escape route.
“Digger, take the fillies and get them underground while we distract the golems.” Said Twilight to the earth pony archeologist and then she turned towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. “You have to follow Digger my little ponies, he'll get you back to the Kurogane.”
“But what about the rest of you?” Protested Sweetie Belle.
Rarity gently nudged her sister towards Digger, “Don't worry Sweetie Belle, we'll manage somehow.”
The fillies broke into a gallop towards Digger as they heard a familiar voice.
“LEAVE THEM ALONE!”
An incredibly fast object descended from the sky and hovered in the air above the ponies. Rainbow Dash got closer to the strange newcomer, to everyponies shock it was a robot. It was silver with purple joints and looked like it was wearing some sort of knight armor. The feet looked like a birds talons, and fins on it's back that looked like it had three pairs of wings. In its right hand it held a regal but also medieval looking sword with a golden grip. As Rainbow Dash flew around she also noticed some sort of tail sticking out of its backside.
Inside the Kurogane the bridge crew frantically searched the archives. As soon as the strange robot appeared Spark gave the order to search for any information on it. Spike, who also watched the fight from the bridge went up to Spark.
“Spark, I know that voice!”
“What? Who is the pilot of that thing.”
Before Spike could answer one of the bridge ponies shouted for Spark.
“Sir, I found it. This new robot is called Cybuster.”
Inside the Cybuster, a pegasus pony was glaring at the sand golems from her seat. The cockpit was egg shaped and the screens around it had a beehive pattern. At heads height, two cats were sitting next to the pilot, one white as snow, and the other midnight black. The strangest thing though was that the cats spoke.
“Alright Ms. You can take them all out at once, just remember what we told you.” Started the white cat.
“Also don't worry about the ponies, since you don't see them as enemies they won't get hurt.” Continued the black one.
The pegasus nodded and gripped the control sticks tightly. The Cybuster held the sword in front of itself.
A small, light purple unicorn filly stared at it with big eyes.
“Mommy?”
The ponies around her were shocked. Was that really Derpy in this knight looking robot? The question was quickly answered by an angry shout.
“YOU ARE NOT GOING TO HURT MY LITTLE MUFFIN!”
The blade of the sword glowed in a bright blue light.
“CY-FLASH!”
A huge wave of energy erupted and quickly engulfed the entire battlefield. Twilight and the others closed her eyes as the energy wave was approaching them. Expecting to be killed by the large amount of energy, everypony was surprised that it didn't hurt; in fact it almost felt good.
The golem did not have such luck and the energy wave blew the sand apart and pulverized the core. Only the Cybuster, the Astelion and the ponies on the ground remained after the energy wave died down.
Slowly both robots landed close to the ponies, who were still gaping in awe at their savior. The armor at the neck split open and out of it came a gray coated, blond pegasus. Dinky rushed over to her mother. Tears of joy were in the eyes of mother and child as Derpy landed and embraced Dinky.
“Oh little muffin, I'm so glad you are okay.” Derpy almost cried as she nuzzled her daughter affectionately.
“I'm sorry mommy, I promise I'll never run away like this again.” Dinky was overjoyed at being reunited with her mother.
The others wanted to ask Derpy where she found this machine, but none of them had the heart to break this scene up.
Then Fluttershy noticed something else coming out of the cockpit. Two cats, one white and the other black gracefully landed on the ground. Fluttershy let out a small squeak as she saw them. It has been so long since she had any animals to keep her company.
“Oh hello you two, my name is Fluttershy.”
“Nice to meet you Fluttershy, my name is Schwarz and this is my brother Weiß. Say, are you alright? You look a little pale.” Fluttershy went completely motionless as the black cat started to talk.
“You nimwit, she's surprised because she's not used to talking cats.” Said the white cat.
The others who witnessed the scene also had various different looks of surprise and shock on their faces. Finally the exhaustion, mixed with the sudden shock over the talking felines, got the better of the ponies and they all fainted. Derpy noticed that all the other ponies except her daughter who still had a vice grip on her were unconscious.
“I guess I've got some explaining to do.”
Authors note: Yes I just gave Derpy the Cybuster whoohoo. Also I know that the cat's names are Kuro and Shiro in the games and anime but let's say I don't want to spoiler too much. As for the location of the Cybuster cockpit, I've seen a few episodes of the Cybuster anime and there the cockpit was located in the neck too. Too bad I couldn't find the rest though, I was so close to see what they did with the Granzon in that anime.
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 9 answers and new questions
One after another, the ponies around the Cybuster regained consciousness. Other ponies were coming from the Kurogane to check on them. As the last pony was awake again, Derpy decided that now was the best time to explain everything.
“Alright, now that you're all conscious again, I think I should tell you where I found the Cybuster.”
“That would be a great idea.” Said Twilight who, like the other ponies, was still flustered.
“Do you all remember that time where Dinky forgot to tell me about a field trip?” Dinky, still in her mothers arms blushed as she remembered. Ms. Cheerilee took the entire class for an extended field trip that would take a little longer than normal school time. Dinky was so excited about it she forgot to tell her mom. It ended with her panicked mother searching for her anywhere, even the Everfree Forest. It was so embarrassing for Dinky and the filly felt bad for scaring her mother like that.
The worst part however were the vile comments from Hawkeye, raving on about how irresponsible Derpy was in her opinion. Dinky was pulled out of her memories as her mother continued.
“While I was searching for her in the Everfree Forest I came across the cave where the Ursas used to live before they moved away. After fetching a lantern I explored the cave, hoping my little muffin was there but instead I found the Cybuster.”
Digger interrupted her, “Why didn't you tell anypony about this?”
The expression on Derpy's face changed to sadness. “I just wanted to find my daughter first. When I learned about the field trip I thought for a moment about telling everypony, but when Hawkeye accused me of being mentally incapable of taking care of my child again I got scared. I thought if I told them about a metal giant I found in a cave everypony would think I was crazy so I kept it a secret.”
Fluttershy trotted over to Derpy and laid a comforting hoof over her shoulder. “Don't worry, we don't blame you and I can understand how you have felt. But tell us, where did you find those cats?”
Derpy calmed down and smiled again. “Alright, here's the story...”
Panic was the only thing Derpy felt, Dinky was nowhere to be found. Her first instinct was to ask Ms. Cheerilee if Dinky just forgot to tell her about a field trip again but the only thing she learned was that Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were also missing. Big Macintosh, Granny Smith and the parents of the other two fillies also visited her and asked if they were at her house to play with Dinky.
The other parents and family members started to panic too. Together they started a search party, hoping the children would turn up at one point. As if the disappearance of her daughter wasn't bad enough, through some sort of rotten luck Derpy ended up in the same search team as Hawkeye.
“You do realize that through your incompetence at looking after the children you not only endangered your own filly but three other as well. What do you want to do if we don't find them? Hello, I'm talking to you!”
Derpy gritted her teeth, as much as she wanted to punch this vile mare in the muzzle she had to hold herself back for Dinky's sake.
The search continued until midnight before it was called off. After midnight Derpy still wanted to continue the search but the other parents and family members took her home.
“It is too dark now,” Explained Sweetie Belles mother. “We will continue tomorrow, you should rest now.” Derpy had no other choice but to resign; she had no chance of finding her daughter if she goes alone.
The next day Derpy was rudely awakened by a heavy pounding on her door. She was shocked to see that she slept in and quickly made her way downstairs. She had heavy bags under her bloodshot eyes, as her worries prevented her from getting a good nights sleep, also causing her to be late. As she opened the door, a member of the royal guard stood in front of her with a serious expression. 'No' she thought as she feared for the worst.
“Ms. Hooves, I am here because I have news about your daughter Dinky.”
Derpy suddenly felt empty, 'no, no, no oh please Celestia don't say it'. Almost ready to cry, the gray mailmare prepared for the worst.
“We got a message from Twilight Sparkle, apparently you daughter and her friends snuck on board of Ms. Sparkles Personal Trooper. They are alive but they are now in the Kurogane.”
A heavy stone fell off of her heart as she heard these words. “Oh thank Celestia she is alive." But even with those new, her little muffin was still in danger. "Can Twilight send her back somehow?”
The guard shook his head. “I am sorry Mam, but they currently have no way to send the fillies back safely.”
Some of the dread she felt earlier returned; her daughter was stuck in the middle of the desert surrounded by Nightmare Moons golems. Derpy was still grateful though, alive and in danger was still better than... she didn't want to think about it. “Thank you, are the families of the other fillies also informed?”
“Yes, and you are advised to remain calm and wait for further news about the situation on the Kurogane. But in order to recieve any messages about the status on the dig site you'll have to sign this.”
With these words the guard took a piece of paper out of his saddlebag. Derpy flew over the contents; it was a contract where she guaranteed secrecy in return for getting information about the situation on the dig side. She quickly fetched a quill and signed the contract.
“Thank you Mam, this was necessary because Princess Celestia doesn't want top secret information to reach the false ears. I must go now and remember, stay calm, the crew of the Kurogane knows what it's doing.”
After the guard left Derpy went back inside and sat on the table. All she could think about was her daughter. Was she safe? Is she injured? Is she scared? Then she remembered Hawkeyes cruel words and the decisive question.
“What do you want to do if we can't find them?”
Derpy lifted her head again, worries and sadness were now replaced by determination.
“I am going to get them back.”
Derpy started to pack her saddlepack for the journey ahead of her: some food, some water and Dinky's teddy bear all went into the bag. Now she had to be patient and wait for the night to slip out undetected. This day would prove to be the longest day in the mailmare’s life, as every minute might as well be an hour and every hour an entire day in itself. Finally the sky took a red tint, and soon afterwards the light of Luna’s moon and stars were the only things illuminating the night.
Derpy attached the saddlebag to her back and grabbed a lantern, as well as some flint to light it later. Carefully, she slipped into the night and headed towards the Everfree Forest. As soon as she was far enough away from any buildings she lit her lantern and took off into the sky. The Everfree Forest was already a dark and mysterious place, but during the night it was just plain terrifying. Derpy didn't care about this though, as her mind was locked on the one thing that was important to her right now.
After an hour she finally found the right cave, and after checking for any predators that might hide in the bushes, she landed in front of the entrance. Her heart was pounding inside her chest as she went deeper. Soon enough she saw a silvery shine as the light of her lantern reflected off of the large, knightly figure sitting in front of her. Hope surged through Derpy’s mind as she examined the robot in front of her.
Not wasting a single second she immediately went to work, trying to find the cockpit. The cockpit of the Wildraubtier Twilight piloted was somewhere in the chest; hopefully she could find it too. Derpy flew up to the chest and started to look for some sort of lever or button, but wherever she looked, she couldn't find anything that even resembled a hatch.
For another hour she fruitlessly scanned the machine for an opening. Tears were streaming down her face as her new found hope diminished. Finally she landed on the robots chest and put the lantern down. Her eyes were already red as she stared at the face of the knight.
“Please,” she sobbed. “My daughter is in danger, three other fillies are in danger, please help me to save them.” Nothing happened. “Dinky, my little muffin, she's my only sunshine, and if something happened to her, I couldn't live anymore.”
As Derpy broke down and buried her head into her hooves, a faint, green glow emitted from the eyes of the robot. Finally Derpy noticed it and lifted her head. The armor along the neck suddenly split apart and revealed what the crying pegasus desperately searched for. An oval space was inside the neck and a large seat right in the middle. Carefully, Derpy went inside and sat down where she guessed the robot was controlled from. She noticed some odd, green spheres at each end of the armrests, as well as some sort of table attached to each side of the backrest.
Derpy started to fiddle with the controls, attempting to make any sense of them. What she didn't notice in her concentration was a faint blue glow coming from behind her.
“Come on, how do I turn this thing on?”
“Like this.” Before Derpy could react to the new voice, the cockpit closed and the walls turned into screens that were tightly attached to each other in a beehive like pattern, showing the cave that was now illuminated by a greenish blue glow coming from the front of the machine.
Derpy turned around only to see two cats, one in black and one in white, coming from behind the seat and hopping onto the places next to her seat. “Did, did you just talk?” She pointed a shaking hoof at the black cat.
“That's right, my name is Schwarz and this is Weiß.” As Derpy craned her neck to the other cat it just grinned at her. “Nice to meet you Ms.?” The white cat made a circling motion with its paw.
“M-my name is Derpy Hooves.” Her voice, like her body, was shaking; she never heard of any talking cats before, and why did those two appear suddenly? “Who are you and why can you talk?”
Weiß only gave her another grin. “We can talk because we are the familiar spirits of the Cybuster.”
“Cybuster? Is that the name of this thing?”
“Yup,” answered Schwarz. “And as its familiars we know everything about it.”
Derpy perked up as she heard this. “Do you also know how to move it?”
The cats scoffed, reminding Derpy of Rainbow Dash whenever she got challenged. “Move it? This baby can fly faster than sound.” bragged Schwarz.
This was perfect; now she could save her daughter. “Please, teach me how to fly the Cybuster. My daughter Dinky is stuck in the desert, and she is surrounded by golems. I have to save her.”
“A child in danger? Not with us. We're gonna teach you how to pilot the Cybuster, and you'll have your daughter back in your arms in no time at all.”
Pure joy and hope flooded Derpy’s heart, “Oh thank you. Don't worry my little muffin, mommy is coming.”
“And this is the story how I found the Cybuster and got here.” With this Derpy wrapped up the story. The other ponies were near tears themselves as Derpy finished the tale.
“Oh Derpy, you are the best mother in all of Equestria,” said Rarity, deeply moved by the compassion the mailmare showed for her daughter. “Going into the Everfree Forest alone at night and becoming a knight in shining armor.”
Fluttershy meanwhile hugged Schwarz and Weiß. “You two are real heroes, helping Derpy to save us. You deserve a reward. I'll go and see if Princess Celestia can send us something special for you.” The two cats were blushing at the praise they received.
“Aww shucks, it was nothing really,” started Weiß.
“We just couldn't leave a child in danger that's all,” continued Schwarz.
Digger came up next to Fluttershy with an excited grin on his face. “We're gonna have to get inside as soon as possible. I want you to tell me everything you know about the Cybuster and the Kurogane.”
The cats perked up at this. “Kurogane, sounds familiar,” said Weiß. “Let's get inside and talk about everything.”
“Sorry, but no,” Digger looked over to Derpy, who still had the now sleeping Dinky in her arms. “I just wanted to get the fillies, I'll be off again.” Digger almost looked heartbroken.
“But this is an unique opportunity. A chance to learn about the past from first hoof witnesses.”
“I said no, the safety of the fillies is more important that an interview.”
Twilight Sparkle trotted over to Derpy and put a hoof on her shoulder; she, too, wanted Applebloom and her friends to be safe, but there was still something else on her mind.
“Derpy, I would like to see the children back in Ponyville too but we need your help here.”
The mailmare wanted to protest but was cut off again by Twilight. “In the last battle we took heavy damage and almost all of out Personal Troopers are unable to fight for now. If Nightmare Moon would attack us we'd be defeated in a minute and if that happens nopony could stop her anymore.” Derpy was deep in thought; she wanted Dinky to be safe, but she also didn't want Twilight or anypony else to die.
“Stay just a little longer until we have out PT's repaired. Afterwards you can still take the fillies back to Ponyville.”
Derpy let out a defeated sigh, “Alright, but as soon as you are back to your feet, me and the fillies will go back to Ponyville.”
All ponies cheered as they heard this; with Derpy and the Cybuster, they could fight Nightmare Moon’s golems again, and the Cyflash could destroy even large numbers of them in seconds. Dinky woke up from the cheering and looked at her mother.
“Well my little muffin, looks like we'll stay a little longer.”
Pinkie Pie pulled the gray pegasus mare into a tight bear hug.
“Yay, with Derpy here we will be invincible! Because she's a great mama bear and she has this awesome robot and she brought even more reinforcements with Schwarzy and Weißy and she fights to protect her daughter which gives her even more strength because you always win when you fight to protect you loved ones. Oh do you know what this calls for?”
The ponies knew exactly what she's about to say and in unison they yelled.
“A PARTY!”
Only Digger interjected. “Great idea, but later okay? There are still some things I want to ask Schwarz and Weiß, so let's head to the meeting room.” The other ponies nodded and made their way towards the Kurogane.
In the royal court of Canterlot, Princess Celestia was listening to a green earth pony with blond mane and what appeared to be some sort of list as a Cutie Mark. For almost an hour, he listed different reasons for the establishment of an Earth Pony only research center to study the technology of the Kurogane to enrich the lives of earth ponies all over Equestria. Despite the fact that Princess Celestia was growing tired of the same arguments she heard so often since the organization this pony represented, she still listened to every word until he finally wrapped his speech up.
“And this is why our organization should be put in charge of the Kurogane research project. Do you have any questions princess Celestia?”
The princess in question sighed as the representative of Terra Firma finished his long winded speech. Terra Firma was an organization she often clashed with in court. They were made of Earth Ponies and even the odd Pegasus or Unicorn that pushed for special privileges for earth ponies. It wasn't like the princess couldn't understand where their desire for this came from, but the problem remained the same, there were valid reasons why earth ponies couldn't go to the 'Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns', or be put in charge of the weather. But if she gave Earth Ponies exclusive rights, she would have to bar the other kinds of ponies from whatever field was chosen for no good reason. Celestia took a deep breath as she braced herself for the argument that was about to come.
“Would Pegasus and Unicorn ponies also profit from your research of the Kurogane technology?”
The earth pony in front of her grimaced; he, too, was tired of hearing the same old arguments he heard since he appeared before the princess for the first time.
“Your Majesty,” his words were strained and his voice sounded bitter. “After the needs of the Earth Ponies are met, we can still give other ponies some research rights. Also, the other kinds of ponies in Equestria have all sorts of advantages and privileges in life. I am very certain they can bear to take second place one time.”
“This is not about taking second place, this is about valid reasons. If any Pegasus ponies or Unicorns ask me why they aren't allowed to have access to the new technologies that the Kurogane, brings I can't just say, 'just cause'. This is the same reason why I had no choice but to deny your request for an earth pony exclusive university.” As soon as the last sentence left her mouth Celestia regretted bringing that topic up.
“You have denied that request because you did not want to say no to your favorites for once!” The Terra Firma representative has lost his temper by now, even though it was the princess herself before him he was almost shouting.
“I do NOT play favorites with anypony!” As many times as she heard it, this insult kept stinging her, since she loved all of her subjects equally.
“Yes, it is even worse since you are playing UN-favorites with Earth Ponies.” The representative turned around and stormed out of the court, but as he opened the door, he turned his head towards the princess one more time. “We Earth Ponies won't stand for this forever, someday we will fight for our rights.” Before Celestia could protest the door was slammed shut.
A sad sigh escaped Celestia’s lips. “You have no idea how hard I try to give you what you want.”
In the meeting room of the Kurogane, several ponies and a dragon were staring at two cats sitting at the end of the table. It came to a great shock to them as they learned that these two cats were indeed familiar spirits of the Cybuster. But after the shock settled, it was replaced by hope. Now that Schwarz and Weiß were there maybe they can finally get some answers regarding the Kurogane, the robots and the former crew.
Digger in particular was ecstatic at the prospect of having actual living, talking beings from the time of the Kurogane sitting in front of him. “Please, tell me everything you know. Who built the Kurogane? What were they and what happened to them?”
With every question his face got a little closer to the two cats in front of him. Schwarz and Weiß looked at each other with a nervous expression on their faces. The black cat cleared his throat and answered. “Well, I'm sorry to tell you this, but we've been asleep for so long that we can't remember much about the first time we were active. Otherwise, we only know how to control and maintain the Cybuster.”
Digger felt like somepony just punched him in the gut. Two creatures who lived before the princesses sat in front of him, and they couldn't remember anything. It was as if you hold a sandwich in front of a starving pony and yank it away just before he could reach it. Weiß saw the distraught look on Diggers face and chimed in.
“If it helps, the Cybuster has a blackbox that automatically saves the last few minutes before Cybuster is deactivated. Maybe we can show you the pictures.”
The ponies jaws almost hit the floor as they heard this. Actual pictures of the last moments of Cybuster? Digger immediately recovered from his disappointment.
“Are you serious? We can see what happened when Cybuster was first active?” He never felt this excitement before; this was far different from interpreting runes and hieroglyphs. It was a direct look through the eyes of the ancient pilot. Both cats were grinning at the ponies before them as Schwarz spoke up.
“Sure thing, we'll just need the current pilot. By the way where is Derpy?”
Fluttershy answered him. “She wanted to spend some time alone with Dinky. I can understand her; she must have been worried sick about her daugher.”
“But Mom!”
“No buts, Dinky. If you decide to get yourself in danger like this, I obviously need to keep a closer eye on you.” Dinky was devastated; her mother has decided that a sterner upbringing was in order to protect her. According to the new rules, she wasn't allowed to play with her friends anymore unless Derpy knows what they are doing and where they are. She would also bring her to school on her daily route and pick her up directly from now on.
The other Cutie Mark Crusaders were also present, and their heads were hanging low in shame. Of course Derpy chewed them out for endangering Dinky with their little stunt, and her words cut deep despite the fact that the gray mailmare managed to stay calm during the entire lecture.
“I will not risk losing you again. If you break these rules, you are forbidden to play with the Cutie Mark Crusaders again.”
The crusaders heads shot up at this, not believing what they just heard. Derpy saw the shocked expressions.
“Don't give me that look. When I let her join you, I did not assume that you would get her life in danger like this, but apparently I was wrong.”
The fillies almost cried at this. Dinky didn't want to lose her new friends, they had so much fun together. The only option was to obey her mother from now on. “I understand mom, I'll follow the rules.”
Derpy smiled and pulled her daughter into a hug. “That's good my little muffin. Remember, I only do this because I love you.”
“I know.”
Their moment was cut short as the mane six team as well as Spark and Digger arrived on the scene. As Digger saw her he rushed ahead of the others.
“Ms. Derpy, we have to go to the Cybuster immediately. Schwarz and Weiß just told us about something called a 'blackbox', they said it would allow us to see the last moments of the Cybuster prior to its deactivation.”
Getting her daughter back where it was safe may have been the first priority of the mailmare, but since they were stuck in this place for a while she did get a little curious about the history of this place. After agreeing, they all headed towards the hangar where the Cybuster was held and entered the cockpit.
The ponies were tightly crammed into the small cockpit. Just in case, they agreed to keep the Cutie Mark Crusader out of this, since the last pictures of the Cybuster may be disturbing ones. Derpy, Schwarz and Weiß were on their position in the pilots seat while a soft greenish blue glow emanated from the cats.
The other ponies were staring at the still empty screens, waiting for ancient pictures to appear before their eyes. Rainbow Dash turned around for a moment and saw Pinkie Pie happily munching away on some popcorn.
“Hey Pinkie, where did you get that popcorn? Can I have some?”
“Of course you can, I always have some popcorn with me in case something like this happens,” said Pinkie, while holding the bag in front of Rainbow Dash who helped herself to a hoof full.
Rarity on the other hoof was not so thrilled. “Be careful with that sticky stuff. You don't want to ruin the beautiful interior of this robot do you?”
Before they could start to argue Applejack hushed them. “Quiet down it's starting.”
A vast, dead forest was zipping past the Cybuster on the ground below. The large machine was zipping over the forest, looking for something. Its hands were cupped as if it was holding something inside of them.
“Down there, that looks like a good spot.” Came the voice of Schwarz.
The Cybuster turned to see a small cave between the trees. Gently the Cybuster proceeded to land.
“Well done, I just hope that IT won't find them.” This voice was unknown to the listeners. This must have been the past pilot of the Cybuster.
“What happens now?” Asked Weiß, his voice shaking with fear.
“After they are safely hidden away I will hide the Cybuster and fly back by myself to help the others.” Silence dominated to cockpit as the Cybuster has already landed and now stared at its cupped hands.
“I guess this means goodbye.” Said Weiß sadly and again a heavy silence hung through the cockpit. Finally the unknown pilot spoke up.
“Schwarz, Weiß, if the Cybuster is ever needed again I want you two to help the future generations. Me and all the others are putting all of our hope into my daughters, that they may lead those who follow into the future.”
Slowly and gently the Cybusters hands started to part. The pilot was chocking up at the next words.
“My dear, sweet darling angels. I hope that someday you may hear this message. Your mother and I love you so very much. May you create a future where every living being can find happiness.”
Finally the Cybuster released what it held. As the hands parted two little fillies were lying on the ground, blissfully sleeping. One of them had a shining white coat with light pink mane and tail. The other was a deep purple with blue mane and tail. The most striking feature however was that both fillies had a horn and wings.
After the fillies were gently put into the small cave, the pilot of the Cybuster took one last look at them and flew off towards the cave where it would remain hidden for an unknown amount of years. Finally the screens faded to black.
In the present day all ponies that witnessed this were perfectly silent with their mouths agape. Even the hyperactive Pinkie Pie was silently staring in disbelieve.
Twilight Sparkle was the first to recover. “I need to write to the princesses immediately.”
Authors note: Another narration-heavy chapter to cool down. I hope you like the story how Derpy found the Cybuster and the little flashback.
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 10 Spite and bitterness.
Deep underground, in a chamber designed to her tastes with a luxurious bed and a soft carpet to cover the dirty ground laid a midnight black alicorn.
Nightmare Moon was furious: No matter what she tried those damn element bearers seemed to pull a new weapon out of nowhere and beat her with it. This has become a more difficult struggle than the dark mare wanted it to be. It was supposed to be simple, one golem to dispose of the elements of harmony, then a few more to take over Equestria completely so she would be free to rule this kingdom in eternal night with throngs of loyal subjects to worship the very ground she walked.
She needed a new idea. With this new metal monstrosity she couldn't rely on quantity anymore. What she needed was something to outclass them, but how?
She needed to clear her head, as a wisp of smoke she made her way out into the gem mines that served as her home base and where the diamond dogs dug for their gems with help of their new unicorn slaves. If there was one thing she had to admit it was the efficiency with which those filthy mutts dug out the precious stones.
Suddenly inspiration hit her. She grabbed a few gems and flew back into her chamber. Gems have always been a natural conductor for magic. The unicorn guards since olden times would often wear gem encrusted armor to help them boost their magic abilities. Nightmare Moon quickly summoned a dirt golem, albeit a much smaller one, barely bigger than a normal pony. This time however she weaved the gems she took earlier into the body of the golem.
Only a faint glow indicated where the gems have sunk into the dirt golem. Nightmare Moon concentrated and gave this minion the order to shoot a part of its magic at a vase sitting in the corner of the room. The golem immediately obeyed its mistress as it raised its arm and the dirt split open to reveal one of the gems. Said gem glowed in a dark purple light and finally a purple energy beam shot out of it and shattered the vase.
A diamond dog was standing outside of the chamber as Nightmare Moon tested her new weapon. Curious, but also frightened, he risked a peak inside the room. What he saw did not help to calm his nerves. The dark mare was standing there, laughing at the vase that has been shattered and a small dirt golem was right next to her. Before he could retreat to safety the mare noticed him.
“Hey you!”
The poor dog froze up as he was addressed by the alicorn that was laughing maniacally just a second ago. He gulped and slowly turned around.
“Tell your leader that I wish to speak with him, now!”
Gladly he bolted off after the madmare barked her orders. It would be unwise to offend Nightmare Moon.
Just a few minutes later he returned with his leader, Rex, in tow.
“Alright then, tell me what you want.” Rex tried his best to keep a facade of bravery in front of Nightmare Moon, but the mare saw right through it. This dog would be easy to manipulate.
“As you may have heard things are not looking for me, that is why I need some gems to power up my golems.”
Fury overrode his survival instincts as he heard Nightmare Moons demand: they had worked themselves and their slaves hard for these gems and now they were supposed to just give them away.
“What do you think you're doing? We dug out your stone tablet and got our slaves in return, we both fulfilled out parts of the deal. And besides you still get free lodging in ret... UHG!” Rex was cut off as Nightmare Moon grabbed him with her magic and squeezed him tightly.
“And what do you think YOU are doing? Even if I couldn't crush you for your disobedience towards your future queen, do you think Celestia and Luna will just let you off easily?” Rex eyes widened in fear, not only because this insane mare was holding him in her grasp but also because he realized how deep he and his pack were in this. Nightmare Moon saw that look of realization on his face and smirked. “You have kidnapped all these ponies and directly helped me. If I lose, she will find out who helped me, and then having ALL of your gems taken away from you and being banished into a land without any gems will be the least punishment that awaits you.”
Nightmare Moon let go of her hold and the Diamond Dog leader fell to the ground. She smirked evilly and said in a false, sweet voice. “Now then, just giving me a part of your gems doesn't sound so bad anymore doesn't it?”
Rex hung his head low. He knew that in exchange for unicorn slaves to make their work easy, he just made his entire pack slaves of Nightmare Moon.
Meanwhile in the palace in Canterlot, Princess Celestia received a letter from Twilight Sparkle. The writing was hastily scribbled as Spike probably wrote twice as fast as normal. The letter said in the first sentence, without any greeting, to only read this together so before continuing Celestia went to her sisters room in a hurry. Such a hastily written letter must hold important information that both princesses needed to read as soon as possible.
As she finally arrived Princess Celestia sighed. After weeks her sister still has made no progress. In fact her guilt seemed to get worse after all communication with Neighsville dropped. After dispatching a few guards the princesses learned that the entire town was abandoned. The unicorn captain also confirmed that Nightmare Moon was in that town. It was painfully clear what occurred there, an entire town was ponynapped by that despicable dark spirit.
Her response was to evacuate all smaller towns to the bigger ones like Trottingham or Manehattan. Just yesterday the population of Ponyville arrived in Canterlot. The most difficult citizen was Granny Smith as she refused to leave the farm that she spent almost her entire life on. Only Big Macintosh was finally capable of convincing her. All of Equestria was in a panic: no amount of denial could possibly cover up the fact that the first war in the history of the kingdom has begun.
Quickly shaking that thought out of her head, she knocked on her sisters door. After a short moment of silence Luna beckoned her sister inside. Slowly pushing the door open, the elder sister slid inside the room. Luna was still lying on the bed, but thankfully Celestia noticed that she at least didn't seem to have another crying fit recently.
“Twilight has sent me another letter. It seemed important but had clear instructions for us to read it together.” She explained to her younger sister.
Luna was a little confused at this. Why was it so important that they read the letter together? Wondering about it would get them nowhere, so Celestia laid down next to Luna and unfurled the scroll.
Both sisters fixed their eyes on the scroll as they read about the Cybuster and the blackbox. For the first time they would see memories older than they were. Questions unfurled as the last moments of the Cybuster were described in great detail. Tears started to form as they heard the speech of the pilot: he must have loved his daughters a lot. Then came the decisive sentences, the daughters of the pilot were none other than themselves. Their mouths hung open as they processed the information. They were from the Kurogane, their father piloted a Personal Trooper, the loving father was their own.
Celestia struggled to keep her composure as a flood of emotions surged through her body. She never knew her father, so she could only wonder what he was like and now, even when she learned it through a letter from her student, her father loved them both. She turned towards Luna who was staring vacantly into the room.
After what felt like an eternity the smaller alicorn finally turned to her sister. “Celly, I need to go to the Kurogane, I want to see this blackbox for myself.”
Celestia could understand her little sister: it took all of her willpower to not just fly towards the desert right now, but she still had duties. “I understand Lulu, but we still have work to do here. We can't abandon the kingdom. Especially after reading this letter.”
Luna only held her head low. “Nopony needs me here.”
“Oh Luna, that's not true. Our subjects need both of us, now more than ever.”
“Face it sister, if I hadn't let my jealousy get the better of me, we wouldn't be facing war right now.”
“You demand perfection from yourself. Nopony could ever be that, not even us.” Celestia felt like the same discussion repeated itself over and over again. She desperately tries to cheer her sister up but Luna only sees herself as the guilty party and their arguments also always stayed the same and they never got anywhere.
For another long, torturous hour Celestia tried to ease her sisters pain while Luna just refused to cast off the blame she placed upon herself. It ended like all the other discussions before, with Luna's sadness barely eased. As Celestia left she took one last look at the scroll. “Father, what would you have done?”
Today would be a special day at the dig site. After the Personal Troopers have been repaired for the most part, the crew would take on their most daring project yet: Repairing and reactivating one of the super robots. After a lot of trial and error, they finally found the schematics for one of them, and as they inspected the hangar they found out that the robot was mostly in one piece. Still, they had to take it apart because the large robot would not fit through the cave opening. It was a truly impressive robot, almost four times the size of a Guarlion.
Spark oversaw the crew as they disassembled it. Carefully the screws and bolts on the arms were removed and several unicorns, Twilight Sparkle and Rarity among them, were ready to hold the large piece of metal. On the ground the two mares were chatting with each other.
“Isn't this exciting? This robot has more defensive capabilities than any of the others. This also reminds me of taking puzzles apart just to piece them back together.”
Rarity could not exactly understand her friends enthusiasm. Sure some of these robots were stylish, but Twilight seemed almost obsessed. Often the lavender unicorn would spend hours just looking at the different schematics and rambling on about technical data.
“That is really nice darling, but watch out it, looks like they are almost done.” Rarity’s horn started to glow as she grasped the already dangling arm with her magic. Twilight shook out of her ramble and did the same as the arm finally fell off. Thankfully, the unicorns already had a firm grip on it so it started to float the second it came off.
“Alright everypony, let's haul this one to the surface. Team B will stand by in case anypony loses his grip.” After the command of Spark a crewmember opened the hangar door leading them to the launch hangar. Outside, they have already prepared a patch of land for the reassembly and repairs.
Digger meanwhile sat with Spike on the bridge. He he knew a bit about geology, since his job pretty much requires him to dig underground, so he took it up to study the metal that the Kurogane and the Personal Troopers were made off.
“Dear Princess Celestia, I have studied parts of the personal troopers and concluded that they all have been made from high carbon steel. Thankfully we are capable of creating this kind of steel. Professor Spark has also disclosed his own report about the workings of the mechanics inside the PT. Sadly, despite having this information, we will not be able to create our own Personal Trooper, since we still need a lot of development time until we would be able to build one of these computers, which are necessary for the PT since they are the tool to control the PT.”
Digger paused for a moment, allowing Spike to write everything down. As the purple dragon stopped and looked at him expectantly the professor continued.
“We have also studied the blueprints for the weapons and ammo used by the Personal Troopers and we are pleased to report that we can recreate them with our current level of technology. My advice is to use the blueprints and schematics disclosed in this letter and send them to the engineering society of Canterlot. The Personal Troopers are our lifeline in this conflict and so we should focus on keeping them ready for combat. Sincerest regards, Professor Digger.”
After finishing the letter Spike rolled it up and sent it to the princess. Still the dragon seemed to be concerned about something. Professor Digger noticed this, “Is something wrong Spike?”
Said dragon looked down. “It's fine, I'm just worried about the others. We have those awesome robots to defend ourselves but what if Nightmare Moon decides to go directly for Canterlot?”
Digger smiled at this, they actually thought of this before. “Don't you worry Spike, I already have a plan for that. Spark and I decided that now that we got reinforcements we could part with a few PT's. As soon as the rest of them are repaired we will take Pinkie Pie's and Twilight's Gespensts, Applejacks Schutzwald and Rainbow Dash's Guarlion apart and send them to Canterlot along with a manual that Cogwheel is currently working on.”
Spike lighted up at this. “REALLY! Man that's so cool. Can I help you?”
Digger chuckled, “Of course, you can send the manual to the princess as soon as it's finished. He has been collecting the data from the training simulations for a while now, and he should be almost done.”
Without another word Spike hurried towards the elevator. He couldn't wait to see this project finished so that his other friends in Ponyville could defend themselves too. Lickety Split, Snips and Snails were the colts he regularly hung out with, even though the latter two were still as dumb as rocks and still regarded Trixie, of all ponies, as their idol. He could never understand how they could still be her fans after she was exposed as a fraud and even pull off a magic show during that talent show. He sighed as the elevator went down, even though it would probably sad if Trixie had no fans at all.
The elevator stopped and Spike immediately bolted out, nearly knocking over one of the bridge crew returning from his break, and ran towards the training room.
With the focus on Nightmare Moon and her golem armies, nopony noticed that another kind of revolution was taking place. After the Kurogane was found, the archaeological society practically exploded, new expeditions taking place all over Equestria. Of course that did not last long, as the curiosity was quickly replaced by fear of Nightmare Moon but there are still unoccupied dig sites everywhere.
Two lone earth ponies were walking through one of these in the middle of the night. This dig site was regarded one of the most dangerous, since it was technically in dragon territory, but was regarded as one of the most promising.
“This better be worth it, we're walking through dragon territory while in the middle of a war.” Scoffed the larger, moss green pony through his teeth with which he held a lantern. The smaller blue pony just chuckled in response.
“Don' you worry boss, I already scouted this site and I promise that we will find the answer to all of our problems in here.”
His 'boss' just grunted and followed him through the cave system. After an hour of walking he lost his patience and placed the lantern on the ground. “I've had it with this wild goose chase, you better show me some results now.”
“Oh please calm down we're already there.” The smaller pony stopped in the middle of the shaft and turned his back to a wall. The larger stallion gritted his teeth.
“Is this your idea of a joke? Dragging me into dragon territory in the middle of the night so I can look at a wall.”
Instead of responding the smaller stallion bucked the wall hard. The green pony ducked as a rumble echoed through the caves. Finally the shaking stopped and thankfully they were not buried alive. Slowly he lifted his head and then he saw it. Another cave opened behind his partner.
Carefully he picked up the lantern and went over to the hole. As the smaller stallion made his way, he peeked inside to see that there was in fact a huge cavern. With his mouth agape, the green stallion almost dropped the lantern and only managed to catch it in the very last moment. His gaze fell upon something shining on the bottom of the cave and he squinted his eyes to see.
His eyes went wide as he realized what they have found in there. Gently the green stallion placed the lantern on the floor and started to laugh. “I can't believe it, this is going to ensure our victory.”
His partner joined into the laughter, “I knew you would like this boss. After all, now the oppression will end and Terra Firma will rise to glory. We will be the salvation to all earth ponies pushed into the dirt by those pretentious unicorns and pegasi.”
For a long time their combined laughter echoed through the mine shafts like a ghost.
Today was the day that they would send some of their old PT's to Canterlot. Their engineering teams already took the Gespensts, the Schutzwald and the Guarlion apart and moved them to the storage area where the long range teleporting rune was. From one of the walkways Rainbow Dash and Applejack watched as the first parts were teleported towards Canterlot. Applejack looked at her friend and saw an uneasy expression on her face.
“Feels weird to have yer ol' ride taken apart and away huh?” The cyan pegasus twitched slightly.
“I don't know what you're talking about, the Astelion is way faster anyway.” Her indignant tone was betrayed by a hint of sadness. “But still that was MY Guarlion.”
Applejack knew how Rainbow Dash felt. Even though these were machines and not much more alive than the hat she was wearing, it still helped them greatly. Pinkie Pie must have felt the same way, otherwise she probably wouldn't have thrown a goodbye party in the hangar yesterday.
Both mares decided to head out and check on the repairs of the Super Robot. They had some free time since training was canceled due to Cogwheel, who normally led the training simulations, had to help with the PT's, and today was Derpy's and Pinkie's turn to patrol the area.
After half an hour they finally reached the surface where a circus sized tent was set up for the repairs. Just outside sat Rarity and Fluttershy at a table drinking some tea together. Rainbow Dash and Applejack went over to them. Rarity saw them coming and waved to them.
“Oh hello dears, lovely day today. I still can't believe my luck that Princess Celestia agreed to send this lovely tea set for us.” To punctuate her happiness she took another delicate sip from her teacup.
Rainbow Dash wasn't interested in that though, she just grabbed one of the biscuits lying on the table instead. “She probably wants to make sure we don't go gaga out here. Do you know how the new robot is coming along?”
This time Fluttershy answered. “They said the arms took most of the damage but the rest is mostly undamaged. We have the blueprints so we can just replace the armor. While they needed several unicorns to charge the generator of this robot it should be operational by tomorrow.” The others were a bit surprised at this, they wouldn't have thought Fluttershy to be so well informed about this.
“Did you catch Twilight's robot love sugarcube?” Asked Applejack, while remembering how often the lavender unicorn would start droning on about the performance of the PT's or show them sketches she has drawn.
“Oh I was thinking about volunteering as a pilot for it.” As Fluttershy said that Rainbow Dash and Applejack stared at her dumbfounded while Rarity did a spit take.
Rainbow Dash recovered while Rarity was still hacking. “Sorry Fluttershy, but did you just say you want to pilot this humongous hunk of steel and destruction?”
None of them could really believe it: Fluttershy always avoided conflicts, but now she pretty much volunteered for the front line.
“Well, it's just that the super robot makes me feel... safe. I can't really explain it.” The other mares decided to keep it at that, even though it was still a mystery to them what possessed Fluttershy to make this decision. Applejack and Rainbow Dash said goodbye to the two of them and went inside the tent to watch the repairs while Fluttershy and Rarity continued to chat.
Both princesses observed as the parts arrived at the castle. They did not lack helpers today, as everypony who heard of the PT's rushed to the castle in hopes they could get a glimpse. The first Gespenst was through and the engineers hauled the parts outside where they would reassemble them. From the paint job Celestia guessed that Twilight piloted this one before the Wildraubtier. There were also four of her best and brightest captains of the guard present, who were chosen to pilot the robots. All four of them have received a manual in advance but soon they would have to start practicing.
A large field has been prepared just outside of Canterlot where they could do some field training without being a danger to the civilians. The idea to just send one of the simulator chairs through was quickly discarded, since they did not have the technology to build a computer to control the simulator, so even if they did it wouldn't help.
Both princesses took in every single detail of the arriving PT parts. Did their father really pilot one of theses? Was the Cybuster really so close to Canterlot and still they never found it? Sadness washed over Celestia as she wondered if they could have avoided this entire tragedy if they could have just had a piece of their past.
Another thing got them thinking. From what she heard about the blackbox there was some sort of fight going on. Who could the alicorns of the past possibly have fought? Suddenly Celestia noticed that her sister was no longer at her side. She looked around the room and saw Luna following a team of engineers hauling the right leg of the Schutzwald outside.
Luna quietly walked alongside the workers as they kept the mechanical leg afloat. Outside, she could already see the torso of the Gespenst being attached to the legs. The night princess wanted to know more about them. Suddenly she heard the sound of a pony landing behind her. She turned around and saw her older sister.
“I'm sorry for leaving your side, I was just curious.” She muttered meekly.
“It's okay Luna, I actually wanted to take a closer look myself.” Celestia gently smiled at her younger sister. Maybe this could finally prove to be the breakthrough she needed to get her sister out of her depression.
“Tia, do the captains chosen to pilot these still need their manuals?” Asked Luna, and immediately flinched as if she feared she said something wrong.
“Well yes, but if you want to look at it I still have a spare.” Answered the older sister with a warm smile on her face. “Since I also wanted to learn more about our past so, do you want to read it together with me?” Celestia looked at her sister hopefully and for the first time in nearly a month she saw her sister smile, even if it was just a slight curl.
“I'd love to Tia.”
Authors Note: And another narrative chapter. Now, try to guess which Super Robot our shy sweet pegasus will get. I’ve given it some thought and found that my choice may look a little strange at first but also makes sense.
Ps: I’m using SPT as an acronym for this story but only found out that there’s a mecha anime called “Blue Comet SPT Layzner” after I published a few chapters.
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 11 To protect.
Fluttershy desperately clung to the controls; the large super robot was a lot harder to steer than her small PT. Currently she was trying to move it through a canyon that appeared very narrow for the super robot. In front of her she saw another curve and gulped. Slowing down, she gently adjusted her flight trajectory. She almost made it but the robot didn't turn fast enough and she ended up crashing into the canyon wall. Her screen was filled with static and the shy pegasus sighed in defeat.
“Alright, test over,” came Cogwheel’s voice through the speakers.
Light flooded the tiny chamber Fluttershy sat in as the simulation ended and the fake cockpit opened. This was her tenth attempt at taming the new robot, and still she didn't get anywhere with this. As Cogwheel trotted over to her, she already knew what he was about to say.
“I need to be more forceful with this one, right?” He only nodded his confirmation. Fluttershy was frustrated at repeating the same mistake over and over. Her gentle movements were not enough to move the large super robot, so it would almost always end out of control.
“It's no use, maybe somepony else should take over for me.” In hindsight, Fluttershy wondered what she was thinking. Piloting a normal PT was stressful enough for her, but a super robot was a far different league.
Cogwheel gave her a reassuring smile and tried to encourage her. “Don't be so hard on yourself. Aside from controlling too softly you did great.”
“I just can't be that forceful, I'm always too scared to break anything or hurt anypony. Maybe you can get somepony else to try it,” muttered Fluttershy sadly.
Cogwheel shook his head. “And you will never learn to use enough force if you give up. If I didn't believe in you, I would have suggested somepony else three tries ago. Now try again.”
These words seemed to finally encourage Fluttershy, who smiled slightly and grasped the controls again.
Meanwhile in the repair hangar the engineers that were not working on the super robot were repairing two PT's. Spark and Digger decided to join in the fight and were currently training so that they could pilot the Huckebein MKII and the Wildschwein.
The Huckebein had a black torso and soles, while the rest of the body was a dark shade of purple with some golden yellow markings. The shoulders were triangular in shape, and there was a crest on its forehead that looked like a V. On the back were two boomerang shaped fins, and while the Huckebein was a lot like the Gespenst in function, it appeared slimmer in form. Digger decided to pilot the Huckebein while Spark chose the Wildschwein.
The Wildschwein looked like a slightly bulkier version of the Huckebein. The only real difference was the disk shaped device on its left arm. Some openings ran along the side of the disk. From what they learned, the Wildschwein was capable of generating an energy disk with this that could slice through those golems without much problems.
The air was still thick with tension between Spark and Digger because of their different opinions, but both of them decided that Nightmare Moon was the bigger problem here and put their arguing to a rest. However, this was of no concern to the engineers. Tomorrow, the Huckebein and the Wildschwein would launch together with the super robot, and all the other PT's and the Cybuster could finally get a thorough checkup. Only Rarity's Gespenst would be out in case something happened.
Later that day everypony was sitting in the mess hall having dinner. Only Applejack and Rarity were out right now for patrol. Fluttershy entered and Twilight waved her over to their table. “Hey there Fluttershy, how was your training?” asked the lavender unicorn.
Without a word Fluttershy slumped down at the table and her head hit the surface. “I tried my best, but I can't control this machine.”
“But Fluttershy, you could control the Schutzwald just fine,” said Rainbow Dash.
“I know, but this is completely different. Its a lot bigger than a PT, and the thrusters are also more powerful.” answered Fluttershy with slightly sad frustration in her voice. She would need a robot with smoother controls, or else she's just gonna crash into something.
Then Twilight had an idea. “Maybe Applejack can give you some advice. Her Alteisen is also hard to control, so she should be able to help you.”
“Yeah, and as for controlling powerful thrusters, after taming my Astelion I can help you with that,” added Rainbow Dash, and patted Fluttershy on the shoulder reassuringly.
“You would really do that for me?” asked Fluttershy, who found new hope for her own skills as a pilot.
“Sure, what are friends for?” answered the cyan pegasus. “So let's hit the simulators and when I take over for Applejack, I send her to you.”
Fluttershy nodded and together they made their way to the training room.
The day for their launch has come. Digger and Spark were sitting in the Wildschwein and the Huckebein. Only Fluttershy was missing on the scene. Nopony wanted to talk about what has happened, but despite her friends help, the shy pegasus couldn't make it through the test. The super robot would stay in its tent for now, as nopony else has stepped up for training yet. Most of the archaeological and engineering teams were either needed elsewhere or too scared to fight, and Fluttershy's friends didn't want to betray her.
Out in the dunes some target were set up, green ones for long range combat and red ones for close range combat. Today they decided to do a race to compare the PT's.
All crewmembers that were not participating in the test were watching the scene with screens that have been reinstalled and connected with the bridges main computer. It was amazing how fast the bridge crew learned how to use these. Most of the credit for that went to Cogwheel and his amazing abilities with machines. He could sense how the machines were supposed to work and what commands had to be typed into the computers.
All of team M6 minus Fluttershy and Rarity were assembled on the bridge. None of them were as excited as the rest of the crew. Even Twilight, who developed such a deep love for those robots looked downcast. After failing the last attempt at guiding the super robot, the shy pegasus fell into a depression and shut herself in her room. Rarity decided to stay with her to comfort her. The others wanted to stay with Fluttershy too at first, but since they'd be in the same fighting team with the new PT's, they would have to know about their capacities.
Applejack let out a sigh and looked at Rainbow Dash. “Shoot, we tried our best to help her.”
“But the robot was just more stubborn than her,” finished Rainbow Dash. Both felt like they let Fluttershy down, and could barely bring themselves to look up at the screen.
Nevertheless the test started. The Wildschwein was mainly built for close range combat so they equipped it with a shotgun. Also, the disk attached to its arm was able to build up a circular sawblade made of energy to slice through the targets. The Huckebein, however, was more of a long range fighter and it came with it's own set of weapons. One of them was a photon rifle that destroyed many of the targets with a purple energy bolt, and the Chacram caster. That device would launch a small disk that wraps a thread made out of an unknown material around it's target to slice it up.
They all observed as Digger and Spark went through the test, destroying all of their targets. Despite the fact that they were build similar to the Gespenst and Schutzwald, the performance of both their units was still considerably stronger. Finally all targets were destroyed, and the test was over.
“Well done, you can now return to the Kurogane so we can ready the Huckebein and the Wildschwein for further use,” said Cogwheel over the intercom. He was very pleased with how the test went: Those two PT's would be an useful addition to their arsenal.
On the way back the two fresh pilots opened a private channel to have a little chat.
“Tell me Spark, do you still think that only earth ponies should be allowed to profit from the Kurogane technology?” asked Digger. The argument between the two of them may have been put to rest for a while but it was never resolved.
“You know the answer, and besides I'll still have magic. What advantage do earth ponies have?” It was something nopony could understand. Why would Spark willingly bar himself from the field he loves?
“With hard work earth ponies can also accomplish everything unicorns and pegasi can do. I'm sure you have heard of the scientist group in Manehattan that managed to create a raincloud without the help of a pegasus, or the many successful earth pony surgeons that are said to be even better than any healing spell.”
While Spark believed that earth ponies should get a completely new advantage, Digger believed that it is not necessary and that it would be unfair towards the other ponies.
They continued to argue until they reached the entrance. Spark wanted to bring one more argument before they would go back into the ship. “What about the towns that were built by earth ponies? They build the town with only their hooves and then they can't even claim that territory for themselves. Why can't the princess allow for just one earth pony only town?”
“Because towns like Ponyville or Appleloosa may be built BY earth ponies but for everypony,” retorted Digger, still not believing that he as an earth pony had to explain to a unicorn why earth ponies are not treated unfairly. He could understand where Spark's notion, came from but this was ridiculous.
Both PT's were almost inside the cave when suddenly a beam of dark purple energy shot past between them and hit the cave. A light earthquake shook the surface as the roof fell and closed off the connection between the Kurogane and the surface. Digger and Spark turned around to see the source of the attack and came to face a large group of sand golems.
There were a good dozen of them, and something seemed different. At some points, a faint purple glow could be seen coming from inside of them, and their hands, which were held forward, had a cluster of gems in their palms.
On the bridge the crew panicked. Not only did Nightmare Moon manage to improve the golems, only two PT's that already fired off most of their ammo were outside, and they held the leaders of each the engineering and the archaeological team.
Cogwheel at this point was frantically shouting orders. “Quick, we need to clear the rubble and help them. Team M6, board your PT's immediately!”
All of them complied, but then they remembered that two of them were missing. “Rarity and Fluttershy weren't here!” Cogwheel heard Twilight and activated the ships speakers.
“Fluttershy and Rarity, Spark and Digger are being attacked, go to the PT hangar immediately and board your PT's!”
Fluttershy twitched nervously as Cogwheels voice came over the intercom but she did not move away from her bed. Rarity galloped to the door and waited for her friend. “Fluttershy dear, we are both needed.” Fluttershy made no motion.
“You are needed Rarity. I always try to help but when things get serious I always mess up.” Before Fluttershy could curl up again Rarity was already with her and held her by the shoulders.
“Fluttershy dear, what the HAY are you talking about!” Fluttershy was shocked at hearing her normally so sophisticated friend use such language. She blushed furiously and tried to say something but Rarity took the word again.
“It is the exact opposite of what you say. You always get too nervous when things are not serious, but as soon as one of us is in danger you become easily the strongest, most capable of us. And that is why I am sure that nopony is better suited for rescuing others than you.”
Rarity's words echoed through Fluttershy's mind, triggering memories. She was too afraid to fly at hearing a dragons roar but as it threatened her friends she made the dragon cry. She couldn't tame the cutie mark crusaders but saved Twilight by staring down a cockatrice. Rarity was right.
“Rarity, tell them I will go out and pilot the super robot.” The white unicorn beamed at her friend with pride.
“Go get them Fluttershy.”
Twilight and the rest were waiting for Rarity and Fluttershy to show up. All of them were tense, even if they launched, they would have to remove the rubble first before they could do anything. Finally Rarity showed up and went to her own Gespenst. She opened the cockpit hatch and sat down. Immediately, the intercom went on and Rainbow Dash's face appeared on the screen.
“Hey Rarity, where is Fluttershy?”
The unicorn gave her a small smile in return. “Doing what she does best, being the strongest in a critical situation.”
Twilight joined their conversation, “She went ahead without her PT? But that is highly dangerous!” Twilight wasn't even sure what to do with the PT's. Then it hit her, “She's going for the super robot?”
Rarity nodded in response, she was one hundred percent sure of Fluttershy's abilities.
As fast as she could Fluttershy flew to the entrance of the cave, hoping she would find an opening. Dust was flying through the air, and the odd rock was still falling down, but Fluttershy paid it no mind. Her eyes were fixed on a beam of light coming out of the wall of rocks in front of her.
The cave in left a small hole open through which the sunlight still came. From the outside, Fluttershy could also hear the battle taking place right now. Digger and Spark were fighting alone against the golems. Determined to help them, Fluttershy squeezed herself through the crack. She felt as if her bones would break at any moment but she couldn't give up now.
“I have to... help them.” She couldn't stop here, not now! She tried her best to get through, but it was just too narrow. After a lot of pushing she plopped down and tears started to flow. “No, I let them down.”
She laid there for a while, listening to the loud barks of the PT's weapons and the howling of the golems energy shots. How long are Spark and Digger able to hold out until they run out of ammo?
“You are not thinking about giving up darling.”
Fluttershy almost hit her head as she heard Rarity talking. The rocks loosened their grip around her as she turned around and came face to face with Rarity's Gespenst, gently pushing the rocks aside. Behind her were the others.
“Now go, we need a while until we can move the rubble, but you can get to the super robot right now.” Came further encouragement from Rarity.
“Why can't I smash through it with the sonic breaker?” asked Rainbow Dash from behind her.
“Because you would just cause another cave in and bury us all,” answered Twilight.
Filled with newfound vigor Fluttershy, pushed herself through the rocks. Carefully, to avoid being squashed, she navigated through the narrow passages between the boulders. Then finally she saw the outside, and with a final push, she was outside and made her way to the tent.
Spark and Digger couldn't hold out much longer; their ammo was low to begin with after the test, and because of the first attack, they couldn't count on reinforcements from the Kurogane. Spark quickly popped out of the dune he used as cover and fired another round of his shotgun at the enemy. Together they managed to take out three of the new golems. The fire from the enemy was just too heavy, they couldn't get a clear shot before they had to duck back to avoid an energy blast.
The shot managed to hit one of the golems in the right arm, but it wasn't very impressed, as it merely raised the other arm and continued its assault. Digger meanwhile used the last shot of his photon rifle to take out the wounded golem. After he fired he immediately discarded the weapon.
“Sorry buddy, I'm all out now. Cover me so I can get close enough to use the Chakram Caster,” said Digger as he threw the rifle away.
“I am all out too.” Panic gripped Digger as he heard this. The Wildschwein was made for close range combat. The shotgun was its only real ranged weapon, and even then Spark already used it past its range. Before Digger could conjure a new strategy, Spark threw in his own suggestion. “I am going to pull their fire away from you, go closer while they concentrate on me.”
Digger could not believe what he just heard, “Oh no, you are not as fast, they are going to shoot you down,” he pleaded, having an idea what Spark planned.
His answer was a hollow chuckle from the unicorn. “Don't you get it? If Nightmare Moon wins this all of Equestria will be in the dark forever. Sometimes sacrifices must be made.”
“And you expect me to suddenly win as soon as you die? I could take out maybe two of them if I'm lucky,” protested Digger.
As they argued they didn't notice one of the golems getting closer until he was almost directly above them, standing on the dune they ducked behind.
“Watch out!” Digger barely registered the warning as a stone fist descended, and he braced himself for the impact.
Quickly Spark activated the Disk Slicer, a ring of green energy formed around the device on its left arm and he swung it against the golems chest. With a loud roar, the energy blade tore through the rocks and hit the core, causing the golem to turn into a pile of rubble. Unfortunately for Spark, the other golems saw their chance and fired at him. One of the energy beams hit the Wildschweins legs, causing it to fall down on top of the Huckebein. Both PT's were now pinned helplessly to the ground.
Both of them felt that this was the end. They could no longer fight back against the golems. Spark opened the communication channel again. “Looks like this is it Digger, sorry about all the arguing.” Then Spark put his hoof against the screen.
From the other side Digger sighed and put his own hoof against Sparks. “Better to go out as friends. I hope the others will kick Nightmare Moons flank for this.”
“STEP AWAY FROM THEM!” Sparks and Digger's heads shot up again as they heard Fluttershy shouting.
In the air was a massive, red robot. A blue glowing energy field protected it as the energy blasts fired from the golems bounced off of it. It was almost four times the size of a normal PT, and on both of its arms were huge shields attached to it. The head and the shoulders looked almost flat, and the chest was sticking forward in a pyramid like golden shape.
“Fluttershy, launching in the Giganscudo.”
All the golems focused their fire on the Giganscudo, but its shields stayed strong during the assault. Like a meteor the large robot descended on them.
From the bridge of the Kurogane Cogwheel saw what Fluttershy was doing. During their training, Fluttershy was tasked to sweep the ground with the shield arm, but in the end she always crashed into the ground. He realized what Fluttershy was doing and grinned.
“Brilliant, if you can't make it behave your way, adapt to it.”
Outside the Giganscudo crashed into a group of golems, destroying four of them. Despite the strength of the energy shield, Fluttershy had to be quick, the energy was still low since nopony expected to use it today. Like a plow, the Giganscudo made its way across the ground. Fluttershy did her best to keep the robot steady as the entire cockpit vibrated. This was too important, she couldn't afford to lose now.
Just in the moment the shield collapsed Fluttershy reached the remaining golems. Even without the energy field, the thick armor protected her well. Before even the first layer was breached, she crashed into the remaining golems and reduced them to rubble.
As the dust settled, only a gigantic red robot and the deep furrow it dug into the ground remained. From inside the cave, the others finally managed to free the entrance and poured outside to congratulate Fluttershy.
“Congratulations!”
“You rock, Fluttershy!”
“Way to go, girl!”
Her friends and the bridge crew cheered her on after her victory. A light feeling spread through her stomach, as the faces of her friends appeared on the screen.
“Aw yeah, I knew you could do it Flutters,” assured Rainbow Dash, and pumped her hoof into the air, almost hitting the ceiling of her cockpit.
Rarity gave her a warm smile. “See, just believe in yourself like we do and everything will turn out all right.”
Fluttershy only managed a nervous chuckle.
Then Twilight looked at her with concern. “Say Fluttershy, are you all right? You look a little green.”
When she crashed into the ground, the shaking was pretty bad. She felt as if her stomach was twisted into a knot.
Cogwheel joined their chat and in the exact same moment Fluttershy lost control. The bridge crew looked at the screen only to see that it was obstructed by something. They all realized what it was.
“Eeew!”
“Uuh, cleaning crew to the Giganscudo. And get Fluttershy some milk to calm her stomach,” was the only thing Cogwheel could bring himself to say.
Authors note: Sorry for the longer than usual wait. I am currently a little stressed because of the VET end exams. I am still trying to write something in between but please bear with the waiting time until things calm down a bit.
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 12 Roaring Lions.
Two stallions were watching as the preparations for their takeover were almost done. The new, secret hideout for Terra Firma was bustling with earth ponies, working the machinery they found in that cave. There were even some unicorn and pegasus sympathizers working with them, although they did not use their magic or wings. They stood on a platform while overseeing the hangar in which the ponies of Terra Firma worked on the machines.
It was considered common courtesy in the organization that unicorn and pegasus members would not use the abilities unique to their kind. Despite Terra Firma being a pro earth pony movement that believed to be discriminated against by the other kinds of ponies, the unicorns and pegasi that supported them were always considered as brothers in their fight for justice.
Despite the preparations going smoothly, the older stallion was still nervous. They would soon go against the regime of Princess Celestia herself, and the princess's student and her friends had some very impressive robots themselves, if their spy in the castle was to be believed. Only the amount of AM's that were being repaired eased his mind. Erde has taken over Terra Firma from his father and he continued the good fight in his name. Although his father preached peaceful methods, Erde reluctantly had to admit that they have already tried every peaceful approach, and that now the time for revolution has come.
To his side was Sediment, his trusty adviser, who showed him this cave. Erde did not really know much about him but that didn't matter. Ever since he employed him the movement has only grown. Now they were an army, prepared to break the chains of oppression, which Celestia disguised as 'trying to be fair'. He took the time to address his comrades.
“My dear comrades, the time to strike has come.” All eyes in the hall were on him now. “For too long we have been cast into the mud while the other kinds of ponies were living lives full of luxury and prestige. Despite the fact that even some of the pegasi and unicorns have a better sense of justice and not only agree with us, but even stand by our side in this hour, Celestia never granted us a single wish.” Nods and murmurs of agreement flooded the hall. “Peaceful negotiations have failed, now it is time for us to take that which we rightfully deserve by force. We did not want this, but Celestia is forcing our hooves. Go forth my proud lions, you carry the future of all earth ponies on your shoulders.”
The crowd erupted into cheering as Erde finished his speech, said stallion turned to his adviser. “We are at the point of no return,” he said in a solemn tone.
Sediment smirked. “Going back is easy, but it is usually the worse choice.” Erde nodded in agreement and then continued to watch his comrades as they prepared for the first strike.
It has been a week since Fluttershy successfully activated the Giganscudo and her training regiment has been revised. Instead of trying to make the super robot move the way she wanted to they concentrated on teaching Fluttershy how to use the Giganscudo’s moves to her advantage.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were also often in the simulators; apparently, the fillies found the training to be really fun, and they hoped that maybe they could get PT piloting cutie marks, an idea everypony else didn't like so much. Toys have been sent so the fillies could play together, along with homework from Ms. Cheerilee so they would still learn what they needed while they were on the Kurogane. Their classmates and teacher were very worried about them and regularly sent them letters from Canterlot. Even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon at least refrained from insulting them.
Canterlot and the other big cities in Equestria became very crowded as smaller towns and villages were evacuated. In fact the only small town where ponies still lived was Appleloosa, and only because there were no big cities within safe traveling distance. All of Equestria was afraid, afraid of the first war in history.
Twilight and her friends were sitting together at the dinner table. Since they had to patrol the area, they did not have the opportunity to sit together like this for a long time, but today Derpy would patrol together with Spark and Digger. Fortunately the damage done to the Huckebein and the Wildschwein was not as bad as they first thought. Most of it was the hull.
Eagerly they all waited for Spike to burp up the regular letter from home. Every week their families would come together to write a letter to them. This was their favorite part of the week, since they could finally get a little piece of normalcy. Finally with a burp and a green flame the scroll appeared, which was eagerly snatched up by Twilight. The purple unicorn began to read:
Dear Rarity,
We hope you and Sweetie Belle are alright. All the time we hear about the preparations the soldiers are performing, and we get more worried about you the more we hear. Yesterday we watched the guards as they practiced with those robots. It's still difficult to imagine you sitting in one of them. Please come back safely, and please protect Sweetie Belle.
With love, Carlton and Sparkler.
Dear Applejack,
After the stress of moving to Canterlot, Granny finally calmed down again. The doctor said that if she doesn't stress herself again she will be fine. Please don't overexert yourself and keep an eye on Applebloom.
Love, Big Macintosh.
Twilight continued to read out the letters from their families until she reached her own portion of the scroll. She gasped as she finished reading.
Dear Twily,
It's me, Shining Armor. First I want to tell you how proud I am of you little sis, you are a lot stronger than I ever gave you the credit for. At the same time I'm sad though, I joined the guard so I could protect you from exactly this kind of situation and now you are on the front line while I sit here in Canterlot. I volunteered to pilot your old Gespenst MKII, I hope it keeps me just as safe as it did for you. To end this letter on a more positive note, yesterday I proposed to Cadence, your old foalsitter. We planned on marrying as soon as this is over, I hope you will be in one piece for the wedding.
Good luck and stay safe, Shining Armor.
“My brother is marrying Cadence?” Twilight couldn't believe it, finally some good news. While she practically squealed in joy her friends were confused. They never heard about Twilight’s brother or this Cadence.
“Twilight, who is Cadence and why did you never tell us about your brother?” Asked Applejack.
Twilight didn't really know why she never told her friends about her brother and Cadence. “I don't know, maybe because I never had friends before you that I could tell about them.” Shining Armor and Cadence were the only ponies aside from Princess Celestia that Twilight ever considered as friends and they were both older than herself. “Shining Armor is my older brother, we always got along perfectly, shared our hopes and dreams, played together. Now he is captain of the royal guard.”
Rarity cut her off at this moment. “Captain of the royal guard? Your brother has such a high position and you never told us?” Rarity was aghast: This was not just any title, it was one the top ten list of the most prestigious titles in Equestria.
“Sorry, anyway Princess Cadence is Celestia's niece and she was my foalsitter when I was small. She is beautiful and kind,.I always loved it when she came to visit. Personally I couldn't think of a better mare for my brother.” As Twilight finished, Rarity was almost foaming at her mouth. Twilight’s brother was not just captain of the royal guard, he would soon marry the niece of Princess Celestia, that would mean that her friend Twilight would soon be royalty.
“Twilight, that would mean that you are soon an in-law of the princess, you'll be part of the royal family.” Gasped Rarity.
Twilight never really cared much for titles but the thought of officially being a family with her beloved mentor sounded wonderful to her. “Well Rarity, while it was never official, the princess always told me that she considered me a part of her family.” Twilight happily remembered when she was told this.
“Anyway, I hope that Nightmare Moon stays away from Canterlot. I don't want anything to happen to Shining Armor or Cadence.” This was something Twilight was afraid of: What if Nightmare Moon started to target Equestrian cities instead of the Kurogane? The steel ship was still dormant under the sands, and they would be very vulnerable to attacks if they had to fly the PT's all the way to the city that was being attacked while breaking up to ensure that the dig site was still protected.
Applejack saw the worried expression on her friend. “Now don'tcha worry sugarcube, we'll give Nightmare Moon a good ole hoedown and then Equestria will be safe again.”
This seemed to cheer Twilight up as she gave her friend a smile. “You're right, even after Nightmare Moon got those golems to shoot energy beams we managed to defeat them.” Confidence slowly started to fill the unicorn. “Whatever she can show up with, we have something to defeat it.”
“Exactly, nopony can beat us, after all we have the only PT's in Equestria.” Said Rainbow Dash in her usual, cocky tone. “My Astelion is faster than anything, Fluttershy's Giganscudo is tougher than anything and the rest of you can open a whole can off whoopflank on anything.”
The little pep rally they held had visible effects on their team, even Fluttershy seemed confident. “I'm sure everything will turn out fine.” She said with a calm smile on her face. They continued to chat without worries and laughed heartily. With the PT's on their side, what would they need to worry about?
The next day, Twilight and Pinkie Pie were patrolling the area in their PT's. Today was a quiet one. Only a small group of four sand golems reared their heads and were swiftly dispatched. After their first encounter with the golems that shot energy beams they decided to include defense against long range attacks in their training regiment. At first they thought that would be a waste of time since the golems could only throw rocks and sand at first, both easily dodged if you were paying attention. They also haven't seen any storm golems in a while.
Pinkie and Twilight decided that now was the best time for a little chat. “And I'm telling you Twi, we can totally have a dance party with our robots. It's gonna be the best party EVER!” Reasoned Pinkie Pie, who after their talk yesterday, already planned the victory party for them.
“Pinkie, the joints are not made for dancing, you'll break them!” Scolded Twilight, even her Wildraubtier would not be fit for a dance party despite being able to transform.
By this point, piloting became as natural for them as breathing to the point where they could perform even the most complicated maneuvers in their sleep, Pinkie was even proving her point by doing a little dance with her Weissritter.
Twilight scolded her friend. “Stop it Pinkie, the joints will break.”
Twilight transformed her Wildraubtier back into biped mode and tried to hold the Weissritter, which was not easy since she still held the hyperbeam rifle in one hand.
Twilight dropped the rifle and used both arms to keep Pinkie still. “The robots are not THAT tough, they can break easily when not used correctly. How often do the technicians oil the joints?”
Pinkie finally held still, “Uuuh, I don't know.”
Twilight facehoofed, “You should really oversee them when they maintain your PT. You should know best what your machine needs.” Twilight became less stern as she started to talk about her latest, favorite subject. “Another important thing you need to keep your eye on is the firing stability. You may think your PT's arms are always stiff and straight, but they are actually swaying a bit when you take aim. By fixing the arms correctly you can keep the movement at an absolute minimum to ensure that your aim is precise.”
Twilight continued to talk about various technical specifications and piloting advice, Pinkie already fell asleep halfway through her lecture. “And that is why you should never eat hay fries before piloting. Did you get all of that Pinkie? Pinkie?” The pink mare shot up from her sleep.
“Uh, what? Oh, are you done Twi?” She asked and lazily scatched her ear with her hind hoof.
Twilight let out a frustrated groan. “Nevermind Pinkie, let's just wrap up this patrol and head back.”
The two of them broke apart, ready to continue on their route as something shot past them, just as they separated. Both of them turned their heads as some sort of projectile hit the ground below them and a fountain of sand and dust shot up. They were being attacked!
Quickly, they turned to the direction the shot came from. Both mares gasped at what they saw. Six robots, just like the ones they were piloting, were coming at them. Their legs were thin, more like fins than actual legs. One arm was like a thin barrel and the other one was a flat hand. The body was designed in an aerodynamic way, flat and rounded, pointing slightly forward. Fins were attached to the shoulders and boosters were pointing backwards. They held some resemblance to Rainbow Dash’s old Guarlion.
The thin barrels on their arms were crackling with electricity and more shots were fired at them. Twilight and Pinkie barely managed to dodge the shots, then a communication channel opened. They saw a stern looking grey earth pony glaring at them.
“We are from Terra Firma, Princess Celestia has ignored the pleas of us earth ponies for far too long, now we will take our rights by force.” The pony proclaimed.
Twilight couldn't believe it; Terra Firma was attacking them and they had robots! Twilight desperately tried to reason with the stallion. “We are not your enemies, Nightmare Moon is still active, we should not fight against each other.”
Pinkie Pie decided to help her friend. “Yeah, how about we just become friends instead, then we can have a huge party and everypony will be happy.”
Their words however, did not manage to change the opinion of their attackers and another volley of shots were flying in their direction. “You are with Princess Celestia, that means that you are an obstacle in our way. Surrender now or we'll shoot.”
Both mares panicked: This was different from fighting lifeless golems, these were ponies just like them. They couldn't just shoot them down. Twilight made a decision. “Run!”
She quickly transformed the Wildraubtier back into flight mode and the two of them flew back towards the Kurogane while dodging the fire coming from their new enemies. While they fled, some of the diamond dogs that were tasked with spying on them observed as the newcomers attacked. The dogs just looked at each other before digging down to report to their new mistress.
On the way back to the camp, Twilight and Pinkie could not lose their attackers. While the Weissritters Tesla Drive and the Wildraubtiers flight mode were features, those machines were made to fly. The Kurogane was in their range again and Twilight immediately opened a communication channel to the bridge.
Digger currently had his shift on the bridge. Most of his work consisted of overseeing the others while they figured out more and more of the Kuroganes controls. After spending such a long time on this steel ship, the crew was almost capable of flying the steel ship, should it ever fly again. Spark has implied that he had plans for mobilizing the Kurogane, earlier that day.
One of the communication screens flared up, it was an emergency signal from the Wildraubtier. “Get Twilight on screen.” He ordered the proclaimed communication officer. With a few, well trained key strokes he put Twilight on screen.
“Digger, finally! This is an emergency!” Yelled Twilight, who was obviously distressed.
“Was it an ambush from Nightmare Moon?” Asked Digger, and ordered his communication officer to notify the other pilots.
“NO! It's Terra Firma!” The entire bridge crew gasped in shock as they heard this.
“Terra Firma?” Digger asked in disbelieve. “How is this possible?” He knew that the views of this organization were very radical but he never thought they would attack somepony.
“I don't know how, but they have AM's!” Said Twilight before a blast smashed her against the side of her cockpit. “What are we supposed to do? We can't shoot them down! There are ponies in those AM's!”
Digger was speechless, there were other traces of the Kurogane technology somewhere else? And Terra Firma found them? He shook his head, no time to waste on these ponderings, Twilight and Pinkie needed help. “Twilight, give us visuals of the enemy AM's, we'll search the database for information.”
Twilight put the rear cameras of the Wildraubtier on the screen and showed their attackers to the bridge crew. They immediately typed away at their terminals to look for any info on these new machines.
Evading the continuing attacks from the Terra Firma AM's became more strenuous for Pinkie and Twilight. Not only were the pilots determined to shoot them down, it was downright terrifying for them to think that their fellow ponies would attack them.
From the bridge Digger ground his teeth as he watched many close calls as the two pilots got back into the range where they could tap into their cameras. When the alert went out to the rest of the crew, Spark immediately made his way to the bridge. “Who is attacking Twilight and Pinkie Pie?” he asked furiously.
With a stern tone, Digger answered him. “Terra Firma.” He turned around and looked him in the eyes. “This 'organization of justice' is currently trying to shoot down our pilots.” Spark was shocked, the ponies he always held up to be supporters of true equality were attacking them?
Before Spark could say anything a screen lit up and Fluttershy could be seen. “Uhm Digger, I'm currently in the Giganscudo, would you mind if I launch to help them?” She asked shyly. Normally she would be unusually assertive when it came to saving her friends: the thought about fighting other ponies must have put her off.
“Permission to launch granted, shield the Wildraubtier and the Weissritter but don't attack the AM's until we have more information.” Ordered Digger and went back to addressing the bridge crew. “Hurry up, we need more information ASAP!”
Fluttershy launched as soon as she heard Digger give her permission. Then he also told her not to attack the AM's. Even if he permitted her to attack them, Fluttershy doubted that she would be able to do it. Slowly the rays of the sun came into view and she needed to adjust her eyes for a moment. Luckily Twilight and Pinkie were already close to the Kurogane, they were already in view and Fluttershy could open a communication channel. “Hurry, come to me so I can shield you.”
The two mares were relieved to hear their friend. Straining their boosters to their limits, they rushed over to the large, red super robot that held it's arms wide open. The AM's behind them fired a volley of missiles at them. The large, shielded arms of the Giganscudo closed around them as the missiles hit. Both arms were engulfed in a firestorm but as the flames died down, all three robots were still standing strong.
Fluttershy activated the speakers of the Giganscudo and addressed the pilots from Terra Firma. “Please listen to me, with the threat of Nightmare Moon we should work together instead of fighting each other. We do not hold any hostilities towards you and just wish to ensure that Equestria will be safe. Please join us or leave, I won't let you hurt my friends either way.” She said gently, yet firmly. Fluttershy did not know where she got her strength from;- she suspected that the Giganscudo helped her to feel stronger.
“Celestia is never going to treat us fairly, under the pretense that she doesn't want to treat the other kinds of ponies unfarily. The only chance we have is an uprising.” Snarled one of the pilots from Terra Firma. “You are with the princess, if we attack the palace you'll help her, that makes you our enemy.” The AM's continued to fire, Fluttershy and the Giganscudo curled up to make sure that no shot would hit her friends.
The assault continued, the other pilots requested permission to launch as well but Digger denied it. The three of them would be more than enough to destroy these AM's, but they first had to find a way to do so without killing the pilots.
“I've got it!” Yelled one of the bridge crew members. “Those AM's, the Lions, have an automatic ejection system, as long as you don't destroy the cockpit the pilots will be safe.”
Vigor returned to the three pilots. Now they could take their attackers out without killing the pilots. Fluttershy released Twilight and Pinkie, who immediately returned fire. They aimed at the arms of the Lions, if they can't shoot they have to retreat. Twilight gasped as she almost hit the cockpit of her target but sighed in relieve as she saw that the ejection system was activated.
“Two pilots down, beginning evasive maneuvers.” One of the enemy pilots yelled and they started to scramble.
Twilight changed the Wildraubtier back into flight mode and Pinkie stayed with Fluttershy. “Alrighty Flutters, keep me covered while I break their toys.” Using the Giganscudo for cover, Pinkie took aim and fired at an AM that flew past her. She managed to hit the booster and the cockpit was ejected before the Lion crashed down, afterwards she had to duck back as one of his friends attempted to avenge him.
While he fired at the cowering Weissritter, the pilot did not notice that Twilight flew straight at him with her Wildraubtier. When he finally noticed the white jet flying at him it was already too late. Twilight rammed him and his cockpit ejected before the Lion crashed down. The last two remaining Lions turned around and attempted to flee.
“No you don't.” Said Twilight, not wanting the pilots to bring the machines back to their own base.
Digger tried to stop her, “They are already fleeing Twilight, let them go.”
“If they return with the Lions, they can attack us later.” Reasoned Twilight while she transformed the Wildraubtier back into biped mode and took aim with her hyperbeam rifle. “Also, I'm just gonna aim at his arms, the pilot won't be harmed.” Twilight pulled the trigger and a brilliant beam of purple energy shot straight at the AM.
Twilights smile fell as she noticed something. The trajectory of the beam was off, it didn't head for the arms, the beam headed straight for the cockpit! Twilight panicked and hastily opened a communication channel to the Terra Firma pilots. “QUICK DODGE!” She yelled at them.
It was too late, the energy beam pierced the cockpit of the Lion. The last thing Twilight heard from the pilot was a horrifying scream, then silence. A feeling of horror swept through Twilight, she just killed somepony.
“Damn you,” growled the other pilot. “you'll pay for this I SWEAR!”
Twilight didn't listen, all she could hear were the last screams of the pony she just killed. Pinkie, Fluttershy and everypony on the bridge of the Kurogane were silent. Twilight couldn't move anymore, she was too horrified at what she has done. The Wildraubtier started to fall down into the dunes. Fluttershy managed to regain her composure and caught the Wildraubtier before it fell down. A feeling of dread filled the pegasus mare, this would leave deep psychological scars on her friend.
Authors note: Took me long enough to finish this chapter. Anyway, the last scene was something that was not part of the original plan but I thought that in a war, scenes like this are too commonplace to just make this entire war without any casualties.
The poor Lion pilot might not be the first one, but don't worry about you favorites, I hate to kill off main characters.
Super Pony Taisen Chapter 7 Counterattack
Four little fillies were sitting in their temporary rooms inside the Kurogane. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were still crying after Applejack backed up her earlier threat and Rarity decided that her sister deserved the same punishment. Since none of the present adults were related to them Scootaloo and Dinky remained unspanked but their own scolding still burned in their minds.
Scootaloo has looked pleadingly at her idol, Rainbow Dash, for any support but all she got was a disapproving look that she dared to say hurt more than any amount of spanking she could have received.
Dinky on the other hand only stared blankly at nothing in particular. Twilight Sparkles words were haunting her, “I am disappointed in you, not only do you sneak on board after I already promised you a ride but you bring yourselves into danger. I'm especially disappointed with you Dinky, because of that mean hag Hawkeye you would have almost been taken away from your mother and now this.”
The four crusaders knew that this time they really messed up. Scootaloo was the first to recover. “Oh what were we thinking, how could we ever expect this to work?”
Applebloom stopped sniffling, “That's what mah sister said, we're never thinkin, that is the problem.” Applebloom choked down another sob. “We just do somethin no matter how dangerous it mite be, and when we finally realize how dangerous it is, it’s already too late.” The other crusaders just nodded, also sharing the epiphany that came too late.
On the bridge of the Kurogane, Applejack and Rarity were watching their sisters and their friends on a screen. Just recently the crew had discovered the security cameras that allowed them to see all the rooms inside the Kurogane, except the bathroom stalls of course.
The two mares were nodding approvingly at Applebloom’s revelation; at least the fillies knew their mistake and learned from it. Rarity turned to Spark, “Say, when can we fly Sweetie Belle and her friends back to Ponyville?”
The unicorn in question looked nervous at that question, “Well Ms. Rarity, me and Digger have decided that the fillies would need to stay on board for the time being.”
“WHAT!”
Spark rubbed his ears after the combined vocal assault of Rarity and Applejack. “We already pulled that trick of distracting the golems while Twilight flies off. I highly doubt that Nightmare Moon is going to fall for the same trick twice. Right now staying here is the safest option for your sisters and their friends.”
Both mares could understand his point, but Applejack was still furious. “Does that mean that mah little sis has to stay right in the middle of a darn WARZONE?”
Rarity meanwhile looked about ready to faint, “Oh no, my dear sweet sister out here, this is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING!” This time Applejack agreed with the overly dramatic unicorn; her sister in this situation was the worst thing she could imagine.
“So Spark, what do ya'll think we should do?” Both mares were now looking expectantly at the blue engineer.
“To be honest, the only thing we can do now is to keep them inside the ship and try to deal with Nightmare Moon and her golems as fast as possible.”
“Then so be it. These golems shall be destroyed before they can get one of their filthy hands on my dear sweet sister.” Rarity then struck her hoof towards the ceiling in an overly dramatic fashion. “As Celestia is my witness, no harm shall ever befall Sweetie Belle.”
An awkward silence befell the bridge since many of the crew members were not entirely used to Rarity’s over-dramatization yet. The silence continued until Spark cleared his throat. “Well, that is certainly the right spirit. Meanwhile me and the other engineers are going to keep repairing PT's for you to use, but we'll discuss that in the meeting later.”
Shortly before Twilight came back, Professor Digger proposed that he, Spark and Team M6 should plan out their further actions. They all knew that they have to show some initiative, or else they are going to be stuck in this cave for the rest of their lives. Topics they want to discuss were which PT they should repair next, the note Spike received before Twilight Sparkle’s return and when and how to counterattack.
Applejack trotted towards the elevator. “Alright then Spark, we'll be in the meeting room in an hour. Come Rarity, let's talk to our sisters.” Rarity just nodded and followed her friend into the elevator.
Their walk to the room where the Cutie Mark Crusaders stayed was a quiet one, as both thought about what to say to them. When they arrived at the door, they lingered there for a few more minutes discussing what they wanted to say before pushing the button on the console next to the door.
As the door opened the three fillies were looking at them with fear in their eyes, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were backing away into the corner of the room and huddled together shivering.
“Don't worry Applebloom we have punished you and your friends enough for now, we just wanna give you some rules.” The fillies eased up a little, but they were still tense with the anger of the adult mares fresh in their minds, as Applejack continued. “Also, we could see an' hear ya'll from the bridge so we know that you understand why we punished you an' that's what counts.”
The two mares laid down in front of the crusaders and Rarity continued. “That still does not change the fact that you four are now in a very dangerous situation. You saw how that golem wanted to crush you; do you know what would have happened if Applejack hadn't been fast enough?” The little fillies started shivering again as they imagined the possible scenario. Rarity saw that they do have a pretty good idea. “That is why from now on you WILL do everything we tell you.”
At this point Applejack took over again. “Look fillies, we just punished ya'll cause we care about you and don't wanna see you get hurt and that's why we're gonna have to be stricter than usual.” The farmer pony now had a stern expression on her face. “That also means that ya'll gonna stay inside the Kurogane at all times. Ya'll keep away from the armory and PT hangar and we're gonna make sure that you will have an adult supervisin’ ya wherever ya'll go.”
Rarity also looked at the nervous fillies with the same stern face as Applejack. “And every time you break one of these rules you all will get three days in solitary confinement. That means you will be grounded and locked in your rooms, alone.” The four fillies nodded in understanding. “Very well, we will be going to a meeting now. You are still grounded in this room until we can get somepony to keep an eye on you. Until then you can think about what you've done some more.” Rarity and Applejack then stood up and left the room, making sure to lock the door.
Later in the meeting room, Spark, Digger, Twilight, and her friends just started their discussion about their future plans. Digger stood up and cleared his throat.
“Well then, Fillies and Gentlecolt, today’s topics will be the following: First, that mysterious powder Twilight got in Ponyville. Second, plans for any counterattacks and lastly, future supplies now. Twilight, if you would be so kind to begin please.”
As soon as Digger sat back down Twilight rose from her seat. “I've read princess Celestia’s letter that Spike received. This magic powder is indeed our source for future supplies.” Pinkie Pie then wildly flailed her hoof in the air like an overly eager schoolfilly and Twilight let out a tiny groan. “Yes, Pinkie?”
“Oh, how does it do that? Are we supposed to eat it? It doesn't look very tasty.”
The purple unicorn just shook her head, “No Pinkie, this powder is used to make a magic circle for long range teleportation spells. Normally unicorns have to be in a certain radius of their target to teleport themselves or something else. The magic circle created with this powder will act as one part of a focal point, the other circle will be in Canterlot, from which we will get future supplies this way.” All faces lighted up at her words, especially Applejack’s and Rarity’s. They both hoped that they could send their sisters back to Ponyville now.
“That's great news Twi, now we can jus' send Applebloom and her friends back home in lickety split.” Twilight winced slightly, she hated having to crush that hope.
“Sorry Applejack, it's already difficult to teleport somepony else without scorching them. On this distance it would be far too dangerous, even with the focal points.” Applejack and Rarity lost their enthusiasm at this point.
At this point Spark decided to bring the discussion to the next topic. “Now I think we should be glad that this is taken care of. I guess we can scratch 'future supplies' from today’s topics.” The mares who have reverted their attention back to Spark nodded their affirmation. “Well then, Digger and I have discussed the situation beforehand, and I think we can all agree that we can't just sit in here waiting for Nightmare Moon to make a move, or else she will eventually have so many golems that she could crush us with sheer quantities.” Before he could continued Digger piqued in.
“That reminds me, Cogwheel asked if he could pilot Twilight’s Gespenst, and personally I think it would be a great idea if we also train two other of my archaeologists to pilot PT's now that Applejack’s Schutzwald and Pinkie Pies Gespenst are free now. If you girls don't mind of course.” All three shook their heads. Personally, Twilight was glad that her Gespenst wouldn't rust away in the hangar, although it wasn't rusty after who knows how many centuries, if not thousands of years, so that shouldn't be an issue. Speaking of which she should probably take a look at the metal of the PT's some time. Digger then continued, “Good, with three new pilots, we can put our first step into action. Please continue Spark.”
The blue unicorn nodded towards his colleague. “Thank you. Anyway, the first step Digger talked about was to secure the perimeter around the cave entrance and rebuild our camp there. With three additional pilots, we should be able to hold the area.” Spark looked into the round and saw an anxious look on everyponies face. This would be their first counterattack, and they would have to make it count. “To do that we're gonna have to destroy all the golems that are waiting outside first. Now Digger, please explain the battle plan.” Said earth pony took over again while Spark procured a flow chart for him.
“Thank you, the plan for securing the outside area has three steps. First Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Pinkie fly out to draw the golems attention.”
On cue Spark flipped to the first chart picturing the Guarlion, Weissritter and Wildraubtier flying over some golems. “This way we can also find out if we have to gradually thin out their numbers, or if we can take the area in one fell swoop.”
“Second step is for Applejack, Rarity, Cogwheel and whoever gets the other Gespenst to attack head on.” While Digger continued, Spark flipped to the next page showing the Alteisen and two Gespenst’s advancing towards the golems. In the top left and right corner were two Schutzwald’s. “Third, Fluttershy and the other Schutzwald will get some distance and then provide long distance support.” Then Spark flipped to the last chart, showing a golem next to a Schutzwald and the Wildraubtier shooting at the golem. “Twilight Sparkle meanwhile keeps an eye out for both Schutzwald’s to make sure they don't get ambushed. Now, are there any questions left?” Digger looked into the rounds but only one cyan arm was raised into the air. “Yes Rainbow Dash?”
With a cocky smirk the pegasus asked, “When do we start?”
After the meeting, the Elements of Harmony, minus Twilight, were sitting down in the mess hall. Spike was also there. Pinkie Pie bounced in her seat. “Oh, I can't wait until Twilight finishes that magic circle thingy. She also said she has a really neat surprise for all of us. I hope it's cake.” The other mares rolled their eyes, then Twilight came in with her saddlebags.
“Alright I'm back.” She heaved the bags on top of the table and Applejack started to prod it curiously.
“So sugarcube, what's in there?”
Twilight excitedly clapped her hooves together, “Oh you're gonna love this. I thought that you would all feel much better if I bring you all a little souvenir from home.” All faces lighted up at this ,except for Applejack’s and Rarity’s, since they did not exactly appreciate the other 'souvenir from home'. First Twilight got the picture of Fluttershy and Angel out of the bags and gave it to the shy mare. “Since I'm sure that you miss Angel I got you this.” Fluttershy was now beaming with joy, she took the picture and hugged it as if it really was her pet bunny.
The next item was the party hat for Pinkie Pie. “Her you go Pinkie, Mr. and Mrs. Cake helped me with that one.” The pink party pony gasped loudly before putting the hat on. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm gonna have to throw an extra special surprise party for the Cakes once we're back!” Then Pinkie started to wildly bounce around the room.
Next came Applejack’s lasso. “With this you can practice your lasso tricks out here.”
The farmer pony gratefully took it and started swinging it above her head. “Thank ya kindly Sugarcube.”
Then came Rarity’s jewel box and mirror. “I couldn't bring any of your dresses but I hope your accessories will do for now.” While Rarity opened the box and joyfully looked at her priced jewels, Twilight quickly gave Spike the blue Sapphire he got from Rarity while winking at him. “Oh darling that is so sweet of you.”
Lastly Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash but before she could say anything her cyan friend took the initiative. “Oh don't worry about getting anything for me, I know that you couldn't get to my cloud home, it's no big deal.”
The purple unicorn just smirked. “Well its not from your home but I met Spitfire. She was the one who gave me that magic powder.”
Rainbow Dash froze up at the mention of her idol, her expression was much like that of a fish. “Spitfire? But, how...” Smirking, Twilight took the goggles out of her saddlebags and levitated them in front of her stammering rainbow maned friend.
Rainbow Dash stared at the goggles as if she was seeing an ancient, priceless artifact for a few seconds before she suddenly tackled her unicorn friend. “Oh my gosh, thank you so much! I've tried so many times to get an original piece of Wonderbolt equipment but there was just no way to do so.” The cyan pegasus softened her deathgrip around Twilight a little, “Except stealing it, but that wouldn't only be wrong ,it could also backfire horribly.”
“You're... welcome.” Twilight had the air knocked out of her by the sudden tackle and bear hug, so she was still wheezing a bit when Rainbow Dash grabbed the goggles and sped off. At this point, Twilight decided that now would be a good time to set up the magic circle, and went to the storage room.
The purple unicorn was in deep concentration. All ponies except her have left the room, so she would be one hundred percent undisturbed. Normally, Twilight could cast even more complicated spells even with other ponies talking around her, but since their future supplies were at stake here she decided not to take the slightest risk. Line for line, the magic circle was drawn with the powder, and every single line was checked carefully by the caster.
After what seemed like hours the magic circle was finally complete, a large ring with runes inscribed around it and what almost looked like a camera lens right in the middle. Twilight checked the runes one last time before focusing her magic into them.
The magic powder ignited instantly, blue flames scorching the ground. Twilight smiled, the instructions said that this was the sign that it was working. After a few more minutes, the flames died out and the focus point was completed. The scorch marks were glowing softly in a blue light.
In Canterlot meanwhile the identical twin of the focal point started glowing, but this one did so in an orange light instead of blue. One of Princess Celestia’s court mages who was charged with watching the circle immediately rushed off to report the activation of the other point.
First said mage tried the throne room, but the guards informed him that Celestia went to see her sister. A look of understanding and pity passed between the mage and the guard; the Princess of the Night blamed herself for Nightmare Moon’s return, and no amount of convincing has managed to change her mind so far. Hasting towards princess Luna’s room, the exhausted mage caught Celestia just as she left. Quickly regaining his composure, he bowed down and informed the Solar Princess of the focal point’s activation. Celestia breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh good, that means Twilight has returned safely.”
With both focal points active, and with Spike in the Kurogane, they could now request anything from the princess, and she would make personally sure that Twilight and her friends would get whatever they needed. After thanking her court mage, she dismissed him for now, and turned to tell her sister the good news. Lately Luna has gotten worse than ever, missing out court sessions, and even when she attended she wouldn't say a single word. Princess Celestia softly knocked her hoof on the door before letting herself in. Inside her sister was still lying on her bed, looking up with the same depressed expression that did not leave her face ever since they learned of Nightmare Moons return.
“Luna my dear sister, I just got the message that Twilight Sparkle arrived safely at the Kurogane and activated the other focal point.”
“It is nice to know that the product of my jealousy has not caused any further damage yet.” Celestia winced; a very weak and sad smile was on her sisters muzzle. The larger alicorn went over to the bed and lied down next to Luna.
“Please Luna, just stop blaming yourself. You know exactly that it is only the fault of a dark spirit that possessed you a thousand years ago.” A large white wing blanketed the smaller alicorn, but it did not help to comfort her.
“Still, if I wasn't so jealous of you, I could have resisted.” Tears formed in her teal eyes. Why was everypony telling her that it wasn't her fault? She couldn't just go around saying 'it wasn't me', she was responsible, and the fact that no one seemed to be willing to punish her for her deed did not help at all.
“You can't control your emotions, not a single pony can do, that not even the two of us.”
Those words just angered the younger alicorn. “You just say that, I haven't heard about you losing control even a single time.” After that Luna broke down crying. Celestia was more used to this by now than she liked, and held her sister against her shoulder.
The Princess of the Day only shook her head; she tried everything she could think of to comfort her sister, but it was all for naught. The Princess of the Sun could only hope that she would one day see her sister smile again. That day, the last pony that still hasn't forgiven Luna would also see reason. As Luna finally fell asleep, the older sister gently got up without waking the smaller alicorn. Before she left the room Celestia whispered, “I let you down once, but I promise, I will never disappoint you again. I swear by the stars in the sky, I will not stop until you finally smile again.”
Outside of Luna’s room, a nervous looking guard was waiting for Princess Celestia with a scroll held in his mouth. He let the scroll fall on his front hoof while balancing on his back hooves. “Your majesty, we just received a letter from Twilight Sparkle.”
“Twilight? I hope everything is alright with her.” The Princess levitated the letter in front of her and began to read. After she finished the letter her heart sunk. How was she supposed to tell those fillies parents that their daughters were right in the middle of the desert, surrounded by golems that were sent by Nightmare Moon?
The day has finally come, their first counterattack on Nightmare Moon would begin today, and with a bit of luck, they would take the surface area around the Kurogane. Twilight and her friends were nervous about the operation that was about to take place, but Cogwheel and the other stallions that took over the now free Gespenst’s and the Schutzwald were even worse off. From all the stallions that were trained in the use of PT's, those two were the most promising, but still, this was way different from the simulations. Sparks voice came over the intercom as he gave some last instructions before the mission would start.
“Alright, does everypony remember the battle plan?”
On the bridge of the Kurogane, the screens showed six mares and three stallions nodding in affirmation. Just in the morning, Spark has requested helmets for all of them so they would be protected in case they crash or get hit. The stallion’s helmets were plain white; only Twilight and her friends got helmets painted in their colours. Twilight's and Rarity's helmets were also designed to protect their horns. Upon closer inspection, Spark could also see Spitfires goggles hanging around Rainbow Dash's neck as a good luck charm.
“Good, remember to wait for my signals. Guarlion, Weissritter, Wildraubtier GO!”
Pinkie and Rainbow Dash flew out first with Twilight following closely behind. The very instant the purple pilot didn't have a cave over her head, anymore she took off into the air and switched the Wildraubtier into flight mode. As soon as they came out the first golems started to rise from the ground and tried to hit them with sand and rocks. After the last one rose, their census showed slightly more than a dozen sand golems and about eight more rock golems. Their number made it difficult for the airborne mares to dodge all the rocks and sand that were thrown at them. Rainbow Dash contacted Spark over the intercom.
“Alright prof, fight or flight?” For a few seconds there was silence until the blue unicorn spoke up. “We're going for it, Alteisen, Gespenst’s GO!”
Applejack, Cogwheel, and the new pilot activated their boosters and formed a neat line as they charged the golems. The two Gespenst’s fired their megabeam rifles, aiming at the chests of the golems. Before they could react to the new arrivals the first two sand monsters were crumbling as the bright, red beams punctured their torsos. The golems were confused at having enemies in two positions, as some of them kept switching their focus between the airborne enemies and the new arrivals. Spark also noticed this and gave the command for the Schutzwald’s to move out.
Fluttershy and the other new pilot moved to the far sides of the battlefield and charged the twin beam cannons while aiming at the rock golems.
In the air, Pinkie Pie was keeping a close eye on the bulky artillery. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the pink party pony couldn't help but enjoy the feeling of flying. Even though she was still sitting in the cockpit, the pressure she felt whenever she moved was great fun to her. But before she could enjoy herself any further she noticed four sand golems that managed to get past Applejack and the Gespenst’s and moved towards Fluttershy and the other Schutzwald. On the intercom Fluttershy’s fearful face appeared.
“Pinkie, HELP!” A scowl appeared on Pinkie Pies face; those meanies dare to attack Fluttershy? Oh hay no.
“Don't worry Flutters, auntie Pinkie will take care of this.”
The Weissritter flew towards the spot between both Schutzwald’s and Pinkie changed the oxtongue rifle to E-Mode. As soon as she was directly between them she aimed at the left towards the sand golems that targeted Fluttershy. Both Schutzwald’s autocannons were firing at the golems, but they were still too far for them to get a clear shot at the cores.
Pinkie held her position while taking careful aim, just a few more seconds...
“What are you doing? Help us!”
The other Schutzwald pilot panicked, the already rattled nerves of the newly recruited pilot couldn't handle the stress, anymore and he started to flee back into the cave. Spark tried to calm him down. “No shovel, you'll lead them directly to the Kurogane.”
“I don't care, I don't want to die!”
In the air Rainbow Dash resisted the urge to facehoof. “Damnit, we can't let them into the cave as long as we're all out. Pinkie, focus on Fluttershy and let me take care of this.”
The pink pony frantically nodded before she saw what she was waiting for. The golems were now next to each other. She held down the fire button and the oxtongue rifles energy beam pierced the chests of both golems and they crumbled into the dunes.
As soon as Fluttershy's field of vision was free again, she released the beams of her twin beam cannon and melted the chest of a rock golem that was dangerously close to crushing Cogwheel. Said pony saw his chance; he drew the beam saber and stabbed the tumbling golem where he assumed the core to be. To his relieve the rocks lost their magical hold and started to crumble to the ground.
Back at the cave, the Schutzwald with the panicking pilot almost reached the entrance. All thoughts about responsibility were gone from his mind; he only wanted to be safe. But shortly before he reached the entrance ,Rainbow Dash's Guarlion blocked the way. The lean robot raised the thin arm that held the burst railgun and took aim. The Schutzwald pilot couldn't believe his eyes; were they going to shoot deserters now? He closed his eyes as he heard the shots fired, but to his surprise he didn't feel an impact. He heard explosions behind him though so he opened his eyes and turned around. The shots from Rainbow Dash have pierced the sand golems chests and the now normal sand fell to the ground. On the intercom Dash's face appeared on the screen.
“Get your act together! We're kinda counting on you here.” The cyan pegasus reprimanded the stallion who calmed down at least a little.
“But, those golems are going to kill me.” He stammered.
“So instead you run away even though the rest of your team is still in danger?” The stallion piloting the Schutzwald tried to answer but he couldn't think of anything to say. “Listen well, we're all in this together. so we need to be able to rely on each other blindly, you got that?”
Now the stallion felt ashamed of himself. He was ready to abandon his friends because of two sand golems. He even thought that Pinkie Pie would abandon him in favor of saving Fluttershy. There was only one thing he could do now. “I'm sorry, please cover me while I go back into position.”
Rainbow Dash grinned at her successful pep talk. “You got it.”
On the battlefield Cogwheel watched as the Schutzwald pilot was returning to his position. 'Good, now that this is taken care of I hope nothing else..' “Whaa!”
Cogwheels train of thought was interrupted as a hand rose from the ground and grabbed his left leg. The Gespenst fell to the ground as a sand golem rose behind him. Cogwheel tried to get his PT to stand up but the sand golem just pounded him into the ground again. He saw the remaining rock golems keeping Applejack and the other Gespenst pilot busy. “Somepony, I need help!”
In the air, Twilight sparkle heard the distressed cry and turned around to save her friend. The situation was bad, the golem stood right above him, and if she used any of the Wildraubtier’s weapons now, she would hurt Cogwheel.
On the ground Cogwheel felt how the golem was making its way through the armor, and he could swear some of the sand was already on its way into the cockpit. The almost rythmic poundings then stopped for a moment and the pilot decided to take a look. The sand golem now raised both of its fists high above its head, and prepared to deliver the finishing blow. Cogwheel wanted to close his eyes but he was paralyzed with fear.
The huge fists were now descending upon him but shortly before the hit could connect something rammed the golem. The sand from both the golem and the desert shot into the air at the impact, and Cogwheel could feel a small tremor in the ground. As the dust settled he saw what happened. Twilight Sparkle has rammed the Wildraubtier into the golem.
The earth pony worried for the pilot of the transforming PT and opened a connection between them. “Are you alright Twilight?”
Twilight’s face appeared on the intercom. She was rubbing her head that showed a small bump. “I got thrown around a bit ,but otherwise I'm fine.”
Before any of them had a chance to stand up again one of the stone golems lumbered towards them. Twilight frantically tried to transform the Wildraubtier but to no avail. “Come on, come on.” Luckily, four large, blue beams hit simultaneously hit the golem in the chest and while they could survive one shot of the twin beam cannon, the combined heat of two Schutzwald’s was enough to completely destroy it. This stone golem was the last and Twilight observed as the other finished off the last remaining sand golems.
The joy at their victory was a strange one. They were thrown into a battle they didn't want, but still, the joy at seeing the others were safe combined with the accomplishment today created a good feeling for all of the ponies. On the Kurogane, the bridge crew was cheering as the last sand golem crumbled. With a smile on his face Spark opened the communication channel and congratulated the victorious pilots. “Well done, now we can finally get out of this cave.” The PT pilots then joined in on the cheering.
“Oh, you know what this calls for? A PARTY!” With those words the hyperactive pony took off her helmet and replaced it with a party hat. At this point nopony wondered where that one came from.
In an unknown cavern, Nightmare Moon took her anger out on some defenseless furniture. How could this happen? Why did they have to find those mechanical monsters right before she could carry out her plans? A table was magically lifted off the ground and thrown against the wall.
After all the pieces of furniture were broken, the dark mare grabbed a pillow she ripped open earlier and laid down on it. She had to defeat those steel monsters somehow. There was no way she was going to survive if she didn't win. Now that she was no longer in the body of her former host, there was not reason for Celestia to hold back.
A new dreadful feeling welled up in Nightmare Moon’s chest. For a few minutes she was perfectly silent. Then an idea formed in her head and with a wicked smile she called for one of the diamond dogs outside.
Fido was scared out of his wits. The rampaging mare lied directly in front of him with a murderous smile on her face. His eyes darted towards the door, ready to run away from this madmare.
“There is no reason to be afraid mutt.” Nightmare Moons voice was disturbingly sweet, almost like a twisted stepmother from some ponytale, which was kinda fitting, since Nightmare Moon was considered a ponytale for a long time. “I merely remembered a promise I made to you dogs.”
Silly little omake #3:
The mission was over and the preparations for the victory party were already in full swing. Some of the decorations from the last party were left, and the request for some other party supplies was already sent to Princess Celestia along with the report about their victory.
Twilight and her friends stood in front of the counter that separated the mess hall from the kitchen. Fluttershy asked them to meet them there, promising a surprise. Finally the shy mare came out of the kitchen with a tray on her back. On the tray were six glasses filled with a light green liquid. The mares and Spike, who was sitting on his usual spot on Twilight's back stared at the drinks in confusion.
“These are some special health drinks. I made them with a recipe from my mother and I thought that they would be just what you needed after this hard day.” Fluttershy took the tray off of her back and beamed at her friends, offering them the drinks.
They were a little put off by the color but the other mares each took a glass anyway. Lastly Fluttershy held the table in front of Spike.
“Wasn't the last one for yourself?” The baby dragon asked.
“Oh no, I don't mind if you take it. And since you're still a baby you need the nutrients more than me anyway.” Spike thanked Fluttershy and eagerly took the last glass.
Not that everypony and Spike had a glass Fluttershy was looking at them expectantly and a little worried. “Is something wrong?”
Nopony wanted to make a comment about the interesting color or smell and instead they all took it as a signal to gulp the drink down. Almost in perfect synch all of the mares and Spike finished the strange drink in one large gulp.
“And, how was it?” Fluttershy asked as soon as they all finished their drink.
Twilight was the first to speak up. “It was very tasty Fluttershy thank you.”
From her back Spike was next. “I've never tasted anything like it.”
Then Fluttershy turned towards Pinkie and Rarity. “It was simply marvelous dear.”
“That was yummy.”
Lastly there were Rainbow Dash and Applejack.
“Ah feel stronger already.”
“I feel like I could do a sonic rainboom right now.”
The yellow pegasus was delighted at her friends kind words. “Oh I'm so glad you liked it. I was afraid the health drink would turn out to be too bitter.” Then she went back into the kitchen and came out with another tray with three more glasses on them. “Now if you excuse me, I'll give these to Cogwheel and the other stallions that helped us.”
With the tray on her back Fluttershy left the room, around the next corner she almost bumped into Digger who was on his way to the mess hall. “Careful there Fluttershy,” Then he noticed the tray on her back. “tell me, what are those?”
“Oh, these are some health drinks I made. I thought I could bring them to Cogwheel and the other two stallions that helped in the battle earlier.”
“That is very nice of you. Go on then, I'm just gonna grab a daisy sandwich see you later.”
Both ponies continued on their way, Digger now stood in front of the mess hall and opened the door. What he saw there was confusing and alarming at the same time.
Five mares and a dragon were on the ground, clutching their stomachs and rolling around in pain. Digger could also swear he saw tears in Rainbow Dash's face, but this was not important right now.
Authors note: Good news I'm not dead yet. This is by far the longest fighting scene I've written so please fire away with comments. Was it good, was it bad, what do I have to improve? Remember, any kind of criticism is more than welcome as long as it's constructive.
