Megiddon Ex Machina

Megiddon Ex Machina

Chapter 3

Bark and No Byte

The Mane 6 head their way back to Ponyville after their encounter with the Barates. As they made their way to their home, they saw that the Barates were heading towards Ponyville. "We need to sneak up on them, catch them by surprise." Twilight suggested. Then, she noticed something. Leading the Barates was a machine of magical aura. Twilight was the first to notice and warned the others, "Be careful, and make sure that you aren't seen." As she said that, the Mane 6 spread out to find their individual targets. They waited for the perfect moment to strike. "NOW!" Twilight exclaimed as the Mane 6 opened fire on the group.

However, it was useless as the leading Barate apparently cast a shield on the squad. Then, the Barates opened fire at their adversaries and the Mane 6 took cover. "Dang it, We need to find a way to get through that shield, I think one of them is a unicorn." Twilight said to the others. "I think I have something in mind," Pinkie says as she loads her weapon with a different clip. "We'll just give them a light show," she says. She peeks out of cover, then nods at Twilight. As the others are still firing their weapons at the Barates, Twilight casts a shield of her own onto Pinkie as she runs from cover to the spot beside cover with her weapon. "Enjoy the fireworks," she says as she fired her weapon. The explosive rounds she loaded destroyed some of the Barates that were too cocky to get behind the shield, but the shield was still protecting the remaining enemies. "Any ideas?" Twilight asks as Pinkie gets back to cover, replacing the explosive rounds with normal ones. "Where's Fluttershy?" Rarity asked. "That's a good question, if only I knew the answer. Poor sugarcube must'a hid in fear." Applejack said. Just then, the magical Barate was struggling as Fluttershy appeared behind him. Choking it, she drew a knife from her sheath and struck it at the neck of the machine. Bloodlike fluid spewed as the Baratic unicorn fell, and the shield disappeared. "The shield is down, fire at the remaining Barates." Twilight commanded as Fluttershy disappeared again in front of her and reappeared next to her. As the last Barate was killed, Rainbow Dash asked Fluttershy,"How are you disappearing and reappearing at will?" "I found a little button on the back of my hoof that lets me turn invisible sneak behind the enemies," Fluttershy explains, showing her friends the button. "Awesome," Rainbow Dash says excitedly. "I'm more interested in their unicorn Barate," Twilight says as she observes the metal wreck. She sees more letters, and this time, she can translate it. "They're Armages. Mechanical Barates with magical powers, like a unicorn," Twilight said.

After their encounter with the Barates and the Armage, the Mane 6 finally reached Ponyville. But it wasn't a warm welcome, for while they where traveling to Canterlot to meet with the princess, Ponyville was raided. The Barates had already captured everypony, but, luckily, no pony was killed. As they saw the destruction and despair, they quickly took cover as a cascade of multiple explosive projectiles were fired at them. As the explosions appeared to have stopped for the moment, the Mane 6 spread out to try and get an advantage. But Fluttershy saw something that made her freeze. A dragon, mechanized and armed, walked into position with a mounted turret manned by a Barate. Pinkie saw this and quickly fired at it. The dragon was weakened, but still withstood the explosive rounds. Rarity grabbed her binoculars to get a closer look. "It doesn't look partially organic. It was built from the claw up." Soon, the Armages came to assist the Barates in the battle for control of Ponyville.

As the battle grew more and more intense, the Mane 6 knew they had to act fast. Fluttershy reached for the back of her hoof. "I'll be right back," She says as she disappeared while Rainbow Dash tried to fly over them to flank them. But there wasn't a chance to do it without being shot down. Suddenly, Fluttershy appears in front of the dragon. She tried to use her stare once more as she jumps on the back of the dragon to kill the Barate on the turret. As she positions herself in front of the dargon, she uses her stare, but instead of a green beam, a red beam is unleashed. The dragon struggled as the others tried to cover her. Red waves started to affect the dragon as sparks and small explosions inside the dragon occur. As she continued to slowly kill the dragon, Applejack started to move up to fire her weapon, which was, of course, a shotgun. The dragon fell and some of the armages and barates started to flee. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie pursued them to try and get them while they're running. In the meantime, Fluttershy, Twilight, and Rarity started to free the captured citizens.

As the transformed ponies of Ponyville were being set free, Twilight wanted to talk to all of them. "Everypony, listen! Whoever does not want to participate in this battle, find refuge! Otherwise, get a weapon, find or make some armor, and prepare for war!" Some ponies, including the Cakes and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, left to find a safer location while others joined the effort to stop the apocalyptic force. The weapons dropped by the Barates were augmented and given to everypony. A forge started construction to make armor and more weapons. The army was growing. As it did, Twilight and Fluttershy gathered a flock of birds to attach letters to. Every other town and city would receive a letter with information about the war, a long list of actions in order to prepare (courtesy of Twilight), and a choice to join the war, or stay hidden and safe. But afterwards, Fluttershy was nowhere to be seen.

"You are slacking off." No answer. "Do you realize what I have to deal with? A whole dragon was lost because of a particular pegasus you know." Still no answer. The creature commands a Barate. "You, go find her!" The Barate leaves to obey its master's commands as another being walks up. "Looking for me?" "You?" Fluttershy reveals herself. "Yes, I'd say you are running a victorious army." "You destroyed my dragon and should be killed for that and for opposing me, however, you are right, my army will take over this 'Equestria'. Many more dragons are being sent all over the kingdom. Have you finally seen your worthless cause?" Fluttershy grins as she suggests something to the creature. "You saw how good I was at killing a dragon, but how about you let me control them instead. I can sneak them into every town in Equestria. An ambush would make it all too easy to win." The creature thinks about it, and it finally decides. "Very well, but you are not off the hoof yet, how might we do this so that nopony notices?" Fluttershy walks nearer to the creature. "Since, I am part machine, you should keep all radars off me, including yours." "How would that work?" "I tested it, and your radars cause your robots to make a 'ping' noise. The same might be true for me," she explains. "Very well," the creature agrees, "but do not fail me." "Of course." As Fluttershy leaves, she takes a breath in relief. As she leads the first dragon towards Ponyville, she uses her stare to make the dragon obey her and only her. As she lands the dragon at the clearing in the Ever-free Forest, she informs the dragon about her plan. "Stay here until the Barates try to attack Ponyville again. That is where you come in. You and your friends are on our side now. The Barates are your enemies as well as that big creature." The dragon nodded to show that he understood. As she left the forest, she found Rarity. "Rarity!" Rarity looks at her in relief. "I finally found you, darling, where have you been?" "Never mind that, gather the others and I'll explain then, I have a plan."