Of Magic and Machinery

Chapter One: The Frozen Esper

The metallic dragons stood at the gate with the armored pilots before the strange mare. A pony wrapped head to hooves in bandage-like cloth approached the trio from a short distance.

“Sorry, but Narshe is neutral.” Said the pony, quite clearly a stallion.

“We aren’t here for negotiations; we want that esper.” The first armored pony retorted, crossing his forelegs rather begrudgingly.

“We’re not handing the frozen esper over.” Replied the bandaged pony, reaching for a sheathed sword with a hoof.

The dragon nearest to him opened its artificial maw, revealing some kind of round hole in the back of its throat. It began to collect energy, radiating a glow the color of fire. The horn on its head turned a white hot in color, and it was giving off intense warmth.

The bandaged pony looked into the glow for a brief moment before he turned tail and ran into the town shouting “Horntek! Horntek!” like some kind of maniac.

The dragon snapped its iron jaws shut on the spot, its horn reverting back to slick, cool metal. The three bipedal machines then marched into Narshe almost as if nothing stood in their way.

And, for a fleeting bit of time, it was indeed that way. More bandaged ponies carrying macabre swords and shields blindly charged at the machines. Some brought guard dogs and other creatures that looked like miniature wooly mammoths.

One of the artificial dragons opened its maw and radiated a fiery orange glow seconds before a destructive beam of flame obliterated one pony, leaving nothing but a scorch mark at where he was standing.

Another, far more agile pony actually got on one of the machines and met with the face of the strange, pink mare whose horn began charging with some kind of strange energy.

“Roast ‘em alive!” Shouted the second armored pony as his dragon fired a beam of ice at a dog, which froze the flesh and then shattered it with frightening ease.

That bandaged pony found fire engulfing his body before being tossed aside like a useless twig. He screamed and writhed in agony before his body became a pile of cinders.

Another bandaged pony was quick to notice this. “Oh no, they’ve packed a unicorn this time!” He shouted, rushing at the mare like an idiot.

“Hey, girl! One’s coming up to you from behind!” Called the first armored pony.

The mare’s dragon turned around and its mouth opened. From the back of its throat came a green, horrid gas that the pony soon choked on. Even as the pony died of the gruesome, airborne cocktail the machine produced, her eyes remained soulless and she failed to speak even one word.

“Forward, march! Let’s get to the mines already!” Shouted the second armored pony, pointing a hoof towards a walkway nestled in between two rows of houses. The dragons marched on, only to stop short as yet another wave of guards, dogs, and mini-mammoths charged at them like the pitiful fools they were.

“Vicks, behind you!” Called the first armored stallion as he electrified a bandaged pony with a beam the color of gold.

“Roger! And my name’s Biggs, you nutjob!” Biggs replied, turning around and crushing a dog with the foot of his machine.

“Whatever!” Shouted the first armored pony, noticing another dog trying to pry off the horn of his beast. The dragon thrashed its head violently, trying to coax the damned hairball off of its face.

The dog found itself flying in the air and let off a yelp of pain as the horn skewered its ribcage.

“Wedge, ya need some help with that?” Biggs asked, having just finished frying another pony with a beam of fire.

“No, Biggs. We’ll clean up after we get that esper.” Wedge replied, fiddling with the series of strange devices before him.

“These pathetic guards don’t stand a chance against our Horntek Armor!” Biggs said rather proudly as he glanced at the pink mare to make sure she was not too far behind.

“Ya got that right!” Wedge agreed before noticing even more ponies and critters charge blindly into battle.

The mare began to toy with the devices before her, and she wasn’t even using her hooves to do so. Instead, her horn glowed as if on instinct, the soft teal aura also covering the various buttons, switches, and levers before her whilst aligning them into place. Her Horntek opened its maw and a soft, white glow emitted a strange, misty substance that coated the machines that Biggs and Wedge were piloting.

“What’s she doin’ now, Vicks?” Wedge asked, turning around and looking at the mare.

“Repairing any damage to our Horntek. We didn’t tell her to do so, but at least the Emperor won’t throw one of his royal fits.” Biggs replied, making his artificial dragon open its maw and fire another destructive beam of flame at the the wave of enemies.

The bandaged ponies dodged it with ease. The dogs and mini-mammoths, not so much.

“For Gestahl’s sake, we finally got something we can call enemies!” Wedge cried like a madpony, his gaze shifting briefly from the mare to the fight. “Hey, girl! Send some missiles their way!”

The mare was quick to comply with that command, again toying with the strange series of devices before her without her hooves. The Horntek opened strange wing-like appendages from its sides that housed slender white objects with red tips.

The objects detached from the wings and whizzed past the armored stallions, propelled by fire towards the defenders of Narshe.

A series of violent, yet small, explosions happened seconds later, causing the guardsponies to fly into windows, doors, what have you. One even flew backwards into a wooden support beam and caused half a roof to cave in on itself as a result.

Wedge clapped his hooves together maniacally. “Hopefully they’ll stop now! Now we can get that esper!” He said, clearly trying not to engage in a hysterical laughing fit.

“You said it! Let’s go already!” Biggs agreed as he fiddled around with the devices some more. All three ponies who piloted the Horntek marched forward. They ascended a small set of stairs before some more ponies ambushed them.

The machines overpowered the ponies by firing beams of cold ice at them, which caused them to shatter in seconds.

The trio moved on, finding the mouth of a cavern and pressing onwards. After searching for a bit, they took a sharp right, tenderly walked past some crates, and took a left shortly thereafter.

And there it was, the very thing they had been searching for, sitting upon a large round stone as if it were a throne: A frozen beast with a serpentine shape. It had a beak and curled horns on its head, and its body was a mint green for the most part. On its back were glorious wings of colorful feathers, and it had four fearsome talons that could rip asunder anything stupid enough to get near it.

Something suddenly sent a bolt of golden lightning at the mare, who backed off posthaste. Some more lightning was hurled at Biggs and Wedge and they recoiled a bit from aftershock.

In between them and the esper was a giant snail-like creature. Its shell had many sharp spikes dotting its frame, and it was a distinct purple color. The snail itself was a dull gold.

“Hold it! That thing’s a….! They must’ve trained it to guard the mines!” Biggs cried, pointing a hoof accusingly at the oversized snail.

“What are you talking about? You know what this thing is?!” Wedge snapped, shooting Biggs a stony glare as his wings snapped open.

“Ever heard of lightning whelks?” Biggs retorted, casting his own glare at the other stallion. “It’s a monster that absorbs lightning…”

“....and stores it in it’s shell!” Wedge finished for him, casting the pink mare a glance.

Biggs also looked at the mare. “So, whatever you do, don’t attack the shell!” He commanded, again pointing at the whelk.

The whelk sent more lightning bolts to the mare and did some damage to her Horntek Armor. In response, she sent a beam of ice at the snail that missed its whole body by mere inches.

Wedge threw a beam of flame at the whelk. It started to show small bits of damage on its head, but nowhere near that of the defenders of Narshe. If anything, it was mocking the Horntek’s rather dangerous abilities.

Biggs unleashed a misty substance, providing it to the mare. Or, rather, he would’ve if the whelk didn’t distract him with another arc of electricity. The mist, due to the sudden change in directions, wound up healing the whelk.

“OWCH!” Biggs cried as the bolt ran three marathons in his body, causing him a great deal of pain and paralyzing his wings in the process.

Wedge shook his head disapprovingly and groaned in disappointment. He turned to the mare. “Oi, fire some missiles at the damn beast! We haven’t all day!” He cried, pointing a hoof at the whelk.

The mare’s Horntek spread its metallic wings and the missiles hastily detached from them. They homed in right towards the whelk, who was surprisingly quick to retract into its shell. The missiles exploded right onto the spiked whelk housing and didn’t leave a single crack.

“Oh great! It’s in the shell! Hold off! Hold off!” Wedge cried desperately, flailing his hooves about madly.

Biggs stopped convulsing in his electrical shock. His Horntek began emitting small electrical sparks around the joints of its hulking legs. He turned to the mare, his wings still stiff with lingering paralysis. “Heal me for the Emperor’s sake!” He cried.

The mare’s horn was radiating the teal glow once more, and it enveloped both Biggs and his Horntek.

The whelk came out of its shell, and it began firing bolts of lightning with a vengeance. One bolt hit the mare right in the horn, causing her to recoil in shock and let her aura dissipate. Another hit Wedge, causing him to yelp in surprise and--by freak accident--press a button which caused his Horntek to open its maw, the throat and horn radiating a blazing orange hue.

It sent the deadly beam at the beast, and it let off another bolt that hit the rocky ceiling as it died, its body roasting to a charred black in color as it shrunk to a laughable size. The shell was resilient, however, and only suffered small burns as the last of the beam faded from the world.

“We….we did it.”  Biggs sighed after panting for a bit as he looked at what remained of the whelk.

“At last, we can take the esper!” Wedge agreed, nodding.

All three Horntek pilots approached the frozen beast slowly, almost as if hesitant to do so.

“Come on! Let’s take the esper already!” Wedge shrieked, flailing his hooves as if panicking.

“I’m not sure about this…” Biggs commented, his machine inches behind that being piloted by his fellow soldier. Closer still they drew to the esper, which was now radiating a soft glow through the very ice which made its prison.

They came closer, and the glow intensified. Only now was a ripple pattern discernible through the translucent blue hue surrounding it.

“Hey, what’s it doing?” Biggs asked, the sight of the glowing spectacle confusing him.

The esper glowed brighter and brighter as the soldiers approached. When they were in front of it, it suddenly fired brilliant blue electricity at them without warning. Both stallions screamed in most horrid agony as currents shook their bodies and tore their senses asunder. As if to mock them, their machines exploded into a million or so pieces.

The mare, as if on silent command, approached the esper. From what she had witnessed, the stallions simply vanished in a mysterious white light. She stopped on short notice before turning around like the legs of her machine ceased working.

“Hey, where’s that light coming from!?” Wedge shrieked before screaming as he simply disappeared into thin air.

“H-hey! Wedge...where are you? What’s happening…?!” Biggs shrieked before vanishing into thin air as well.

She was still silent even as she attempted to move away from the esper. Now, a vivid blue glow had encased them both entirely; brilliant blue lightning connecting the two rather violently as the Horntek Armor exploded. The mare, though still in one piece, was sent flying into a wall that connected with her face, causing her vision to fade to darkness instantly.