Giant filly monster, RUN! (Being rewritten)
To say that Pippin was surprised to wake up was an understatement. Waking up in the dark? A bit more surprising.
“Ugh, my head.” Pippin moaned as he tried to sit up, only to feel something against his back. He panicked for a second before he realised it was the back of a zoid chair, which slides forward to secure the pilot into position.
“I’m in a zoid? Then why is everything black, we always leave at least a quarter of a tank of regel left when we do maintenance,” He said as he hit the manual release to his seat, dismissing his memory of the other days events as a horrible nightmare.
Fumbling around in the darkness, his hand finally found a service panel which he clumsily removed. “Hopefully the power lines just got cut or something… ugh, this is going to take forever to do by touch.”
After about a minute of searching, he finally found the wires he was looking for. With a quick twist, a clang came from the canopy as it slowly cracked open, revealing dim sunlight from outside. Pippin got up and stretched, before nearly doubling over in pain.
“AGH. Why does my everything… ache?” He said as he gazed at his arms, or more specifically, his blood coated sleeves. A quick glance around revealed a cockpit full of displays, just like he remembered.
“Oh great Glidolers, that was real?” He asked himself as this revelation washed over him.
It took a few minutes for him to get over this crisis, before he determined that he had to get out and evaluate his situation. For all he knew, he had been captured by the Digald empire and imprisoned somewhere. It came as a surprise when he found himself in the middle of a forest.
“How did I get back in the dark forest?” He asked the air as he looked at the trees, which he was pretty sure had grown a few hundred feet, before noticing the grass his zoid was laying on.
“That’s new,” He muttered, glancing at blades of grass that could have been used as greatswords.
The more he looked around, the creepier the place got. The trees seemed to reach for him, the sky was completely blocked by branches, and even the sounds of the forest seemed to scream at him to leave.
“Alright, theres a few good reasons not to travel on foot,” He muttered as he climbed back into his zoid and began tapping the monitors.
“Darn, they’re all dead. Hmm, they don’t appear to be damaged. It must be the power systems that were damaged by the harmonic cannon,” He muttered as he pulled himself below one of the displays and set to work.
“I know Japapa doesn’t like it when I do temporary fixes, but this is an emergency,” He muttered to himself, before pausing. “I really miss Japapa…”
After a few minutes of tinkering, new light flooded into the cockpit. He quickly pulled himself up to the monitor and started skimming through the display.
“Wow this thing’s a wreck. It looks like everything is offline! One of the wings is pretty much gone, the other appears to be missing pieces and I am getting no feedback from the energy emitter whatsoever!”
Pippin then grabbed the controls and forced the zoid to lay down. He scrambled out of the cockpit and climbed down to the ground as fast as he could. He ran a few feet away before turning around and staring in horror.
“Well, no wonder the energy emitter is not responding, it’s gone,” He muttered glumly, gazing at a few pieces of scrap metal on the ground. “Or, maybe it’s just spread across a five mile area.”
The zoid was a wreck, and that was putting it lightly. The head was covered in blackened metal with the only clean spot being a rough round divit where the horn once was, the wings… err, right wing was missing half its feathers and the other one was just a length of torn scrap metal, with no salvageable parts in sight. The body of the zoid was holding up surprisingly well, all things considered, but there were still large holes and cuts in the armor from where a bio raptor had stomped on it.
“Oh boy. I’m not going to be able to fix half of that! I’m an apprentice generator mechanic, not an apprentice zoid mechanic!” He exclaimed to the seemingly empty forest, only to be answered by the howl of a wolf.
“Okay, back in the zoid,” He said nervously, before scaling up the side of the zoid and practically leaping into the cockpit.
The canopy slammed shut as the zoid leapt to its hooves, all the while Pippin was muttering to himself. “There’s no such thing as giant animals. There’s no such thing as giant animals. There are giant wild zoids, but there’s no such thing as giant animals.”
This mantra seemed to work for the moment as the forest once again grew quiet around him. He still waited for a few seconds before letting out a sigh of relief. Of course he didn’t know that a loud forest going abruptly quiet is anything but a good sign.
The loud snap of a twig caused him to whirl around and stare into the darkness. On the flickering main screen was something far too large. Blocks of texts and error messages filled the screen as automated systems tried to identify what Pippin now realized was something hidden by a titanic shrub. His eyes darted around the cabin as he tried to override the subroutines and force the worn and ragged electronics of the energy emitter to calm down, taking in details like twenty five meters tall or unregistered energy signature, species unicorn? It was by complete accident that Pippin’s hands brushed against the dashboard causing twin headlights to flicker from the Pipsqueak’s canopy and illuminate the darkness. Two yellow eyes like blaster cannon shells flashed in the light framed by a blonde mane and unnatural pale purple fur. Pippin’s heart hammered in his chest and the Pipsqueak’s faulty systems chose that moment to zoom in and fill the main screen with those two dilating glowing eyes. Two equally high pitched screams filled the air as zoid and unicorn turned around and galloped as fast as their legs could move.
The forest moved past in a blur. Pippin’s hands moved with an unnatural and unconscious grace to urge his zoid forward as fast as possible. He didn't even flinch when the left screen sparked and failed, rendering his zoid half blind. Panic and a half baked plan of getting away from anything that could eat him in one bite kept him running at breakneck speeds. It was only upon coming to a break in the trees revealing late afternoon sky and more importantly up to an unnaturally foggy cliff that he slammed the controls back causing the Pipsqueak to slide to a stop. Stopping did not mean he was rational yet.
“Giant monsters are real. Actually zoid forsaken real! I can’t believe they actually exist! They shouldn't exist. They were just supposed to be scary rumors to keep guys like Tony in line, but they actually exist!” Pippin babbled, battling the urge to let his face fall to the control panel.
“So now I am lost in the dark forest, probably surrounded by Digald forces, without any weapons except for two feather blades on a broken wing, AND there are giant monsters running around! I’m doomed! For the second time in two days I’m doomed!” He cried as he lost the battle and collapsed onto the dash.
He stayed like that for a few seconds, until a small beeping noise got him to look up. He blinked in surprise when he recognized the blinking screen as the scanner display.
“No way. Reggel! And lots of it!” He said with a small glimmer of hope. “Where there’s reggel, there’s gotta be a town, and since I’m still in the dark forest, it can’t be my home town meaning that it probably hasn’t been attacked yet!”
Pippin slowly turned the cockpit from left to right, scanning for the source of regel. Much to his confusion the signal seemed to be coming from down the cliff. This didn't make sense. A generator was a giant kilometer tall tree like structure. They needed to be taller than everything around it to help change and control the weather, yet this one was below the biggest cliff Pippin had ever seen! Although, technically the generator could still try to work, but things would definitely not work correctly. Maybe this was why the dark forest was so out of control! A generator running in an enclosed space could supercharge the local area creating a giant forest easy! That still left Pippin wearily setting his zoid to trot over a quarter of a kilometer away from the cliff edge, only occasionally venturing closer to look for a way down.
The regel low indicator had just turned on when a gap in the fog appeared that revealed three things. First was that what he assumed was a cliff was actually a canyon. Second was a ramp carved into the cliffside wide enough for him to casually trot his zoid down into the canyon. Third and most amazing was what was on the other side of the canyon.
Sitting in the afternoon sun was a zoid sized castle in crumbling ruins. It stood on the top of a short hill and was adorned with empty windows large enough to jump the Pipsqueak through without touching any edge. The fact that it was built with bricks almost as large as his zoid was mind boggling, as well as the fact that there were no human sized additions. No archer slots, no small ground level doors, not even turret emplacements on the towers! It was like somebody took a palace, scaled it up to zoid size and then left out all the bits to make it viable for actual human use. It was a mystery. Just like most ancient mysteries it should also be one of the lowest priorities on Pippin’s survival checklist.
Forcing himself to turn away, Pippin guided his zoid down the cliffside ramp. The bottom of the canyon was not what he expected. There should have been a river or something to carve out a canyon this big, but all that was there were rocks and strangely flat ground. Like a dog following its nose Pippin was guided by the scanner display. Travel was easy and he was soon steering the Pipsqueak into an oddly bright cave large enough to fit even the largest of zoids into. The walls were smooth grey stone glittering with gems and crystals that Pippin didn't recognize. A short ways in the cavern opened up to reveal a generator unlike anything he had ever seen.
It was tree like, just as expected but that is where the similarities stopped. Instead of stone or wood like biotech it was made out of solid grey blue crystals. Branches seemed to glow with otherworldly power as they reached up higher than any generator Pippin had ever seen. The readings he was getting were unbelievable, and he didn't even know what half of them meant! What the heck was a thaum and why was this generator maxing out the scanner in thaums? Shaking his head in confusion, Pipsqueak was about to guide his zoid forward when he heard a yelp followed by a loud scream coming from the cave entrance. It sounded like some sort of animal, but before he could dismiss the sound, the word "translate" appeared on a screen. Pippin blinked in surprise, before tapping translate. Suddenly, a young voice began speaking over his radio.
"Help! Somepony, anypony help!"
"What? Somebody's in danger!" Pippin said before charging toward the noise.
The shouts, winnies and growls led Pippin outside and back up the cliffside ramp. Just as he reached the top of the ramp he saw movement and yanked on the two main control joysticks, causing the Pipsqueak to duck down low. Carefully peeking over the edge of the canyon he saw two giant creatures. The smaller one he recognized as the monster from before, but in the light of the afternoon sun it looked oddly familiar.
It had a head that was too large for its body, was an ungulate, had a horn, like his zoid used to have, was smaller than most large scale zoids with a head big enough for a large scale zoid, and it could be summed up in a few choice words: light lavender unicorn filly with a blonde mane or like a lavender and blonde version of his zoid. This smaller “monster” was doing an admirable job of using a picnic basket encased in a yellow light to fend off what made Pippin redefine the word monster. It was a huge wooden wolf, seemingly made of logs and branches with two glowing yellow eyes staring angrily at the flailing unicorn.
"I'm warning you, my mom taught me cross eye karate!" Yelled the equine, causing Pippins jaw to drop in the process.
It talked! Huh, I guess it’s some sort of zoid, dressed up as an animal. Why would anyone do that though? Ugh, fewer questions and more helping, she's in danger! Pippin thought to himself.
"Oi, bark breath!" Pippin yelled as he pushed on a sliding joystick, causing the Pipsqueak to kick a rock at the wolf. "Pick on somebody your own size!"
The wolf angrily turned to him, growling with murder in its eyes.
"Umm, for the record, I-I'm much smaller than you. Hehe," He said as he shifted his zoid into reverse.
In seconds the wolf was upon him, tackling him onto his left side. Almost as if he was in a flashback, he activated the wing blades and sweeped his only good wing out, in an attempt to knock the wolves legs out from under it. Unfortunately, the wolf proved to be much quicker than the bio raptor.
It swiftly caught the wing in its jaws and yanked back on it, straining the small metal joints that connected the feathers to the wing bone. Warnings and errors began to flash on his screen as Pippin desperately tried to free the wing. The sound of creaking metal filled the cockpit as Pippin slammed an emergency release button, freeing the feathers from the wing.
The feathers popped free, nearly causing the Timberwolf to fall off of the zoid, but Pippin wasn’t that lucky. The wolf angrily spit the feathers out then lunged for another bite, this time going for the neck, when a picnic basket collided with its head.
“Hey! Leave him alone!” Shouted the light purple unicorn.
The timber wolf looked up at her in surprise, the picnic basket hanging around an ear before it shook its head and sent the basket to the ground, making a loud crash as an assortment of metal pans, some chains, throwing knives and a single half eaten cupcake spilled out of it. The timberwolf immediately yelped and lept back at the noise as if struck, allowing Pippin to get his zoid to its hooves.
“Hey, do you have any more pans?” Pippin asked the unicorn.
“Umm, no, they were all in the basket,” She called back as the wolf rounded on her.
“Darn,” Pippin said, before slapping his forehead. “Wait, what am I doing, I’m made of metal!”
Pippin firmly grabbed both main sliding joysticks and pushed themselves forwards sending the Pipsqueak into a gallop straight for the timberwolf. Once the wolf turned to face him Pippin yanked up on the joysticks causing his zoid to rear up. Several twitches of his hands directed his zoid to pound it's chest creating an enormous racket. The wolf reacted immediately, yelping before retreating back into the forest. Pippin kept going until his zoid finally lost its balance and collapsed backwards in a heap. After a moment of letting his heart slow down Pippin grabbed the controls and hauled the Pipsqueak back to its hooves.
Attempting to open diagnostics resulted in the right screen shorting out, leaving only the main screen still active. With an annoyed sigh, Pippin began fiddling with the user interface in an attempt to bring diagnostics up on the main screen when he noticed the unicorn staring at him.
“Oh hey, are you alright?” Pippin said to her.
“I should be asking you that question, that timberwolf nearly bit your wing off and took most of your feathers in the process!” She exclaimed.
“I’m fine, I was able to release the feathers before they took any serious damage, so I should be able to reattach them, no problem. What about you, are your systems okay?” Pippin asked as he lowered his zoids head down to gently bite onto one of scattered feathers, completely missing the unicorns look of confusion.
“I’m okay if that’s what you’re asking,” She said as she watched the metallic pony picking up pieces of itself.
After a small period of silence, she scuffed her hoof on the ground before working up the courage to speak up again. “So… my name’s Dinky, Dinky Doo. What’s yours?”
Pippin looked up from the feather he was trying to reattach. “I’m …?”
Pippin stared at the words “Can't translate.” with a hint of irritation.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Pippin muttered, unaware of his voice still being projected out to Dinky.
“Let’s see, um, Pippin? No. Pip? No. Piper? OH come on! Pipsqueak?” Was what Pippin was trying to say, what his zoid actually said was, “Let's try this then, uh, no. No. Oh come on! Pipsqueak?”
Pippin dropped the controls and leaned back as far as he could in his seat before shouting, “Curse you Tony Amarichi!”
When no translation error popped up Pippin squinted at the screen and asked in a monotone voice, “Really? You got that village idiot’s name right, but completely messed up mine? UGH.”
“Umm, are you okay?” Dinky asked nervously.
Pippin blinked, before grabbing the controls and nodding the Pipsqueak’s head. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just having issues with my translator,” He then went back to trying to attach the last feather blade.
Another uncomfortable silence passed over the two before Dinky once again broke it. “So, why did you run away earlier?”
Pippin felt his face heat up as he mumbled, “Oh, well you see I kinda thought you were a giant monster that was going to eat me… or something.”
A short lived moment of silence cleared the air, before a fit of giggles erupted from the little unicorn who proceeded to fall to the ground and start rolling.
“Alright, alright. I get it, it's ridiculous. But it seemed perfectly logical at the time!” Pippin said as shoved the controls and slamming the last feather in place, making a new warning pop up as a result.
~~~
Dinky managed to get a hold of her giggles long enough to right herself, before asking, “How was thinking that I was a monster, logical?” She said, before bursting into another set of giggles.
~~~
“Well, for starters, you’re pretty big.” Pippin said bluntly as he began to read through the various error and damage indicators.
“I am not fat!” The filly shouted indignantly.
Pippin glanced up to the main screen at Dinky with a raised eyebrow. “I never said that. Like I was saying, you’re twenty five meters tall, covered in fur, and you have those big, bloomin eyes. It was an easy mistake for any bloke to make.”
Dinky stopped giggling as she stared at the Pipsqueak in confusion, although Pippin didn’t notice as he turned back to the alerts and continued talking.
“Eventually I was able to figure out that you were just a zoid, disguised as an animal, when you called out for help. See? Perfectly logical,” Pippin finished with a self assured grin.
“Can I ask a question?”
“Sure.” Pippin said as he noted that half the redundant power lines along the back and sides were damaged and would need maintenance.
“What’s a zoid?” Dinky asked innocently.
Pippin’s blanched and looked up to the main screen to see Dinky looking at him with innocent, wide, realistic eyes. For a moment he just sat in the cockpit and stared at Dinky. When Dinky shifted uncomfortably in an unnecessary, obviously real show of discomfort Pippin reached for the controls with shaking hands and began to pull back on them.
“A Zoid is a giant, robotic animal, l-like the one you’re piloting,” Pippin said, while making the Pipsqueak take a small step backwards.
~~~end of current rewrite. Everything after this is noncannon~~~
“But I’m not piloting anything. My mom won't even allow me to pilot a wagon,” The filly said with a bit of concern.
“B-b-but... Y-you have to be piloting a zoid! If you’re not piloting a zoid, then that would mean that… you’re… a…” The metal colt stopped talking at this point.
“Pipsqueak, are you okay?” Dinky said, taking a step towards him, only for him to take a step back.
Without warning, Pipsqueak turned around and ran into the forest.
“Hey! Wait up!” Dinky called out as she shoved the pans back into her basket and picked it up, before chasing after him.
The chase only lasted a couple of minutes, before she found the colt slowly trudging through the forest. He was acting completely different from a few minutes ago, as he lethargically moved his legs forward, almost like he was trying to march through a pool of molasses.
Dinky slowly trotted up alongside him, gazing at him as he continued to slow down. Eventually, he stopped moving altogether. Even the light in his eyes seemed to fade.
Dinky set her basket down next to them, before turning back to the colt.
“Did he shut down?” Dinky said as she was about to wave a hoof in front of Pipsqueak, but stopped when she heard a light pounding coming from his head.
Training her gaze on a small crack that had formed on the robot’s head. It wasn’t so much a crack, as it was a hatch that went up and down with every thump. Slowly, Dinky reached out with a hoof, acting as if she was diffusing a bomb, and lifted the metal panel. A small creature came tumbling out, falling to the ground with a thud.
It was a small thing, reminding her of a tiny monkey. It was covered in beat up clothes that Rarity would have thrown a fit over. What was horrifying about it was that the clothes were covered in blood stains, while the bare skin revealed several bruises. When Dinky had finally finished looking it over, she noticed that it was now staring at her with a look of utter terror.
“Pipsqueak, is that you?” Dinky asked as she reached out to him with a hoof, only to yank it back when a sharp pain shot through it.
“Ow! He bit me!” Dinky exclaimed, waving her hoof out before looking back to the small monkey like creature, who was now gagging and trying to wipe its tongue off on its sleeve.
Frowning, Dinky sighed, until a bright light appeared above her head as she came up with an idea.
After tossing the lightbulb away, Dinky backed up and laid down about a meter away from the little guy, who finally stopped cowering and now looked at her in confusion.
“It’s okay, I wont hurt you.” She cooed with a smile.
Pipsqueak gave her another look of confusion before glancing around the forest and releasing a sigh. He then, cautiously, walked up to her and spoke, but all she could hear was some weird gibberish that sounded vaguely like another language she had heard when her mother took her to Prance.
“Huh, I thought you could speak equish?” She said aloud, before noticing that Pipsqueak was starting to act something out.
First he pretended to be walking on four legs, then collapsed. He then got up and pulled out a tiny little gourd and turned it upside down and shook his head. After that, he pointed to the gourd and then pointed further into the forest.
“Umm, okay.” Dinky nodded as she began to follow the short little fellow.
She slowly followed the tiny guy for what seemed like hours (five minutes) before she finally got tired of it. Her horn began to glow as Pipsqueak was encompassed by a golden glow, followed by a squeak of protest from him. She then gently set him down in her mane, before taking off at a brisk trot in the direction he was heading. She slid to a stop when she came upon a large magnificent tree.
She could only stare in awe at it. It was beautiful! She was pretty sure that this would have been the discovery of a lifetime, had she discovered it first. A quick glance to her flank confirmed a lack of a cutie mark.
“Aww, come on! I thought for sure that this adventure would have gotten me my cutie mark!” She whined as Pipsqueak slid out of her mane.
Dinky watched as the little monkey like thing ran up to the base of the tree, before locating a small knot in the side of it that was leaking sap. It took out the tiny bottle it had shown her from before and quickly began filling it with the tree sap.
“Tree sap? What do you want with tree sap?” Dinky asked out loud as Pipsqueak walked back with a smile.
Pipsqueak had just enough time to gesture towards where they came before dinky seized him with her magic, ignore the tiny yelp of surprise. A quick jaunt back from whence they came, and they were back at the robo pony.
Dinky let pipsqueak hop down and run to the robot, and watched as he poured the contents of the gourd into a small hole that appeared in the side of the robot. Before she could question why a robot would need tree sap, she noticed that the eyes were glowing again. Pipsqueak quickly climbed back up and hopped back inside the cockpit, the metal canopy closing behind him.
“Finally, I thought I was going to have to spend an hour trying to get some reggel,” Pipsqueak said, as he proceeded to stretch out his metallic legs, testing them for any damage.
“Why are you driving a pony robot mister monkey?” Dinky asked with new found innocence.
“HEY!” Pipsqueak wheeled around on her. “I am NOT a monkey! I am a human being. There’s a difference… I think,” Pipsqueak then looked up for a moment, before shrugging. “I actually haven’t seen a monkey before, so I don’t really know. B-but folks back home usually use monkey as an insult, or a sign of affection, so I’m pretty sure I’m not a monkey.”
Pipsqueak then turned to her with a nervous expression. “S-sorry bout runnin from ya earlier. I’ve never seen anything like ya.”
Dinky pouted accusingly, before sticking out her hoof. “You bit my hoof!”
Pipsqueak backpedaled. “Oi! You try standing up to something that’s, like, a hundred times bigger than you and then see it approach you as you fall on your back! See how well you react!”
Pipsqueak dropped his accusing tone when he noticed the sheepish look Dinky was giving him. “A-and it’s not my fault! I thought you were going to eat me or something.”
“Eat you!” Dinky exclaimed. “Why would I eat you, you just saved my flank!”
Dinky put on a knowing look as she said, “And besides, ponies are herbivores.”
Pipsqueak was about to object before he let out a sigh. “Sorry, you’re right, I was just scared. I lost my parents to wild zoids when I was young. When you walked up to me, it felt like I was back there again,” Pipsqueak said, gazing at the ground.
Dinky frowned in concern, as she walked up to his side. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s alright, you had nothing to do with it. Anyways,” PIpsqueak perked up. “I gotta go fill this zoid up with reggel from that generator we went to.”
Dinky tilted her head to the side as the two began to trot, her basket levitating behind her. “You mean the tree sap stuff?”
“It’s not tree sap, its reggel. It’s a high energy fuel source that zoids use as both lubrication and a reactant for their reactors.” Pipsqueak said with authority.
“Huh, tree sap is robot fuel, who knew?” Dinky said, as Pipsqueak nearly tripped over himself.
“I told you, it’s not tree sap!”
“Then why did it come from a tree?” Dinky asked.
“Because its not a tree, its a generator. Didn’t you notice how it didn’t look like any of the other trees around here?”
“Yeah, it was very pretty.”
“Generators look like trees, but are distinctly different. Generators are able to stabilize the climate in areas, fertilize the soil, and produce reggel which is used as zoid fuel.”
“Huh, I guess that describes why the everfree forests weather does its own thing,” Dinky said idly. “Where I come from, its up to the pegasi to control the weather, while the earth ponies fertilize and maintain the soil.”
“Really?” Pipsqueak commented in awe while dinky replied with a nod.
“I wish humans could do that. We have to rely on generators, and if the generator breaks, it can mean the end of an entire village! That’s why I was learning how to become a generator mechanic,” Pipsqueak said as the duo entered the clearing and walked up to the large tree.
Pipsqueak layed down next to the tree, before the plate on his head popped open again.
“I synced my radio up to my zoid. I should be able to talk to you while I fill up it’s tank.” Pippin said as he climbed out of the zoid.
A few moments of silence passed before pip awkwardly said, “So… what brought you out here in the first place? I mean, it doesn’t seem like the sorta place a girl like you would hang out in, so why are ya here?”
Dinky blinked, “Oh, I was just trying to get my adventurer cutie mark!” Dinky cried happily.
“Cutie mark? Sorry, but I don’t think that translated right. What do you mean by a cutie mark?” Pip asked as he poured another container of reggel into the zoid.
“It’s a mark that a pony gets on their flank when they figure out what their special talent is.”
“Special talent? Like what you’re really good at?” Pippin asked as he collected more tree sap.
“Yep! Ponies usually do something that involves their cutie mark. It doesn’t determine their future, but it usually helps them know what they’re best at.”
“A’right, I get it. So you thought that you would get this cutie mark by going on an adventure? That’s kinda brave,” Pippin said as he dumped his last bottle of reggel into the zoid, before climbing back into the cockpit.
“W-well, I wouldn’t call it brave,” Dinky said, a blush forming along her face. “It was kinda stupid, to be honest.”
“I think it would be stupid not to chase your dreams,” Pipsqueak said as he got to his hooves.
Pipsqueak froze for a moment, before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. “Umm, I’m kinda lost, and I don’t think I can go back home right now. Do you know of a village or hut that I could stay in, just for the night?”
Dinky smiled happily. “Sure, Ponyville is right on the outskirts of the forest. We can probably sneak you into my house without anypony seeing.”
Pipsqueak nearly tripped over himself when he heard that. “There’s an entire village of you guys? H-how… b-but… How could we miss an entire village of giant ponies!”
Dinky thought to herself for a moment, before shrugging. “I don’t know. I’m actually kinda surprised we missed a village of robo ponies.”
Pipsqueak smiled but said nothing as they started to trot out of the forest.
The sun was setting on the horizon by the time they had reached the edge of the Everfree. The moment he broke from the tree cover, Pipsqueak was staring in awe at his surroundings. There was an actual well built village made for giant multicolored ponies sitting in front of him. He could see ponies of all colors not only walking, but flying around and going about their daily business like nothing was wrong.
The ponies weren’t the only thing that was bothering him. Now that he was out of the forest, he could see a good view of the landscape. It went on for as far as the eye could see. Much farther than what the dark forest could ever hope to hide. Pippin felt his hands shake, as the reality of the situation hit him.
*sniffle*
Dinky looked over in surprise to see the robo pony hunched over, with wings drooped and his head down. He looked miserable, which was impressive, considering his lack of facial features.
“What’s wrong?” Dinky asked as she trotted up next to the crying colt.
He slowly looked up at her before looking down in sadness once again. “I don’t think I’m going to go back home again.”
“What! Why?” Dinky exclaimed.
“W-we’ve mapped out the entire continent. I’ve seen the maps, and there is nowhere that something this large could be hidden. Look around! I can see hundred of ponies, even a castle on a mountain! Everywhere I look I can see lush grass and trees. There’s no way nobody noticed this, let alone fit it onto an unexplored place on a map!”
The colt collapsed onto the ground. “I’m never going to see them again. I am never going to see Tony, or any of my other friends!” He sniffled. “I’m never even going to see my village again.”
“So what are you going to do about it?”
“Wha?” Pipsqueak said, gazing up at Dinky in surprise.
“What are you going to do about it? Yes your friends are gone, and that’s always difficult, but you’re still alive,” Dinky said before putting on a stern face. “The way I see it, you have two options. You can either sit here and mope, or you can pick yourself up, look for a way back, and maybe even make a few friends while you’re at it.”
Dinky then took a few steps forward. “I’m going to go back to my house and grab something to hide you with. I’ll be back lickity split.”
With that, Dinky ran off, eventually disappearing into a sea of technicolor ponies, while Pipsqueak let himself mull over the filly’s words. She was sorta right afterall, I mean, he was still alive and as Japapa always said, “As long as you’re alive, then you should never give in and never give up!” He could still miss the friends he lost, still search for a way home, but that didn’t mean it was the end of everything.
Pippins thoughts began to drift towards Dinky. He had already made a friend, hadn’t he? Here she was, going out of her way to help him, even going so far as to offering to let him stay in her home. It was just the sorta thing you would ask a friend to do.
“Yeah, I guess I am kinda lucky to have met her,” He said to himself, right before he heard the sound of hooves approaching.
Pip quickly dove behind a tree, slamming his cockpit into it in the process, and halted all of the zoids motions. The sound of hoofsteps got closer and closer, and Pippin could feel his heartbeat rising. He was just about to flee when he heard Dinky call out for him.
“Pipsqueak. Where’d ya go?”
Pippin let out a sigh of relief as he stepped back out from behind the tree.
“I’m over ‘ere,” He said as he looked at the new saddlebag that she was wearing.
Dinky glanced over and grinned, before taking the bags off and digging through them.
“I talked to my mom and asked her if I could bring a friend over,” Dinky said as she proceeded to stick her entire hoof into the tiny bag. “I didn’t mention anything about you being a robot so we are going to have to make sure your disguise holds up to close inspection. I couldn’t find anything like a trenchcoat or a robe, but I was able to find something that would cover your legs.”
Dinky grinned as she pulled out a large article of clothing.
“... Bloody ell.”
Author's Note
About time I got back to this story. This is the problem with having an author with ADD. I got more than 35 unpublished incomplete stories and never enough time or attention span to complete them.
Funny enough, it was actually seeing people commenting on this story that got me to come back to it. Looking on it a second time got me to realize two things: first I need to keep this story inside the cockpit from Pippin's perspective. In other words in first and third person limited from Pippin's perspective, other wise it is no longer a story about a young zoid pilot but just a weird robot pony. Second: I need to ramp up the seriousness a notch while keeping the tone hopeful.
Originally this was a pipe dream idea about how to make Pipsqueak have an outrageous backstory. Now though, I am going to make it about a lost boy trying to find his place in a world both utterly alien and several sizes too large. The first step is to rewrite this chapter, but I didn't want to take it down, so I am putting in a page break where I stopped rewriting. Hopefully it will be removed before anyone notices.
Explosions and screams echoed through a large town as fireballs rained down upon it. Several large zoids that resembled giant green tortoises fired shots from large cannons on their backs. The shots rained down upon an army of silver zoids that charged towards the mostly barren land that surrounded the town, with the shots dissipating on impact, leaving no damage upon the invaders.
The skeletal, silver, raptor like zoids quickly began tearing down the defenses, while others fired searing orange flame into the town, ignoring the cries of pain and screams for help.
Upon a ridge far outside of town stood a larger, stronger looking silver raptor with golden claws, watching the scene with what seemed like disinterest. Another smaller raptor approached the leader and quickly bowed to him before a robotic voice blared out.
“GENERAL, OUR FORCES HAVE FINISHED ELIMINATING HOSTILE DEFENSES. WE ARE NOW BEGINNING TO ROUND UP THE REMAINING CIVILIANS.”
“Good,” A cool, impartial voice responded from the larger raptor. “That is to be expected of Digald’s first armored division. I assume that you have something actually worth informing me of?”
There was a slight pause before the other raptor responded. “ONE OF OUR SCOUTS HAS FOUND INFORMATION INDICATING THAT A GENERATOR MECHANIC IS IN THE CITY.”
The general seemed to pause at this. “This makes things interesting. Start organizing the work camps and begin gathering up all the survivors. Start sending patrols around the area, I want everything in a hundred miles to be checked for refugees. Also, set up a patrol around the forest and start organizing our Bio Raptor Gui’s to do reconnaissance over it. I want every man woman and child found and in chains. Do I make myself clear?” The man said in a strict, deadly tone.
“UNDERSTOOD, SIR.” The raptor quickly ran off to inform the rest of the forces as the general continued to gaze at the chaos.
“I wonder how many of these rats have already managed to escape my grasp.” He muttered, as he watched the city continue to burn.
“What have you gotten yourself into Pippin?” I muttered to myself, listening for any signs of soldiers or zoids as I caught my breath while hiding behind a tree. “Japapa’s dead, the city has fallen, and now an entire army is looking for you!”
The sound of foot steps filled the air and I slowly lifted my head up, the last of my hope disappearing. “M-maybe they’ll go easy on me if I surrender? T-they could probably use an apprentice generator mechanic.”
Before I could bring myself to my feet, the source of the foot steps called out. “Pip? Pippin is that you?”
“Tony?” I asked in disbelief, before scrambling to my feet and turning towards the voice.
Before me stood my old friend, Tony Amarichi. He was pretty tall for his age, already taller than most adults. He was only three years older than Pippin, making him thirteen, but he acted with the maturity of any of the adults in the village.
Right now his cheeks were bright red, probably from the heat and all the running. He wore a loose open brown vest and baggy tan pants that were held up by a piece of rope tied around his waist. Slung over his shoulder was a sack that no doubt contained the few possessions he had managed to grab before his escape.
Tony was staring at me with a mixture of relief and horrified concern. “Pip, what happened to you? You look like you just crawled out of a zoid wreck!”
I glanced down, whipping some of my brown hair out of the way. My clothes had seen better days. Tears, blood stains, and burn marks covered my grey cargo pants and dark brown work jacket. I had the misfortune of being inside the zoid workshop, right before the Digald army bombarded it.
I was lucky enough to have landed underneath a piece of steel girder that ended up holding the collapsed ceiling off of me. Japapa and the other workers, however… I tried my best to free them, but the fire was closing in and the sounds of battle kept drawing nearer. The screams of the dying workers still echoed through my head, while Japapa told me his final words. “Run, and never give up.”
After that, I just got up and ran, not even bothering to dump my heavy, warm work jacket as I ran out of the burning building. The next few minutes were a blur, until I had finally found myself out here.
“Japapa’s dead.” I blurted out, causing Tony to stare at me in disbelief.
Tony shook his head and placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that, but right now we have got to get moving. The Digald army are moving those strange zoids to surround this forest. If we don’t get out of here before they surround it, we’ll be trapped like fish in a barrel.”
“What’s the point?” I muttered, much to Tony’s shock. “Their zoids are fast. If they’re even half as fast as a beam tortoise, they’ll have the forest surrounded by now. M-maybe if we surrende-GAH!”
I fell back to the ground, stunned, as I stared at Tony, who was now rubbing his fist. “You felt that right? That pain. Do you know what it means?”
Tony didn’t give me a chance to answer. “It means that you’re alive. That alone is enough reason to keep trying. No matter the opposition, no matter the odds, as long as you’re still alive then you have to try. As Japapa would say, ‘Never give in, and never give up!’ Now c’mon, we’re getting out of this forest.” Tony finished that sentence while holding out a hand to help me up.
I rubbed my cheek idly before cracking a grin. “You know, you still hit like a girl.”
“Only if that girl is Angelina.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me of her. Those slaps of hers are probably one of the only things I wont miss about the village.”
That got the two of us to chuckle as we made our ways further into the forest.
“I think the trees are getting bigger.” I said as Tony tried to remain stoic.
“...We’re lost, aren’t we?” This managed to get Tony to react.
“We are NOT lost. We’re just a little bit sidetracked.” Tony muttered, even though we both knew it was a lie.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been to this part of the forest.”
“Yeah, well that’s probably because its part of the dark forest.” He said with a hint of nervousness.
“Isn’t the dark forest the place that Japapa told us to never go to?” I asked idly, gazing at the huge trees that would dwarf even large scale zoids.
“Yeah. From what I heard, this place was once blessed by a powerful force, causing all the soil to become magically fertile.” Tony paused, leaning against a tree root as he opened a small water bladder.
“The legend goes on saying that all that live and grow in this forest grow to enormous sizes, rivaling even zoids. As a result, no one is allowed to enter, since its just too dangerous.”
“But that’s just a bunch of superstition, right?” I asked as he took a sip from the bag.
“I dunno, but something had to cause them to build that wall around the town. Plus I’ve seen the shadows of a few of the things out there. If they’re not animals, then I don’t wanna find out what they were.”
Tony capped the bag and gestured back to me. “Come on, we need to keep moving.”
I can’t really tell how much time had passed, but my new found hope was dwindling as we came upon yet another obstacle.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Tony yelled as he gazed down into the small valley that had a river in the middle.
“Oh boy, looks like we’ll have to find a crossing point. The roots of the trees may have stopped some of the soil from eroding, but I doubt it’s strong enough to climb down.” He said.
Not two steps later, did a low rumble filled the air as the ground beneath Tony fell away.
“Tony!” I yelled, as I rushed toward the rockslide.
“Stay back! I’m alright, but the ground is probably still unstable. Try and find a branch or something to pull me up.” Tony called back.
After a bit of searching, all I could find was a few twigs, dirt, and the largest acorn I had ever seen. Had it been any other situation, I probably would have tried to bring the two foot long thing back as a souvenir.
I was about to give up, putting my hands in my pockets, before I realized I still had my work jacket on. A quick check of the pouches revealed that I still had most of my tools, including a long length of safety cord.
I ran back to the cliff and tossed an end over the ledge.
“Will this work?” I called out.
“Sure. Is it long enough to brace it around anything?” Tony called back.
A quick glance around revealed an exposed root that looked close enough. I walked over to it and wrapped the cord around it once, before calling back. “Alright, I have it braced.”
There were a few small tugs before I felt his full weight on the cord, followed by a few grunts as Tony started pulling himself up. Suddenly, another rumble filled the air as the cord nearly pulled me face first into the tree root.
“Tony! Are you alright?” I called out, only to see Tony, albeit a bit dirtier, climbing up the slope that had formed.
“That cord really saved my hide back there.” He said with a cocky smile as I rushed to meet him, nearly tackling him with the fierce hug I gave him.
“Whoah there pipsqueak, it’ll take more than a rockslide to take this Amarichi out.” He said as I pulled myself back.
“I’m just glad you’re okay.” I said, returning his cocky smile.
“Still, it’s a good thing that I found something sturdy to stand on, otherwise I probably would have fallen with the rest of that debris.” He said.
I cast a questioning gaze at the now visible ledge he had been standing on, when a glint of metal caught my attention. Without thinking, I took a couple of steps towards it, only for a fierce tug on my wrist to snap me out of my daze.
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? The grounds still unstable over there!” He all but yelled at me, only for me to turn to him with a small spark in my eyes.
“Tony, I think you just stumbled upon a zoid!” I quickly broke free from his grasp and ran over to the exposed root that still had my safety cord wrapped around it. I had just finished tying it into a knot when Tony rushed over.
“And so what if it is?” He said as I tied the other end around my waist. “We don’t have time to mess around with an ancient zoid that probably has more dirt than wiring at this point. We have to get out of here before the Digald army finishes closing their trap!”
I turned to him, a bit of irritation in my eyes. “News flash Tony, their trap’s already set. You told me that they started surrounding the forest, that was hours ago! In that time we managed to get lost and only wind up deeper in the forest. Our only chance now is to either try to hide and hope they don’t find us, or to break through their forces while they are spread out at the forest's edge.”
Tony let out a sigh. “We don’t even know if that thing has weapons, let alone if it has any reggel left to power it. How are we supposed to break through in it?”
I paused for a moment. He had a point. If the zoid wasn’t functional, then it would just be a waste of time. The alternative however…
“Look, we don’t have any options here. I still got my reggel container from the workshop. It should be enough to get us to the forest’s edge, assuming the zoid still works. That would at least be faster than trying to walk there from here. If it has any weapons, or maybe special abilities, then we can worry about how we’re getting out of the forest.”
Tony thought for a bit before releasing another sigh and nodding. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I just wish we didn’t have to bet our lives on a gamble.”
“You and me both,” I said with a nod. “Now help lower me down. I’m going to try and find it’s reggel lid.”
I began to make my way over toward the rockslide, while Tony double checked the knot I tied to the root, in case he slipped and let me fall. The metal wasn’t very visible, but the lack of any rust gave me a bit of hope.
I double checked the knot at my waist before Tony lowered me over the edge. I was surprised by how much of the zoid was visible. The river must had eroded the dirt from around it, revealing a rather mossy exterior. The general shape appeared to be some sort of hoofed animal with strange appendages mounted to the back, but I couldn’t tell what they were, since a thick layer of dirt covered that section.
The most noticeable thing was the gigantic cockpit. The head was completely disproportionate to the body. The head was large enough to fit on a liger, yet it was mounted to a body that looked to be a bit smaller than it!
“I’ve never seen anything like it before.” I called up. “It looks like some sort of recon or research zoid. It has a large cockpit with plenty of room for instrumentation, might mean that it will have targeting and sonar systems exceeding the Digald’s zoids.”
“And what good does that do us?” Tony called down.
“It means we should be able to avoid Digald patrols and slip through their grasp.” I replied.
“Lower me a bit more, I think I can see a reggel port on the shoulder.”
It took a bit of swinging once I was lowered down, and several failed attempts to find a point to grab onto on the moss covered zoid, but I eventually managed to find a hand hold by my target. Once I was in position, I gazed at the moss covered indentation. Just as with most zoids, I saw a manual lid release mechanism by the side, although I had to pick the moss and dirt out of the way before I could get to it.
With a few turns of the pop out crank, the lid began to open in an iris fashion. Why anyone would make a reggel cap so complicated was beyond my understanding, but I had to admit it looked cool.
I quickly pulled out my small reggel container. It was basically a glorified gourd, but since reggel was known for hardening after a day or two, it was best to rely on cheap containers. I popped the cork on one end, then brought it against the reggel port before popping the cork on the other end. I then gently blew into the second end, forcing the sap like reggel into the zoid.
After a few more blows, I capped the two ends of the gourd and slapped the release crank shut. To my luck, the port automatically closed as the reggel began restoring power to the zoid.
“Looks like the basic subsystems are intact. If the minor ones that are exposed to the elements are working, it means the main systems are probably still operational.” I said with a smile.
“Alright, bring me up.” I called up as I heard the sounds of grunts and groans from above.
After a bit of scrambling, and an unending stream of comments about “How can such a lil guy weigh so much,” I was finally back up on the cliff again.
“So what’s the next step?” Tony asked.
“Well, now we gotta uncover the cockpit and try to find the release switch for the canopy.” I said as I began shoving handfuls of dirt off the zoid.
“Are you sure it’s safe to be standing on that thing? There were two rockslides there, afterall.” Tony said as he made his way over.
I paused in my digging. “The zoid is pretty far into the cliff side, so it should be stable, but you’re right.” I glanced at the pile of safety cord to his left and said, “let’s retie the knot so it’s in the middle, then you can tie the other end of the cord around your waste.”
“Alright sounds good.”
A few minutes later and the two of us hadn’t even put a dent in the massive pile of dirt on the canopy.
“Ugh, what I’d give for a shovel.” I groaned, while Tony perked up a bit.
“Hey, I think I found the release latch!” Tony exclaimed.
“That’s good, but we still have to uncover the canopy.” I said.
“Oh c’mon! What’s a few tons of dirt to a zoid?” Tony asked as he reached for the release.
“Click...”
“Well that was anti-climatic.” He said, while my eyes were drawn towards the dirt.
“Is that dirt… glowing?”
The next few seconds were a blur of motion and screams. (To this day, I never thought I’d find out, but Tony DOES in fact scream like a girl.) A few seconds later we were both dangling from the safety cord, with me glaring directly at the groaning Tony.
“Oh, man that hurt.” he said as he gently rubbed his waist
“This is why you should learn how to tie a harness, and why you shouldn’t hit switches when you don’t know what they do. Now come on, I think it’s open now.”
About a minute later, we had both managed to get back onto the cliff and were now inspecting the cockpit.
“Ya know, I was expecting something a bit… bigger.” Tony said, gazing at the single chair surrounded by more gauges, dials, and displays than I had ever seen before.
“It’s a bit odd though.” Tony said nonchalantly. “I can’t read any of the gauges in this thing.”
“Most zoids are written in an ancient dialect, but they are usually still similar to our language. Whenever an old zoid is found and brought to the shop, we usually update the dials to our language. But these… I’ve never seen anything like this dialect before, and I’ve been in plenty of old zoids.” I said as I gazed at the multitude of displays.
“Well, no harm in trying it out.” Tony said as he leapt into the cockpit.
“Oi, do you know how to pilot this thing?”
“Nope, but it can’t hurt to try.” He said as he started to hit buttons randomly.
He kept this up for a few seconds before he slammed his fist into the side of the cockpit. “C’mon, work you hunk of scrap metal, WORK!”
“It’s no use,” I said “not every person can activate every zoid, and not every zoid can be activated.”
“Are you telling me that all that work could have been for nothing?” He asked incredulously.
“Not exactly, but I’m more surprised that you didn’t know that. Now scoot over.” I said as I climbed into the cockpit.
“Since a zoid can suffer severe damage, they have back up systems that allow you to manually operate the limbs and bypass the zoid core. It’s just a lot harder.” I said as I reached towards the controls, only for them to light up the moment I touched them.
“Wow, you’re pretty good at this.” Tony muttered, until he noticed the look of shock on my face. “What’s up Pipsqueak?”
“I… I didn’t do that.” I stammered.
“Huh, guess that means you activated it.” He said, shrugging it off.
“But, that can’t be! I’ve been in hundreds of zoids, and not a single one of them ever responded to me!” I said in disbelief.
“There’s a first time for everything. Now c’mon, let’s get this thing moving.” Tony said as he leapt out of the cockpit, allowing the canopy to close.
He quickly ran toward one of the large trees as the ground began to shake as I fiddled with the controls. Abruptly, one of the front legs ripped free of the cliff, followed by one of the back legs. The entire zoid strained for a second before it ripped its head out of the dirt and then pulled the rest of itself out.
During this entire process, I was busy chanting a mantra in my head. I don’t know what this does, err… that didn’t sound good. How about this? Nope, definitely not. How about-OH what the #### am I doing!?! These thoughts continued until I heard the unmistakable laughter of Tony outside the cockpit.
“Just what are you laughing at?” I called through the speakers.
“*snicker* Just at the adorable abomination you call a zoid!” Tony kept laughing like this while I managed to get the zoid to clamber up the cliff face.
“What do you mean ‘adorable?’” I called back, after finally getting the thing back on stable ground.
“Oh man, this would be so much funnier if this wasn’t our only chance at survival.” Tony muttered to himself, as he started to gather himself back together.
“Well for starters,” he yelled back. “You look like a chibi silver unicorn with wings!”
My face paled. “You have got to be kidding me.” I muttered to myself, but that didn’t stop Tony from continuing his rant.
“You’re only about as tall as a beam tortoise, the wings are colored like a rainbow, and the entire thing sparkles in the sunlight!” He fell over laughing again as he finished this sentence. Meanwhile, I was trying not to drown in all the of sour luck I was having.
“Just shut up and climb on.” I said as I made the zoid lay down.
Tony all too happily obliged, scrambling up and next to the cockpit with a stupid grin on his face.
“So what are you gonna call your monstrosity?” He said as I popped open the canopy.
“Call it Pipsqueak. Maybe then you’ll stop calling me by that stupid nickname.” I said as he clambered in next to me.
“Pipsqueak… I like it. Kinda fits in a way.” He said as the zoid leapt across the small valley.
An hour later we were standing on a hill as the sun was setting in the orange sky, scanning the surrounding area.
“So how’s it look?” Tony asked as I tapped on various panels.
“Well, I’ve finally managed to set the displays to our language through the use of some sort of built in translation software, but I can only pray that the readings I’m getting are wrong.”
“It’s that bad?”
“Yep. I’m picking up about four large zoids, probably bio raptors, in the area. They’re all within visual range of each other, just like the rest of them, and have the perimeter well guarded. They seem to be arranging transports to be sent out as they find survivors. I’m also detecting the occasional aerial unit flying over head, no idea what those things are, but they can easily outmaneuver the Pipsqueak’s limited flight capacity.”
“This thing can fly?”
“Yeah, don’t ask. I have no idea how either.”
I then continued browsing through the displays. “I was able to locate the weapon systems and I’ve got to say, I’m impressed. This thing has several forms of projectile weapons available from the horn... I mean, energy emitter. Unfortunately, you said that they shrug off energy weapons?”
“Yep. I was on the wall when they attacked. They just shrugged off everything that we threw at them. The only possible weakness was a luck shot to the cannon in their mouths. It’s unarmored and you can detonate the ammo in it.”
I just sighed. “Then I’ve got nothing. The only other available weapons are the wing blades and the… harmonic cannon? Anyways, it just doesn’t seem like enou…” A massive grin began to form on my face.
“I know that look. That’s the same look you got when you invented the reggel cake bomb and put it in Angelina’s birthday cake.” Tony said with a grin.
“In my defense, it was totally called for. Now then, I have a plan, but you’re not going to like it...”
“This is a terrible idea.” Tony muttered as he ran out towards one of the bio raptors.
“Hey! Over here!” He yelled, getting the attention of the bio raptors.
“HALT. YOU ARE NOW UNDER ARREST AS A PRISONER OF WAR,” The bio raptor began, before Tony cut in.
“Yeah yeah yeah, I surrender. But that’s not important! You’ve gotta help my friend, he’s trapped under a tree in the forest!”
Upon receiving no answer, Tony turned up the drama. “Please! You’ve gotta help him! He’s like a little brother to me.”
The bio raptor glanced at one of the others before nodding and turning back to Tony. “VERY WELL, TELL US WHERE HE IS AND WE WILL SEND SOMEONE TO RETRIEVE HIM.”
“Okay… okay… he’s in the forest, about a mile north from here.”
The bio raptor turned and nodded to two of the others as they began to head into the forest. An ominous silence fell over the group.
“So… know any knock knock jokes?”
In the forest, two bio raptors moved swiftly through the trees, able to avoid the larger ones while simply knocking over the smaller ones.
The path of destruction, although loud and crude, allowed them to reach their target within a minute of entering the forest.
Of course they didn’t know it was their target until a voice called out from an overturned tree.
“Hello? Is anyone out there? I’m stuck in an alcove, there’s a tree in the way and I can’t get out!”
One of the bio raptors urged the other on, so it reached down and tried to lift the tree with its front claws, only for it to not budge.
The bio raptor strained for a moment before reaching down with it’s mouth and trying to lift it that way, only for the tree to still no budge.
The other bio raptor, probably due to impatience, walked over and started to bite at the tree as well, this time causing it to shift with a subtle click.
“How does he know so many knock knock jokes?” Tony groaned to himself as the now rather talkative soldier went on about an orange at the door.
KRA-KOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted from the direction the bio raptors had gone, the other two bio raptors instantly turned to the sound.
“Well, that’s my cue.” Tony muttered to himself as he pulled a small sphere coated in a sticky resin from his now very sticky pocket.
The memory of Pippin’s voice echoed through his head as he gazed at the ball.
“Alright, when the bio raptors fall into the trap, I want you to toss this into one of the remaining raptors mouths.” Pippin said as he handed Tony a sticky ball of some sort of powder.
“eww, what is it?” Tony asked as Pippin began lacing a downed tree with some sort of radio.
“According to the computer, it’s a mixture of some sort of metal powder and rusty metal powder called thermite. When the two combine they create a powerful fuel source, as well as a catalyst for the beam emitter.”
“Say what now?”
“Umm, it means that when I shoot a beam at the stuff, it will rapidly heat up until it is hot enough to melt through just about anything. It should be strong enough to set off the ammunition in the bio raptors mouth.”
“Then why are you only giving me one?”
“Because you’ll only have one shot at this and I need the rest for the trap. We’re lucky to have any of the stuff left at all, every other system is out of ammo. So make it count.”
“Make it count he says, all you gotta do is chuck it a hundred feet in the air he says.” Tony grumbled as he made a makeshift sling out of the vest he was wearing.
He quickly dropped the ball in before rapidly swinging the sling above his head. The moment the bio raptor opened its mouth to roar, he let the sling go as the projectile flew overhead and into the zoids mouth with a barely noticeable clunk.
“I did it. I can’t believe I did it!... aww man, now my vest is covered in tree sap.” Tony muttered to himself, right before a blaster shot flew out of the forest, bouncing off the head of the other bio raptor.
“That’s my cue to evac.” Tony muttered as he ran away from the bio raptor, now that it’s attention was drawn elsewhere.
Meanwhile, inside the Pipsqueak, Pippin was dealing with his own issues.
“Well, that got it’s attention. Ugh, the energy emitter has great versatility and all, but the spread is so large it’s nearly useless for precision aiming.” Pippin muttered to himself as he exited the forest. “Guess it’s time for plan B.”
With that, he tapped the display in front of him and switched to the beam weapon. “Let’s just hope that Tony was able to pull it off.”
The pony zoid bent down and braced itself, before firing a stream of multicolored energy at the two bio zoids. The stream passed harmlessly over one, but the others mouth began to glow bright red before its entire mouth burst into flames. Seconds later, the zoids mouth exploded, followed by a chain of explosion going down the throat until it collapsed and the silver coating began to dissolve away.
“Haha! Way to go Tony! Now onto the dangerous part of the plan. Can I take out a single bio raptor, having no previous experience piloting a zoid, before it takes me out?... Would that impending sense of doom please get off my back?”
The bio raptor began charging at the much smaller zoid, which proceeded to duck back into the forest. Pippin began piloting his zoid deeper into the forest, swerving and zigzagging to avoid enemy fire, only to realize that the bio raptor wasn’t firing at him.
“What’s going on? I thought for sure that it would use its ranged advantage, unless… He doesn’t want to set the forest on fire!” This revelation was quickly cut off by a weightless sensation as his zoid was roughly knocked to the ground by the faster bio raptor.
The cockpit shook as the bio zoid began to stomp on the overturned zoid, something that would have easily crushed another, similarly small zoid. Red lights and damage indicators began to light up around Pippin as he quickly flipped through his available option before activating the wing blades. With a quick jerk, a wing flipped up and sweeped the bio raptors legs out from under it, unfortunately causing it to collapse onto Pippin’s zoid.
Pippin grunted as the zoid shook, but quickly forced it back onto its hooves as he lashed out with the wing blades again, flipping the bio raptor off of him.
“If I can’t hit it at range, I’ll just have to attack from point blank!” He yelled as he charged at the recovering bio raptor.
The bio raptor looked up at it’s charging opponent and appeared to get the same idea, opening it’s mouth and unleashing a torrent of flame. The displays became a sea of flames as the cockpit rapidly heated up, but Pippin ignored it as he rammed his zoid’s horn straight into the bio raptor’s mouth. With a quick push of a button, the beam emitter released a large blast of energy, causing an explosion to engulf the two.
As the smoke cleared, the pony zoid was left standing in front of a pile of bleached white bones, all that remained of the bio raptor.
“I can’t believe that worked.” Pippin said as he collapsed in his cockpit.
Tony was standing outside of the forest, a cocky smile on his face as he watched the transport Gustav roll in. It was a simple design to be sure, with a grey half circle dome over the top of it made out of heavy segmented plates and a maroon underbelly, but it was capable of hauling massive loads without losing any speed.
The Gustav was pulling a large cage behind it, filled with people Tony recognized from the village, which only made his smile grow.
“In the name of Digald, freeze and put your hands behind your head!” Said the driver of the Gustav.
“Alright, alright. Keep your pants on.” Tony said as he raised his hands up, until one of the guards got out of the Gustav.
“Whoops my mistake, you’re the ones who are supposed to be doing that.” He said as a zoid leapt out of the forest, lifting the Gustav up as a multi colored glow surrounded it.
“What the? This is Gustav transport 1-19, come in scout squad eight… scout squad eight come in!” The guard in the Gustav practically yelled into his radio. Only static came back over the line.
“Sorry but I had to jam your transmission.” Pippin said from his zoid. “Squad eight has been destroyed anyways.” Pippin continued as he tilted the Gustav sideways, dumping the pilot out.
“Alright Tony, they’re all yours. I’ll be unlocking the cage if you need me.” Pip said as the sound of a small fist fight raged.
After a minute, both of the guards had been disposed of and the cage was opened, however, the people were still inside it. Tony was busy messing around in the Gustav’s cockpit, and soon enough the vehicle sprung to life.
“And we’re in business!” Tony cried as he pulled the zoid forward a few meters.
“Good, that’s the only thing that can actually carry all the people to safety. You’re the best navigator we got, so take the Gustav toward one of the closer towns and ditch it when you find some cover. They probably got a tracker on that thing so only use it to cover as much distance as you can.”
“Alright just follow *KABOOM*”
Tony was cut off as an explosion knocked the Pipsqueak off to the side.
“Pippin!” Tony cried out as a shadow passed by overhead.
“Gah. I’m alright, but we’re in big trouble this time.” I said as I gazed up at the flying bio zoid.
“That things got air superiority on me and the last bio raptor damaged the wings. I wont be able to protect you and fight that thing at the same time. I’ll just have to use the Harmonic cannon on it.”
“I am not leaving you here.”
“Do you want those people to die? Look, they don’t know it’s been hijacked yet, so take the Gustav and get out of here, I’ll be right behind ya.”
“You better be, or I’m coming back for ya.”
“Deal, now get going!” Pippin called out as the bio raptor gui turned back around for another bombing run.
Pippin flipped through the weapon settings before stopping right before the harmonic cannon. There was another reason he had sent Tony away. According to his research, the harmonic cannon’s power output well exceeded anything he had ever seen before, including his zoids safety threshold. In all likelihood, the harmonic cannon wasn’t so much a weapon as it was a last resort, destroying the zoid when it fired.
“Here goes something.” Pippin muttered as he selected the cannon.
Suddenly, the zoid began to hum. A bright light formed on the tip of the horn as both one and a half wings raised up in an offensive position. Suddenly, a small explosion rang out from the energy emitter, followed by electricity coursing through the zoid. Inside the cockpit, dozens of warnings began popping up, indicating heavy damage throughout all the zoid’s power systems.
“What the? Oh no, I must have damaged the beam emitter when I rammed the bio raptor!” Pippin exclaimed as he began overriding warnings and rerouting power lines.
Okay, the beam emitter is still functioning, but with it’s current level of damage, I’m not sure I will be able to turn it on again. That means I really only have one shot at defeating this thing. Pippin thought as he ignored the warnings and focused on keeping the bio zoid locked on.
A glow began to surround the pony zoid as it slowly rose into the air, much to Pippins confusion. The air began to ripple as the now blinding glow from the zoid’s horn grew larger than the zoid before releasing a massive wave of rainbow colored energy that seemed to wrap itself around the bio raptor gui. Had Pippin’s eyes been better, he would have noticed the small sphere of blue light leaving the zoid and disappearing into the sky.
Once the beam died out, Pipsqueak fell back to the ground, although it was not alone. The bio raptor gui also began falling towards the ground, specifically towards the now grounded pony zoid.
“Come on, come on! Activate!” Pippin practically yelled until he noticed the falling bio zoid.
“Oh ####! Looks like it’s time to bail.” Pippin said as he slammed the canopy release, only for nothing to happen.
Pippin paled when he realized that all the power lines to the canopy had been fried. He could bypass the short, but by then the bio raptor gui would have fallen. Time seemed to slow as a moment of clarity hit him, revealing to him an unfortunate fate.
“Never give up.”
Those words seemed to echo through his head, as pippin switched on the radio.
“Tony? Tony are you there?”
“Yeah Pip? I saw that cannon thing you mentioned earlier, that thing was awesome!”
“At least it looked cool.” Collision alarms began blaring through the cockpit.
“Pip? Pippin what’s wrong? You sound like you’re on your deathbed.” Tony said with worry straining his voice.
“Tony, how far out are you?”
“About a mile, why?”
“Darn… Tony, my zoids lost all power and the Bio raptor I shot down is coming at me… I don’t think I’m going to make it.”
“Pippin… hold on, I’m coming back for you.”
“Alright, just… keep the radio on… I want someone to talk to, if this really is the…”
“Don’t talk like that, I’m coming for you. Just hang tight and I’ll have you out of there before you know it!”
Pippin glanced up at the falling zoid. It could now easily be seen without magnification. It seemed like the blast had knocked out the pilot, making the zoid continue on its last given path.
“No matter what happens, promise me you’ll get those people out of here. They were a family to me when I had none. So help me, I will haunt you if you don’t get them to safety.”
“Pippin stop talking like that! I can already see your zoid and… oh ####.”
Pippin glanced up one more time, the bio raptor filling his entire screen as his heart filled with adrenaline.
“Goodbye, Tony.”
A crack echoed through the air as the falling zoid collided head first into the smaller zoids horn. Time seemed to slow down as a blindingly white light filled the air, forcing Tony to look away. As the light dimmed, a huge explosion rocked the Gustav. All that Tony could see when he looked back was a smoking crater and a few zoid parts scattered across the ground.
“Pippin?”
Author's Note
From here on out, the story will have a dramatically different feel. I guess thats what happens when you switch from a life threatening scenario to everyday life in ponyville… Wait, is there a difference?
