Equestria Girls /0

Chapters

Chapter Fourteen: The One About the Liger
Chapter One - Zoid Battles for Fun and Profit
Chapter Two - Vinyl Scratch: First Encount
Side Story: A Hearth's Warming Dream
Chapter Three - The Chaos Union
Chapter Four - She Dazzled Me With Zoids
Chapter Five - Vinyl Scratch: Crazy Sunshine
Chapter Six - Tricks up Their Sleeves
Chapter Seven - Downtime, Uptime
Chapter Eight - Disorderly Misconduct
Chapter Nine - Progression
Chapter Ten - Volume Modulation
Chapter Eleven - Vinyl Scratch: Forgive an Angel
Chapter Twelve - Those Wonderful Toys
Chapter Thirteen - Sunset and Luna's Radical Reclamation Run
Chapter Fifteen - Vinyl Scratch: White Reflection
Chapter Sixteen - Discorderly Conduct

Chapter Fourteen: The One About the Liger

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Chapter One - Zoid Battles for Fun and Profit

“I can’t believe this team’s picking a fight with us!” Rainbow Dash commented. She leaned back in her seat in the Hover Cargo’s main control room and looked at the opposing team’s roster, which was projected onto a section of the main windscreen. “Three Helcats? I mean, I know they’re modded and all, but come on! Our team’s gear is just as public as theirs, they have got to know what we’re packing, right?”

“Salem Team is going to be relying on their experience to overcome our heavier Zoids,” Sunset Shimmer pointed out. “They’ve been fighting -and winning- for years, and this is our first battle, after all. Plus, to be honest, I think they may have some overconfidence problems.”

“Given that they’re veteran pilots, why are they still in the D-Rank circuit?” Rarity asked, idly examining her polished fingernails. She had had to trim them down so that she could wear her new gloves properly, but it wouldn't do for a Zoid pilot to go into battle inappropriately attired, and in Rarity's opinion, that meant snug, military-grade non-slip gloves.

“They have a pattern of challenging newer teams to battles.” Celestia explained from the Hover Cargo’s command chair. “They tend to focus on teams with fewer than five matches on record, and they never challenge a team with more wins than they have, nor do they accept challenges if they can avoid them.”

“I get it, they pick on newbies to score easy prize money,” Dash said, frowning.

“And whenever they earn enough points to move up to C-Rank, they re-discover the fact that all their battles against brand-new teams did nothing to prepare them for dealing with other veterans,” Luna added. “They get absolutely trounced, lose a great deal of points, and get dropped back to D-Rank. Usually in their very first C-Rank match.”

“Y’know, I felt kinda bad goin’ up against such li’l Zoids with our hardware, but knowing that, I ain’t so bothered by the prospect any more.” Applejack grumbled. “Imagine, pickin’ on brand-new teams ‘cause they ain’t got the guts t’ challenge up the ladder. I say, let ‘em deal with our beefy Zoids.”

“We’re almost at the battlefield,” Rarity pointed out. “Where is Pinkie Pie? It’s about time we discussed our strategy.”

“Did someone say ‘strategy’?!” As if on cue, the sliding door behind Celestia opened and Pinkie burst into the control room.

“Your timing is immaculate, as always,” Rarity said, “I’m of the opinion that, as our strategist, Sunset Shimmer should be telling us how she intends for us to win our first battle.”

“That’s a great idea! Lay some plan on us, Sunset Shimmer!” Pinkie declared gleefully, flopping onto the floor at Sunset’s feet.

“Are you sure you don’t want to take a seat?” Sunset asked.

“Here’s good!” Pinkie replied in a sing-song voice, resting her chin on her palms.

Sunset resisted the urge to roll her eyes and leaned forward as everyone except Celestia turned their seats to face her. Celestia continued to monitor the Hover Cargo’s auto-pilot. “Okay, well, this is a three-on-three battle, with no restrictions on Zoids, weapons, or anything like that. Since we only have three Zoids -apart from the Hover Cargo, of course- we’re hitting them with everything we’ve got.”

“So tell us about these Helcats,” Dash said, “those big lasers on the backs aren't stock, I know that much.”

“Those are flexible booster systems,” Sunset explained, “as the name suggests, they consist of a high-output ion booster in addition to the forty-millimeter laser, and those supports can point them in multiple directions to give them a great deal of extra agility in addition to the speed increase. The lasers are suited for mid-range combat, and are very accurate. They pack a decent punch, too. The big downside is, flexible boosters were designed for larger Zoids that can carry more weight and generate more power than the Helcat. They had to drop all their normal weapons to accommodate them, so the lasers are their only ranged attack. They’re also slower than a stock Helcat when the boosters aren't running. On the other hand, they kept the stealth units, which will be our biggest problem.”

“Stealth units? Don’t tell me they can hide from my sensors!” Applejack said incredulously.

“Oh yes they can, your Dark Horn’s sensor suite won’t pick them up. None of our Zoids can track them while the stealth units are running, in fact. Even worse, they incorporate optical camouflage, so you won’t even be able to see the Helcats.”

“That does sound like a problem!” Pinkie declared, inexplicably cheerful.

“It has its weaknesses,” Sunset replied, “the system incorporates the Helcats’ surface into its operation, so anything worse than incidental damage will inhibit the optical camouflage, if not stop it from working altogether. On top of that, since Helcats weren’t designed for weapons as demanding as those lasers, they’ll have to shut down the stealth units to fire. That’ll give you about a second between the stealth units powering down and the lasers firing, during which even the Zaber Fang’s composite sensors will be able to pick them up.”

“That’s not much warning,” Rarity complained, “but I suppose it’s better than nothing.”

“In order to remain stable while firing, the Helcats will also need to come to a dead stop. That should make things a little easier.” Sunset said. She then used the console in front of her to replace the picture of Salem Team’s Helcats with a map of the battlefield. “Besides, I have a plan. We’re deploying on the southern side of the battlefield. Once the battle begins, you’ll move to this point-” a red dot appeared about one-third of the way up from the south edge “-and take up a triangle formation. Pinkie, you’ll face your Dibison south, be ready to lay down a barrage with your cannons. The fire rate on those guns is on the slow side, but with seventeen of them, you should be able to maintain a steady stream of shells downrange. Your job is to punish these guys if they try to pull off a rear attack. I don’t know if you’ll be able to get a lock with your missile pods, but if you can, use them.”

“You got it!” Pinkie rolled over onto her back and saluted.

Again striving to avoid rolling-related eye movements, Sunset continued. “Applejack, your Dark Horn will be the northwestern corner of the triangle. Your weapon unit is turreted, so all you’ll need to do is rotate it into position and cut loose with your laser Gatling gun. If you can get a Helcat to stay still, lay into it with all three barrels of your linear cannon. I wouldn’t bother with your single-shot missiles, Helcats are too evasive to hit reliably with those babies, and they’re not tough enough to be worth trying anyway.”

“Yeah, those single-shots ain’t worth shooting at anything short of a Command Wolf.” Applejack agreed, “an’ I pulled the rest of the weapons t’ git some more speed outta the Dark Horn.”

“That extra mobility could come in handy,” Sunset said, nodding. “Rarity, you’ll be on the northeastern corner with your Zaber Fang. Zabers were purpose-built for dealing with small, agile Zoids, so you’re our diva. You can outrun a stock Helcat, though Salem Team will have speed advantage if they use their boosters. Your laser machine gun and dual-barreled beam cannon will be your main weapons, but don’t hesitate to crack off a burst from your shock cannon if you get the chance. And if they’re dumb enough to close to melee range, you should be able to take them out in one bite.”

“Of course,” Rarity said, “as undignified as I find melee combat, I shall employ my fangs and claws if need be.”

“I know this ain’t the best time, but are you sure yer okay with not fightin’?“ Applejack asked, “I know you were kinda wantin’ to. You too, Rainbow.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Sunset waved a hand dismissively, “you’ve seen my simulator results, right? Now if we had a Zoid designed for melee combat I’d glue myself to its seat if I had to, but even the Zaber Fang only does melee as a last resort, you know? I don’t like ranged combat, and all three of you are better at it than me anyway.”

“And I’m holding out for a fast Zoid!” Dash said, “if we score something really high-speed I’ll be interested, but the big lunks we’re hauling around now just aren’t my style.”

“Since we're on the subject, I think Fluttershy would rather talk to the Zoids than pilot one!” Pinkie added cheerfully, “which is what she’s doing right now, come to think of it.”

“Is she at least loading up the ammo like she said she would?” Applejack asked, slightly exasperated.

“Yupperooni! You know, maybe Fluttershy would like a Zoid that could talk back!” Pinkie answered. Luna’s face took on a thoughtful expression, but she remained silent.

“We’ll reach the battlefield in five minutes,” Celestia said calmly, “get ready, everyone!”

“All right, everyone ready?” Applejack asked, gripping her Dark Horn’s controls.

“You know it!” Pinkie answered.

“Coordinates are set, we’re just waiting for the Judge,” Rarity added.

“We’ll teach these punks t’ pick on newbies!” Applejack leaned forward, grinning.

“Judgey-robot-guy incoming!” Pinkie cried out gleefully as her Dibison roared at the sky. A white, metal capsule was falling from space, the heat of reentry surrounding it in a burning aura that could be mistaken for a shooting star if seen from a distance. The capsule slammed into the ground at the exact center of the battlefield, the force of its impact creating a large crater. Four Magnessor vanes on the capsule’s underside levitated it to a height slightly above the crater’s edge as the front opened on a large hinge, revealing the Judge.

Mass-produced semi-humanoid robots meant to oversee official Zoid battles and ensure that all rules were obeyed, Judges were essential to the Zoid Battle Commission's operation, and were present at all Commission-sanctioned combat situations. They had the power to cancel battles and disqualify competitors. With permission from the Commission, they could even revoke a team's charter. Due to their immense leverage, even less-reputable teams always obeyed the Judges.

“Area scanned! Battlefield, set up!” The Judge declared as its pod turned to face east. “Battle Mode Zero-Nine-Eight-Two! The Salem Team-” The Judge raised its red-flag hand to point north. “Versus the Empyrean Team!” The Judge’s blue-flag hand pointed south. “Ready… Fight!”

“All right, get out there and win this!” Sunset called out from the Hover Cargo’s control room as her teammates’ Zoids surged forward.

“Tch, no sign of ‘em yet.” Applejack grumbled, tracking her Dark Horn’s turret back and forth. “What’re they up to?” Just as Sunset Shimmer had warned, her Dark Horn’s sensor suite stubbornly refused to detect any enemy Zoids.

“I bet they’re trying to figure out who to shoot first!” Pinkie replied, still in a state of inexplicable delight. Her Dibison’s front legs were spread wide so she could alter its facing by shifting the shoulders. She intended to use this to give herself a limited form of horizontal tracking as compensation for the fact that the Dibison’s guns were all fixed.

“I think you’re right, Pinkie,” Rarity agreed. She had her Zaber Fang in a half-crouching position, and like Applejack was tracking her turret left and right. The half-crouched pose gave her Zaber Fang additional firing stability, and was also a good position to start either a forward lunge or vertical pounce if the situation required.

“Found one!” Pinkie sang out, opening up with her cannons as the sensor readouts in all three Zoids chirped at the presence of the hostile machine. Applejack and Rarity spun their turrets around to lock onto the Helcat, the pilot having given up his attempt to shoot Pinkie’s Dibison and sprinting in a wide arc around the group, fleeing Pinkie’s multitude of cannons. Applejack’s laser Gatling whirled up to speed as she led the Helcat, firing its first shots just as the Helcat’s stealth unit reactivated. Fortunately, those shots hit, immediately blowing out the Zoid’s optical camouflage. A sustained burst from the laser Gatling brought down the light Zoid.

“Ye-haw!” Applejack shouted, “One down, two t’ -whoa!” A second Helcat, having foregone ranged combat altogether, landed on the Dark Horn’s back and began clawing at its armor. The Dark Horn bellowed as Rarity’s Zaber Fang went into an odd sort of spinning jump, slamming down next to the Dark Horn.

“Unhand her, you ruffian!” Rarity demanded as her Zaber Fang sank its fangs into the Helcat’s neck. “Or, well, unclaw her? I suppose it’s a moot point now.” She dragged the Helcat off of Applejack’s Dark Horn and shook it back and forth before tossing it into the air. The Helcat crashed down, its legs collapsing beneath it, and did not stand.

“Thank ya kindly, Rarity,” Applejack said, “I think he was tryin’ to dig right to my Zoid Core.”

“He’d have had better luck going for your turret, but I’m relieved he didn’t,” Rarity replied.

“Two down, one to go!” Sunset said, “you’ve got this, girls, just -wait, what?” A loud, synthesized horn note played from the judge capsule.

“The battle is over! The battle is over! Salem Team has forfeited!” The Judge declared. “The winner is… Empyrean Team!”

“Weak!” Rainbow complained. “Forfeiting? Who even does that?”

“Salem Team’s last member must have realized he couldn't defeat all three of our Zoids,” Fluttershy suggested.

“He could’ve tried,” Rainbow grumbled.

“There was a strong financial motivation to forfeit,” Luna pointed out. “They’re already going to have to pay for extensive repairs on two Helcats. Continuing the battle would have only meant adding a third Zoid to the bill.”

“Hey, I don’t care!” Pinkie said, “it still means we won! Let’s party!”

“Good work, everyone,” Celestia said approvingly. “Not many teams can claim to have won their very first battle, especially when the opponents openly make their living by challenging new teams. Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, I’m moving the Hover Cargo in to pick you up, then we’ll see about that party.” As the Hover Cargo began to move, the judge capsule sealed its door and rocketed into the sky, returning to its Judge Satellite.

Chapter Two - Vinyl Scratch: First Encount

“Sunset, darling, one of those Rev Raptors seems to have crippled my poor Zaber Fang’s knee,” Rarity said. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to make it to the Cannon Tortoise as planned.”

“Don't worry, Applejack and Pinkie are already on it,” Sunset replied. “Their Zoids will have more trouble avoiding the Tortoise’s particle blasts, but they can soak a few before going down.”

“Sorry about this, I didn't expect them to be quite so precise with those pile bunkers.”

“Don’t git yer hair uncurled, we’ll handle this,” Applejack said reassuringly.

“Judging by the angle those blasts are coming in from, it looks like the Tortoise is just on the other side of that stone outcropping directly ahead of you,” Sunset said. “You’re out of its sensor range, but the pilot knows where you were when the Rev Raptors went down, so spread out to either side and approach him on an arc. Don’t run directly towards him, he’s probably expecting that.”

“You got it, Sunset Shimmer!” Pinkie said, veering to her left.

“Roger that!” Applejack added, moving towards the right. particle rounds from the Cannon Tortoise landed between them, just as Sunset had predicted.

“Looks good, girls,” Sunset said with just a hint of smugness, “he’s assuming you’re coming at him on a straight line, just like I thought. You should be safe until you get within range of his sensors.”

“And by the time that happens, he’ll hafta pick one of us t’ shoot at,” Applejack said.

“And you’ll be far enough off his center point that he’ll have to pull up his anchoring spikes and reposition,” Sunset pointed out with a grin. “Even if he manages to defeat one of you, he won’t be able to turn again before the other takes him down. Cannon Tortoises are tough little Zoids, but they can’t hold up to a full-out assault from either of you for very long, and their direct-fire weaponry is severely limited.”

“Speakin’ of this feller’s sensor range, when do we git into it?” Applejack asked.

“At your current speeds, I’d guess about thirty seconds. Then you’ll take fire after however long it takes to get that Cannon Tortoise moved. Get ready for evasive action.”

Sunset’s prediction proved accurate. In just over a minute, a charged particle bolt flew over the rocky outcropping, arcing high into the air before slamming into the ground mere feet away from Pinkie Pie’s Dibison, prompting a startled “Hey!” from Pinkie. Both she and Applejack began zig-zagging left and right as more shots nearly missed Pinkie. Both Zoids passed the rock simultaneously, locking their legs to grind to a halt while turning to face the Cannon Tortoise, which had pulled its anchor spikes from the ground and turned to face the Dibison. Unable to lower its cannon enough to hit Pinkie with it, the Tortoise’s pilot was instead forced to resort to its small-caliber automatic cannons. All four barrels opened up, peppering the Dibison but dealing no significant damage.

“Applejack, you wanna do the honors?” Pinkie asked over the clattering of autocannon rounds against her armor.

“Nah, I’ll let you do it,” Applejack said, “S’more polite to hit someone when he’s lookin’ at ya. Besides, yer the one he’s shootin’ at.”

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” Pinkie guided her Dibison to hunker down so she could direct all seventeen linear cannons at the Tortoise. The first two shots hit the front of the Tortoise’s shell just off-center, turning it partially to the right. The next five shots slammed into the small Zoid’s side, knocking it over.

“The battle is over! The battle is over!” The Judge called out, its capsule’s horn blaring. “The winner is… Empyrean Team!”

“Well, that’s that for that!” Pinkie declared, turning her Dibison to head back to the Hover Cargo.

“Excellent work, you three!” Sunset said, grinning in a slightly maniacal way. “Six matches, six wins!”

“Another exceptional match, ladies,” Celestia said, “A winning streak like this from a new team is almost unheard of.”

“This one was a bit more difficult than the previous matches, I think,” Rarity said, her Zaber Fang limping towards the Hover Cargo. “My poor Zaber Fang can barely walk!”

“I’ll do everything I can for it as soon as we get it loaded,” Fluttershy replied nervously, “but I don’t know if I’ll be able to fully repair the Zaber Fang’s knee until we get it back to the base.”

“It’s about time we went home anyway,” Celestia said. “It’s been close to five weeks since we set out, after all.”

The damage to Rarity’s Zaber Fang had been even worse than Fluttershy had first thought. She hadn't been able to do much for the Zoid with the spare parts in the Hover Cargo, so the Zaber had remained immobilized until Empyrean Team returned to their base, a large complex located in a broad, little-explored grassland a few miles from a towering mesa to the west and rolling hills to the east and south. In the main hangar, the Zaber Fang stood with a triangular metal crutch in place of its front left leg. Such crutches were devices of Fluttershy’s design, lattices of steel tubes similar to a pair of crane arms meeting at the Zoid’s shoulder. Fluttershy found these structures more stable than the normal method of suspending a Zoid by steel cables hanging from the ceiling. The damaged leg was in pieces, scattered across the floor nearby. Fluttershy sat cross-legged on a pad amid the multitude of parts, the control box for the various crane and pulley assemblies she’d used to move the larger parts next to her, and a tablet PC in her hands. A great many vital components had been damaged, and some had been outright obliterated. Fluttershy had removed all the fragmented remains from the leg in the process of dismantling it, and pulled replacements for most of the irreparable parts from the warehouse on the other side of the tarmac. Unfortunately, spares were not available for a number of vital components without which the leg could not operate.

“How’s it going, Fluttershy?”

“Meep! Oh, Sunset Shimmer, you startled me!”

“Sorry. I was just checking in. Looks like the Zaber Fang’s gonna be down for a while.”

“Yes, a few parts were broken that we don’t have spares for. I've been going through this list of part dealers Luna gave me, trying to find one who has them all.”

“Not going well?”

“No,” Fluttershy said with a sigh, “most of them have at least one of the parts I need, but no one seems to have all of them. And I still need to inspect the Dark Horn and Dibison, so I can't take three days to go around to all of them in Canterlot.”

“I guess you’ll have to get them delivered, huh?”

“Uh-huh,” Fluttershy said in resignation. “I don’t really want to since I won’t be able to inspect the parts before they arrive, but there’s no other way.”

“I hate to put more pressure on you,” Sunset said, kneeling down and patting Fluttershy’s shoulder, “but the Commission handed down a Zoid battle on us a few minutes ago. It’s two against two, so the Zaber doesn’t have to be ready, but I really need you to make sure the Dibison and Dark Horn are fighting fit. Also, our opponents use flying Zoids, so please re-attach the Dark Horn’s surface-to-air laser.”

“All right, I’ll get started as soon as I place these orders. I’ll have both Zoids ready by tomorrow.”

”Thanks, Fluttershy, you’re the best.”

“No, it’s not that big a deal. I’m just doing what I can to help.”

“Help nothing, this team would fall apart without you. Our Zoids literally. Well, I’ll get out of your hair and start working on our strategy.”

“All right. And, um, thank you. You’re really nice, Sunset.”

“I... Thanks. I'm not really used to having people say that.”

“Here I thought we’d be gettin’ a break, but we’re already gearin’ up fer our next fight,” Applejack complained. She leaned back in one of the couches in the base’s large sitting room.

“The Zoid Battle Commission sometimes arranges battles between teams in addition to allowing us to challenge each other,” Celestia explained, “if a team refuses to participate, they’re penalized more points than they stand to lose if they’re defeated.”

“I see, you’re thinking of our score,” Rainbow said.

“I know fighting so often puts a great deal of pressure on everyone, but we’re making a lot of progress towards C-Rank, and refusing would have been a serious setback.” Celestia said. “Once a team has fought in one of these arranged matches, the Commission waits for some time before putting them into another one, so after this I’ll just turn down all challenges for a while so we can rest.”

“My main concern is whether we’ll be able to deal with this team,” Sunset said, tablet in hand. “Two Pteras Bombers? Even if the Zaber Fang were operational, I’d be worried. We can’t get flak shells for the Dibison in time, so you’ll have a hard time hitting them with your main guns, Pinkie. Your guided missiles may be your only reliable option. That leaves you, Applejack. I asked Fluttershy to put the Dark Horn’s surface-to-air laser back on, so get some simulator practice with that before we head out, okay? That laser and your Gatling gun are our main options.”

“Can ya tell us anythin’ about the pilots?” Applejack asked.

“Ugh, don’t I wish,” Sunset replied. “Vinyl Scratch runs the show. She has a pattern of high-risk, high-reward tactics, but nothing else is consistent. She even changes her Zoids frequently. It seems like every few wins she goes out and buys a new Zoid, I think she’s trying to work her way up to something. Or just experimenting, it’s hard to tell. Either way, predicting what she’ll do is going to be a problem. Her teammate is a total amateur named Mystery Mint. She’s never been in a battle before, but her official Commission profile notes high simulator performance in air-to-surface combat, which is exactly what the both of them will be doing with their Pteras Bombers.”

“Talk about an uphill battle,” Rarity moaned, “it’s enough to make a girl think the Commission is trying to end our winning streak.”

“It may be more of a case of bowing to viewer demand,” Celestia pointed out. “A number of fans have been calling for the Commission to pit us against a flying team. In any case, I know you’ll all continue to do your best.”

“Heck yeah!” Rainbow said, “I just wish we had a flying Zoid! I’d go up there and show these chicks a few things about air combat!”

“A flier would be great,” Sunset agreed, “Pteras Bombers are packed with missiles, but most of them are meant for attacking ground-bound Zoids. They’re slower than a standard Pteras, and their air-to-air armament is limited to a pair of missiles and a small-bore vulcan. Without escorts, they pretty much always lose in dogfights. But we can’t dogfight them, so this will need a lot of thought.” Sunset stood up and went to the door, still looking at her tablet. “I’m going to see what I can come up with.”

Pinkie’s Dibison was down. It had taken every single one of Mystery Mint’s weapons to do it, including some creative misuse of her air-to-air missiles, but it had been done. Applejack had finally managed to shoot down Mystery Mint’s Pteras Bomber with her surface-to-air laser, but had found that the peculiar handling of the weapon made it nearly impossible to bring to bear at the same time as her Dark Horn’s laser Gatling. Applejack was tracking Vinyl Scratch’s Zoid with the Gatling, being of the opinion that a well-timed burst from it might shoot down any missiles coming her way. She hadn't been able to stop the missiles targeting Pinkie, but the Dark Horn was too slow to evade the radar-guided explosives, so trying to shoot them down was her only defense.

“Come on, ya zippy li'l so-n’-so,” Applejack growled. “I’ll git you yet, just you -what the?” Vinyl’s Zoid turned sharply and rocketed straight towards the Dark Horn.

“She’s got something up her sleeve, Applejack!” Sunset said from the Hover Cargo’s control room. “I don’t know what she’s up to, but she’s not the type to fly right into your field of fire just for laughs.”

“I dunno what she’s figurin’, either!” Applejack said, firing a burst from her laser Gatling. The shots fell short as Vinyl changed course again, switching to a wide, banking turn and rapidly gaining altitude.

“I don’t think the Gatling can track that high!” Sunset said.

“It can’t, I’m switching to th’ SA laser!” Applejack replied. The surface-to-air laser was designed to be installed at a sharp upward angle, and could easily be swung to fire vertically. Laser beams lanced from the weapon, but Vinyl was able to avoid them as her Pteras curved through the sky, eventually ending up directly above the Dark Horn. Vinyl rolled the Pteras, dropping it straight down.

“That’s a high yo-yo!” Sunset shouted. “Why would she try that on a ground target?!” The Pteras rolled through the air, releasing missiles in every direction, all of which quickly turned to approach the Dark Horn.

“That’s bad,“ Applejack said flatly. She began firing her surface-to-air laser as fast as it cycled, shooting down missile after missile as she swung her Dark Horn’s turret around.

“She’s not pulling up! Why isn't she -Applejack, MOVE!” Sunset yelled, jumping to her feet. “You have to get out of there!” Several missiles slammed into the Dark Horn, shaking the Zoid and causing it to stagger.

“I’m okay! I took a few hits but -what-”

CRUNCH

At the absolute last moment, Vinyl whipped her Pteras nose-upward to slam talons-first into the Dark Horn’s back. The Dark Horn’s legs gave out beneath it and the mighty Zoid collapsed with a roar. Vinyl’s Pteras pulled its claws loose of the Horn’s mangled turret and back armor, then returned to the air on its Magnessor wings.

“I can’t believe it,” Sunset said in a daze, staring wide-eyed at the scene as the Judge declared Vinyl’s team the winners. She flopped limply back into her seat. “Decoys. She used her entire missile payload as decoys. I’d say she’s insane, but it worked.”

“I’ll say it anyway,” Applejack said, “that gal’s crazier’n a sheepdog at a cattle ranch. Darned if she ain't a good pilot, though.”

“I kept meaning to ask why she calls her team the Metal Thrashing Madwomen, but I think we just found out.” Pinkie chimed in.

“We’ll get her next time,” Applejack said, “uh, there is gonna be a next time, right?”

“Without a doubt,” Celestia replied, moving the Hover Cargo towards the downed Zoids. “I’m sure we’ll be facing the Madwomen again sooner or later. In the meantime, let’s get our Zoids home for repairs. I must say, I’m quite pleased that you’re all taking our first loss so well.”

"It helps that I kept tellin' myself we were gonna have something like this happen sooner or later," Applejack said.

“Everyone loses sometimes,” Pinkie agreed. “Besides, Applejack’s right, we’ll beat her in a rematch! Right, Sunset?”

“Oh yes,” Sunset said quietly, staring at Vinyl Scratch as she pulled Mystery Mint from her ditched Pteras and wrapped her in a tight hug. “There will be a next time. And I won’t let her get the better of me again.”

“That gal did a number on the ol’ Dark Horn, didn't she?” Applejack asked, looking up at the half-dismantled Zoid.

“Most of the armor plates need to be reshaped, and a few have to to be replaced completely. The entire turret mechanism is ruined, along with the weapons, I have to rebuild the hip and shoulder assemblies, and everything else should be inspected for stress and impact damage.” Fluttershy replied, standing next to Applejack with her tablet PC once again in hand. “Yes, quite a number has been done. Dark Horns are really tough for Zoids their size, but they weren't built to have a twenty-ton weight fall on them at almost the speed of sound.”

“Sorry about all this, Fluttershy,” Applejack said. “Anything I can do t’ help?”

“With the tools and machines we have here, I’ll be able to take care of everything easily enough once we get the parts, but if there’s any modifications you want to make, now would be a good time to tell me. I’m basically going to take the Dark Horn apart and put it back together, so I’ll be able to make any changes you can think of in the process.”

“Now that ya mention it, is there any chance of the new turret havin’ a bit more vertical rotation? I mean, the Dark Horn’s stock turret’s all right fer ground combat, but, well, you saw what happened out there. And if’n you feel like messin’ around with the head, is there somethin’ you can do with the sensors?”

“Well, Luna brought home a Multisensor the other day, I think I can make it fit into the Dark Horn’s sensor crown. That might take some time, though. As for the turret, I’ll see what I can do. We have a lot of parts in the warehouses, so I should be able to come up with something.”

“I’d really appreciate that, Fluttershy. I genuinely don’t know what we’d do without you.”

“It’s no problem, really.” Fluttershy blushed slightly. “Um, have you seen Sunset Shimmer?”

“She’s doin’ that broody thing she does sometimes. I think losing that fight got under her skin more than anyone else’s, y’know? ‘Specially not bein’ able to see what Vinyl was up to in the end. She’s never had that happen before, and I do not think she cared for it.”

“She’s always been able to figure out what the other teams are planning, so I can see how being surprised like that would bother her. We should probably leave her alone for a while.”

“I suppose yer right. Anyhow, I’ll git outta yer way. And, thanks. I know you work darn hard keeping our Zoids in shape, and this don’t make it any easier.”

“It’s what I’m here for, Applejack. I've got everything under control.”

Luna leaned back in her Gustav’s pilot seat, idly watching the console screen as the transport Zoid’s autopilot made its way through the wastelands to the north of Manehatten. The large Zoid pulled two enclosed trailers, each one full of weapons, parts, and -fortune of fortunes- a handful of Zoid Cores. A new Zoid could be grown (for lack of a better word) from a Zoid Core in a matter of days just by putting the Core in a sufficiently large tank filled with a specific chemical mixture, and introducing controlled electrical impulses. This was the only way to manufacture new Zoids instead of simply repairing and refurbishing old ones, so Zoid Cores were highly sought after by those with the resources to use them. Zoid Cores salvaged from ancient ruins, as these were, commanded a premium because the only other way to get one was to remove it from a perfectly good (or perfectly repairable) Zoid. Luna had also found some interesting, if incomplete, data on some of the still-functional computers within the abandoned base, and she was eager to see how much of it could be verified. She was also eager to add to Empyrean Team’s Zoid fleet, an idea she was discussing with Sunset Shimmer over her cell phone.

“So, even with the surface-to-air laser, the Dark Horn couldn't take down both Zoids?” Luna asked.

“They pulled a couple tricks that none of us saw coming. Plus, let’s face it, flying Zoids are hard to hit from the ground.”

“Sounds like we need some air superiority.”

“That’s what I was thinking, yeah. Any chance you can get your hands on a Zoid that can dogfight?”

“I just collected quite a bit of valuable salvage, that base was practically unexplored. Manehatten has a handful of respectable Zoid dealers, so I should be able to find a flying Zoid of some variety once I sell all of this off.”

“That would be excellent, Luna.”

“Speaking of Manehatten, I’m getting a little close for the autopilot, so I’ll have to let you go. I’ll call you once I have a Zoid.”

“Sure thing. See you later.”

Manehatten was a large settlement on the shore of the eastern sea, making it a popular destination for tourists. It was also home to many of the world’s finest Zoid shops, making it an even more popular destination for professional Zoid pilots. The city’s dealers did brisk trade in new and used Zoids, parts, and weapons. A few of these shops specialized to an absurd degree, such as Gewehrwerkstatt, a shop focused entirely on the sale and support of Gun Snipers. Wings of Steel, the dealership Luna arrived at, was not entirely focused on a single Zoid, but did specialize in flying machines. They were a reputable business to which Luna had sold many a salvaged Zoid and Zoid Core, and they always paid a premium for quality finds. They were also regarded as one of the best places in the world to purchase a flight-capable Zoid.

“Luna! Good to see you again!” Wings of Steel’s proprietor greeted.

“Hello, Silver Lining,” Luna returned the greeting. “How are things around here?”

“The usual, buncha looking, not much buying. That’s how it goes in the premium market, though. I've got some beautiful Zoids here, but people want ‘em for the kind of price you’d slap on a Zabat with a bad paint job, y’know?”

“Well, you’re in luck then, I happen to be in the market for a flying Zoid,” Luna said.

“I kinda figured that. I saw the match, your girls took it on the chin. I guess they’re on you to bring home a dogfighting Zoid, huh?”

“I promised Sunset Shimmer I’d do just that, so I’m in the market for a high-performance flying Zoid. Something like a Raynos or a Rainbow Jerk.” Luna paused to consider that statement before adding, “actually, probably not a Rainbow Jerk.”

“Hm, yeah, I can see why you wouldn't want one of those in your fleet.” Silver Lining was fully aware of Empyrean Team’s roster. “Well, if it flies and it ain't imaginary, I've got one for sale, so c’mon back to the hangar and let’s see what suits your fancy.”

Side Story: A Hearth's Warming Dream

Sunset Shimmer found herself outside, wandering through the snowy fields near Empyrean Team's compound. She didn't clearly remember why she was on foot, especially so far from the base, but at least she was dressed warmly. She wore a long, fur-trimmed dress and a heavy, hooded coat. Neither of which she could remember previously owning. The falling snow and darkening sky convinced Sunset Shimmer to disregard her clothing situation and go back to the base. As she turned, however, Sunset saw a sight that she truly could not believe: A Shield Liger towered over her, its hull covered in a heavy, red velvet coat with snow-white trim. On its paws were massive, coal-black kitty boots, and a red stocking cap was perched on its cockpit.

"Santa Liger?" Sunset asked wonderingly, already knowing the answer.

Santa Liger roared with delight, clearly happy to be there. Admittedly, Santa Liger was happy pretty much all of the time.

"I knew you were real!" Sunset gleefully cried, running up to hug Santa Liger's nearest paw.

Santa Liger replied with a friendly growl.

"What are you doing here, Santa Liger?" Sunset asked, vaguely aware of a strange, thumping sound.

Before Santa Liger could reply, Sunset Shimmer suddenly became aware that she was looking at her bedroom ceiling, not a festively-dressed Shield Liger. She then realized that the thumping sound was someone knocking on her door. Confused and mildly disturbed by the strangeness of her dream, Sunset resolved, for at least the sixth time, to stop eating leftover pizza right before going to bed.

"SUNSET SHIMMER!!" Pinkie shouted gleefully. "IT'S HEARTH'S WARMING DAY!!"

"Pinkie Pie, you're going to hurt yourself if you keep banging on her door like that," Rarity said, putting a hand on Pinkie's shoulder. "Besides, we should really refer to it as 'Non-Specific Winter Gift Exchange Holiday,' shouldn't we?"

"If'n anyone here celebrated any other holidays, maybe we would," Applejack said. "But everyone here celebrates Hearth's Warmin', so let's just call it Hearth's Warmin'."

"Yeah, it's not like this conversation's gonna be presented in text form on a web site where basically everyone in the developed world can read it!" Pinkie added.

"That was... specific," Applejack said flatly. The conversation halted abruptly as the door slid open, revealing Sunset Shimmer, still in her pajamas and her hair a tangled mess.

"YOU'RE AWAKE!" The also-pajamad Pinkie shouted in absolute delight, seizing Sunset in a tight hug. "NOW WE CAN PARTY!!" With that, Pinkie released Sunset, grabbed Rarity by the wrist, and dragged her down the hall, leaving Applejack and Sunset behind in mere moments.

"Well. That happened." Sunset pointed out, flabbergasted. Pinkie's capacity to flabbergast her seemed to have no limits.

"Sorry 'bout that, I forgot this was yer first Hearth's Warmin' as one of Pinkie's friends," Applejack replied. "Guess I shoulda warned ya."

"Don't worry about it," Sunset said. "To be honest, I'm just happy to be celebrating Hearth's Warming at all. It's been maybe five years? I lost count, but I feel like that's right."

"Well, with this bunch, we go all out. 'Course, you know that already, you helped decorate."

"All those Zoid-shaped ornaments on the tree are a nice touch. Are those Pinkie's?"

"Fluttershy's, actually," Applejack corrected. "No idea where she gets 'em, but she adds a new one every year. I think this year's addition is the Cannon Tortoise."

"Sweet," Sunset replied. "Look, Applejack? Thanks for, you know, including me. I know I was pretty rough around the edges not all that long ago, and I still think I don't exactly make it easy to be my friend-"

"Don' even worry about it," Applejack interrupted, raising a hand. "Look, you've cleaned up yer act, an' yer one of us now. Come on, Sunset, yer talkin' 'bout stuff that happened in high school. Everyone's dumb in high school, okay?"

"I... Thanks, Applejack."

"Just tellin' it like it is. Now let's go hide all the candy before Pinkie gets any more sugar in her."

"Good idea."

Author's Note

For some insane reason I spontaneously envisioned a Shield Liger dressed like Santa Claus. It was too ridiculous not to write about.

Chapter Three - The Chaos Union

“Oh, Sunset Shimmer, I’m glad I found you,” Rarity said. “I don’t know why you’re up here on the roof, but have you heard about that press release from Strawman Incorporated?”

“You mean the one where they announced they were raising their prices and reducing staff to lower costs in the same paragraph?” Sunset asked. “Yeah, I saw that.”

“And in the very next paragraph they said they were doubling their CEO’s salary,” Rarity added. “It’s as if they want people to dislike them.”

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say they were trying to set themselves up as an example for anti-corporate types to point at.” Sunset replied with a shrug. “Even if it means bankruptcy. Good thing we get all of our stuff from Rational Corporation.”

“No time for whatever you’re talking about now!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, running by. “Check it out! I can fly!” With that, Rainbow jumped onto an electric guitar and launched into the sky.

“How in the world can you fly on a guitar?” Rarity called out.

“‘Cause it’s a Flying V!” Rainbow shouted back, performing a vertical loop for emphasis.

“If it can fly because it’s a Flying V, how am I up here on a G5566?” Sunset asked, finding herself next to Rainbow on a double-necked guitar.

“Because it’s a G5566 Jet! Duh!” Rainbow explained.

“Oh. I guess that makes sense,” Sunset said. “Wait, does it?”

“Of course it makes sense! I said it!” Rainbow explained. “Now I’ll go shoot down every Pteras Bomber ever with laser beams from my eyes. See you later!” With that, Rainbow blasted away, rapidly breaking the sound barrier.

“Good hunting, Rainbow Dash,” Sunset said, saluting her friend as she disappeared over the horizon.

Sunset Shimmer woke up… incompletely. It took her several seconds to realize she’d been dreaming, and another full minute to realize she must have fallen asleep. Her third realization was that she probably would’ve had the previous two realizations much more quickly if she’d had them in the opposite order. Her next great profundity was that while her leather jacket hung from her chair, she had fallen asleep wearing the rest of her clothes, and that her skirt had managed to get turned sideways. Moments later, she discovered that her legs were wrapped tightly in her blanket, leaving her mostly immobile. It was only then that she remembered that she didn’t even own a G5566. In fact, Sunset Shimmer was the one with the Flying V.

“Glerg,” Sunset announced to her bedroom. She briefly attempted to unravel the seemingly-impossible tangle of fabric that entrapped her from foot to waist. “Murf.” She proclaimed. Abandoning this fascinating line of reasoning, Sunset managed to roll onto her stomach and drag herself off of her bed.

With the free-spirited roaming made possible by the floor’s relative expansiveness, she was at last able to fully explore the nature of her situation, and -with a bit of experimentation- extract herself from the fiendish trap of her blanket. Next was the relatively simple task of turning her skirt to face more or less the correct direction, which Sunset achieved within moments despite remaining too sleepy to process the concept of standing up.

“Murg,” Sunset observed, combining her previous theorems. Her throat painfully dry, she half-crawled, half-dragged herself to the mini-fridge under her desk. Reminding her sleep-addled mind of the correct process for opening a refrigerator door, she acquired a can of orange soda from the door’s wire rack. Next, Sunset Shimmer sat up, leaned her back against the wall, and cracked the can open. Mostly-asleep or not, Sunset knew that there were two appropriate courses of action when holding a freshly-opened can of orange soda, and she opted for the first one. She chugged it. The glorious beverage soothed her throat and cleared some of the fog from her head. Orange soda was, in Sunset Shimmer’s considered opinion, one of the simple joys of life, and she kept a respectable supply in her room at Empyrean Team’s base at all times. At least two cases found their way into the Hover Cargo whenever the team traveled, as well.

Sunset’s next retrieval from the fridge was another of the simple joys of life: leftover pizza. She extracted the slice from its tinfoil wrapping. Sausage and pepperoni. Exquisite. There was a time when pizza, leftover or otherwise, was a rare luxury in Sunset's life. Now she could eat it three meals a day if she wanted, and sometimes she did. Sunset devoured half the slice, then grabbed the desktop with one hand and pulled herself to her feet. A second piece of tinfoil rested next to her keyboard, a forlorn pizza crust in its center. She quickly finished off her pizza slice, crumpled both tinfoil sheets around last night’s crust, and dropped the rough cylinder of foil into the wastebin next to her desk. The empty soda can followed. Sunset looked at her computer’s three monitors, which displayed Zoid performance metrics, transcripts of interviews, footage of past battles -all of which had finished playing- and, centrally, a map of Empyrean Team’s next battlefield, with starting locations marked and several notes displayed. Next to this was a text file with a complicated strategic analysis for the upcoming match with the team she’d been analyzing, taking into account the combat area, battle mode, and predicted weather for the battle. Sunset Shimmer only vaguely remembered crafting this strategy, but it looked sound as far as her half-asleep brain could process it. She blinked twice, then rubbed her eyes.

“Shower.” Sunset pronounced, finally forming coherent words. She left the computer to take advantage of what might well be the greatest luxury enjoyed by Empyrean Team: Each and every bedroom in their base had a full bathroom attached. A long, cold shower would wake her up completely.

Some time later, a freshly washed, dried, and dressed Sunset Shimmer sat down at her computer. She then flagrantly abused the positioning of her mini-fridge to open it and acquire both another soda can and a chocolate bar from within. It was 8:00AM, and both the strategy text file and edited map showed that they’d last been saved less than four hours previously. Sunset liked to maintain an air of mystique regarding her strategizing, and briefly pondered how embarrassed she would be if her teammates discovered the extent to which the process relied on cold pizza, cold showers, chocolate, and sleep deprivation. And of course the ever-present orange soda.

Team Eidechsekanone had challenged Empyrean Team to a match under Battle Mode 0973. As 0973 required terrain that strictly limited mobility and line of sight, the Zoid Battle Commission had selected the ruins of an ancient, walled city as the battlefield. It hardly mattered to Empyrean Team, but 0973 also prohibited flying Zoids. Sunset believed that the trio of Gun Sniper pilots would use their boosters and anchor claws to climb buildings, turning the city’s wide streets into kill zones. It was a tough strategy to counter, but Sunset thought she had a solution. The battlefield was large, but Pinkie’s Dibison could hit any point in the area with its cannons if she fired indirectly. To fire indirectly, however, Pinkie would need others to call her shots. Applejack and Rarity would serve in that capacity.

Watching interviews and battle footage for hours on end had made it quite clear to Sunset that the girls of Team Eidechsekanone would expect Applejack and Rarity to move along the main roads and avoid the narrow side streets in which they might become trapped. Since Photo Finish’s team seemed to be dead set on this belief, Sunset would have her teammates do the opposite -lurking in the side streets where they were unlikely to be spotted, and using their Zoids’ sensor suites to detect the Gun Snipers. Once a Sniper was found, they would call down the artillery fire, courtesy of Pinkie Pie. Sunset expected her opponents to reposition after the first Gun Sniper fell, but had faith in her team to locate the others. If one of the Eidechsekanone pilots located Pinkie Pie, her Dibison could withstand at least a few rounds from their sniper rifles, but there was always the chance that she would be taken down before she could defeat all three. Such a situation would make things difficult, as Rarity and Applejack would probably not have clear shots at their opponents from the ground, so they would have to rely on damaging the buildings upon which the Gun Snipers perched in hopes of causing them to fall. Given the impressive durability of the ancient structures, such an effort would be extremely difficult. This strategy relied heavily on her teammates finding the Gun Snipers before they found Pinkie, but Sunset thought they could make it work. She took a long pull from her soda can -the second appropriate use of orange soda. Sunset gave the battle plan one final once-over in search of spelling errors or strategic flaws, then began organizing it for presentation to the rest of the team.

The great, walled city’s name had been lost to the ages, as had the fate of its inhabitants. The city had been emptied of its population at least a millennium ago, and they had left no evidence to indicate where or they’d gone or what their eventual fate had been. Abandoned cities such as this dotted the landscape of Neo-Equestria, and were found on the other continents as well. This city’s walls had entrances to the north and south, and at these entrances were the only signs of movement. At the southern entrance were three Gustavs, each of which had a flatbed trailer attached. Each trailer carried a customized Gun Sniper, kneeling as low as they could. Each Gun Sniper’s pilot busied herself removing the chains and steel cables that held her Zoid in place.

Meanwhile, at the northern entrance, Empyrean Team’s Zoids marched out of their Hover Cargo’s forward entrance.

“Okay ladies, this one’s going to be tough,” Sunset Shimmer said, “but I know you three can pull it off! When you win this we’ll hit C Rank, so get out there and rock this town!”

“Don’t you worry none,” Applejack said confidently. “We’ll have these gals done by dinner time!”

“Ah, there’s the Judge,” Rarity pointed out, adjusting a glove as the Judge pod slammed into the center of the city. “Excellent timing!”

“Area scanned! Battlefield, set up!” The Judge announced in its usual manner. Or the manner of the other Judge robots Empyrean Team had seen. Telling them apart was, by design, impossible. “Team Eidechsekanone versus -AGH!” The Judge’s opening was suddenly interrupted as a large object fell from the sky, slamming into its pod.

"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!" A maniacal laugh replaced the Judge's staid, even tone. A new pod rose from the crater, this one painted a glossy black. This capsule opened to reveal a ridiculously-painted Judge robot. Its body was dark green, its single leg was brown, and the domed plate it had in place of a foot was orange. Its left and right arms were orange and yellow, respectively. The robot’s head was gray, with white radio vanes and a yellow display / photoreceptor screen.

"All right you clowns, let's get right to it! This match is now a Chaos Union battle!" The absurdly-painted Judge robot declared. “I am the Anarchy Judge! As you can see, the lovely Zoid elevators connected to this town’s underground base have just lifted an Iron Kong to each entrance! You’ll further notice the Whale King currently emerging from the clouds and deploying countless Zabat drones for your own personal misery!”

“What in Tartarus do you think yer doin’?” Applejack demanded. “Ya’ll can’t just barge in on a battle like this!”

“You better believe we can!” The Anarchy Judge shot back. “Who’s gonna stop us?! Now listen up, ‘cause I’m only gonna say this once! The Zabats are faster than any Zoid here, and the only way outta the city is through those Iron Kongs! Beat ‘em all and we’ll let you go, but otherwise we’ll just have to take every Zoid you have! Battle Mode Zero-Nine-Nine-Nine! Anything goes! Get set… Fight!”

“Girls, deal with as many Zabats as you can!” Sunset commanded. “Rainbow, Fluttershy, get to the turrets but don’t start firing until we deal with that Iron Kong! I’d rather it keep its back to us until we take it out! I’m gonna synch my console to the main cannon controls, then we’ll mow that thing down!”

“Um, I’m not sure I-” Fluttershy began.

“No time for doubt! Let’s go!” Rainbow Dash interrupted, seizing Fluttershy’s wrist and pulling her out of the control room.

“Who do these punks think they are, anyway?!” Applejack demanded, firing a sustained burst from her beam Gatling gun into the air. Several auto-Zabats fell from the sky. Rarity added her laser machine gun and double-barreled beam cannon to the mix. Pinkie targeted the Whale King instead, firing all seventeen linear cannons in rapid succession. Most of the shots hit Zabats instead, but a few got through the veritable cloud of computer-controlled Zoids to damage the Whale King’s paint work.

“Geez, how come flak ammo’s always on back order when we need it?” Pinkie complained as several Zabats broke off from the cloud to swoop down towards Empyrean Team’s Zoids.

“Evasive maneuvers, girls! Those Zabats probably have bombs!” Sunset warned.

Photo Finish was often accused of being eccentric. Some went as far as ‘insane.’ Was it so bad that she loved Gun Snipers? She certainly didn’t think so. Photo counted herself fortunate to have met two others who shared her bottomless delight for the singular Zoid. The fact that they were all talented pilots made things even better, because it meant that the three of them could express their love for the incomparable machines in battles all across the continent. The trio had leveraged their raw talent and ever-growing skill in a meteoric rise through D-Rank and into C, and showed no signs of stopping.

“Zese fools underestimate us!” Photo Finish declared, as if interrupting a vague, somewhat digressionary paragraph. “Zey take for granted our Zoids, as well!” Her Gun Sniper blew several Zabat drones out of the sky with sustained bursts from its beam Gatlings. While not nearly as large or powerful as the weapons on Applejack’s Dark Horn, the small guns mounted on a Gun Sniper’s claws were sufficient for light Zoids such as Zabats.

“Too right!” Pixel Pizzaz said. She released a flight of missiles from her Zoid’s missile pods. Pixel had managed to mount an additional missile pod to the outer sides of both her Gun Sniper’s stock pods, giving her the ability to release a veritable cloud of radar-guided explosives. She rarely did so, knowing that projectile saturation wasn’t always a good thing. Against Zabats, for example, it would be a complete waste to have more than one missile lock on to the same target. “Right, let’s mow them down!”

“Are y’all sure we can handle all these?” Violet Blurr asked, adding her own beam Gatlings to the firefight. Her tone was analytical and unconcerned. “I mean, they got numbers on us in a big way, an’ we still need t’ get through that Iron Kong. T’ be honest, I’m just glad it can’t get a clear shot at us up here.”

“Have we any choice?” Photo Finish asked. “Wir sind Zoidkriegerin. We will endure!”

“I was figurin’ we could work with them Empyrean gals,” Violet explained. “We ain’t their opponents any more, so we might could talk ‘em into helping out.”

“Tch, they’re just Zabats,” Pixel grumbled. “So there’s loads of ‘em, what’s that matter?”

“Bombs a-fallin’!” Violet warned.

“Scatter!” Photo Finish shouted, using her Gun Sniper’s boosters to vault to another rooftop. The others turned and jumped to other buildings.

“Okay, so, changed me mind. The more the merrier, yeah?” Pixel said, releasing another flight of missiles. “Maybe we could use some help.”

“I’ll see if I can get hold of ‘em,” Violet said.

“This here’s Violet Blurr, with Team Eidechsekanone,” crackled a voice over Applejack’s radio. “Can any of ya hear me? I’m just guessin’ at frequencies here.”

“Empyrean Team’s Applejack, I hear ya jus’ fine. What can I do ya for?”

“What a relief it is t’ hear your voice!” Violet said. “As you might imagine, these Zabats are troubling us something awful! I’m sure they aren’t doing you any favors either, so I was wonderin’ if our teams maybe could work together?”

“Lemme get the rest of the gals on this frequency. I’m sure they’ll be fine with it, so long’s we ask first.”

“Thank ya kindly.”

Applejack tapped a few keys on her Dark Horn’s right-side console. “You gals catch that? Violet Blurr’s got a mind to work together against these Chaos Union troublemakers.” She paused to gun down another cluster of Zabats. “So, what’chy’all figure?”

“I just got the Hover Cargo’s main cannons ready to fire,” Sunset Shimmer replied. “And that Iron Kong isn’t even looking our way. Fluttershy and Rainbow can get the turrets firing without retaliation once I’ve got it down. We should be able to move into the city proper and keep those Zabats off Eidechsekanone while they snipe their Kong, then we’re all in the clear. Sound good?”

“Works fer me,” Applejack replied.

“That’d be just fine,” Violet agreed. “I’ll let my teammates know what yer fixin’ to do. If’n we can keep the Zabats off her for a couple-few minutes, Photo Finish oughta be able to take down our Iron Kong with her rifle gun.”

Suddenly, the Hover Cargo’s forward cannons fired, blowing large holes into the back of the Iron Kong blocking the city’s northern entrance. The gorilla-like Zoid stumbled forward before crashing to the ground. “That’s him down!” Sunset said cheerfully, a wide grin plastered across her face. “Rainbow, Fluttershy, open fire on those Zabats! Let’s wrap this mess up!”

“Y’all gotta tell me where you live so I can bring a fixin’ of my famous blackberry cobbler later,” Violet added as the air filled with energy blasts from the Hover Cargo’s turrets. “As thanks for yer help.”

“Bring yer whole team, we’ll make a fixin’ of it!” Applejack invited.

“That’s rightly hospitable of ya! We’ll do just that!” With that, Violet Blurr cut the radio connection. Applejack was about to fire another burst into the cloud of Zabats when something caught her eye. Looking to her right, Applejack saw that Rarity had opened comms with her, thus displaying her face on the Dark Horn’s HUD, but was staring agog at her instead of speaking.

“What?” Applejack asked simply.

“I have no idea what you two just said to each other,” Rarity explained flatly.

“Don’t ever go t’ Dodge Junction without a translator, then.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “We’re gonna keep them Zabats off Photo Finish so she can gun down the other Iron Kong, then we’re all goin’ t’ our place fer a party. Simple.”

“Then why didn’t you just say that, dear?” Rarity asked, shooting down a few more Zabats for emphasis.

“I’m pretty sure we did,” Applejack retorted, sweeping a beam Gatling burst through the sky. “Weren’t you payin’ attention?”

“Settle it later, you two. We still have a fight to win!” Sunset commanded as the Hover Cargo began moving forward.

Photo Finish looked down on her opposed Iron Kong from high atop the city’s tallest skyscraper. She was so far from the enemy Zoid that its sensors did not detect her, and its pilot hadn’t spotted her from her vantage point. Laser bolts flew into the sky all around her, like a backwards rainstorm of superheated doom. This hail of lasers struck countless auto-Zabats from the sky, causing them to fall all around her like a rain of metal going in the correct direction. Despite the chaos, Photo Finish was perfectly calm. Indeed, she was in her element: concentrating with single-minded focus on her target while relying on her ever-dependable teammates to insure that nothing interrupted her.

“Chop chop, gaffer, I’m about outta missiles!” Pixel Pizzaz complained, firing another beam Gatling burst over the shoulder of Photo’s Gun Sniper. “I mean, normally I’d lump it, but the heat levels on me beam Gatlings are givin’ me the collywobbles. I know I said they’re only Zabats, but this still isn’t handbags at dawn, yeah?”

“No one’s Trottingham accent is that thick,” Rarity complained, rolling her eyes and double-checking to make sure she’d switched off outbound comms.

“I am very nearly ready,” Photo said reassuringly. Her Gun Sniper was in shooting position, with its tail perfectly straight to serve as the barrel of its sniper rifle. Photo Finish's seat had rotated into the interior of the Zoid's head, and she was lying on her stomach, gazing into the rifle's targeting display. Normal Gun Snipers carried 144mm rifles, but Photo Finish had had hers rebuilt with a custom-made 200mm rifle. It meant returning to Gewehrwerkstatt every time she needed ammunition, or any maintenance work done, but Photo Finish did not consider that a serious downside. “Just keep the Zabats off me for a few minutes more, jawohl?” Photo Finish centered the Iron Kong in her sights, glanced at her range finder and wind indicators - a Gun Sniper’s sensor suite included very sensitive weather sensors. The tiny pressures created by even gentle breezes provided all the information Photo Finish needed. She adjusted her aim upwards and to the left.

“Und now I will make… Da Magicks!” Photo Finish fired a 200mm round directly into the Iron Kong’s lower torso. The Zoid reeled back, then keeled forward to crash face-first into the pavement.

“Rocking shot, boss!” Pixel Pizzaz cheered.

“It was, wasn’t it?” Photo Finish asked rhetorically as her Gun Sniper resumed its normal stance. “Now we are in the clear.”

“I think you’re all forgetting something!” The Anarchy Judge spoke up suddenly.

“As a matter of fact, I did forget you were there,” Rarity said condescendingly.

“Not me, you achromatic airhead!” The Anarchy Judge pointed up, at the Whale King. “Try the colossal insult to gravity that all those Zabats came from! You may be interested to know that this baby comes complete with no less than six forward-facing electron mass drivers! But those are just its secondary weapons! Its primary armament is the gigantic honking electron cannon it’s currently aiming at your Hover Ca- WHAT?!” The Anarchy Judge was interrupted as the ground shook violently, forcing the Zoid pilots to re-balance their machines to avoid keeling over. Photo Finish and Violet Blurr leaped to another rooftop as their building groaned ominously in the silence following the tremor.

“Look! To ze east!” Photo Finish said, her Gun Sniper pointing eastward. “An Ultrasaurus! Ze Battle Commission is here!”

“Well, isn’t it just like those self-righteous rule-happy little- AGH!” The Anarchy Judge’s complaint was cut off as another tremor rattled the city. “All right, full retreat! We can’t compete with an Ultrasaurus!” With that, the Anarchy Judge’s pod snapped shut as its rocket fired, lifting it into the sky. The Whale King turned southward, releasing a loud call as it fled the Battle Commission’s wrath.

Sunset Shimmer sagged in her seat within the Hover Cargo’s control room as the transport cruised through the moon-lit night. Both teams had endured hours of interviews and questions as the Commission wrung every last detail out of them. The Zoid Battle Commission reacted poorly to interference in its fights. They reacted even more poorly to the idea of a Whale King going undetected in the airspace above a designated battlefield. At least they were convinced that neither Empyrean nor Eidechsekanone had invited the interlopers.

“Yeesh, I’d rather have a dozen Zoid battles back-to-back than do through that again,” Applejack grumbled. Like Sunset, she sat low in her seat.

“Tell me about it,” Pinkie mumbled from the floor. “At least we don’t get kicked out of the Commission if we lose a fight.”

“I’m so tired I could sleep for days,” Rainbow chimed in, her chin resting on a powered-down console. “We’ll have to have that party or whatever some other time.”

“Yeah, I never thought I wouldn’t be up for a party,” Pinkie agreed. “But I don’t think I could handle one right now.”

“I’m going to sleep forever and then wash my hair forever,” Rarity grumbled.

“You wash your hair to relax?” Sunset asked.

“You don’t?”

“... Never mind.”

“I get that a lot.”

“Um, I think Pinkie fell asleep,” Fluttershy interrupted sheepishly. Her suspicions were confirmed by the quiet snores that began to rise up from the floor. Applejack calmly regarded her sleeping teammate, who lay face-up on the floor, mouth hanging open.

“Gal can sleep any-dang-where.” Applejack retrieved a cushion from one of the storage lockers at the back of the room and carefully slid it under Pinkie’s hyper-curled mop of hair. Pinkie rolled onto her side without waking up, and her snores were replaced with soft, even breathing. “That'll help ya better.” Applejack added quietly.

“We’ll be home soon, team,” Celestia said reassuringly, checking the auto-pilot’s display. “And Luna’s on her way back, as well. Perhaps she has good news for us.”

Author's Note

Heck yeah two dream sequences in as many chapters.

Chapter Four - She Dazzled Me With Zoids

“Is that… is that what I think it is?” Rainbow asked, staring up at the newest Zoid in Empyrean Team’s hanger. “That’s a Storm Sworder! A real Storm Sworder!”

“You bet it is,” Luna said, grinning. “Only grown a month ago, too.”

“If memory serves, this is quite the Zoid, is it not?” Rarity said inquisitively.

“Rarity. This. Is. The fastest Zoid.” Rainbow replied, struggling to contain her delight. “I mean there is literally no Zoid with a higher maximum speed than a Storm Sworder!”

“Its Magnessor wings are highly adjustable, too,” Sunset added, “and it carries a Limited Organoid System to manage those adjustments automatically. The Storm Sworder isn’t just fast, it’s also extremely maneuverable.”

Luna folded her arms and nodded knowingly. “Storm Sworders were created by the Helic Republic as the final word in air superiority, and they ruled the skies for generations. This, girls, is our air-to-air Zoid.”

“I- I’m so happy I might cry!” Rainbow said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I wanted a flying Zoid, and you got me the ultimate flying Zoid! I… I don’t know what to say!”

“Just promise me you’ll take care of it,” Luna said, patting the Zoid’s leg, “Storm Sworders are real hangar queens, and they’re not easy to repair, so try to avoid making Fluttershy’s job more difficult than it needs to be.”

“You got it!”

The Storm Sworder rocketed through the sky as Rainbow Dash put it through every aerial maneuver she could think of, including a few she made up on the spot. The rest of the team watched from the hangar’s roof. This had been a daily occurrence for over a week now, as Rainbow steadily became more accustomed to the Storm Sworder’s capabilities.

“Well, Sunset Shimmer, what do you think?” Luna asked.

“I think we won’t be losing to Pteras Bombers any more,” Sunset replied with a wide smile, “in fact, I don’t think we’ll be losing to anything airborne, unless the Commission makes it legal for Whale Kings to fight. And even then I like our odds. I’ll tell you what, I’m glad you’re on our team, it can’t have been easy to find one of those Zoids.”

“Well now, don’t forget this team was my idea to begin with,” Luna said with a laugh. “Besides, finding a Storm Sworder is as easy as shopping at the right store. The big question is, will Rainbow be ready to pilot it for our next battle?”

“Our match with the Dazzlings? I think Rainbow’s got a handle on it. It comes down to how well she does avoiding ranged attacks while she closes in.”

“Sounds like you've got our strategy worked out already.”

“The Dazzlings are about the opposite of the Metal Thrashing Madwomen. They use the same Zoids and the same strategy every time. Granted, it works for them pretty consistently, but I think we've got this.”

Sunset Shimmer found herself in her usual seat in the Hover Cargo’s control room, her teammates all waiting expectantly for her to detail their strategy for the upcoming match. Rainbow Dash looked especially eager, knowing that this would be her first real Zoid battle.

“All right ladies, our opponents this time are the Dazzlings, a C-Rank team.” Sunset said. “They have a pretty bad reputation, apparently their leader is an even bigger jerk than I am.” Sunset considered this self-deprecating joke a throw-away gag rather than anything particularly amusing, but nevertheless paused to allow Pinkie to try, and fail, to suppress a giggle. “But they’re still in C-Rank, which means they’re on a whole other level compared to what we've fought so far,” Sunset continued. “If that match with Photo Finish’s team had gone as scheduled, we’d at least have an idea of the kind of skill level we’re facing, but there’s not a lot we can do about that. Anyway, the Dazzlings. Adagio Dazzle is the leader, and she currently pilots a Command Wolf AC.” She brought up an image of the Zoid. “Command Wolves are fast and agile, and carry dischargers that can release thick clouds of smoke that’ll make it impossible to see them except at very close ranges. You’ll need quick reflexes to react in time to her attacks if the smoke is out. Adagio has also upgraded her Wolf with a pretty respectable sensor suite. Firing by radar only isn't as accurate as having line of sight, but Adagio is a good enough blind-shooter that you can’t count on her being hindered by her own smoke. You see a black cloud on the battlefield, take cover.”

“I take it them huge cannons on its back are its main weapons?” Applejack asked.

“You’d better believe it. That’s a pair of 250-millimeter beam cannons.” Sunset confirmed, “they pack one heck of a punch, enough to floor any of our Zoids with concentrated fire. Don’t let her hit you with those if you can possibly help it. Applejack, Rarity, your job is to deal with Adagio’s Command Wolf. Rarity, hit her fast and don’t give her a chance to line up a shot. The Zaber Fang was built to fight Command Wolves and other light Zoids, but the AC variant was designed to take out targets heavier than it, and Zaber Fangs specifically. It’ll all come down to how well you avoid her shots. Applejack, you’re Rarity’s backup. Suppressing fire with the beam Gatling should limit Adagio’s mobility, and give her a taste of your other guns if you can catch her with them.”

“Two of us just to defeat one opponent?” Rarity asked, “Adagio Dazzle must be quite the pilot.”

“She’s got some skill, and more experience than us. On top of that, the Command Wolf is an extremely reliable Zoid. At the height of their military power, the Helic Republic had more than two million Command Wolves in active service, and more of those were ACs than any other variant. Never before nor since have so many of a Zoid been deployed, and they continued to serve on the front lines decades after newer designs were declared obsolete and retired. That should give you an idea of what we’re up against.”

“Pretty impressive,” Applejack admitted. “What about the other Dazzlin's?”

“Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk,” Sunset replied, switching the image to another Zoid. “They both pilot these Redler Interceptors. Redlers are mid-range flying Zoids that are also capable of moving freely on the ground. Their four claws are dangerous, but their primary melee weapon is the blade recessed into their tail, which folds out and adjusts its angle based on the target’s relative location to ensure the deepest possible cut without compromising the Redler's flight.”

“Those tail blades have got to be pretty hard to use with those cannons,” Rainbow pointed out.

“True enough. You may recognize the flexible booster units, Salem Team mounted them as well.” Sunset said. “While Helcats can only carry one, a Redler can mount a pair of flexible boosters, which is how they were originally designed to be used. Redler Interceptors carry twin flexible boosters and upgraded targeting software so they can aim the beam cannons accurately. Aria and Sonata normally use them to provide mobile fire support for Adagio, but that, Rainbow Dash, is where you come in.”

“Aw, yeah!” Rainbow said, pumping her fist. “Me and my Storm Sworder are gonna take those two down!”

“That’s the plan.” Sunset agreed, “Redler Interceptors are very mobile, but the Storm Sworder has them beat on both maneuverability and maximum speed. Even with the boosters, they can’t out-fly the Sworder. The hard part for you is avoiding their cannon fire. Your lasers can cause some damage, but not as much as their booster cannons. Let them fight at range and they’ll shoot you down. On the other hand, if you can get in close, your blades can deal with them with one slice each. Take them out as fast as you can, then Applejack and Rarity can concentrate on Adagio without having to worry about laser beams raining from the sky. You’re our keystone, Rainbow Dash. You've got a two-on-one fight that you absolutely have to win, so you’d better be careful.”

“It's my first real battle!” Rainbow said, “no way I’m letting my team down!”

“We'll be countin' on ya out there,” Applejack said.

“Take a look,” Sunset highlighted a small area of the battlefield map, “Aria and Sonata normally fly to the center of the battlefield and then split up to attack on Adagio's command, but at cruising speed, you’ll be able to intercept them in this area. And here-” Another zone lit up, this one to the northwest of the first area, “-is about where Rarity and Applejack will be. If you think you can take both of them on at once, you can intercept them and have roughly three minutes to take the Redlers down before Rarity and Applejack are in their firing range. Otherwise, they’ll break north and west when they reach the center point, so if you’d rather divide and conquer, head for one of these areas.” Two more regions were highlighted. “In that case, Rarity, Applejack, take cover among the stone outcroppings in that second zone until Rainbow brings down both Redlers. They’ll protect you -at least to an extent- from whichever Redler Rainbow doesn't catch first.”

“Forget that noise!” Rainbow said, “I’ll hit ‘em while they’re still together!”

“If you think you can handle two C-Rank pilots, go for it.” Sunset replied. “I figured that was how you wanted to do things, but the alternative is there.”

“Aw, you worry too much.” Rainbow leaned back in her chair, putting her hands behind her head. “Like I said, I’m not gonna let my team down."

“I always like to have a backup plan.” Sunset replied. “Although I can't fault your confidence. All right girls, get ready to fight!”

“Area scanned! Battlefield, set up!” The Judge declared. Because most flying Zoids could not remain stationary in mid-air, Rainbow Dash had been allowed to cruise in the general area above her team’s starting position. For the time being, she kept the Storm Sworder at low speed, circling lazily above Applejack and Rarity. “Battle Mode Zero-Nine-Eight-Three! Empyrean Team versus the Dazzlings! Ready… Fight!” Rainbow slammed the Storm Sworder’s throttle forward and blasted towards the battlefield’s southeastern corner, where the Dazzlings had been deployed. When she reached the designated interception point, however, Rainbow noticed something amiss.

“Uh, Sunset Shimmer? Shouldn’t those Redlers be around here?” Rainbow asked.

“You should have had a visual on them a minute and a half ago, give or take a few seconds. Why?” Sunset replied, her face appearing on Rainbow’s HUD.

“Because I don’t have a visual on them.” Rainbow explained.

“What? Aria and Sonata have flown to the center point and split up in literally every battle they’ve been in, that’s why I planned this out the way I did. They open the same way every time.”

“Well, every time but this one, apparently,” Rainbow grumbled. She was about to turn her Storm Sworder to go looking for the pair when something on the ground caught her eye. “Hey, I think I see smoke.”

“Adagio might have kicked off her smoke dischargers early, but I can’t imagine why,” Sunset said nervously. Rainbow was surprised at how discomfited her friend and strategist seemed to be. “Unless she’s trying to hide from you, but she has to know how limited your air-to-surface capabilities are. Normally she’d rely on her Command Wolf’s agility to dodge your lasers until she got into shooting range of Applejack and Pinkie. Check it out, but stay high. Don’t give her an opportunity to shoot you down.”

“On it!” Dash said, pulling up and towards the smoke. Within moments, she had reached the black cloud, which on closer inspection was very clearly Command Wolf smoke. The cloud was growing towards one end and fading at the opposite, giving the impression that it was moving to the northwest. Rainbow surmised that the Command Wolf was probably near the center of it, smoke emitters working constantly as it ran. She relayed this assumption to Sunset Shimmer.

“That sounds about right, but she’ll run out of smoke soon if she keeps that up,” Sunset said, “Command Wolves can only generate so much of the stuff, after all. Applejack, Rarity, what’s your status?”

“We’re in cover, like you said,” Applejack answered. “Dunno where them Redlers are, but we’re gonna sit tight ‘til someone figures out why they ain't in the air.”

“In the air… wait...” Sunset said slowly, realization dawning. “That’s it! Redlers are fully ground-movement capable! They knew they couldn't take you in the sky, Rainbow, so they’re hiding in the smoke! Pull out of there!” Just as Rainbow Dash pulled away, four laser beams lanced out from the smoke, narrowly missing the Storm Sworder.

“Whoa! How can they see me through that mess?!”

“Adagio must be calling their shots!” Sunset said, “she’s using her radar to tell the others where to aim!”

“She must've run out of smoke, the cloud’s not growing any more!” Rainbow said, turning to face the smoke again.

“Even so, it’ll linger for a good long time.” Sunset said, “Applejack, your sensors are good enough that you could try blind-firing, but I don’t much like the idea of a three-on-one gunfight.”

“I could lay down some suppressin' fire with the ol' laser Gatling,” Applejack suggested, “that’d take some of the heat off Rainbow n’ Rarity, but they cain't do much with that smoke.”

“Wait, maybe Rainbow can,” Sunset said, “Applejack, find yourself a safe firing position. Rarity, get to a spot where you can jump over those rocks and into shooting range. Rainbow, get some distance from the Dazzlings and get ready to fire up your afterburners. I’ve just had either a stroke of genius or a flash of sheer idiocy, we’ll find out which in a couple minutes.”

Applejack’s Dark Horn lumbered to the edge of the cluster of boulders and outcroppings, giving her a clear line of fire on the smoke cloud. With an almost relaxed air, she spun her laser Gatling up to speed and began sweeping it left and right, firing a stream of laser beams into the smoke, her aim informed only by her Dark Horn’s sensor suite. It gave Applejack a rough idea of her targets' locations in the smoke, but it wasn't nearly as precise as normal line-of-sight shooting. Retaliatory fire emerged from the cloud, but the shots went wide, striking the large rocks to either side of Applejack’s Zoid. “Okay, Rainbow, they’re good an’ suppressed,” Applejack said smoothly, continuing to fire.

“Aw yeah!” Rainbow Dash said, “I’m coming in fast and low!” She did exactly this, bringing the Storm Sworder dangerously close to the ground and firing the Zoid’s afterburners, pushing the Sworder to speeds in excess of Mach 3. Applejack was so focused on her suppressing fire that she barely registered the gray blur as the flying Zoid rocketed overhead.

On the other hand, Applejack definitely noticed the sonic boom. The sudden change in air pressure created a thunderous noise and, more importantly, blew the Command Wolf’s smoke in every direction, dispersing the cloud into thin wisps. The Redler Interceptors were clearly visible, flanking Adagio Dazzle’s Command Wolf.

“Perfect!” Sunset jumped to her feet. “Okay girls, you've got three big sitting ducks to mow down!” One of the Redlers continued to fire on Applejack, but the other activated its Magnessor wings and rose into the air, turning to pursue Rainbow Dash.

“Yer gonna have company in a minute, Rainbow!” Applejack called out, mowing down the grounded Redler with her Gatling and linear cannon. Rarity’s Zaber Fang vaulted a huge boulder, landing near the Command Wolf. Adagio fired on Rarity, but her panicked shots missed completely.

“Have at you!” Rarity cried, opening fire with her Zaber Fang’s entire weapons payload. The Command Wolf crumpled under the onslaught, its armor no match for such withering firepower. “Well, that’s that. Rainbow Dash, darling, how are you faring?”

“Ha! I’m just watching what’s-her-name try to catch up!” Rainbow replied. “I’d better finish her off before she lines up a shot, though.”

“That would be lovely, dear.”

Rainbow Dash pulled her Storm Sworder into a quick chandelle turn, then cut its afterburners, bleeding speed to buy herself a few seconds to plan out how to deal with the oncoming Redler. She didn’t know whether it was Sonata Dusk or Aria Blaze piloting the Zoid, but it didn’t matter much tactically. Rainbow would have liked to know who she was facing, but she decided she could always find out later. What was important now was evading the beam cannon shots currently approaching her. A canopy roll addressed the issue, followed by a few potshots from the Storm Sworder’s pulse lasers. Rainbow didn’t expect these shots to cause much damage, or even hit, but they had the desired effect of convincing the Redler pilot to bank to the side. Rainbow reactivated her afterburners and gave chase, closing the distance at extreme speed.

The Redler’s boosters activated as it spiraled through the air in an attempt to evade Rainbow’s attacks. Rainbow extended the Sworder’s wing blades as she pursued, cutting her afterburners to avoid overshooting. The two Zoids began to barrel roll around each other in a rolling scissors maneuver, prompting Rainbow Dash to grin maniacally. Under normal circumstances, a rolling scissors was a terrible situation for both Zoids, as each pilot tried to make the other overshoot before their constantly-lowering altitude brought both machines slamming to the ground. Under normal circumstances, neither Zoid carried energized blades as its primary weapons. Rainbow curved towards the Redler, narrowing the spiral until her right wing’s blade sliced through the Redler’s left wing. The Redler dropped, unable to remain stable on one wing, and plowed into the ground in a semi-controlled crash, losing a leg in the process.

“The battle is over! The battle is over!” The Judge announced. “The winner is… Empyrean Team!”

“Yes! Well done, girls!” Sunset cheered. “Excellent fighting, all of you!”

“Aw, yeah!” Rainbow Dash said gleefully, performing a few vertical loops just because she could. “Come back when you learn to fly, Dazzlings!”

Adagio Dazzle sat in a Canterlot fast-food restaurant, fuming. With her were Aria Blaze, also fuming; and Sonata Dusk, who understood the concept of fuming just well enough to wish her friends would stop doing it.

“We never would’ve lost if we’d gone with my plan,” Aria complained suddenly.

“Oh, yes, of course. Your plan,” Adagio growled. “Wasn’t your plan to just fly right at that Storm Sworder and hope for the best? Complete and utter genius, Aria. What ever would we do without you?”

“Why wouldn’t it work? It’s worked for every flying Zoid we’ve ever fought before!” Aria shot back.

“Because it was a Storm Sworder!” Adagio replied, nearly shouting, “they’re faster and more powerful than anything any of the other teams we’ve faced ever had! Our only chance was to take it by surprise!”

“And your stupid plan only gave us one chance at that! Which Sonata totally blew when she missed that dumb Zoid by like ten miles!”

“Hey! You missed worse than I did!” Sonata retorted. Simulation results said she wasn’t exactly the best shot in the Zoid Battle Commission, but Sonata wouldn’t have her accuracy impugned by Aria Blaze, who consistently scored fewer hits on the battlefield.

“If either of you had even the slightest functional competence, at least one of you would’ve hit, and that Sworder would have been done for!” Adagio pointed out. Sonata didn’t have a response to this, and she did have to put up with Adagio impugning her accuracy. After all, Adagio was in charge.

“Hang on, I think I see the Dazzlings in Burger Monarch,” Sunset Shimmer said, looking across the street. “Looks like they’re arguing, too.”

“Yup. Maybe the three of us oughta stay outta there today,” Applejack said. "I think we can all guess what they're worked up about, and I suspect us walkin' in the door wouldn't help any."
“Geez it’s been like three days, how are they still mad?” Pinkie asked rhetorically. The Dazzlings were, at least by reputation, always mad. “Should we go to the pizza place down the street?”

“Lucky Stars’ Pizza? Don’t see why not,” Applejack said with a shrug. "What about you, Sunset?"

"You had me at 'pizza place'," Sunset Shimmer replied. "I'm in."

"I shoulda figured that," Applejack said with a grin. "Will you ever get tired of pizza?"

"I sure hope not. I think I'd have some kind of existential crisis."

“Don’t worry about that!” Pinkie said gleefully. “I’d just snuggle the existentialism right out of you!” With that declaration, Pinkie dashed off down the sidewalk.

“Sometimes I think Pinkie genuinely believes that hugging is the solution to all of life’s problems,” Sunset told Applejack.

“I dunno about all problems,” Applejack said. “Though ya never can tell with Pinkie. Anyway, we’d better catch up t’ her before she orders us a weird-dang pizza with like twelve different things on it.”

“That’s exactly the kind of thing she’d do, isn’t it?” Sunset broke into a run without waiting for an answer.

Chapter Five - Vinyl Scratch: Crazy Sunshine

Empyrean Team’s Dark Horn, Dibison, and Zaber Fang stood amid a small army of wrecked Zoids, the Storm Sworder circling above. Rainbow Dash ignored the Anarchy Judge’s pod as it rocketed into space.

“Okay,” Sunset Shimmer said flatly. “That was absurd.”

“It’s bad enough they're interfering with sanctioned battles, but now the Chaos Union is apparently just attacking teams at random!” Rarity complained.

“Let me go after the Whale King!” Rainbow demanded, watching the damaged transport Zoid fly to the west. “I swear I can take it in one more pass!”

“Absolutely not,” Sunset insisted. “Those flack cannons were not stock, and I don’t want you losing a wing the day before our next match.”

“Fine,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Another day, Rainbow Dash,” Celestia said evenly. “Another day.”

“So the rumors were true. Empyrean Team is strong!” A large man stood on the Whale King's bridge, watching recordings of the just-finished battle. His massive, brick-red arms were crossed, and his skin-tight, black muscle shirt revealed a singularly hard, toned body. It was partially due to this impressive display of musculature that no one dared ask precisely who he was talking to. “I wonder if that propellerhead of mine has any ideas for dealing with them. Hopefully something that’ll make for good betting.” With that, he turned and stomped towards the bridge’s rear exit. This was no indication of anger, however, as the man tended to stomp everywhere he went.

The muscular man burst into an office on the Whale King’s topmost deck, where he found a man who was in many ways his opposite: Thin, calm, and wearing a fine, well-pressed suit. Admittedly, his jacket was dark green with yellow and orange sleeves. His slacks were two different shades of tan on the left and right, for that matter. The thin man’s tie was black and white, in stripes of wildly varying width. His skin was gray and his hair white. The thin man sat in a large office chair, his feet, in crocodile-skin shoes, resting on the desk in front of him. The desk, and indeed the entire room, contained a well-organized collection of books and discs of various types, each clearly having its own place, and blatantly at odds with its strangely-dressed inhabitant.

“Discord!” The strong man said loudly. Then again, he said nearly everything loudly.

“Tirek,” Discord replied with a smile.

“Where is my head researcher?!”

“Our head researcher is out. Doing research, as you might imagine.”

“What?! Why wasn’t I told sooner?!”

“You were busy with your own little project,” Discord answered dismissively. “You just seemed to be having so much fun shouting at everyone to get the auto-Zabats ready, I didn't want to bother you."

“So you just sat in here waiting for me to come looking for her?!”

“I was reading through some of her notes.”

“You should have asked me before sending her away, you worthless old goat!”

Discord produced a pair of yellow sunglasses from an inside pocket, put them on, then immediately slid them down his nose so he could look over them at Tirek.

“Don’t take that attitude with me.” Discord’s suddenly-harsh tone contrasted with his odd mannerisms. “I’ll allow that your modifications to our way of doing business have brought in some... increased revenue for our cause, but you seem to forget that I’m the one in charge here. My head researcher is doing research for me, and if you don’t like it, feel free to get off my Whale King." Discord slid his glasses back up his nose and returned to his calmer tone of voice. "Just because I like you, I’ll even lend you a parachute for the trip down.”

Tirek, apparently enraged beyond words, simply stared at Discord for a few moments before turning and stomping his way out of the room.

“Okay girls, it’s second verse, same as the first,” Sunset Shimmer said, standing in the center of the Hover Cargo’s command room. “Vinyl Scratch has gone and picked up another amateur pilot named Roseluck, who’s been using a Redler Interceptor. I have no idea why she dropped Mystery Mint, but she did.”

“Nothing I can’t handle!” Rainbow Dash said confidently.

“I’m counting on that. As for Vinyl, I have no idea what she’ll be running. Supposedly she picked up a new Zoid in Las Pegasus, but that’s just Internet rumors, and you know how reliable those are. The problem is, even if the rumors aren't true, she still has a pretty sizable stable of Zoids, so I really don't know what she'll be piloting.”

“Why hasn’t she registered it with the Battle Commission?” Rarity asked. “Assuming she really has a new Zoid, that is.”

“She could be taking advantage of the Commission’s reporting processes," Celestia pointed out "There will be an Ultrasaurus relatively close to the battlefield. She could have gone through the registration process yesterday and had time to make it to the battlefield today. The Commission takes two days to release registration information to the public, so it wouldn't be available until tomorrow.”

“That don’t seem quite on the level,” Applejack pointed out.

“There’s a few different teams that do it,” Sunset said. “It takes some luck, because you have to have an Ultrasaurus near enough to the battlefield, but it can keep your opponents from knowing about a new Zoid.”

“Until recently, teams had to register a new Zoid a full week before a battle, but the Commission has lifted that regulation,” Celestia added. “The idea is that teams can premiere a new Zoid in combat. Fans see it on the battlefield before they read about it. It’s supposed to make things exciting, but it’s also troublesome for the opposing team.”

“Pff, whatever it is, we’ll take it!” Rainbow said confidently.

“It’s especially bad with Vinyl Scratch, she’s been experimenting with all manner of Zoids," Sunset said. "She could be out there in anything from a Guysack to an Elephander. Applejack, your Dark Horn is equipped to handle the widest variety of targets, so you’re rolling out with Rainbow.”

“Roger that!” Applejack said. “Don’t you worry, Rainbow n’ me can handle whatever Vinyl’s stompin’ around in!”

“Whatever it is, she’ll probably be hiding it somewhere among these ruins,” Sunset highlighted a cluster of abandoned buildings near the battlefield’s center. “Applejack, try to stay near these stone outcroppings while you scan the area. Your sensors will probably be able to give us a good idea of what we’re up against. Once we know what Vinyl has, we can adapt and overcome.”

"Redler at ten o'clock high!" Rainbow Dash called out. “No sign of Vinyl’s Zoid!”

“Whatever she’s got, it’s packin’ a nasty ECM,” Applejack complained. “My sensors ain’t pickin’ up nothin' but static.”

“Oh, I wish I’d finished modifying that Multisensor for your Dark Horn’s sensor crown,” Fluttershy said quietly, watching from the Hover Cargo’s control room.

“Don’t worry about it, we haven’t exactly given ya much time to work on it,” Applejack replied.

Sunset Shimmer took a sip of orange soda. “Did Vinyl Scratch just happen to pick a Zoid with an ECM unit, or did she know I’d send out our best electronic warfare Zoid to try and find out what she’s piloting? Rainbow, take out the Redler Interceptor and do a flyover, maybe you can get a visual on Vinyl’s Zoid.”

“This one’s got some moves in her!” Rainbow said, firing off a few shots from her pulse lasers. “Is she using a Split S?! Nice!”
Suddenly, a pair of laser beams lanced through the sky, coming from the center of the abandoned city. The attack barely missed Rainbow's Storm Sworder as she veered away.

"That came from Vinyl's Zoid! She's got anti-air lasers!" Sunset exclaimed.

"I'm glad you're here to tell us these things!" Rainbow replied with intense sarcasm. "So how do I take out Roseluck with whatever's down there shooting at me?!"

"Keep your distance from the city and don't let either of them shoot you. See if you can lure Roseluck back out of Vinyl's range." Sunset said. "Applejack, Vinyl's near the city center. Move in, but avoid direct lines of fire to the center until-"

"Forget that!" Rainbow interrupted. "I've got a better idea!" With that, Rainbow dropped her Storm Sworder down below the city's skyline, tilted the Zoid fully vertical, and rocketed towards a broad street on the city's edge. At the same time, Rainbow connected the Sworder's external cameras to the Hover Cargo, causing front, rear, dorsal, ventral, and side views from the Zoid to pop up on the command center's main display.

"Dash, you maniac! What are you doing?!" Sunset demanded. "You can't maneuver in there!"

"Yes I can!" Rainbow shot back. To demonstrate her point, she swung the Sworder around, digging its talons into a building to prevent herself from crashing into it, and launched down another street. "I'll find Vinyl's Zoid, then we can get some real fighting done!"

"Get out of there before you kill yourself!" Sunset demanded.

“All right, all right! Geez!” Rainbow drove a talon into the closest building, sending her Storm Sworder spinning vertically upwards. The Zoid flapped its wings to stabilize itself as it rose above the skyline, turning towards the city center, an open area that had probably been a park in the previous era. “Whoa! Tell me you’re seeing this, Sunset! Sun-? Oh shoot!” Rainbow barely managed to dodge a volley of shots from Roseluck’s Redler Interceptor. Sunset Shimmer, meanwhile, had fallen out of her chair.

"That's a Gojulas Mark Two!" Sunset shouted into her headset as Celestia helped her off the floor. Laser beams lanced from the anti-air cannon on huge Zoid's right shoulder. "And she's customized it, too!"

“How did she add an ECM unit to a Gojulas?” Fluttershy asked. “They don’t have very much internal space, and the power requirements-”

“Better question! How do we take it down?!” Rainbow interrupted.

“Get freaking away from it for a start!” Sunset replied. “You deal with Roseluck! Applejack, move into the city. Its main cannons are brutal, but they’ve got a pretty severe minimum range. If you can stay under that minimum, and out of reach of her tail, you only have to worry about small-caliber lasers. She’s got what looks like 30-millimeters on her arms instead of the whole of its normal weapon loadout.”

“Easier said than done, but it’s all we got, ain’t it?”

“I’m updating your HUD with a top-down view of the zone you need to stay in. Your sensors will defeat the ECM when you get close enough, match her location with that image and you’ll be set.”

“Roseluck’s down!” Rainbow reported, carving one of the Redler’s wings off with a laser blade.

“That was fast, why didn’t you do that at the start?” Sunset asked, slightly exasperated.

“I told you, she had some moves on her. She’s down now anyway, so whatever! Now what do I do?”

“Don’t let Vinyl shoot you down. Applejack’s got this.”

“And now you know why I took so long to drop Roseluck,” Rainbow grumbled.

“Quit yer fussin’, I’m in her minimum range now,” Applejack said flatly, staring up at the towering Gojulas. “Land sakes, that’s a big ‘un. Yer seein’ this, right, Sunset?”

“I’ve got visuals through your cameras. Something’s off about the cannon mounts, they don’t look stock.”

“Is anything on that machine factory spec?” Applejack asked. She fired a volley from her linear cannon into the Gojulas’s left knee, and both single-shot missiles into its chest, then lunged to the side to dodge retaliatory laser beams. Suddenly, the Gojulas’s main cannons rose up and lowered their barrels over the Zoid’s shoulders.

“Applejack! Get out of there!” Sunset shouted.

“Ain’t gotta tell me, I’m-a gettin’!” The Dark Horn lunged sideways again, but one of the cannons turned to follow Applejack’s Zoid and fired, slamming a massive shell through the Dark Horn’s turret and into its back. The Zoid bounced off the group and landed in a heap at the Gojulas's feet.

“Applejack! Are you all right?!” Sunset asked, shocked.

“I’m fine, but this poor Zoid o’ mine sure ain’t,” Applejack grumbled.

“And I just recalibrated that turret, too,” Fluttershy said softly, absently stroking her hair.

“Gojulas cannons aren’t supposed to be able to aim that far down,” Sunset groaned. “They can’t track horizontally either. Those turrets aren’t just modified, they’re custom built! Okay, okay, we can still do this. Gotta calm down. Gotta think. Rainbow, keep your distance while I figure this out.”

“Figure what out?! I’ve got wing blades and I know how to use ‘em!” Rainbow shot back, her Storm Sworder rocketing back to the city.

Sunset Shimmer jumped to her feet. “Rainbow no! You need to-!” Sunset stopped herself as a barrage of laser beams cut through the air, tearing holes in the Storm Sworder’s right wing. “She modded the AA laser for full-auto fire.” Sunset said quietly, sinking back into her seat. “Of course she did.” Another burst of laser fire drove the Storm Sworder to the ground.

"I don't believe it!" Rainbow said ruefully.

“Tartarus on toast for tea on a Tuesday!” Sunset hissed through her teeth as the Judge announced Empyrean Team’s loss. Celestia stared at her quizzically.

“How can that laser maintain that kind of fire rate without overheating?” Fluttershy asked. "I've seen that kind before, it shouldn't be able to do that at all."

“She was only firin’ it in short bursts,” Applejack pointed out. “Betcha that’s why.”

“Man, how was I supposed to avoid that?!” Rainbow complained.

“If you’d stopped to let me think,” Sunset growled. “I might have been able to work something out!”

“Oh. Sorry.” Rainbow replied sheepishly.

Sunset sighed. “Well, nothing we can do about it now. Let’s... let's just go home.”

"I'd ask what you're going up on the roof in the middle of a rainstorm," Celestia asked Sunset Shimmer, "but I think I can guess."

"You can ask anyway if it'd make you feel better," Sunset replied, staring at the horizon from her refuge under one of the umbrellas on the rooftop tables.

"I'm more concerned with how you feel," Celestia replied gently, shifting her own umbrella on her shoulder. "It's been a week, Sunset. You've never let a loss bother you this much before."

"I've never felt so useless before," Sunset mumbled. "I mean, it seems like Vinyl Scratch was always one step ahead of me, no matter what I did. I'm supposed to be so great at strategy, but no matter how many times I go over that last battle, I can't see how we could've won. It feels like there's something totally obvious that I'm just not seeing."

"It seems to me that Vinyl Scratch is doing what you do; finding the openings in her opponents' strategies and taking advantage of them," Celestia pointed out. "Except in her case, Vinyl looks for openings in what you'll do to take advantages of her own openings. I wonder if the key to defeating her lies in taking that concept a step further."

"Another pearl of wisdom from Her Imperial Disciplinarian? This isn't Canterlot High, and you're not my principal any more."

"No, but I am at least ostensibly in charge of your Zoid team," Celestia replied with a small smile. She gently squeezed her strategist's shoulder. "Sunset, few people know better than me the importance of learning from the past, but there's a difference between learning from it and wallowing in it. I know which one I prefer, and I flatter myself to think it's the better option. On a more practical note, you need to snap yourself out of this because I just accepted a challenge from the Illusions, and we need a strategy."

"The Illusions?" Sunset asked blankly, still staring into the distance. "That's Trixie Lulamoon's team. They pilot Command Wolves that have modified smoke dischargers which... Tartarus!" Sunset shuddered very slightly and jumped to her feet, heedless of the rain. "I need to see if Fluttershy's got that Multisensor finished!"

Without further ado, Sunset dashed to the stairwell enclosure and charged down the steps, slowing down only after she slipped and had to wrap both arms around the railing to stop herself from descending face-first.

Back on the rooftop, Celestia allowed herself a small sigh before following her former student.

Author's Note

Vinyl Scratch is always there to remind Sunset Shimmer that she's not perfect.
There is at least one way Empyrean Team could have won this match. Can you spot it?

Chapter Six - Tricks up Their Sleeves

“Fluttershy, have I told ya lately that you’re a genius?” Applejack asked, hands on her hips. Both of them, along with Sunset Shimmer, were looking up at Applejack’s Dark Horn.

“She’s right, Fluttershy,” Sunset added. “I knew you were reworking that Multisensor, but I didn’t expect you to build a shield generator in as well!”

“Oh, well, the shield generator isn’t such a big deal,” Fluttershy said modestly, blushing. “Luna brought one that I was able to get working, and I thought it’d help keep the Dark Horn safe. I mean, it wouldn’t have stopped the shells from Vinyl Scratch’s Golujas, but it would have taken enough force out of the first one that you might have been able to keep fighting.”

“I was thinking about that, but I wasn’t sure you’d be able to power it,” Sunset said.

“That was the easy part. A Dark Horn’s Deochalcum power source generates a lot more energy than it actually uses, especially with this payload. I just wish I’d thought of it sooner.”

“Any chance you could stick one o’ them in any of our other Zoids?” Applejack asked.

“Probably not, no. Sorry, but the Dark Horn is really the only Zoid we have with the kind of power output a shield generator needs.”

“Well, I guess it was worth asking,” Applejack said. “I’m glad you got that new turret goin’, I gotta say.”

“Uh-huh. The beam Gatling gun is new, but it has the same specs as the one Vinyl ruined. As for the 80-millimeter railgun, I’d like you to do some target shooting to make sure I calibrated it correctly. I also want to make sure the ECM I put in works.”

“Boy howdy, you went all out!” Applejack exclaimed.

“The ECM was Sunset’s idea,” Fluttershy admitted bashfully.

“I blatantly stole the idea from Vinyl Scratch,” Sunset added. “She gave us so much trouble just by using a high-power Zoid with an ECM unit, I thought we could do the same. Admittedly my first thought was to load it into Pinkie’s Dibison, but it didn’t have the power output for it.”

“Heh, Deochalcum comes through again,” Applejack said, grinning.

“Your turret can elevate both weapons independently or together. Both weapons can be raised fully vertical, and lateral rotation is a full three hundred sixty degrees,” Fluttershy rattled off. “Downward rotation is much more limited, mostly because your Dark Horn’s own body would get in the way.”

“That’ll do just fine,” Applejack replied, her smile widening. “I got that linear cannon fer anything that gets under my turret.”

“Fluttershy, this is truly great work,” Sunset patted her shoulder. “Thanks for this. Especially for getting it done before our next match. The Illusions won’t know what hit them!”

“Got yerself a plan in mind?”

“You bet I do. Better get some sim practice blind-firing and forward observing with that Multisensor, you’ll need it. Oh, I just thought of something.” Sunset put her hands on her hips. “This is essentially a completely new, custom variant of the Dark Horn, so I believe it needs a name. For Commission records, if no other reason. Do either of you have any suggestions?”

“Um, since I made it especially for Applejack, could we call it the Dark Horn Applejack Special?” Fluttershy offered.

“Works fer me,” Applejack said, nodding. “Makes sense, gets right to the point. I like it.”

“All right, the Dark Horn Applejack Special it is.”

“Okay, I’ve got a plan, and it’s a good one!” Sunset said excitedly. “The Illusions all pilot the same Zoid: A modified Command Wolf AC they refer to as an Illusionary Command Wolf.”

“Might I ask what’s so special about them?” Rarity asked. “Other than those… unconventional paint schemes, I mean.”

“Their paint is based on pattern-breaker camouflage designs, but their color choices… Well.” Sunset stared at the Zoids shown on the main screen. “Purple, sky blue, and white aren't really ideal for blending into any environment I can think of. Anyway. They’ve modified the smoke emitters, they have chaff seeded into the smoke. I wasn’t able to find out what it was made of, but the stuff floats in the air along with the smoke, and it jams most sensors. This protects them from sensor-guided weapons, which are of course the main problem faced by Command Wolves when their smoke’s out.”

“I see where yer goin’ with this,” Applejack said with a grin.

“Oh yes. Your new Multisensor’s got a range of about two miles, and it’ll see through pretty much everything, up to and including optic camouflage. You already know this from running the simulators, but you’ll be able to functionally ignore the Illusions’ smoke, chaff or not.” Sunset brought up a map of the battlefield, a narrow canyon with several large boulders and outcroppings scattered throughout it. “Pinkie, you I want you to set up behind this boulder,” Sunset continued, marking a massive stone near the northern end of the chasm. “You can threaten about half the battlefield from there. Applejack, I’ll make sure your map projection has Pinkie’s bombardment range marked. Take a position in this zone,” Sunset marked an area halfway between Pinkie’s mark and the battlefield’s center point. “Once the Illusions get into range, light them up. Rarity, stick close to Applejack and cover her. I want both of you to fall back if you have to, but don’t let the Illusions get too close to Pinkie. Everyone got it?”

“Yes indeed,” Applejack answered.

“Yupperooni!” Pinkie added.

“This should be over quickly,” Rarity said, adjusting her gloves.

“Area scanned! Battlefield, set up!” The Judge announced in its usual way. “Battle Mode Zero-Nine-Seven-Three! The Illusions versus Empyrean Team! Ready… Fight!”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t know how you intend to beat her,” Trixie said over open comms as her Command Wolf rushed through the canyon, nimbly dodging boulders and outcroppings. “But she can assure you, the Illusions will not be defeated! Save yourselves some time and just give up!”

“Sunset, somethin’s funny here,” Applejack said over Empyrean Team’s channel, ignoring Trixie’s boasting. “I see Trixie, but not the other two. I’m in position, but they’re outside my sensor range.”

“So I see,” Sunset Shimmer replied. The Hover Cargo’s map display showed data from her teammate’s sensors. “They must be staying near their starting area. Trixie’s the best shooter on the team, so follow the strategy for now. Once she’s down, we’ll go looking for the others. Wait, is she stopping?”

“Yup, contour map shows her hidin’ behind a big ol' rock, just like us.” Applejack confirmed. “Outside Pinkie’s range, too. Figure she’s waitin’ to ambush us?”

Sunset considered the situation briefly. “That’d fit her strategy, but it doesn’t explain why Fuchsia Blush and Lavender Lace aren’t with her. Pinkie, you’re going to have to move up. There’s another outcropping near you that’ll get you in range to hit Trixie while keeping you in cover. Better move fast.”

“Fast as the Pinkamena D. Bison can go!” Pinkie replied.

“Wait, what?” Sunset asked, baffled. “What kind of name is that for a Dibison?”

“I thought of it this morning. Neat, huh?”

“Just… just get to -What are those warnings?!” Sunset interrupted herself as a pair of red indicators appeared on the display. “Rarity, they’re headed your way! Move!”

“Some kinda big honkin’ missiles!” Applejack said. “Multisensor picked ‘em up!”

“Pinkie, bring the thunder!” Sunset commanded. “Her teammates must’ve gotten missile launchers onto their Wolves somehow, Trixie’s playing spotter!”

“I’m going, I’m going!” Pinkie replied. “Pinkamena D. Bison’s no wind-sprinter, y’know, she’s got some meat on her bones!”

Sunset Shimmer’s eyelid twitched. “Rarity, head towards Applejack. AJ, fire up your ECM’s active jammer.”

“Already did,” Applejack replied.

“I’m firing!” Pinkie called out, the sequential blasts from her cannons competing with the explosions of both oversized missiles as they slammed into the ground, coating Rarity’s Zaber Fang with dirt as she took cover near the Dark Horn. Trixie’s Command Wolf leaped out from her boulder, but was caught in the blast of Pinkie’s first shell before making it any further. The rest of the salvo came crashing down on and around the Wolf, shaking and battering the Zoid. One of the shells sank into the Command Wolf’s left rear hip before exploding, blowing the leg several dozen feet away.

“Nice work, Pinkie!” Sunset said as Trixie’s indicator changed to show her as eliminated.

“How can this be?!” Trixie lamented, again addressing everyone present.

“‘Nother pair o’ missiles!” Applejack said as two more warnings appeared.

“Probably targeting the center of your ECM shroud! Move up and start looking for the others.” Sunset replied. “Rarity, stick with Applejack. Pinkie, move up to support them.”

Within a few minutes, indicators for the other two Illusions popped up on the Hover Cargo’s display. As Sunset Shimmer had theorized, Fuchsia Blush and Lavender Lace had remained in their starting area.

“Bingo!” Applejack said. “I love this Multisensor, it’s even figurin’ their weapon loadouts. No idea how they got them missile launchers onto Command Wolves, but it don’t matter as long as we beat ‘em.” As she said this, each Command Wolf jettisoned its vertically-oriented missile launcher and charged forward, continuing to pour smoke from their dischargers.

“Those launchers look like they came off of Iron Kongs,” Fluttershy said. “Command Wolves are very adaptable, but it must have taken some effort to convert their turret hardpoints to carry one."

“Looks like all they got left are their fangs n’ claws,” Applejack said, rounding a boulder and firing into the smoke with her beam Gatling. Rarity leapt atop the same massive stone and opened fire with her double-barreled beam cannon and small-bore laser. Under the hail of close-range laser fire, Lavender Lace’s Command Wolf collapsed. Fuchsia Blush, however, lunged from the black cloud, hitting Rarity’s Zaber Fang claws-first. Both Zoids went off the boulder and smashed into the ground on their sides. Applejack swung her turret around, but Rarity lashed out with her claws without bothering to stand, tearing into the prone Command Wolf’s lightly-armored throat and severing the cockpit’s connections to the rest of the machine.

“The battle is over! The battle is over!” The Judge announced. “The winner is... Empyrean Team!”

“Impossible!” Trixie moaned. “How could you possibly defeat the brilliant strategic mind of the Great and Powerful TRIXIE?!” Her Command Wolf’s legs twitched slightly. “Just you wait! You won’t be so lucky next time! No one defeats the Illusions more than once!”

“Uh, not to be a bad winner or nothin’,” Applejack said. “But that’s not really the kinda stuff folks normally say when their Zoids can’t even stand up.”

“Enjoy your victory while it lasts, Empyrean Team!”

“I’ve already planned the party!” Pinkie announced.

“I’m more surprised by that than I have any reason to be,” Sunset commented, crossing her arms and leaning back in her seat.

Sugarcoat stood alone in a small meeting room aboard the Zoid Battle Commission’s Northeast Administration Ultrasaurus, ignoring the table and chairs bolted to the floor. Through the large, reinforced-glass window, she could see the battery of Supercannons mounted on the Ultrasaurus’s left side. The room was directly behind the cannons, and was meant to be evacuated if the titanic Zoid entered combat. She couldn’t see much beyond the cannons except empty grasslands, but Canterlot Mountain was barely visible on the horizon, far to the south. Sugarcoat glanced at her watch as the door opened and Indigo Zap walked in.

“You’re four minutes late,” Sugarcoat said without preamble. “You should try to be more punctual.”

“Saying stuff like that is why I’m your only friend,” Indigo shot back.

“I’m fully aware of the effect my honesty has on my social life. It’s weird that you think of me as a friend.”

“Yes. Yes it is.” Zap grumbled, rolling her eyes. "Besides, the boss is always late, and no one else is even here yet."

“Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap,” Sour Sweet said, entering the room. “It’s so good to see you! I guess we’re stuck together for another mission.”

“I’ve never met anyone whose name fit quite like yours, dearie,” Sunny Flare said, guiding Lemon Zest by the shoulders through the still-open door. “But you could stand to ease up on the ‘sour’ half, frankly.” Lemon Zest, eyes closed and head bobbing, was apparently lost in the musical world inside her headphones. As a result, she did not contribute to the conversation.

“You need to stop leading her around like that,” Sugarcoat told Sunny Flare, nodding to Lemon Zest. “She’s just going to keep relying on you for everything.”

“A-ha, ha ha. Ha.” Sunny laughed falsely, crossing her arms. “You don’t get to tell me how to treat my closest childhood friend, sweetie.”

“Now now, there’s no need for fighting,” Sour Sweet said disarmingly. “If we all start bickering we’ll never get anything done.”

Sugarcoat shrugged and returned her attention to the window, which was as close as she was likely to get to admitting that Sour Sweet had a point. Sunny Flare, meanwhile, looked at the door, gently nudging Lemon Zest with her elbow as it opened. Lemon looked at Flare and slid her headphones onto her shoulders as Northeast Regional Administrator Abacus Cinch entered, followed by a man and woman that Flare didn’t recognize.

“Sit down, everyone,” Cinch said, taking a seat at the head of the table. As the others took seats, Cinch continued talking. “Girls, these two are Cadance and Shining Armor. Cadance, Shining Armor, these five are some of my top agents: Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest, and Sour Sweet.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Cadance said, smiling broadly.

“I hear you girls have been dealing with people trying to mess with Zoid battles,” Shining Armor added.

“We broke up a few gambling rings that were trying to sabotage teams,” Sugarcoat explained.

“Indeed,” Cinch said, steepling her fingers. “But this time I have something of a long-term mission for you. I assume that you’ve all read the reports on the Chaos Union?”

“We’re going after the big guys this time?” Indigo Zap asked.

“Quite right. It was one thing when they were just having their own little unsanctioned battles, but the Chaos Union has started harassing our teams and staging attacks on sanctioned battles. This cannot be allowed to continue.”

“So what are we supposed to do about it? Keep trying to intercept them like the other enforcers are doing?” Sugarcoat asked.

“No, I have a special mission for you. You’re going undercover as a Battle Commission team named the Shadowbolts. You will appear to quickly become dissatisfied with our rules, which will make you the Chaos Union’s preferred recruitment material.”

“I see, we join the bad guys and make them collapse from the inside!” Lemon Zest said.

“Precisely. Cadance will serve as your team’s leader. Shining Armor will be in charge of logistics. A Hover Cargo and a selection of Zoids matching your skill sets have already been allocated. Publicly, Cadance and Shining Armor will be representatives of a Zoid research company sponsoring your battles as testing for prototype Zoid parts. To maintain this illusion, your Zoids will be fitted with non-production parts and electronics.”

Cinch paused to adjust her glasses and continued, “to maintain secrecy, none of your Zoid battles will be interfered with in any way by the Commission. Remember that the Chaos Union recruits winners, so I expect you all to perform at the peak of your abilities. Any questions?” Cinch paused as the girls shook their heads. "Good. You leave tomorrow at noon, so I suggest you begin making preparations."

Author's Note

I asked myself, what if Abacus Cinch was one of the good guys? And what if Pinkie decided to give her Dibison a punny name? I think this chapter answers both questions.

Chapter Seven - Downtime, Uptime

Sunset Shimmer dragged herself out of bed. Someone was knocking on her door. She sleepily bumbled over to the door and opened it, finding Applejack on the other side.

“Whoa, you uh, you sure yer awake?” Applejack asked, taking in Sunset’s puffy, groggy eyes; mess of hair; and rumpled pajamas.

“Depends, is Rarity making us matching striped ghillie suits so we can infiltrate the headquarters of the Mime Consortium?”

“I… that… huh?” Applejack was utterly flabbergasted.

“I’m probably awake, then.”

“You have the weirdest dreams, Sugarcube.”

“In my defense, I dreamed that the rest of us thought it was a bad idea.” Sunset replied sleepily, rubbing an eye. “Anyway, what do you dream about?”

“Uh, never mind,” Applejack said, blushing slightly. “We’re goin’ to Baltimare tomorrow, remember? We’re all supposed to be packing today.”

“I packed yesterday,” Sunset said, glancing at the suitcase next to her bed. “I, uh, got kind of excited. I mean, we haven’t even been to Baltimare for a battle, much less a vacation.”

“Heh, I mighta figured. Rarity’s still tryin’ to decide which swimsuits to bring.”

“Wait, ‘swimsuits,’ plural?”

“Different one fer every day we’re there. At least, that’s her plan, but she’s got like, thirty.”

“That girl’s a walking stereotype.”

“Well, she did make most of ‘em herself.” Applejack shrugged. “Maybe alla 'em. Anyway, I’m gonna go make sure Pinkie packs somethin’ other'n confetti and streamers this time.”

“I’m going to ask Celestia to appoint you as the team’s official voice of reason.”

“I just know how to head off arguments before they start.”

“Exactly. I’ll leave Pinkie to you and see if I can help Rarity make up her mind.”

Twilight Sparkle walked down the Baltimare boardwalk, Spike’s leash in one hand and a small, purple flip phone in the other. A laptop case hung from her shoulder.

“Yes, I know,” Twilight said into her phone. “I’m afraid I’m a step ahead of you, though. I checked it out last month… No, nothing at all, it was a complete dead end… Well, not every rabbit hole has something interesting at the bottom, after all… Really? Sure, email them to me, I’ll take a look… Yes sir, I’ll report back as soon as I have something.” Twilight closed and pocketed the phone as she stopped at an outdoor ice cream shop. She wasn’t a fan of beaches, but Twilight knew good ice cream when she ate it, and Banana Fluff’s Frozen Delights served the best sundaes she’d ever tasted.

Twilight took a seat with an unnervingly large sundae featuring at least six different fruits, put her laptop on the table, and removed a pink flip phone from another pocket. Spike curled up at her feet, looking forward to spending the afternoon snoozing. Twilight booted up the laptop and dialed a phone number simultaneously.

“Hello, boss. It’s your deep thinker. I just got a call from our mutual friend… Yes, the one without the indoor voice. He knows about the ruins I was exploring last month.” Twilight began tapping keys as she talked. “He didn’t seem to know I knew about them, he was surprised when I told him I’d been there already… No, I didn’t tell him about my new toy, I said it was a dead end… Some of his people found something he thinks will help us with the elephant in the room -well, the elephant he brought into the room- but they need me for the details… Naturally, you’ll be the first to know.” Twilight glanced up as a group of girls in their late teens arrived at the shop, along with two women who appeared to be in their mid 30s, one of whom had the longest legs Twilight had ever seen. She quickly inferred from their conversation that these women were a Zoid team. Twilight adjusted her glasses before returning her attention to her own conversation.

“Yes, I know. I’m still trying to get it running, that’s my main priority right now… Don’t you worry, I’ll figure it out. This is exactly the kind of opportunity I was looking for when I took this job, I’m not going to drop the ball now… When? I’m not exactly sure. There’s a few issues I need to work out, but once I have those dealt with it’ll be ready to go… Goodness no, I have no intention of telling him about it. He doesn’t have the slightest idea. It's mine, and he of all people is not taking it from me… Yes. The usual place? See you there. Until then.” Twilight disconnected the call and returned the phone to her pocket. Within minutes, she had become entirely engrossed in the files on her laptop, pausing only to eat spoonfuls of ice cream and adjust her glasses.

Rarity, Pinkie, Sunset Shimmer, and Luna found themselves in a fascinating place, a large, dimly-lit pizza restaurant furnished with rough-cut wooden tables and benches. The entire building, in fact, seemed to have been hewn from wood by hand, giving it a rustic appearance. The rest of the team hadn’t been interested in pizza, much to Sunset’s confusion, and had gone in search of dinner at other establishments. While the Empyrean members present awaited their pizza in the crowded restaurant, they found themselves sharing a long table with, of all people, Vinyl Scratch and her logistics expert, Octavia Melody. Vinyl sat backwards on the bench, elbows on the table as she gazed into the crowd, bobbing her head to the music in her headphones. Sunset stared at the back of her head as if determined to learn her secrets by telepathy or sheer willpower. Octavia and Rarity, however, were in a more conversational mood.

“Octavia, dear, I’m not sure how to put this,” Rarity said cautiously. “But is everything… all right? On your team, I mean.”

“I suppose you’re referring to Roseluck’s recent decision to leave the Metal Thrashing Madwomen?” Octavia asked rhetorically. “Or Mystery Mint before her? The other members who have come and gone?”

Rarity gave a nervous laugh. “Well, ah, something like that…”

Octavia sighed through her nose. “Don’t pretend you don’t think I’ve heard the rumors.”

“I -I wasn’t trying to imply anything-” Rarity began, blushing deeply.
Octavia cut her off. “Everything is perfectly fine. It’s just that, well, as you may have guessed, Vinyl can be… eccentric. She will lead the team in her own… unique way, and that’s that. We attract an ever-rotating stable of pilots who drastically overestimate their ability to tolerate Vinyl’s peculiarities, and when she becomes too much for them, they leave. All the other rumors floating around are sensationalism and nonsense.”

“Oh, I see,” Rarity said, relieved. “Although you don’t find these peculiarities overwhelming, I take it?”

“Vinyl is my oldest and dearest friend,” Octavia said before pausing to sip at her glass of water. “If she began to act normally, I think I would be deeply confused. Quite probably even disappointed. On a more pragmatic level, it could be disastrous for our win-loss ratio, given how her behavior so often leads to victory. No, I will be normal enough for the both of us.”

“Spoken like a true enabler,” Sunset commented offhand, not taking her eyes off Vinyl’s head.

Octavia took another sip of water. “My personal life does not need commentary from you of all people. I was only one grade above you at Canterlot High School, as you may recall.”

Sunset finally tore her attention away from Vinyl, locking eyes with Octavia. The two of them stared each other down in silence for a long moment before Sunset looked away. “Okay, I had that coming,” she admitted.

"I'll have you know that Sunset-" Rarity started.

"Don't." Sunset interrupted. "Let's not even get into it."

“If you’re interested, Mystery Mint formed a new team called Thunderstruck. They’re in D-Rank, and doing well enough.” Octavia returned to the previous topic as if nothing had happened. “Thunderstruck also plan to start touring as a band on top of their Zoid combat. Roseluck is attempting a solo career while searching for teammates.”

“There’s a match starting,” Luna pointed out, directing the girls’ attention to the large TV screen on the wall in front of Sunset Shimmer. “Anyone know who the teams are?”

Vinyl slid her headphones off as Octavia turned in her seat to watch the Zoid battle.

“One is this new team called the Shadowbolts,” Sunset answered. “They're really good, I think they did Zoid combat in some offshoot group or something before registering with the Commission. We'd have a rough time of it if they come after us. I forget who their scheduled opponents are, some bunch with decent funding, but not much in the way of tactics. Not a threat unless they learn to dodge.”

"Very analytical of you," Octavia said, looking over her shoulder at Sunset.

"I like to think so," Sunset replied. "Of course, if I can't analyze the opponent..." She trailed off as Octavia smirked. Sunset returned the smirk as she sensed something vaguely resembling friendship forming. Rivalry, perhaps?

“Does it matter?” Rarity asked cynically. “Those Chaos Union ruffians will probably just barge in and ruin everything anyway.”

“Thanks for your contribution, Princess of Optimism,” Sunset said under her breath.

“I heard that!” Rarity hissed.

“None of that, you two!” Pinkie declared, wrapping an arm around each girl's shoulders. “We’ve got a Zoid fight to watch!”

The Ankylosaurus-type Gun Blaster was a brutal Zoid, with a vast collection of single- and multi-barreled cannons, lasers, and plasma guns comprising a total of 22 direct-fire weapon barrels, arranged in a forward-facing array bristling from above the Zoid’s low-slung head. This collection of ranged doom made the Gun Blaster nearly unstoppable if approached from the front. However, the Gun Blaster’s limited visibility meant that it was entirely radar-dependant for rearward awareness, and its weapons were most effective at mid-range, with no capacity for indirect fire. While its array of barrier spikes could create the only omni-directional force field on anything smaller than an Ultrasaurus, the Gun Blaster was totally immobile while the shield was up. Even without its shield, the Gun Blaster was too slow and ungainly to engage in close combat as anything but a desperate last stand, so it required agile and reliable close support.

Lemon Zest accepted the weaknesses of her Gun Blaster with nary a second thought. In part because she loved the devastating tempo of the Gun Blaster’s Rolling Cannons attack -a semi-rhythmic firing of every weapon on the Zoid- and in part because of her absolute trust in Sunny Flare’s ability to keep enemies away with her modified Shield Liger. Although Flare’s protection was hardly needed in the match at hand.

“Are those Spinosappers charging us head-on?” Sunny Flare asked.

“I am this close to feeling bad for them!” Lemon Zest replied. “They’re almost in range. Hey, Sugarcoat, how’re things on your end?”

Sugarcoat’s face popped up on Lemon’s right-side screen. “Their Iron Kong is heading my way. Deal with your chumps and get here.”

“Weak! Can’t you handle an Iron Kong?” Lemon complained jokingly. Ahead of her across the open field, the Spinosappers raised and activated their laser chainsaws.

“Lemon!” Sunny Flare warned.

“I know, Sunny! They’re almost in range! Three! Two! One!”

A thunderous peal echoed across the battlefield. The Iron Kong’s pilot swung the ape-like Zoid’s head to stare as the Spinosappers were ripped apart under the Gun Blaster’s withering hail of fire. Sugarcoat gnashed her teeth at her opponent’s utter disinterest in situational awareness. As a slug from her Elephander’s railgun tore through the Iron Kong’s right shoulder joint, Sugarcoat’s expression shifted to a cruel leer. A bolt from her pulse laser followed while the Kong’s pilot was just beginning to react, its blast ripping the arm clean off with an explosion that rattled the Kong’s armor. Sugarcoat then knocked the Iron Kong off-balance with her beam cannon, but the pilot managed to recover, positioning the Kong’s left arm to form a rough tripod with its legs and prevent its collapse. Sugarcoat hammered the remaining arm with the smaller cannons on her Zoid’s trunk, but the Iron Kong’s thick armor was only moderately dented by these shots. The Iron Kong’s shoulder-mounted missile launcher had been lost along with its arm, but the weapon pack on its back was fully functional. The two missiles rising behind the Kong’s head fired first, arcing through the air as the shield generators in the Elepander’s ears lit up. The shield formed just in time to stop the missiles, flickering as it almost overloaded. Sugarcoat was back to clenching her teeth as her Elephander shook under the explosions. The position of the Iron Kong’s left arm meant that she didn’t have a clear shot at the joint, so it could not be so easily removed. She angled her turret down as her railgun finished recharging, hoping to fire on the Kong’s armored wrist, but its pilot opened the back launchers and a flight of self-guided rocket bombs flew into the air.

Knowing the shield wouldn’t be able to stop more than one or two bombs in its weakened state, Sugarcoat dropped the barrier and began firing the linked machine guns under the Elephander’s cockpit at the approaching explosives. Six of the bombs exploded in midair, the other four crashing into the ground around the Elephander. Sugarcoat set her jaw as her Zoid rattled, knowing that only a direct hit would cause serious damage. She made a mental note to inspect her armor anyway - she liked her Zoid to be as hard to deal with as she was.

Sugarcoat switched her weapon controls back to her turret as three railgun slugs slammed into the Iron Kong’s side in rapid succession, nearly toppling it.

“Ha! Eat it, ya scrap-monkey!” Lemon Zest called out.

Sugarcoat rolled her eyes. “You don’t have anything to back that up with, do you?”

“Not yet! I’ll be close enough for the full package by the time my railgun recharges, though.”

“No time for that!” Sunny Flare cut in. Her Shield Liger had been customized with a Blade Liger AB’s ion boosters in place of its pop-out missile pods, which were currently rocketing her towards the Iron Kong. Flare wasn’t much for either the missile pods or the laser blades that gave the Blade Liger its name, but she’d never turn down extra speed. The modified Shield Liger rammed into the Iron Kong, its signature force field smashing the Kong to the ground as it overloaded. The shattering barrier knocked the Shield Liger backwards, but it landed nimbly on its paws as the Judge declared the Iron Kong disabled.

Discord and Twilight Sparkle were lounging in one of Baltimare’s Chargrill Sr. locations. The chain had started on Neo-Equestria’s west coast and spread throughout the continent on the back of their delicious, wondrous cheeseburgers. Twilight was more of a ham sandwich person, but Discord loved cheeseburgers with a child-like delight. When you got a phone call from Discord telling you to meet him at ‘the usual place,’ you needed only to check Smelp for the Chargrill Sr. with the highest customer rating in town, and go there. Twilight Sparkle was one of few people to figure this out, and was therefore one of the few Chaos Union members who was always on time. Tirek, for what it was worth, hadn’t gotten past realizing that Discord liked fast food places a bit. Tirek often spent hours wandering around while Discord ate cheeseburger after exquisite cheeseburger. The fries weren’t bad, either.

“So that’s them, are they?” Discord asked. He and Twilight had been watching the Zoid battle on Twilight’s laptop.

“Uh-huh. The big guy’s people actually got good data. Now that I’ve decrypted the files, I know all about the Shadowbolts.”

“Well then, we definitely need to get them into our little club, don’t we?”
Twilight adjusted her glasses. “If he gets ahold of them, it’ll be a disaster. Besides, I wouldn’t want my own brother getting the wrong idea about my job.”

“Thanks to that loud load, the wrong idea is exactly what the whole Commission has,” Discord grumbled. “But this is a good chance to get their minds right.” Discord paused to take a large bite from his cheeseburger. Twilight took the opportunity to take a spoonful of chocolate cake. The small cakes at Chargrill Sr. were reasonably tasty, and just sweet enough. Many who knew her would not believe it, but Twilight did believe that things could be too sweet.

“Sir, I’d like to be the one to recruit them,” Twilight said. She rarely made requests, other than for supplies or funds for her work, so she was nervous about this one.

“Oh no,” Discord replied with a slightly eerie grin. “I’ll do the recruiting, but you’ll be my representative once they’re in. The look on your brother’s face will be hilarious!”

Twilight was not phased by Discord’s eerie grin, which she knew he liked to use at random when a more normal smile would make more sense. Intensely observant, Twilight knew many things about many people. She sometimes wondered if any of those people knew that she knew these things, and whether they noticed similar things about her.

“I’ll do my best to appreciate the humor.”

“That’s my girl!” Discord said with a cackle. “Of course, I'll expect you to bring your little project with you so you can keep working on it.”

"I was planning on doing that anyway."

"Clever girl! Now, you had better start packing, I've got a phone call to make!"

Author's Note

Both eateries featured in this chapter are based on places I've actually eaten. One of them should be easy to recognize if you live in the western or mid-western regions of the United States, but the only you may only know about if you lived in Rexburg about ten years ago, and your remember the various establishments just downhill from the college as well as I do. Or we both misremember them in the same way. Either way, I've received conflicting reports that this particular pizza place either suffered a huge quality drop or closed down altogether. One day I'll make that road trip from here in Boise and see how the ol' town has changed.
The Gun Blaster is probably my favorite Zoid that never appeared in the TV series.
Discord is just having the time of his life. But then again, he usually is.

Chapter Eight - Disorderly Misconduct

“I don’t like it,” Sugarcoat said. Shining Armor had gathered the Shadowbolts into their Hover Cargo’s command room. “We haven’t even made it to C-Rank, and they’re already recruiting us?”

“You’re right, but what choice do we have?” Indigo Zap asked.

“I’ve got a bad feeling the Chaos Union has figured out what we’re up to.” Shining Armor said, frowning. “They’re definitely planning something.”

“It’s like they say,” Sour Sweet said, cracking her knuckles, “keep your friends close, and your enemies where you can stab them in the back!”

“Whoa, okay, let’s avoid stabbing any backs,” Cadance said disarmingly. “At least, literally. Figuratively speaking, I suppose that is what we’re planning to do.”

“Not much we can do about it now, Shining Armor did already agree,” Sunny Flare pointed out, arms crossed.

“I couldn’t pass this up,” Shining Armor said with a shrug. “It’s the first stage of our mission and we might not have gotten another chance.”

“Their representative should be here soon, although we weren’t told who she was.” Cadance added.

“Looks like we won’t have long to wait.” Shining pointed out the main window. “Light blue Gustav with a closed trailer, just like we were told.”

“Well, all right!” Indigo Zap said. “Let’s go meet the sucker!”

So massive was the Hover Cargo’s main loading bay that the Gustav was able to haul its oversized cargo trailer straight up the rear ramp and completely into the Hover Cargo, with room enough to deploy the Shadowbolts’ Gun Blaster and Shield Liger out the back if need be. The Shadowbolts lined up in front of the Gustav, Shining Armor in the middle and Cadance to his right, to greet their Chaos Union liaison.

Shining Armor tensed slightly as the Gustav’s canopy unlatched and began to rise, and he could sense that Cadance was on edge as well. If it was a trap, there might be a whole gang of Chaos Union thugs inside, or some kind of assassin, or -Shining’s train of thought suddenly went flying off the rails as the canopy rose high enough to reveal the pilot, who adjusted her glasses before primly hopping out of the Zoid, followed by a small dog.

“Twily?!” Shining and Cadance asked in flabbergasted unison. Spike ran to Shining and began pawing at his leg, eager to be picked up by his second-favorite human.

“The one and only,” Twilight confirmed. “As far as I know, anyway.”

“Not that we’re not glad to see you,” Shining began, obligingly cradling Spike in his arms.

“It’s just that we weren’t… expecting you,” Cadance finished gently.

“Well, actually, I really think you were,” Twilight replied.

“Twilight,” Shining Armor narrowed his eyes as realization dawned, “did you join the Chaos Union?”

“Straight out of Everton, yes.”

“Didn’t you say you’re doing Zoid salvage work?” Cadance asked.

“I did, because I am,” Twilight explained. “And not one person thought to ask where I was getting my funding from.” She added with a small huff.

“Twily, we-” Shining began.

“I already know,” Twilight interrupted. “The Zoid Battle Commission is tired of the Chaos Union messing with their battles, they want us to knock it off, and you’re here to make us collapse from the inside. Oh, and Abacus Cinch really needs to have your network security overhauled. She should probably get a new e-mail encryption system, too.”

“We haven’t even started yet and the whole plan’s ruined,” Sugarcoat complained, rolling her eyes.

Twilight blinked at Sugarcoat, as if just noticing her. “Do I know you? It feels like I’ve met -don’t answer that. Sugarcoat. We went to Crystal Prep before I transferred to Everton.”

“You do look familiar,” Sunny Flare said.

“Sunny Flare. We had Advanced Trigonometry together. I see you’re still looking out for Lemon Zest, that’s very sweet of you.”

“I, buh, thanks?” Flare wasn’t used to her relationship with Lemon Zest being described as ‘sweet.’

Lemon Zest, eyes closed and headphones firmly in place, did not contribute.

“Old acquaintances aside, I think you have the wrong idea about the Chaos Union.”

“You summed it up very well, actually,” Sugarcoat said. “The Chaos Union is interfering with the Zoid Battle Commission, and we’re here to make you stop.”

“Part of the Chaos Union is interfering with the Commission,” Twilight corrected. “And the rest of us would like to see them gone just as much as you would. Unfortunately, that splinter group has too much leverage within the Union for Discord -that’s my boss- to just throw them out. Besides, they’d just form their own gang and keep on going.”

“And you want us to break that faction apart while leaving the rest of the Chaos Union alone.” Shining added.

“Knock over their hangars and confiscate their Zoids, possibly in that order, yes,” Twilight said. “Of course we’ll be answering to Discord, and since he marches to the beat of his own drum it might be less than straightforward.”

“Not that we have any choice,” Sugarcoat interjected in her rapid-fire way. “You’ll just leave if we refuse.”

“That’s my plan of last resort. Really though, is there that much of a difference, from the Commission's point of view, between no Chaos Union and the Chaos Union leaving the Commission alone?”

Shining Armor sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I’m going to have to run this by Cinch, Twily.”

“I thought so. I’ll wait.”

“So, not to change the subject,” Sunny Flare said.

“That’s just exactly what you’re doing is all,” Sour Sweet interrupted, but was ignored.

“What do you have in that trailer?” Sunny Flare continued.

“My secret project. Although if we go ahead with this plan, you’ll all find out what it is soon enough. I mean, I’m going to be working on it every chance I get, so I won’t exactly be able to hide it.”

“Is it some kind of Zoid?!” Indigo Zap asked, intrigued.

“Oh-ho, just you wait and see!” Twilight replied gleefully.

“All right, this is our second try at getting into C-Rank!” Sunset Shimmer rubbed her hands together. “We’re going into a match with our old friends in Salem Team!”

“Ha! Seriously?” Rainbow asked rhetorically. “This’ll be a piece of cake!”

“Not necessarily,” Sunset warned, projecting an image onto the Hover Cargo’s windscreen. “These days they’re running around in customized Zaber Fangs with hundred-twenty-millimeter artillery cannons.”

“Yowzer! Wowzer! Howitzer… Bowser… Um, trouser…?” Pinkie trailed off as Sunset stared blankly at her.

“Anyway. These cannons can fire at high angles over a few miles, but without forward observation, that would be a waste of ammunition,” Sunset continued. “However, these cannons can also be used as direct-fire weapons over a pretty significant distance, and they’re brutally destructive however they hit you. They kept the laser machine guns in the shoulders and the chest-mounted shock cannons, but as you can see, they had to drop the rest of their ranged weapons to make room for the cannons, and their maximum speed is significantly reduced. They still have the sensors and the fangs, of course.”

“So how are we gonna waste these losers?!” Rainbow Dash demanded.

“Well, here’s the map of the battlefield. It’s-”

“That’s where we were supposed to fight Photo Finish’s team!” Rarity interrupted. “Those troublemakers from the Chaos Union ruined everything! We didn’t even get a chance to try your beautiful strategy, Sunset!”

“We know, Rarity,” Applejack interrupted. “We were there. I distinctly recall you havin’ problems with everyone’s accents ‘ceptin’ yer own, in fact.”

“Really? I don’t seem to remember… that… part…” Rarity trailed off as she and Applejack noticed Sunset now directing her blank stare at them.

Sunset put her hands on her hips. “Here’s the deal: The more I get interrupted with anything that isn’t a legitimate question, the more I stare creepily at people. Are we clear?”

“Yes’m. Sorry.” Applejack mumbled.

“Crystal, darling. Please continue,” Rarity said, blushing.

“Good. Now. Zaber Fangs can’t climb buildings,” Sunset said as each team’s starting area appeared. “But they’re sure to use a strategy similar to Eidechsekanone’s: Turn the main streets into kill zones. We can’t use indirect bombardment either, since they’ll be able to retaliate in kind. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie will go in. This is a basic divide-and-conquer. You’ll move up these side streets here, with Applejack as the vanguard. Your new shield will be able to absorb two hits from those cannons, but the second one will overload it. We’re also relying on your multisensor to find your targets. The others will follow AJ. Once you three find a Salem member, light him up. Move on as soon as he’s down in case the others guess your position and try suppression fire. Rinse, repeat, you’ll have it in the bag. Now, Fluttershy’s got your Zoids ready to go, so get out there and win this!”

“Sunset, they’re on the move!” Applejack said, eyeing her sensor display. “They musta realized we ain’t goin’ up the main streets.”

“Yeah, and they’re sticking together, too,” Sunset pointed out. “This might turn into a hit-and-run operation, and none of your Zoids are really built for that.” Sunset leaned back in her chair. “Wait, I have an idea. Is your ECM running?”

“You know it!”

“Good. See if you can get behind them. They’ve got you and Pinkie beat on handling, but you’ve got the information adva -oh no!”

The source of Sunset’s consternation became clear as an unpleasantly familiar black pod slammed into the Judge’s platform.

“Did you miss me, Phlegmpyrean Team?! It’s your old friend the Anarchy Judge! I’m so glad you accepted our invitation for a rematch!”

Sunset slammed both fists onto her console. “Why the fruit does all this funny stuff happen to us?!” She demanded rhetorically. Celestia briefly considered questioning her choice of words, but decided against it.

Celestia chose to question the Anarchy Judge’s choice of words instead. “What do you mean, ‘invitation?’ We accepted a challenge from Salem Team-”

“Exactly!” The Anarchy Judge interrupted. “You didn’t think these chumps managed to scrounge up the cash for these beautiful toys on their own, did you?! It’s a classic story: Give the underdogs a taste of power and see what happens! It’s always a thrill! Speaking of thrills, we’re now playing under Battle Mode Zero-Nine-Nine-Nine! Rules are boring and honor’s for chumps! May the best team win!”

“Dash, get out there!” Sunset ordered. “If that Whale King shows up again I want you to give it a really bad time!”

“On it!” Rainbow Dash bolted for the door.

“The rest of you, fall back! If the Whale King doesn’t show we can blow this popsicle stand and be done with it!”

As Rainbow Dash rocketed out of the Hover Cargo’s catapult, Sunset noticed something worrying.

“Salem Team just stopped moving. Girls, what-” Sunset’s question was both interrupted and answered by the sound of three artillery cannons firing in quick succession. All three shells slammed into the ground around the Hover Cargo, their explosions causing the huge Zoid to shudder badly.

“That’s it, we’re done here!” Celestia announced. She threw the Hover Cargo into full reverse, bringing up a holographic display from the machine’s rear cameras.

“You heard the boss, ladies!” Sunset added. “Full retreat!”

“Aw, this is just like my last date!” The Anarchy Judge lamented. “The flight of Pteras Bombers coming your way might just change your minds, girls!”

“He’s joking, right?” Dash asked as the Bombers popped up on the Hover Cargo’s sensor readouts.

“They’re coming in from the west. Dash, deal with them!” Sunset ordered.

“Don’t need to tell me twice!” Dash peeled away to intercept the enemy fliers.

“This is ridiculous,” Sunset grumbled.

“So, the Chaos Union is basically terrible,” Rainbow Dash complained.

“I don’t get it,” Sunset said. “Did they expect us to stay and fight? Why?”

“With the match no longer being official, there was no prize money on the line,” Luna pointed out. “And Rainbow was obviously going to defeat those Pteras Bombers, the Chaos Union can’t have honestly thought they would be a factor.”

“Doesn’t the Chaos Union have a lot of gambling going on?” Pinkie asked. “Maybe they were betting on whether we’d retreat or fight it out?”

“You might be right at that, darling,” Rarity said, inspecting her fingernails. “Hopefully in our third try for C-Rank we’ll actually have an honest battle. Such a bother.”

“About that,” Celestia said, adjusting the Hover Cargo’s course slightly. “I have already received challenges from three different teams. We’ll have to discuss which one to accept tomorrow. For the time being, let’s all try to get a good night’s sleep.”

Author's Note

I tried to not have any references in this chapter. But not very hard.

Chapter Nine - Progression

“Two Dibisons and a Helcat,” Sunset Shimmer stated matter-of-factly, the Zoids in question on the Hover Cargo’s screen. “That’s what the Dazzlings are piloting now.”

“Oh yeah, they started using those like a week ago, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Nine days, if we’re being pedantic,” Sunset corrected with clear self-awareness. “And exactly one match, which could be good for us. They haven’t had much battlefield experience with these Zoids. The downside is, I didn’t have much to go on when I was working on this strategy.”

“Are we to understand that Adagio Dazzle is using her Helcat to forward observe for the other two while remaining invisible?” Rarity asked.

“That is what they did in their last match, and probably what they’ll try today,” Sunset confirmed. “But guess what?” Sunset directed extremely smug finger-guns at Applejack. “Multisensor.”

“Darn tootin’!” Applejack adjusted her hat. “Dazzle cain’t hide from me!”

“That she can not,” Sunset agreed. “Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, you’ll cross the battlefield in a triangle formation with AJ in the lead, ECM running. Keep the formation loose, but stay within AJ’s ECM shroud. As soon as you spot Adagio, mow her down. Now, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk kept far apart from each other in their last match, probably so they could attack from two directions. I don’t know how they’ll react to losing Adagio, but my guess is they’ll try to close ranks. Sweep the battlefield, try to catch one before they get close together. They’ll probably be lurking in the rocky outcroppings to avoid direct fire. When you spot one of them, hit her from the side or back. You’ll probably need to break formation and approach from multiple vectors.” Sunset nodded at Pinkie. “We all know the kind of damage one Dibison can cause, and the Dazzlings have two. Be careful out there.”

Sunset Shimmer rubbed her hands together as her teammates moved to their initial positions in the battlefield’s eastern starting area. The battlefield, clusters of granite outcroppings separated by large zones of open prairie, was beautiful. Its grassy plains were pockmarked with just the right number of blast craters and fragments of scrap chassis, and the scorch marks on the granite were positively artistic.

“We should have convinced Luna to stick around, this looks like a great place for a picnic,” Sunset commented.

“We got close to an old ruin she’s been hoping to explore and, well, you know how she gets,” Celestia said evenly.

“I just hope all our Zoids are in fighting shape,” Fluttershy said. “The Dibison’s neck is stiff and the Dark Horn is due for a lubricant flush. The Storm Sworder needs its paint retouched, too.”

“This is only our second match since we left home,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “I think we’ll manage.”

“Here comes the Judge!” Pinkie called out as her Dibison roared its greeting at the falling capsule.

“Area scanned! Battlefield set up!” The Judge announced as its capsule opened. “Battle Mode Zero-Nine-Eight-Three! The Dazzlings versus Empyrean Team! Ready… Fight!”

The Dark Horn didn’t so much charge forward as lumber, Applejack keeping a wary eye on her sensors. The Pinkamena D. Bison maintained a similar pace, while Rarity’s Zaber Fang was reduced to what could only be called meandering in order to maintain formation. Moving slowly and staying among the outcroppings as much as possible would make them more difficult to see, and Adagio Dazzle would need a clear visual to call shots, due to the ECM.

“I see Dazzle!” Applejack said suddenly. “She’s on top o’ a big ol’ rock. That’s kinda weird.”

“She stands a better chance of seeing you from up there, she must know about your ECM,” Sunset said. “Then again, she should also know that your Multisensor can see through her optic camouflage. She’s taking a pretty big risk.”

“I ain’t sure I can git into shootin’ range without her seein’ me,” Applejack pointed out. “She picked herself a good spot.”

“Well, it would be a good spot if we didn’t have Pinkie Pie.” Sunset fiddled with her console. “Stay in formation, move towards her until the Dibison’s guns can reach her, and forward observe for Pinkie.”

“Is this going where I think it’s going?” Pinkie asked gleefully as the Zoids changed course.

“Don’t unload everything at once,” Sunset cautioned. “Adagio’s likely to take evasive action. Fire a few shots and adjust as needed.”

“Roger-dodger!” Pinkie confirmed.

Sunset leaned back in her chair. “It’s only a matter of time now,” she said.

“Okie dokie Sunset, I’ve got one shot lined up on Adagio and four more where you think she’s gonna jump to,” Pinkie said. “Applejack, you do know that Multisensor’s amazing, right?”

“Don’t thank me, thank Fluttershy,” Applejack said.

“Oh, um, it was no big deal,” Fluttershy said quietly, shifting her hair to partially hide her face.

“Girls, we all know Fluttershy’s wonderful, but please deal with Dazzle before she sees you,” Sunset admonished, watching Fluttershy’s face turn red.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie replied. “Fire~ing!” The Pinkamena D. Bison loosed its volley, and Sunset grinned as Adagio Dazzle, apparently panicking, vaulted from her perch -directly into the second shell’s blast area. The Helcat yowled as it flipped over in the air, its optic camouflage failing as it hit the ground turret-first. The remaining shots didn’t really accomplish anything, nor did they need to, but they exploded anyway for good measure.

“Perfect!” Sunset clapped her hands together, her smile widening. “All right girls, keep this up!”

“You heard the lady, let’s git ‘em good!” Applejack said, steering her Dark Horn northwest, towards the closest area where Sunset thought the other Dazzlings might hide. With no more fear of being spotted by an invisible enemy, Applejack was able to push her Zoid to full throttle, so the Dark Horn lumbered with noticeably increased haste. It wasn’t long before the Multisensor pinged another target.

“Dibison on the move!” Applejack announced. “What d’ya reckon, Sunset?”

“Feed Pinkie her projected course. Pinkie, fire for effect, we need her pinned down.”

“Sure thing, Sugarcube.”

“I love firing for effect!” Pinkie declared gleefully.

Within moments, the Dazzling Dibison was stationary, shuddering from Pinkie’s shells but suffering little actual damage. Rarity ranged ahead of the team, approaching from the Dazzling’s left to get a clear line of sight.

“That emblem on the shoulder is Sonata Dusk’s.” Sunset pointed out. “Good, of the three of them she’s the best shooter. Rarity, can you finish her off?”

“Of course, darling. My missiles are locked on… And away they go!” All three of the Zaber Fang’s missiles sailed out of its turret launcher, shattering the beleaguered Dibison’s armor.

Sonata’s Zoid bellowed as it collapsed, leaving Aria Blaze to fend for herself.

“I may have made a slight miscalculation,” Rarity admitted, “in that those missiles were the only weapons I had that could pierce a Dibison’s armor.”

“Don’t worry about it, Pinkie’s got plenty of ammo and AJ hasn’t even fired her railgun yet,” Sunset assured her.

“You’ve got this in the bag!” Rainbow added. “Just take Aria down and we’re in C-Rank!”

“We’re so close I can smell it! Like brownies! Wait, that’s my air freshener, never mind!” Pinkie contributed. Sunset almost asked where she’d found a brownie-scented air freshener, but caught herself. Questioning Pinkie could only lead to madness.

The Empyrean pilots swung east, Rarity moving ahead of her teammates.

“Careful, Rarity, stay-” Sunset began.

“-In Applejack’s ECM shroud, I know, darling,” Rarity interrupted. “Aria must know we’re coming from this direction. I can get her attention even if I can’t damage her Zoid.”

“Don’t do anything stupid, okay?” Sunset admonished.

“Darling, when have I ever?” Rarity asked with a dismissive laugh.

“Don't need the Multisensor this time,” Applejack said. “Tomfool idiot’s just standin’ out in the open. Same plan, Sunset?”

“I don’t like this. Spread out. You’re almost in her firing range and -Rarity! MOVE!” Sunset interrupted herself as Aria’s Dibison angled its front slightly downward to aim at the Zaber Fang. Rarity swung her Zoid to the right, but Aria shifted her Dibison’s shoulders to lead the shot.

A massive golden beam seemed to blast from Aria’s Dibison as tracer rounds fired from all seventeen cannons at once. The Judge’s horn blared even as the shot was fired, but his announcement was drowned out by the earth-shaking explosion as the attack hit the Zaber Fang’s left side, slamming it away from Aria’s Dibison as Rarity shrieked in shock and terror.

“RARITY!” Everyone on Empyrean Team cried out at once.

The whiplash snapped the Zaber Fang’s neck hydraulics as it rolled along the ground, losing both its front legs, its left rear leg, and its turret. The Zaber finally slid to a stop, its chin on the ground, but its torso left-side-up. The main power cable was the only thing connecting the Zoid’s head to the rest of it.

“I’m. All. Right.” Rarity said, gasping for air between words. “I do believe I shall have to lie down for a while though, and Fluttershy, sweetness, I’m sorry to say you have your work cut out for you.”

The Judge’s horn sounded again. “The battle is over! The battle is over! Use of the Megalo Max Barrage against a Zoid weighing less than two hundred tons is forbidden! Pilot Aria Blaze is disqualified for excessive force!”

“What?!” Aria shrieked. All communication with the Judge robots was over open comms. “You can’t do that!”

“I certainly can! My function is to enforce Zoid Battle Commission rules and subject violators to appropriate penalties!” The Judge retorted. “The Dazzlings are hereby suspended from all Commission battles pending a full review of this violation. The results of this review will be announced within seventy-two hours. Now get off my battlefield!” With that, the Judge turned his pod to face Empyrean Team’s Hover Cargo. “Empyrean Team! Congratulations on your win, and welcome to C-Rank!”

There was a brief pause, as Empyrean’s members struggled to decide how to react to the situation.

“I’m going to need someone to tell me what he said once my ears stop ringing,” Rarity complained.

The mood aboard the Hover Cargo was, at best, subdued. Someone in the repair bay, where the Zaber Fang lay, might lean towards ‘mournful.’

Fluttershy and Sunset Shimmer were both feeling quite mournful. One might wonder where Rarity was, but she had already had all the mournfulness she could handle for the time being.

Sunset took a breath, prepared to speak, then didn’t. After reconsidering just how to phrase the obvious but requisite question, she returned to her original plan.

“Well Fluttershy, what’s our prognosis?” Sunset asked.

Fluttershy sighed. “Sunset, I can see its Zoid Core. The whole thing. It’s right there.” She motioned towards the gaping hole that most of the Zaber Fang’s side had become. Indeed, an off-white sphere, roughly six feet in diameter, was clearly visible deep in the machine’s center.

“I mean, I don’t expect you to have it doing backflips tomorrow, but-”

“Sunset, I don’t think you understand,” Fluttershy interrupted. This caught Sunset off guard: She occasionally forgot that Fluttershy knew how to be impolite.

“Okay. What am I missing?” Sunset asked, still taken aback.

“Nearly all of the left side is gone, the head is almost fully detached, three legs have been torn off and the remaining leg’s hip is so badly damaged it would actually be better if it had come off, and every single weapon has been both ripped off and destroyed. The force of the impact actually traveled through the Zaber Fang’s interior and rattled several of its teeth loose before the neck broke. And that’s just what I can tell without getting my tools out.”

“You can tell when the teeth broke?”

“Rattled loose. It’s a talent.”

“So, what’s the bottom line, Fluttershy?”

“It would be faster and less expensive to pull the Zoid Core out and use it to grow a new Zaber Fang. We might be able to convince a scrap dealer to buy the rest, but given the state of it I wouldn’t even take that for granted.”

“I… wow. I need to check if we even have the money to grow a new Zoid.”

“We don’t,” Fluttershy said forlornly. “I already asked Celestia.”

“Oh.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Dare I ask how Rarity’s taking it?”

Fluttershy sighed through her nose. “She’s… being herself.”

“Alone in her room crying all her makeup off?”

“She needs to get it out of her system. It’s probably going to take a while.”

“I can understand that.” Sunset said, running a hand through her hair. “I need to call Luna, get her opinion on that ruin she’s exploring. She might pick up some good stuff to sell. Other than the Zoid Core, do you think you can recover anything else?”

“The cockpit might be salvageable.”

“... Wonderful.”

“Emphasis on ‘might.’”

“Is… is it even worth the effort?”

“I doubt it, but I’m kind of a pessimist.”

“You’re also the one of us who knows what she’s talking about. See what you can do, but don’t go to too much trouble. I guess the big question is, how are you taking it? I know you really love all our Zoids.”

“I… not as bad as Rarity. I think” Fluttershy wiped away a tear. “But… it’s not easy, you know? I always feel so bad for our Zoids when they come back damaged, and this…” Fluttershy turned away from Sunset. “I’m sorry, I need some time with the Zoids. You’d… you’d better make that phone call.”

Sunset squeezed Fluttershy’s shoulder. “If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”

“Thank you, Sunset.”

“Talk about a pyrrhic victory,” Luna commented into her phone, leaning back in the Gustav’s pilot seat.

“We’ve lost matches and had our Zoids come back in better shape,” Sunset agreed. “I mean, that time Vinyl Scratch dropped a Pteras on Applejack? Better than this. Which reminds me, why wasn’t Vinyl busted for excessive force for that stunt?”

“We’d have to go digging through the rulebook to find that out, but I’m sure there’s a reason. Anyway, I’m going to camp outside this ruin tonight and go in bright and early tomorrow. The place looks pristine, in a manner of speaking. I don’t think anyone’s been here before, so there’s a good chance I can find Rarity a new Zoid. Or at least some sweet loot I can trade for one.”

“Is a new Zoid what she needs? Instead of, like, regrowing the Zaber Fang?”

“Regrowing the Zaber Fang makes it a new Zoid. And frankly, we had the Zaber Fang because it was what I could get. They’re okay if you’re on a budget, but it would be better for the whole team if we could convince Rarity to upgrade.”

“Geez, Luna, I didn’t realize you could be such a stone cold opportunist.”

“I consider myself a realist. I balance out my sister’s starry-eyed idealism and we end up making a good team.”

“Yeah, but it makes you two real scary when you argue,” Sunset complained. “Like when my parents were sober. Oh Tartarus, I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

“You did. Sunset, you only ever talk about your parents on accident. If there’s something you need to-”

“Don’t. Don’t even. Just, not now, all right?”

“All right, if you insist. Just know that I’m here for you, even if it's just over the phone. We all are.”

“... Thanks, Luna. I think Rarity’s problem is a little more immediate, though. I should go see if she’s pulled herself together enough to talk about it.”

“You do that. Good night, Sunset.”

Chapter Ten - Volume Modulation

The pilots’ lounges in all of the Zoid Battle Commission’s offices were universally well-appointed, with a multitude of tables, large televisions displaying the Commission’s television network at all times, and food counters operated by any number of restaurant chains. They were, by design, a place for Commission pilots to congregate. New pilots typically came to these lounges immediately after registration, making them fertile ground for teams on the lookout for new members.

In the Manehatten lounge, Octavia Melody paused to idly watch a screen as a pair of A-rank pilots in Command Wolves dueled in a ruined city. One was a common and well-respected AC variant, while the other was a custom job sporting a rotary cannon. She had already lined up a new pilot for the Metal Thrashing Madwomen -one Amethyst Star, a rookie who would no doubt make good use of the team’s remaining Pteras Bomber- and now stood alone, looking for another recruit.

Suddenly, Octavia felt a hand on her left shoulder. Most people would have been startled to have someone come so close unnoticed, but Octavia calmly turned her head to see Vinyl Scratch looking at one of the tables. Octavia followed her leader’s gaze -despite the ever-present shades- and laid eyes on a pilot sitting by herself, staring at a soda and occasionally sniffling. She looked familiar, but Octavia couldn’t place her. She tilted her head slightly towards Vinyl, who leaned in to whisper near-silently in her ear.

“Are you sure? Her?” Octavia asked, looking at her friend.

Vinyl slid her glasses down her nose, her magenta eyes staring into Octavia’s blue. Anyone else would have been baffled, but Octavia understood her meaning perfectly.

“All right, I’ll try,” Octavia replied. Vinyl smiled, pushed her shades back into place, and walked away. Octavia looked back at the unhappy pilot, wondering if Vinyl remembered her better. Whatever the case, Octavia had learned to trust her friend’s often-inscrutable thought processes. She made her way to the chosen recruit and sat opposite her.

“I don’t mean to intrude, but it looks like you’re having a bad day,” Octavia began. This wasn’t the first time she’d picked up a sensitive new registrant who’d spent hours fruitlessly looking for a team.

“It’s my dumb teammates!” The pilot whined, and Octavia immediately recognized her -she’d always been better at voices than faces.

“Sonata Dusk, of the Dazzlings, yes?”

“Who even knows?” Sonata moaned piteously. “They’re still mad at me for losing to Emp… Empy… That one team!”

“Why are they mad at you?” Octavia asked, confused. “I saw that match, it was-”

“Because they blame me for everything! Adagio yells and Aria calls me names and they both act like I’m dumb enough to think we’re all such good friends!”

Octavia was genuinely taken aback. She hadn’t expected Sonata to be so forthcoming.

“Like it’s my fault Aria got stupid mad and used her Megalo Max!” Sonata veered from misery to fury as she apparently started talking to herself, staring intently at her drink. “Adagio never should’ve sold the Redlers, at least with those Aria couldn’t get us in trouble.”

“This may be an… indelicate question,” Octavia said. “But why don’t you leave?”

“Because I don’t have anywhere to go!” Sonata was back to misery. "My stupid, terrible friends are the only friends I have!" Octavia raised an eyebrow.

“Would you like to join my team?” Octavia briefly pondered whether she was recruiting a new pilot or helping someone out of a horrible job. Both, she concluded.

Sonata stared at her, open-mouthed. “But… They’ll be really, really mad…”

“But you won’t have to deal with them any more.”

“… You’ve got a point…”

“We also have quite a large Zoid stable, including a number of fire support Zoids.”

“You know what? I’m in. I’ve had enough of, well, everything, so what do I have to lose?”

“Excellent! Well then, allow me to welcome you to the Metal Thrashing Madwomen.”

“Okay, that name’s awesome.”

“It was our leader’s idea. Oh, I never properly introduced myself, did I? I am Octavia Melody, logistics expert.”

“Glad to meet you!” Sonata, now gleeful, shook Octavia’s hand.

“Let's file the paperwork to make your transfer official, then I’ll introduce you to the rest of the team.”

"Aw yeah! Oh hey, another match just started! Thunderstruck versus The Illusions?! Six Command Wolves, Octavia! Six of them!"

"Ah, yes, quite right."

"Six Command Wolves, Sunset!" Pinkie exclaimed from her seat in Empyrean Team's lounge. "Six of them!"

Sunset, sitting nearby, tried not to roll her eyes. "I noticed, Pinkie."

"And they're all customized, too!"

"They sure are."

"Aw, you gotta lighten up a little, Sunny-Shimmy!"

"I told you never to call me that!" Sunset hissed, the look on her face offering distressing implications regarding Pinkie's Secret Candy Stash.

"Oh yeah! Sorry!" Pinkie apologized hastily, making a mental note to verify the security of her Double Secret Candy Stash. The Secret Candy Stash was for Rainbow Dash to sneak candy from and think Pinkie didn't notice, so it was expendable, but the Double Secret Candy Stash was for Pinkie to dip into when Rarity or Fluttershy (or anyone else on the team, but most frequently them) needed cheering up. It had the good imported stuff, and its integrity was paramount.

"So, uh, super serious sad stuff for a minute, how's Luna doing finding a new Zoid for Rarity?" Pinkie asked.

"Apparently she's going to spend a third day going through that ruin, the place is packed with loot. Hopefully she can get something good."

"Sweet!"

"Wait, is Mystery Mint using flak ammo to saturate the Illusions' smoke clouds?"

"That's either super rad or kinda bonkers."

"Don't let me forget that she did that, if Luna comes back with a smoke-emitting Zoid I'm gonna need to figure out a response to shenanigans like that."

"It's totally awesome that you just said 'shenanigans,' but I'm jealous because she seems to be able to score flak ammo. Straight talk: Not once have we had flak shells for the Pinkamena D. Bison."

"Sweet burning Tartarus, you're right! We've got to get Luna on that. Once she comes back, that is."

Fluttershy, oblivious to the battle, and for that matter the time of day, had once again worn herself out in the hangar, maintaining and generally fiddling with the team's Zoids. As was her wont, Fluttershy had curled up in the, for lack of a better word, nest she'd made for herself by piling mats and blankets on a square of four shipping pallets. She slept here at least as often as in her bedroom, and resisted all efforts by her teammates to replace it with a proper bed.

A quiet beeping sound woke Fluttershy from her slumber. Unable to remember which jumpsuit pocket she'd put her phone in -though Rarity would be relieved she'd remembered to change into her jumpsuit before starting on the Zoids this time- it took Fluttershy a minute to find her cell. She glanced at the caller ID before gently opening the phone.

"Um, hello Luna," Fluttershy greeted sleepily.

"Fluttershy, were you asleep? In the middle of the day? Nice!" Luna said. "I knew you had a rebellious side to you!"

"Oh, no. Um, I mean, I was up late last night. Working"

"Close enough. How up are you on fox-type Zoids?"

"Like Shadow Foxes?"

"And variants thereof, yes."

"Well, I never worked on one before, but when I was interning in my senior year I spent a lot of time working on Command Wolves. Most of the canid Zoids have a similar design base, I should be able to figure out the details. Why do you ask?"

"I think I found Rarity's new Zoid, but, well, it's a bit of a fixer-upper."

"You found a Shadow Fox?"

"A variant thereof. Look, don't tell Rarity yet, I want you to look at it before we make any promises, okay?"

"Um, well, I'll do my best."

"Please do. Well, I should get back to it. Talk to you later,"

"Uh-huh." Fluttershy closed and pocketed her phone, then gazed up at the inert Zoids around her. "'Nother hour or so," she said with a yawn. Fluttershy curled back up in her nest and drifted back to sleep.

Author's Note

I have always wondered: Is Sonata Dusk really evil, or is she just kind of a goof and really bad at choosing friends?

Chapter Eleven - Vinyl Scratch: Forgive an Angel

Knowing that Rarity slept like a sedated log the moment her head and pillow met made it easy to transfer Luna's find from the Gustav's trailers to a secondary hangar by night, despite the loud equipment and multiple spotlights required to lug dysfunctional Zoids around after sundown.

The Zoid was ancient, having moldered in its base for centuries. Its rotary laser and electromagnetic net launcher had been removed, likely cannibalized by Helic Republic engineers desperate to get higher-priority machines fighting fit. Its Multisensor array, electron fangs, and strike laser claws had all been burned out, critically overheated in some brutal combat engagement. Its seat needed replacing and everything else required, at the very least, a thorough scrub, probably sterilization just to be sure, and definitely stripping down to the metal and a new paint job. And that was just Sunset Shimmer's admittedly-inexpert evaluation.

Sunset and Luna, having watched Fluttershy appraise the timeworn and battle-scarred machine, eagerly awaited her professional diagnosis. Fluttershy pulled her respirator off and took a deep breath. "I can fix it," she pronounced.

"Excellent!" Luna said, clapping her hands together. "Let me know if there's anything you need."

"We have a lot of compatible internals, but several armor plates will need to be replaced. Sunset, do you have a weapon loadout in mind?"

"I have a few ideas. What about sticking a couple small-caliber lasers onto the sides of the main weapon for close combat, and missile pods on the shoulders?"

"The lasers might need some work, depending on the main gun, but nothing I can't do. The missile racks won't be a problem. I can attach five-missile pods to the sides of the front shoulders with minimal aerodynamic alteration. It's got hardpoints for that, they'll be plug-and-shoot. Or, their replacements will be, the hardpoints on there now might as well be made of rust."

"Perfect!" Sunset turned her attention to the Zoid's turret mount. "That leads us to the main weapon."

"That turret is supposed to be pretty versatile," Luna said. "What kind of gun can you mount on that hardpoint?"

"Pretty much anything," Fluttershy said with a shrug. "You recovered all the modules, and they're fixable, so our options are wide open. Of course, if we put too much weight on it we'll slow the Zoid down. Electrical requirements are also an issue, but if you're willing to cut power to a few things I can load it with any weapon we have."

"Geez, I should've given this more thought." Sunset tapped her chin as she stared at the turret hardpoint. "Applejack has mid-range rapid fire and heavy punch, Pinkie can do indirect and saturation fire over long distances. Rarity should go for close-to-mid range shock assault. Do we still have that hundred-fifteen millimeter pulse laser?"

"I haven't sold it," Luna said. "It's with the other heavy weapons."

"I can load it on there, no problem." Fluttershy said. "Powering it will be an issue, though, at least at its standard fire rate."

"Pulse lasers do tend to eat electricity once they get big," Sunset agreed. "Since we don't have a Multisensor handy, can you rig a less demanding sensor suite? That'll eat a little less power."

"The Multisensor incorporates a radome, installing one without the rest of the set should be easy. That won't save us enough power though."

"What if we dropped the strike laser claws?" Sunset asked. "Rarity's no fan of melee combat anyway. Keep the electron fangs just in case she has to bite something, but no power to the claws."

Fluttershy tilted her head slightly, mathing out electrical requirements. "I thinkthat will work, and give it power to spare, in fact, giving me room to tweak its performance. I can machine solid claws that don't have the electronics and other internal parts so she's not running on hollow claws for no reason."

"Fluttershy, you're amazing! Won't this take a while, though?"

Fluttershy performed more mental calculations. "A week, give or take, for the cleaning and repairs. The claws and weapons maybe longer. Do we need to keep it a secret from Rarity the whole time?"

"That won't be a problem, we just got another challenge from Vinyl Scratch," Sunset replied. "The battlefield's pretty far away, we'll be gone at least a week. Save the claws for last, it can do without them for a while if it has to."

"Oh dear. I'm not sure I should stay here while the Zoids are out fighting. What if they need me?"

"We can handle armor replacements, stocking ammo, and basic maintenance," Sunset assured. "And it's just one match."

Luna squeezed Fluttershy's shoulder. "Don't worry about a thing, kid. Let's get this fox up and running."

Fluttershy gave Luna a determined look and nodded.

"So, uh, Vinyl Scratch has a Shield Liger now. That's, y'know. It's a thing." Sunset hadn't been sure how to launch into her briefing, so she decided to start with the bad news. "She's tuned up its shield generator, too. Other than that it's stock, weirdly for a Scratched variant, but… It's a Shield Liger."

"Got'cha nervous, don't it?" Applejack asked.

"A little, yes. She's got pop-out missile turrets on armatures built into the sides of the Shield Liger. Four tubes, one missile each. Standard shock cannon on the chest as a last resort, and a double-barreled thirty-mil laser turret up top. Not much firepower for a Zoid that big, but it's brutal in melee. Cats like this were the close-quarters counterpart to the Command Wolf AC, the Helic Republic used them as heavy line and shock assault machines for generations."

"So, we're gonna have to gun her down before she gets close, huh?" Pinkie asked.

"It'll be tough, because of the shield, but it's our only option. As soon as she's in your sights, open fire. Don't stop until the Shield Liger collapses. She's going to be able to rush through the Dibison's bombardment, but if you can put her on the defensive AJ should be able to chew through her shield. In my dreams, Vinyl holds still long enough for Applejack to line up a railgun shot, but don't count on it. The other problem is her teammates. Both of them are in airborne Zoids."

"Aw yeah! Time for Rainbow Dash to fly!" Rainbow said gleefully.

"Here's a twist for the gossip writers," Sunset said. "Sonata Dusk ditched her team to join the Metal Thrashing Madwomen, they have her in a Redler Interceptor."

"I have read something about that, now that you mention it," Rarity said. Rarity, of course, chewed through gossip columns at a terrifying pace, though she rarely admitted it.

"It was a major blow for the Dazzlings. Blaze and Dazzle might never admit it, but Sonata Dusk was probably their top pilot. Anyway, she can hassle our Zoids if we let her, but mostly she'll be trying to protect Vinyl's other new teammate: Amethyst Star, who's flying a Pteras Bomber."

"Ooh, yeah, that could be a problem," Applejack said, remembering the last time she'd been up against a Madwoman with a Pteras Bomber.

"And that's where Rainbow Dash comes in." Sunset nodded to Rainbow. "You can easily deal with both Zoids. Take a chunk out of the Pteras Bomber's wing and Amethyst will have to ground it. Then you can deal with Sonata."

"Aw yeah, I'll cut 'em both out of the sky! Couple quick slices and down they go!"

"Just stick to the plan, and do it fast. You have got to drop Amethyst before she opens fire. And whatever you do, don't go after Vinyl with your blades, that shield will stop you cold."

"Heh, you worry too much."

"Do I, Rainbow Dash?"

"Darn it darn it darn it what in space are they even doing out there?!" Sunset demanded, mostly to herself but a bit to Celestia. "Dash, why in Tartarus are you chasing Sonata?! Amethyst is still airborne!"

"Look what she did to my Storm Sworder! I can't let that slide!" Rainbow Dash replied.

"Scorched paint isn't anything to hold a grudge over! Get Amethyst dealt with before she starts shooting!"

"It's fine! I only need a minute!"

"You have about twenty seconds before-!"

"Sweet burning Tartarus, Sunset! For once just stop acting like an insufferable know-it-all who has all the answers! I got this!"

Applejack rolled her eyes, watching Pinkie shell the approaching Shield Liger. "Better start movin', Pink. Bad times a-comin'."

"Yeah, this is gonna get rough," Pinkie agreed, ceasing fire. The two of them split up, sweeping away from both Amethyst and Vinyl at full speed. Applejack fired sporadic laser Gatling bursts at Vinyl, but they didn't break through her shield. Vinyl angled towards Applejack.

"Sonata's down!" Dash shouted gleefully.

"Too freaking late!" Sunset groaned as the first missiles struck the Pinkamena D. Bison.

"Remember last time when it took some creative misuse of air-to-air missiles to bring me down?" Pinkie asked. "Amethyst just creatively misused her air-to-air missiles."

"No no no no nonono!" Sunset buried her face in her hands. "For crying out loud, Dash, did you learn nothing from the Gojulas?!" More explosions shook the battlefield.

"It's fine!" Dash insisted, carving most of Amethyst's right wing off.

"I hate to be a downer, but it really isn't." Pinkie interrupted. "I'm kinda out of the fight."

"Consarn it!" Applejack, now running directly away from the Shield Liger, spun her turret backwards and sent a railgun slug straight into the center of Vinyl's shield, overloading it. "Heh, gonna run straight at me, I'm gonna line up shots real easy. Oh dang!" Applejack's amusement turned to worry as Vinyl deployed her turret and missile launchers. She sprayed laser beams from her Gatling as the missiles shot towards her.

Three missiles exploded in the air, but the fourth hit the Dark Horn's rear just as Applejack fired her railgun, causing the slug to punch through the Shield Liger's mane and rip off its turret instead of tearing through its shoulder as Applejack intended.

"Oh for pity's sake!" Applejack slammed a front foot into the ground, whirling her Dark Horn in a half-circle spin that ripped curving divots into the earth as her shield powered on. The Dark Horn braced itself as Vinyl's shield reactivated. Then the force fields collided.

The Shield Liger, being in motion, was launched into the air by the feedback, while the Dark Horn remained almost stationary, but shuddered wildly. Gritting her teeth, Applejack tried to swing her nose horn upward in a last-ditch melee attack, but was unable to reach the Shield Liger as it twisted in the air and landed on its paws to Applejack's left. Wasting no time, Vinyl lunged forward and tempered, razor-sharp claws tore deep rents into the Dark Horn's armor. Another swing ripped off the Dark Horn's front left leg.

"Zoid pilot Applejack has been eliminated!" The Judge proclaimed. Vinyl's energy shield reactivated.

"Sunset, is it me or did that shield recover more quickly this time?" Celestia asked, dissonantly calm despite the situation.

"On-the-fly power rerouting would be my guess," Sunset mused. "Full Ogranoid Systems can be taught to do that. She's probably siphoning power allocated to the laser turret to supercharge the shield generator's cooling system and accelerate its subsystem reboot process."

"Yeah yeah, whatever!" Rainbow Dash interrupted, dropping altitude rapidly.

"Dash, pull up! I think we can still finagle a win!" Sunset ordered.

"Of course we can, all I need is one slice!"

"Wh- Dash! You can't cut through that shield, I told you!"

"Sure I can! Have a little faith, Sunset!"

"Rainbow Dash, it is a scientific fact that your blades will not penetrate that shield! You're going to have to wear her down with your pulse lasers! Energy shields can only draw so much power from the Zoid Core, they have their own dedicated power cells! You just-"

"Look, Sunset, unlike you,I believe in myself, and in my Storm Sworder!"

"Believe in- Rainbow Dash! Gas-dynamic lasing thermal cutting edges are not powered by self-esteem! Pull! Up!"

"I know what I'm doing! All I have to do is take the head off! One cut! I'm lined up perfectly!" Dash was now skimming above the ground, tilted almost ninety degrees off level, left wingtip mere feet above the grass. Vinyl swung her Shield Liger's head to face the Storm Sworder, shield glowing in the midday sun. Clearly she and Sunset were of the same mind on Rainbow's tactic.

"You're going to hit that shield and go flipping into the ground!" Sunset struggled to keep herself from screaming. "We're going to lose and it will be all your fault!"

"NO! I'm winning this!"

The Storm Sworder's left wing blade hit the Shield Liger's energy shield and, for a fraction of a second, just stopped. The Sworder flipped into the air, spinning over the Liger, desperately flapping its wings and screeching. The back of its left wing hit the ground, momentum sinking it deep into the earth, where it stuck. The rest of the Storm Sworder kept right on going, leaving its wing behind in a spectacular display of screaming metal and shattering machinery. More or less righted, the Storm Sworder hit the ground again, this time chin first. Sunset missed the part about the chin, as her face had already hit her control console, forehead first.

"That, well, could have gone better," Celestia allowed.

"You know who this is really awful for?" Sunset asked, forehead firmly in place.

"Fluttershy?"

"Fluttershy."

"I'll try to talk her into taking a break before she gets started."

To this, Sunset merely shrugged, then dragged herself to her feet.

"Going somewhere?" Celestia asked, knowing full well the answer.

"Rainbow Dash needs a good talking to. I'm going to give it to her."

"Try not to be too hard on her."

"I'll do my best."

Rainbow Dash pulled herself out of her Storm Sworder’s cockpit and sighed, looking glumly at its ruined wing, lost in thought. A roofless all-terrain truck with Empyrean Team’s logo on the doors pulled up. To her chagrin, Rainbow realized that Sunset Shimmer was behind the wheel before Sunset looked up at her. No one could mistake that mane of red-and-yellow hair.

“Get in,” Sunset said. It was not an invitation.

“I’d rather just wait for the Hover Cargo.”

“Get. In.”

Rainbow sighed again. “All right, all right.” She climbed down from the Storm Sworder’s head and sat in the truck’s passenger seat. Sunset waited for Rainbow to buckle her seat belt before calmly turning the vehicle in a wide arc and starting back towards the Hover Cargo.

“Rainbow Dash, what’s my job on this team?” Sunset asked. Her voice was calm and even, but she was squeezing the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles were snow-white.

“Oh, geez, here we-”

“Answer the question.” Sunset demanded, clenching her teeth.

“You’re our strategist.”

“Say it how you said it earlier.”

“Sunset-”

“Say it!”

“Ugh, fine,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “You’re an insufferable know-it-all who has all the answers.”

“Exactly. My job is to know everything there is to know about the opposing team, and tell you girls everything you need to know to defeat them. My whole purpose here is to be an insufferable know-it-all who has all the answers. Emphasis on 'has all the answers!'”

“Look, I’m sorry I called you that-”

“That’s not what I’m mad about. I mean, okay, it wasn’t the nicest way to describe my job, but it was accurate enough.” Rainbow remained silent, unsure how to react. Sunset continued, “what I’m really mad about is how totally unwilling you were to use the strategy I created. It was simple. Effective. Like freaking clockwork!”

“Sunset-”

“And just like clockwork, if one piece screws up, everything else fails.”

“I-”

“You. Screwed. Up! You flat-out ignored Amethyst Star on a complete whim, so she had a clear shot to take out Pinkie! The Dark Horn couldn’t take the Shield Liger out on its own, so down went Applejack!”

“I didn’t-”

“And then! And then! I tell you we can salvage this if you attack the Shield Liger with your pulse lasers! But that wouldn’t work for you, would it? No, you were gonna cut down Vinyl’s Shield Liger with one swoop, despite me telling you the shield could stop your blades! I told you! But what do I know? I’m just the one whose job it is to know things like that!”

“I’m-”

“Do you know how much work I put into our battle plans?” Sunset removed a hand from the steering wheel, and her knuckles popped as she massaged a temple with it. “Do you have any idea at all? I spent hours studying those Zoids and their pilots. I read the Commission-released specs on all of them, I watched interviews and battle footage. I know the power draw of that Liger’s shield generator to the watt, and I can tell you the Redler Interceptor’s maximum airspeed in millimeters per second!”

“Look-”

“All I'm trying to say is, none of my strategies are any use if no one follows them. Understand?”

“Yes,” Rainbow grumbled, giving another sigh.

“Are you going to listen to me when I give you instructions from now on?”

“Yes,” Rainbow said sheepishly.

“Good. Sorry for unloading on you like that, I just had to get that off my chest.” Sunset switched hands on the wheel, flexing her now-free hand and causing more popping noises. “Now, do you know if we have any steaks or burgers or anything on the Hover Cargo?”

“Uh, Luna loaded up a bunch of steaks, but I don’t think anyone’s gotten to them yet.”

“Good, we’re having steak for dinner. Or, well, late lunch? It’s only three.” Sunset hunched forward and growled through her again-clenched teeth, “every time we lose, I really need to eat something that used to be an animal.”

“I feel like that after every match, to be honest,” Rainbow admitted.

Sunset chuckled and patted Rainbow’s shoulder, grinning. “Even when you pull stunts like this, I'm still glad to have you around."

“Does that mean you’ll back me up when Fluttershy sees what I did to my Storm Sworder?”

“I never signed up to be your human shield,” Sunset replied, her grin widening, “you’re on your own there.”

“Oh man, she’s gonna gnaw my face off!” Rainbow slumped back in her seat.

“I’ll try to stop myself from recording a video. Or at least I’ll stop myself from uploading it to any web sites.”

“That’s cold, Sunset Shimmer.”

“I am a monster who walks like a woman.”

“And somehow you’re one of my best friends.”

“I… Thanks, Rainbow, it means a lot to hear you say that.”

“You’re never gonna get used to having friends, are you? So, I’m cooking. How do you want your steak?”

“Bleeding and screaming. Failing that, medium well.”

Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer burst out laughing as they reached the Empyrean Team’s Hover Cargo.

Sunset pulled open the human-sized door set into the main hangar door, leading the team as they sought Fluttershy in her natural element. They were greeted by a Shadow Fox with minor but obvious armor alterations and a paint job of matte white with just the slightest hint of blue; with edging and details picked out in a metallic, golden color. Fluttershy sat on one its claws, clearly waiting for her teammates and brimming with pride. Said teammates, Sunset included, were momentarily stunned. Rarity, never one to remain silent in the face of unrestrained snazziness, recovered first.

"Fluttershy, darling, what is that?!" Rarity asked.

"This is a Shadow Fox Arctic Operations Type: Snow Fox," Fluttershy said, hopping to the floor. "It features redesigned armor for better thermal signature reduction, a modified drive train and locomotion system to improve traction on snow and ice, and probably the best cockpit climate control in anything smaller than an Ultrasaurus." She started walking towards the group. "Its smoke dischargers generate a white fog to hide it despite its snow-white armor, and it retains the Shadow Fox's modular omnidirectional turret."

"Is it a Zoid or a work of art?" Rarity asked flatteringly.

"Snow Foxes are pretty enough that I'd say both. Anyway, it's yours now."

"What?! I -but -this gorgeous Zoid is mine?!"

"When I said I wanted to stay behind to work on a special project, this was what I meant."

"Why, Fluttershy! I hardly know what to say! Thank you ever so much!" Rarity wiped away a tear.

"Well, it wasn't just me. Luna brought it here, and helped a lot with the refit. Sunset helped, too."

"Hey, all I did was request the weapon loadout and then make Fluttershy and Luna do the part that took effort." Sunset deflected.

"Can… Can I take it out for a test run?" Rarity failed to keep the undignified degree of enthusiasm from her voice. Or her face, for that matter, as she grinned widely.

"Of course. Now, I should warn you that the Strike Laser Claws don't work. We had to route power from them for the pulse laser. I'm in the process of making some solid claws, but for now they're full of high-tech electronics that don't do anything."

"It's a unique variant, so try to think of a name while you're out here." Sunset patted Rarity in the shoulder, grinning. As Rarity made for the Snow Fox's cockpit, Sunset raised her arm suddenly. "I see you trying to sneak away, Rainbow Dash!" Sunset pointed at the offending teammate, who she had apparently caught in the very edge of her peripheral vision. "You get to show Fluttershy her next project!"

Rainbow Dash, caught mid-sneak, sighed. "Oh heterochromia," she moaned, accidentally making everyone wonder if she knew what that word meant. Except Sunset, who knew what it meant and felt quite sure that Rainbow did not.

"Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy's voice took on an eerie tone. "What did you do?"

"You'd better come take a look."

Fluttershy made her way into the Hover Cargo's Zoid bay, Rainbow Dash trailing nervously behind her. She stopped short at the sight of the Storm Sworder, gasped, then ran over to the crippled Zoid. Fluttershy began an intense examination of the severed wing joint. Dash followed reluctantly.

"Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy's voice was even more quiet than usual, and had an icy tone to it. She turned slowly to face her teammate.

"Yes?" Dash's voice quavered slightly. Some might wonder how a person like Rainbow Dash could be afraid of a person like Fluttershy. These people are known as 'people who have never made Fluttershy angry,' and it was a group Rainbow Dash had been ejected from in the fourth grade.

"Would you like to explain to me how this happened?" Fluttershy asked in a distressing monotone.

"I, uh, might have tried to chop a Shield Liger's head off." Few of her fans would've believed Rainbow could be so submissive.

"And?"

"And its shield stopped my blade."

"Where, Rainbow Dash, did you get the idea that a Storm Sworder could decapitate a Shield Liger through its energy shield?"

"Uh..."

"Did Sunset tell you to do it?"

"Do we really-"

"Answer. The question."

"No, okay?! She told me it wouldn't work but I tried anyway because I'm a big dumb idiot!" Rainbow could never stay submissive for long, but this was the wrong thing to say.

"Rainbow Dash, you need to be more careful."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"I don't think you understand." Fluttershy suddenly grabbed Rainbow Dash by the shirt collar and pulled her forward until their noses were half an inch apart. Fluttershy's eyes shone with a cold intensity Dash had hoped to never see again.

"Rainbow Dash, you need to take care of your Zoid because I know where you sleep. Do you understand me?"

"Yes."

"Good." Fluttershy released Dash's collar and started towards the crane controls. "Now get out of here and let me get to work."

Sunset Shimmer, upon hearing Rainbow Dash's story, decided to give Fluttershy a day to cool off before paying the hangar a visit. Despite the rain pounding on the roof, the hangar interior was surprisingly quiet. Sunset briefly pondered, then discarded, the idea that Fluttershy produced some kind of mystical aura that suppressed ambient noise. She found Fluttershy preparing to reshape a warped armor panel in one of her inscrutable (at least to Sunset) machines.

"So, what's our situation?" Sunset asked.

"Not as bad as it looks, really," Fluttershy replied. "A few power couplings and all the actuators need to be replaced, the rest is just bending and welding. She sustained only minimal damage to the Magnessor equipment, and that's always the hardest to fix. For ripping a wing off at almost the speed of sound, it could have been a lot worse."

"You gave Dash a scare, you know."

"I was so angry I almost short-sheeted her bed."

"Wait, is that what you meant when you said you know where she sleeps?"

"Of course." Fluttershy gave Sunset a confused look. "What did she think I meant?"

"I think she was afraid you were planning to sneak in while she was asleep and do something really awful."

"Like moving her shoes across the room, or rearranging her sock drawer?"

"Um, worse than that."

"The only worse thing I can think of would be leaving a picture of my brother on her nightstand, but I'm not a monster, Sunset."

"So, uh, did you end up actually doing anything with all that anger?"

"I took all of Rainbow's favorite candies from the Secret Candy Stash and ate about half of them. Then I put the rest in the Clandestine Sweets Repository."

"You stole from Pinkie's candy stash?" Sunset couldn't believe that Fluttershy of all people would gank candy.

"Sunset, the entire point of the Secret Candy Stash is for Rainbow to sneak things from it because she enjoys feeling like she's gotten away with something. Of course Rainbow told everyone, so now the whole team knows she's doing it. Celestia and Luna have the Clandestine Sweets Repository for when they want a treat after lecturing us about how important a proper diet is, but the rest of us have the Secret Candy Stash."

"Wh- how do you know all this?"

"Pinkie told me. Applejack, too. We're too nice to take things we don't think we're allowed to have, but Pinkie didn't want us to miss out."

"I- I think I need to lie down. And I don't know if I should feel better or worse about all the candy I've taken now that I know this."

"I would suggest 'better.'"

"Why would Pinkie set something like this up in the first place?" Sunset couldn't stop herself from trying to work out Pinkie Pie's eldritch reasoning.

"Sunset, you're going down the rabbit hole again," Fluttershy chided gently. "Remember what happened last time?" 'Last time,' of course, was an oblique reference to when Fluttershy had found Sunset on the roof of Canterlot High School with her skirt on inside-out, clutching an aluminum baseball bat to her chest and staring distrustfully at some nearby pigeons, which had done nothing to deserve such animosity.

Sunset's eyelid twitched. It always did when she was reminded of this incident. "Does Pinkie have any other secret stashes we're all supposed to simultaneously know about and not know about?"

"She probably has one that she actually doesn't want us to know about, but I couldn't guess at where it would be. Fluttershy said with a shrug. "She always seems to have something really nice for me when I'm feeling sad."

"Come to think of it, I have no idea where she gets those fantastic lollipops she gives me whenever we lose to Vinyl Scratch."

"Pinkie's always so thoughtful, isn't she?"

Sunset's reply was interrupted by the door swinging open, revealing Celestia, who wielded an umbrella against the pouring rain.

"Hello, girls. I've been looking for you, Sunset." Celestia said, approaching the pair. "I tried the roof, but no luck."

"Why the roof?" Sunset asked.

"Well, um, you do like to, um, brood, a little, every time we lose to Vinyl Scratch." Fluttershy was clearly unsure how forward to be.

"And it is perfect brooding weather," Celestia added with a gentle, if slightly sardonic, smile as she shook the rain from her umbrella.

"It wasn't my fault this time," Sunset said, shrugging. "We could've won if Rainbow Dash had taken her ego down a notch. I don't think she'll do something this crazy again, so it's fine."

"I'm glad you're willing to give her another chance," Celestia said. "Rainbow asked me yesterday if you wanted me to remove her from the team."

"That's not on the table," Sunset replied flatly. "I hadn't even considered it, in fact." Sunset paused, brow furrowed. "Wait, why was she considering it? I thought we'd pretty much reconciled. I better go track her down."

As it happened, Rainbow Dash had borrowed Sunset's preferred brooding spot. She was staring up at the cloud-darkened sky, her expression appropriately gloomy. She didn't notice Sunset's approach until the strategist spoke.

"What's this nonsense about kicking you off the team?!" Sunset demanded. She carried an umbrella in one hand, and the other was on her hip.

Rainbow Dash started, almost falling off the table. "Holy dang! I didn't hear you coming!"

"Fluttershy must be rubbing off on me," Sunset half-joked. "Seriously though, why were you asking Celestia if I wanted to get rid of you?"

"She told you, huh?" Rainbow asked, blushing. "I just… Look, every now and then I start to think -and this'll be hard to believe- that maybe, just maybe, I'm not as awesome as I think I am."

Sunset said nothing, but raised an eyebrow.

"And then I start worrying," Rainbow continued. "I worry that I'm not cool, that my friends don't want me around, that you all just pity me, and it just kind of gets out of control." Rainbow paused to watch Sunset's other eyebrow rise to meet the first. "Heh, bet you never thought I'd worry about stuff like that, but that's the way it is."

"I genuinely didn't consider the possibility of you worrying about anything," Sunset admitted. "In my mind, Fluttershy's the worrier."

"Oh don't get me wrong, she worries about basically everything," Rainbow said. "I gotta admire her, though. I could never be that open with my insecurities."

"Well, let me put your mind at ease," Sunset replied, putting her free hand on Rainbow's shoulder. "You're an Empyrean girl, even more so than I am. Everyone makes mistakes, Dash. I'll admit this one was pretty spectacular, but that's your style, you know? Everything you do is larger than life." Sunset paused as a peal of thunder rumbled above them. "Now let's get inside before the lightning gets any closer."

"Good idea," Rainbow said, hopping off the table.

Neither of them spoke until they were safely in the stairwell, at which point Sunset asked, "remember that time I forgot to set my alarm and didn't wake up until the battle had started?"

"Oh geez, yeah! AJ and Pinkie out trying to fake it, everyone else banging on your door," Rainbow said with a laugh. "Except Fluttershy, who was afraid we'd wake you up! You almost led us to a comeback once you finally heard us."

"Almost," Sunset emphasized.

"Remember when Rarity almost had a panic attack because she wasn't sure if she packed the dress she wanted to wear to an interview?" Rainbow asked.

"Talk about weird priorities." Sunset rolled her eyes. "Those König Wolves would've toasted her if Fluttershy hadn't talked her down."

"Doesn't matter who was in the Zoids, Fluttershy was MVP for that match." Rainbow nodded sagely.

"She's the backbone of our team."

Fluttershy, hearing voices approach, looked up from the refrigerator. Sunset and Rainbow had come into the galley, but had not yet entered the kitchen. The dining hall was large, but empty, so Fluttershy could hear them clearly.

"-Fluttershy is our top member, no two ways about it." Sunset said, clearly continuing an ongoing conversation. "Our Zoids would never fight as well as they do if someone else was working on them."

"She's an angel with a wrench, I'm telling you," Rainbow agreed. "She was literally my very first friend, too, and honestly? Meeting her was the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Have you ever told her that?"

"I was gonna, but if I did now she'd think I was just trying to butter her up."

"Come on, she's not like that."

"Yeah, but she knows I am. Fluttershy deserves all the props we can give her, but I don't want her thinking any of that's fake."

Quieter than a particularly reticent mouse, Fluttershy closed the fridge. Clutching her prize -a can of cola- to her like a bar of gold, Fluttershy silently retreated out the kitchen's side entrance. Her face displayed what would've been the most textbook blush anyone had ever seen, had anyone seen her, but she also bore a wide, almost Pinkie-esque smile. Blush and smile alike were with her for the next hour as she dodged the thunderstorm using the underground passage connecting the residential building to the main hangar, quietly enjoyed her drink while double-checking the itinerary she'd made for the next day's work, and curled up in her nest for the night.

Author's Note

I kept telling myself I wasn't gonna write Rainbow Dash making a stupid mistake that screwed something up in a particularly spectacular fashion. Then I remembered that time her pony counterpart accidentally blew up the Weather Factory and figured, y'know, that's just the kind of individual she is.

Also, you know that trope where a team or super-group of some kind doesn't appreciate their overworked support person enough and has to learn a lesson about how everyone's contributions are important? Yeah, I'm not doing that one. Fluttershy literally keeps Empyrean Team going, and they all know it.

Chapter Twelve - Those Wonderful Toys

"Isn't it a little stereotypical for an Octoling to be running with an Octobrush?" Rainbow Splash asked.

"Hey, if you don't want me using your squiddy knockoffs of my peoples' ancestral weapons, stop making them better than the originals." Sunfish Swimmer hefted her new weapon with a smile. "I see you're still splatting around with that Tri-Slosher of yours."

"Straight up!" Splash patted her weaponized bucket. "This baby's never let me down!"

"Fair enough. So, you squidkids want to help me test this puppy out?"

"Well, I didn't come to the Square just t' lug my Splatling around lookin' purty," Cephalojack said. "Let's round up a fourth ink-slinger and git in on a Turf War."

"I think I saw Sepie Pod over at Headspace," Sunfish said.

"Think she'll be up for a fight?" Cephalojack asked, getting to her feet and picking up her Heavy Splatling.

"Have you ever known Sepia Decaforme Pod to turn down a match?" Sunfish said.

"Fair enough."

Sunset Shimmer hauled herself out of her small bed in what had been the officer's quarters in the long-forgotten era when the Hover Cargo was a military transport, noting that she had at least managed to get her pajamas on this time. Admittedly she had put her jacket on over them, which must have seemed like a good idea at some point. As was usual in these situations, Sunset's PC displayed a strategy upon which she had meticulously worked until the wee hours of the morning. Oddly, at the bottom of the text, Sunset's analytical composition gave way to three sentences:

They have junk for sensors. Multisensor + Smoke + ECM. Practice maniacal laugh.

"Neat," Sunset suggested to no one in particular. Comfortingly, there was no reply.

"Ahahahahaha!" Sunset laughed maniacally. "Okay, okay, get this." Her teammates, assembled in the Hover Cargo's command center, prepared to get whatever Sunset had to be gotten.

Sunset pressed a button dramatically. The screen popped open a window displaying-

"Rev Raptors with sniper rifles?!" Rainbow demanded incredulously.

"Rev Raptors with sniper rifles!" Sunset confirmed. Indeed, the two Rev Raptors depicted had pairs of 20mm long-barreled rifles on their backs, replacing the curved blades of standard Rev Raptors. The rifles were mounted on what appeared to be modified versions of the supports used for the pile bunkers on the appropriately-acronymed Rev Raptor PB variant.

"Why?!"

"My first thought was the savings, but come on, Gun Snipers aren't that expensive. After doing my research, I realized they like to shoot and reposition quickly, something Gun Snipers struggle with. My current theory, and I think their win-loss ratio backs me up, is they rigged up these Rev Raptors as bargain-basement Gun Sniper-alikes and got really, really good at the snipe-and-run strategy."

"So how do we beat 'em?" Applejack asked.

"They still have stock Rev Raptor sensors. Rarity pops her smoke, you fire up your ECM and Multisensor, then the party starts!"

"Neat."

"Easy as falling out of bed." Sunset's expression darkened slightly. "Just remember that they're monster hunters. They take out larger, more powerful Zoids by precisely shooting out weak points."

"Clever pilots, are they?" Applejack asked.

"Clever and accurate. Their last match was against an Elephander pilot under Battle Mode Zero-Nine-Nine-Zero. They blew out one leg joint at a time until the Elephander collapsed under its own weight."

"I will definitely be careful of that," Rarity said. "I quite like my Zoid's legs, thank you very much."

"I'm still rebuilding the shoulder hardpoints on the Snow Fox," Fluttershy said. "You won't have your missiles."

"Don't worry about a thing, darling," Rarity reassured her friend. "The Diamond Dustfox will be all right against a pair of Rev Raptors, I'm sure."

"Oh, Twilight," Cadance caught the bookish, be-labcoated engineer headed for her workshop hangar at the Shadowbolts' base. "Empyrean Team is about to start a match with their new Zoid. Do you want to come watch?"

"Tempting, very tempting," Twilight said, adjusting her goggles. "Snow Foxes are extremely rare, I've never seen one in battle before. However, I must decline. You see, today is a fine day-" Twilight hefted the oversized soldering gun on her shoulder and smiled. "-For science!"

Cadance crossed her arms. "And it will still be a fine day for science after the match. Now stop making excuses to hide from your teammates, put that thing back where you found it, and come watch some Zoids fight."

"I was that transparent, huh?"

"Come on, Twilight. I used to be your babysitter, and now I'm your sister-in-law. I know when you're avoiding human interaction."

"You think I'm always avoiding human interaction."

"Aren't you?"

"Okay, okay, I guess I can take some time off. But only because there's a Snow Fox."

"As good a reason as any, I guess."

Applejack and Rarity moved down the center of the narrow, boulder-strewn canyon as fast as the Dark Horn could manage, its Multisensor at full power. Maxing out the Multisensor gave it additional range and sensitivity, but the signals it constantly emitted made the Dark Horn more obvious to hostile sensors -a vulnerability only partially mitigated by its ECM. Sunset had determined that this wouldn't be a problem with the Rev Raptors, given their substandard electronic warfare capabilities.

Applejack wasn't sure how comfortable she was underestimating the opposing team so much, but it was Sunset's job to know about that kind of thing, and AJ trusted her strategist. The Multisensor beeped a warning as two blips appeared, which quickly and unsurprisingly resolved into the Rev Raptors. They had split up, each Raptor on one of the raised areas adjacent to the canyon walls.

"Got our targets," Applejack called out.

"Applejack, drop to half speed," Sunset said. "Rarity, fire up those smoke machines and match speed with AJ."

"Immediately, darling." Rarity's Zoid slowed to a walk to match speed with the Dark Horn as thick white fog vented from the smoke generators in the Fox's legs. "My Diamond Dustfox will have us invisible in moments!"

Sure enough, the cloud soon enveloped both Zoids, moving with them as they continued down the canyon. The black and orange Dark Horn Applejack Special was a vague, barely-visible gray smudge within the smoke, and the Diamond Dustfox was completely invisible.

"Keep moving until they're in range," Sunset ordered. "They'll probably fall back, but they can only go so far without leaving the battlefield."

"They do outrange us, now that I think about it," Applejack commented.

"Not quite. Your railgun's range is a bit longer than their sniper rifles," Sunset corrected.

"Maximum range, not effective range," Applejack corrected right back. "It won't hit near as hard, and I can't make my usual guarantee of accuracy."

Applejack's guarantee of accuracy, when it came to her railgun, was 'one shot, one hit,' and she was very proud of it.

"They'll have the same problem," Sunset pointed out. "Even at reduced force, that railgun will probably crack their armor, but you're right about the accuracy dropoff. You can take shots of opportunity as they come up, and if needed use it to spook them. Once you have them cornered, you can both light them up."

"Sure thing," Applejack agreed. One of the Rev Raptors was retreating as Sunset predicted, but the other was standing its ground, and could now be seen clearly around the boulder it had taken cover behind.

"Why isn't that one moving?" Rarity asked. She was answered by one of the standing Raptor's sniper rifles firing. The shot blew through the smoke cloud, rippling the fog as it passed. The bullet missed both Zoids completely and plowed into the ground beside them.

"Whoa golly!" Applejack said. "I thought they couldn't see us in here!"

"A blind shot, it had to be," Sunset replied. "Rev Raptors can't accommodate the kind of sensors it takes to get through your smoke-ECM combo. He was either trying to rattle you or just hoping for a lucky hit. And now he's running. Railgun?"

"Railgun." Applejack fired. The sonic boom was enough to briefly part the smoke, and the shell hit the back of the Rev Raptor's leg, next to the hip. As Applejack had predicted, distance robbed the shot of most of its force. The hit still dented the armor severely. The Raptor staggered, but remained upright. The shot seemed to have caused some internal damage, as it continued on with a severe limp.

"And you were worried you wouldn't land the hit," Rarity chided jokingly.

"That was as much luck as it was aimin'." Applejack deflected the praise.

"Rarity, break formation and see what you can do with your pulse laser," Sunset said.

"Of course, dear," Rarity replied. Applejack ramped up her own throttle as the Diamond Dustfox surged ahead, smoke generators cutting off automatically. The cloud couldn't be maintained at full speed -it would just be thin wisps, barely large enough to hide a Zoid's pilot, to say nothing of the Zoid itself.

As the Rev Raptor turned, its pilot apparently realizing he couldn't escape, Rarity lobbed a pulse laser shot into its damaged hip. The blast bashed the hip against the Raptor's torso, knocking the Zoid over and, in Applejack's estimation, completely ruining the hip's actuators.

"That learned 'im!" Applejack called out as the Judge declared the Rev Raptor disabled. "Other one's right at the battlefield edge, too. Feller's got nowhere to run."

"Smoke out, e-war up!" Sunset said. "Second verse, same as the first!"

Applejack's Multisensor told her the other Rev Raptor was hiding behind a large boulder near the edge of the battlefield. "We just need to get into range before he has any bright ideas," she said. "Boy's runnin' out of room to hide."

"Too bad your railgun can't punch through that rock," Sunset commented.

"Heh. Railguns ain't magic, Sunset."

Suddenly, the Rev Raptor surged out from its hiding place, sprinting across the canyon. It slammed its claws into the ground, whirling to face Rarity's cloud and tearing up dirt and clay. Both railguns fired. One shot went between the Empyrean Zoids, but the other hit Applejack's Dark Horn in the shoulder.

"No damage!" Applejack reported, replying with her railgun as the Raptor started to run again. The shot came too late, the Zoid was already back to full speed, rushing for another outcropping on the other elevated section of the canyon floor. Rarity fired her pulse laser, but she missed as well.

"Such tactics aren't likely to work until I run out of smoke," Rarity said. "Which, admittedly, will be soon."

Sunset was silent for a few seconds, then spoke. "If he gets past you he's got the whole canyon to run around in," she said. "Applejack, continue straight ahead, but crank up your throttle. Rarity, cut smoke and run up top of that elevated zone, then rush him. That will cut him off, he'll have to stand and fight or abandon the match."

Applejack pushed her throttle up to full. "On my way," she reported. Rarity's smoke emitters cut off as she raced for the canyon's side. "Off I go!"

"Be ready to give us a light show, Applejack," Sunset said. "Your Zoid's slower, so I have a feeling he'll break your way."

Applejack had already moved her right hand from her Dark Horn's main control yoke to the turret control stick in front of her armrest. "Oh, I'll give y'all a show." She pulled the stick's trigger partially, hardly needing the click that indicated the halfway point. This spun the laser Gatling up to speed without firing. As the weapon spun up, Applejack turned it to face the area to the left of the outcropping, where the Rev Raptor would have to be if its pilot broke her way. As the Dark Horn moved, Applejack made adjustments to the turret's direction to keep at aimed at that spot, splitting her attention between the terrain in front of her, the turret's targeting display, and her sensor readout.

Suddenly, the Rev Raptor's blip moved. "Rarity! He's headin' your way!" Applejack warned. "You'll have him in yer sights-!"

"Firing!" Rarity interrupted. Applejack saw the pulse laser shot out of the corner of her eye, then there was an explosion, and the Rev Raptor's blip went dark.

"Hope you didn't need that leg!" Rarity taunted.

"You act all frou-frou an' whatnot, but you can be kinda mean when you wanna," Applejack commented. Her words had the intended effect, as Rarity began to sputter indignantly over the comm.

"The battle is over! The battle is over!" The Judge announced over Rarity's protestations. "The winner is... Empyrean Team!"

"Nice! Two Zoids down, hardly any damage on our side!" Sunset said. "Just that ding in the Dark Horn's armor. I'm surprised that second one decided to charge Rarity."

Applejack had been wondering about that, too. "What do you reckon? Maybe he figured, new Zoid, pilot not used to it?"

"Something like that, I imagine," Rarity said.

"Looks like you'll be able to take things easy after all, Fluttershy," Sunset said.

"I can get that dent out easily enough," Fluttershy allowed.

"That can wait, Fluttershy," Celestia said evenly. "We should really take another break."

"At least let's do a supply run," Sunset said. "There isn't a single drop of orange soda anywhere on this Hover Cargo."

"If ya wouldn't guzzle it like you were dyin'a thirst, ya wouldn't have that problem," Applejack pointed out bluntly.

"Yeah, but then why would I bring any?" Sunset countered.

"I feel like we're gettin' into a false dichotomy here."

"Did you just say 'false dichotomy'?" Pinkie asked, flabbergasted.

"I got better grades in English than you did, Pinkie."

"That might have gone differently if Lizard Team had let the Snow Fox's smoke run out," Twilight commented analytically, "but I don't know that they could have evaded Empyrean Team long enough."

"I think that first one was trying to be a decoy for the other," Sunny Flare said.

"He didn't do a good job," Sugarcoat pointed out.

"Well, we can't blame him for trying," Cadance said. Sugarcoat's reply was interrupted by Shining Armor's cell phone.

"Hello? That's me. Yes. Sure. When? All right." Shining Armor pocketed his phone. "We have our next match. Sour Sweet, you haven't done much with your Gojulas Mark Two lately, time to scrape the rust off. Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare, and Lemon Zest will roll out as well. We're up against Thunderstruck."

Chapter Thirteen - Sunset and Luna's Radical Reclamation Run

Author's Note

OR: Twilight Sparkle's Fine Day For Science

Chapter Thirteen - Sunset and Luna's Radical Reclamation Run

"What's taking so long, anyway?" Sugarcoat flatly demanded of Twilight Sparkle, who was up to her elbows in a massive hole in her mysterious acquisition's thigh armor. The Zoid was old, rusted, and dirty, but Sugarcoat guessed the damage in question had been caused by a pulse laser. Probably a very powerful one, at that.

"This Zoid has a unique Organoid System that had to be recovered before I could even start working on the body," Twilight explained. "And a lot of the data was beyond repair, so I had to reprogram most of it based on guesswork. That's going to need extensive testing, as you might imagine."

"So how long will the body work take?" Sugarcoat asked. Normally she wasn't one to concern herself with what others spent their time on, but having seen the propellerhead's salvaged Zoid, Sugarcoat wanted it up and running for their inevitable showdown with Tirek's faction of the Chaos Union. Plus, Discord's plans seemed to hinge on the thing.

Twilight pulled a handful of burnt, corroded wiring from the hole in the Zoid's armor with disturbing ease, speaking to the severity of the damage. "Honestly, it might be faster to extract the Zoid Core and grow it from scratch. Even with the experimentation I'd need to get the chemical formula right, and the fact that I'd still need to use my hacked-together Organoid System. I'm not sure Discord could get me those kind of resources without drawing Tirek's attention, though. Or, well, the attention of his supporters. Tirek himself is kind of a brick, intellectually speaking."

"Just ask your brother." Sugarcoat applied her characteristic blunt-force advice-giving method. "He could probably talk Cinch into getting us what you need."

Twilight adjusted her glasses, blushing. "Oh. I didn't realize we could do that. She'd have to be discrete, wouldn't she? To avoid accusations of favoritism."

"Wouldn't be the first time she's had to get stuff to her people without anyone finding out," Sugarcoat said with a shrug. "Officially we bought all our Zoids, after all. Cinch knows how to make things fall off a Gustav."

It took Sunset Shimmer a few tries, but she managed to 'casually encounter' Luna in the hall outside her room.

"Luna, hey, there's something I want to talk to you about," Sunset said.

"Does it have to do with your repeated attempts to 'casually encounter' me?" Luna teased.

Blushing, Sunset replied, "okay, yeah."

"All right, let's hear it."

"I want to go with you. On your next salvage run."

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I want to get a better idea of what you do. Besides, I hardly see you, even though we're on the same team."

"Hm. Well, if you want to run with me," Luna started entering her room's passcode. "There's something you should know. Come in."

Sunset felt a thrill run down her spine. Luna never let anyone in her room. While Sunset didn't think she was hiding anything earth-shattering, being allowed somewhere you weren't before always brings some excitement.

"I should warn you, this may get kind of weird."

"Weirder than Pinkie Pie's room?"

Luna paused to consider this question, which surprised Sunset. "Well, we'll see." The door slid open.

Almost every inch of the walls in Luna's room had been covered in corkboard. Red strings ran between pins, connecting news articles, archaeological reports, and pictures of Zoids and Zoid Cores. Some of these pictures had 'X's written on them in red marker, usually with notes such as 'Scrapped' or 'Beaten to it.' Sunset noticed a sketch of a Dark Horn with a black check mark and a smiley face. Easily the largest web of printouts took up the entirety of the wall opposite the door, centered on a drawing over Luna's bed: an outline of a Liger with a question mark in its center and several notes in scribbled cursive that looked to Sunset like performance specs. Next to it was a similar outline of a raptor-like Zoid Sunset couldn't identify, with few connections to anything else and 'Probably not' written under it.

"Not quite as weird as Pinkie's room," Sunset allowed after a moment's thought. "So, what's with the question mark Liger?"

"That, Sunset, is the Liger Zero."

"I thought that was... Luna, are you a legend chaser?" Sunset regarded Luna skeptically.

"And people saying it in that tone of voice is why I don't talk about it."

"Huh. I always thought you were more... practical, I guess. So, all those salvage runs have just been cover?"

"Only partially. Ruin salvaging and legend chasing require functionally the same skill set. As you know, I've gathered some fine salvage in my search."

"So... are we looking for Liger Zero this time?"

"If you still want to come, yes." Luna took a printout of a map from her printer, circled a location on it, then pinned it to an existing string on the Liger Zero's web. She then took a second copy of the map, circled the same spot, and handed it to Sunset.

"I don't know where this is." Sunset admitted, puzzling over the map.

"That's no surprise. It's on the Storm Continent, to the north. Other than a few frontier towns on its southern coast, people don't live there."

"Oh! I read about that place in school, it was the seat of the Guylos Empire. Never found out why they called it that."

"Back in the ancient days, there were frequent, continent-spanning thunderstorms there. That's no longer the case, but the name stuck."

"This is so cool! I can't wait!"

"Just hammering away at a base's Zoid bay doors is going to be a bad idea, they're built to withstand incredible abuse." Luna explained as she stopped the Gustav in front of the long-abandoned Guylos Empire facility, which was built into a sheer cliff face deep in a desert canyon. "Age notwithstanding, we're not going to be able to just blow those doors down."

"So how do we get in?" Sunset asked.

"First we grab that case of plastic explosive I picked up, then we find an entrance meant for humans."

"Oh, I see. Heh, I should've thought of that on my own."

"You'd be surprised at how few people realize how valuable explosives are in this line of work."

"Speaking of human-sized doors, there's one right in the middle of that big one."

"So there is. Help me with the bombs."

"On it!"

In very little time, Sunet and Luna set small explosive charges on the door's latch and hinges.

"These should be just enough of a pop to knock the door down," Luna said as she stuck wires into the clay-like wads of explosive. "But to be safe we're triggering them from the other side of the Gustav."

"That's probably the way to go," Sunset said, twisting the wires to the ends of a pair of larger cables.

Sunset dutifully walked to the Gustav's far side with Luna trailing behind, feeding cable out as she went. Safely ensconced behind the Zoid, Luna screwed the cables' spade terminals into a battery pack and flipped open the cover on the pack's single button.

"Want to make the door go pop?" Luna asked, offering Sunset the detonator.

"You know it!" Grinning, Sunset accepted the device and held a thumb over the button. "Three... two... one... bang!"

Whumph! Thud!

Luna looked around the Gustav at the door. "Absolutely flawless," she said. "Grab a flashlight and a respirator and let's see what we've got."

“Should we try to get the power on?” Sunset asked, opening the Gustav's hatch.

“I doubt this base’s generator still works, so we’d have to patch it through to the Gustav's alternator. That takes a lot of time, so let’s stick to the flashlights for now.” Luna replied.

“I see, we’ll make sure there’s something here worth the effort before we bother.”

“Exactly right. You’re a fast learner, Sunset Shimmer.”

"I do what I can," Sunset said, following Luna into the hangar.

A brief, flashlight-enabled scan of the hangar revealed that it was built to support a single Zoid, along with several weapons and what appeared to be modular armor panels. Side doors led to a small barracks room and a dining hall, neither of which contained anything of particular interest.

The powerful flashlights made it clear that the maroon-armored Zoid dominating the hangar was indeed a Liger. To Luna's delight, it was sleek and streamlined, and matched neither a Shield Liger nor Blade Liger in profile. It had no blades, although one of the wall-mounted weapon racks had sets of paired blades which appeared to be modular. When mounted on the Liger and extended for combat, as near as Sunset could work out the mechanism, one blade in each pair would be directly above its fellow.

"So... I guess we found Liger Zero after all, huh?" Sunset asked.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Luna said, smiling. "It might be a Shield Liger with some kind of full armor retrofit. Or another undiscovered Liger."

"So you're saying we might be looking at something amazing instead legendary."

Luna's smile grew wider. "When you put it like that, it's hard not to get excited. Let's get the power on and see if any of these computers still work."

Sunset's brow furrowed briefly, then her smile returned. "Because if they do we can find out exactly what this Zoid is. I see where you're going with this."

It didn't take long to bypass the hanger's generator and wire the power circuits to the Gustav, and soon enough the interior was as well-lit as one could expect for an ages-abandoned Zoid test facility. Sunset began fiddling with the computer terminals, and soon found one that actually powered on.

"Oh wow, check this out!" Sunset said. "I found some log files!"

"What do they say?" Luna asked.

"Okay, first off, this is indeed the Liger Zero, just like you thought!"

"Ha! I knew it was real!"

"Well, it's a Liger Zero."

"There's more than one?"

"The Helic Republic stole the first prototype and started using it in combat, so Guylos built this one: Liger Zero Empire! According to this their base performance was identical."

"So the Helic Republic's centuries of experience with Liger-class Zoids only helped them deploy it faster."

"And create some kind of armor modules I guess, but most of that info's corrupted. I think the parts on the walls are also a modular armor set."

"We might be able to recover the data at home. Let's get the Liger Zero Empire loaded, then we'll pull the hard drives from all these terminals -rumor has it the Zero had a unique Organoid System, I'm hoping one of these has a backup in case the Liger's hard drive is dead. Better load up all the stuff on the walls, too."

"Yes, yes. I know. Well, that is true," Twilight said into her pink cell phone. "Believe it or not, it is the least slow way of doing it. Trust me, I know. I know that too. Don't you worry, we'll have our Zoid. Roger that." With that, Twilight flipped the phone closed and looked up at the freshly delivered Zoid Core growth tank and vats of chemicals.

"So, the official story, if anyone asks, is that our 'parent company' wants us to test a new method for synthesizing Zoids from their Cores," Shining Armor said. "You better hop to it, Twily, that sounded like an unpleasant conversation."

"It could've been worse," Twilight said. "Discord isn't the most patient boss, but he understands that delays arise. Now, I need to pull some bits and pieces from the old chassis and test them with these chemicals to make sure I get the combination right, and then it's on to the real fun!"

"Fun? Well, if you say so."

"Oh, I most definitely say so."

"It's not any worse than the Diamond Dustfox was," Fluttershy told Sunset and Luna, respirator mask dangling from her neck. "I think it's better off, in fact. But some of the parts... well, we don't have replacements, and we're not likely to find any."

"I didn't even think of that," Sunset replied, slapping her forehead. "Of course no one makes parts for legendary Zoids that are supposed to not really exist."

"I think -think- I can modify Blade Liger parts to fit, but I'm not sure how well they'll work with the salvageable parts," Fluttershy said. "I'd prefer to regrow it from the Zoid Core, just to be sure. Luna, do you know someone who'd do that for us?"

"Let's do that in-house," Luna replied. "I want to dodge the rumor mill, if at all possible. We have most of the gear here, and I can get the chemicals."

Fluttershy tilted her head in thought. "I've never grown a Zoid before, but it was on the Zoid Battle Commission's Engineer Certification Test."

"How did you do on that test?" Sunset asked, slightly nervous.

"I got every question right." Fluttershy's face turned bright red as she confessed to her phenomenal success.

"Nice!"

"All right, it's settled," Luna said. "I'll get you the stuff and you'll grow us a brand new Liger Zero Empire."

"Um, well, if you're willing to trust me with that kind of responsibility..."

"I have total faith in you," Luna said. "And if you blow it, it'll be our little secret. In fact, let's keep this a secret anyway, even from the rest of the team."

"Why?"

"Like I said, I want to avoid any rumors. Between the three of us, some people on this team aren't the best at keeping things to themselves."

"Rarity?"

"And Pinkie Pie."

"We're still restoring those old hard drives, but it looks like Zero Empire did have a custom Organoid System," Sunset pointed out. "What should we do about that?"

"Leave it to me," Fluttershy replied. "If it doesn't come through all right, I can probably fill in the gaps."

"Really? I didn't know you were a programmer."

"I can't read hexadecimal or anything like that, but I know my way around an Organoid System."

"Is there anything you can't do, Fluttershy?"

"Quite a lot of things, but they're not related to my job. What should we do with the existing Liger Zero Empire once its Zoid Core is out?"

"Lock it up good and tight in one of the storage sheds," Luna said. "I have no idea if any of those detachable parts or weapons will grow with the base Zoid, so we may have to rebuild those anyway."

"And spare parts will be good to have on hand," Sunset pointed out. "Plus, secrecy."

"Set a new pass code on the warehouse." Luna patted Fluttershy's shoulder. "Shoot, how do we keep the team out of here while the Liger's growing?"

"The secondary hangers have enough space for a Zoid vat. If you move it while we're away for a match, no one will see. I can start as soon as we get back."

"Very true. You're quite clever, Fluttershy."

"If there's one thing I'm good at, it's avoiding attention."

"So, the next question is, who's going to be our Liger pilot?" Sunset asked.

"Come on, Sunset, you know the answer to that," Luna chided.

"... Rainbow Dash? She's a pretty good melee pilot."

"Rainbow Dash is a good air superiority pilot," Luna corrected. "Think back to our simulator tests, who was the best in melee combat?"

"Oh, well, that'd be... me." Sunset stared at Luna, then turned her gaze to Liger Zero. "Me?"

"Sunset, I have been trying to get you a Liger-class Zoid since before our first battle, and soon we'll have the best Liger that ever existed."

"But... but... it's... Luna. It's the Liger Zero!" Sunset was feeling light-headed, and assumed this was why she wasn't sure how long her hands had been shaking. "Is it really okay to give this majestic thing of beauty to a rookie like me?"

"Like I said, I've been wanting to put you in a Liger," Luna replied with a shrug. "You can make it work."

Fluttershy put a hand on Sunset's shoulder. "Should I try to put in a Multisensor and shield generator?"

"I... w- uh- if the Zoid Core puts out that much power, go for it, I guess."

"I'm pretty sure it does, but we'll know for sure once it's up and running."

"Great! I'm gonna check with Celestia and see if we can get a match organized."

Chapter Fifteen - Vinyl Scratch: White Reflection

"Okay girls, get this," Sunset said, starting off her pre-fight briefing. "Vinyl Scratch has swapped her Shield Liger for a Blade Liger. A. Blade. Liger. Specifically, a Blade Liger Mirage, which has that white paint standard and mounts those big ol' boosters on its blade armatures. Bafflingly, she's left it stock except for the detail paint being blue instead of red. That's frankly weird for Vinyl Scratch, she's never failed to hot-rod a Zoid before. Even her Shield Liger had more customization than the paint job."

"I'm gonna go an' assume yer fixin' to fight her in Daydream Liger, ain't ya?" Applejack said.

"Daydream Liger is faster and has a stronger shield generator." Sunset replied. "Her strike laser claws will tear through the Blade Liger's shield, too. On the other hand, those blades are absolutely vicious, and whatever we can say about simulation time, Vinyl has me overwhelmingly beat in real-life experience. But to be honest, I've lost to her enough times that I'm fine with doing it in person. Besides, I'm not going to debut Daydream Liger by pulling a Salem Team. Now, Roseluck has, unsurprisingly, left the Metal Thrashing Madwomen. However, Sonata Dusk is still around, and she seems to have settled in to that Gojulas Mark Two."

Rarity sighed. "Oh dear, not that thing again."

"Sonata replaced Vinyl's custom cannon mounts with the stock ones, and given it a new name and a fresh paint job, but otherwise it's still the Scratched Gojulas," Sunset continued. "Full-auto Panova surface-to-air laser, paired laser machine guns, ECM, anti-missile point-defense laser that we didn't have to deal with last time, and those big hecking cannons."

"So why'd she ditch the custom mounts?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't know," Sunset admitted. "If I had to guess, I'd say to improve stability and fire control. Fire support is Sonata's thing, after all. While Vinyl wanted to reduce the minimum range, I think Sonata prefers the accuracy. With that said, Gojulas Ad Libitum is way over the two hundred ton minimum, and the battlefield is relatively open. Pinkie, you’re going monster hunting with your Megalo Max Barrage."

"Don't those guns outrange mine?" Pinkie asked.

"Yes, and that's a problem," Sunset admitted. "That's the other reason I'm rolling out Daydream Liger. While I'm trying to keep Vinyl off of you, Sonata will probably do her best to keep me off of Vinyl."

"Ooh! That'll leave me free to get Sonata in range!"

"Exactly. Now, if Vinyl brings me down, you'll have to fire for effect to keep her away until your shells break down her shield. It's not a good plan, but it's all I've got."

"What if Sonata ignores you and drops Pinkie?" Rainbow asked.

"If I can bring down Vinyl without leg damage, Daydream Liger can make lining up a shot pretty difficult," Sunset replied. "Hopefully I can pull off a win. Hopefully. Of course, if Vinyl damages Daydream’s motive systems, I’d be in for a bad time."

The difference between piloting a Zoid in battle and just practicing its controls on an open prairie was even greater than the difference between simulator training and being in a real cockpit. Sunset Shimmer had been aware of this on a factual level, of course, but there is also a difference between knowing something and experiencing it.

Sunset realized the difference between knowledge and experience when the first of Sonata Dusk’s artillery shells came screaming out of the sky, slamming into the ground to the Daydream Liger’s left and blowing open a crater as long as the Liger. Dirt and stones clattered against the Liger’s armor, but it had been well out of the blast radius.

“Sweet screaming Tartarus!” Sunset exclaimed. “Pinkie, she dialed in on me without an opening salvo!”

“I noticed!” Pinkie replied gleefully. “Sonata’s getting better!”

Liger Zero dodged the next shell as both opposing Zoids came into view on the horizon. Vinyl had kept her Scratched Blade Liger close to the Gojulas Ad Libitum, clearly intending to intercept Sunset.

“Target marked!” Pinkie announced. “I just need to get close enough!”

“Vinyl’s coming right at me,” Sunset replied as both Ligers activated their boosters. “Let’s make this happen!”

The Scratched Liger’s blades lowered into place and began to glow as the big cats approached each other. Sunset triggered her shield generator, so focused on Vinyl’s Zoid that she barely registered the sound of Sonata’s cannons.

“Sunset! INCOMING!” Pinkie shouted. Sunset snapped out of her tunnel vision as the Daydream Liger swung its head up just in time for the Gojulas’ shells to hit dead center on the Liger’s shield, overloading it as they detonated. The feedback, combined with the blast, stalled Daydream Liger’s momentum and set it staggering as the Zoid tried to keep itself on its paws. The Scratched Blade Liger Mirage shot past its counterpart, headed directly for Pinkie’s Dibison.

“Cerberus on a playdate!” Sunset hissed. “Not this time!” She pulled Daydream Liger around and restarted its boosters. “Not this time not this time not this time!” Sunset repeated as the Daydream caught up to the Scratched Liger. Strike laser claws ablaze, Daydream Liger launched into the air as Vinyl spun her Zoid in an attempt to skewer Daydream with her blade.

“You can’t escape our golden claws!” Sunset declared in triumph as her Liger came down on its opponent, laser claws gouging deep rents in its boosters and back. The Scratched Liger collapsed as Daydream Liger vaulted off its back, landing at its opponent’s side.

The Scratched Liger dragged itself to its feet, but Daydream lashed out with its strike laser claws, ripping through the Scratched Liger’s upper leg. Something gave, and the Scratched Liger collapsed again.

“How do you like that?!” Sunset taunted.

“The Scratched Blade Liger Mirage can no longer fight!” The Judge declared. “Vinyl Scratch is out of the battle!”

“Hahaha! I finally beat you! Finally!” Sunset said, elated, as the Daydream Liger roared into the air.

A shell from the Gojulas Ad Libitum exploded terrifyingly close to the Pinkamena D. Bison, and Sunset realized that she’d forgotten her other opponent for the second time.

“Pinkie! Blitzkrieg!” Sunset swung Daydream Liger around and charged towards the Gojulas, ion boosters blazing.

“Woo-hoo! An artillery party’s my kinda party!” Pinkie brought her Zoid chasing after the Liger. The Gojulas’ cannons thundered again, one shell targeting each Empyrean Zoid. Pinkie dodged her shell, but Sunset took another hit to her shield, stalling out Daydream’s momentum again.

“Wow, Sonata’s good!” Pinkie said.

“No kidding!” Sunset replied as Daydream Liger staggered back into its run. “I can not let her hit me again before Daydream’s shield resets.”

“And boy does she know it!” Pinkie said as Sonata fired again, both shells arcing towards the Liger. Daydream’s boosters vectored slightly to the side, pushing it clear of both explosions.

“Almost to Megalo Max range!” Sunset said.

“Abso-total-lutely!” Pinkie agreed. “Keep her looking at your sweet tushie a couple more minutes!”

“Wait, what?!”

Sonata fired both cannons at the Daydream Liger again.

“Just like that!” Pinkie said, bringing her Dibison to a stop.

“No, seriously-” Sunset was drowned out by Pinkie’s tooth-rattling Megalo Max. The shells smashed into the Ad Libitum’s chest, shattering layers of armor and sending the massive Zoid reeling back onto its tail. The Gojulas tipped forward and fell, its chin bashing a small crater into the ground.

“The battle is over! The battle is over!” called the Judge “The winner is... Empyrean Team!”

“Pinkie, we did it! We did it!” Sunset called out gleefully. “We beat the Metal Thrashing Madwomen! I beat Vinyl Scratch!”

“No kidding! You and Daydream Liger rocked the house!” Pinkie said. “We’re gonna hit B-Rank in no time!”

“With the points we racked up from this match, we’re pretty far along already.” Sunset agreed. “Let’s get back to the Hover Cargo and call it a day. I’m coming down from the adrenalin rush.”

“For sure!” The Pinkamena D. Bison turned towards the Hover Cargo and settled into a moderate walk, Daydream Liger moving to its side. As they passed the Scratched Blade Liger, Daydream paused of its own accord and gave the other Liger a nod. Vinyl Scratch, perched on her fallen Zoid’s head, offered Sunset a salute and a grin.

“She seems to be taking this better than I took all our losses to her,” Sunset pointed out.

“Vinyl doesn’t get upset about anything,” Pinkie said. “That girl is super chill.”

Vinyl Scratch was the last one into the expansive hangar of the Metal Thrashing Madwomen. Octavia and Sonata were already there, along with Vinyl and Sonata’s Zoids. Octavia was calmly examining the Gojulas Ad Libitum’s shattered armor, while Sonata stood nearby, wringing her hands and staring at her feet.

Vinyl glanced at Octavia, who shrugged slightly. She then went to Sonata, who looked up nervously.

“I-I know I missed a lot of shots, a-and I got taken out-” Sonata was startled into silence when Vinyl wrapped her in a tight hug.

“... Huh?” Sonata managed.

Vinyl took a step back and took her glasses off to look Sonata in the eye. She smiled and, for the first time that Sonata knew of, spoke. “Everyone loses sometimes. Don’t worry about it.”

Having said her piece, Vinyl put her glasses back on and left. Sonata looked at Octavia, wide-eyed, having immediately recognized Vinyl’s voice.

“Vinyl Scratch is DJ P0n-3?! The most popular electronica artist no one’s ever seen?! Literally my favorite musician ever?! No offense.”

Octavia shrugged again. “Vinyl likes to keep her musical career and her Zoid career separate. Her music finances the team.”

“Not talking in public must be hard on her.”

“I’ve known Vinyl our whole lives, she was never verbose,” Octavia said with a nostalgic smile. “It’s been relatively easy for her to adapt.”

“I guess trusting me with a secret like this means you don’t think I’m gonna quit on you.”

“Vinyl and I are confident that you’ll remain with us for the duration.”

“For sure!”

Sunset sat in her traditional command chair in the Hover Cargo’s control room. She was leaning back, hands behind her head, eyes closed. The smile on her face bordered on disturbing.

“Um, Sunset?” Fluttershy asked.

“Fluttershy,” Sunset opened one eye to look at her teammate. “Come. Gloat with me.”

“I’m... not sure how.”

“That surprises me more than it should.” Sunset opened her other eye and sat upright. “But seriously, what’s up?”

“Those hits Daydream Liger took to its shield burned out some of its circuitry. It still works, at least for now, but it won’t take as much damage to overload, and running it could make the damage worse.”

“Can you fix it? Wait, that was a dumb question. How long do you need to fix it?”

“Half a day. I’m glad I thought to bring some spare shield generator circuit boards.”

“Excellent. We have a few days before our next battle.”

Author's Note

So yeah, that was a thing.

Maybe next time we'll see what Twilight's little project is.

Chapter Sixteen - Discorderly Conduct

“Good, good, you’re growing into quite a fine Zoid,” Twilight said to the partially formed machine growing in its vat. “It took us long enough to get the chemicals we needed, huh?”

One of Twilight’s phones rang, but she ignored it. Pressing her hands against the glass, she stared at the Zoid’s Core. “I’ve only seen you as a pile of scrap,” she said. “I can’t wait to see what you really look like!”

Finally noticing the beeping sound from her skirt pocket, Twilight withdrew her pink phone and opened it. “Yes? Yes. Oh. Um, I don’t see why not.” With that, Twilight disconnected the call.

“Um, Spike?” Twilight asked, prompting Spike to meander over to her. “I’m not sure what I just agreed to.”

Spike offered a sympathetic woof.

The next day, Discord showed up at the front door of the Thunderbolts’ base. He wore his favorite absurd suit and circular yellow glasses. In the crook of his arm was a black cane that appeared to be both brand new and utterly superfluous. Shining Armor’s reaction was immediate and predictable.

“Who are you?” Shining asked, blocking the doorway. “And why are you here?” Discord was taller than many people, Shining Armor included, but his beanpole physique gave Shining at least fifty pounds of muscle on him. Aggression was right out.

“Why, I’m Discord,” the tall man replied, “and I’m here looking for Twilight Sparkle! I believe she’s mentioned me?”

Shining sighed. “She’s in the secondary hangar. Come with me.” He started across the tarmac, Discord matching his stride to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with him.

“So… How is Twilight’s little project going?” Discord asked.

“Getting the supplies took more time than it should have,” Shining replied irritably, “because we had to make sure your Chaos Union didn’t hijack the Gustav.”

“Not my Chaos Union!” Discord insisted. Shining Armor couldn’t tell if his chagrin was legitimate or feigned. “Tirek’s Chaos Union! I may be accused of many things, Shining Armor, but banditry is not among them.”

Shining Armor stopped at the hangar door’s keypad and looked Discord in the eye. “Do you have any idea how little I trust you?”

“Hmm…” Discord leaned on his cane, stroking his goatee, while at least pretending to consider the question. “Well, if I had to put a number on it, it’d probably be a negative. Two or three digits.”

Shining Armor glowered.

“Four digits?”

The muscle above Shining Armor’s left eyelid visibly twitched.

“Okay, look,” Discord returned his cane to the crook of his arm, persistent grin finally dropping from his face. “You don’t trust me. You don’t like me. That’s fair, given who I am and who you work for. But you do like and trust your sister, don’t you?”

Shining crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

“What I’m getting at is,” Discord continued, “in addition to banditry, another thing I can’t be accused of is being a bad boss. Can you at least believe I won’t make Twilight unhappy? At least not intentionally.”

“Fine.” Shining typed in the passcode, and the door slid open.

Twilight immediately looked up from the console connected to the Zoid growth tank. “Oh, Shining Armor, y- Discord?! I didn’t expect you for another day at least.”

“Gustavs have a wonderful autopilot,” Discord offered, grin firmly in place. “It’s been far too long since I’ve seen my favorite salvager, how are you?”

“I’m fine. So is Spike.”

Spike barked at Discord a few times, then hid between Twilight’s feet.

“Alas and alack!” Discord moaned, clutching at his heart. “Will young Spike never accept me?”

“Probably not,” Twilight admitted.

Discord’s feigned woe vanished immediately. “Ooh! Is this your new Zoid?!”

“Yes!” Twilight replied proudly. “He’ll be fighting fit inside of a week!”

“Delightful!”

“Given the rate of growth, he’ll probably weigh in at one hundred and thirty tons, give or take.”

Discord whistled. “You’re going to be a big boy, aren’t you?” He asked the Zoid, tapping its tank with his cane.

“So, Discord,” Twilight began, adjusting her glasses. “What’s the other reason you’re here?”

“Other reason? Why, I came here to see you, and to check on your Zoid!” Discord insisted.

Twilight crossed her arms in exactly the same way her brother did. “And?”

Discord sighed and rolled his eyes. “Okay, you got me. Tirek might have led a bit of a mutiny and he may have kind-of kicked me off my own Whale King. A little.”

“And everyone just went along with that?!”

“Ugh, I know, right?” Now Discord’s arms were folded as well. “You fill up your gang with people who’re just in it for the money, and they turn on you the minute some lunkhead tells them he’ll pay them more!”

Twilight facepalmed. “At least he gave you a parachute for the trip down.”

“No, I had to steal that.”

“I thought you weren’t a bandit?” Shining Armor jibed.

“In my defense, it was my parachute. They stole it from me first.” Discord stroked his goatee again. “Technically all the parachutes I left behind are mine, too, come to think of it.”

“Isn’t the Whale King yours as well?” Twilight asked, unable to stop herself from being sarcastic.

“Yes, yes, but there’s not much we can do about that,” Discord admitted. “Look, you said this beautiful boy,” Discord tapped the Zoid tank with his cane again, “will have a charged particle cannon, didn’t you?”

“Oh absolutely!” Twilight’s eyes lit up as the topic returned to her pet project.

“Can it shoot down a Whale King?”

Twilight’s eyes widened as she realized where Discord was leading her. “It… should be able to, yes.”

“I’m going to need you to do that for me.”

Twilight looked back and forth between Discord and her Zoid. “We’re in.”

“’We’?” Shining Armor asked.

“The Zoid and I,” Twilight explained. “My research indicates that it has a mind of its own. I get the feeling he’s willing to let me speak for him, though.”

“Well, all right then!” Discord said delightedly. “If Tirek thinks he can turn my fun little club into some kind of unending crime spree, he’s in for a surprise! Oh, a thought just occurred to me! Complete change of subject, Shining Armor, did Cinch ever get her email encryption changed?”

“Shut up, Discord,” Shining Armor replied.

“... You’d think people would say that to me more often.” Discord stroked his goatee once more.

“We’re fighting Team Eidechsekanone,” Sunset said without preamble. “Ideally without the Chaos Union getting involved.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Pinkie jumped up and down. “Are Rarity and Applejack going to fight?! Are we going to have a funny accent festival?!”

“Excuse me?” Applejack crossed her arms. Rarity shot Pinkie a dark look.

“Whoops! I didn’t mean that quite how it sounded!” Pinkie backpedaled.

“It’s actually going to be you, me, and Rarity,” Sunset told Pinkie. “We’re fighting in a wide canyon with several small mesas which Eidechsekanone will undoubtedly climb. That means we need Rarity’s smoke to hide her from line of sight long enough to spot for you.”

“What are you planning to do while Pinkie and I are dealing with the Gun Snipers?” Rarity asked.

“Put the fear of Tartarus into them,” Sunset said. “Daydream Liger can climb those mesas with her boosters, and it takes two hits from a Gun Sniper’s tail rifle to break through her shield. Although I think Photo Finish’s custom rifle can drop it in one.” Sunset ran a hand through her hair. “The more they shoot at Daydream and I, the less they’ll be trying to hit you two.”

“You three gonna be all right without my ECM?” Applejack asked.

“Pixel Pizazz might be an issue, her Pixelated Gun Sniper has a composite sensor unit,” Sunset admitted. “It’s not as good as a Multisensor, but if she gets close enough she might be able to blind-fire at The Diamond Dustfox with... more accuracy than I’d like. Ideally she’ll be taking shots at me instead.”

“They say no plan survives contact with the other team,” Pinkie commented as she slowly followed her teammates through the battlefield. Fog had rolled in, despite the weather report calling for clear skies, reducing visibility to about half a mile.

“Yes, Pinkie, they do say that,” Rarity agreed with thinning patience. Side by side with the Daydream Liger, the Diamond Dustfox’s smoke generators were closed, their white cloud superfluous in the natural fog.

“Did they take up positions in their starting area?” Sunset speculated. “Since we have to go to them, it would make sense.”

The crack of a Gun Sniper’s tail rifle echoed through the canyon as a large-caliber shell grazed the Daydream Liger’s shield and sailed past the Pinkamena D. Bison’s shoulder.

“They’re not on the mesas!” Sunset observed as all three Empyrean Zoids took cover behind nearby stone pillars. “They must have taken positions at the ends of the most viable passages.”

“Shouldn’t they be on your Multisensor?” Rarity asked.

“Magnets!” Pinkie interjected.

“What?!” Rarity demanded.

“Pinkie, you’re right!” Sunset replied, flipping the Multisensor’s windscreen display through multiple wavelengths. When she reached the electromagnetic spectrum, Sunset’s windscreen lit up in a baffling array of random colors. “This whole canyon is loaded with magnetic rock! How did I miss that? Magnetic sensors are useless here.”

“Oh dear,” Rarity muttered.

Sunset continued switching through sensor readouts. “They’re not moving, so seismic sensors don’t show anything. Radar have them either, did they add radar-absorbent coating? Too far away for thermal. I’m not picking up any chatter, they must have gone radio silent, too. Fly me to Tartarus on a paper airplane!”

“So how did they see us?” Rarity asked.

“If they’d seen us, that shot would’ve hit,” Pinkie pointed out.

“Yeah, all three of those girls are better shots than that,” Sunset agreed. “That was psychological warfare.”

“So what do we do?” Pinkie asked.

“Only one thing we can do,” Sunset said, reactivating Daydream Liger’s shield. “I’m gonna be really stupid for a minute. Follow me.” Daydream Liger lunged out from behind its rock spire and surged forward.

“Oh dear,” Rarity repeated, following the Liger.

“How fast to you think Pinkamena D. Bison is?” Pinkie demanded as her Zoid lumbered forward.

“Faster than stationary is fast enough!” Sunset replied.

“Aw, you always know just the right thing to say, Sunny-Shimmy!”

“I told you never to call me that!”

Pinkie Pie just giggled.

Sunset’s Multisensor chirped. “Seismic! They’re on the move!” A Gun Sniper shot echoed through the canyon.
The shield absorbed the hit as Photo Finish’s Gun Sniper came into view. Realizing she was too close to stop, Sunset allowed Daydream Liger to ram its shield directly into Gun Sniper Finish Special, smashing the smaller Zoid to the ground. A barrage of missiles from Daydream’s left pepperboxed the Liger, drowning out the Judge’s declaration that Photo Finish was out of the match.

“Minor damage, no problem,” Sunset reassured herself, swinging the Liger left and charging. Ignoring the hiss of melting armor, Daydream Liger pushed through the beam Gatling spray from the Pixelated Gun Sniper and swatted it into the stone pillar it had taken cover next to.

“Pixel Pizzaz is out of the battle!” The Judge announced.

Daydream Liger spun around, reactivating its shield just in time to stop a point-blank shot from Violet Blurr’s Gun Sniper. Violet kicked on her boosters and fled, but the Daydream Liger caught up in a few bounds and tackled Gun Sniper Blurr to the ground.

“The battle is over! The battle is over! The winner is… Empyrean Team!”

“Did… did we just drop the whole team by ourselves?” Sunset asked her Liger. Daydream replied with a celebratory growl.

“Sunset, darling, did you just defeat three Gun Snipers on your own?” Rarity asked as the Diamond Dustfox caught up.

“Yes. Yes we did.”

“Absolutely astonishing, dear.”

The Pinkamena D. Bison lumbered into view through the mist. “Sunset, did you just-”

“Yes, Pinkie,” Sunset interrupted.

“Sweet!”

The hangar doors opened slowly as the Shadowbolts and Discord gathered to see Twilight’s new Zoid. Twilight Sparkle was delighted, her lab coat, wild smile, and clear sleep deprivation making her look more than ever like the mad scientist villain of any number of black and white B-movies. As the doors finished opening, a huge, sauroid Zoid emerged, taking its first, pilotless, step from the dark chamber into the world. Its armor was a light gray, with details picked out in deep purple. Its tyrannosaur-like arms were small compared to its body, but it had long pseudo-arms rising from a thruster pack on its back, each of which ended with a set of three blades in a triangular arrangement.

“Behold!” Twilight announced maniacally, “the greatest Zoid Neo-Equestria has ever seen! Faster than a Shadow Fox! Tougher than a Blade Liger! Its main weapon is a Charged Particle Cannon that runs the length of its body, and is capable of breaking an Ultrasaurus’ energy shield in one shot! The first Ultimate X! The final word in anti-Liger Zoid design! This is Berserk Fury Sparkle Special: Midnight Fury!”

Everyone stared at the Zoid, slack-jawed, as it lowered its head and opened its cockpit, inviting Twilight to climb in. Except Discord, who looked like a kid on Hearth’s Warming Day.

As Twilight settled into Midnight Fury’s cockpit, Discord slid his glasses up his nose to hide his eyes. “Things are going to be delightfully mad now.”

Author's Note

Now Sunset, don't let this victory go to your head.
She might let it go to her head.