My Little Pony: Third Gear

Chapter 25: Battle of the Reflected Everfree

The next evening, Celestia finally felt her sister stir. She was dismayed to find Luna lying meekly in the bed, helm and shoes still on the floor, unused. The elder sister used her magic to move the crown to Luna’s bedside, and she placed her sister’s shoes neatly beside the bed.

Even as she perfomed these menial tasks, Celestia watched Luna out of the corner of one eye, taking her measure. She recognized the look there all too well: Fear. My sister didn’t always fear me, she thought. Sombra and his allies are to blame! But being intense now will only do more damage.

Celestia went softly to Luna’s beside and sat on the edge. “Our allies are waiting. I fed them an excuse that I’m fairly certain they didn’t entirely buy, but I don’t need excuses. We’re sisters, and in our early days we shared everything. You can trust me with the truth. What happened to make you this way?”

“Nothing bad. They treated me with kindness. Too kind, for a prisoner,” Luna said, but she still looked uneasy.

“But something they said or did left you shaken.”

Luna did not say anything.

“Why else would you run from a fight instead of taking it to the head of the opposition?”

Still silent apprehension. Luna’s aura quivered in fear.

“Luna, you are my sister. No one knows you like I do, so I know you would not normally run. You can tell me why, but it would be best if you told me now, before our erstwhile allies become too impatient to be polite. No one of them can afford to be angry with you as long as I am here protecting you, however the Luna I know is also strong enough to protect herself.

“Luna, look into my eyes and tell me who you are.”

And Luna did look Celestia straight in the eyes. The elder sister let soothing waves of energy radiate from her violet-red eyes, seeping deep into her younger sister through her own deep blue eyes. The timidity faded from her expression, and her eyes became half-lidded.

“I am Luna, Ruler of Night, future co-Queen of Equestria.”

“Good. Now tell me what they did.”

“They treated me well, Sister. The fools are too gentle for their own good. But one of them, Gearhead by name, told me that our plan to conquer his Equestria is doomed to fail. They have some anti-Dark Magic defence in place that rips users to shreds. And he insinuated that our rule would not be shared.”

“And you believed him? Our enemy?”

“I did, but not anymore.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you, Big Sister, are the only one I can trust. The only one I need.”

“Good.” Celestia got up from the bed, but did not break eye contact. “Now, Little Sister, regarding our rule. Of course it will be shared, however our presence will be required between both worlds. Naturally, rule of the other Equestria will go to whoever does the most work and takes on the greater risks. And that means not leaving the field of battle.”

“Understood, Big Sister Celestia.”

“Excellent. Now, I fully expect you to make an appearance tomorrow morning. Our allies need to see both their rulers, or they will surely be saddened.”

“Yes, Sister,” Luna said, her eyelids sagging slightly. Celestia turned, breaking contact. She waited until Luna was fully asleep again before quietly leaving the room and securing the door once again.

Celestia turned to the guards she had posted outside the door, both to keep interlopers away from Luna, and to keep Luna inside the room. “Let me know of any changes immediately.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

* * *

The following morning, everypony was gathered in the dining hall. Ostensibly they were there to eat breakfast, however there was one among them who refused to eat then, since doing so would require that he remove his helm. “Has the Little Princess finally decided to join us?” Iron asked.

“Mock me not, for I have more power than you can ever dream to possess,” Luna said. “If you ever wished to usurp my place beside my sister, you missed your chance, for now I have returned to full power.”

“Good, because every instinct in me says we’ll need all the power we can get for the coming battle.”

“So you’ve already replenished your forces and made your modifications to your dragon?” Celestia asked.

“No, and if it were me coming I wouldn’t grant my enemy the chance. But we’ll see. If they don’t come by the end of the day, I’ll be back up to my original number of drones. If they do come, then we have the home battlefield advantage.”

“Why would they come here?” Sparkle asked between mouthfuls.

“Because by now they know we’re here. Where else could we be? But that’s fine: we’ll set the field.”

“A trap,” Celestia said. “Allow them in and then crush them where they stand.”

“Precisely,” Iron said.

* * *

Iron had co-opted some of the subterranean levels of the palace to create his working hangar and mass production array. The idea was to be able to design and then fabricate an item as soon as he thought of it. This way he had the room to safely work on his Great Dragon Armour as well.

While the assembly line added a new drone to his forces every ten seconds, Iron himself was working on adding a few more items to his main armour. In order to maximize the force he could level against his enemies, he already had long-range railguns and mass driver canons, and particle canons and guns. For mid-range he had whip-lines he could energize with drive energy, as well as curving ‘scythe’ beams. At close range he could use claws, gauntlet blades, and even the armour’s tail, horns, and its ridged armour.

Iron was adding an array of remotely-controlled units, each about the size of a foal. They were equipped with blades or a single canon each, and appropriately named ‘gunner fangs’ or ‘talons.’ Iron added whole parts to his armour that would be used in the whole process, from housing them in a sort of ammunition magazine to loading and firing them from barrels. Just as importantly, when they were not being deployed the armour closed a set of shutters in order to protect them. Finally, each fang carried a small explosive charge, allowing them to detonate and do even more damage to a target if they could no longer help in a fight.

Adding the fangs would make the Great Dragon Armour even more effective than it already was, as the fangs could be used both defensively and offensively. Iron could even add some more of them to his Red Dragon Armour, in case he needed the repaired unit: he should be more than fast and powerful enough to take on his doppelganger, but Iron didn’t know what the other was capable of, so it was better to err on the safe side here.

While Iron could allow himself to get lost in the process of modifying and creating new items, he had an array of sensors and readouts keeping close track of everything in and around the castle, or as much of it as the sisters allowed. When a perimeter alarm buzzed at him, he checked his clock to see that several hours had passed. Iron checked the scanners to see where the alarm had been tripped.

The scanners showed a single mid-sized contact. It was traveling much slower than Iron would expect a missile to fly, but too fast to be carrying many passengers. In moments it would be over the trees at the edge of the Everfree. Its trajectory clearly showed that its point of origin was Canterlot, perhaps even Canterlot Castle itself, which marked it as part of the enemy’s current play. All or part? Iron wondered as he tasked the nearest group of drones to intercept and investigate.

As the drones were equipped to record and send images and memory to Iron, he soon was able to see a visual representation of the incoming contact. It looked like what might happen if one took the bottom halves or so of two ships’ hulls and built them together, so somewhat like an ovoid bullet, except it had a set of small fins for steering on the aft end. It also did not have any windows, but Iron expected it was equipped with a similar camera system to the one he used. That meant he was aware of the drones.

Iron wondered what was inside the pod. Would it be explosives, troops, or some other distraction? And was this the only one to fly for the Castle of the Two Sisters, or were there more? Does it matter if they never get there? The one thing the pod could not contain was something that would be good for him or the sisters. He issued the order for the drones to blast it out of the sky.

The pod’s hull easily absorbed the energy from the dozen drones Iron had originally sent without showing any significant damage, so Iron assigned ever more to the task, even as the vessel’s flight brought it closer. Iron sent a steady flow of his units against the pod, and yet it did not slow or alter course, and still the sensors did not show any other contacts.

“[What is going on out there]?” Celestia’s voice demanded over an intercom system.

So she has her own bugs for observing her ‘allies,’ Iron thought. Naturally, I’ve done the same. “We’ve got one fast contact incoming. It’s large enough to be carrying a single troop, or a lot of explosives. Its armour’s impressive, but not impossible to gut open.”

“[Should we be worried]?”

“Unknown,”

“[Will you sortie]?”

Iron looked up at the Great Dragon Armour as his machines finished loading the fangs, and moved on to attaching the magazines and launchers to the unit. “Probably.” Just then there was a bright flash on the monitors as the drones melted away some of the pod’s armour. Curiously the drones’ beams started reflecting off of the hull, hitting and destroying other drones. “A reflective layer,” Iron muttered, and he ordered the drones to switch to blades.

The change in arms also meant that the drones had to ram or land on the pod in order to be effective. They flew in from all angles, swarming the pod as it continued toward its target, making the minute corrections necessary to stay on course almost immediately. The lack of delay told Iron that if it was being controlled remotely, then the controller was somewhere nearby, although there wasn’t anything else on his scanners.

The drones began to try to cut away or thrust through the pod’s armour, but it proved too strong for even a number of swings aimed at precisely the same spot. They switched to thrusts, attempting to dig between seams and pry plates loose, as though using a crowbar on concrete slabs. Several times, as the pod kept correcting for the drones’ activity, it shook some loose to flail uselessly past. Iron noted that whenever a drone passed directly behind the pod and went too close to the trail of silvery-blue particles, the cameras and sensors blanked, not recovering for several seconds even after the drone in question should have been clear of the particle flare’s corona. It was an odd quirk, but nothing remarkable, and Iron was certain from the long-distance side-take that the pod was not towing anything.

After a couple minutes, the drones did begin to see success in prying the first plates up and away. They sent small pieces of debris flying loose from the pod, but it stayed on course as before. Iron put the feed up on his HUD as he climbed into his armour and finished preparing for launch.

“[Should we come out too]?” Celestia asked.

“I’d wait on that, at least until we see where they are.”

“[The other you’s]?”

“The otherworld interlopers,” Iron said, and his cores started up with a high, tinkling whine, dispersing red particles behind and around his armour.

“[We’re ready already. In fact, some of the others are chomping at the bit].”

“Good, because I’ve a feeling we’re about to see combat.” He made one last check of the control surfaces as they responded to his movements on the control balls, then brought all of his systems up to full. “Lord Iron. Great Dragon Armour. Launching.” Iron went to flight mode, and lifted his forehooves up slightly. His armour responded by immediately lifting off from the deck. A long launch tunnel opened overhead. It wound around, and instead of opening up within the castle grounds, it breached the surface a little further away from the castle, so Iron would be flying at the enemy with the castle already between them – but he was fast enough that that would not make any difference at all.

Once outside the tunnel, Iron noticed that his drones had peeled the armour back from the pod’s nose cone, revealing a solid metal nosecone underneath the plating. Digging further revealed the open space he had been expecting, for there he would find the cockpit – only as Iron inspected the pod’s interior through the video take, the space held far too much shadow and appeared far too open. As the drones continued to peel the pod open, all he could see was empty space and bare metal walls, even to the aft wall as he used the controls to remotely look around. There were slight indents for the engine housings on the four back corners, but other than grid-like supports and some long grids along the floor and ceiling, the pod was completely empty.

Or not completely empty, Iron realized, as the plates and support struts broke apart, flying every which way and taking out any drone unfortunate enough to get caught in their sudden release. The nosecone started to enter a ballistic fall, but the four engine nacelles only accelerated, heading directly toward the castle without the pod’s weight to slow them down – and yes, they were being controlled in their flight.

Iron’s scanners still were not finding anything else unusual in the air or even on the ground nearby, but of course he could not let the nosecone, with its unknown payload, or the engines, land. He positioned his shoulder railguns and fired a single shot from each, destroying the nosecone. He expected to at least take out two of the engines, but one of them went into a sudden spiral, and evaded the attempt. The drones still could not get too close from behind, but they could still shoot the engines from any side, from above, or below. Nothing stopped them from ramming the engines either, blades out. These last were completely destroyed in explosions of silvery blue particles.

Wondering what the point of all that had been, Iron turned his drones to the task of covering the entire area in a sensor net so he could discover what else his heroic counterpart had just done. Iron himself continued to scan the sensors and the camera, looking for anything unusual while dismissing an onslaught of questions from the impatient would-be monarch.

“There you are,” Iron said with a grin when he spotted a sliver of pressure-treated wood somehow flying in the sky. As he watched, about to manually target the interloper, the tear widened, running along the flexed length of what was evidently a light-weight wing meant for low-speed gliding.

And it wasn’t just one, but three smaller flying targets, Iron realized, as the anti-detection shrouds tore away in the wind, and then the wooden wings were released at their attachment points, simple struts attached to each of the smaller transports’ long and tall fuselages. They fell several meters even as the wind carried the wooden wings high above them, and then small delta wings folded out from the sides of the hull, locking into place at forty-five degree angles. Small cluster-type engines came online, this time spreading greenish particles instead of blue ones, and the transports resumed flight.

The pod had only had enough room for a single squad, and there were only three transports, but when they were surrounded by enemies they needed to be controlled accurately in the moment, not remotely. Unless some of the transports were meant as diversions as well, they each had to have a trained pilot. Combined with the fact that Iron’s sensors still had not picked up anything else, and no other stealth shroud could survive this long at such speeds, Iron believed that meant he was looking at the true enemy this time – and forget about trying to march on the castle with a shroud, as the Everfree Forest would tear such a thing apart.

“We have our targets,” Iron said.

“[Then blast them from the sky,]”

“With pleasure,” Iron growled, and he tasked all of his drones to do just that, while he tried for a weapon lock from a distance.

* * *

“Mirage silk and gliding wings confirmed purged,” Doc said.

“On to Phase-2 of the insertion,” Twilight said.

“Looking at all those drones, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride,” Applejack said.

“Thus the armour,” Gearhead said, pushing the bridge of his glasses up on his shorter nose with his index finger. He flexed both hands before resting his right hand around the flight stick, and his left on the throttle lever. Each of his feet had a corresponding pedal with which he could control his transport’s pitch and elevation, but the main thing was that, having transformed before boarding, he need not concern himself with the time it would take to take Agile Form later. Even now, his Twin Engines were reconfiguring for a more powerful output. “Follow me.”

“Binary Two acknowledges,” Fluttershy said.

“Binary Eight, here we go,” Dash said, and the three pilots began to weave their craft between blades and blasts as the drones kept trying to shoot them down. Naturally the transports, which Fluttershy had nicknamed ‘Trout’ for their shape, were not as agile as individual Pegasi, but Fluttershy and Dash had adapted to their capabilities readily enough, both having previously enjoyed some flight time with the Silver Wind.

“Hey, it’s getting a little crowded out there,” Alec said, just before Gearhead had to throw his Trout into a tight spiral to avoid getting hit too badly. As it was, the fire was intense enough they had to rely on the armour to keep them safe, and the transports were not as heavily-armoured as the Bullet had been. “I’d appreciate some more warning before you do that again.”

“Me too,” Silver Quill said, shaking his head clear.

“I cannot promise as such,” Gearhead said. “But I agree things are heating up out there.”

“Not to mention the crowding in here,” Twilight said. It was true enough: with only three transports able to fit inside the bullet, each one had had to take on an extra squadron member, leaving them each a bit more cramped, so it was lucky they could all strap in.

It was also lucky that they had been able to deploy from the Bullet as planned, disguising their drop from the main craft as some of the armour that got peeled off. Each Trout’s gliding wings had been held back by the Bullet’s own hull, so when the Trout fell free, the wings swung slowly into place, spreading the mirage silk taut. That had kept the three transports hidden until the bigger transport had been destroyed.

“Acknowledged,” Gearhead said. “Prep for jump.” He glanced at his passengers. “Coming about,” he added, deciding to accommodate them before throwing the ship into a loop that put them as the third and last in the weaving formation.

On each Trout, the being nearest the doors set in both sides turned the corresponding latch and then let go, throwing themselves firmly against the nearby wall to avoid getting thrown out by the wind. Inertia and wind pulled the sliding doors all the way back to their stops, where they latched automatically in place.

“Jump in three. Two. One. Mark,” Twilight said, and immediately the beings of Binary Squadron started to abandon their flying vehicles out both doors. Flyers picked up their landbound companions, and they started to find a tight formation, still using the transports as shields as best they could. To that end, the vessels' flight were slaved remotely to each of the pilots’ helmets, until they got more than ten meters away from their respective craft.

Gearhead was the last one out of his craft, since he had to strap a harness on before he could put on his Stabilizer. He also wanted to be sure his cores were completely reconfigured and running before he jumped ship, and thankfully his computer reported success before he left his seat. Finally, he jumped, drawing the Stabilizer’s wings and his new sword and shield in closer to himself to ensure he cleared the door.

Once clear, Gearhead relaxed his control and thought to reorient himself to face forward, as per the plan. Unfortunately he had not yet had the chance to adjust to the strength of the white D-Particles yet, so he sent himself into a short spin before gaining full control.

Once back in full control, Gearhead put more power into his thrust, and when he started to pass his squadron-mates he deployed all four of the lines on his harness, so that he was trailing them two at each side from his body. The members of each flight clipped into each line, so they would stay together even if the drones managed to cut them loose, but Gearhead would be doing his utmost to prevent any interference at this phase in the plan. “Full throttle in two,” he said.

At the one mark, even as Gearhead grasped his great sword in his right hand and an expanded bladecaster in his left, he checked to ensure he had everyone behind him. Then he thrust both blades over and past his head as he flew, pointing out a path directly toward and over the castle as though he was an arrow. “Mark,” he said, and he opened his throttles all the way forward. The entire assemblage leaped from the spot in a double-cone of white energy.

Naturally, Gearhead knew that the enemy would intercept them, which was why he was sending a good portion of the Engines’ power forward and into his blades, just as he had done with the Wind’s prow. The cone of white quickly extended forward, creating a snowy spiral that flew sideways through the sky, and through any drone unfortunate enough to be caught in the attackers’ path. Even the ones that sought to get a shot in from a flank or from behind found themselves facing Unicorn fire, not that the drones could get past the particle field without more than a few seconds of contact, which they were not getting.

But the drones were slowing Binary Squadron down by intercepting their path directly: the more of them Gearhead was forced to crash through, the more momentum he lost, and so when they reached a point where the group could easily be flanked, he simply unclipped his harness and reverted to normal flight. The rest of the squadron also unclipped themselves before taking more normal flying formations.

* * *

Twilight watched Gearhead return his large sword to its actuator, exchanging it for a normal bladecaster. “Two Flight Lead, priority target Red-1 found,” he said.

“One Flight Lead acknowledges,” Twilight said, letting Gearhead lead Silver Quill, upon whose back Smart Alec now rode, to engage Iron directly.

One, Three, and Four Flight had their own tasks to complete according to the plan. Together, the squadron had agreed to make the plan more fluid by removing any order in which they would be taking on their opponents, and instead use a list of priority targets. Binary Squadron would try to engage each target one at a time, thereby focusing their forces.

One Flight in particular was responsible for this, with special priority given to containing Celestia and Luna, thus King Sombra’s presence in One Flight: his defensive magic was without peer in this world. In addition, Twilight had the best chance of fighting with either Alicorn evenly since she had her magic and the Single-Core Alicorn Engine, while Doc and Fluttershy both held unique perspectives, and seemed practically incorruptible. Spike, armed with his gemstone lance, provided Twilight with additional cover as he rode just ahead of the Alicorn Engine’s cone.

Two Flight was responsible for containing and neutralizing Lord Iron, in particular because Gearhead had the best protection against the red particles, and he had equipped himself to defeat Iron’s giant armours. The plan would have Gearhead engage his counterpart directly while Quill and Alec kept the skies clear of drones for him.

Three Flight would be backing One Flight up directly, providing support in whatever way was required. Based on their previous engagement, Twilight anticipated that Rainbow, AJ, and Mage would be preoccupied mostly with blunting attacks from the Malcontent Six.

Four Flight’s Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and KP would be knocking drones and enemy soldiers out of the sky, guarding the others’ flanks so they could focus on the bigger threats, as well as watching for any surprises their enemy might have in store. Twilight was hopeful that Rarity’s eye for detail, Pinkie’s randomness and Pinkie Sense, and KP’s own intuition and daring would be more than enough to do this.

The insertion part of the plan had succeeded as far as it could possibly go, apart from being in the Bullet when it hit the castle, although no one had expected that to work. “Phase-1 complete,” Twilight said. “Binary Squadron, start Phase-2.”

As the others acknowledged, One Flight led the way directly toward the castle, Three Flight on one wing while Four Flight took up the rear, firing backwards whenever they could with whatever they could. Naturally, with Pinkie that meant one of her propeller-driven gizmos, fully equipped with a pair of confetti canons.

* * *

While Twilight could cut through Iron’s drones with the Stabilizer’s blasts, Doc launched himself from Fluttershy’s back or forelegs to tear into them with the blades attached to his paws. With an armour plate out of the way, he could easily tear away at exposed wires, and then jump either to another nearby drone or back to Fluttershy, and repeat the process as necessary.

Fluttershy herself might have hesitated against a living opponent, but in her experience these drones reminded her most of Otto, and the trouble he had given Gearhead. More, they had been the main force in the recent attack against Canterlot, which made it far easier for Fluttershy to swoop in and pierce their armour with her long-tipped spear.

Spike blasted drones at long range, and stabbed through them at close range, thanks to his lance’s reach. He provided some extra defensive ability since the spell that had been loaded into the gem set in the pommel was a copy of Sombra’s shield spell.

Like Mage and Rarity, King Sombra had been practicing self-levitation magic. He ranged from the middle to the back of the formation, shielding the others so they did not have to worry about getting hit, and always keeping an eye out for Celestia and Luna, who had yet to make an appearance. He could already see the Malcontent Six approaching, at the head of a column of armoured Pegasi.

Rainbow and Applejack ably pulled off their adaptation of the tucking Fastball Special, the latter smashing her target neatly with her fore- or rearhooves before jumping to her next target. Applejack had longer range than Doc when it came to physical combat, but she always made her last jump in a series a little higher than the others so Dash could come in and catch her. And like AJ, Dash could kick out a drone with relative ease. She could knock out a score of them even more easily when she used the Sonic Rainboom.

Aurora Mage flew at the center of her formation, calmly sniping drones out of the air, or protecting her new friends from attacks that would have been near misses if not for her intervention. She was even able to zap drones flying further away from her than any of the other Unicorns on the team.

Rarity lacked the magical punch that Twilight and Mage possessed, but that did not mean she was entirely disarmed. She lay down illusion after illusion to fool the drones’ sensors, allowing her, Pinkie, and KP to get much closer to them for the knock-down blow.

Pinkie’s confetti thoroughly confused the drones she faced, and many of them even ended up sucking in some of the paper and foil bits. Given enough material, a drone could, and did, get clogged and fall.

KP kept switching between ramming and kicking her targets and fiddling with the panels on their backs or sides to get at their wires. Sometimes she just pulled them out, and sometimes she switched them around. When she was lucky, a drone she had just tampered with lost control and took several others with it as it crashed.

So it went with One, Three, and Four Flight until their greater opponents came within firing range, and they had to struggle a bit more to maintain formation under fire.

* * *

Gearhead kept his speed moderate so Silver Quill did not have to struggle so much to keep up, at least to start. Even with their armour, Gearhead had a big advantage over Quill and Smart Alec when it came to the capability to reach out and touch his opponents. While he focused mostly on the drones ahead of him within a specific firing arc, Gearhead alternated between his magi-tech weapons and his Magic Arrows, but he never stopped incanting, other than to take a breath.

With how quickly Gearhead was destroying drones, Quill and Alec were often surprised they had anything left to fight, but they did not let that take them off their guard – and every time Alec stamped a drone down, he did it with a big grin on his face. Quill similarly seemed to enjoy getting his talons dirty, but he also let his horse hooves have some fun.

Iron soon began to fire on Gearhead as Two Flight closed the distance between them. Gearhead came curving around one of Iron’s massive railgun beams and poured on the speed to close all the faster, quickly moving his shield or bladecasters into position so he could deflect a blast or return fire immediately. Even when a hundred drones were closing, Gearhead seemed untouchable, but the same could not be said for those drones, as they were soon wiped out by over a hundred Light Arrows.

Gearhead soon closed enough that Iron did not feel comfortable charging his railguns, and instead he filled the air with smaller, remote-controlled sword and archer drones. These were harder to hit than normal drones because of their size and greater speed, but Gearhead merely wove his way between them when he could, buying himself the time he needed to unleash another wave of Light Arrows.

“Will you shut up?!” Iron roared from his armour, unleashing a massive volley from his wingtip canons. Gearhead dove for the ground, and then rose quickly again. Quill went into a powerdive to evade, Alec holding on for his life as they left large and small drones in their wake, to be destroyed by friendly fire.

“That’d be a ‘no,’” Alec said for Gearhead.

“Hold still, imposter!” Iron directed his mini-drones and fire all around Gearhead, but even when he thought he had him, the latter just blocked with his shield, greatsword, and particles.

“The name is Thirdson Gearhead, and unfortunately I do not have the time to give you an exhaustive duel.” He held his greatsword out in his right hand, still supported by its actuator, and connected his shield, point first, to the sword behind his Stabilizer, which he folded flat to his back. White particles ejected at a high density from the top of the shield as it propelled Gearhead in two tight loops of a clockwise spiral, the second only slightly longer than the first. The crazy speed and path kept Iron from targeting Gearhead properly, especially as he was only ten or so meters away now.

“Sky Hammer!” Gearhead called as he exited the second loop, only to enter a third, much wider one. He angled his accelerated flight so he came in at Iron underneath his left wing. The greatsword pierced directly though the actuator arm that secured the left-side red core to Iron’s armour, causing it to fly up and backward before it lost its connection and started to fall down to earth.

But Gearhead’s flight did not stop there, and his greatsword pierced a conical mound set in the giant armour’s back. When he realized what was likely there, Gearhead quickly chanted, “Spiritus Fulgor, evoco ex vacuo et percutiam me inimucus. Fulgor Securis!” Intense turquoise-white lightning lanced from the sky, and shot through Gearhead’s weapons to overload some of Iron’s systems. It happened quickly, but then Gearhead had to pull his greatsword free and leap clear to avoid getting pinned by giant metal wings, or caught by clawed hands.

All the same, as Iron began to lose altitude Gearhead saw that he still had some opportunity to ensure the Great Dragon Armour was not used any further. He separated the shield and sword, and taking the latter in both hands, he charged across Iron’s back again and swung with all his strength.

A second core made a short flight, and this time Gearhead pursued, clapping his bare palms once to access his most fundamental power.

* * *

Iron entered command after command to reroute power as best he could, even as he felt he was falling out of the sky. Even having lost drives Two and Four he could have continued to operate the Great Dragon Armour – mind you, Iron was still shocked that Four had torn itself apart simply spinning into and through Gearhead’s sword. That the imposter had the gall to come back and chop Three off in the same minute has refocused Iron’s ire.

Iron had to focus, because the sudden loss of power had cut the Great Dragon Armour’s systems back to the bare essentials. Even external sensors were not reading more than what immediately surrounded the great red armour as it fell toward the ground – and Iron couldn’t remember how high up he had been flying.

One drive wasn’t enough for sustained flight. He might get one or two railgun blasts, but Iron couldn’t communicate with his drones, his base in the castle, or even control his remaining talons. But at least he could find a way to keep on fighting, at least until reinforcements arrived.

Iron heard and felt the dull thud of impact as the Great Dragon Armour hit the ground, a little harder than he had thought it would. He entered in the last of a series of commands, and systems began to come back online as power fed through the lines, completely avoiding the destroyed core set into the unit’s back.

The video feed came back online with the Armour straightening up from its previous bent posture, only to show Gearhead coming in extremely fast from ahead and above. He shield-slammed the Armour, knocking it off balance. Iron grit his teeth as his precious machine fell flat on its back.

“You won’t keep me down,” Iron growled, working the controls. A warm turquoise light came out, surrounding the camera, but Iron didn’t see any evidence of change, nor could he see Gearhead anymore.

But he remained pinned on his back, and couldn’t get the armour to sit up or roll onto its front so he could use its arms to push up. “What is...?” Iron finally saw all the breaches on the status display: earth, rock, and even plant matter were winding their way through the armour, and if they were coming into it through the small crack over Four’s housing, they were probably surrounding the armour’s arms and legs.

“That won’t stop me either,” Iron said, and he punched in the command to eject, at the same time, shrugging into his personal core unit. The last thing he did was to call for the Red Dragon Armour. It’ll probably take some time to dig my way out, but I won’t stay down.

* * *

The only crack that was audible when Gearhead’s lightning spell went off came from the intersection point when two of Twilight’s railgun blasts met – a workable solution to having to face living opposition, in the form of the screen of Pegasus soldiers that flew in behind a wave of drones. While they were slightly distracted by the oddly-straight lightning in the distance, Twilight Sparkle led her friends more deeply into enemy territory.

Fluttershy also had a solution for working with the Pegasi: after Doc leaped from her back to target points underneath their armour where he could stun them with one or two blows, the Pegasus did much the same, only with the flat of her sword, and usually to the side of a head or at a point between the wings. The soldiers were stunned for long enough to fall out of the fight, but not usually long enough to hit the ground, so they were able to pull up. Getting back into the fight was a complicated task, because Four Flight was sweeping through behind Three Flight, looking to keep the opposition to a minimum.

Stronger opposition soon charged right at Twilight, in the forms of the other Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, both in their own Engine-driven suits. Unlike the one that Gearhead had given to Twilight, these appeared to be armed with a pair of hip railguns, a single rifle, and a pair of swords. Like Gearhead’s first prototype, however, they were single-core engines.

Twilight did not really want to face herself or her friends, but she also did not want to face her teacher. At the same time, she knew these were not the ponies she knew and loved, and while she had to take them all seriously, Celestia’s and Luna’s appearance over the castle meant One Flight might not really have time with which to focus on the Malcontent Six.

Twilight reared back to bring all four of her railguns, and the wingtip rifles, to bear. “One Flight priority targets Gold-1 and Blue-1 found.” She fired so the incoming six ponies had to split up to avoid all her blasts, including the ones from her horn, and then leaned forward to go right back to full speed. “One Flight engaging Gold-1.”

“Three Flight acknowledges. Engaging Red-3,” Dash said.

* * *

As Twilight led the charge past the Malcontent Six, King Sombra put up a screening shield to cover their flanks. He need not have bothered, as Mage’s magic blasts knocked Pinkamena back, followed an instant later by Dash blasting past other-Fluttershy with her Sonic Rainboom.

Already airborne, Applejack hit other-Fluttershy with a pair of capture cables, stunning her further as she fell.

Dash wove between Sparkle and Pinkamena as she looped back to catch Applejack, easily evading their blasts.

“You--!” Pinkamena growled at Dash

“No, me,” KP said, shoulder-rushing the mad Earth Pony. “Pay attention.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Naturally, not. I’m just the distraction.”

“Distraction from what?”

“Right question, wrong pony,” KP said as Rarity snuck up on Pinkamena’s left and hit her with a single neat capture cable.

“Hopefully that will keep her out of the fight for long enough,” Rarity said, watching out of one eye to make sure her opponent’s landing wasn’t too harsh.

“For a close friend, you don’t seem to remember that that’s Pinkie Pie,” KP said, and the two of them turned to see the real Pinkie giving the other Rarity a face full of confetti.

“Oh, right.”

“C’mon, we’re either keeping ‘em busy or taking ‘em out of the fight!” Dash said.

“On it,” KP said.

* * *

There were, Twilight noticed, less drones and soldiers flying around the closer One Flight got to Celestia and Luna. The reason made itself clear when the Alicorns’ magic blasts lit up the space between them, and Twilight and her wingponies all had to scramble to avoid being hit.

“Sombra?” Twilight asked, turning slightly to her left.

The king nodded. “Ready now,” he said.

“Then lets start Phase-3.”

“At your command,” King Sombra said, already charging his horn. His first task was to compress a set of barriers between Celestia and Luna. Once he had them in place, he expanded them at high speed, first the spherical one at the center, then the two cylindrical ones. The barriers pushed off of each other, and forced the Alicorns apart so they would be unable to provide cover for each other until they got back in range.

Once Luna was separated from Celestia, Twilight led the charge against the latter. Ideally they would shut her down quickly, but no one believed this would go easily.

“You really think you can defeat me?” Celestia sneered as the four ponies neared, only to have to dive and spin to evade a salvo from Twilight’s wing blasts. She came out of her spin and returned fire, only to have Sombra come up in front of Twilight and take the blast with his shield.

“We shall do our best,” Twilight said, and she leap frogged Sombra again, to fire with her shoulder railguns only. Celestia evaded that as well.

“Then you’ll have to be faster and more aggressive than that, before my sister gets back. But then, I doubt you have it in you.”

“I guess we’ll just have to show you,” Twilight said, focusing more on trading blasts with this pony who was not her dear teacher.

“Doesn’t matter what you try to do, not when you’re constantly holding back from hurting your ‘precious princess.’ You especially, Sombra. I don’t know whose fool plan this is, but you chose the wrong ponies for this job.”

“No, right ponies,” Fluttershy muttered as she popped up behind Celestia. Doc delivered a single slash and then jumped out to the left. Fluttershy swung out past Celestia to catch him, and then she flew quickly out to clear the Alicorn’s range.

“Daring, but foolish. Did you really think that would be enough?” Celestia turned and fired after Fluttershy, only to be hit by a set of Twilight’s and Spike’s magic blasts.

“Do you think you can read my strategies?” Twilight asked. “Also it’s a proof of concept: we can hit you.”

“This is your planning, then? More the fool, then.”

“That you think that proves you’re not the same as her,” Sombra said.

“Face it, Celestia: you’re just not as smart as you think you are,” Twilight said.

“Smart enough for you,” Celestia spread her wings, unleashing a wave of heat energy that resembled the rays of the sun.

“Not really, no,” Sombra covered himself and Twilight in a shield long enough for them to fly out of effective range.

“I have to agree,” Twilight said. “Princess Celestia would have seen all this coming. Not only that, she’d have a contingency plan in place to prevent its success. But we’ve already gotten so much further than your Six could have gotten against us.”

“And that’s forgetting for the moment the effectiveness of the Elements of Harmony,” Sombra added.

“Well, only someone who had listened to Princess Celestia would know about them,” Twilight said.

“Enough out of you two!” Celestia unleashed a direct horn blast, but the two Unicorns evaded her anger easily enough, which only made Celestia angrier. “I will crush you!”

“As Applejack’s brother often says, ‘nope,’” Twilight said, and she let Celestia taste a round of every weapon she had, knocking her back. This opened up some more distance between her and Luna when One Flight flew in to pursue.