Two figures were walking along a dusty, cracked, lonesome road. These figures were a man and woman respectively. They bore a strong resemblance to each other, the same grey hair, the same blue eyes. Armed with only a .45 pistol and combat knife, they found themselves wandering along the road. The woman, younger by many years,was armored in T-45D Power Armor, neglecting a helmet. The man was oddly enough, dressed in faded military fatigues that seemed very much pre-war in nature
"Kraelarch?" The woman asked.
"Yeah Sylvia?" He responded.
"Where are we headed?"
“To the old Museum,” He replied, softly, as he drew his pistol from its holster. “I’ve heard from a few of the prospectors that it’s one of the areas most have stayed away from. It would make sense that it’s the safest place to be.”
“Perhaps we’ll find some good tech worth salvaging while we’re there as well.” Sylvia said, earning a look from her brother.
“It’s an old War museum, if memory serves they’ve got plenty of weaponry from the ages on display.”
“Weapons are definitely something we’re short of at the moment, and speaking of them, I still need a firearm, since I...well...I” The woman seemed embarrassed, her cheeks turning a faint crimson, as Kraelarch shook his head and continued down the broken road.
“Leave the shooting to me, I’m never letting you use a gun again because you tried to beat that last bastard to death with your plasma rifle… Stick to your melee.”
Silence nowed pervaded the rest of the walk, which was for the most part quiet. The only interruption of the silence was when the two came up against a few of the mutant worker ants, of which with only a few well-placed shots were put down without any trouble. It was when they began to see ruins, remains of buildings long since crumbled, and vehicles that had been abandoned and left to rust and rot. Kraelarch seemed to step out of time for a moment, as he observed the remains of what clearly had been a military checkpoint, though only scorched corpses clad in similar fatigues to his and husks of tanks remained to tell the tale.
The mechanical hand of Sylvia’s power armor came to rest on his shoulder in a caring manner, as she whispered softly, “Nothing you could have done to save them.”
“They didn’t deserve it, you know?” He replied, pushing through his plethora of horrid thoughts and memories, and in physical sense as well as he passed the checkpoint. “None of us did.”
“Such is that of what happens when technology is allowed to grow beyond human restraint.” The sister answered, though there was a hint of sadness as she took care not to disturb the dead and joined her brother on the other side. “That’s the museum I’m assuming, yes?” She pointed to the main building still standing in the ruins of many others.
“It would have to be,” He replied, masking his emotions entirely now as his eyes scanned for any signs of life outside. “Seems pretty clear, surprising no fool tried coming out here earlier. They missed quite a bit by skirting this place.”
“That would be because the radiation levels have only recently come down to safe levels, otherwise before it was too toxic to be here for even thirty minutes outside of power armor.” Sylvia said, drawing her knife and making for the door.
“Well, a knife beats a gun in close quarters,” He nodded, allowing his sister to take point, as he drew his pistol and brought up the rear.
When the door first didn’t respond to any attempt to open it stealthily, the woman smashed her fist straight through, caving the door in without any trouble as she brushed her mechanical fist off and entered. Kraelarch followed, his eyes still scanning for any possible hostiles as she began to sweep the reception area and look for any targets. Finding none, she gestured them forward, to move into the first of many exhibit spaces, which was marked ‘Special U.S. Army Experimental Projects’.
It was a breathtaking sight, truly, as the two entered the massive exhibit hall. Weapons that had been designed but never fielded were on display, some of which Kraelarch knew of, like the Tesla Rifle, others seemed completely foreign and were strange to the eye. Massive hulking robots, tanks, display versions of power armor from the different types created over the years, all stood in this room. Lit by generators that likely had been running since the bombs first fell, they were all oddly enough still in pristine condition, unaffected by that of the hell that was obvious outside. At the end of the hall, however, was a device both recognized, as they approached it cautiously.
“I remember the Brass talking about this thing back before the war came to a head,” Kraelarch began, “Some sort of wormhole generator whatchamacallit, was gonna make travel and troop deployment much faster than before, had the damn thing not simply eviscerated two-dozen men and sucked them through its depths.”
Even Sylvia shivered a bit at the thought of that, as she looked at the device a little more closely. “This thing should be rusted and non-functional, like the rest of the technology and robots stored here. Why is the console near it lit up as if ready to go, and why are the indicator lights blinking on its frame?”
The brother’s eyebrow raised, his hair on his neck stood up, and suddenly he made a motion to get down just as the first shots came whizzing over his head. “Get to cover!” He ordered harshly, diving behind one of the massive sentry-bot displays before checking to see that Sylvia had taken cover behind a few storage cases filled with different types of blades from the ages of the U.S. Military.
“How many, you get a look?” She called to him, as he took a wary glance and narrowed evaded being hit by strange laser fire in the face.
“I don’t know, too many to count!” He shouted back, before taking a few ‘educated’ guess shots from his .45 down the hall. “I thought you said no one should be here!?”
“Guess somebody followed us and figured out it was safe!” Sylvia said, breaking the storage case with her fist and claiming an ancient Revolutionary saber for her own. It was serrated, with a strange device that discharged an electrical current along its blade.
Taking this new weapon up in arms, she raised a mighty cry, “For the Brotherhood!” Before charging forward in leaps and bounds to meet the unknown foe with fire in her heart and steel in her eyes. Kraelarch sighed, knowing his sister’s temper in battle before he shouted himself and came around the Sentry-bot with pistol raised and began to take aimed shots around the massive armored form that was hacking madly into the…
“Aliens?” He questioned himself, as if he were seeing it for real, before shaking his head and continuing to shoot. “You die all the same.”
As he reloaded, he watched as suddenly Sylvia was tossed backwards by a tremendous force that hit her as if a mini-nuke had detonated in her face. She crashed and slammed against the console to the wormhole device, her armor scorched deeply. She was smoking, her hair singed, and her face melted in places, revealing wiring underneath and metal as her eyes flickered in coloration for a moment to a silver color and then settled back on blue as she moaned.
“Sis!” Kraelarch screamed, rushing over to her side, not registering the fact that the generator began to hum as if powering up. “Sylvia, hey, come on, speak to me?”
“That...That all ya got?” She questioned weakly, her eyes locking with his a moment as he offered her a hand and helped her to her feet. She spit a mixture of both blood and a strange grey fluid before wiping her mouth and readying her blade again. “Come on, if that’s all you got you hit worse than Doctor Li and she’s a passive-aggressive little bitch!”
“Damn, ouch, that hurts.” The brother added, beginning to fire again and resume his cover.
That was when he noticed that the aliens were backing off, withdrawing back into the reception area. The corpses of their comrades steamed, melting away until naught but their armored suits remained with blasters on the ground nearby. “What, running away like sissies huh?At least Doctor Li would’ve stayed and fought me!”
“Um...Sis…” Kraelarch flicked a thumb to the generator, which now was in full swing and open as he holstered his pistol.
“Oh shit… Well Fuck, hold on big brother!” She shouted, gripping tightly to his hand as he began to be savagely pulled towards it.
Digging her armored boots into the concrete floor, she found that it improved her hold on her own position, but not by much. After a few tense moments, Kraelarch shook his head, “No use, just let go. We’ll never get out of here now.”
“But...Bu...”
“No buts, listen to your brother for once in your life.”
“I...I…Okay, Kraelarch.” She whispered, her head low before she suddenly jumped up and embraced him fully so he would be protected from the worst of it.
The two fell like this, sucked straight into the device, as was much of the display room itself before the device exploded violently when a column came crashing down upon it.
Two figures stood in the desolated lands that used to be Equestria, one was an orange pegasus with a black mane and tail who favored old western style clothes, though he wore armor over it and had small metal rods that connected with his holsters on his shoulders. The other figure was silver and black with a reflective gold visor screen band where a pony's eyes would be and little slits where it’s mouth should have been.
“Six… I am receiving an odd energy signal.” Aleta stated as she turned her gleaming metal head towards a dilapidated museum.
“What do you mean Aleta?” Six asked, his gruff voice cutting through the dead lands they walked in, his green eyes piercing into her visor.
“It is akin to a unicorn’s teleportation, yet at the same time different… I cannot place how.” her metallic voice replied as the little lights on the slits in her muzzle flared up in a gold light as she spoke.
“Well then, let’s go check it out then.” Six laughed, “No point in guessing when we are this close.”
It felt as if it had been years, thought it could have easily been months, hours, seconds. Time was irrelevant, for as Kraelarch lay there, held tight and protected from the maelstrom that swirled around them, he worried. Though she didn’t express it at all, there clearly was pain wrought on her features that had since begun to heal at a rapid pace from her previous injuries. There wasn’t much he could do to ease this matter, save for embrace her back and pray whatever took them did so quickly and ended it.
And yet, just as long as it felt it had been, it ended. Abruptly, the two came crashing out of this sickly, terrifying place, and she cratered into the ground where she remained, still holding tight to him. Her eyes had dimmed, then refocused, and her head turned slowly as she took a faint glance around.
“We are not dead, that is surprising.” She stated, cocking an eyebrow as she slowly released him.
“Thank you sis, for protecting me.” He replied, reminding her of her selfless deed that had and still caused a bit of a frown as her suit administered a stimpack directly to heal and repair her skin over her mechanical face.
“That is what family does, is it not?” She smiled when he smiled, and when he got up she accepted his hand again to help her before she was standing on her own.
With her blade clutched in hand, she began to observe her environment carefully, her eyes clicking and whirring silently as they scanned the room for any potential threats. “Someone else is here with us.” She said in a hushed whisper, her blade crackling oddly as if also detecting this and agreeing as Kraelarch kept his pistol close.
On top of a large aircraft that looked military in origin Aleta’s visor peered at the two oddities, particularly focused on the one in armor. Out of the top and front of her head, just over her visor twin barrels slid out of their normal place as she moved stealthily along the fuselage of the plane before small wings with miniature jet engines popped out of her back silently and carried her through the air to the next plane, a rather large twin engine fighter jet at that.
Kraelarch’s eyes swept the same scene, taking in the wholeness of this familiar, yet strange area. Observing closely of the jets which lay about in organized fashion in the large room. This was when something caught his attention, and he turned to it before giving the most imperceptible of nods in the direction. Sylvia caught note of this, and as she turned ever so slightly Kraelarch raised his pistol and issued a warning.
“You don’t come out where I can see you, and I’m going to make sure the last thing you see is a bullet through your eyes.”
“Unfortunately I don’t have actual eyes love…” A mechanical voice rang out as a silver and black horse thing rose from it’s hidden position on top of the dark grey fighter which seemed to be falling apart.
“Unfortunately, I don’t care, love.” Sylvia replied, her expression of stone replaced by anger as she recognized something of sentience that was mechanical and therefore an abomination. She gave only a faint glance to Kraelarch, who shook his head in disapproval, before he holstered his pistol and sighed.
“Yeah, sure, go ahead sis.” He muttered, watching her turn once again and lumber off at a fast pace towards the plane, blade held high with intent to murder brutally.
“Abhor the thinking machine!” She shouted, leaping higher than any of her fellow, former brethren would have been able to do, and thus plowed straight into the fellow robot and smashed her off the plane and to the concrete. She drew back her fist, prepared to smash this vile machine to nothing but scrap.
The machine shot her with twin laser rounds that gleamed golden several times, causing Sylvia to roll off of it. It then lept into the air and began circling her, “Now love, that any way to treat a fellow? Though now that ya have proven hostile…” A small pod rode on it’s back and seven contrails marked the path of missiles that streaked around as they tried to get a good vector.
“You dare call me one of ‘Your’ kind!? You foul, pathetic…!” Just as the missiles hit her form, she raised her fists in a protective cross in front of her and hunkered down to a crouch as explosion after explosion rocked the building.
Smoke billowed all around, and for a short time nothing could be seen. Kraelarch stood impassively by, watching keenly for what he knew and this strange robot did not. When the thick clouds cleared, revealing her still present, only a little scratched up on her armor and her face a little burned, he looked to her and then the other machine and waited.
Sylvia rose, resuming her offensive posture, and preparing to leap once more to attack as she began to almost savagely froth forth dozens of curses. When she finally found an opening, when the strange horse had drifted low enough for her to catch it and drag it down to her level, she seemed so furious her eyes were beginning to glow a deep red before they recalibrated. Bringing forth her blade, she was prepared to visit intense agonies upon one who dared categorize her as being a machine.
This was when there was a single sound. A bullet flying from its chamber, and subsequently striking the woman across the side of her and head and stumbling her away. Surprised, she began to tremble when she saw him approach, before she felt the cold steel of his pistol grip meet her temple and knock her to the ground. “Enough.” He said, calmly, his pistol pressed between her own eyes. “Do you want me to turn you into scrap? I have no qualms about killing you, if I have to.”
“Don’t…” She said, meekly, raising a hand slowly to the barrel and gesturing with her other to remove the gun. “Please… I… You know how I am about people calling me…”
“A machine… I know, yes. Of course I know, you’re my sister for Christ’s sake.” He holstered his weapon, but left her to help herself up as she shakily rose. Looking to the strange horse, he gave a faint nod of greeting. “Now that you two ladies have stopped fighting each other, perhaps we can talk.”
“You shot her, why, are you two not siblings as you call each other?” The strange machine asked, it’s weapons still out, though it’s golden visor aimed directly at Kraelarch and if one looked close enough they would be able to see a small camera calibrating itself amongst a few other pieces of equipment behind that visor.
“We are brother and sister.” Sylvia whispered, her head low, but no longer in fear, but in shame.
“And she knows I shot her because it is the only way I’d have gotten her to calm down without you being a slag heap.” Kraelarch replied, his own gaze locking with the machine’s. “I’d rather avoid that, if I could, because you seem amiable enough, unlike the rest of the Wasteland trash we often come across.”
“A wasteland is what Equestria is now, but that is not what we refer to it as… Speaking of which, what is this Wasteland you speak of? The place of your origin?” It asked, as it’s head tilted to the side and it’s weapons put themselves away along with it’s wings.
“Aleta!” A… pony shouted as he, obviously from the voice, flew in.
“Six, I thought you were…” Aleta was cut off mid sentence by a loud explosion followed by many whoops and cheers, “Nevermind… It would be best to continue our cultural exchange after we deal with the savages.”
“Robots, aliens, strange horses, savages, anything else today God?” Kraelarch muttered, re-equipping his weapon before he made a step towards the nearby door. “Sis, stay here a moment, I’ll be back.”
Sylvia didn’t argue to the contrary, knowing more well than anyone else that her brother needed to release the tension from their previous altercation and didn’t want her there. When she saw the other two moving to join him, she suddenly held out a hand to indicate they should stop and wait. “Unless you want us all dead instead of whomever was pursuing you, I suggest you remain with me here. It is the best choice, for all our sakes.” Her eyes readjusted, and focused on Six as they took on a pleading appearance.
“They may just be a bit more than he can handle on his own, Aleta stay here and keep her company, I’m gonna go and lend a hoof to the guy.” Six said as he took off into the air and the small rods on his sides folded out before pulling his twin ornate .44 revolvers out.
“Don’t you think you should listen… to her…” Aleta said, and for a machine pulled off the emotion of disappointment well in her synthesized voice, “So, this happen often?”
“It has only happened four times, and each time, well… There’s a reason I said you two should remain here.” Sylvia shivered slightly, before looking to Aleta, her expression unsure as she seemed to be trying to decide something.
Aleta however removed her gaze from Sylvia and looked in the direction that both of their companions had run to, and even though she had no face to share emotion with, you could clearly see the concern running through her arcano-tech processor.
“Hey, lookie at wa we got er’!” A high pitched voice said as a heavily armored spike ridden pony rounded the corner, levitating a large drum fed shotgun next to her head.
“Ja, looks like a hairless monkey that is missing it’s tail ja!” Another pony, male this time, said with a Jamaican accent as he hefted a sparking hammer in his harness.
Kraelarch said no words, as he continued his even strides towards them, his .45 almost lazily hanging at his side in his hand as subtly his gaze swept over them. His expression changed slightly, indicating a cold, removed anger, as he came to rest but a mere dozen steps away. He waited, patiently, to see just what would come of the situation.
“Wha do we do with em Boss?” The mare asked as another pony trotted up, this one wearing light armor over a heavy duster which had many holes and a lot of blood stains on it.
“Don’t care, rape him, kill him, I want Six Shot’s head mounted on my wall, anyone who gets in my way is collateral.” Boss said, his single eye making contact with Kraelarch’s own eyes.
“Right-oh ja!” The buck shouted as he charged with his hammer, and the mare aimed her shotgun.
“You fool.” Was all the soldier said in response, waiting still until the buck was just about to nail him in the side of the head with his hammer. Ducking with incredible reflexes, he swept low and lashed out in a circular kick, stumbling him, before getting to his feet and deflecting the hammer before flipping it soundly out of his grip. Rolling with his own momentum, he kicked him so he was facing back to his fellows, before the hammer wrapped around his neck and held him there just as the mare fired her weapon. Using the buck as a literal shield, the scattershot did nothing but horrendously maim him before Kraelarch hefted him up with ease and tossed him directly at the mare to distract her with dodging.
In doing so, he rolled forward with the body, coming out at a crouch, with the hammer in one hand, the pistol in the other. Aimed right at her head, he gave only a moment’s hesitation before muttering something she couldn’t quite hear and then smashing her across the head instead of shooting her then and there. When she crumpled to the ground, unconscious, the soldier rose, expecting his next enemy to fire and already tensed to shift again and evade before attacking.
Boss just laughed, “Tiny was a friend and Buck Shot was good in bed, fucking cunt, I’m gonna kill you dead.” He said as his expression turned dark and his eye-patch opened up to show a red lense. Boss’ back opened to reveal two high powered rifles that began ripping through the air as chainblades became exposed from inside his forelegs.
Just then twenty other heavily armored and armed ponies came out of nowhere and began their own attacks, though none of them actually used too much of a strategy in their blind charge.
“Twenty more idiots trying to kill me…” He whispered, dodging the rounds with a surprising ease before taking cover behind the splinters of what had once been a massive column of marble and wood. “I figure my odds are roughly the same as one idiot.”
Checking the slide, making sure a bullet was in the chamber, he looked up, identifying key targets with the better aim first before looking down his sights. Unlike them, to their every several shots one narrowly missing due to his reflexes, his did not miss at all. Each one squarely in the eyes, each one dropped dead after a moment’s notice. When it came down to the close range experts, he jumped out of cover, and strode towards them with no fear as the eight of them charged at once.
Dropping low, he evaded a blade, then jumped to his right on hot feet, dodging an ax meant to surely take his legs, before he finally came to rest and literally reached out to intercept yet another hammer attack that he deflected so easily it was pathetic. After all of them had been so easily knocked away, he looked about, noting each shot clearly, before suddenly dropping to a crouch and neutralizing them all in only eight seconds, one second for each bullet to be placed in a skull.
Still remembering his initial target, Kraelarch reloaded his pistol, but set it in his holster. Cracking his knuckles, neck, and joints, he nodded to Boss almost passively before dropping to a combat stance. “I’ll give you only one chance to surrender here and now, but if you don’t take it, I’ll be happy to oblige your personal death wish as I have done so to your friends.”
Boss smiled, “The twenty you killed were just my ponies, my friends are the ones lying at my hooves, you killed them, now I’ll kill you.” Boss paused a moment when he saw a looming dark green wall in merely forty foot away with massive tubes pointed in their direction.
“GET DOWN!” Six’s voice sounded as the pegasus pounced on Boss and pushed him to the ground.
“Well God, I’ve had a good run I guess.” Kraelarch looked skyward, knowing he had no chance of dodging the massive cannons that bore down upon him.
His eyes closed, as he accepted fate, before the sound of boots crunching came running towards him. When he opened his eyes again, he bore witness to the cannons firing, a glimpse of Sylvia standing in front of him with arms spread wide, her head turned away so she could just barely look at him when the blasts hit. What struck her to say the least, outclassed easily anything that could be launched from that of the Fatman, but this time she had dug her heels in so much so that she didn’t even shift as the fire continued to rain on her. Every blast peeled back more flesh, began to turn her armor into a golden red that glowed. Her metallic form and all its hideous functions were revealed upon half her face, but her single eye remained normal and locked with his as half her mouth seemed to try and fail to form words.
When it was said and done, and the cannons ceased firing, she stood as a near molten mess of metal in humanesque form, glowing almost as if the sun. Her expression spoke of pain, but also of relief, as Kraelarch came out of it relatively unharmed. When she tried to speak, she was unable to do so still, but as her arms fell to her sides Kraelarch understood without words what they needed to do.
“Can you move?” He asked, and got a very faint nod in response as her body creaked and groaned heavily in protest to her getting out of the entrenching she had done to remain in position. “Good, we need to get those two then, and get out of here immediately.”
He pointed to the mare and buck in question, the first two he’d engaged, before going to retrieve them both as Sylvia retreated slowly into the building with a stagger and hobble at every step. “Wouldn’t leave even you to this fate…” He muttered to himself, before looking to Boss and Six “Get up, we don’t have time to be kissing in the dirt! You want to live or die?”
Six and Boss looked at eachother and then to the tank, “Truce?” Six asked, receiving a nod from a wide eyed Boss, “Good, now move your robo flank!” Six shouted as he launched himself into the air, just in time for the tank to start firing rapid purple wads of plasma at them wildly and… laughing? while at the same time.
“Get in here, now!” Kraelarch ordered, as he passed by Aleta and Sylvia and bade them to continue to retreat as far inward as possible.
The latter of the two followed, but far slower, and much more shakily, until they reached the interior wall and she collapsed against it in a sitting position. Her head hung low, strange mechanical whistles and whirs mixed with panting and quiet sounds of pain.
Kraelarch in the meanwhile, set the two down, before he pulled a medical kit from a pouch at his belt and began to work on them both to tend to their injuries. His concern was not focused on his sister, whom he knew clearly was still functioning, in both her own body and armor, as the suit administered several stimpacks to accelerate healing once more of her external features. When he finished his tending of them, he turned his head and looked to Boss before shaking his head in disapproval. “I only kill when necessary, these young ones didn’t deserve death so I did not deliver it to them.”
“Could’ve fooled me… What was that thing?” Boss spat before asking.
“Looked like a big ass tank, did anyone else notice that it was hovering above the ground?” Six Shot remarked as he flew over towards a large plane with two massive pylons situated on the tail, “Hmm, wonder if this A-10 still has anything left in it that we could use…?”
“Probably not, this is a museum, not a deserted military-” Aleta began before Six began laughing, “What is so funny?”
“One pod of rockets still has a payload, help me push this towards the way we came in, quick!” Six shouted, as he tried to move the A-10, only for one of the gear wheels to fall off causing the entire plane to fall, though it didn’t break apart.
“I don’t think these are live rounds Six, scans-” Aleta didn’t finish her sentence as the Museum’s hangar doors blew open, causing the large fighter jet to slide back towards them and the larger military bomber to fall flat on it’s belly, “The tank is inside!”
“No shit Sherlock.” Kraelarch commented, rising to his feet immediately and turning to face the threat that had so terribly harried them just moments ago. Even up close, he knew his preferred weapon of choice would have little to no effect, and so he merely took a step forward in front of everyone else as his sister weakly tried to stand and join him.
Suddenly a loud sound, as if massive plates of metal had started grinding against one another drowned out even the tank’s engines as they were followed by an even more alien sound as the fighter jet that had fallen on it’s side began to change form. Two massive arms slammed into the ground before two legs formed into a kneeling position before slowly and with a groan of metal stressing bringing this massive metal giant to its full height. A head then rose out of the body which consisted of the cockpit of the plane and a portion of the fuselage. This head was simple, with two pylons coming off either side and a single darker band to the entire thing’s once dark grey body now flat grey and rusty red with singe marks pocketing it. The dark band of a visor then lit in a furious red as a voice boomed in a mildly british yet dark and gravelly voice, “Nevermore.”
The tank then emitted a similar sound as it’s armor slid back and it’s entire form changed into a beefier though smaller form with a golden angled band across it’s face, “Ooh, an Autobot eh, this’ll be fun!” It shouted, the voice akin to a bad muffler as it slammed its two fists together.
Kraelarch merely pinched the bridge of his nose in response to this, letting a sigh escape, indicating just how fed up he was with all this strangeness that had occurred over the course of, to him, less than a day. “Two scrapyards about to have at it with each other… What more will I see before this day’s up?”
“A lot more brother, statistics indicate this very much so.” Sylvia whispered in a static-filled, machinistic tone that made her immediately clutch at her exposed wiring in her throat and compress it before she spoke again normally. “But I must admit, this is a rather, interesting spectacle, to say the least.”
“Interesting doesn’t even begin to define it.” The soldier whispered in reply, before shaking his head and turning his back to the whole situation.
His attention focused once more to the two who lay unconscious, as his sister observed furiously, knowing she could do nothing in her state but wishing she could as she unconsciously limped to stand beside Aleta.
“This doesn’t compute, they left, my mission is compromised if they are still here…” Aleta looked a if at a loss while staring at the two giants, one gleaming green and wanting to kill, while the other was battered to a state that should have rendered it derelict and almost sounding sorrowful about having to kill the other.
The taller and more battered being merely stared it’s foe down while clenching its fists, “Your move Decepticon, you’ll die all the same.”
“Ha, you are scrap metal Autobrat, ah-hahahahahaha, DIE!” The green one shouted as it fired it’s main cannons again, though to the amazement of all the larger one in a blur of metal crouched down and lunged forwards, tackling the tank and sending them both to the ground.
Sparks flew from wherever their bodies grinded against the concrete floor, the grey one drew a fist back and then proceeded to try and slam it down upon the green ones face only to have it be intercepted and used to throw it off of the other. The grey one then spun in the air using jets and landed upon one knee before its twin antennae slid down and targeted the green machine. The green one just getting up didn’t have time to dodge as twin lances of red energy impacted its side and left out its opposing end, eliciting a shout of both pain and anger from it.
The green one then shifted back into its previous form and began blasting at the grey one, who used its jets once more to jump over and invert mid jump while firing down on the green one with the twin lances, though these were more rapid and danced across its armor in most places, though did manage to strike home in a few locations.
“Damnable Autobot!” The green one shouted before shifting once more and flipping in mid transformation to face his foe.
The grey one didn’t reply, though it did deploy a gun pod that had been attached to its arm. This pod swiveled around and then rotated to rest in its hand before it opened fire on the green one who barely dodged the first blast which turned the A-10 into a smoking slag heap with a massive charge of red energy that left the barrel smoking.
“Well aren’t you well armed, who are you anyways?” The green one asked, getting up slowly as it observed its enemy with a little more respect.
“Who I am doesn’t matter, today you shall meet you end, traitor.” The grey one spoke, the conviction in its voice final as the pod was fired in rapid succession, the first two shots missed due to its target moving, but the next to impacted square in its chest and caused a massive explosion sending armor flying and forcing the green tank down to its hands and knees.
“Please, grant me mercy, I beg of you.” It pleaded.
“You, who are without mercy, now plead for it, nein, you shan’t have it.” The grey one replied, looking down upon the others visor before pulling the trigger on its cannon one final time.
The shot entered through the damage in the green ones armor and exited out the center of its back, smoke then poured out of its visors edges and small slits on its faceplate as the grey one topped it over with a gentle push of its pod on its head. It then turned and stared curiously at the seven entities whom it had saved, though it said no words, merely watched them with interest.
“Couldn’t have done much better myself I must admit…” Sylvia finally commented, looking at the smoking wreckage that had once been the bot who had blasted her so horribly. “Perhaps not all machines are as bad as I thought…” This spoke volumes from the former Star Paladin, and addressed not just this strange massive robot but more so Aleta as well as she turned her gaze downward to the robotic pony in question. “I’d like to apologize, for my previous actions.” She stated, raising a hand out for the other to take.
Kraelarch finally stood from his treatment, having finished completely and insured that neither of the injured ponies would die of the damage he had caused them. His eyes swept the scene, and the faint crease of a smile came to his lips as he looked up at the massive robot who stood victorious. “We were in a bit of a pickle until you woke up. Thanks for the save there.” The soldier looked downward before shaking his head and chuckling, “I’d say I owe you a few, but I’m not exactly sure what you’d be interested in drinking so…”
The machine made ‘eye’ contact with Krealarch, as if contemplating something before a terrible shriek followed by a series of off sounding beeps and a whine of static. The machine then shook its head and began chuckling, “Friend, I have made it a point not to drink until after the war is won, and there are still many foes to be felled.” It said as it rubbed its neck, which had many wires hanging loosely in the many rents upon it.
“What… I mean who, are you?” Aleta asked, he golden visor staring curiously at the massive machine which shifted its own glowing red visor glaring at her.
“Then afterwards then,” Kraelarch nodded, understanding completely his reasoning.
It then looked over to Kraelarch before giving a single nod and attempting to come down on one knee, succeeding in having the joint catch fire and explode, causing the giant to fall harshly to the ground in the position it had wanted. Its face then separated down the center below the visor and slide in and to the sides, vanishing from sight and revealing a silvery allow that flexed freely around its mouth and nose, this however predated its visor going dark and sliding upwards into its forehead to reveal twin green optics, “I am Photon, a protector of the innocent, no matter what race they may be.”
“General Kraelarch, commander of the 1st Armored and protector of Freedom, wherever it resides.”
Sylvia gave a glance towards her brother, noting for the first time herself surprisingly that in fact on his collar were four heavily rusted stars that seemed to blend in itself. Her eyebrows raised a little at this simple fact, but nothing more as she finally gave a glance to Photon and tilted her head in curiosity. “You seem quite damaged, perhaps you might like someone to help repair you to fully functioning status?”
“It shan’t be necessary, not this time at least.” He replied, turning his head with only minor sparking from his joints as his optic laid to rest upon the fallen Decepticon, “Many of my kind have forgotten this art, but I predate most, thus-” He grabbed the body before his optic began glowing a harsh green washing everything in green light before his chest opened with a groan to reveal a spinning sphere that was glowing an even more intense green. “I claim his body for my own.” Photon finished his sentence as a beam of green light shot out of his chest and turned the body of his former foe into light before Photon himself turned into light. The very air around the seven then felt as if it had become alive with energy before a much smaller form, around 9 feet in total materialized out of this light as bolts of green lightning shot out every which direction before he stopped glowing and fell a couple of feet to the concrete below and into a kneeling posture, none of the lights on his body online.
“What just… happened?” Aleta pondered, her monotone speech slightly broken.
“Don’t over work that processor Aleta, you’ll blow a fuse.” Six said, at long last breaking his silence and revealing that he had been sitting up on a beam near the ceiling.
“Couldn’t be much worse than if my sister did, there’s a reason I’ve always had to make sure she doesn’t get too angry or, well…” An ironic look came to his smile, “I’ll be seeing nukes again in my lifetime.”
“It is true,” Sylvia admitted, admiring the much more sleek, smaller form of Photon a moment before shaking her head and turning to Aleta. “Best not to take in too much information at one time, the best solution I can suggest is to take a moment’s leave of this area. Perhaps back outside, so you can clear your head.”
“Y.. yes, I suppose that would be for the best…” Aleta replied as she slowly and shakily turned around and began to canter towards the entry way.
“Never seen her so overloaded before…” Six added as he landed in her former spot and watched her go.
Sylvia looked to her brother, indicating where Aleta had gone silently with her eyes. “Yeah, you go ahead too sis, I can tell when you’re a little on the danger zone.”
“I will only be a minute,” She replied, stepping outside as well where she took a seat on a few cracked steps near Aleta and merely gazed out into the distance.
“Well, now that the craziness is over, I have a few questions I’d like to ask if both you Photon, Six, Boss, don’t mind.” Kraelarch said, clearly, as he stepped forth a bit and gestured to Photon first.
Photon’s visor shot online in a pristine gold before he rose from his spot, his armor gleaming in the moonlight that now caressed the land. Small golden lights flickered online on every section of his limb, “Not at all, you may ask away General.” He said, his voice still rough, yet much more articulated now and natural sounding as his face plate slid back to reveal what had previously been in perfect image.
“Well, first off, I’d like to ask something simple. As Aleta asked you before, what exactly are you? I don’t mean to be offensive or anything, but you remind me a lot of Liberty Prime.” The General gave pause, before asking his second question. “What were you doing here in this place precisely?” He looked about, awaiting these two queries to be answered before asking any more questions to him or anyone else.
“Prime, funny you should mention that.” Photon laughed as he walked over to a piece of rubble and sitting upon it, “My race is that of the Cybertronian, a species of biomechanical organisms hailing from the God Planet Cybertron, or rather as I know him to be, Primus, my one and only master and creator of the universe. I am, or was assuming that they no longer exist, part of the Autobots long ago, Brawl, the green tank Cybertronian, was a Decepticon. To compare them would be like comparing night and day.” Photon answered before picking his leg up and balancing his ankle on his knee, “As to answer the other question.” He leaned forward, “I was resting, lost and forsaken, nearly dead, I chose to assume a disguise and rest… It seems I had a tour of duty while doing so though, as I do not recall being in a museum…” Photon smiled.
“Now I’m glad that I told Sylvia to go outside for a breath of fresh air, because otherwise we might very well have been vaporized in her detonation…” Kraelarch chuckled, “Prime. You know him or something? You made it sound like it was something of a joke to you.”
Photon all of a sudden became serious, almost scarily serious as he slowly stood up and walked up to Kraelarch, “Friend, I was not referring to Liberty Prime, but in how ironic you would mention that I remind you of it.” He turned his head before placing a hand on his own chest, “I did not give you my full rank, name, or title, when I introduced myself. I am Lord Photon Prime of Primus’ Legions and executioner of his will.”
“So I see…” Kraelarch looked upwards, not in the slightest phased by this change of demeanor and in fact more so solidified in his stance as he too became much more serious. “Well, it certainly is good that you were honest with me. I thank you for that.” He turned away now, looking to Six, where he became a little more at ease and asked his next question. “Now, where the fuck are we again? You mentioned it earlier, or at least, your friend did, but I haven’t the faintest clue what this ‘Equestria’ is.”
“Well partner, Equestria is, well… was back in the old days… a pristine utopia for all ponykind, of course the other species were permitted into it and enjoyed the fruits of its, erm, civilization… at least that is what the ruin of a hotel’s old travel brochure said… Nowadays it is a land of hide, fight, and try to live, or die with scarcely a town in sight that isn’t under fire from Savages, Gangs, or wild animals. Boss’s group was a gang, slightly more civilized than the savages, oh hell what am I sayin’, much more civilized than those crazed bastards that go around raping and pillaging everywhere.” Six spat on the ground before looking Kraelarch in the eye, “Miss anythin’?”
“Well, at least it sounds like home…” Kraelarch smiled a little, although his eyes cast judgmentally in Boss’ direction. “I have no love of Raiders, more civilized or not. Not after what they did that resulted in waking me up… The bastards broke into our bunker and sabotaged the cryo units while looting, I was the only survivor.” He gave Boss a hard look before turning his gaze to the two he had fixed up who were starting to wake up it seemed. “Corrupting young innocents, teaching them brutish ways. How is the world supposed to return to peace and prosperity if fools like you poison the hearts and minds of those around you?” He took a few steps toward them, then settled down against the wall beside them, his eyes reflecting a tiredness more than anything else as he nodded to Six thankfully.
“Well for one, my gang, provides security to settlements,what few there are, from other gangs and the savages. Only reason Six Shot and I don’t get along too much is cause he fucking broke a contract with us a while back.” Boss replied as he sent a dirty look at Six.
“Not my fault really, like I had control over the situation, when crazy robot things, no offense Photon, attack you with flamethrowers you kind of lose interest trying to figure out how to control them and start figuring out how you are going to stop them from invading the settlement above them.” Six shot back as he waved a hoof at Photon apologetically, though the Prime just shrugged and shook his head dismissively.
The General only sighed, his expression unreadable now, as his attention had turned to focus on the two. “Become something more than a gang, because most who claim to perform the same duties do so out of invoking fear and requiring payment to protect not just from others, but from themselves as well. I’ve seen it far too many times, and killed far too many who have done this. Become something more, something like that which my sister and I joined. An order of Warriors, with a quest for knowledge and peace, the restoration, not just preservation, of your fellows.”
“They pay us by room and board, we need a place to sleep, they need ponies to protect them, simple as that.” Boss replied, his glare never leaving Six’s own.
“Six Shot, go find a place to brood.” Photon commanded, as he decided to test out his new form while Six did as he was told with little complaint, Boss merely rested his head on the floor and closed his eye.
Aleta walked along the inside of the Museum, deciding it would be best to stay inside but away from the others. She gazed upon the many aviation marvels that sat about, though many had evidently fallen from tethers that had been fixed to the roof. She eventually stopped in front of a massive passenger jet that had a stair trolley sitting next to it, if her databanks were correct this was one of only 14 Concords ever built, so she decided to venture up into it and take a seat in its worn yet still luxurious seating as she tried to process slowly all that had just happened.
Sylvia had been resting outside for a short while, her own mind consumed with complex thoughts that were trying to comprehend what she had just witnessed. Truly, though, it wasn’t even that which made her so dangerously close to needing to perform a force-shut down or go nuclear; it was purely the fact of the matter that someone had in fact managed to change her mind on her thoughts about sentient machines. Of course, she still loathed them, loathed herself; but deep within, she had come to tolerate them after seeing the way Photon had saved them.
This of course, she managed to get over after some deep thinking. Perhaps all machines weren’t untrustworthy, but that didn’t mean she still didn’t hate them or the idea of artificial intelligence. Some things will just never change. She smiled a little at that thought, as she rose from her sitting position and decided to go and explore for a bit.
Entering the museum once again at a different entrance, she knew that Kraelarch wouldn’t mind her curiosity as she took a look around. Finding a massive passenger plane, she admired it for a moment before deciding to go check out the inside. When she managed her way up into the inside, she stood a little crouched inside it as she observed the classical, to her, beautiful interior.
“Well, it’s not a good old Vertibird, but I must admit, I could imagine us making extensive use of these if we had them back in the Capital Wasteland.” She commented quietly to no one, before taking notice of Aleta also inside and sitting on one of the seats.
Tilting her head, she made approach, her armor’s damaged actuators hissing as they had yet to be repaired properly like she needed to do. Taking a seat on the opposite side’s chairs, several of them, she got comfortable on the soft cushioning before finally turning her head and looking to her fellow. “Got a lot on your mind?” She asked, softly.
“All RAM is currently running at maximum… I’m scared…” She replied as she continued to gaze out of the window of the plane at the many other crafts around it, trying to take her processor off of the current events, “I don’t think I can feel pain, but… I am finding it hard to even think now… and the humming.” She held a hoof to her head, “Please just make it stop.”
Sylvia’s eyes were downcast now, for she felt sorrow at the fate she too had suffered only moments before and couldn’t meet Aleta’s gaze as she thought deeply. She didn’t want to make use of her higher functions that her builder had implanted, for she had forsaken it long ago when Kraelarch had rescued her from him. After a brief time, she shook her head, before getting to her feet and moving over so she stood next to Aleta. Raising her mechanical armored fist, she extended it outward and claimed in it Aleta’s hoof before her eyes suddenly recalibrated to a solid grey. “Data sync beginning, initiate transference protocol Epsilon 9-Oh-8.” Her voice had changed from her own, now to resembling a monotoned, processed female voice, which was rather eerie as her mouth hadn’t moved when she’d spoken now.
When she finally removed her hand, the same voice concluded the protocol. “Data transfer complete. All functions nominal.” She shook her head, her eyes readjusting to their usual pupils as she suddenly felt dizzy and took a few steps back before collapsing in the chairs she’d previously occupied.
Aleta took a moment to move, a little shocked and yet at the same time relieved that the buzzing had stopped. She took a moment to silently check her systems before she turned her head to look at Sylvia, “Thank you so very much… I… Thank you.” Though she had no way to communicate emotion one could almost feel the gratitude radiating off of the ancient robot as she stood up and walked over to her savior, “Thank you so much, it was a complete system overload, had you not done whatever it is you did I wouldn’t be here any longer…” She then slowly gave Sylvia a hug before noticing that she wasn’t moving, “Um… Sylvia are you alright?”
“System functionality operating at one percent.” Her voice module responded, as she continued to vacantly stare ahead. “System higher functionality operating ninety-nine percent capacity. Time until full system restoration and reboot...unknown.”
“Um…” Aleta looked around as she absently scratched her hoof to her head, “Is there anything I can do to help?” She asked, not entirely certain as to what she could do, but willing to do anything it took.
“System repair requires additional processing power. System repair requires outside source of processing power.” She said, twice, in that same eerie voice without moving her lips.
“Got to find the port… port, port, power port… Aha!” Aleta took a moment to find it but eventually located it on the side of Sylvia’s neck.
Finding that it was surprisingly compatible with her own design she initiated the exo armor’s removal and used fingers that extended out of her right forehoof to take her jack and plug it into Sylvia’s.
“Okay… now what…?” Aleta started to question but suddenly jerked to the form of attention, “Okay, power transfer initiated, current level is at seventy percent, conclude this session at twenty remaining for safety purposes, after all half of my max power levels should be enough to at least give her a much needed boost.”
“System overdrive initiated, efficiency rating indicated. One-hundred and twenty percent increase in repair and reboot protocols. Estimated time of full restoration, now seven minutes.” Sylvia said, not phased in the slightest at all that was occurring to her as her eyes remained vacantly focused ahead.
“O...kay…” Aleta said, looking around a little and to her surprise finding a pack of old fashioned cigars, “The curator of this museum was a terrible pony to leave all this stuff around… wait… the rockets..!”
“System reboot commencing…” Sylvia blinked, once, twice, her eyes beginning to shift slightly as they changed colors several times before going completely dark. When they came back, she shook her head slightly, as if perplexed, before looking slowly over to Aleta and felt around her neck port which was still filled with the invasive cables of the one beside her. “Thank you for helping me…” She whispered, “But you don’t ever speak of this to anyone. Not a soul.” Her expression was stern, but she soon smiled slightly as she finally returned the embrace she had been given originally.
“Roger Roger, just remind me not to use my flight mode for a little while, it eats my battery.” Aleta replied in kind as she shared the hug before removing the port, “Don’t suppose I could get help putting my exoskeleton back on could I?” She asked, pointing to the fact that every hidden function down to her actual camera without the visor and exposed processor were currently unprotected and the exoskeleton itself was laying in pieces on the ground.
“It should be no more difficult than equipping my power armor… I see no reason why I could not help.” Sylvia nodded, getting up although she was surprisingly shaky and unsteady as though drained in some ways. She still smiled though, and moved to collect the pieces before carefully following the instructions she’s received for each individual piece.
When she’d finished helping, she stood again, and observed a moment as if pondering something before looking to a pouch secured at her waist and pulling out a small, cylindrical object that possessed a slight glow on one end and indicated it was a power source. “I make extensive use of these for providing power for my own systems as well as the armor I wear, they carry enough fuel to last for at least a century. Perhaps, if you want to later, I could make a few alterations so you’d be able to make use of my extra Fusion Cores.”
“Thank you for the offer, and the immense help, but I am solar powered, I just need to wait until the late Celestia’s sun comes out before I can recharge… Though I may take you up on that offer, as it seems better than a 33 hour battery life.” Aleta replied, at first moving to give another hug but stopping herself, “You’re probably tired of all the hugs, aren’t you?”
“I haven’t been shown affection in any sort of way like this since James died... “ Sylvia answered, looking away slightly as she put away the Fusion Core. “To be honest, it’s a fresh and welcome sensation, as it’s been ten long years since then…”
“Okay, well then have another hug, you look like you need it.” Aleta said as she stood on her hind legs which swiveled to allow her to walk only on them, her fingers came out of the forehooves and she wrapped Sylvia up in a great big hug, “Sorry, this kind of thing is an old Equestria concept that was abandoned apparently about two hundred or so years ago, now ponies just either shoot each other or pay each other.” Aleta gave a simulated yet flat toned laugh.
Sylvia’s arms returned the gesture, wrapping around the much smaller robotic pony and holding her close as she closed her eyes and sighed. Ages of memories seemed to return to her, the good, mostly, as she recalled her fellow Paladin James Wattz and the many times that had shared such affections before…
The thought brought a single tear to her eye, which was synthetic completely and could be told apart by its slight coloration difference as she shook her head and refused to think of the past. This was not James, this was not then, this was now, and she smiled as she looked down and reluctantly released Aleta. “I...I…”
“Hush, no words needed.” Aleta said as she nuzzled her new friend as any pony would have done in the old days, “Want to go for a walk?”
“Y...Yes.” She answered, shakily, “I’d like that very much.”
Aleta stared at her before realizing that she once again, had no mouth and could not smile, thus she settled for giving a sharp nod and turning on her hooves before falling forward into her normal posture on four legs as she walked down and out of the Concorde. “I think the space exploration section is just past the general aviation.”
“One of my most favorite subjects.” The Star Paladin said, following behind her and straightening up with a pop and snap of her spine which managed to elicit a sound of relief and general pleasure. “Been wanting to do that for at least a month…” She said, jumping off the ladder and landing on the ground with a heavy impact that cracked the concrete floor. “Lead on Aleta,” She said, rather enthusiastically.
“Okiedokielokie… Wow that sounds odd monotone, okay let’s go.” Aleta replied as she shook her head and began walking towards an aged display that showed a pegasus laughing at an earth pony who was sitting in a broken early bi-plane.
“That is very much so odd, admittedly the phrase itself is odd.” the audio was recalled from her data banks, and she shook her head and tried not to think of it as she observed the display. “From what I can see, nowadays that Pegasus wouldn’t be laughing. He’d be flying away in terror.” Sylvia chuckled at the thought, an earth pony in a massive plane chasing after such a small pony in comparison.
Author's Note
-Tempest
Okay so unplanned, and completely random… That is what I just passed Death here by and wow… 10k+ words of admittedly interesting story. I know it was as fun to write as it was for you to read. (At least I hope so) Story started off with me bouncing an idea off my good friend here, and then asking him a RP question, one of those “What if?” questions I am famous for, lol.
Anyways he’s waiting to talk and I am sounding like a salespony…
-Death
Not sounding like one, you are becoming one. Listen up everypony, don’t believe a word this guy says! He lies! He lies!
But in all seriousness though, it was good to write this, and I enjoyed every moment of the process. I also hope you all enjoy it as well as we create it, and feel free to ‘constructively’ review our work and let us know how we’re doing. Be sure to like and follow us, because you might just catch me trying to strangle this poor bastard one day…
-Tempest
…………. Um, somepony save me from the pony over here with the scythe and cloak………. PLEASE!
-Death
Sorry, nopony’s coming. I’ve got you all to myself… Or should I say, perhaps one of my characters you know very well has got you all to herself.
-Tempest
… Okay… You know I know how to turn her off, right? The power switch is CENSORED... CENSORED... CENSORED so she is really no problem, mind if I fight the hydra again though?
Yes folks this has happened before!
-Death
Too bad for you I remedied that problem a long time ago, she doesn’t have an off switch anymore. Only I know how and with what to use to do so, and I’m not going to be giving up that secret.
-Tempest
Well there is always my fire breath, she’s not fire proof you know… Though I’d much rather not kill her… Okay I’ll treat her and myself, to CENSORED… CENSORED…
Anyways, see ya everypony!
-Death
Yeah, we’ll be back, even though you told us not to come back because I Just DON’T BUCKING CARE!
