Commander Suit Simulator, Simulation 1-70V3-A11

“Gosh darn it Rainbow!” Applejack yelled angrily within her Command Suit as another wave of bombers descended upon her invading forces. “You were supposed ta’ be keeping the air clean, not rushing yer land troops!”

“I thought they wouldn't expect us to not focus air, and instead they would go full ground!” Came the startled reply over the comms.

“U-um, what should I do?” Fluttershy’s soft voice crackled into Applejack’s ears, almost unheard as a bomber scored a lucky hit on one of her Solar Generators, destroying it in an explosion of solar panels, metal, and fire.

“Don't worry there Fluttershy, yer doin’ mighty fine with the defenses. They’re th’ only thing keepin us from losin this here war.” Applejack replied, before a radar ping caused her to curse. “Celestia consarn it! A group of enemy troops have dropped in behind our lines!” She quickly moved her minimap to her front line, which consisted mostly of tanks. Said front line was currently under siege by a combination of bombers and assault bots. “Drat, ah can't spare any forces to go deal wit’ em. Rainbow, take some of yer spare robots and deal wit’ em before they cripple our metal supply!”

“I'm on it!” Rainbow replied, redirecting two squads of Peewees, supported by several Hammer bots, the blocky units waddling behind the Constructs as their cannons flipped open, ready to deliver a present of plasma to the enemy.

“Um, not to alarm you two, but some of my scouts just flew over a group of Retaliator Nuclear Missile Silos…” Fluttershy’s quiet voice interrupted, sending chills down her teammates spines.

“Rainbow! Get ta building a few Protectors immediately!” Applejack ordered, her eyes watching the skies for the dreaded missiles.

“Rarity, how are those nukes coming along?” Twilight asked as she launched another wave against the enemy’s seemingly impenetrable line. Dozens of Bulldog Heavy tanks rolled towards the enemy line, their bulky armor shaking as turrets attempted to pierce the heavy armor. The Bulldogs returned fire, twin cannons releasing plasma to destroy the opposition with the wrath of the sun. Behind the Bulldogs was a squadron of Penetrators, the mobile super-lasers lining up their aim with that of the Guardian turrets standing in their way.

“Quite close to being finished, dear. I’d say… another minute or so?” The fashionistas voice replied, sounding rather calm considering their surroundings. “However, a scout just flew past them, so the enemy knows they are there. Pinkie, could you construct some Samsons to guard the launchers? I'd hate for all of our hard work to go to waste.”

“Okiedokiloki! Also Twilight, the Big Bertha is ready to fire on your mark!” Came the cheerful voice of the Pink Party Pony. Twilight sighed in content.

“Alright, I'll have a target for you in a few seconds. Rarity, as soon as the missiles are complete, fire one at the coordinates I am sending to you now.” Twilight responded, highlighting a spot on her minimap and sending the information to Rarity with a few blinks of her eyes.

“Let's finish this battle.”

“Applejack! Something just took out our radar! We’re blind!” Rainbow shouted, and the farmer pony grimaced as the pegasus’ voice filled her ears.

“Expect a enemy air assault. Fluttershy, ah need five more turrets deployed at-” Applejack was cut off as a bright light flashed from Fluttershy’s base, two massive mushroom clouds rising from the new crater. “Fluttershy! Dammit Rainbow, git yerself out of your base! They've got nukes inbound!” It was the last thing Applejack said, before she noticed a missile appearing on her radar, heading straight for her. “Ah, buck.” She muttered, before she was enveloped in a blinding light.

“Gosh darnit, Rainbow! Ya was supposed ta focus air!” Applejack growled, jumping out of the simulator. The other members of her team crawled out of their chairs groggily.

“I told you! I thought they'd expect me to use air, so I decided to go ground!” Rainbow replied.

“Of course they’d expect ya ta do that! It's tha best option for our survival!” Applejack yelled angrily. The door to the room opened, and Twilight, Pinkie, and Rarity stepped into the room.

“Applejack, that was a commendable defense line that you had constructed. We had trouble breaking it.” Twilight said, eyes not breaking sight with the Orange farmpony. Applejack nodded, and Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash. “Dash, your team needed air, and yet you focused on a heavy ground force. Why?”

“Because I knew you'd expect me to go air, and would focus more on conquering it.” Rainbow repeated herself. Twilight sighed, shaking her head.

“And by doing so, you left your entire team open to enemy air raids, and forced Fluttershy to reduce her own productivity to compensate for the mistake you made.” Twilight remarked, causing Rainbow to flinch, her ears lowering. “If this was Invictus you were fighting, he'd have annihilated you all with a major air assault.”

“N-now hang on a minute there, Twi, we don't know fer certain that that is what woulda-” Applejack began, but Twilight cut her off with a glare.

“Invictus is a genocidal artificial Intelligence, Applejack. He would identify the weakness in your defenses, and act upon them without hesitation.” Twilight stated emotionlessly, before sighing. “We will take a thirty minute break, and then return to the simulation and start again. And make sure Rainbow actually does her job.” With that, Twilight left the room, leaving her friends in silence.

“What the buck’s her problem?!” Rainbow growled. “She's been pushing us too hard for this!”

“Now Rainbow, darling, remember. She's still getting over the fact that her parents are dead. We need to let her cope with it however she needs to.” Rarity reminded the cyan pegasus, who looked down.

“I know that, but dead family doesn't mean you push your friends to the brink of exhaustion!” Rainbow stated angrily. “We haven't left this place for a week, and some of us still have family they need to check up on!”

“We’re training to use these Command Suits, Rainbow. Invictus is still mustering his forces, and the Changelings have them other robots under their command! Equestria is facing the biggest threat it has ever seen, and we need to help defend it!” Applejack said. “Now, go take yer break. That's an order.”

Rainbow was about to say more, but Pinkie pulled her out the door faster than the others could blink.

“All y'all take yer breaks too. I'll be out in a moment.” Applejack said to the others. They paused, before all shuffling out the door.

Undiscovered West

Attempting to connect to CORE Command… ERROR, unable to connect. CORE Command unavailable. Distance from CORE Prime: ERROR. Navigational Data corrupted. Return to CORE Prime for new data. Date: ERROR. Time Tracker System has been deactivated for: ERROR. Time between reawakening and original deactivation unknown. Return to CORE Prime for new data.

If the CORE Commander could feel irritation, it would have destroyed one of its factories in anger. Why couldn't it contact CORE Command? Could something have happened to the CORE Consciousness? Impossible, the Commanders uncorrupted records indicate that the CORE was winning the war, with the ARM on the brink of annihilation. Perhaps the Commander was outside the communication range of the CORE Empire? If so, the Commander knew his objective: re-establish communications with the CORE Consciousness, and destroy the ARM Forces on-planet. Recognizing the word ‘objective’, the Commander attempted to remember what it's original mission was on this planet.

ERROR. Files corrupted.

The CORE Commander let loose a vicious and metallic growl, before turning towards his now fully functional base. His metal storage unit had been repaired, and most of his critical systems had been repaired as well. The Commander believed that now was the time to strike against the ARM, and had devised a multi-vector assault plan. As his forces moved to be loaded by the Valkyrie Air Transports, the CORE Commander continued to try to establish communications with anyone.

Then, as if by a miracle, something connected.

Invictus Command Base

Invictus watched his most recent invasion force enter through the teleporter, reviewing his current battle plan.

He had ordered a Fabrication Aircraft to travel to multiple points along the outskirts of several major defensive points guarding three cities, and planned to hit them all at once, disrupting the enemy Commander’s forces and forcing them to divide their army to deal with each assault.

“Operation Start.” Invictus intoned, sending the command to each assault bot and tank that had been sent to assault the cities, and the attacks commenced.

Author's Note

So, another chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed! I've been really lax with updating as of late...

It's summer and I have video games. Sue me.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I shall see you in the next one!