War, Friendship, and Crisis: The Tale of a Torn World

Act II: Searching for Friends

Three days have passed after the Dimesional Storm Incident, which was the name that GEST Corp. decided to dub the robotic invasion. Pinkie Pie's celebration party was a complete success, but three ponies were missing. Even though countless citizens of both human and pony origin finally met together in peace, the trio of ponies who saved Equestria twice were already feeling a lingering dread. Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity were not heard from ever since the demon attack on Ponyville. However, GEST Corp. announced that they discovered an Elements of Harmony member to the trio. No one knows who this member is yet, but Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie are off to find that out.

Twilight woke up this morning a tad bit more early than usual. If one of her three missing friends were discovered, then she is off to find out who. She decided to pack a few items and bring her saddlebags for this adventure. Instead of focusing on fighting, Twilight is going to discover what these creatures are and how their technology works. She donned her armor from the ED Space Station, ate a quick breakfast for the day, put on her communications chip, and waved Spike goodbye once again. She wasn't too worried of the library this time, as Spike already said that he can handle any business the treehouse receives.

When she opened the front door, she was immediately greeted by Princess Celestia. Oh no, Twilight thought in quick anxiety, what is she here for?

"Hello, Twilight," she said with a gentle smile. "I see you're off to save one of your friends, right?"

Twilight lost most of her anxiety, but not all of it. "Yeah, and I think this will be an amazing adventure this time." She remembered her old quest involving the artifacts. Her face suddenly shifted to panic. "No, I completely forgot!" She put her hoof to her head in frustration.

"What seems to be the matter?" Celestia asked in concern.

"I forgot about the artifacts in the Everfree Forest! Please forgive for that, and I'll promise not to do so ever again!"

Celestia shook her head as she noticed Twilight's urgency. "That's alright. All of us in these days are forgetting the past quickly, and that is necessary. These human soldiers are a great help, and they already recovered the artifacts. You don't need to worry about my needs anymore. Just focus on what is best for Equestria." She levitated a shiny stone towards Twilight. "I would also like you have this. It will be very useful if you ever encounter a deadly threat. Just toss the stone towards the enemy to activate its effects."

Twilight nodded and placed the stone in her saddlebags. After she bid a farewell to Celestia, she encountered her two friends. Rainbow Dash had two metal machines attached to her sides, and Pinkie was wearing spiked boots. "Uh, what are you two wearing now?" Twilight asked in curiosity.

"Nothing," Rainbow Dash started in her cockiness, "just these cool guns that those soldiers gave me. You should see how awesome they look when I fire them!"

Twilight scanned the two weapons and gave a look of confusion. "How do you even fire them?"

"They fire whenever I think about it. They're hooked up to this helmet, and the helmet is kind of hooked up to my head. The eggheads said that it's too complicated for me to understand, but I don't mind."

"I got these as a super duper upgrade to my old ones!" Pinkie shown off her new boots by jabbing at the air. "I bet those mean creatures will run if I have these on."

Twilight chuckled a little. "Yeah, hopefully. Now, does anypony know where we need to go?"

Rainbow Dash pointed southward. "Solk said we need to go to the Bad Lands. Apparently, the new mines that opened there are overrun with some monsters, and a link to one of our friends is over there too."

Twilight responded in a nod with a little fear. The Bad Lands? she thought anxiously. Well, at least the location isn't too foreign to me.

A drop ship slowly hovered down onto the ground. The back of it opened up as a pilot popped out and signaled the trio inside. "Come on, now," he said in slight haste, "the general's waiting for us to start the mission."

The three ponies walked, hovered, and hopped into the drop ship. As they settled onto their seats, the ramp closed back up and locked. The ship's engine roared as the thrusters burst end into flames. The ship rose into the air and flew southward.

•—————•

When the ship finally landed, the ponies found themselves facing a dead and rusty looking landscape. This was the Bad Lands, a land devoid of nearly all life. The few creatures that did live here were usually small or big and deadly. The trio left the ship and received a short period of static from their communications chips. Pinkie Pie finally obtained hers after the teleportation incident in the Crystal Empire.

"Hello, is everyone there?" Travis asked in nearly no worry. The trio answered with a yes. "Good, here's your mission." He cleared his throat as he began to tell the orders from Solk. "There's a recently built mineshaft in the west side of the Bad Lands. Some of the miners from both human and pony towns have started production on metals and jewels in that area, but they were chased out by some metallic monsters. We have barely any description on what they are, so this will be a surprise on both ends."

"What description do we have on these creatures?" Twilight asked.

"The only detail we got was that they were slim. So, expect slim machines in the near future."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the 'amazing detail'. She could glance at a tree in less than a second and tell most of the details on it. If miners can't describe a machine after seeing it for minutes at most, then why are they even mining?

The ponies began their journey into the Bad Lands. None of them were too afraid, and they toughened up from the last encounters they endured. As they traveled through the red rock and stone, they conversed about random topics. Rainbow Dash talked a bit about how she's the number one pegasus out of the rest, and Pinkie pointed out their attack and defense stats. Her technical words on weaknesses and leveling up confused and disturbed Twilight. Despite these awkward talks and gloats about power, the trio moved on unscathed. They eventually came across some shifting ground. Twilight's face wore one of worry and caution.

"I don't know what that is under there, but it can't be anything nice," Twilight stated in warning.

The ground shifted again as bony hooves and heads climbed out of the ground. Four skeletons, two human and two pony, carried various weaponry as they rattled in hostility. One of the ponies was a former unicorn, and it levitated a crossbow and a quiver full of bolts. The other wore ripped armor that shown glimpses of its ribcage. The one of the human skeletons in the back wielded a broadsword and a heater shield, and the other was cloaked in a dark robe. The robed skeleton conjured black flames from his hands, signaling that he was ready to attack. The other three shifted their places for a more strategic approach.

Rainbow Dash was the first to attack. She shot into the air and fired her new guns at the skeletons. The robed skeleton covered his group in a barrier of black shadows. When the shooting subsided, so did the barrier. The unicorn skeleton fired three bolts at Twilight. Two of them missed, but one was lodged in her armor. Pinkie evaded from the left side of the battlefield to the right over and over when she approached the group. The human skeleton warrior raised his shield and ran at her. He bashed her into the side of the battlefield to avoid any confrontation with her. Rainbow Dash slammed her hind legs onto the shield, faltering the skeleton's grip on the shield. The robed skeleton hurled black fire at Rainbow and damaged her soul. She crumpled onto the ground as she grunted in pain. There were no injuries, but she definitely felt the pain. The earth pony skeleton charged towards Twilight. He raised then slammed his bony hooves onto her barrier spell. Pinkie then jumped into and crushed the unicorn skeleton. When Twilight finally escaped the other pony skeleton's might, she hurled a few magic blasts at it, damaging the shambling monster.

The robed skeleton forged a wall of black fire as he conjured more black fire to slam into his opponents. Rainbow Dash got back up and finished off the human skeleton warrior with one last slam. The skeleton fell apart and lost its blue pupils from her sheer force. The unicorn skeleton's spirit finally gave up when its head was crushed by Pinkie's spiked hoof. She then moved on to the earth pony skeleton and diverted its attention away from Twilight. The skeleton let out a cold whimper as it kicked its front hooves into the air to prepare another charge. Pinkie hopped onto it and smashed the head with her front hooves. All that was left was the more reclusive robed skeleton. Twilight fired a magic blast at it, but the blast dissipated when it hit the black fire. The trio couldn't get too up close if they want to avoid the hungry flames of the darkness.

"I have an idea!" Pinkie shouted in confidence. "Twilight, go around the skeleton and fire from there. Dashie, fire at it from the sky. I'll distract it as much as I can."

Pinkie leaped into the robed skeleton's line of sight and zipped around frantically to cause it to miss as much as possible. The skeleton fired black fire in an attempt to damage her. Twilight fired at it from behind, so the skeleton shifted sides. Rainbow Dash fired at it from above, so the skeleton looked up and charged a stronger ball of black fire. The overwhelming attacks from the trio eventually destroyed its essence. The skeleton soon crumbled into a pile of harmless cloth and bones.

Twilight wiped her forehead as she puffed in slight exhaustion. "I don't think pony skeletons normally do that."

"They don't," Travis informed as he agreed to her statement. "I believe the human skeletons were influencing them in some way to make them fight back." He pondered the abilities of his universe's undead. "Many undead creatures that possess a great deal of magic usually puppet other corpses. This is exactly what our liches do whenever they attack."

Rainbow Dash tilted her head in speculation. "So that dark magic thing was a lich?"

"I'd say a weaker or developing lich," Travis answered. "Real liches are much nastier with their magic."

"We better prepare to fight monsters like that then," Twilight warned through her determined expression. She looked over to the other two ponies. "We better keep moving. If there are more in this area, it's best we avoid them at all costs."

The trio regrouped and continued their journey towards the mines. The once hostile bones rested quietly as they sank into the ground once again.

•—————•

The three ponies arrived to a small area where three mine entrances dug into the ground. Mine carts with various metals and gems littered the area. Lone pickaxes and shovels rested on walls and tables. Little evidence of lingering life existed, but there was one shifting shadow in one of the entrances.

"We need to go down that one," ordered Twilight. "If something is down there, we can investigate and find out what it is."

"Nice!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she grinned menacingly and pretended to knock out a few monsters. "We get to smash more freaks!"

"So, they're all bad?" Pinkie Pie said as she put a hoof up to her chin. "Are there any good monsters here and there?"

Twilight gave a certain and thoughtful look. "Possibly, but I doubt it. Not a lot of these creatures want to fight against their leaders or beliefs."

The trio proceeded down the mines in caution. The fire of the torches and smelting stations illuminated the corridors to an extreme. Shadows from all sides crawled along the paths as if they were wandering without a set direction. The three ponies prepared for any encounters, but they didn't appear yet. The ponies continued down the mines to find a collapse. The entire floor opened into a hollowed area under the tunnel, and and a huge pit blocked entry to the other side. Twilight noticed a lever all the way at the other end. She used her magic to flick the lever, revealing a metal pathway for the trio.

Right after she placed one hoof on the metal platform, a robotic scream filled the corridor. Two odd creatures crawled up to the ponies in haste. They walked on four sharp legs, had heads in the shape of spearheads, and were armed with unique weapons on their arms. The one on the trio's left was on fire and carried two flame cannons. The other was silver and carried dual wielding chainsaws.

"Agh, more organics!" shouted the chainsaw wielding robot in disgust. "Kill them before they taint this land!"

"Not on my watch," Rainbow Dash fiercely warned as she gritted her teeth. The first blow was an uppercut that sent the fire robot into a wall. At the same time she punished the machine, Travis realized who the machines were.

"These robots are called the craw." Travis informed in haste. "From the research we gathered, they prefer metal over flesh, and they'll kill anything that isn't a robot or a machine. You better be careful when they organize!"

The chain craw approached Pinkie Pie in an attempt to rip apart her legs. Pinkie dodged around the blade when the craw slashed it in her original position. Pinkie then punched the craw in its small head, badly damaging its optical sensors. The fire craw got back on its legs and blasted three fireballs at Rainbow Dash. She couldn't dodge them all successfully and started to burn to death. Her mane and tail caught on fire as the fireball engulfed her being. She flew around the corridor in fear and panic while looking for water. The fire craw laughed as her body roasted from the hungry flames. Twilight smothered the fire with her magic and slammed the fire craw into the pit below. The chain craw took a desperate swing at Twilight while shouting for reinforcements. Rainbow Dash shut the craw up by kicking its head off of its slender body. The craw fell to the ground as sparks bounced out of its neck.

Rainbow Dash readied her guns as she lowered herself into a pounce maneuver. "I know there's more coming for us. We better prep up for their next assault."

Five more craw scrambled around the corridor to aid the late fire and chain craw. Two looked identical to the already broken craw, but the other three were unique. Two of them were a neon yellow and crackled with electricity. Another hovered in the air with its propeller legs as it held two laser cannons. Rainbow Dash fired upon the crowd in an effort to reduce the number of enemies in the area. A chain craw eventually broke down from the absurd amount of blasts, and a lightning craw lost one of its arms from the blasts. Twilight activated her magical wave spell and damaged almost every craw in the area. The one in the air was untouched. The two lightning craw broke and fell apart after firing bursts of lightning at the trio. None of the lightning hit, so the fire craw prepared a deadly fire wall to slow the trio's progress. If this machine was about to become scrap, then why not delay their progress to allow better fortification?

The air craw rained down on Pinkie to slow her movement. She eventually hopped out of the corridor to avoid the line of laser blasts. The air craw shifted his position to gain a better view on Pinkie. He fired again, this time actually hitting her multiple times. Most of the shots were in her mane, but one grazed her armor. She retaliated with a speedy sprint towards the other side of the corridor. The air craw was getting annoyed with a constantly moving target, so it proceeded to aim for Twilight instead. She activated a deflection spell and shot back the lasers. The air craw fell into the ditch as it broke into multiple pieces.

"Argh, I need assistance!" the fire craw shouted in desperation. "They're breaching our defenses!"

The fire craw crawled away as it created more fire walls. It didn't escape too far though, as Rainbow Dash rained down laser blasts upon the craw. It fell apart and shut down right after the barrage began. Twilight cleared the fire with her magic, and Pinkie checked the downed craw for functioning machinery. Twilight ripped small pieces of the craw models to later study. She was quite fascinated with their design and fluid movement, and she wanted to figure out what parts allowed them to move like creatures. She eventually reunited with the other two ponies and moved onward. Rainbow Dash peered ahead for any more craw. She detected dozens of craw patrolling the deep mines. The entire room was so huge, but it looked like it was recently hollowed out. No mine would ever create an area this big if there was no ore in the vicinity, and that was exactly what this area was.

Some craw noticed the three ponies looking down at them and issued an attack. Several craw climbed up the wall and jumped onto the ledge. They immediately attacked the trio with their lightning, fireballs, chainsaws, and laser blasts. Twilight activated a barrier spell, but she didn't know if it can handle so much gunfire. Craw were everywhere now, and they pelted the barrier like a hailstorm with fire and laser blasts.

Travis stared at the sight in horror. "How the hell are you three going to fight all of them off? I can't even keep count of them all!"

Rainbow Dash acquired an idea. "I know what to do. If I charge up my guns and fire into the crowd, I can mow them down very quickly."

"Well, you better do that very soon!" Twilight said as she strained under the resistance from the craw. "I can't handle all of this firepower!"

Rainbow Dash primed her guns and signaled Twilight to drop the barrier. Even though Twilight was relieved to deactivate her spell, she thought it was insane to lower their only defense. When the spell faded, Rainbow Dash ripped through the crowd. Entire lines of craw crumbled into scrap and explosions as the lasers tore through their metal. Nearly nothing was left functioning when she ended her mass genocide. The commander craw on the other side of the room slowly walked through an active portal to escape what it had witnessed. An entire battalion of craw just fell apart from one pony, and that commander did not want to face it alone.

A few surviving craw followed the commander's lead and retreated through the portal. The trio huffed and puffed from the carnage they created. "That, that was insane!" Twilight shouted while she paused to catch her breath. "That idea, could've destroyed us, but it somehow worked!"

"That's because, they reload when I, don't need to," Rainbow Dash said through her heavy breathing. "Also, that was, a lot of fun!"

"Now, I know that, I love fun and tend to, find it a lot," Pinkie responded while also recovering, "but how do you, find that so much fun?"

Rainbow Dash smirked through her breaths. "You'll know, whenever you get a gun."

•—————•

A commander craw hastily crawled up to a communications terminal. The halls that it was traversing were pure metal, and any windows that granted the beauty of the sky shown multiple ships and clouds. Some of these ships were small and fast, but a few of them were slow and gargantuan dreadnoughts. Light panels were evenly spaced on the ceiling, but only some of them were currently on.

The frightened craw spoke into the terminal in haste. "Captain, we need to strengthen our defenses! Three equine invaders are about to shred everyone in this ship to scrap metal!"

A digital and gruff voice responded back. "What equines? You mean the ones that look like our most recent prisoner?"

"Yes, those ones!" The com craw hastened his words as if they were sprinting in a race. "If we don't activate the main security soon, we'll all perish! I just watched one of them destroy my entire battalion!"

The captain's voice lowered to a calm but fearful tone. "May the Ancients bless us with valor in this encounter. If they are coming to our ship, then they must want our prisoner. I have specific plans for that girl, thing, so do not let any of them reach the cell sector. This will be a tough battle, so arm yourself and your comrades with everything you need."

"Yes, captain!" The com craw scuttled over to a nearby weapons station. Oh, what am I to do? the craw thought in panic. I don't know how our soldiers can fight off these things successfully, but I'll have to give it my all. It's better to die as a warrior than a coward in a bunker.