The Lightning Seven: Equestrian Wanderers

Chapters

The spark in the night sky
With new friends comes enemies
The invasion
The road to acquaintanceship
Crazy Clam Calamity
The long Journey ahead
Slithering Claws of the mountain
Some R & RvB *Break Chapter*

The spark in the night sky

In the streets of Canterlot a lone pony was wandering the usually busy streets, the moon only giving off an alienating feeling as the cold air was getting to her. It was only until a sudden clang get her attention, "Oh thank goodness, I thought you were something else." She thought before taking a second look; it wasn't a pony she was talking to...it was something larger, something threatening, cat-like in nature.

The creature before the mare wheezed as a small symbol on its chest glowed. Something was weird...it began to sing as if he had never even heard the pony in front of it, "Buried in the wisdom of her years, she know how to dry up a bay of tears. Creatures across Equestria, honor Princess Celestia." The pony was slightly unsettled by the eerie singing, but all her fears began to scream out when the shadow spoke, "Such a lovely piece for this world's leader isn't it?" It asked, its voice growly almost as if he was talking through a metal can, "But rest assured, I am not here to praise Celestia...but to BURY her!" The shadow quickly grabbed the mare before she could escape, "And no one is going to stop me from achieving that goal, not you or anyone else!" Suddenly without warning he crushed the mare's throat until she stopped moving, he soon let out a blood curdling roar that could make the bravest guard cower in their armor.

Luna screamed in fright, shooting awake in her bed. She looked around, seeing nothing, no shadows with a thirst for blood, nothing but the sound of rain and thunder going on outside of her room. Shivering, she put her head under the covers and began to sob. A few moments later, Celestia trotted in, her elegant, flowing mane disheveled. "Luna? Luna what's wrong?" she asked. Luna, startled, looked up at Celestia, and began sobbing again. Celestia, concerned, went to her sister's side and hugged her tightly. "Shh, shh, it's okay... I'm here for you..." Luna tried to speak, but could only sob. Celestia frowned, worried for her sister, whispering comforting things to her, trying to calm her down.

What could have scared her this much? She thought. When Luna finally calmed down, she managed to get her to speak.
Luna sniffled. "There was this... I guess you could call it a living shadow, a shadow looking much like a cat coated in metal ,that had a goal to hurt you, it showed no mercy to our subjects..." She broke down sobbing again.

Celestia was stunned, to have such a dark dream... It sounded more like a vision. And that feline shadow; quite a thing to see in a dream. She needed to study this... As she looked down at her sister, who was still snuggling up against her, crying, she amended her last thought.

After she's calmed down and gotten some sleep, I'll study this... Celestia thought. She looked up at the stars, and sighed. "Please... Let nothing bad happen... But if it does, let my sister be safe..." As if in response to her wish, a bolt of lightning flashed in the dark night sky. She wondered a little about that, and then dismissed the thought immediately. Her sister was much more important...

A few days later in a field outside of Ponyville

A gray, cross-eyed pegasus, enjoying her day off from work was bouncing around a plush squeaky muffin that had been made for her. (She liked it because she could play with it without wasting a perfectly good muffin.) She blinked, and looked over at the clock tower. Nodding, she decided to keep playing with the toy, "I still have a little time before I have to pick up my daughter from school," she happily said, "More time for old Derpy Hooves to have fun."

She began playing with her toy for a few minutes more when she started to hear some voices arguing. She listened in carefully, slowly making her way to the source of the voices. As she got closer, she began to notice details. For one, they weren't even ponies at all, they looked more like normal animals but standing on their hind legs. For another, there seemed to be only one female, she seemed to be the main one arguing with the creature in a suit of armor. Finally getting close enough to see them more... they were even stranger thans she had ever thought.

One of the figures was HUGE, a giant hulking alligator even bigger than the princesses themselves, with eyes of burning amber; he was dressed in nothing more than well worn denim and a tank top with a lightning bolt on it. He stood protectively near a small chameleon dressed in long gold and white robes with the same lightning bolt symbol on the ends of his stole, he had a yellow horn at the end of his nose and carried a staff with a large collection of crystals at the end of it. A frustrated looking mole with dark grey fur, wearing some weird metal gloves, blue work vest, and goggles, stood nearby, looking like he had a headache from all the arguing. One of the others in the midst of the argument was trying to break it up, a platypus with a sash across his eyes (sending the message to her that he was blind), dressed up in some foreign clothes and helmet trying to keep the two arguing figures from trying to kill each other. The girl of the group looked about the collection of figures, she seemed to be a road runner wearing more sleeker clothes as if she was going out for a run soon; her shoes were weird, on each side where her wings were there were round disks on the heels like some kind of weird roller skates, she looked as if she was going to lose it temper wise as her face grew bigger with anger and annoyance. The creature she was arguing with seemed to be fish like dressed up in a giant suit of armor, but it had lights and wires popping in and out. The last of the seven she noticed was an owl with some helmet and goggles that seemed to be straight out of a science fiction movie, it looked like he was scoping out the area, but with the grass nothing could really been seen.

Derpy cocked her head, trying to make sense of this. The only real commonality she could sense between them was the lightning bolt symbol on their clothing, and the fact they were all bipedal animals. Curious, she moved forward, hunkering down in the nearby tall grass, inching closer to try and get a better listen.

"And because of your idiocy we're stuck in who knows were!" The road runner shouted.

"Again...here we go." The mole said as he clasped his head ready for what felt like another hour of bickering.

"Come on guys can't we just stop with the fighting?" The chameleon asked, "We aren't getting anywhere with this."

"NO ONE ASKED YOU!" The bird shouted, "I know what I'm doing better than tuna breath over here so we head to who or whatever rules this rock and demand we go back home!"

"For the love..." The mole sighed, "Razor if we did that now we'd probably get blasted on sight!"

The one called Razor hissed out her response, "Like you'd know anything four eyes, if we'd sit around doing nothing we'd-"

"Still be doing just fine." The blind one remarked, "Scalor and Circuit have been doing just fine leading us around this place."

The owl's eyebrows raised up for a moment, Derpy not noticing that the bird of prey had already noticed her, "Guys..." He said trying to get the attention of his team, but they just continued the arguing.

"If it was up to me then we'd be in an actual town!" Razor shouted, "But instead we have jut been stuck in the woods with nothing to actually live on, now if you guys don't mind I say I'm in charge!"

"Guys..." The owl repeated showing a frown on his face.

The gator quickly spoke up, "Not to sound rude Razor, but you...tend to make a bad impression. All we're saying is that maybe our actual leader should be the one to take the first step."

Razor just growled, "I guess you're right, but I ain't gonna like it."

The owl sighed, "That's great guys. Now that you're done blabbing about, maybe you'll actually listen to me when I say that there's someone here that's been watchin' us for the past few minutes."

Everyone turned to where the owl pointed, Derpy yelped in fright. She wanted to run, but she felt paralyzed with fear, and could only stare at the seven odd creatures with fright, Oh Derpy, what did you get yourself into now?

Author's Note

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter. This is essentially my equivalent to a DC reboot (only not terrible.), but it only affects the Lightning Seven, their world and other actual backgrounds of the other worldly characters of their world.

Other than that thank you and have a nice day.

With new friends comes enemies

Derpy looked scared at the group, not knowing what was going to happen. The alligator was the first to look down and scare the pony with his heavy breaths, "Uh...hi." He said before the grey mare ran off in fear leaving the seven figures in the dust.

"So much for keeping everything secret." The armored fish said annoyed.

"Well be that as it may, we need to stay calm and not panic, we were going to be exposed sooner or later." The mole said adjusting his back pack.

Back in Ponyville

Derpy was flying like there was no tomorrow as she was hoping those things were not chasing her. She saw a winged purple pony talking to five other ponies and thought of this as her safe zone, "Princess Twilight!" She shouted before crashing into the group.

"Derpy, what's up?" The rainbow haired pony asked, "I thought you were off today."

The crossed eyed pony looked up, "I am, but that isn't important now, I saw something scary!"

"The cost of muffins at Sugar Cube Corner?!" The pink pony asked, "I tried to make the prices reasonable, but there wasn't anything I could do!"

Derpy's eyes widened, "No...but that only makes this worse. I saw seven strange creatures on the border of town!"

"What kind of creatures?" Twilight asked she summoned a book, "Maybe I can identify it."

"Well one of them was a giant fish in a suit of armor, and another one was a giant alligator on two legs, and an owl with some weird looking metal tubes on its back." Derpy continued describing each figure making the group look at each other with both uncertainty and worry.

Twilight sighed as she teleported the book away, "Well it seems like this is something beyond my comprehension...I'll have to alert the Princesses about this." With that Twilight began to write out a letter, "Dear Princess Celestia. I hope this letter finds you and your sister in good health, and that she is feeling better after that terrible nightmare you mentioned in your last letter to me. Everything is going just fine down here in Ponyville, but I have a very important request to make. Recently, there was an alerting report of seven strange creatures on the borders of the town. According to the report, these creatures are not even native to our world! There was talk of fish surviving on land in a suit of armor and animals talking and walking on their hind legs. They seem to and be far beyond my comprehension, and I was wondering if you and your sister could us in this situation. Signed, your loyal student, Twilight Sparkle." She then sent it off in a puff of smoke knowing it would reach Canterlot in no time.

Canterlot

Celestia looked over her books of monster lore, trying to find anything similar to the figure that Luna had described in her dream. Luna herself was busy with an abacus, doing various calculations in her head as she looked over some figures on a chart. Merely moving the abacus beads around seemed to have a calming effect on Luna, Celestia noticed. She smiled softly, glad that her sister seemed to be feeling better, her terrible nightmare nothing more than a bad memory...

"Nightmares..." she said softly, looking out over the villages and towns below her. Specifically, towards Ponyville, where her prized student Twilight Sparkle resided. She felt a shiver of fear for her go through her, and decided to focus on her studies. She was surprised a moment later, however, when a scroll appeared before her in a flame of green flame that she recognized. "Oh!" Celestia said, startled.

Luna turned to her, frowning. "Sister, what is it?"

"A letter from my student," she said, "A little early for one, though..." She thought about it for a moment and shrugged, her horn glowing as she opened the scroll and read it. She frowned, a worried expression coming to her face.

Luna stood up, concerned. "Please sister? What is it?"

"The lightning bolt that fell from the sky..." Celestia said, her voice one of wonderment. She turned to Luna, a thought occurring to her, "Luna, get ready. We're going to Ponyville."

Luna blinked. "Why?"

"Something major has happened," Celestia said, "I need us both to be there, just in case it's too powerful to handle for Twilight alone."

Back at Ponyville

"She's coming, thank goodness..." Twilight said as she had just received a response letter.

Eventually the seven ponies gathered at Twilight Sparkle's castle, just as a royal carriage had arrived, Twilight and her friends quickly bowing as Luna and Celestia disembarked.

"Princess Celestia," Twilight said, "It's so good to see you again."

"As it is good to see you once again, Twilight Sparkle, but I am sure you are wanting to solve this mystery as fast as possible I assume?" Celestia asked looking at the ponies.

Twilight turned to Derpy and signaled her, "Oh right!" The grey mare said, "I saw seven strange figure outside of town near the clock tower, but I ran off before anything actually happened."

"Do you know the exact location?" Luna asked.

"I told Princess Twilight." Derpy said, "I would like to come along, but I need to pick up my daughter from school." With that she took off in a hurry.

The group had eventually walked off to the field Derpy had described and to their surprise there was nothing there. "Why would she lie to us like that?" Twilight asked, "It isn't like Derpy to just make things up like that, especially when she was acting so paranoid."

Suddenly there a loud cough coming from the trees, "Well I guess whatever Derpy was talking about is smart." The rainbow maned pony said. The group looked around the bushes until pushing through them to see the fish creature Derpy had described.

The group screamed in utter shock of what was before them and to even greater surprise the creatures were screaming in shock too, "Please don't eat us!" The pink pony shouted, "Pony tastes bad!"

"Don't try to recycle me!" The fish shouted, "This armor is too awesome to be made into soda cans!" The screaming went down after they noticed that both sides were scared of each other.

Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath as she inched up towards the creatures, "H-Hello there..." She said nervously, "I am Twilight Sparkle..."

"Isn't that a type of deodorant!" A voice sounded behind the bushes before being sushed.

The fish rose out of the bushes and simply just towered over the ponies, he was almost as tall as the princesses if not a head shorter, "My name is Scalor." The fish replied.

"Well it is nice to get introductions out of the way." Celestia replied, "I am Princess Celestia, and this is my sister Luna." The blue pony nodded at the mentioning of her name.

"And these are my friends." Twilight said motioning her wing towards the five other ponies, "Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy." The five ponies nooded as their respective names were called out. Scalor motioned his fin towards the bush to reveal the other creatures Derpy had described.

"And I welcome you all to the rest of my team." Scalor said as each figure introduced themselves.

"I'm Slash, the teams Muscle." The gator said flexing his arms, "And the team's cook and personal wrecking ball."

"I'm Kooker." The chameleon said, "Slash's brother and the teams spiritualist."

"Razor's the name," The roadrunner said flatly, "Team speedster, scout, close range fighter..."

"And designated party pooper." Scalor added with a smug grin before Razor smacked the fish's face hard.

"Outlook reporting for duty!" The owl shouted almost the same way the princesses royal gaurds would, "Team demolition expert, recon flyer, and living shield." He said hitting his helmet.

The platypus knelt down to greet the group, "My name is Dice Shappukatto, but please just call me Dice. I am swift with my sword in hand, but like the early spring breeze I am gentle." The feeling of mystery gave the group a chill down their spines as the sash around his eyes made it unsure for them if he was truly looking at them or not.

"And I am Circuit Breaker," The mole said adjusting himself with all the equipment on his back, "I'm the team's technical expert, pleasure to meet you all."

The group looked upon the seven of them and gave off a smile, but it was an uneasy one. After a moment, Celestia asked, "Do you know how you got here?"

"'I am afraid not, your Majesty," Scalor said, shaking his head, "About five days ago, we were just minding our business and suddenly we got pulled into the sky. Next thing we know, we're crashing down from high up. And when we wake up in the middle of the woods!"

"The lightning bolt in the night sky..." Celestia said, mainly to herself.

"...Excuse me?" Circuit asked.

Celestia shook her head. "I may have witnessed your arrival in this world without knowing..." She hesitated a moment, and asked, "You've seemed to be eager to tell me your...'descriptions' of what you do, is there some particular reason to why exactly?"

Uh oh... Scalor thought. Do they suspect? Deciding to try and cover their job description up in rose colored glasses, he said, "Back on our home world, we are a private fighting team known as the Lightning Seven hired by anyone in high positions of power such as diplomats, politicians, and kings. We mainly follow the orders given to us by our employers, while also going against rival fighting forces through out our world."

"Do not lie to me," Luna said bluntly.

The other ponies save for Celestia, who had the same suspicions, seemed surprised . The BLU members just cringed, trading worried looks, realizing they had been caught.

"Princess Luna," Scalor tried, "I assure that..."

"My power is based in darkness," Luna said, "It grants me the ability to see through any and all shrouds. Including shrouds upon the truth. I can accept that you may have been pulled here against your will. But I will not accept being lied to... and I will not allow any harm to come to this world because of a lie" Luna said softly, but with conviction. Celestia smiled warmly at the declaration before turning her gaze on the gathered Lightning Seven members.

Scalor frowned, and began idly playing with his thumbs, his expression going icy. Razor growled angrily. Slash's eyes narrowed, and Kooker sighed wearily, as if expecting this. Outlook began shifting nervously as if restraining himself from taking off, but knew he wouldn't forgive himself for abandoning his team; as Dice supposedly returned the cold icy stare that Luna was giving off. Circuit grumbled inwardly, going through countless calculations in his head, trying to figure a way out of this, trying to ignore the worried looks Twilight Sparkle and her friends were giving them.

Eventually Outlook sighed as he looke up at Scalor, "Just tell her everything, dude. There's no point in trying to come up with a dumb cover story."

Scalor frowned at him. "...If I must."

Outlook nodded. "No reason to lie when someone already suspects the truth, besides this is making me very uncomfortable."

Scalor sighed, his expression turning cold. "Very well..." His voice becoming monotone almost robotic, "The seven of us are a specialized team of mercenaries. Each one of us a killer, even Kooker," he said, the other ponies gasping. Scalor nodded. "Our world has many mercenary team in specific skill sets or special abilities such as being knights of an old order to simply using fire based weaponry; ours is mainly set in the thought of morality, but also electricity. It is...tough living on our world as most of the planet that isn't occupied with a city or settlement is filled with hostile creatures and hazardous environments that many weaker citizens would only dare to venture through."

The ponies looked at the Lightnings in shock at the information that the fish had just given them. Circuit sighed, "We don't have any beef with this world, and we don't want to cause any trouble. If you can help us get along home, we'll gladly be on our way."

Celestia and Luna traded looks. "I... I appreciate your honesty," Celestia said hesitantly, "And can respect your desire to leave without causing problems."

The seven of them looked up at her hopefully, their expressions almost pleading. Celestia felt her heart breaking as she spoke again.
"But... I don't know if I can help you at all," Celestia said. The faces on the Lightning Seven members fell. Celestia bit her lip and continues. "I truly wish I could help, but I don't know the first thing about transportation magic that has the capacity to transport all seven of you to a world that I don't even know about. And even if I did, even Luna and I working together wouldn't have enough power to open a gate. It requires more power than even the two of us and most likely all of the unicorns on Equestria together have."

"Man..." Outlook said softly, his head drooping. Dice kicked the ground, a look of intense frustration on his face despite the sash. Slash and Kooker just stared at her, their expressions a mix of disappointment and fear. Razor began growling, Circuit taking her aside and whispering to her harshly, trying to get her to calm down. Scalor sat down, a contemplative look on his face
"I am truly sorry," Celestia said, frowning. "I can look into other means of getting you home, but it will take some time for the research to be done..."

Circuit managed to smile weakly. "It's... fine. We..."

Pinkie Pie suddenly began shivering, bouncing up and down sporadically. The five ponies excluding the princesses about her suddenly became worried.

"What's wrong?" Kooker said, "Is something the matter?"

Twilight, even though accepting it long ago, could not believe she was about to say, "Pinkie Pie has... this ability to sense when things are coming. It often manifests itself as a twitching. A fully body twitching means that a real 'doozy' is coming..."

"A really big BAD doozy!" Pinkie said, shivering in fear. The Lightnings suddenly looked around, worried.

The Lightnings were not prepared to accept the presence of magic fully. Their world was more in the realm of technology and even if there was magic it was mainly based in cheap parlor tricks and phony 'magicians'. But out of all they have faced from world eating titans, beings of the underworld, and even gods themselves; this sounded just silly.

"You've got to be kidding me!" They all chorused.

And that's when the screaming started.

The invasion

Everyone ran in the direction of the sound. It was a guttural scream, with more fear in it than any of the native ponies had ever heard. Ponies were running around in panic, fearful for their lives. And there was a strong scent of blood in the air.

"Guards!" Celestia commanded, "Go, help as many as you can! We will be along shortly!" The two guards ran off, and Celestia turned to the gathered Lightnings, "I have no right to ask you this after my admitting my inability to help you, but whatever this is, I may need your help. I would like to commission you to help stop whatever is doing thi-AAGH!"

From the roof of a nearby building leaped a monstrous figure, slashing with dark claws. They tore into Celestia like a savage beast tearing into wounded prey.

"SISTER!" Luna cried. Applejack kicked the creature as it reared up for another attack, her bucking strike knocked the creature back into a nearby wall. Luna, furious, turned her magic on the creature, freezing it in place and coating it in a layer of ice. All the while Celestia gagged, staggering from the attack. Twilight was at her side, trying to remember a healing spell. Before either she or Luna could react, Kooker was at Celestia's side. A beam of green energy emitted from the staff he was carrying, as the others watched at the small lizard, Celestia's wounds healed rapidly, every scar faded away as if the damage was never caused.

"How...?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"I am not the team's spiritualist for nothing." Kooker said with a huff of pride, "The staff I carry is embedded with multiple crystals that help in many situations, healing battlefield injuries is just the main one I use. However I cant just use this over use this power...otherwise I start hurting myself with the overload of soul energy" Kooker explained as he clenched his chest as handling royal injuries was not something he was prepared for.

"It's a useful ability," Celestia said, Luna and Twilight helping her to her feet. She went over, ignoring the protests of her sister and student to rest. "What... What is this?" Celestia asked.

This isn't native?" Outlook asked, confused.

"It... It looks like a wolf," Rarity said, "But... different somehow."

The others looked at it. It did indeed resemble a simple pack animal, but horribly corrupted. Black liquid oozed from its mouth, its claws and some of its body was replaced by metal. The eyes were massive pools of crimson, the scent of rot and oil on its breath.

Luna stared at it, her eyes glowing for a moment. "Whatever it was before, it's not now. This creature, and most likely the others, has been corrupted beyond recovery, "Beyond that, the most I can tell from it is that its a scout, and the main force hasn't arrived yet. Its mind has long since been destroyed beyond basic instincts..." she said, Celestia nodding in agreement, getting the same sense from the creature.

Slash snorted, rearing up and bringing his fist down, crushing the creature's head. It exploded like a wet sack, splattering in a mass of black goop, startling the Equestria natives. "Then we will crush these freaks, and protect whoever is in the crossfire!" he rumbled.

"Commission accepted, Princess," Scalor said, running off as his armor clanked and bashed into the distance.

"Anything to take our minds off of the situation," Outlook added, taking to the air.

"CHARGE!" Razor bellowed, running back into town, the others following behind.

Celestia turned to Twilight and her friends. "You six help as many ponies and animals as you can get to safety. Luna and I will aid in the battle." Both princesses took off, rising high into the air. They spotted Kooker helping with the ponies that had been injured by the scout's attack. And as it turned out, they arrived just in time. The rest of the corrupted wolves had arrived.

Snarling and slavering, they burst from underground, like demons from Hell. Thirty corrupted wolves, turned monstrous by whatever it was that transformed them. They attacked indiscriminately, tearing into buildings and chasing down ponies. But they quickly found themselves with greater resistance than they expected.

Razor had pulled out a small disk from her backpack; pressing the button turning it into a large golden shield with blades at the end of each panel. She quickly ran about with the weapon in hand literally tearing into the corrupted beasts. A crazed, blood-thirty expression was on her face as she fought, snarling like the beast she was slaughtering. Dice, gripping his sword tightly was across from the bird a fallen fiercely slashing wolves left and right.

Slash bellowed as he slammed headfirst into a crowd of wolves, the titanic alligator scattering them like bowling pins. He managed to pin one to the ground and crush its head, like he did before. He barely noticed the slashes he received, Kooker, who was dashing back and forth between his teammates, healing any injuries they received. A wolf-beast attacked Kooker, its corrupted, savage mind thinking him an easy target because he was a mere healer. But Kooker just lunged forward, head-butting the beast with his horn, jamming his horn in its neck, killing it instantly.

"Talk about a pain in the neck." Kooker quipped, dashing off to help the others.

Outlook was darting back and forth between beasts, taunting them mercilessly and knocking them about with small explosives, luring them into Slash, Razor, and Dice's reach. Scalor rushed in with his weapons firing on all cylinders leaving most of the beasts as piles of dust, while others were left staggering open for Outlook's explosives. Celestia and Luna looked amongst the assault themselves joining the battle, their powerful magic tearing into the wolves.

Circuit tried to fight, but found himself outmatched. He was thrown off of the Wolves he was attacking, and ended up crashing into Rarity's shop as she was barricading the windows. The ponies that had taken refuge there screamed in fright, relaxing only a little when they noticed it was just Circuit.

"Oh dear," Rarity said, rushing to his side. "Are you all right?"

Circuit winced as he pulled himself to his feet. "Just a bit shook up, ma'am," he said, "And a little annoyed that I don't have any of my machines or tools to work with. Fighting directly like this is more up the alley of my team..."

He looked around, noticing the abundance of gems, he began some calculations in his head, and grinned. "Ma'am?"

"Rarity, darling," the white unicorn said, smiling warmly, appreciating that he was being gentlemanly even in this situation.

Circuit nodded. "I need to borrow some of your gemstones for a sec. I got an idea," he said.

Rarity blinked. "My gems?" she asked, confused. She looked out, hearing the screams and the roars of the corrupted wolves. She looked back, a resolute expression on her face. "If it will help stop these monsters from hurting anyone, then you may make use of anything in my shop," she said resolutely.

"Much obliged, Miss." Circuit said, his gloves glowed telekinetically grabbing all the gems, as well as a few beams and reflective surfaces. He tore off some of the gems out of the rather elegant dress that was under construction, Rarity flinching as her work was torn apart.

"That... was something you were still working on, wasn't it?" Circuit asked, noting her reaction as he was just going about with his idea.

"Yeees..." she whimpered.

"I'll try make it up to you, I promise," Circuit said; a blueprint was forming in his mind as he began to build, "But first, let me get this done..."

The work went quickly, Rarity returning to boarding up windows as Circuit built his device. A shell of reflective surfaces was formed around the gems, which were clustered inside in intricate patterns which Rarity thought were quite lovely. Spare wooden beams formed a type of support for the...cylinder... whatever it was.

"Will this contraption really help?" Rarity asked.

Before Circuit could answer, a wolf burst into the store. Rarity and the hiding ponies screamed in fear as the creature bellowed...
...but Circuit just smirked. "Hope you like the taste of hard light."

He placed the cylinder on his glove. It created a ball of energy and fired it. The energy ball bounced around the reflective surfaces, passing through the gems and growing in strength until it passed out of the barrel, becoming a thick beam of intense heat and light that vaporized the wolf, leaving only a black smudge.

"Wow..." Rarity said.

Circuit nodded, lifting up the power boosting device to head back into the fight, "Ma'am, I'm truly sorry about using up your supplies like that. I'll do what I can to make it up to you," he said, before rushing out.

Rarity couldn't tell what was weirder, that the mole before her had such powerful technology like that, or the fact she was saved by a three foot mole.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Rainbow Dash wasn't one to run away. She was terrified, certainly (not that she'd ever admit it out loud), but she wasn't about to back off. She would distract wolves that were closing on ponies, luring them over to the fighters as Outlook was, relying on her speed to keep her out of reach of the vicious claws. She wished she could do more, though.

Outlook eventually came up to her, "Hey, Skittles." he said.

"It's Rainbow Dash," she huffed.

"Right...right." Outlook said, "Is there anything you flying type ponies do?"

"We're called pegasus ponies, and yeah." Rainbow Dash said, nodding, "We control weather, but I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Is there a way I can shoot stuff with lightning?" The owl asked.

"What good will that do..." Rainbow Dash started, but even as she said it, she realized that she didn't have any better ideas. Glancing down at the others to see if they were all right, she nodded and led him up to a nearby gray cloud. She briefly explained how Pegasus ponies could move the clouds and trigger lightning, Outlook perching on the cloud as she spoke. He quickly grabbed another cloud and turned it into a crude seat, and started making a clear area in the dark cloud.

"What are you doing?" Rainbow Dash asked, darting about anxiously, "Our friends our down there!"

"Patience," Outlook said, "Just because I tend to be meticulous even in the heat of battle doesn't mean I'm not thinking of my teammates." Outlook stared down through the clear area staring into the crosshairs of his weapon, he muttered to himself, slowly signaling Rainbow Dash to strike the cloud, soon enough there was a crackle of thunder, and a lightning bolt laced bullet rained down through the sky, striking several wolf beasts in an electrical circuit. The electrical surge was too much for them, causing their heads to explode with energy.

"...Wow," Rainbow Dash gasped, stunned.

Outlook nodded, "Slight delay before firing," he muttered, "But I can try to compensate for that. These things aren't that fast..." He took aim again, firing another lightning fused bullet that exploded another head of a wolf that had cornered Dice.

"That is... REALLY disturbing and REALLY cool at the same time," Rainbow Dash said, chuckling nervously.

Outlook just smirked. "All part of the job. No one hurts my pals while I've still got two good eyes."

Rainbow Dash giggled, appreciating the sentiment...before noticing the bird signaling her to help move the cloud.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Fluttershy was trying desperately to herd some of the animals away, whimpering to herself as the Lightnings, Princesses, and the wolf-beasts fought overhead. She led them through a carriage parking area beneath the mayor's office, trying to keep them safe from the battle and get them out to the forest. But as she made her way through, gently herding the critters through, whispering calming things to them and just barely keeping the fear out of her own voice, a pair of beasts came in, drooling and roaring. Fluttershy shrieked, paralyzed by fear, as the corrupted canines came in, roaring savagely...

Only to be knocked over like bowling pins as Slash charged in, bellowing. One was knocked into a nearby coach, knocked senseless, as Slash tackled the other one, charging forward and slamming it into a wall, the creature's spine audibly breaking. He snorted, and turned his attention to the other one as it picked itself up. It roared at the alligator, who just bellowed back in its face.

The beasts hesitated for a moment, and then turned towards Fluttershy. Sensing easier prey, it lunged towards her, roaring. Fluttershy squeaked, and covered her head with her hooves. Slash charged the wolf, smashing into it with a shoulder tackle and sending it sprawling.

"Get behind me, little yellow pony!" Slash bellowed. He stood protectively in front of Fluttershy and her animal friends, the little yellow pegasus looking up at Slash in awe.

The wolf picked itself up again, snarling in frustration... only to get crushed into nothingness by a gravity spell cast by Luna. "C'mon!" she said, "The tide has turned in our favor!" She flew out of the parking lot entrance, rejoining the battle. Slash nodded, and turned to Fluttershy.

"Hey, are you all right?" he asked, smiling warmly.

Fluttershy squeaked, still intimidated by Slash's sheer size, but she managed to smile. Slash sighed in relief. "You should try and find place to hide with the animals. I'm not so sure you are suited for fighting, I think..."

Fluttershy actually managed to giggle. "Oh my... I couldn't agree more."

Slash grinned. "Find safety. We will triumph today, and then everything shall be sunshine and Droeks," he rumbled, tromping out to rejoin the fray before Fluttershy could ask what Droeks even was.

For someone so large, and brutal, and frightening, he's really quite nice... , She thought as she began to gather the animals again.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Razor was fully aware of the danger she was in at the moment. She was in an unknown place, without any kind of firearm, nothing but her shield to defend her! But he was still enjoying himself, managing to keep his view on the bright side of things.

For one thing, She was going faster than she had ever been back on her planet. It had taken her forever to try and manage to fend off creatures with her other methods, but this made a major improvement for her. Plus, if those lightning bolts that Outlook was shooting were any indication, she could try and use the world to her fighting style.

She hated the fact that she was stuck here. But he could see the bright sides of this place. Plus, this battle was GREAT stress relief.
"Eat it you cyber freaks!" Razor crowed as he dive-bombed a wolves back. The beast staggered, only to be caught by Scalor...

Razor, upon hearing the cybernetic laughter of her leader, decided to leave before Scalor started having his brand of fighting fun. She liked being able to sleep without nightmares.

She ran over the battlefield looking for more Wolves to hit, spotting a furious Celestia reminding everyone WHY she was a ruler by immolating a wolf into a pile of ash with a solar blast. Razor shook her head and laughed, looking around again. He spotted a wolf chasing after the hyperactive pink pony from earlier... Pinkie Pie, she thought her name was...

Charging into the wolf, she slammed into it at full speed, using its head as a surfboard. She went up to Pinkie Pie, who was catching her breath from running so hard.

"Hey, you okay there...uh Pinkie?" Razor asked.

"Yeah..." Pinkie managed between breaths, "This is not really my scene..."

Razor chuckled, "Eh, just gotta know how to laugh at the stuff that spooks ya. You seem like the type to do that right?"

Pinkie, to her surprise, managed a giggle. "Usually, yeah. But this is a little more extreme than I'm used to..."

A lightning bolt shot by Outlook lanced by, splattering the head of a Wolf in a cloud of black goop. Pinkie winced, "Plus, the way you guys fight is really spooky... The monsters aren't helping anything either..."

Razor snickered, "Monsters? These things? Yeah the black goopy stuff is creepy, plus what Princess Luna said about them is kinda unsettling... But jeez, look at these things! They look like the love children of dogs and toasters!"

Pinkie Pie couldn't help it. The image she got in her head of a dog and toaster out on a romantic date was just too silly. She cracked up laughing.

Razor grinned, "That's the spirit. Laugh in the face of what spooks you, and with a little effort and wit, everything'll turn out okay," She said as he flew back into battle. Pinkie watched him go with a smile on her face, feeling a bit better.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

"GET AWAY!" A scream reached the battlefield, one that only Circuit and Dice heard. It was a familiar one...

"Isn't that the pegasus that saw us earlier today?" Circuit asked.

"Yes...and she seems in trouble." Dice said softly. For a brief moment, an old memory bubbled to the surface. The memory of an old village being attacked by a madman thirsty for blood; he attacked a family before everything went black. "Stay here," Dice snarled, "I'll go take care of it!"

"Dice!" Circuit called out. But before he could follow, he was ambushed by a wolf and had to fight.

The samurai ran off in the direction of the screaming, his sword clenched tightly in his teeth. He assumingly found Derpy Hooves, claw marks on her face, standing in front of a small unicorn foal. Derpy was visibly terrified, but refused to move from in front of her daughter.

"You... You stay back!" Derpy cried. "I'm warning you!" Her daughter, cowered behind her, whimpering in fear, praying her mother would be able to stop this thing.

The wolf, drooling black liquid, roared savagely, raising its claw to strike. As it came down, Dice jumped in front of the blow, the claws digging deep into his side.

"AAAGH!" He screamed, white hot agony ripping through him, dropping his sword. Derpy gasped in fear, reflexively moving her wing to shield her child from the sight of the wound. The beast laughed, seemingly pleased with this, and yanked the claws out, Dice gushing blood from his wounds.

To both the Wolf and Derpy Hooves's surprise, Dice staggered to his feet, a snarl on his face. "You call that swipe, you dishonorable swine?" he bellowed, "I've had deeper sword cuts!" He picked up his sword and tackled the beast, and brutally swiped at it with his cold steel.

Derpy flinched, and kept her wing covering daughters face, not wanting her to see this. Once the wolf was dead, Dice staggered to his feet again, covered in black goop and his own blood.

"Are you all right?" he asked, staggering a little. Derpy nodded, as the samurai grunted, "Good. Now I must... get back to the battle..." he said, trying to stagger back into the fight, his side bleeding badly.

Derpy quickly convinced her child to go inside the nearby building and wait for her, going to Dice's side and holding him up as he started to fall. "You're hurt badly," she pleaded, "You have to wait until the medical ponies get to you! At the very least, let me..."

"I'm fine, I'm fine..." Dice muttered, his head just spinning, "Just gotta... Ngh..."

Kooker dashed over to the two of them, having heard Dice's screams of agony, "Dice you fool; you can't go off on your own like that! I don't have the advantage of getting more of these healing crystals this time!" He began casting his healing beam on Dice, the wounds closing up quickly, the blood flow stopping.

"Had to... ngh... innocent in danger..." Dice said, starting to stand straighter as his wounds healed.

"Wow..." Derpy said softly, watching Kooker's magic at work, and noticing for the first time just how stoic Dice looked.

Kooker blinked, as if noticing Derpy for the first time (granted it was since she had just ran off when she saw them). Once Dice was healed, he cast his healing beam on her, the claw slashes on her face closing up quickly. He turned back to Dice and said, "Come on. We're winning, but the last ones seem to be the strongest. We need everyone here!'

Dice nodded, picking up his sword, "You gonna be okay?"

Derpy found herself blushing as she looked at Dice and nodded, "Yeah... Yeah, I think so."

Dice nodded, "Good, then go and be with your daughter. I got some monsters to slay..."

He and Kooker ran back to the battlefield. The last three Diamond Dogs had been herded into the center of town, Outlook's and Rainbow's air strikes and Circuit's light blaster keeping them from fleeing. Luna, Celestia, and Slash were engaging them, but these last ones were much larger than the lower classed beasts, and a bit more clever, deflecting attacks and attacking the princesses before they could cast a spell. Razor did what came naturally to her and dove into the fight... only to get swatted aside easily.

"Idiot..." Kooker muttered, turning to look for Twilight Sparkle. He found her fending off a small wolf that, judging by the burns, had just barely managed to escape Scalor. The little alicorn was doing moderately well, creating magical blasts to hold it off from attacking a trio of foals she was protecting, a small dragon, but the beasts was slowly figuring out the pattern of blasts she was using.

Kooker charged the wolf-beast, lowering his head and jamming his horn directly into the creature's neck. It died, gurgling as black liquid oozed from its mouth. He quickly shook it off of him and turned to Twilight Sparkle, who was watching with a mix of fear and gratitude on her face.

"You have studied with Princess Celestia, right?" he asked.

Twilight nodded. "Yes. I was one of her finest students before I moved here..."

"Then you must be powerful enough to hold her attention... Can you cast a spell that will allow you to mimic my abilities?" Kooker asked.

Twilight thought for a moment, and nodded. "I think so..."

"Great! Do so. We are going to finish these freaks, but I need some assistance," Kooker said, looking at the battle, where the rest of Lightnings were gathering. "I swear, these dummies would be helpless without me constantly healing them...It's a wonder that I haven't gone nuts so far..."

Twilight concentrated for a moment, her horn glowing as she aligned herself with Kooker's powers. As she did, she felt a slight pain across the top of her head, dismissing it was part of the synching spell. Once she was fully synched, however, she felt an electric tingle at the tip of her horn.

Kooker's grin was frightening. "I haven't done this in a while so this is mostly just a lot of hoping... Now come, Twilight...Let's go do work a miracle..."

"W-What are we going to do?" Twilight asked as they ran back to the center of town.

"Feel the trigger for that tingling sensation in your head," Medic said, "And on my signal, broadcast it at Princess Celestia!"

"What?" Twilight almost shrieked.

"Trust me!" Kooker said, "This is probably going to not go up in smoke!"

Before Twilight could actually object to what the lizard just said, they reached the battlefield, where the wolf-beasts had formed a circle to defend themselves from the princesses and the attacking Lightnings. Celestia and Luna all bore claw marks from where their efforts to cast had been stopped, the fight at a stalemate.

"NOW!" Kooker shouted. Twilight searched for the mental trigger, and flipped it upon finding it. Lighting crackled around both Kooker and Twilight Sparkle as healing beams lanced out from them, striking the two princesses. Unimaginable power surged through them, golden metallic shells forming around them all, their eyes glowing white.

The two princesses gasped, their hearts beating faster and faster as the sensation of raw power being literally poured into them. For Celestia, the sensation was glorious. For Luna... it reminded her far too much of the first time she became Nightmare Moon...

The gathered Lightning members began to laugh, realizing that Kooker could still had the ability to use the Lightning Charge. The Wolf-beasts traded worried looks and tried to attack, but their claws just bounced off of the two armored princesses.

Celestia and Luna traded excited looks, suddenly realizing what had just happened. Their horns glowing, they telekinetically lifted the wolf demons into the air, encasing them in a bubble of magic. Celestia filled the bubble with solar energy, incinerating everything inside, Luna casting a gravity spell to crush the remains into nothingness.

The Lightning Charge flickered out, Twilight, Kooker, and the Princesses collapsing. Kooker nodded to himself. "All right... Okay... My theory was correct in the power wouldn't leave to a horrific discharge of power that would back fire on us..." he panted, his heart pounding, "Although..."

"Heart... racing..." Twilight said.

"That... will pass..." Kooker said, grinning. "Another successful miracle, I think..."

Twilight looked around, and smiled. It did seem that the last of the wolf-beasts had been slain. Plus, Princesss Celestia and Princess Luna were already recovering, and her own heart rate was returning to normal.

Celestia sighed, casting a spell. The energy washed over the town, repairing damage to structures and dissolving the corrupted remains of the wolf-beasts dissolved into nothingness, leaving not even a bloodstain. She started to say something, when Outlook swooped down from his cloud.

"I counted only 37 killed," he said, "Where are the other three?"

"...Scalor," Circuit said softly, "Where's Scalor?!"

The Princesses and Lightnings looked around frantically, whirling in the direction of the sound of a wolf-beast screaming in fear. As they watched, stunned, one of the missing three tried to crawl out the alley, only to get dragged back into with a giant metallic fin, whimpering. A crazed laughter came from the alley.

Slash looked into view just outside the alley, an ill expression on his face, grinned nervously and said, "Scalor is fine. He has control of the last three and... is enjoying himself." He gulped, looking like he was trying to avoid throwing up.

Kooker walked over to see, curious, and immediately regretted it. "Oh my God..." he moaned.

Razor cringed when she saw what Scalor was doing. "Oh geez... That ain't right. Even for HIM that ain't right..."

Circuit went to look, and visibly paled at the horror within, "Scalor....buddy... you're scaring the locals."

Scalor poked his head out of the alley, blinking. "I am?" He looked over at the other gathered ponies, who were looking at her with varying expressions of fear. He blushed in embarrassment at the fact he went...a little to 'crazy' in his onslaught, "Oops. Let me just finish up here real quick," He said, ducking back into the alley. There was a huge flash of fire, and Scalor happily walked out, as if nothing odd had happened.

Circuit whimpered inwardly. "Boss... do us a favor... Don't use your full on assault mode on anything or any-ONE until I give the okay, Please?" he asked.

Scalor blinked knowing his little buddy was right. He never went cazy like that in years and there was a good reason. Sometimes he just lost control of himself. The cyborg sighed, "Got it dude..." He said, going back into his normal mode as the weapons around him reverted back into his chassis, "It's only for the best."

Kooker, forcing himself not to think about what Scalor did, turned to look at the gathered crowd of ponies. "If the injured would come to me, please? I will heal your wounds." Ponies that had been injured in the battle slowly, nervously began to file over to the chameleon, who used a variation of healing beam to circle them all. After a moment, two nurse ponies began helping him, their fear of Kooker passing out from the over use of his powers helped them assist others while he took a short break.

Celestia and Luna went up to the Lightning Seven. They bowed to them, Celestia saying, "You saved a lot of lives today. While your methods were... unorthodox, I cannot deny the results. If you hadn't been here, ponies would have died in this attack."

Circuit nodded. "Just doing what we can, your Majesty."

Luna shook her head. "You underplay your efforts. We are strong, but not fighters. And Kooker... You saved my sister's life. Thank you so much..."

Kooker just nodded, smiling a little, concentrating on returning to healing the injured.

Celestia continued. "While it is to my great regret that we cannot help you get home immediately, I promise that research will be done into dimensional magic to create a gateway for you to return to your world. In the meantime..."

"You'd like us to stay here, and protect the town in case more of those corrupted things show up," Scalor said, quickly getting the idea.

"And aid the scientist ponies we send to research what happened," Luna said. "Whatever it was that corrupted the wolf, it is... strange to me."

The Lightning Seven looked amongst each other before Razor looked amongst the group, "I think I noticed something when I was slicing up my fair share of those freaks." She pulled a large metal plate from her bag; it seemed to just be normal metal except for the distinct insignia on it: a broken gear with a bright blue circle in the middle of it, "I noticed this when I ripped it off one of those things backs."

The seven looked at the plate with a look of absolute fear on their faces, "Oh no...you don't think..." Circuit said with hesitation.

"I hope no, but whatever it is...we gotta be ready." Scalor replied.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Meanwhile in an uncharted mountainous area a looming figure crushed a small porcelain figure looking like the wolf beasts, "DAMMIT!" He shouted turning to a large board filled with blueprints, "I thought those fools wouldn't have followed me here...No matter; the cyber-wolves failure was just a minor setback."

"Should we head out and finish them off while they are weakened?" A figure asked with a sense of want of destruction in his voice.

"No...I want them to be softened by their own ignorance, and then we shall strike!" The looming figure said as one of his eyes glowed red, "And then we, the Jagged Nine shall finally be victorious."

Author's Note

And I am done with the first major section of the story. I hope you liked it, have a wonderful day.

The road to acquaintanceship

Amongst the wreckage of the town Twilight and her friends were discussing the seven mercenaries; even after they had helped save their town, it was difficult to figure out what to do with them. "Twilight are ya sure you wanna house ALL seven of them?" Applejack asked out of shock, "I mean, one of them would be just fine."

"Applejack I think it would be best to not separate them." Twilight reassured the apple farmer, "They obviously communicate better as a team, besides there are more rooms than needed in my castle that it won’t be much of a change." She said as she looked at the other ponies of the town stare at the alien saviors with both intrigue and worry. Sure they had just saved them, but who knows what such creatures could do if given the chance. I just hope that the ponies here will accept them fully...

Eventually the eight arrived at the castle, “Home sweet home.” Twilight sighed as she stepped in as the Lightnings followed, “Spike!” She called out, “Are you home?”

“Coming Twilight!” A voice sounded as a small little lizard jumped down the stairs, “Sorry I was busy mopping up the kitche-” He stopped as he noticed the seven figures behind the princess. “I didn’t know we were expecting company….” He said in awe as he dropped his mop.

“Spike these are...some new houseguests.” Twilight replied, “They are...”

“Oh!” Scalor said before slapping himself in the face, “We totally forgot to give out our team name!” He had the other six mercenaries huddle up before getting into a dynamic pose, “We are the Lightning Seven!” He announced which caused the little dragon’s eyes widen up in amazement.

“No way!” He exclaimed in amazement, “Are you guys like a superhero team or something?!” He just raced around the team as his knowledge of comics and other such things ran in his head. He didn’t care if they weren’t from Equestria or not, the idea of a team like that was always cool to him.

“Look kid we’d love to stay here and play twenty questions with ya, but we gotta get a bed for the night.” Razor said before walking up the stairs, “OH... which way to the beds?!”

Later that night

After everything was settled Twilight was burning the midnight oil as she was writing a speech for the town. Not only was it hard to write for creatures she only met a few hours ago, but she was doing it for creatures that weren’t even ponies. Sure they had looked familiar to animals from Fluttershy’s cottage, but she hadn’t thought of this scenario before.

“Twilight are you sure you should be working this late?” Spike asked as he handed Twilight a daisy sandwich, “I mean i know you love this sorta thing, but this is getting a tad out of hand.”

“Spike you don't understand...” Twilight said taking in a deep breath, “Those mercenaries aren’t of this world. They are going to need more time being welcomed here, even if they save the town today it wont be enough for the town.” Despite Spike’s thoughts; Twilight was right, where else in Equestria could you find talking fish in metal suits other than comic books or in movies. “They just need a little push, and what better way than royal acceptance.” All she was talking her quill was still writing as if she was subconsciously writing out her thoughts onto the index cards.

“Well, just be sure to get some rest when you finish.” Spike said, and as if on cue he noticed Twilight was passed out on the table. Spike chuckled as he placed a blanket over Twilight and organized the index cards to the best of his abilities. Twilight could fix the order if he didn’t get it all right. He walked across the large halls of the castle looking at all the various room that haven't even been given purpose were all around him, until he heard the distinct sound of boisterous laughter.

“Well next time we should try the Paddle Ball Maneuver if there’s gonna be tougher enemies like that.” Razor said as she was going through a small booklet of the team’s attack strategies. The other members were talking about how their own fights went on as Scalor just stared at the metal plating.

“You guys have attack plans too?” Spike asked as he stepped into the doorway, “Is there anything you guys haven't done?”

“Well we haven't tried being on a game show.” Circuit replied, “That’d be pretty fun.”

Spike just stared the group still acting like a kid in front of his favorite superhero, “So what exactly did you save the town from?”

“Cyber-wolves.” Scalor said flatly as he just stared at the plate, “Sent by an old ‘friend’ of ours...” He turned the metal plate towards the dragon, “And knowing that fool, he’s gonna try something again.”

“What are you guys gonna do?” Spike asked.

“As soon as Twilight gives that little speech of hers we’re heading out.” Dice said.

“What?!” The dragon exclaimed, “But you guys just got here.”

“We appreciate you guys and your hospitality, but this is something we don't want to drag you guys into.” Circuit said as he was looking at some books of Equestria and its many locations.

“Trust me kid you don't wanna deal with Jaggor and his goons.” Razor said as she patted Spike’s head, “Who knows what that maniac is going to do next.”

Meanwhile

The figure supposedly known as Jaggor was observing what had happened at the first attack only having his blood and oil boil before recollecting himself, “Well...it seems I may have to rethink my plans... yet again” Indeed he had been going over various plans; from going from plans of a full front invasion to just going upfront and personal to end his enemies lives already. All of them failures in one way or another, but no matter what he went over the plans and thought of one that would be foolproof, “I’ve got it!” he exclaimed in joy.

“Are you sure this time master?” One of the figures asked.

“Yes I am sure!” Jaggor shouted before summoning one of his minions, “Clam-borg!”

“I’m here and always here for you master!” A small robot exclaimed as he rolled in. He was moving by a simple wheel and colored in an ridiculous combination of light blue and pink on the large shell halves he had floating besides him, “Just say my mission and I’ll carry it out!”

“I need you to head to where i initiated the first attack and...send a message the best way you can.”

“Can do!” The little bot rolled out into the night knowing what his creator mean by ‘The best way he could’ which only meant his own brand of anarchy, "Prepare for your inevitable demise foolish Lightnings!"

Crazy Clam Calamity

The day had finally came, ponies were gathered around the town hall as the Lightning Seven were sitting amongst each other as Twilight readied her speech. “My fellow Equestrians.” Twilight started out, “As you all know, yesterday we were visited by these seven individuals.” She gestured to the mercenaries.

“Even after this can we really trust them?” A stallion in the crowd asked.

“Yeah, those guys were frightening during that invasion.” A mare added, “Especially that fish thing!” Scalor now knew he went over the top the other day as he began to turn from orange to red.

“Everyone, please calm down.” Twilight said trying to get the ponies attention again, “They are not from this world, they dont know the way our society works.” This lead to hushed mutters amongst the ponies in the crowd, “I want them to feel welcome, but this sort of action isnt helping at all.”

“Exactly fools!” A strange voice sounded over the crowd, the ponies turned to look upon a small robot, “They’ll just break everything they touch, like us but we do it with charm.”

“Clam-Borg!” Outlook exclaimed, surprised at the ambitious yet foolish robot.

“Yes, it is I!” The clam shouted trying to make him sound threatening, “The boss has sent me to deliver a message!” He grabbed a pair of glasses that did not cover his one large optic as his shells grabbed a small piece of paper before throwing the items away, “Forget this! Prepare to face my wrath!”

The ponies were terrified by the bot but the fish cyborg in the room was unimpressed, “Really, you guys are scared of this fool?” Scalor asked, “This guy is the most pathetic thing! Look at him, he cant hurt squa-” Sure enough the cyborg was ambushed and his head was detached and encased in the clam shells hovering around the bot.

“Ha, you have been thwarted! Fool!” Clam-borg said before rolling off, “Come and get me!”

Scalor’s suit seemed to be angered as it just jumped up and down and signalling his team to help it in getting the head back; unfortunately no one could understand it, or they could and they were just shocked the body was moving quite well even with the head removed before it ran off after the rogue robot.

Normally it would be disturbing if a headless being was chasing another, but in this case it was darn comical; Scalor’s body was chasing the robot that had took his head through out the whole town as the robot running for its artificial life was laughing at the ordeal as if he was mocking the body.

“Come on it’s almost like you don't want your head back!” Clam-borg said as he accelerated back into the middle of town. It seemed the chase would’ve gone on forever if it wasn't for Spike sticking his foot out causing the robot to fly up into the air and fall down like a beat up trash can

“Curses!” The robot said, “How did you know that gravity was my ONLY weakness?”

“You’re on one wheel, it seemed too easy.” Spike said allowing Scalor’s body to catch up and start to pry at the shells holding his head.

Scalor’s suit tried everything; from chainsaws, to crowbars, and even shell crackers, all were in vain as each of those tools just broke at the first attempt. “Nice try, but my shells are password guarded!” Clam-borg smugly said, “And they wont open until i say the word ‘Open’.” Immediately he regretted his decision to talk as the shells opened giving the body the opportunity to grab his head and place it back where it belongs.

“That’s better...” Scalor sighed before he stared down the little robot, “Tell us where Jaggor is!” He demanded.

“Like I'd tell you losers.” Clam-borg said before Slash grabbed him making the robot feel like a chocolate egg compared to the alligator’s size.

“You better start talking, because i might have a sudden craving for clam chowder.” Slash said as he began to lick his lips.

“No! Not the milk, anything but the MILK!” The robot shouted as he began to cower in fear, “Alright you win...I’ll give you guys his location.” And he was true to his word as a small chip that had the coordinates to Jaggor’s base of operations.

“Now as for you! Tell us what we want to know you rotten shellfish!” Circuit exclaimed, “You got two options here; either run back to your boss, or deal with our hungry friend over there.”

Clam-borg didn't need any other choice as he explained everything to them. The ponies could not hear a word as the bot soon began to cart off as fast as his wheel could take him until he was no longer visible. Soon as that was done The Lightnings headed off towards Twilight’s castle. Twilight pondered what to do next until she noticed the ponies were now agreeing with the opinions she was giving, ”I think we’ve unanimously reached an agreement here…” She said before she and her friends taking off leaving the crowd alone.

“What were we talking about again?” A random citizen asked after a long time of silence.

The feeling was tense as Twilight and her friends tried to convince the seven mercenaries to not go off on a suicide mission to find this Jaggor character. Sure it seemed like they had some kind of history with him, but they weren't going to let them go off like they were.

“Ya'll cant just go all gung-ho like this!” Applejack objected as she saw the seven pack up what little belongings they had.

"Well despite what you saw with Clam-borg, the rest of Jaggor's minions are no picnic." Outlook said trying to keep himself from laughing.

"Besides, we got a Vector graphic map after shaking the sucker down for info, so we're up for the trip." Circuit added as he looked at a crude looking map showing some sort of mountain range.

"But you guys don't know a think about Equestria!" Twilight shouted, "If anything you guys could die the next day!"

"A risk we're willing to take." Dice said holding his sword close to him.

"Nonsense!" Rainbow replied, "I know we've just met ya like...yesterday, but we fight evil things like every other month"

"I wouldn't put it like that Rainbow, but yes she is correct." Rarity said, "If anything I think we could help in your journey darlings."

"Guess that could work." Circuit said, "What do you think Scalor?"

"Yeah, but you guys are going to need to pack, because I doubt you guys can live off of a few crackers and water." The cyborg said as he shook his bag to show off a few saltines and a warm bottle of water.

"Duly noted." Twilight said, "Girls go and pack what you think you'll need, I need to notify the princess about this mission of ours." With that Twilight disappeared.

A few days later the group was ready and the group was ready for their journey ahead of them. "This is going to be a long trek, but I'm sure we can manage." Scalor said before looking at the ponies, "Last chance guys, you sure this is something you're willing to do?"

"If we weren't then why did we spend two days prepping?" Twilight asked, "If anything that'd be pointless."

"Fair enough." Outlook said as he lugged his back pack which seemed to be three times as huge as he was, "Let's go my friends!" He exclaimed right before falling over.

The group just sighed as Razor looked at the foolish owl, "This is going to be a long trip..."

The long Journey ahead

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'VE ALREADY GOTTEN LOST!?" Twilight yelled in anger seeing that their alien companions had already lost the map that lead them to this supposed 'enemy base'.

"The batteries died." Circuit said flatly, "And it's not like we can just go out and buy some at a normal store, this thing runs on D-batteries!" It had indeed been a tedious trip already for the group. Almost everything thing that happened from trying to go around safer routes over more treacherous ones, stopping for breaks more often than intended, to moments like now... getting absolutely lost and having no way to get the map working combined with thinning patience.

"Well why not let me try an Electro-charge spell." Twilight soon asked as her horn began to glow, "Maybe that will recharge it."

"No, don't do that!" Circuit quickly responded as he jerked the device away, "That wouldn't work!"

"How would you know?" Twilight asked surprised and disgusted at how the mole responded

"Because our brand of magic is different from yours!" Circuit then began to tap the alicorn’s horn as if it was something dangerous, “We don’t just generate the stuff all willy-nilly, to us it’s… more like a controlled substance like water, money, or air.”

“Are you sure you’re supposed to be the smart one?” Pinkie Pie asked, “Last time I checked, air is free.” She began to take in deep breaths to prove her point.

The seven mercenaries looked at each other before bursting out in a fit of hysterical laughter as if what they heard was the funniest thing to be given from the gods of comedy and humor themselves, “Obviously you guys never had the crisp sensation of Perri-Air!” Scalor exclaimed as the laughter. The laughter had gotten so out of control that boulders and started to fall down at an alarming rate.

“I think you should stop laughin' and start running!” Applejack shouted as she and her friends began to scramble from the area. The ponies saw that the seven mercenaries didn’t notice the rocks rolling down; this could've ended poorly for the seven mercenaries until Circuit noticed the rocks falling down. As fast as he could react the mole began to tinker with the buttons and switches on his gloves, they soon began to glow and generate a large light blue dome to form over them leading not only the ponies surprised, but the seven mercenaries snapping back into reality and notice their surroundings.

“Okay… we should try and stop laughing, or else you dummies want to be crushed.” Razor said as she began smacking the back of Scalor’s head.

“Are you INSANE!?” Twilight’s voice came from where the six ponies hid from the rocks, “How could you just nearly crushed and you just act like it was nothing?!” The mercenaries were a tad unmoved by the pony just snapping at them, “What on Equestria is wrong with you all!?”

“What’s your problem?” Razor asked clearly annoyed with the purple pony's tone with them, “We saw rocks falling down, and we survived.”

The mare’s expression only grew more and more angered with the snarky remark; how could they just ignore the fact they could’ve been killed like that, “What I’m getting at is that the seven of you are so reckless and immature that you caused the rockslide in the first place!” Though the other ponies weren’t fond of Twilight snapping like she was at the moment, the issue had to be acknowledged.

“Well you don’t have to act like that.” Slash stated, “Just say it without the insulting attitude.”

“Plus if you recall, I can actually just take myself apart like an action figure, then you really shouldn't be worried.” Scalor added as he began to take various limbs off and reattach them in other places until eventually he was literally talking out of his ass.

Twilight now exhausted with her moronic alien companions headed back to her friends as the other group started to play monkey in the middle with the cyborg’s head, “Girls, I don't think I can take these guys anymore.”

“Twilight dear,” Rarity started, “I know they seem to be… unorthodox, but we do owe them in a sense.”

“I agree.” Applejack added, “If it wasn't for them, then who knows what would’ve happened back home.”

Twilight couldn't argue with her friends points, but still couldn't shake off the fact they seemed so… odd, “Okay, yes i can agree on that but there’s something about those guys that rubs me the wrong way.”

They group continued the tiresome trek until the sun began to set across the mountain range, “I think it’s time for us to stop for the day.” Outlook stated as he set down his equipment and rolling out a tent. The others began to pull out more and more camping equipment.

“Yeah that sound pretty good.” Applejack said as she put down her saddlebags, “Anymore walkin’ and who knows what we’d bump into in the darkness.”

“What are we gonna do for fire though?” Pinkie asked pulling out a bag of marshmallows out of her mane, “Because these little guys aren't gonna roast themselves.”

“Give me a sec.” Scalor said as his mouth began to glow a bright orange before unleashing a beam of raw fire like energy spewed out landing onto a pile of twigs thus sparking a campfire.

“Oooh boy!” Pinkie exclaimed as she started to cook the marshmallows; the other ponies, though not speaking felt thankful for a source of heat for a moment. Later on in the night while everyone else was sleeping Twilight stared into the flames deep in thought when she felt a cold touch on her foreleg.

“Oh! Hey Scalor.” Twilight said surprised to see the cybernetic being still awake.

“I heard what you were saying about me and my team earlier.” He stated flatly.

Twilight looked shocked as she thought she could’ve kept that conversation between her friends and herself, “How did you-” She was cut off when Scalor pointed at the antennas sticking out of his head.

“This thing doesn't just pick up radio signals.”

Twilight sighed as she knew that she couldn't hide her thoughts, “Well it is true.” she said bluntly, “You and your team might’ve saved Celestia and my home, but the methods you guys went to unnecessarily over the top.”

"I apologized for my actions!" Scalor objected, "Whaddya want, a written apology sent to the governor?"

"That's not the point I'm getting at." Twilight replied, "I mean what could've happened if you had hurt anyone?"

"We wouldn't let that happen." Scalor said as he looked into the dying embers, "Jaggor on the other hand..." He couldn't finish the sentence as he began to remember all of the times he and his team had to deal with the crazed lunatic and his legion of robotic minions, "All I'm gonna say is that those cyber-wolves were just the beginning of the all out attack."

Twilight was uncertain of what to think of what Scalor said, but before she could ask him anymore he appeared to be asleep. "I hope you're right... because if so then we're gonna need... all the luck in the world." At that moment when she finally fell asleep, the fire had finally died out.

Author's Note

Finally! Sorry to all who began reading this and have been waiting, writers block seems to hit me hard when I try to get the ideas from my head to the screen. Anyways enjoy the chapter.

Slithering Claws of the mountain

The sun began to shine down upon the mountains as ten of the thirteen travelers who were all but wanting to get up at the morning.

“Oh come on dad...” Razor muttered as she tossed and turned, “I dont want to go to school, it’s Sunday!”

The only three that seemed to be wide awake were Applejack, Slash, and Kooker; the three seemed to be talking to each other over some apples and water, “So y’all are really brothers?” She asked.

“Yeah pretty much.” Slash stated, “Really the only thing that’s odd is the age gap.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“He’s 30, and I’m only 14.” Kooker replied flatly, “I mean it’s hard when some people confuse him for my dad!”

“Well shucks.” AJ said scratching the back of her head, “I know a few family members that deal with that sorta thing, but i doubt it gets that bad.” As the conversation went on the rest of the group had gotten up, “Well it’s about time y’all finally woke up.”

“What time is it?” Outlook asked as he started to put his helmet and jetpack back on.

“It’s practically noon.” Slash said as he began to tower over the others as he got up, “But I guess sleeping on dirt and rock will do that to you sooner or later.”

Hearing the time made not only Twilight, but Scalor get up quickly and began to get their respected supplies together, “Holy cow we’ve lost so much time!” the two said in unison as they both began to run along the trail ahead of them.

“Uh, they do realize they forgotten the map right?” Fluttershy asked as she pulled the map out from her saddle bag. No one really answered as pinkie pulled out a clock and began to count the seconds gone by until the duo’s return.

A whopping 30 minutes went by before the two had returned; their faces red as the shiniest red delicious apple from Sweet Apple Acres, “We forgot you guys didnt we?” Twilight asked sheepishly. The entire group just nodded in unison as Scalor’s head lowered into his torso.

Meanwhile

The looming Jaggor looked at the quivering clam robot in complete disgust, “You gave them my location!?” He angrily asked

“It was either that or I were to be robotic clam chowder my lord!” Clam-borg said as he dared to not look at his creator in his eyes.

Jaggor got up from his seat and looked like he was readying himself to tear the nuisance bolt from bolt but all he did was let out an annoyed sigh, “It doesnt matter now...” He stated, “Knowing those fools theyll be here soon, but in order for my plan to come to fruition I need some extra time. Pin-Sar! Slicor!”

Two mechanical beast emerged from the shadows, “Yes, my lord?” The two machines said in unison.

“Why dont you two go out and give our guests and extra… welcoming party.”

“As you wish.” The robots then quickly took off as their boss began to laugh crazily.

Back on the mountain trail

“We’re taking forever!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed in annoyance, though for her it was expected to get bored on anything that was below brisk jog.

“It’s like the saying goes,” Dice began to quip, “The shortest distance between two points isnt always a straight line or the easiest path.”

“Save that fortune cookie nonsense for later will ya?” Razor said, “I have to agree with Skittles, this is taking way too long; not only that, but I’m feeling something is coming and it isnt friendly.”

Scalor began to scratch his metallic jaw, “Yeah… plus if we’re dealing with Jaggor, we should’ve ran into something crazy.”

“More crazy than those metal wolf thingies?” Pinkie inquired.

“Oh much Crazier!” Two mechanized voices sounded and soon revealed two robots; one was looked very akin to a Basilisk that had sprouted arms, his optics were burning crimson as a mechanical hiss followed by droplets of yellow liquid coming from the mouth. The other crawled up behind the serpent; it seemed nothing more than a common crab covered in spikes, spiraling rune like detailing began to glow an eerily light blue as his claws snapped with eagerness.

“Took you guys long enough!” Circuit exclaimed, “I thought Jaggor would be that stupid to actually just come and only bring that Clamshell clod and him alone.”

The two robots spat in disgust at the mentioning of the failure of a robot.

“Please dont remind us of that idiot.” The snake hissed as the crab continued the snap his pincers, “All that matters is that we finish where that loser couldnt.”
“So running around with my head while i chase you?” Scalor as as he started to hold his head securely.

“No, not that! I’m going to shred you to pieces, while Pin-sar rips you limb from limb!” the snake bot retorted.

“Yeah!” Pin-sar stated, “Starting with the blind idiot and the over blown gecko!”

“Cutting to the chase i see.” Dice said before drawing out his sword and letting out a small chuckle, without any hesitation the samurai rushed towards the crab bot and cut off his legs off. Pin-sar started to feel wobbly as his legs began to give way, soon enough he began to fall off of the rough mountain trail and was most likely introduced to the trees and ground.

Slicor began to groan in pure anger and irritation, “Sweet merciful creator, cant we just have ONE win against you losers!” Somehow the green metal that surrounded the mechanical menace was turning bright red with the growing anger; and all of that anger was immediately cut off as he heard a faint clinking sound coming from behind him. He quickly turned around and saw Pinkie Pie playing with his tail’s knife like a cat to string, “Excuse me, but what are you doing?” He asked in a disturbingly quiet tone.

Pinkie sheepishly giggled, “Well i was thinking that with all these sharp blades on you, maybe you could try being an ‘all-in-one’ salad maker.” Pinkie said as she began touching the snake’s tail, “I mean you already have a green and chrome paint job.”

The snake bot got angered as the pony started to ramble on about the pink nuisance, “Stop it will ya!” The sudden swipe towards Pinkie caused her to spring upwards towards his head and cling to it like a refrigerator magnet. Slicor began to get freaked out, “Get OFF of me!” He shouted as he slithered around aimlessly, “I hate being touched!”

In the midst of the laser blasts being shot off Kooker saw a golden opportunity, “Pinkie, keep him distracted!” The chameleon ran towards the towering serpent; his staff began to generate a bright purple glow and summoned a lasso to entangle Slicor. Pinkie seeing the plan in action jumped off of the robot as Kooker got to the edge of the walk path, “Go back to the junkyard you overgrown python!” With that he lifted the behemoth with all his might and threw him across the long and winding pathway to parts unknown before falling over.

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy exclaimed as she and Slash rushed to Kooker’s side, “Are you alright?”

The spiritualist winced as his breathing became labored, “Yeah… I just need to catch my breath.”

Just as the two were helping the kid up the sound of metal pounding against rock echoed, the group just stood in fear as they did not know what would happen. It was soon revealed that the mystery creature was Pin-sar, he somehow managed to climb back up to the trail with just his claws. Despite the amazing feat no one could deny that a legless crab was somewhat hilarious to look at, even when it was had intentions on tearing the group limb from limb.

The spiky menace crawled his way towards the group, before being stopped by Fluttershy who just stared at him, “You better think twice about trying to hurt me or my friends.”

Pin-sar just started to laugh, “Oh yeah? Well what are you gonna do?” He asked. What followed was something that shook the heartless machine down to his core; Fluttershy just increased the intensity of her stare of the robot, “Uhhhh… this is getting disturbing.”

The other Lightning 7 members looked on in confusion as Fluttershy’s friends were amazed that this staring somehow had an affect on robotic animals. “Now you are going to go back to whoever sent you, and think about what you almost done; do I make myself clear?” Fluttershy asked as she flew in closer towards the robots visor.

“Y-yes ma’am!” Pin-sar answered before picking himself up and running off leaving nothing more than a trail of oil behind.

Fluttershy looked back at the group and was surprised that they were dumbstruck at what had just transpired, “Did I over do it?” She asked

Just then she was rushed by each Lightning Seven member and was bombarded with an endless stream of questions.
“Holy cow, how did you do that?!”

“What even was that?”

“What else can that stare do?”

“Can you try that on Scalor? I have a theory.”

The questions kept on flooding in until Rainbow swooped in and acted as a buffer, “Look guys, she’ll be more than happy to answer your questions later. Right now I’d suggest we follow that oil trail and see where it takes us.”

”You’re a genius!” Circuit exclaimed, “I just hope the trail doesn't dry up before we find out where it takes us.”

Author's Note

Finally! It took me a bit longer, but I'm glad to get a chapter out. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and have a wonderful day.

Some R & RvB Break Chapter

Author's Note

This is just a little break chapter, just some silly moments taking in between the actual mountain trek. Enjoy the momentary segment of randomess.

Some R & RvB Break Chapter

The group during their venture decided to take a break from the walking; in the midst of the break Outlook and Pinkie looked out into the distance of the mountain range seeing nothing more than trees as far as the eye could see. With the others going about their business, the two began to go over some age old discussions.

"Hey Outlook." Pinkie started by looking towards the bird .

"Yeah?" Outlook responded.

"You ever wonder why we're here?" The party mare asked.
"It's one of life's greatest mysteries isn't it? I mean are we the product of some great cosmic coincidence, or is there gods watching over us. You know, with some plan for us and stuff... I dunno, but it keeps me up at night." Outlook said as he just looked into the sky and stared into the sun, leaving Pinkie utterly confused.

"What? I mean why are we just staring out into the wilderness?" Pinkie asked as she looked back into the trees.

"Well... I-I mean-" Outlook began to ramble as he broke out of his trance.

"And what was all that stuff about gods?" Pinkie added.

Outlook just stared down, not paying attention to Pinkie's questions, "Nothing."

"You wanna talk about it?" Pinkie asked making the owl feel more comfortable about his philosophical episode.

"No." Outlook deadpanned; luckily Applejack showed up to break the awkwardness of the conversation.

As those three were going about that discussion; Circuit and Twilight were performing some robotic operation on Scalor, well Circuit was doing most of the work as Twilight observed the strange and mysterious technology within the metallic chest cavity, "Why are you tinkering with Scalor anyway?"

"Something in his vocal processor is acting up, so I'm just tinkering with it." Circuit replied as he looked carefully at his leaders literal voice box and poked it with a electrical tool until a small light turned green.

"Creo que lo arreglaron Circuito!" Scalor responded, though it seemed like the vocal processor was working properly... something was lost in translation.

"Uhh... I doubt you fixed it." Twilight replied as Circuit looked into a book about voice box repair.

"¿Que? ¿Hay algo mal con mi voz?" Scalor asked as the look on the two were of utter confusion.

"What is he saying?!" Twilight asked as the language was completely lost to her; she knew ancient Equish, binary, even languages thought dead for thousands of years, but Spanish was just something she never got a hold of.

"Hold on, I'm working on it!" Circuit shouted as he got back into the chest cavity and began to rework on the voice.

"¡Bien, apurate, no quiero unirme a los Desperados!" Scalor continued as he began to flail his arms like crazy.

"Well if you would stop squirming..." Circuit grunted as he tried to do his best without injuring himself. Eventually the light turned blue and things seemed to stabilize.

"I guess that fixed it." Scalor said, his voice back to normal, "HA! My voice is fixed, I don't have to join the Desperados!"

"The who?" Twilight asked.

"Another mercenary team." Circuit said. Eventually the group got up and continued the trail going on about odd things such as the tactical advantages of a box canyon in the middle of nowhere, how odd no actual robot attacks struck the town but rather the Lightning 7, or whether or not Headlight fluid was actually real or not. It seemed pointless to actually talk about most of those things, but it seemed like a good waste of time and broke the dull silence of the journey.