Defanged

"Voodoo one, do you copy?"

"I repeat, Voodoo one do you copy?"

Vipers voice seemed to echo inside the Northstar Titans cockpit. Out of pure desperation he had been trying for the last 25 minutes to contact help. The town, had been backwater and made of of tiny technicolor ponies, just like the other one his Titan informed him. Viper seldom had any ideas of how to get off planet. Except for that so called princess... Viper shook that though off. Just a dream, a strange dream...

Meanwhile the flying war mech had been studying the residents from above them, on a small cliff face, and somehow they were none the wiser. Viper was still going, calmly asking if Voodoo one copied, but there was a hint of dread in his voice that only the Titan could detect based off of speech patterns and tone fluctuations that most organic beings would be not able to detect.

"Pilot, I have discovered there are three species of these ponies."

"How does that help me."

"Flight will not be a viable option, the first group I encountered while you were unconscious were a mix the three different variants, one of them had wings, and was nearly as fast as us while we are in flight. That information helps you, does it not?"

"Fair enough." Viper said silently.

"So Twilight, its just a concussion, however, you need to rest for a few days before you can resume normal activities. If any other symptoms aside from a splitting headache and dizziness occurs, I want you back here immediately, okay?" The doctor said, writing the last few things down in his small blue composition notebook.

"But Doc... I need to be out there with my friends while we track that thing down..." The Alicorn countered, "Can't I just heal myself or something..." She said drearily. The Doctor sighed.

"Twilight since this is a concussion caused by not properly being prepared for Magic to shatter or break, your magic is also significantly weaker meaning it may not heal properly or even manage to start a faster recovery process." He explained, "Now get some rest, your friends are waiting for you, they'll get you home safely."

Twilight sighed as she shakily wobbled to the door and was greeted the faces of all her friends. They were generally silent, especially Rainbow Dash, who seemed to be brooding and wrapped up in her thoughts. Twilight could tell she was angry, but lacked the energy to say something. Pinkie continually asked if she was okay, concerned.

'Regular old Pinkie...' Twilight thought to herself. It wasn't long before the group reached Twilights castle. Time had passed so fast, as the sun was already well in the sky but it felt as if none had passed to the princess of Friendship, due to her dreary wish wash state. Rarity so gallantly offered to get Spike for her, so she didn't have to yell. Fluttershy helped her into bed, and proceeded to go make her something to eat. Eventually all her friends left to rally for the hunt on their strange assailant. Seemingly as Twilights eyelids began to feel heavy something that slipped her mind returned, rendering her wide awake.

"Spike!" She said with a low voice, the young dragon looked up from his comic book on a chair nearby.

"Yeah Twi?"

"I need you to write a letter..."

"Now..?"

Twilight nodded her head, and the dragon begrudgingly fetched a quill and paper, "Alright... go ahead."

Viper had re-embarked and was scaling down the cliff face slowly as to not make too much noise, not wanting to alert the inhabitants of the nearby town. The town vaguely reminded him of something from his childhood... Like he had seen the style of the town before. And then it hit him, it was... a Wild West looking town. Viper had had a book as an infant about cowboys, and it didn't last more than two years against the baby as it was an old book from earth that was handed down in his family until he tore it apart in his toddler years. Fond memories filled his head, about his young life, filled with reckless adventures, stupid pranks, and most importantly his racing phase while he was a teenager. One of the fastest and most daring on his planet, and then came IMC Project "Pegasus". Years of harsh training, and here he was now.

"Shit!" He cried out as he accidentally kicked off a boulder from the side of the cliff. 'I need to pay more attention,'. The pilot closed his eyes underneath his helmet and took a deep breath, realizing what was to come. No reason to be quiet now, was Vipers sentiment as he leapt down from the cliff face in his Titan, landing skillfully. The inhabitants of the town were frozen stiff, their eyes locked on the metal behemoth.

"Now wht' in the heck is goin out her-" A voice spoke, but stopped mid sentence. Viper looked over, seeing a small brown pony dressed as a sheriff with brown hair and a black mustache who had walked almost to the center of the dirt path, before stopping. The equines blue eyes widened exponentially at the sight of the Pilot and his mech, its red gaze freezing the resident law enforcer in place as all the other ponies had taken shelter looking out between shutters and nearly closed windows. A tumbleweed rolled by in the silence that seemed to last forever to the Apploosans. Suddenly the hatch opened on the giant, revealing a much smaller creature, that hopped down landing silently before striding over to the sheriff pony.

The ponies who were watching didn't blink, until the creature spoke up.

"Where am I?"

"S-sir a'ahm gonna have to a-ask you tah' t-take a step back..." The Sheriff responded, sweating bullets, head back slowly moving away from the two legged creature.

It didn't budge but rather crouched down to his level, and leaned into his face, the visor letting off warmth that the sheriff could feel.

"Where am I?"

"APPLELOOSA! YOUR IN APPLELOOSA! Y-your in Appleloosa, a town in Equestria...." The sheriff shouted in terror, covering his head with his hooves, a puddle of piss forming beneath him.

Viper scoffed at the terrified earth pony, before turning back to his Titan.

"Search your files, anything you can find on a place called Equestria." The Pilot said to his titan, spinning his Wingman Elite on his finger. The Sheriff pony began to slowly back up before breaking into a full on sprint away and into the cover of a building. Viper scoffed again.

"Nothing found on search term 'Equestria', 0 results generated from database in 000000000.89 seconds." Boomed the robot, standing idle.

"God dammit... Try again-"

"PILOT GET DOWN!"

Celestia yawned as she finally stood from her throne, the last representatives exiting the castle. It had been a long day accompanied with a busy draining meeting amongst the leaders of Equestria and beyond, but the Gryphon king had refused to show for some reason Celestia didn't care much about. In a few long strides the Solar Princess was out of the throne room as some of the servants in the castle picked up and moved the chairs and tables set up for the yearly meeting. As she strode down the halls towards her chambers, a delectable and unmistakable smell touched her nostrils, cake.

Celestia hesitated for a moment, looking at herself. Was Luna right? Was the cake making her fat? No, it couldn't be. One slice wouldn't hurt, Celestia reassured herself, oh how she loved her cake...

Celestia sat near her window surveying the land below her. Such peace. Celestia gained pride in the knowledge she and her sister lead such a peaceful and friendly nation, even amongst the worse of monsters at times. Of course her Royal Guard and her sisters Lunar Guard were all perfectly capable of defending the Nation if need be, they were some of the best trained warriors in the whole of the known world. Interrupting her thoughts a scroll burned into existence from green flame. It was always a pleasant surprise to receive a letter from her ex student, and the contents were usually pleasant.

She unfurled it, letting loose its contents, a wall of lettering,

Dear Princess Celestia,
As of last night me and my friends came into contact with a creature I believe to be foreign to Equestria. It's exoskeleton seemed to be made of metal, and it had a single red eye that glowed brighter than the brightest star in the sky filled with malice.

It carried what I can only assume to of been a large staff, and assaulted us. It used its staff to fire a form of magic I've never seen even in books about the unknown. Had it not been for my quick reaction I fear me and my friends would've died, as the magic bolt on impact, shattered my barrier.

I am sending this from my bed, resting due to a magic concussion. The others are all gearing up to search for our attacker, and to stop it before it can harm anypony else.

Your Faithful Ex-Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Celestia had to re-read this a few times. The creature Twilight described was unlike any Celestia and Luna had ever encountered, even during their younger years where the exploration of Equestria was their life. This would need further study. Celestia finished her cake and proceeded to leave her chambers, her first stop was to consult Luna to see if she had come across any strange creatures in the dreamscape. Instead of walking, Celestia instead flew down the hallway to her Sisters chambers, landing gracefully in front of the heavy metal doors engraved with two large crescent moons parallel to one another. The Solar ruler gave a heavy knock, before speaking up.

"Sister! It is urgent!"

Celestia knew Luna did not like being awoken during her resting period unless it was urgent. The shuffling of sheets was heard in the room, then the clicking of hooves towards the door, before it finally opened revealing a frowning Luna with a frazzled mane that flowed against all odds. She looked dead tired with an aggravated spark in her eyes.

"This better be good, dearest sister." Luna seethed, stretching her wings inviting her older and only living relative into her chambers. Celestia entered an uncomfortably dark room for her tastes, the candles seemed to give off little to no light, and combined with Luna's love for blackwood furniture the room was difficult to see in. Luna Yawned, "Well, get on with it, or thou will fall back asleep..." the Lunar princess replied bored and indifferent.

"Right..." Celestia said awkwardly realizing she had simply been looking around the room, "Have you encountered any strange creatures in the dreamscape recently? Twilight sent me a letter describing a large monster with a metal exoskeleton that attacked her and her friends." She asked. Luna looked puzzled for a second before replying.

"No dear sister, however we did encounter a human not to long ago, only last night to be precise." The princsss of the night said matter of fact'ly. Celestia's face grew into concern. Luna became confused.

"What is the matter Tia?" Luna asked, before freezing, realizing something. "Tia you don't think..."

"Get your armor on and meet me in the courtyard in twenty minutes, this is too dangerous for the elements."

Viper hit the deck as he watched his Titan flip something over it. This didn't last long as the giant creature used its legs to propel itself forwards and slam into his titan. Viper shoved himself to his feet and finally got a good view of the monster as it and his Northstar wrestled. It seemed to be an oversized black and white bear with multiple arms, and a pointy bee sting her accompanied by the unmistakable wings of an insecta.

Once again the Apex Predators Titan triumphed the struggle and this time body-slammed the bugbear before them, clearly stunning it. Viper began to sprint to his titan.

"Pilot I suggest you embark." The OS spoke, Viper leaping into the cockpit without hesitation.

"Two steps ahead of you." He said to himself as the hatch closed and the optical sensors faded to life, "You're barking up the wrong tree you... Bugbear." Viper said as he pulled the Plasma rail gun from his back, planting his feet into the ground as he and his Titan became one. The Bugbear crawled in a circle going low and this time leaping up at an angle it's stinger aimed at the eye of the metal behemoth below it. Viper dodged the sting and instead grabbed hold of the barbed stinger swinging the beast and tossing it, the creature came crashing down on a building that vacated cartoonishly fast before the BugBears impact. Wood splintered everywhere and the Bugbear snarled in anger.

Viper beckoned it to charge.

The monster obliged as it recovered and flew at a newfound blinding speed towards Viper, sending him and his giant metal shell sprawling back into another house, the front caving in like a seat. A few casualties may have been suffered... Viper nor the Bugbear payed any mind to this. The hybrid beast leapt upon the Titan, Viper barely holding it above the hatch as it snarled and chomped and clawed desperately, just out of reach of mangling the hull of the Titan. With visible difficulty Viper placed a foot on the belly of the creature and with a powerful push launched it a good few feet away, as it ate the dirt rolling comedically to a stop as Viper aimed down the sights of his Plasma Railgun. The gun rattled in the Titans iron grip as it heated up to a bright burning orange, and the Bugbear finally got to its feet only to cry out in pain as an object lodged itself in its eye.

Viper was surprised the shot didn't pass all the way through and began to charge the railgun again, but the Bugbear was quicker this time and slapped the railgun from Vipers hands with blinding speed and backhanded the mech to the ground. Viper was stunned but the Bugbear was far from done. Viper rolled over onto the front of his mech to stand from hands and knees, but the Bugbear leapt onto the titans back and began clawing at it.

"Son of a bitch." Said Viper unnervingly calmly, as he rattled around in his seat in the cockpit. Suddenly the thrusters on the back of the Northstar fired to life. The Bugbear screeched as its face was burnt by thruster flames burning hotter than thermite. Alongside the creatures bleeding oozing eye with exposed bone it was a bloody scene. The Bugbear clawed at its new burns in agony, giving Viper time to stand up. The Bugbear snapped its head toward its combatant, expecting them to be standing there. Instead the creature got a shock as it was tackled, but instead of driving into the ground hard it felt itself fly upwards as the battle went skywards. The Bugbear tried fighting back only to be snatched by one of its arms and swung in a wide arc before being tossed further up.

Before it could catch itself with its wings, a barrage of pain hit the monster. Explosions surrounded its body blowing chunks away revealing vital organs and creating gruesome wounds as blood rained down from the skies. The creature fell limp as it plummeted towards the ground, crashing onto another building completely crushing it. Viper sat hovering in the sky,

"Should've been faster than that, speed is life."