The Lost Element

I personally was not convinced that the ride armor Alpha was piloting was truly indestructible, as heavily armored as it was. I then slowly began to rise to my feet as my internal systems stabilized. "I don't know... But it's gotta give at some point. There's no way the plot would throw a truly indestructible obstacle at us in just the series pilot. Especially when it's just a weapon being used by the main villain. I mean that might work if this was a video game and it was a successor to a previous series that the game is trying to prepare you for in the first level, but this isn't the case."

This seemed to lift Spike's spirits while he nodded at me. "Yeah, that's right! That kinda stuff should be saved for much later on! Then there's gotta be a way to take it apart! Right? I mean... Oh, I'm just really nervous..."

"Yeah... Only I don't think a red devil is going to come to our rescue this time..." After finding my second wind, I drew the H-Saber from its holster. Since the H-Buster was not working well, perhaps the saber's hot plasma blade would fare better. "OK, I think I'm ready for another whack at it. Just make sure you don't get in that thing's way. And if you're gonna take a shot at him, aim for the pilot. Those smoke bombs just might give us an edge if you use them just right."

Spike nervously chuckled while he took his slingshot in hand. "Eheheh... Yeah, that thing would probably squash me flat if it stepped on me... I'll keep my distance."

I sprinted across the floor with Spike trying in vain to keep up. It seemed that my friends were trying to keep Alpha spread thin as they attacked from numerous angles. Rainbow Dash constantly flitted around the room while zapping the ride armor with lightning bolts while Applejack was hurling her hoofarangs at Alpha's head as her rope constantly tugged on one arm. Unfortunately, the cockpit barrier was easily repelling her weapons and the rope was unable to pull with enough force to really disrupt the armor's movements. She was easily at the greatest disadvantage out of all of us. Twilight bombarded the armor with concentrated heat rays while frequently using her freeze ray ability to ice up the armor's legs and feet to bind it to the floor. This would only work for about five seconds in the amount of time it took for Alpha to notice what was wrong before exerting the armor's motor systems harder to break out of it. Icing up the arms failed to stop it either as they were just too strong to restrain. Pinkie Pie was doing what she did best by drawing Alpha's attention as she zipped around him while taking a second every once in a while to unleash a barrage of rapid-fire punches to no avail. Rarity was trying out all sort of energy constructs with them taking on the forms of various weapons ranging from swords to arrows to mallets. Nothing was working! It was a metal titan! And where was Fluttershy?!

Hoping to try out something new, I selected the Nova Strike from my variable weapon system while wondering how it would function if used with the H-Saber. The plasma blade began to flare up and even extended while the grip became longer as well. It probably would require both hands to ensure that I would retain control over the blade when I took my swing. While I approached the Devil Gigas, I noticed one of Spike's smoke bombs fly over me before impacting the barrier around Alpha's head. Even though it did not actually touch him, the resulting cloud of sparkling pink smoke still engulfed him and left him temporarily blinded with the ride armor's arms lashing out randomly in the hopes of hitting something right as Twilight also froze one of its feet to the floor. Pinkie Pie was the first to notice where it had come from and called out, "Woo! Nice one, Spike!"

Taking advantage of the armor's temporary immobilization, I used my boot thrusters for a quick approach and even leaped into the air with my blade raised above me. Just as the smoke was blow away, Alpha turned around just as I dropped down in front of him. "Gotcha!"

I swung my flaring blade right through the armor, generating a massive plasma burst upon contact. A type of swing that generates a plasma explosion? What was I supposed to call that saber technique? Atomic Blade Burst? Still, I was left confident that my attack had done some damage. At least until the smoke cleared and I saw Alpha looming over me with only a long scratch and scorched paint lining the armor's torso. I stared blankly up at him while he stared down at me in what was clearly an act of toying with me. He then asked while both fists began to rise up, "Is that your best?"

"Oh, no no no no no no no no!!!" I yelled as I sprinted away from the ride armor before it could bring both fists down onto my head. The rest of my friends continued to bombard the ride armor from a safe distance, but the armor plating all over it was so dense that it was rendering their attacks utterly useless. A tornado from Rainbow Dash might be able to hinder its movements, but conjuring up a miniature funnel cloud in such a cramp space would be asking for trouble.

I glanced at the corner of my visor and was pleased to find that using the Nova Strike in tandem with the H-Saber had only drained its energy gauge by half instead of dumping the whole thing into one attack. Still, now that I was getting some distance, I felt it was best to try out the H-Buster again. I still had one trump card I had not tried out yet. I hurriedly placed the H-Saber back in its holster while the Devil Gigas began to lumber towards me with just a walking pace. My friends were still unloading onto it in the futile hope of bringing it down and Alpha really was not paying them any mind by this point now that I had his attention. I readied the H-Buster and set it to the concentrated beam settings as I began to charge it up. "Let's see how you like me burning a hole through your chest!"

Seconds later, I stood my ground and unleashed the torrent of plasma form the H-Buster. It slammed into the Devil Gigas' chest and continued to try to burrow right through it. But to my horror and utter disbelief, the lumbering ride armor continued to lumber towards me while only slowed down slightly as if marching through a gale. I did everything I could, increasing the output as high as the limiters would permit it to... Wait. Limiters? Why were those installed on the H-Buster?

I hardly paid any mind to my HUD's readings. All I could focus on was standing my ground and hoping that the ride armor's plating would finally start to give under the constant exposure of my plasma beam. My hopes were soon crushed as I continued unloading my weapon into it even after it had walked right up to me with Alpha staring down at me with a clear lipless smirk on his face. Even at point-blank range, I could not make out any damage being done! "Why won't you drop?!"

I had no idea what to do. I was giving it my all and the Devil Gigas was standing like a mountain before me! Half petrified, half hopeful, I could only look up as Alpha raised the ride armor's massive fist into the air above me. "You first."

A second later, I was sent crashing face first to the floor with a direct blow to my head that made me feel as if someone had dropped an anvil on my head. It immediately disrupted my attack with the H-Buster falling silent. The amount of force behind the blow was so great that my vision was overlaid with static briefly. It soon cleared up and I soon lifted my head to see the hulking ride armor's foot plate before me. "Ugh... My, what big feet you have..."

Alpha had a weird way of showing gratitude for my compliment, if you could call it that. In spite of the legs' limited mobility when compared to the arms, it still lashed out with a hard kick to my forehead that sent me flying backwards a great distance until I landed flat on my back. I swear I heard a cracking sound upon impact. It must have damaged the red gemlike object on the front of my helmet. However, while I regained my bearings, I soon noticed someone peeking out from behind a number of boxes ahead of me even while she seemed to be upside-down. "Huh...? Fluttershy, why aren't you helping... Huh?!"

Before either of us could really talk to each other, I heard the sound of the ride armor's dash thrusters activate and looked down to see it hurtling towards me. But rather than just run right into me, it then performed a lofty jump before dropping right onto me with its massive foot pinning me to the floor. And it hurt! It felt as if I had just been smashed with a huge hammer! I looked up and saw Fluttershy looking on in horror as the mighty Devil Gigas had everything but my head and left arm pinned under one foot. Alpha then seemed to smirk down at me and said, "I wonder what will give out first. The floor...or you!"

It was then that I felt intense pressure spread out over my body. The pain was unlike anything I had experienced that night as I let out a yell while my left hand clawed at the floor to pull myself away to no avail. My friends heard my call and rushed towards us. Twilight shrieked as I was being crushed before her, "No! Get off him!"

In a panic, my friends swarmed the ride armor with Applejack's rope tying around the thing's arm and pulling with Pinkie Pie even grabbing onto the rope by her teeth and attempting to run away while pulling the hulking robot armor off me. The rest of my friends kept attacking from the side with projectile attacks in an attempt to push it over with a combined attack, but all in vain. It was simply too heavy and Alpha was not about to let me go until I was scrap under his toy's foot. My HUD was not giving me any hope either. The wire frame display of my body showed everything but my head and left arm to be in the red. My body's integrity was on the verge of failing! And with my left arm pinned, I could not even fight back!

This was it. My mechanical body was about to be crushed like a tin can. Alpha had finally gotten the upper hand. But just as I started to feel like my body was beginning to give under the ride armor's intense weight, I heard a roar come from behind me. "Let him go... That's...my man!"

Alpha only then looked ahead just in time for a hulking Saddle Rager to slam her hoof into the ride armor's chest so hard, she knocked him right off his feet! No, seriously! The Devil Gigas was sent airborne while Alpha yelled in surprise before landing on its back with a thunderous clank! We all just stop and stared as Fluttershy completely floored that monstrosity with a single punch. Alpha's response as the Devil Gigas' feet planted firmly against the floor and lifted its body back up to a standing position summed up our thoughts perfectly. "Wha... What the devil was that?!"

"I'll tell you what that was! It's raging time!" Spike yelled out as I rose to my feet. Right as he said that, Fluttershy charged the armor and rammed it hard enough to make it stagger backwards. The air was filled with cheers and shouting as my enraged girlfriend began to pummel Devil Gigas with powerful punches that made the whole thing take steps backwards in order to maintain balance. It was only at that time that I realized Fluttershy's enraged form was actually a bit smaller than the Devil Gigas when standing on her hind legs, but not by much. And she was clearly making up for her smaller size with ludicrous power. Alpha seemed genuinely stunned with how well the might of Saddle Rager was actually making his weapon stagger. Even so, he managed to counter with a mighty punch to her face, but it only seemed to make her madder as she continued her assault. The Devil Gigas had met its match!

"Yeah! YEAH!!! You show that bucket of bolts who's boss, Fluttershy! Left! Right! Now, head butt! Give him a suplex!" Rainbow Dash yelled with excitement as the tank of the Power Ponies traded blow for blow with the seemingly unstoppable ride armor. It was exhilarating to see it taking attacks that actually were proving effective, but also...terrifying to see my fiancée pounding away at it.

On that thought, I actually cringed a bit as Fluttershy hit the ride armor in the body so hard that it seemed to hunch forward in pain. That is it would have if it was actually alive. I could not help muttering, "That's my girlfriend..."

"Yup... And y'all are gettin' hitched this comin' April, sugarcube." Applejack dryly replied as she too seemed rather horrified by Fluttershy's incredibly effective assault on Alpha's walking weapon. However, our intimidation became cheers of elation when Fluttershy once more hit the ride armor hard enough to knock it right off its feet onto its backside. This time, she did not give Alpha enough time to climb to his feet as she leaped forward and crashed right down onto the thing to keep it pinned.

"Yeah! Smash that sucker, honey!" I yelled while pumping my fists. Roaring like a beast, Fluttershy began to pound her hooves into the pinned ride armor over and over with heavy crashes. Alpha was yelling in terror and possibly intense frustration that something who was not a machine could be giving him so much trouble. Good grief, Saddle Rager is not only the tank of the Power Ponies. She is the entire army! Unfortunately, this unrestrained assault did not go on for very long. After maybe only ten seconds of relentless pounding, we looked on in shock as Alpha unleashed the ride armor's chest cannon right into Fluttershy's face before sending her flying towards us and even shooting right through the ceiling.

"Hey, no fair! That's a cheap shot!" Pinkie Pie shrieked before rushing over to Fluttershy after she landed with a crash. I too rushed to her side with everyone else, nearly in a panic that she had just taken a plasma shot right to the body. "Fluttershy, speak to me! Are you OK?!"

Much to my shock, Fluttershy climbed right back onto her feet while seeming only annoyed by the surprise attack she had just endured. "Did I get him?"

"Fluttershy, you just took an energy shot right to the face! How in the world can you just walk that off?!" Rarity asked loudly as we could only speculate how she seemed no worse for the wear even though anyone else would have... Actually, better to not imagine what sort of effect that blast would have had on any other living creature.

Spike was quick to provide an explanation. "That's the thing! Saddle Rager's almost unstoppable when she's in this state! The only problem is she can only be in this form when she gets angry enough! And she's a pretty big target..."

"And considering that it's Fluttershy who is Saddle Rager right now... I guess that doesn't happen often." Twilight said with a slight smile in a modest attempt to add some humor to the situation. However, our attention was drawn to the Devil Gigas as its joints hissed while its legs began to lift it back up to its feet. "It's still going?!"

"Hang on..." I said while my HUD scanned the ride armor's battered chassis. All over the torso... Large dents, fractured armor plating... Even sparks occasionally flew from it. "That last assault actually damaged it... And if we can damage it, we can break it! Looks like we CAN win this one!"

Alpha glared at us from behind the barely detectable cockpit shield. He was utterly furious that he had just taken such a beating from one of the Power Ponies. "You... You CAN'T be doing this! You're nothing but sacks of flesh and sinew!"

"Maybe, but yer forgettin' somethin' pretty dang obvious, pardner!" Applejack said snidely as her rope returned to her side while the rest of our friends gathered around her. "We're the Power Ponies! And we're gonna send ya and that varmint ta the scrap yard! Right, girls?!"

Our friends cheered together as confidence brimmed in all of us. Seeing that hulking metal monster actually showing signs of damage that was more than a scuffed up paintjob instilled a feeling of hope in all of us. Victory was within our grasp. I then took aim with the H-Buster as a smirk spread across my lips. The only question left was how long would it take to disable this colossal walking suit of armor?

Alpha was far from intimidated. In fact, he barely seemed worried at all as his frustration quickly faded. He then seemed to smirk at us while he said, "You really think you have me up against the wall? Maybe it's time I stop toying with all of you and really start trying!"

To my shock, the Devil Gigas extended its right arm forward as if trying to punch something before its hand seemed to disassemble into five segments that retracted over the forward section of its arm. What it revealed was all too obviously a cannon's mouth. I instinctively lowered my weapon and ran to the side. "Crap! Everyone, scatter!"

As expected, the Devil Gigas fired a burst of blue plasma from its arm cannon while my friends shrieked and ran to evade it and the resulting flash of thermal energy upon striking the floor. I suppose I should not have been surprised that the ride armor had more than a chest cannon and heavy crushing fists for weapons. Alpha really had armed it to the teeth with an entire internal arsenal! However, this was not enough to dampen our spirits as Rainbow Dash called out in frustration. "He's just getting desperate now! Smash it! Smash it 'til it drops!"

It was at this point that we stopped being on the defensive and went entirely on the offensive. Fluttershy served as the vanguard, charging Alpha head-on as he tried shooting at my friends and myself off to the sides while she just tanking any shots that Alpha blasted her with. He always kept the ride armor's left hand ready to defend from direct attacks and would often resort to using the armor's chest cannon to repel Fluttershy once she got too close. While not enough to really hurt her much, it struck with enough force to really blow her away.

Having come to the conclusion that her hoofarangs were proving to be completely useless against such an oversized mech, Applejack seemed to get just as creative with how she dealt with the robots back in the factory. She had her rope lasso a large piece of junk from nearby, usually a steel girder, and then beat the Devil Gigas with it like a heavy flail. At least until Alpha broke it with a well-aimed shot. Even so, with all that junk littering the construction site, Applejack was never short of anything to hit our enemy with.

Rainbow Dash started to combine her lightning pendant with her natural speed for some truly spectacular results. Along with zipping around the place and scoring hit and run attacks on the armor, she would often perform ramming attacks on the Devil Gigas armor while coated in a lightning aura. She was definitely proving to be the biggest thorn in Alpha's side. Then again, I still remember when she was being annoyingly fast against Nightmare Moon as well. Nothing short of a tractor beam would catch her then. Poor Pinkie Pie though. She was proving to be utterly helpless against the Devil Gigas. She kept trying to tease and annoy Alpha by getting within his line of sight, but it seemed even he had come to the conclusion that she was of no threat to him.

Even as my friends and I tried to whittle the ride armor down with ranged attacks as Fluttershy kept charging from the front to force Alpha to defend against her or suffer another crushing beating, it really felt like we were getting nowhere. It really felt like the only person there with the power to actually put a dent in the armor was Fluttershy and no one else. The H-Buster was certainly proving to be ineffective against it. I quickly glanced at my Variable Weapon System grid and checked my two assimilated abilities. Just the Rocket Tackle and the Nova Strike. I had already tried the Nova Strike normally and with the H-Saber, but to no avail. I then deleted it from my list to open up a slot before looking at the Rocket Tackle icon again.

As Fluttershy and Alpha got into another boxing match with each one trading blow for blow with its arm cannon being tucked away behind the Devil Gigas' fist, I decided to give the H-Saber another try. I drew it from its holster and waited for Alpha to knock Fluttershy away again. He did eventually repel her with another chest cannon beam, but that was the moment I used my boot thrusters to rush over to him and come to a stop right behind him. It was only then that I activated the Rocket Tackle in tandem with the H-Saber to use the Hypersonic Blade technique.

Just like the last time, time seemed to slow down around me. Not completely stopping, but slowing it to a crawl. I then went crazy, hacking and slashing away at the Devil Gigas' backside while keeping the technique going as long as my Variable Weapon System's energy gauge would allow me. Pushing my body and sensors that far took up a lot of energy and I was only able to maintain it for ten seconds before the gauge was bled dry, my blade leaving a spider web of glowing scratches along the ride armor's hull. But even then, it was still intact! Alpha had already started to turn around before my energy gauge was drained completely and soon found himself staring down at me. "And just what are you up to, hm?"

I stared up at the hulking wall of metal while Alpha looked down at me from the cockpit. With how inept I had been in actually fighting that thing along with its hulking size, I felt like a rambunctious child who had just pestered a sleeping dragon with a toothpick. "Uh... Heheh... I was... Uh... I was just scratching that itch on your back?"

Alpha let out a snort before I froze as four thick metal spikes extended from four cylinders set at the bases of the ride armor's fists and extended past the edges of each hand. "Nice try."

Just when I felt like I was in for a world of hurt, I got quite a surprise. I saw Fluttershy's arms wrap around the ride armor's waist before she pulled off the craziest move I had seen all day. She let out a roar while leaning backwards and suplexed the entire suit of armor into the floor headfirst! I jumped back as a thunderous crash echoed throughout the current room of the construction site and yelled, "Holy hell, Fluttershy! Since when did you know wrestling moves?!"

Fluttershy soon straightened her stance before looking at me as all that rage left her face and became flushed with a sheepish grin and blush. Pinkie Pie then called out, "Better yet, just how did you fit that thing?! You must've really be chowing down on protein drinks the last few weeks!"

Not surprisingly, the ride armor had fallen on its front before it slowly climbed back up to its feet. Alpha was clearly dazed from the force of the impact and extremely lucky that the cockpit's shielding had protected his head. Had it been taken down, he would have likely been crushed under its weight. But it was then that I realized what was keeping Alpha safe. I pointed at his head and shouted, "The cockpit is protected by a domelike shield! Take that out!"

"James, seriously! I'm the one supposed to be making dirty jokes and this isn't the time for them!" Rainbow Dash then yelled at me out of nowhere while getting some puzzled looks from just about everyone else.

At first, I was left baffled by what she was even referring to. "Dirty jokes?! What's so dirty about... Wait... Cockpi... Oh, shut up, Rainbow! You know what I meant! The pilot seat! Take out that shielding so we can take out the pilot! Probably easier than taking down the armor itself!"

"Oh, the pilot! Well, why didn't you say so?!" Rainbow Dash said with a laugh before launching a bolt of lightning at an annoyed Alpha. The shielding held up without trouble, preventing the blast from getting through. Twilight then tried concentrating a heat ray onto it, although it seemed ineffective. In fact, just about everyone aside from Fluttershy was keeping their distance and for good reason. One good blow from that hulking monstrosity would probably cause fatal internal damage.

Fluttershy still went after Alpha with raw brute force, although she had to take greater care to actually avoid Alpha's punches now that he had spikes on the fists that could probably really tear her up. Not wanting to get in the way of those two, I stood back for a while. I still felt that the H-Buster was not the right way to go since I had already tried and failed to shoot Alpha with it earlier. The only thing I had left to use was the H-Saber and that hot burning blade was proving to not do much to the Devil Gigas on its own. The Celestial Sword might have actually fared better, now that I think about it.

Seeing that the Rocket Tackle was not helping, I deleted that to open up both currently available spaces in my Variable Weapon system. I quickly checked my options. The Devil Gigas itself did not have any compatible weapons in it, as my internal scanners did not detect anything when it grabbed me, Pinkie Pie could provide the Rocket Tackle again, Twilight's freeze ray ability would give me Shotgun Ice, Applejack's rope just might give me the Strike Chain again while her hoofarangs would...

It was then that I had an idea. I had not yet seen what may happen if I tried to scan her throwing weapons. With Applejack in my line of sight, I called out to her. "Hey, AJ! Toss me one of your hoofarangs for a second!"

"One of these?! If ya say so, pardner!" She replied before expertly throwing one of her golden hoofarangs at me. I easily caught it with one hand only to see my HUD display show the hoofarang before also displaying a crescent-shaped blade. My body's armor plating then became a dark purplish gray while my softer armor became something of an aquamarine hue. I then tossed Applejack's hoofarang back to her while arming my buster once more. "Thanks, AJ! Now this might actually do something!"

I took aim at the mighty Devil Gigas and fired off a few shots. The projectiles that were launched from my arm were not any sort of energy projectiles, but crescent metal blades that flew on an arced trajectory. "Heads up, big guy! Boomerang Cutter!"

Before the spinning boomerang blades could return to me, they slammed into the backside of the hulking metal monster and became lodged in the hull. I was expecting them to dig a bit deeper, but I was not surprised they could get by the thick plating. "Ugh, so much for that one!"

After discarding the Boomerang Cutter from my databanks, Alpha sent Fluttershy flying again before turning to me. "I must say that this is becoming quite repetitive! I'd really like to hurry this up! I have a world to wipe clean!"

Once he turned to face me, the Devil Gigas hunched forward before propelling itself towards me at high speeds with its back thrusters. However, I was surprised to see Twilight showing some quick thinking as she used her freeze ray superpower to frost over the floor between the two of us. Although it did not seem to be doing anything at all since the ride armor was moving in a straight line. But then she called out, "James! Aim for one side!"

"One side...? Oh!" I then realized what she had in mind. Quickly charging up the H-Buster, I fired a fully charged shot at the ride armor's left shoulder. While it did not cause any real damage, the force of the impact caused the ride armor to turn to the left. And with the speed it was going and with no friction to stop itself, it started going into an increasingly fast spin! I even heard Alpha call out, "What the... WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

The Devil Gigas was spinning like a top as it slid across the layer of ice! The tense moment became one of hilarity as we all burst into laughter while I jumped out of the way. There is just no way to describe seeing an unstoppable powerhouse suddenly going out of control like that with no way to stop itself. Pinkie Pie even called out to us all, "Runaway figure skater! Run for your lives!"

Finally, the dancing ride armor came to a stop when it slammed into a support beam with its girth and weight in its flailing arms being enough to snap it in two. This caused the ceiling and everything around the upper floor that was right above Alpha to come crashing down onto him. At first, it seemed that the Devil Gigas ended up buried in a pile of rubble and industrial junk. But it soon pulled itself out of the rubble while having clearly sustained even more structural damage than before. The spikes that protruded near the fists had either been bent or snapped off. Even the cockpit's protective dome had a noticeable crack in it. I then called out, "Want some more?!"

Fluttershy did not even wait for Alpha to offer a response. She charged right at him to continue her assault, but Alpha was quick to grab her hoof when she threw a punch and just threw her across the room before going after her. I decided to once again try out the H-Saber again, but would need some new weapon systems to experiment with if I was going to get through to the pilot.

While my friends rushed after Fluttershy, I dashed over to Rainbow Dash and tapped her on the leg as my HUD scanned her body while my armor turned a silvery gray hue. "Don't mind me, Rainbow! Just need a bit of Storm Tornado!"

"No problem, big guy! Just make sure you let him have it good!" Rainbow Dash replied before swooping ahead and unleashing more lightning upon the Devil Gigas. I knew better than to use the Storm Tornado in such an enclosed area as the Devil Gigas was probably too heavy and tightly put together to really be effected by the gale, ad it would likely just put my friends in danger by sending a hailstorm of junk flying every which way. So instead, I turned to my saber and took a swing. The result was more than I expected, the plasma blade generating a crescent wave of plasma energy that flew through the air and hit its target with a burst of thermal energy. I was left disappointed as it was basically using the H-Saber as a projectile weapon the fires spread shots of plasma, which was already proving ineffective against this hulking ride armor. I then deleted the Storm Tornado and rushed towards Twilight Sparkle in the hopes of getting two new tricks to try out.

"Twi, hold still!" I shouted before reaching out and grabbing her horn. My HUD quickly scanned and showed the same translucent images as before while seeing a tiny ice crystal icon appear on the right of my visor in the list of assimilated abilities I had acquired, although it was the only one present. However, I was surprised to have acquired Shotgun Ice even though Twilight had last used her heat ray ability. I suppose it would make sense that it would not be Fire Wave since her horn did not launch actual fire, but still... "Hey! Why just Shotgun Ice and nothing else?!"

"Shotgun Ice?! Wait... Isn't that the one you used back in the factory that almost turned Rainbow Dash into a pincushion? Don't use that here! You might hit somepony with the ricochet!" Twilight replied while I let go of her horn. In the meantime, Spike launched another smoke bomb at the Devil Gigas while Alpha seemed to be going after Rarity now that she was trying to dig at it with energy constructs in the form of jackhammers. Fortunately, Rarity has always been light on her hooves and managed to stay one step ahead of the ride armor's crushing fists. It also helped that she had conjured up large shields. Fluttershy seemed to have gotten herself caught in some debris nearby from another ceiling collapse and was having trouble getting her legs untangled. Pinkie Pie was already on the scene and trying to help free our friend.

"It's OK, Twilight. I know better than to use that when you girls are around. I'm just going to try a more direct approach with my blade instead. Now, maybe if I can get some Thunder Dancer again..." I replied before using my flight thrusters to go airborne and take off after Rainbow Dash. While she ducked behind another support beam to evade one of the ride armor's plasma shots from its arm cannon, I zoomed up to her and touched her pendant. "Excuse me, Rainbow. Mind if I borrow some of your thunder?"

Sure enough, the Thunder Dancer icon appeared next to the Shotgun Ice icon on my list. Although Rainbow Dash certainly did not seem to mind at all. "Not at all! Whatcha got in mind? More dancing lightning or something?"

"Nah, the H-Buster isn't working very well on that thing. I'm gonna try the blade this time. Here I go!" I said before dropping back to the ground and rushing towards Alpha. My H-Saber seemed to be able to tap into the Variable Weapon System without causing my body to change colors, although that made sense since the saber is not inside my body. Alpha soon turned my way as the hilt of the H-Saber extended to match that of a longsword as the blade of scorching plasma became one of crackling blue lightning. The ride armor's cannon changed back into a functional hand again as he seemed ready to crush me between its fists.

"OK, let's try a double bill of new blade techniques!" I shouted before rushing up to the ride armor with the use of my boot thrusters. Just as the fists swung inward, I used my thrusters again for just an instant to launch me upward while performing a swing with the H-Saber being held in a reverse grip. The crackling electric blade cleaved through the tough armored body even as more blue lighting rained down upon it once I was above it. Electricity has a habit of going straight down, after all. Once I was above Alpha as the ride armor's fists crashed together, I grasped the hilt of my weapon in both hands while the blade suddenly became a massive icicle that was around my size! Knowing that energy attacks were proving ineffective, perhaps a blow with actual mass and weight behind it would fare better.

I thrust the massive ice blade down as I dropped and struck home with the tip actually piercing the cockpit's shielding. However, it did not go in very deep. Maybe just a few inches. I then found myself awkwardly hanging over Alpha's while the icy blade of my sword tilted towards me and got stuck with me hanging comically in front of Alpha's face. There was a moment of awkward silence while the two of us shared a quiet stare. I soon began to snicker in embarrassment and said, "Well... I guess that didn't work too well, did it?"

"What was your first clue, nimrod?" Alpha replied before the Devil Gigas grabbed my body in its right hand and hurled me right at the nearby wall. I slammed into it face first with the icy blade of my sword shattering. But before I could properly stand up, I felt the massive hand of the Devil Gigas grab me by the back of my head and smashed my face right into the concrete wall hard enough to leave a small crater. But Alpha still was not done with me as I struggled to pull away. "Time to wrap this up!"

To my horror, I heard the ride armor's dash thrusters firing up. And before I could even hope to squirm free, it took off at max speed with my face still shoved down into the wall. My head rattled and shook while I was left helpless as my head carved out a mangled groove in the wall. It was torture as I was left wondering how in the world my head had not been crushed. My helmet and visor did a fine ob of protecting my face, but the right side of my visor began to chip and crack as more and more duress was put on it. This only went on for a good ten seconds or so before Fluttershy jumped in the way and once again knocked the Devil Gigas right off its feet with a mighty uppercut to the chest.

The ride armor dropped me right as it got hit and I promptly collapsed to my knees. The sheer blunt trauma I had been subjected too had been so severe that my very optic sensors were showing static. I could hear sparks flying from the right side of my head while running my fingers over it. Scratched, dented, and with my right stabilizer fin having been all but ruined, that last attack had really left its mark on me. I placed the H-Saber back in its holster and just stayed there, waiting for my body to catch its breath. It was at this point that the whole adventure had stopped being fun for me.

I heard a heavy crash behind me and found that once more, Fluttershy and the Devil Gigas had become locked in another sparring match with fists flying. Blow after blow was rained upon each other before their fists finally locked with the Devil Gigas having grabbed Fluttershy's mighty hooves. They pushed against each other while glaring each other down, the ride armor's dash thrusters trying to overwhelm Fluttershy's hulking form as she pushed against him. It seemed to be a stalemate for a moment, but Alpha then got the upper hand by suddenly swinging the ride armor's upper body to the left and hurling Fluttershy to the side as she went crashing through more equipment that had been lying around. And with that, he set his sights on me once again.

I struggled to turn around and managed to get my shield arm up as the armor's left hand retracted to form another energy cannon. He then promptly fired a large burst of plasma at me that sent me flying backwards and through some distant containers. The particle shield had protected me from any real damage, but the impact still knocked the wind out of me. I remained slouched against the wall where I had come to a stop and wheezed in exhaustion and frustration. "This isn't fun anymore... Wait..."

My hand had slid to the left and had begun to touch something. "Feels like... Big... Metal... Hand shape..." I then turned in panic, certain that Alpha had already caught up to me and was about to grab me. Instead... It just seemed to be an ordinary suit of ride armor. Big and bulky while painted mostly yellow with some black stripes here and there, but a bit smaller than the Devil Gigas. "Phew! It's just empty... Wait a sec..."

I began to walk around the deactivated suit of ride armor as my HUD scanned it over. It was in great shape with only minor wear and tear from everyday use. It was clearly designed for industrial use and had likely been used to help out around the construction site. It had two big clasping hands with each 'finger' consisting of sturdy metal plates on hinges. No sign of any weapon systems, but why would it need any? "This baby actually looks functional... Hey, doc. Are you seeing this? Please tell me this thing's fixed by now..."

Even though there was a lot of static over the transmission, I finally heard Doctor Luminous speaking up to me. "Yes! Can you hear me, Project H?! Oh, thank goodness. I can't believe what Alpha's had created right under our noses. Truly a marvel of engineering and a terror as well... Are you all right? That last attack you endured seems to have caused quite a bit of structural damage to your cranial sections."

"Yeah, that wasn't fun to endure... I think I'm OK though. I'm not seeing any static anymore. But what about this suit of ride armor here? It's a Chimera model, right?" I replied while looking up and down at the ride armor as it remained seated before me.

"Chimera? That's not exactly what it's called, but it is fitting. This model serves as a template for many other models of ride armor. Most components on it are interchangeable for a variety of roles. This seems to be its most basic form. And as you've seen with that monstrosity Alpha is piloting, they are a force to be reckoned with when used for offensive purposes." Luminous explained while I peeked out from behind the large metal containers that stood between me and the fight that was still raging on. It seemed that Alpha was busy dealing with the rest of my friends without having bothered to check and see if that last shot had finished me off. "Furthermore, they are built tough. They are heavily armored to stand up to all sorts of risks that plague locations like this. You could have a building collapse on one of these things and it would still be functional. After it has been dug out of the rubble, of course."

"Sounds like this thing can stand up to a lot of blunt trauma. Not unlike a beating from another ride armor..." I muttered as a smirk began to spread across my face. "Doc, do you think I can pilot this thing? I'll fit in the cockpit, won't I?"

Luminous grumbled to himself for a moment while I climbed onto the ride armor's thick piston arms to look into the cockpit. It seemed to have a few levers and a dashboard for manual piloting. "Well, these kinds of ride armors are designed for use by ponies, but various robots can also pilot it. And they can do so even more effectively than anyone who isn't mechanical. And since you're roughly the same height as a minotaur robot... I think you will fit. Try going around to the backside."

I did as I was told and found a retractable panel that revealed a few buttons. My HUD provided me with the information on what each one did and I then pressed the green button. The back plating then slid down to reveal a hatch that swung outward in two halves that revealed a pair of steps. I walked up them before finding four holes in the sides of the cockpit. "Just insert your arms and legs and the ride armor's systems will do the rest."

This was starting to get exciting. I carefully did what I was told and soon found myself snugly fitted inside the ride armor's chassis like a type of suit. My presence must have activated something since the hatch behind me closed shut while the dashboard and levers retracted out of sight. I found the cockpit becoming increasingly snug and cozy while feeling my body becoming constrained. It felt like I was becoming a prisoner of sorts within this walking suit of armor. And yet... I felt like I was still in control. My HUD even began to display new information, such as replacing the wire frame display of my body with that of the ride armor itself with my head on top of it. It was then that I realized what was happening. The ride armor was functioning like an armored exoskeleton. An extension of my body! "Oooooh man, this is even better than I thought!"

With only minor exertions, I brought my armored body up to a standing position. Even though there were some limitations in my movement, the ride armor responded instantly to my will and provided very quick and precise feedback. I also found its movements to be surprisingly quick for its bulky size, probably because it was lighter than the Devil Gigas due to less armor plating and no weapon systems in conjunction with its smaller size. I tried performing a couple of punches, finding the piston arms to extend with each jab for greater force behind each blow. "Heh... And I bet this thing can take a punch as well as it can dish it out, right?"

The doctor then spoke with a tone of concern, "Probably. Ride armors are designed to be extremely durable to protect the pilot. They can endure a great deal of physical trauma. However, they have never been designed for combat, so I have no idea how well it will hold up when subjected to actual weapon systems. Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"I can't let my future wife do all the work, doc." I replied with a smirk while peeking over the heavy metal containers and seeing Fluttershy trading blows with the Devil Gigas once more as our friends tried to restrain it or pepper it with projectile attacks. Pinkie Pie seemed to have even resorted to chucking the contents of toolboxes she had found lying around at Alpha's head in rapid-fire succession. "Time to give that bastard a taste of his own medicine."

Using the large metal hands of my ride armor, I pushed the metal boxes aside. With nothing in the way, it was just a straight dash towards the Devil Gigas as Fluttershy kept charging it and getting smacked about. I felt my armored body hunker forward slightly as the dash thrusters on the back of the ride armor flared up and rocketed me forward at alarming speed. Probably used to push very heavy and large loads. Or maybe even to use pulley systems quickly? Regardless, I called out to Twilight and Rarity as they were in the way. "Outta my way, girls!"

The two unicorn mares turned and shrieked in surprise before they jumped out of the way. Alpha had begun to clash with the hulking might of my girlfriend once more before sending her sprawling with another blast from its chest cannon. Just how much punishment could she take? Regardless, I then yelled out to him as I pulled my right arm back to prepare a mighty piston punch. "Hey, Alpha! Got a present for you!"

The hulking Devil Gigas ride armor turned to its left to face me only for me to see a look of utter terror in the rogue alicorn robot's eyes. "What the devil...?!"

My fist hit home while I kept the ride armor's thrusters going, raining blow after blow onto the Devil Gigas' armored chassis while even pushing it along. My ride armor's mighty fists kept alternating with each blow as the upper body turned from side to side with each swing. After maybe eight blows, I slammed both fists right into the chest section before coming to a stop. Alpha's ride armor was sent staggering as it very nearly fell backwards before regaining its balance. The damage done was apparent. Heavy dents and tears in the armored hull revealed sparking circuitry and internal mechanisms. But it was still standing, so there was still a lot of work that needed to be done. And Alpha... Oh, that look in his eyes. He was seething with frustration. "You imbecile! You think a run-of-the-mill junk pile like that stands a chance against a monster like this?!"

"Well, judging by the structural damage I just dealt to it... I'd say yes." I said snidely before pounding my two fists together twice before throwing two more feint jabs at him while following it up with an uppercut to the air with my right arm. I then opened up the hand and beckoned Alpha with some subtle inward flexing of the fingers. "You want some of this?"

While Alpha glared at me as he weighed his options, I heard my friends coming up from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder at them while Rainbow Dash called out first. "Whoahoho man, where'd you get that?!"

"Oh, it was just lying around waiting for someone to put it to good use. You girls like it?" I replied while looking down at my friends from the lofty heights of the ride armor's pilot seat. They looked so much smaller from up there, but Fluttershy felt somewhere around my size by that point. "Looks like another giant walks among you now! Ha, come you metal rogues! Break your weapons against me!"

My friends got a good laugh at me while Pinkie Pie somehow ran right up the backside of my ride armor and found herself perching upon its shoulder. "Ooh! Nice ride! But you better be careful! You've got nothing protecting your head like he does."

Pinkie Pie was right. There were no exceptional defensive measures for the ride armor protecting the pilot's face, unlike the Devil Gigas. Even so, that translucent dome over Alpha's head was showing quite a bit of damage with that hole in the top. Perhaps with a few more good whacks, it would break entirely. Even so, I picked Pinkie Pie up in the ride armor's bulky hand and set her down. "Right then... How about we wrap this up and go home already?"

Alpha seemed to be at the end of his patience as I could hear him growling. "The lot of you just aren't worth this trouble! No more! I'm done toying with you!"

It was at this point that the Devil Gigas rushed towards me with its dash thrusters roaring. I responded in kind with my ride armor's own dash thrusters and rocketed towards him before our ride armor's collided head-on with a crash. And it was then that I found my current ride was at a disadvantage as I was getting steadily pushed back due to the Devil Gigas' greater size and weight. It truly was in a league of its own.

"Our turn! Power Ponies, go!" I heard Twilight yell while I glanced over my shoulder. My friends all spread out while Pinkie Pie seemed to just disappear. Suddenly, she was right up in my face while... Was she rubbing her butt over Alpha's shielding?

"Hi, James! Having fun?! And how's the view up there, Mr. Alpha?" Pinkie Pie asked giddily with her rump raised up high. I could say nothing to that, honestly.

"What... Get outta my way!" Alpha yelled before I got quite a shock. An electric current engulfed the entire Devil Gigas and gave Pinkie Pie quite a shock! She fell right off of our ride armor's before zipping away. It was probably a defense mechanism designed to repel anyone who might try climbing onto the ride armor to get at the pilot. My ride armor seemed to lack that feature though. With Pinkie Pie out of the way, the Devil Gigas grabbed my ride armor by the shoulders and pulled me to the side before slamming its fist into my chest. Even though it hit hard, my HUD revealed that my ride armor's plating had endured the hit well. It really was proving to be a walking iron wall.

"Ow... Wow, that stun! Hey, that reminds me! Maybe I should try some of the old zappity zap zap on him!" Pinkie Pie said from nearby as she straightened out her frazzled mane.

At first, I had no idea what she was talking about. And then I remembered what happened the last time Twilight had her goofy friend wear a pair of slippers. Put her off of science for more than a month! And Twilight must have been thinking the exact same thing since she then called out, "Ooooh no, absolutely not, Pinkie! Do you have any idea how fast your hooves move now?! You'll accumulate enough of a charge to wipe out the entire city in only a few seconds!"

While I did get a good laugh out of Twilight's reaction, I had to turn my attention to the mighty Devil Gigas as it marched right up to me with its mighty fists ready to pummel me. I struck first, landing a solid blow on the center of its torso before having to put up both arms to block his blows as the plating around the arms were exceptionally thick to protect the pistons. As hard as it was to believe, his punches hit harder than mine even though mine were a bit more flexible. However, I then began to wonder if I could integrate my H-Buster's chargeable features into the ride armor. I began to charge it up while pushing away Alpha's arms and could feel the entire ride armor quivering with energy. Then, just as Alpha was about to strike again, I unleashed the accumulated energy as my ride armor unleashed a flurry of rapid-fire punches that hit the Devil Gigas on numerous angles a full dozen times. The final blow was an uppercut of sorts that sent Alpha staggering backwards as sparks and even smoke began to rise from his battered ride armor. "What the devil was that?!"

"Now you're complaining?! Well, suck on this!" I replied before lifting both hands of my ride armor and lifting a single finger on each hand. Alpha merely stared at me momentarily as he was trying to comprehend my finger gestures. When I realized he was not as annoyed as he should have been, I glanced down at my ride armor's hands. I only had the index finger raised. Thinking it responded to my will incorrectly, I folded those fingers in and lifted the...ring fingers? As I flexed the fingers on each hand, I came to a startling discovery. "Huh...? Hey, what gives?! This thing only has four fingers on each hand?!"

I then heard Doctor Luminous speak up over my comm systems, although there was less static this time. "Of course they have four! Anymore than that and it would've made the finger movements too complex. Why is that a problem?"

Coming to the realization that I had narrowly avoided showing an obscene gesture in front of my friends, I felt myself blush somehow with how I had nearly embarrassed myself. "Uh... Never mind. It's not important..."

It was while I was distracted that the Devil Gigas marched altered its right arm into its cannon form and fired a burst of blue plasma right at me that slammed hard into the very center of my ride armor's chest. This actually caused it to stagger as my HUD detected noticeable heat and concussive damage that surpassed anything that the fists could have done. This confirmed my suspicions. Typical industrial ride armor could take a much bigger physical beating than they could from actual weapon systems. I tried stabilizing my ride armor's stance only to get knocked back down to a seated position by another shot. Annoyed, I yelled out at my opponent, "Hey, don't you know the rules?! You don't bring an arm cannon to a fist fight!"

"So what? I said I'm done playing!" Alpha replied with a nonexistent sneer as he took aim again. But before he could fire, a bolt of lightning shot past me and right into the cannon's mouth before a loud pop was heard from within. Smoke and sparks burst from the cannon as Alpha shook it in frustration. "Wha... No!"

It looked like the plasma cannon had been disabled for the time being. I doubt something like that could be completely taken out of commission by a wayward power surge, but it clearly could not fire for the moment. I then glanced to my left as Rainbow Dash flew up by me with her pendant in her mouth. While she winked at me, I grinned at her. "Nice zapping, Rainbow!"

She responded by patting me on my exposed head. "No problem, big guy! I brought the lightning. Now it's time for you to bring the thunder!"

Alpha reluctantly reverted his ride armor's right arm back into its standard state while smoke continued to leak out of it even as its hand was reassembled. But as I stared him down, we were both quick to notice the rest of my friends surrounding him from all sides. The only member of the Power Ponies he seemed to show any sort of concern over was Fluttershy as she was still in her hulking enraged form. And with the raw might of my own ride armor at my disposal, he was likely in a tough spot. But then again... We still had no idea how much more of a beating the Devil Gigas could endure before it would finally break down.

"Are you certain now's not a good time for you to cut your losses and flee in terror? I must say it seems we finally have you outclassed!" Rarity said boldly as her bracelets conjured up a few sledgehammers to batter our foe with.

Alpha glared at Rarity over his shoulder with clear irritation as the Devil Gigas began to raise its mighty fists into the air. "A giant? Flee from insects? I don't think so. Just be warned, cretins. Once I'm done with this traitor, you're all next!"

It was then that Alpha activated his ride armor's dash thrusters and charged right at me. I was quick to reach out and grab the Devil Gigas around the torso to hold it back. Alpha then seemed to try to grab me, but the ride armor's huge arms did not seem flexible enough to target something that was right up in the pilot's face. However, I then heard Twilight call out, "There! Rainbow, try zapping it right there!"

"I'm on it!" Rainbow Dash shouted before she seemed to move somewhere behind the Devil Gigas. I then saw her unleash a constant stream of lightning right into its backside for several seconds. Just when it seemed that her electrical attack was doing nothing, I felt the Devil Gigas lurch harshly towards me as a small explosion ruptured out of its backside. "Yeah!!! That'll slow it down!"

Alpha seemed to notice something had gone wrong, especially now that it no longer felt like the Devil Gigas was trying to push me over with its girth. "What have you done now?!"

I did not take long to see the cause of the commotion. A trail of thick black smoke was rising out of the backside of the Devil Gigas. The dash thrusters had been fried! I then called out, "Nice one, girls! Now let's see you keep up with me!"

I quickly pushed the Devil Gigas away before slamming my ride armor's metal fist squarely into its chest and knocking it back a few steps. However, Alpha retaliated with the increased distance by taking a step forward and using that momentum to slam his massive fist into my armored chassis. It quickly turned into a back and forth brawl with our hulking ride armors trading blows while I occasionally tried to utilize the H-Buster's charge function for another barrage of punches. However, it seemed that Alpha had started to catch onto my tactics and would raise his ride armor's arms to defend against each barrage. He certainly was not going to make himself an easy target.

My friends were sitting this fight out for the moment. It had become clear that aside from Fluttershy, their attacks were proving to be ineffective against this foe. It all made sense, honestly. Alpha was my enemy, not theirs. However, this did not stop Fluttershy from trying to help me out. At one point, Alpha repelled me once again with another cheap shot from the ride armor's chest cannon. My ride armor staggered from the hit as I tried to keep it standing. "You know, that cheap shot attack of yours is getting really old by now!"

Before Alpha could even gloat, we heard and felt the heavy tread of Saddle Rager approaching from my left. Just as Alpha turned, she delivered a powerful shoulder barge that almost knocked the Devil Gigas right off its feet. I cheered while I regained my footing, "Woo! You show 'im who's boss, honey!"

Fluttershy then looked my way with a bit of a smirk and spoke in her deep and distorted voice, "Then let's take him together, James. The couple that fights together stays together, right?"

"Man, I'm never gonna get used to that voice..." I muttered while I marched over to her before we both stared down a very frustrated Alpha glared at us with fists ready. In what had become a true clash of the titans, Fluttershy and I were pumped to bring down this hulking metal behemoth. "Well, if you're so tough and unstoppable, let's see you take us both on!"

"Fine!" Alpha yelled before his mighty ride armor marched towards us. We both charged him together and landed simultaneous blows upon the Devil Gigas. While Alpha did manage to land a couple of blows at first, he was quickly overwhelmed by our synchronized attacks with the air being filled with the loud heavy clanks of our blows and the cheering of our friends. But this did not go on for long. With the Devil Gigas showing signs of heavy damage, Alpha repelled us both with a desperate blast from the ride armor's chest cannon before we looked on in shock to see both of its arms taking on their plasma cannon forms. No smoke was rising from the right arm anymore, so it was safe to assume that the damage had been stabilized by that point. Alpha then sneered at us in rage and yelled, "You insects just aren't worth this much trouble!"

"Hit the deck, y'all!" Applejack yelled before Alpha unleash all three plasma cannons on the Devil Gigas and began to turn its massive body and send the three blue plasma beams all over the place as its arms flailed while dealing massive structural damage to the nearby areas of the construction site. My friends scrambled for cover while Fluttershy and I were the first two hit. Fluttershy fell to the ground in a daze while my ride armor was giving off sparks from the damage it had received. Once the Devil Gigas had turned completely around, I decided to take the opportunity. The armor's dash thrusters launched me forward before the jump thrusters on the lower body launched me into the air with my fist raised. Alpha had only just realized that something was wrong as I flew towards him and ceased his attack before turning around. Just as he looked up, I dropped and smashed my ride armor's heavy metal fist right into the cockpit shielding, shattering it with a signal blow. My fist must have clipped Alpha's horn as well since I noticed more than half of it had been snapped off as well.

"Gah...! My horn?! You... Why won't you just die?!" Alpha yelled in wrath at me as the arm cannons regained their fists. He truly was running out of patience and his ride armor was starting to look like it could not take much more punishment. The fight had finally come down to the wire.

"You first." I said dryly as I too was getting fed up with how long this fight had been dragged on. I marched right up to the Devil Gigas and threw a punch right as Alpha did the same. At it turned out, our fists collided with a crash. As we began to throw punch after punch, each blow mirrored the other through some crazy stroke of luck. Our punches became increasingly faster, each side trying to break out of the stalemate and land a blow to turn the tide of battle. And after maybe several dozen blows, we both missed each other's fist and punched each other squarely in the chest.

Those two blows was enough to knock us both off balance for a few seconds. It felt like neither of us really had any tricks left up our sleeves, so it had just boiled down to a clash of brute force to see who would break first. We regained our balance at the same time and once more resumed our brawl. Our punches slammed into each other at exactly the same time as we hit each other with as much force as we could muster. While the Devil Gigas had suffered more damage, its punches hit harder than mine.

I was finally sent reeling after eight simultaneous blows and nearly fell to a seated position. Which, to a ride armor, is probably akin to dropping to one's knees. Alpha was not fazed quite as much though and seemed eager to try to finish me off as he appeared to be focusing on my exposed head. But before he could approach me, Fluttershy charged in from nowhere and grabbed the hulking monstrosity in a type of arm lock. "What?! You again?! Let go!"

"Not until I disarm you..." Fluttershy said with a growl as the Devil Gigas struggled to wiggle free. It squirmed and swung its upper body, but Fluttershy's iron grip never once released it.

At first, I thought Fluttershy was just trying to hold it still so I could unload on it with a barrage of punches. But just as I stood up again, I saw exactly what she was trying to do. Following closely after the screeches and groans of metal bending, I looked on in absolute shock as Fluttershy tore the ride armor's right arm clean out of its socket! She then hurled the lifeless mechanical arm away as a shower of sparks flew from its empty shoulder socket. I think Pinkie Pie put it best. "Holy moly! Isn't that going too far?!"

"You wretch!" Alpha roared before turning and blasting Fluttershy with the plasma cannon that remained on the ride armor's left arm. That sent her sprawling a good distance I then tried to close the distance as quickly as I could by activating my ride armor's dash thrusters while still reeling from how Fluttershy had partially crippled such a mighty combat vehicle, but Alpha was too quick. Before I could come within striking distance, the Devil Gigas turned to face me and unleashed both the arm cannon and chest cannon into my ride armor as streams of blue plasma tried to push me back.

My ride armor's dash thrusters roared at maximum capacity as they tried to push through the plasma beams. It felt like I was pushing against a gale with how my approach had slowed to a crawl. However, my situation was not looking good as my HUD was detecting rapidly increasing damage in the ride armor's internal systems. Especially when it came to its internal energy supply. Finally, the dash thrusters gave out as I was pushed backwards at shocking speed and through piles of junk before my ride armor slammed into a concrete wall and slumped to the floor.

I was left briefly dazed from the impact as the sound of sparks flying reached my ears while trails of smoke were rising from the ride armor. My HUD immediately detected critical damage through the armor and seemed to focus of the chest section. Was something wrong with the power core?

Doctor Luminous was quick to yell at me through my comm system and answered my unasked question. "Project H, the ride armor's power core is going critical! At this rate, it's going to blow! Get out of there, or it'll take you with it!"

"You mean this thing's turned into a walking explosive device?!" I yelled as I mistakenly tried to stand up while still tied into the ride armor's motor systems. To my surprise, the ride armor was still functional. "Huh? Wait a second... This thing's about to explode with enough force to take me with it?"

"Yes, you won't survive the explosion if you're still in the cockpit! Get out of there!" Luminous yelled again over the small amounts of static that I could still hear. He was sounding quite panicked, although my eyes were looking directly ahead. The Devil Gigas was standing still while its feet seemed to be encrusted with ice and was surrounded by a linked field of ice, courtesy of Twilight Sparkle. Rather than risk a clash with Fluttershy with one arm missing, Alpha seemed to be resorting to relying on the ride armor's weapon systems to attack from a safe distance.

"Doc... How long until this thing blows?" I asked while the ride armor slowly rose to its feet while more sparks hissed from the tears and melted gaps in its armored hull.

"At this rate... About forty seconds left. Why do you ask?" The doctor asked while sounding noticeably concerned.

I felt a smirk cross my lips as I set my sites on Alpha. Judging by where I was, I was facing the direction that lead to the outer edge of the construction site. "That's all the time I need."

With a plan in my head, I flared up my ride armor's dash thrusters and rocketed towards the Devil Gigas with my arms ready. Alpha must have heard me coming since his ride armor's feet effortlessly broke out of the ice that was encrusting its feet and turned to face my direction. "Still standing?!"

I did not even say a word as my ride armor slammed into his and began pushing his ride armor across the ice. My ride armor's bulky arms grabbed the Devil Gigas around the sides and just barely lifted it off the ground to ensure that its feet would offer no resistance. Even once we were off the ice, we were still barreling across the site at high speed. Alpha was alarmed as he could do nothing to free his battered ride armor from my grasp with just one arm left. "Wha... What are you doing, you imbecile?! Where are you taking us?!"

I grinned in anticipation even as my HUD constantly monitored the state of my ride armor's increasingly volatile power core. I looked up at him and said, "This ride armor is about to blow, so it looks like we're gonna die together!"

"You're mad!" Alpha yelled as his ride armor squirmed in my grasp to no avail. He was trapped. And soon, I felt it. The floor disappeared out from under us before we began to plummet towards the ground far below us with steel girders rising up around us. Alpha went into a panic as gravity took hold with the Devil Gigas winding up under me. "You're out of your mind!"

"Nope! I'm just outta here!" I replied before finally deciding to abandon ship. My ride armor's backside opened up to allow me to escape right as bits of flame and bright orange glows began to leak out of its fractured hull. Alpha seemed more shocked than anything, leading me to suspect that he felt his ride armor was so indestructible that it would not need an emergency escape function for the pilot. "But first..."

I tightly held onto the ride armor once I got my arms free and then reached out and touched Alpha's exposed face while deleting everything that had been assimilated into my Variable Weapon System. My HUD promptly detected Alpha's Nova Strike ability and copied it into an empty slot on my list. Just to be on the safe side. I then waved goodbye as my flight thrusters extended from my back and began to flare up with Alpha looking up at me with terror and rage in his eyes. "Bon voyage!"

My body jumped up from the ruined ride armors and began to be held aloft as I got my H-Buster primed for action. Feeling pretty elated that this fight was over, I aimed right down at the sparking ride armor just as mine began to glow brightly with its power core on the verge of critical failure. "Here's one for the road, buddy!"

I fired off a volley of plasma shots without really aiming at anything, hoping that I would score at least one hit on him. But after no more than a dozen shots, there was a massive explosion below me that began to reach up to me. Not taking chances, I turned upwards as my armor's flight systems carried me high into the air at great speed. My friends were probably already waiting for me at edge of the platform I had just fallen from. No matter how tough the Devil Gigas was, there was no way it survived a point-blank explosion from another ride armor's power core along with a several dozen story fall. Especially not with that kind of damage accumulated.

I slowed down as I began to reach the floor where the battle had taken place and held out my arms for balance. As I expected, my seven companions had gathered at the edge of the flooring and saw me hovering before them with the night sky behind me. They must have known or even seen the explosion far below since they all just burst into cheering and applause while I descended slowly for a landing.

"Yes!!! Project H wins again! Oh man, there's no way this series won't take off after that kinda climax!" Spike shouted while he gazed up at me. A quick glance at my friends showed that they seemed to have suffered some minor wear and tear on their outfits, although it paled in comparison to the structural damage my armor had suffered.

Pinkie Pie then zipped up to me and squealed, "That last scuffle was just so fun to watch! Especially when you and Fluttershy started ganging up on Alpha! That was awesome, seeing two sweethearts fighting side by side!"

"Yeah, that was pretty nuts." I replied before turning my gaze towards my massively muscular fiancée. She seemed all right, even if a bit bruised around the face. Her outfit in particular seemed to have suffered a fair bit of damage due to enduring numerous attacks from the Devil Gigas. "You feeling all right, honey? You took quite a few hits back there."

Fluttershy nodded with a big tired smile before she began to shrink and revert back to her original size. "Uh huh... I'm feeling a bit sore now, but I'm OK."

I then dropped to one knee while she reached up and held me in a tender embrace. I nuzzled the side of her head with my own battered helmet and said, "Thanks for being there for me. It was really awesome the way you knocked Alpha flat on his back like that. Didn't see it coming at all."

"I just...felt so angry when I saw him crushing you like that... I had to do something." Fluttershy said quietly while sounding noticeably tired. I suppose she would be left feeling emotionally burned out after being enraged for so long.

Rarity then walked up to us and gently patted Fluttershy on the shoulder. "There there, darling. The villain has been vanquished and we remain alive and well. The only question is how do we get back home now?"

Twilight then replied, "Well... Since the story likely started back at the lab where Project H first came online, maybe we should go see Doctor Luminous?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Let's go see the egghead and go home. All this action's been awesome and all, but I'd say I could really use a nap right now." Rainbow Dash then added while landing and letting out a yawn. I suppose it did not help that it had been night in our current location at the time.

Applejack then started to head deeper into the construction site before looking back at us. "Well then, let's mosey, y'all. There's bound ta be a way down from here."

Finally having all the right reasons to relax, we all began to follow Applejack. The air had become so quiet. Perhaps even the evacuation sirens had been shut down due to the evacuation having been nearly completed. However, I did not even make twenty paces before I began to hear a distant high-pitched hissing sound. At first, I was uncertain of what it could be. But as it grew steadily louder, I came to a stop. Pinkie Pie was quick to notice me halt and asked, "What's wrong, James? Forgot something?"

"Girls..." I said quietly as they turned to face me. Their ears were clearly not as sensitive as my auditory sensors since they did not show any signs of hearing something unusual. But I recognized that sound. The hiss of personalized rocket thrusters. "I don't think he's done yet."

They all showed looks of shock with Rainbow Dash all but yelling at me. "You've gotta be kidding me! Did you see how big that blast was?! He basically had a megaton bomb go off in his face! What kinda robot could survive that?!"

"I dunno, Rainbow, but... He's right there." Applejack replied while she pointed ahead and behind me. I promptly looked over my shoulder. And there he was. Slowly rising into view with smoke and sparks rising from his battered body was Alpha with his wing thrusters flaring up.

Expecting a further attack, I promptly armed my H-Buster and approached him. "Alpha, you better not be back for round 3 because I am so not in the mood for you right now! Beat it!"

It was once I got closer with Alpha's metallic body caught in the moonlight that I got a good look at the extant of the damage he suffered from my ride armor exploding at point-blank range. His armor was fractured and leaking smoke, one of his legs had been torn off at the knee, and his face... His lower jaw seemed to have been torn off with the underlying circuitry sparking. And his left eye... It seemed that one of my potshots had managed to land a hit. His left eye's cover had been shot off, revealing the glowing red optic sensor underneath. And he was just seething with rage and humiliation. He could not face me in the condition he was in and he knew it.

"Whoa... Looks like that blast all but ruined him!" Twilight said as I heard her and our friends trot up behind me. I threw my left arm out to my side to signal them to stay behind me. I could not take any chances now that Alpha had been backed into a corner.

For a moment, Alpha merely glared at us while hovering high above the deep drop before us. When he finally spoke, his voice was filled with static. "You have truly made a powerful enemy, Project H. You may have won this battle, but the war is only just beginning. And I will remember this scar. I cannot continue this duel, so we will resume once me and my enlightened fellow machines sound our war horns..."

However, he then floated backwards as I noticed glowing lights upon his wing frames. His plasma beam arrays! "Assuming you survive this one, that is!"

"Girls, behind me!" I shouted while I lifted my left arm and activated the particle shield projector just as Alpha unleashed his final attack upon us. My friends gathered in a line behind me as the beams occasionally dragged across my shield, but it soon became clear that Alpha was not directly targeting us. They were ripping through the construction site itself, even tearing through the steel girders on the floor below us! "Alpha, knock it off! You're missing us!"

After maybe twenty seconds of seemingly randomly flailing his weaponry around, Alpha ceased his attack and began to fly away before I could line up a shot on him. And even if I tried, I would have found it impossible with the floor starting to lurch under me. Spike was the first to speak as the floor buckled, "Whoa! What's happening?!"

The following noise answered his question. All around us, melted and weakened metal began to screech as steel girders began to collapse. And soon, the floor under us gave out as we began to plummet to the ground far below with nothing to catch us! I let out a startled yell while my friends began to scream as we fell. And right behind us was several dozen tons of debris. Even worse was the fact that I could not save them all!

Fortunately, Twilight was quick to come up with an idea when we saw was lay far below us. By some stroke of luck, or maybe just contrivance for the comic book's plot, an open pit in the ground was below us. Possibly an underground warehouse that had been excavated to be used with the finished site. "Rarity, there! Conjure up an air cushion!"

"Huh?! There... Oh, there! I've got it!" Rarity replied loudly before her bracelets began to shine. Far below us, a bright pink rectangular cushion seemed to appear. Something of that size would easily catch us. And it did.

We hit it with a soft thump with the air inside making it feel like we had all landed on a trampoline without the bounce. However, Twilight was quick to follow-up with another order. "Quickly! Make a ceiling! There's more rubble coming!"

Rarity quickly looked up with the rest of us to see the incoming debris that would likely end up crushing us. Once more, her bracelets shimmered before a solid pink sheet of some material became spread out over the entire length of the hole above us. Thunderous crashes filled the air as the debris smashed into it, although I was not feeling safe at all. Fluttershy then voiced my own concern by asking, "I don't think that's going to hold..."

It was Pinkie Pie who found a way out. She zipped right off of the cushion and stood next to what seemed to be a doorway at the edge of the largely empty basement. "Over here, everypony! There's a way out!"

It was then that we heard cracking. Large cracks began to fill the temporary ceiling above us. Almost in a panic, we scrambled off the air cushion and bolted for the doorway with Rainbow Dash yelling, "It's gonna cave in! Go, go, go!"

Just as we all passed through the doorway, we heard the ceiling crumble under the weight of the debris and the room we had just entered went completely black as all natural lighting was blocked out. The rumbling that came with the ceiling collapse ended and we were thrust into complete silence. Possibly due to some previous blunt trauma, my optic sensors did not automatically swap to the ultraviolet settings to allow me to see in the dark. "OK, that's over... Is everyone here?"

"Lemme check! Um... OK, we've got pink eyes, purple eyes, azure eyes, cyan eyes, green eyes... Yup, everypony's here! I even see Spike's eyes down there and your eyes up there! That orange visor really makes you stand out, James." I heard Pinkie Pie reply while wondering exactly what it was she was referring to.

"Uh... Come again? Whatever do you mean that you can see our eyes, Pinkie?" I heard Rarity ask from somewhere right next to me.

"I guess I could go into detail, but I think this chapter's getting long enough. You don't need me to clog it up with an eye-juggling gag and mismatching the eyes with everypony's heads." I heard Pinkie Pie reply while leaving me utterly baffled by those words. She then said, "Come to think of it, where are we anyway?"

"Uh... Lemme check with the doc." I said before trying to contact Luminous. "Doc, are you there? Did you get everything that just happened?"

The good doctor's voice filled the air with only a slight amount of static accompanying it. "Yes, I've been monitoring everything closely, Project H. It seems that Alpha has vanished entirely, probably to lick his wounds. You've succeeded in repelling him for the time being. I doubt the population has anything else to worry about for the night. As for your current location... You seem to be in a network of underground utility tunnels. Just follow the path before you and you should eventually find a means to get back to the surface. However, it seems that the lighting systems are offline. You'll have to find the fuse box and reset it."

"We don't exactly have time to cover for the local technician, doc..." I muttered before remembering the H-Saber at my side. I promptly drew it from its holster and activated the blade with the hilt standing straight. Its burning blade shot forth and provided quite a bit of light. I saw all my friends standing around me in a concrete corridor, but was quick to notice something odd about Rainbow Dash. "Huh? Hey, Rainbow... Since when did your eyelashes look that stylish?"

"Huh? My lashes? Uh... What're you talking about? I'm not the kinda mare who spends all my time in front of a mirror." She replied while Rarity seemed to roll her eyes... Wait. Why did Rarity roll her eyes while... Funny thing is that Rainbow Dash's eyes did not seem to be showing the matching emotions for her tone of voice. And that is saying something because the ponies of Equestria have the most emotive eyes I have ever seen on anyone. And it was then that Rarity's eyes seemed to open wide in shock while Rainbow Dash then yelled, "What the... Hey! What' am I doing standing over there?! Why am I seeing me?!"

"Now that you mention it... I'm seeing myself too! And... Oh my, I look simply spectacular in that outfit. So that's what I look like?" Rarity said in return while... It did not take long for her to figure out what had happened with her eyes displaying irritation while Rainbow Dash's eyes initially showed delight before showing frustration. "Pinkie Pie, what did you do?!"

Now that she mentioned it, I did not recall Rarity having pink eyes or Rainbow Dash having gorgeous azure eyes. Pinkie Pie then giggled and said, "I'll fix it! James, kill the lights!"

"Uh... OK?" I retorted before deactivating the H-Saber briefly. Once the blade vanished, the room fell into complete darkness.

Pinkie Pie did...something quickly for about ten seconds before she spoke up. "OK, you can turn the lights back on now!"

I did as I was told and activated the H-Saber again. With light filling the room, I saw that Rainbow Dash and Rarity had their correct eyes set back into their skulls. I then asked while trying really hard to not think about the concept too much, "So... Everyone's eyes back where they belong?"

Everyone seemed to agree all at once before I stepped forward to lead my friends through the halls. "All right... Stay behind me and let's go. I'm ready to go home."

I began to slowly walk through the concrete corridors with my friends following closely behind me, the H-Saber's glowing plasma blade being the only source of light for us. And even then it was basically only a very long glow wand. The corridors consisted of concrete walls and floors with metal grating lining the middle probably as a means to allow rainwater to escape should it get down there. Thick pipes lined the ceiling everywhere we went while metal-coated wires would occasionally line the walls while connecting to metal boxes. I suppose I could have investigated them, but it was not important. All I wanted to do was get this mission over with and go home.

It was always a bit nerve-wracking whenever I peered around a corner. Even though my HUD was presenting a map of sorts in the corner of my visor, I was very worried we may come across a wandering rogue machine in the halls. I listened very carefully, not detecting any sounds that were not coming from myself or my friends. Everyone was deathly quiet to stay alert for anything that may be lurking in the shadows of the darkened utility tunnels.

We passed by several heavy metal doors that seemed to be the kinds that retract into the floor while being held in place by a series of locks. Heavy industrial stuff. Although we eventually came to a doorway whose door was already retracted. "Hold up for a minute..."

I stopped and peeked into the room and was pleasantly surprised by what I found. It seemed to be a storage room modified into a break room for off-duty maintenance workers. There was a table in the center along with a couple of old sofas, a few vending machines, and even a small older CRT television in the corner. There was even a lamp on a small end table and a simple rug spread out on the floor. It seemed to be the kind of room a few friends on the workforce decided to spruce up with some older furniture they had lying around their houses that they were wanting to replace, but not really wanting to toss them out. There was even an old box-like radio in one corner. And after all that we had gone through, I was more than willing to just put my feet up for a bit and take a break. "Looks like a break room. I'm taking five."

"Huh?! But James...! We've got to get outta here first! Isn't that what the plot says?" Twilight asked with some confusion, clearly wanting to get things done as quickly and straightforward as possible, not that I blame her.

In no mood to argue, I entered the room and placed the H-Saber back in its holster while reaching under the lamp's shade and pressed the switch that turned it on, bathing the concrete room in a soft glow. "Don't care. I'm tired and I want to rest. The plot can afford us a half hour to chill for a bit."

"Yeah, I wanna rest my hooves for a while too. C'mon, girls. Let's chill." Rainbow Dash added before she trotted into the room and made a beeline for the vending machine. One by one, all our friends entered as well. Once they were all inside, I decided to insure that we would not be disturbed by anything and engaged the door's manual locking mechanisms. The heavy metal door slid up and into place before its locking gears were secured as I lowered a latch on it that secured it in place. The only way to open it by that point was from inside the room or with a key on the outside. No wandering rogue machines were going to get to us then.

Pinkie Pie began to look the vending machines over. One was loaded with snacks and the other with drinks. Although there was another much narrower machine behind those two, I did not pay it much mind. It seemed to be the kind that only gives out one sort of refreshment. After tapping on the buttons, Pinkie Pie turned to look at us. "Hey, girls? Any of you got some bits?"

"Sorry, Pinkie. I don't think our outfits have pockets." Fluttershy replied while she looked herself over.

Fortunately for them, Rarity soon approached the vending machine. "One moment, girls. I think I may have an answer for this." At her words, the bracelets around her hooves shimmered before a pink bit appeared in the air before being slid into the snack machine's coin slot. "Now, let's see if it works..."

With a press of a button, the coiling wires that held up a bag of chips began to rotate until one of the bags fell into the bottom. Pinkie Pie then reached in and pulled the bag out with it hanging from her teeth. "Wow, who knew you could make money appear like that?! Hey, girls! Want anything?"

Bit by bit, Rarity provided my friends with currency to activate the vending machines until they had spent well over twenty bits on snacks and drinks ranging from fruit juices to soda to chips to candy to roasted nuts. Even so, I just remained seated at the far end of one sofa as I was not feeling the least bit hungry or thirsty. More than likely a result of having no actual digestive system. Still, I watched in silence while observing the colorful labels on my friends' snack bags and drink cans. The labeling looked like nothing I had ever seen in Equestria, likely just being fictional brands the writers of the series came up with. Although they seemed to be quite flavorful since my friends did seem to be enjoying them as they conversed with each other.

I just leaned back and propped my feet up on the table before me and just stared at the pipes that ran along the ceiling. It felt good to just sit back and relax after all the mayhem we had just gone through that night. Although I soon noticed something out of the corner of my eye and looked down to see Spike standing between the sofa and the table while holding out a juice box to me with a straw sticking out of it. He smiled and said, "You OK, James? You want anything to drink?"

A quick look at the box revealed that the contents were fruit punch. One of my favorite fruit drinks. However, feeling no thirst and knowing that I likely could not digest its contents, I shook my head. "No thanks, Spike. Not thirsty. Besides, I'm pretty sure drinking something like that would mess up my internal systems somehow. There's a reason why you shouldn't take a bath with a toaster, you know."

"Oh, right... Well, lemme see if there's something for you." He replied before running back over to the vending machines. However, I soon noticed him inspecting the really narrow one at the end. Paying him no mind, I tilted my head back to gaze at the ceiling. But no more than a minute went by before Spike was up on the sofa by me with a big can in his hand. "How about this one? The vending machine said 'For robot consumption only' on the front."

"Robots only?" I asked before looking at the can with a cockeyed stare. It seem to be a shade of blue with a large E on both sides. I took it in hand, finding it to be heavier than a typical aluminum can and sturdier too. Probably made of tougher material to prevent leakage. Finding it to be very similar to something else I had seen, I turned to Doctor Luminous for confirmation. "Hey, doc? Are you seeing this? Can you tell me what this stuff is?"

The doctor did not take long to reply as he spoke more clearly than before. "Yes, that is an energy supplement. The contents are a liquid energy and are quite toxic to anything that is not mechanical. It perks you up by energizing you if your energy output is below average and even promotes automatic repairs. In short, it can heal you to some degree and will leave you feeling refreshed."

"Seriously? Well... OK then. I'll give it a try." I muttered before finding a pull tab on top of the can and opening it up like a soda can. I then tilted my head back and took a sip. However, I was quick to notice a glowing green outline surround my entire body as I gulped down a few sips. I stopped immediately and looked at myself before looking at my friends. Everyone was looking my way. "Am I the only one who noticed that glowing green outline around me just now?"

"Uh... Nope, we saw it too. Y'all feelin' all right, James?" Applejack asked while from sipping a can of apple juice.

I shrugged my shoulders and looked back down at the can. "Yeah, I guess." I then tilted my head back and started chugging the literal energy drink as that green outline surrounded my body again. I found it to be cold and refreshing and seemed to have some fizz to it like soda would. Once I had drank the can dry, I felt genuinely better and more energized. Even my HUD seemed to detect improvements in my internal systems. "Hey, that's pretty good! Tastes like a sport's drink."

"Sweet! Maybe I should try some. I'm all about staying energized during my workout routines." Rainbow Dash said while looking the energy drink machine over only to find the warning on the front. "Huh?! For robots only! Nuts..."

"I've got some nuts!" Pinkie Pie replied before holding out a bag of peanuts. I merely rolled my eyes at her and tossed my can towards the nearby recycle bin. It skirted around the edges a bit before narrowly falling off. However, Applejack's rope then lashed out and whipped it, sending the can back up and into the bin. "Ooh, nice save, Applejack!"

"Thanks, Pinkie. Guess that floatin' rope comes in handy for all sorts of stuff." Our masked friend retorted while she snacked on apple chips.

I once more began to just chill out on the sofa while Spike remained seated by me as he sipped from his juice box and ate from his bag of chips. I turned my gaze down at the dragon child and asked, "How you holding up, Spike? That slingshot of yours doing its job well?"

Spike looked up at me and nodded. "Yeah, it is! I know I haven't been able to really keep up with everypony, but I really feel like I've been helping out with that thing. And thanks for trimming my cape back there. I haven't tripped on it since."

I smiled and patted him on the head while being mindful of the spines that lined the middle of his head. "You've been a pretty good shot with those all night. You really helped me out when Alpha was piloting that ride armor too." Spike merely chuckled cutely while being tickled by the praise I was giving him. However, when I thought of Alpha, my thoughts also went towards my recent memories of the Mane-iac. "Hey, Spike... About the Mane-iac. She's not the only problem the Power Ponies have to deal with all the time, is she?"

This really caught Spike's attention. "The Mane-iac? Actually, no. She's the most recurring villain in the series, but there are five other big villains that show up now and then. There's Pharaoh Phetlock, High Heel, Shadowmane, Long Face, and Smudge. They're all really dangerous in their own ways, but it's the Mane-iac who usually shows up. I guess she just really loves the attention."

"Huh... Makes you wonder why we haven't bumped into any of them tonight. They must really be put off by the maverick outbreak and are in hiding since they can't show themselves in public." I said quietly while wondering exactly what these villains even look like, let alone which them are male or female. OK, Pharaoh Phetlock is obviously male and anyone with High Heel as their name is likely female, but... Well, there were just a lot of unanswered questions floating through my head, but I could just ask later.

After a short while, Spike got up and approached the television in the room's corner. "I wonder if the TV station is still running with everypony evacuating..."

"Ooh, maybe they've got cartoons on at this hour! Is the remote around here?" Pinkie Pie asked while she reached between the sofa cushions.

Twilight then smiled while she sipped some orange juice and said, "You know, it might be interesting to see what television programs they have in this fictional world. Go ahead and turn it on, Spike."

Spike did as he was told and pressed the power button. The roar of static began to come from the speakers, but the volume had been previously turned down to a manageable level. After five seconds, the black screen became filled with a pandemonium of rapidly quivering black and white specks. I muttered to myself, "Man, you don't see this on TV where I come from anymore..."

After checking the buttons on the front of the TV, Spike began to cycle through the available channels with each one providing nothing but static. Eventually, we finally got one that displayed sound and visual images. It seemed we also tuned in just in time to see the title card, although it seemed...remarkably silly. Fluttershy even gave the screen a cockeyed stare and said, "Pretty...Pretty...Pegasus?"

"Well, it's better than nothing." Rainbow Dash spoke before she became slouched on one sofa like a total slacker while dropping peanuts into her mouth. At first, the show seemed all right. Bright colorful animation and lively voice acting. But no more than thirty seconds in, we were all cringing with how asininely immature and obnoxious the two main characters were with even the world seeming saccharinely stupid and childish to the point where even most kids would probably prefer to watch something else. Rainbow Dash then threw up her hooves and shouted, "What kinda stupid filly show is this?! Change the channel, please!"

Spike obliged all too happily, changing the channel to the next. And it seemed to be another cartoon going through its opening sequence. Before any of us could offer any input, Spike seemed to recognize it. "Hey, I know this cartoon! It's the one Hum Drum really likes!"

"You mean the cartoon that taught him the virtues of friendship that helped the Power Ponies get along? That one?" I asked while the opening sequence played a song that seemed to be a variant of that song I have heard Fluttershy and even Spike humming at times. It seemed to feature six mares animated very fluidly with bright colorful art styles with the ending of the opening displaying the words 'My Little Pony'. Furthermore, I had heard those three words being sung quite a few times during the opening. I then looked towards Fluttershy and asked, "Hey, Fluttershy? Don't you hum that tune sometimes? Or sing it?"

"You mean the 'My Little Pony' chant just now?" She replied while smiling at me. "Well... Yes! My Little Pony is an old nursery rhyme. It's a very popular song all across the world, but I guess you don't usually hear it unless it's being sung to a child."

"Huh... Kinda funny how that song gave rise to a cartoon show. Well... A fictional show, at that." I said while we all turned our attention to the screen while Spike hopped back onto the sofa for a while. I especially found it subtlety amusing how 'My Little Pony' is also the name of a toyline on Earth. Funny little coincidence there. Although when I think about the toys and look at my friends... No. No way there can be a connection between those two. That would be ridiculous.

Seeing as how this was a show clearly meant for kids, specifically little girls, I was sure I was in for a rather unpleasant time. But I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself enjoying the characters and the world in the show a lot more than I ever expected to. They were believable and surprisingly relatable at times, the world felt just about as real as Equestria itself, and the animation was very pleasing to the eyes. It even employed the use of silent ambience at times for enhanced atmosphere, which is something one does not expect to find in kid shows. I wish I could remember the main characters' names, but I could not memorize them in just one episode.

About five minutes into the episode, Spike tapped me on my side. I looked down at him and saw that he was giving me a very concerned stare. "Something wrong, Spike?"

"Are you sure you're feeling all right? You look...really banged up." He replied somberly while pointing to my helmet. I ran my hand over the side of it, feeling the scuffs and scrapes the Devil Gigas had inflicted while dragging my head through that concrete wall earlier. I also took note of the various fractured and chips segments of my armor plating. That last battle against Alpha had really taken its toll on my armor, even if my internal systems were still functioning properly. Although I still had my visor set over my eyes out of fear that the cracks running through it would cause the whole thing to shatter if I tried to have it retract into my helmet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I mean I might've felt tired earlier, but that energy drink fixed that. Don't worry about the external damage. Doctor Luminous can fix that when I get back to him." I explained while feeling that Spike was concerning himself over nothing. "Besides, I'll probably be just fine once we get out of this world. The end's bound to be close now."

Spike seemed satisfied with my answer, although he soon let out a yawn. "Yeah, it must be... I just wanna go home and take a long nap after all this adventuring. I can't even imagine how tiring it's gotta be to be a superhero every single day. You'd think they'd get sick of it after a while!"

We just spent the next fifteen minutes or so watching the episode while our friends stayed quiet to enjoy the show. It did not even have commercials. Once the credits finally began to roll, Applejack used the tip of her rope to press the power button to turn the television off. "Well, that was mighty fun ta watch."

"Yeah! I swear, those characters reminded me of ourselves! Almost like watching a little adventure we could've had at some point." Twilight said as she looked around at us with a nostalgic smile on her face.

Pinkie Pie then giggled and said, "You bet! Especially with how Cotton Candy kept winking at the audience! That's SO my thing!" My friends all laughed at the similarities between Pinkie Pie and that character from the show. I merely smiled and rolled my eyes, knowing that Pinkie Pie is hard to figure out.

Rarity then hopped down from the sofa and chucked her drink cup and empty bags into the recycle bin nearby. "Well, as entertaining as that show was, I think it's time we all be going. I'm rested and ready to go home."

"Yeah, I'd say half an hour's long enough. Ready, girls?" Rainbow Dash added while she flew across the room and landed by the locked door leading back out into the hallway. She did not even bother to throw away her junk, but it hardly mattered anyway considering that the world we were in was entirely fictional.

Twilight nodded while my friends all started heading to the door. I tried staying seated on the sofa as long as I could, being in no hurry to stand up ad leave this safe haven in the underground tunnels. However, I did not get to relax for much longer as Twilight soon turned to me and said, "James, I think you should take point again. You can see in the dark better than us."

"All right, Twi. Get behind me." I replied while I stood up. I then reached for the lock latch and lifted it before pressing the button that caused the door to nosily retract down into the doorway. The lamp's light lit up the tunnel in front of us just fine, but the light did not reach far down the tunnel. It made for a very creepy atmosphere, making me all the more unwilling to leave the makeshift safe room.

"Hmm... Yeah, I think my ultraviolet settings have been restored." I said quietly while priming the H-Buster on my right arm. I stepped out into the hall and into the shadows, finding my vision to adjust well with the complete lack of light. I then stepped back into the light and motioned for my friends to follow me. I decided to leave the lamp in the room on as a possible beacon to let anyone else who got lost in the tunnels know that the room was open and safe to hide in.

Before we could completely enter the shadows, Rarity quickly spoke up. "Darlings, wait! A little something to help us know where each of us is." At those words, seven little glowing bands giving off very little pink light appeared and snapped onto my friends' wrists. They were very easy to see in the dark, allowing us to know each others' locations. I really did not need one as my white body was easy to see in the low lighting.

"Ooh, very smart thinking, Rarity. James, could you please lead on?" Fluttershy said before looking up at me with a slight smile.

"Sure thing. Just make sure you stay behind me. I'll see a threat before you can." I replied before walking down the tunnel with my left hand resting on the H-Buster. I had a bad feeling that we were not entirely out of danger.

We stepped lightly through the darkness while my friends stayed close behind me in a cluster of bodies. I kept a constant eye on the tiny map in the upper left corner of my visor as we wandered through the winding hallways of the utility tunnels. It was undeniably spooky, wondering if we would bump into something or if my HUD would detect a presence ahead of us. We passed by a heavy metal door every now and then, but paid them no mind. It would likely be less risky if we just followed the path all the way to the end.

After it finally began to feel like we were completely alone, I nearly jumped as I was startled by a sudden quiet beeping sound before the tiny map on my visor displayed a dot at the end of the hall right around the corner I was about to step past. I immediately came to a stop and whispered loudly, "Girls, wait! Something's there!"

"Jeez, don't spook us like that!" Rainbow Dash whispered back loudly as they all came to a stop behind me. "What is it?! Another robot ready to get scrapped?"

After a few seconds of closely examining the readings, I quickly deduced that the detected presence was not mechanical. "I don't think so. It appears to be a living creature. Hold on a second."

I carefully peeked around the corner and could see a lone figure walking down the hallway far ahead at a slow and cautious pace. While the colors of my surroundings were not entirely accurate when seen through my ultraviolet settings, I could see that the person seemed to be a pony wrapped in a cloak. And only one person came to mind. I ducked back behind the corner and looked down at my friends. "Girls... I know this is hard to believe, but... I think Zecora is here."

"Zecora? Here? But...that doesn't make any sense. She wasn't with us when that portal appeared..." Twilight replied while looking noticeably puzzled. And she was right. Zecora had not been present with us when we got sucked into the comic book. Unless she just happened to wander into the library and examined the comic book only to get drawn in like us. Still, it was a bit of a stretch. I have never seen Zecora stop by the library once, so it seems unlikely she would just wander in. "Are you sure that's Zecora out there?"

"I'll wait for her to step around the corner and say hello. Rarity, you conjure up a lantern the instant you see any movement ahead of me so we can get a good look at whoever this is." I replied while turning to face the corner of the hallway. For the next minute or so, we waited. Whoever that was must have been stepping lightly since we did not start to hear footsteps until the mysterious pony was less than fifteen feet away from my location. It was nerve-wracking to just wait there in the dark without even knowing who we were about to see. Still, the unidentified pony stepped around the corner. She must have not seen us first since she staggered back and shielded her eyes the instant Rarity conjured up a lantern to shine some light onto the stranger. I then asked, "Hey there. Are you lost too?"

It was during this brief moment that I got a good look at the person before us. From the subtle shape of the body and muzzle, I could tell this pony was a mare. Probably an earth pony. However, I could tell it was not Zecora at all as every part of this mare's body was wrapped in a skintight purple bodysuit with even her muzzle covered. The cloak that covered her body was a very dark gray and there even seemed to be a tiny dagger tucked into her cloak at the front of the neck. She also seemed to be wearing sturdy dark metal armlets around the wrists and ankles. I did not get a look at her eyes as all I saw were two yellow patches instead that gave off a subtle glow. Even so, she still let out a gasp upon seeing me as those blank yellow eyes displayed fright before she turned and fled down the hall back from whence she came. I took a look behind the corner again and called out to her, "Hey, where you going?!"

However, it was Spike who spoke up next. And his words really got my attention. "That was...Shadowmane! What's she doing here?!"

"You mean another one of the Power Pony villains?! Then...why'd she run?! I'm surprised she didn't try to pick a fight..." Rarity asked while my friends seemed slightly rattled that we very narrowly avoided a surprise confrontation with another dangerous villain. I certainly was not in the mood for another scuffle myself.

After a brief moment of pondering, I turned to face my friends. "Well... She probably saw me first and realized that I'm a robot. You saw how spooked she was. She probably already had a close call with rogue machines and tried hiding in these tunnels to ride out the storm. Probably for the best too. If she noticed all of you, the situation could've gotten messy."

Applejack then wiped her brow, clearly relieved that we avoided an unwanted brawl. "Phew! Lucky for us then. I've already had way too much excitement for today. Lead on, pardner. Let's go home."

I nodded and began to lead my friends down the hall once again after Rarity disposed of her lantern to keep the lot of us better hidden. Shadowmane's galloping hooves became increasingly distant, though I soon heard the clanking of an opening and closing metal door. We eventually passed by another metal door and my sensors detected that same reading somewhere on the other side. I said nothing to my friends about knowing that Shadowmane was nearby and continued on. We had bigger problems to worry about anyway.

Eventually, we reached the end of the hall and were greeted by an exceptionally wide metal door. It seemed to function similar to those we had seen so far. "Well... End of the line. Shall we see where this goes?"

Most of my friends seemed relieved that we had found the end and hurried past me to the door. Rainbow Dash pressed the switch that caused the door to open as its locking mechanisms retracted and it slid into the floor. Beyond that door was a massive room filled with thick concrete support beams. From first glance, it just seemed to be an empty underground warehouse or maybe even a parking garage for industrial equipment. Pinkie Pie wasted no time in trying to add some humor to the situation. "Ooh! It's like a giant cave! Hello! Echo, echoooo!"

Sure enough, her voice echoed quite a bit through the concrete chamber, although Fluttershy spoke up quickly. "Pinkie, wait! Maybe there's something here waiting to ambush us..."

"I don't know about that, Fluttershy. My sensors aren't picking up any bio signs. No detections of viral-infected machines either. I'd say its completely deserted." I proclaimed while looking left and right. My ultraviolet sensors were detecting no signs of movement. Still, there was no light in the room, so it was still pretty spooky. Eerily quiet too. "So, there's probably a way back up to the surface. Let's follow the walls."

"OK, big guy. You take point." Rainbow Dash replied while they all stayed behind me. I then began to walk left from the doorway as our footsteps echoed quietly throughout the warehouse, although there was nopony around to hear them. Or so we thought for the moment.

After a minute or so, Fluttershy pointed out to our right. "Oh, there's some light!"

We all came to a stop and looked to the right. She was correct. Far ahead of us between rows of concrete columns were seven white beacons set up in a specific layout. Pinkie Pie was quick to identify the pattern. "Ooh, is that the Big Dipper?"

"Not quite, Pinkie. It's upside-down and those four beacons are closer together, so that makes it the Little Dipper." Twilight explained while I noticed her smile. "I bet you didn't know it's also called the Ursa Minor constellation."

"You sure know your star charts, Twilight. That's probably just a parade float that someone forgot to turn off." I said while trying to get as good a look at it from my current location as possible. Unfortunately, even with my optic sensors seeing through the ultraviolet spectrum, I still could not make out anything from my current distance. That spectrum did come with a bit of a draw distance.

"Well, it's a cryin' shame we missed the parade. But I reckon we should just keep movin'. Anypony seein' a way out?" Applejack added before pointing to the left again.

"Right, let's keep going. I'm tired of being stuck in the dark anyway." I replied before walking along again with my friends close behind me.

Before we got much further, Rainbow Dash started to speak up. "You know... I don't like this. It's been way too quiet for way too long... Feels like we might be walking into a bad situation..."

"Don't say that, Rainbow Dash. We took down all those swarms of really mean robots and we took down the factory. And with Alpha gone right now, there's nothing left to really bother us." Fluttershy replied quietly. I was sharing the sentiment, hoping we were finally out of danger.

However, I soon heard Doctor Luminous speak up over the comm system while he all but yelled to all of us. "Project H! Power Ponies! Do you read me?!"

He sounded panicked. And it came up so suddenly that we were even startled by his voice. Pinkie Pie then said, "Yikes! Don't do that, doc! We almost jumped outta our suits here!"

"Right, sorry... I didn't mean to startle you. But this is urgent! I just picked up another viral reading! It came out of nowhere and it's right next to you! There's dozens of them congregating on one spot!" Luminous explained while I felt a sense of alarm come over me as I rapidly pointed the H-Buster in numerous directions, searching for a target.

"Oh, come on! Haven't we done enough for one night?! Besides, I'm not seeing anything here in the dark!" Rainbow Dash complained loudly while all my friends huddled up around me. Even though my HUD was also detecting a viral presence, I was seeing nothing nearby. But then... I saw it. The same light constellation from before was starting to move left in the distance. And Rainbow was the first to point it out. "Hey! Check it out! The lights are moving!"

I heard them. Heavy clanking footsteps as the lights were moving through the darkness. Once they were about to reach the path between the concrete pillars that was right in front of us, they seemed to disappear partially until we could only see a couple of the lights on each edge of the path while the clanking drew closer as it grew louder. I then muttered, "Wait a second... Isn't Ursa Minor also the name of those massive... Oh...shoot! Girls, get behind me!"

I jumped forward and immediately began rapidly firing the H-Buster at the space between the two light sources while the bright bursts of plasma provided quick flashes of light. And sure enough, with eyes aglow, it emerged from the shadows while it let out a deafening roar. A colossal Ursa Minor robot just as big as the real thing!

"Oh man... I don't know if we can handle this one!" Spike yelled as my friends cowered behind me. I too was feeling intimidated as I charge up the H-Buster to unleash a stronger shot since my rapid shots were doing mostly nothing to it. That huge gaping mouth was big enough to chomp up my entire body. However, it seemed that this mechanical colossus was not interested in attacking us. Instead, it started to rear up onto its hind legs and soon slammed right into the ceiling. It slammed itself into it again and again until the concrete ceiling itself started to come crumbling down around us!

"Everypony, get close to me!" Rarity shrieked before we all rushed to her side. Her bracelets shimmered briefly before we were covered by a pink dome of sorts. Possibly an upside-down fishbowl? Regardless, it stood up to any falling debris while we watched in awe as the towering mechanical bear ripped right through the ceiling and pulled itself up and out of the warehouse. It its wake, faint moonlight shone down through the gaping hole in the ceiling while casting a modest amount of light throughout the immediate area. "I doubt we should let that hulking brute out of our sight! After it, darlings!"

The pink fishbowl soon vanished once the rubble stopped falling and I activated my flight thrusters before rocketing up and out of the hole. I soon set myself down and found that I was back on the streets of Maretropolis between lines of darkened buildings. Pinkie Pie soon zipped up beside me before I saw Fluttershy flying up out of the huge hole in the street with Rarity in her grasp while Rainbow Dash did the same with Twilight and Applejack holding on for dear life. Once they had been set down, Applejack sent her rope back down below before it rose back up with Spike holding onto it. I then asked, "So, the gang's all here?"

"Uh huh! But now we've gotta deal with that?!" Spike replied while he pointed ahead. The towering Ursa Minor robot was staring us down while being wide enough to take up the width of the entire street. Its paintjob was mostly shades of burgundy and gray and I was expecting it to be heavily armed due to its size. This was surely going to be one hell of a fight.

As it turned out, it did not attack at all. Instead, it seemed to lower itself to the ground a bit before we could actually see along its backside. Numerous vents of varying sizes opened up. And then... It became extremely clear what this machine was. Dozens of different robots were launched from the vents before they dropped to the ground with heavy crashes or held themselves aloft in the air. My HUD detected a total of six different types. Earth ponies outfitted with a variety of melee weapons, unicorns designed for ranged combat, pegasi with rocket wings for aerial combat, griffons designed for swift hit and run attacks with light armor plating, parasprite robots loaded with what seemed to be explosive charges, towering minotaurs that were noticeably larger than any I had seen so far while wielding massive battle hammers. The minotaurs must have been around twice my height, but there were also fewer of them than the others. There was also one trait they all shared with the exception of the parasprite robots. They all had the same dark color scheme as the Ursa Minor, but had no eyes. Instead, they had a single glowing red visor set into their faces that likely contained the optic sensors, giving them all a very intimidating presence. These robots clearly were not industrial or civilian robots outfitted with combat gear. They were designed from the ground up to be killing machines. I took a step back as I pondered how we were going to deal with this new threat. "It's not an attack robot... That thing's a walking carrier!"

Out of nowhere, we heard a voice being projected from the Ursa Minor carrier behind the looming army of combat robots. And I recognized it all too well. "So, you managed to get out of that site collapse alive? Such a shame. I was hoping to unleash this strike force upon the city just as despair was setting in after Maretropolis' longtime defenders had finally met their end. No matter. Now you too will be able to witness the true superiority of Equestria's master race!"

"Alpha...?! Quit hiding behind your toys and get out here if you're not done yet!" I yelled upon recognizing the voice of the mad machine tyrant. It seemed he was nowhere nearby, rather that he was speaking through a long-distance transmission.

"Not this time, Project H. But if you're that eager for a fight, them my troops here should suffice. I'll be sure to stop by afterward when this city has been purged and see what I can salvage from your shell. Farewell, traitor." Alpha replied with a strong tone of finality in his voice. At those words, the robots before us changed their stances in a clear sign that they were about ready to charge.

"You got an army?! So what?!" Pinkie Pie shouted before zipping over to Fluttershy and pushing her forward. "We've got a Fluttershy! Go get them!"

"Me?! But... But they'll tear me apart!" Fluttershy shrieked in fright as she backed away from the droves of rogue machines. She clearly was not feeling angry enough to actually hulk out and fight.

Fortunately for us, Twilight noticed something that could turn the tide in our favor and pointed ahead. "Actually, Fluttershy... Don't look now, but I think there's something you need to see. You see that shop there?"

Fluttershy looked ahead along with the rest of us. It seemed that a fair bit of structural damage had been done by an earlier raid of haywire machines. And what we saw was all too clearly a wrecked pet shop. Needless to say, Fluttershy did not take this well. "That's... No... They didn't... All those poor little animals... They..."

Just when it seemed she was about to burst into tears, Fluttershy's expression of shock became one of wrathful grief as she let out a scream. Her body swelled with muscle as her outfit tore under the growth of her bulk. With her coat a bolder hue of yellow than before, Fluttershy roared at the robot army as some of them even seemed to cringe at the sight of her. "I'll tear every last one of you to pieces!!!"

"Whoa... Good call, Twilight." I heard Rainbow Dash say quietly in some obvious intimidation of our companion.

Twilight grinned awkwardly in response and said, "Well, I had to do something to get her to get angry. We're gonna need all the help we can get at this point."

Without taking my eyes off of the swarm of vicious machines, I stepped over to Pinkie Pie and touched her to assimilate the Rocket Tackle back into my Variable Weapon System. I had to make certain I had something at the ready for quick evasion. "Right... You all ready for this?"

"About as ready as we'll ever be..." Rarity said with some hesitation. This was clearly the climax of the Project H pilot. The end was in sight.

"All right... Power Ponies, go!" Twilight shouted before we all charged into the fray. I started by firing off a volley of plasma shots, but was quick to see that these new machines were far more durable than any of the previous ones. It would take many shots to drop them now.

Regardless of their superiority to the previous batch of robots we had dealt with, Fluttershy was still making short work of any poor fool who tried to get in her way. Only the minotaur robots were capable of taking a punch, but she still had them beat in raw power. However, the parasprite robots proved to be a constant nuisance. When it seemed like she was getting the upper hand, one would fly down to her and explode right next to her. The color of each one determined the result. Blue ones would burst in a flash of liquid nitrogen, yellow ones would explode in a blast of electricity, and the red ones would burst into flames. They were basically flying elemental bombs. Fortunately for us, Fluttershy drew the attention of most of them and was able to tank these attacks as well.

Rainbow Dash was having quite a bit of trouble with the griffon robots. They were quick and their razor talons would gut her effortlessly if they could connect. Fortunately for her, Rainbow Dash's reflexes have always been absurdly quick when on the move. Their poor shielding also made them fragile enough to be dropped by a single blast of lightning from her pendant, or a few smaller plasma shots from myself. The pegasi robots proved to be more durable, but also not as shockingly quick as they relied on brute force and coordination to take down their enemies.

I was especially impressed with what Applejack had in mind. She threw a few hoofarangs to pin the feet of some robots to the ground before using them as stepping stones to jump towards a hulking minotaur robot that was trying to smash a pesky Pinkie Pie. Each swing of its massive hammer left deep craters in the street and hit with enough force to cause nearby robots to stagger from the shockwave. Her golden rope suddenly swooped in and lassoed the mechanical beast around the throat only for Applejack to grab it after jumping before using the momentum of the struggling minotaur robot to fling herself up to its shoulders. It tried to fling her off to no avail as Applejack began to tug on the rope to make the towering monster swing its hammer right into the droves of smaller robots. "Woooooo nelly! I've got this bull by the horns now!"

"Aw yeah! Ride that sucker, AJ!" I shouted back as Applejack started to take her captive for a joyride. While I made quick work of most robots with the H-Saber while also creating plasma explosions by accessing the Nova Strike while using it, I also took note of Twilight and Rarity staying close to each other. Spike was still riding Twilight and was launching three smoke bombs with every shot as quickly as he could load them. While the robots were engulfed in disorienting smoke, Twilight was unleashing a concentrated freeze ray right into the fray. With the robots frozen and made more brittle by the extreme cold, Rarity would then conjure up big pink sledgehammers and smash the helpless robots to pieces. Even so, the robots were proving to be more intelligent than the last. With every dozen robots we trashed, another dozen would jump into the fray to replace them and not repeat the same tactics. Some were even beginning to attack the minotaur robot that Applejack was riding. It had become complete chaos with the Ursa Minor carrier likely assembling more robots inside its hulking body and sending... Wait, where was the Ursa Minor to begin with?!

It took a moment, but I soon realized something was missing. In the first couple of minutes we had spent fighting the robot menace, the Ursa Minor carrier had disappeared. Had it just slipped around the corner to hide? After using the Nova Strike to blast right through a slew of robots and then dice up some unicorn snipers at the far end of the battlefield, I tried calling out to Doctor Luminous. "Doc, where did it go?! That big Ursa Minor robot?!"

"I'm tracking it right now! It seems to be heading gradually northeast. And it's still releasing more and more drones to hold you at bay." I heard Luminous reply promptly. He seemed to be our eye in the sky for keeping track of distant enemies.

However, I was quick to notice a certain word in his response. "Thought so. Guess we... Wait a second! Drones?!"

Luminous seemed to be surprised that he had forgotten to mention that detail to me. "Drones? Yes, drones! These robots do not possess an AI! They are being issued directives wirelessly from the Ursa Minor mobile carrier. If you can take that thing out, they'll all go offline."

"Got it! Hey, girls! Forget about these things and go after the big one! If we drop the brains of the operation, it'll shut down the rest of them!" I shouted out after getting stuck in a brief struggle with an earth pony robot that came at me with arms outfitted with blades. My particle shield held up, allowing me to make a quick riposte and split the thing in two.

"All right! Fluttershy, make a path!" Twilight replied before Fluttershy bashed away several robots and then charged right through the rest. Anything that was not bashed aside was promptly trampled under her girth. Although I will say it was rather awkward the way Applejack forced her mechanized ride to lumber after us while giving off sparks from combat damage, its hammer swinging every which way. We followed after Fluttershy before rounding the corner only to be immediately set upon by another wave of combat robots. It seemed that the closer we got to the source, the more fierce the opposition became.

I ultimately swapped to the H-Buster to focus on using charged shots to wipe out several robots at one time, although using the concentrated beam function would likely put my friends in danger. It was during the early stages of this wave of robots that I saw Twilight take a glancing swing from one of the minotaur robots' hammers and got sent flying back several feet. However, Spike had been on her back and ended up getting tossed farther before landing on the sidewalk with a thud. Twilight got up just fine and promptly froze several robots nearby, but did not seem to notice that Spike was no longer with her and seemed a bit dazed from the fall. While a drove of robots got in my way, I looked on in horror as a distant minotaur robot hoisted a heavy cargo cart in one arm and chucked it right across the street at Spike.

Thinking much faster than I ever could have as a human, I immediately knew that Spike would be killed outright by the impact. Wasting no time, I utilized the Nova Strike and barreled right through every last robot that got in my way before coming to a stop right beside Spike. I then yelled out for Twilight and Rarity before grabbing Spike and tossing him their way. I then attempted to use the Rocket Tackle to get away in time due to the rapidly approaching metal cart as my body became a light purple, but then looked on in horror at my Variable Weapon System's energy gauge and saw that it was still depleted from dumping it all into the Nova Strike! "Oh shoot...!"

Quickly swapping back to my default gear right as I took a stray energy shot to my left leg, I began to charge the H-Buster in the hopes of shooting down the flying cart before it could hit me while trying to strafe to the right. But I was unable to line up a shot in time. With a heavy crash, the cart clipped the left side of my helmet and pinned my arm against the brick wall beside me. It hurt! I let out a yell as sparks flew from my upper left arm. I then opened my eyes to look and found that even further damage had been done. Most of the left side of my visor had been shattered! The wire frame display of my body in the opposite corner of my HUD showed my left arm as being red instead of green. Not a good sign. I tried to push and lift the cart away from myself with my right arm, but I could not get enough leverage from such an angle. And the rest of my friends who probably could have removed it were already bogged down by the enemy.

While I struggled to free myself, I found a towering minotaur drone lumbering towards me with massive hammer in hand. Knowing that I could not evade the incoming swing, I started firing off charged shot after charged shot in the hopes of disabling it first. But the armor plating was too tough as it seemed to be tanking my shots while suffering only minor damage while starting to wind up for a crushing swing. Realizing that it would never drop before I would, I realized that I had to pull myself free or else. I started using my boot thrusters to try to propel myself away, but my arm still held. I needed to use the Rocket Tackle. And fortunately for me, enough energy had been accumulated for a single use. My body turned light purple once more as my boot thrusters charged up. And just at the last second, I ripped myself away from the heavy cart pinning my arm just before the Rocket Tackle could completely run its course. I ended up only maybe a dozen feet away from where I had been pinned just as the minotaur's hammer smashed right through the wall. Although I did feel a sting of pain the instantly I pulled free. With nothing between us, I turned and swapped back to my default settings before unloading a few more charged shots right into its head. This proved more than its body could take and the minotaur collapsed on a smoldering sparking heap.

I let out a sigh of relief as I felt good that I had narrowly evaded a fatal blow. It was then that Spike came running back over to me. "Oh my gosh, you saved me! Are you OK?! That minotaur didn't get..."

"Yeah, I'm good. That thing almost had me, but I got free in... Hey, Spike?" I replied while turning to face him. However, I soon noticed that Spike's expression was becoming one of abject horror. His hands rose to his mouth as tears even began to slowly spill over and down his cheeks. "Spike, what's wrong?! What happened?! You OK?!"

Spike only very slowly and rigidly pointed to the left side of my body. As he did, I just happened to glance to the corner of my visor to check the wire frame display of my body. My left arm was no longer being displayed in red. Instead, it had become gray. And I soon found out why. When I looked back at the cart, I saw wires giving off sparks as well as leaking hydraulic fluids. And when I looked at my left shoulder, I noticed that something was missing. Somewhere between the elbow and the shoulder, my left arm had been messily torn right off leaving nothing but a sparking stump behind.

I cringed in horror as I regained my right hand and brought it to my left arm's stump. It was gone. My left arm had been lost. It was disquieting to suddenly finding myself trying to will my left arm to move, but feeling nothing beyond my shoulder. Even so, I tried to take some small comfort in knowing that Doctor Luminous could likely repair me. I brought my hand to my chest and tried to take a deep breath. "Calm down... It's only temporary... It's just fiction..."

However, Spike burst into tears and clung to my leg. "I'm so sorry! I never should've read that stuff that opened the portal! It's all my fault...!"

Still freaked out myself, I reached down and grabbed Spike by his cape before lifting him up and dangling him in front of me. "Spike, quit it! You bust out crying here and you won't be able to focus on protecting yourself!" I was especially glad that none of our companions had noticed the damage I had suffered or they too would have likely become too emotionally upset to continue fighting.

"But... But I..." Spike muttered with a sniffle. He truly was overcome with guilt. I would have been too if a mistake of mine had resulted in one of my friends losing a limb. Beside that, he was still just a child. It would be foolhardy to think he could stay calm in these kinds of situations.

While trying to keep myself calm, I looked Spike in the eye. "None of us could've imagined that would open when you looked at that text. And we had no idea that Project H could get this...gritty. But just remember that I'm a machine now. If I lose a limb, the doctor can just attach a new one. I'll be fine in the long run. All right?"

"Ruh... Right..." Spike said with a muffled sob as he began to very slowly calm down. I then step him down while he started to wipe his eyes while sounding like he got a case of the hiccups.

Still having my right arm active, I drew the H-Saber from its holster and activated its scorching plasma blade. "Good. Now go hide in a corner somewhere and get your bearings before helping us out some more. We don't have far to go before this story's pilot is over."

Spike could only nod in tears before he ran behind the ruined cargo cart and stayed there. With my friends still preoccupied with the swarm of killer robots, I used the Rocket Tackle to charge right back into the fray and send several robots flying with the force of the impact. I then rapidly diced upper several more by utilizing the Hypersonic Blade technique as even these superior models were reduced to molten chunks of metal. Still, when I finally ran out of energy for my extra techniques and weapons, I had to resort to traditional swordplay. And the lack of my shield arm made defending that much harder. Although I was surprised to find myself not affected by the difference in balance from the loss of my arm, probably as a result of my impressive gyrostabilizers.

The best I could do was kick at my enemies to repel then our parry their attacks with my blade. And while my programming enabled me to hold my own well, I was still getting exposed to laserfire from distant unicorn robots. If I had been exposed to any parasprite bombs, I would have been in trouble. Thankfully, it seemed that they mostly focused on the biggest targets. Namely Fluttershy and Applejack's commandeered minotaur ride. In the end, I still ended up getting overwhelmed and wound up pinned to the ground by several robots as another minotaur robot loomed overhead with hammer in hand. And with one arm gone, I could not get anywhere near as much leverage as I needed to pry myself off the ground.

It was all too obvious what the minotaur robot was aiming for. My hand was lying on the ground while still clutching the H-Saber in it. Before any of my friends could notice that something was wrong or before I could regain enough energy to use in a single Rocket Tackle, the minotaur swung down and smashed my hand under its hammer. I let out a yell of pain as all feeling within my hand became jagged sensations of fading feeling. When the minotaur lifted its hammer, I saw that my fingers were a mangled mess as they gave off sparks along with the ruined H-Saber's crushed hilt.

Just as I was beginning to fear how I would even defend myself with the loss of both hands, I received salvation. I saw a massive pink golf club form overhead before it swung back. Rarity's voice then reached my auditory sensors as she yelled, "FORE!!!"

With a mighty swing, she sent the entire dog pile of robots flying off of me. And just when it seemed the minotaur robot was about to get into a duel with the floating golf club, it suddenly twitched as a metallic clank was heard from behind it. Seconds later, it was ripped in two down the middle to reveal a furious hulking Fluttershy standing where it used to be! This actually unnerved me quite a bit as I yelled, "Good god, honey! You sure you don't need to se a therapist when we get home?!"

Fluttershy's wrathful glare was promptly replaced by a look of utter horror as she beheld me. In that deep guttural voice of hers, she reached out with her massive hoof and tenderly touched it to my left shoulder. "James... Where's your arm?! And what happened to your hand?!"

Rarity rushed to my side as well and let out a shriek as she beheld my ravaged body while I staggered to my feet. "Oh my stars...! Darling, what happened to you?!"

I sighed with irritation as what was left of my HUD provided me with incomplete information about the state of my body. As if it could not detect that almost half of my visor was missing. "A couple of those huge minotaurs robots messed me up good. Lost the shield projector and now the H-Saber is wrecked... At least I've still got the... Huh?"

As I tried to prime the H-Buster in my right arm, I found that my mangled right hand would not disassemble to retract into my arm. The hand was ruined and jammed. I could not even make it drop the ruined H-Saber. And if I could not even access my primary weapon systems... "Crap! My hand's wrecked and won't budge! I can't use the H-Buster unless... Rarity, conjure up a big fire axe!"

"An axe?! All right then..." She replied with some confusion while her shimmering bracelets conjured up a hefty pink fire axe that began to float near us. "Here it is, but... What could you possibly need it for?"

I then approached a nearby fire hydrant and set my wrist upon the top for leverage. "What do you think? I need you to chop off this ruined hand of mine so I can use the H-Buster again."

"You... WHAT?!" Rarity yelled in horror before Fluttershy was forced to charge back into the approaching swarm of robots to keep them away from us. I knew I was asking a lot of her and it clearly was a choice she did not want to make.

I did my best to calm and explain my reasoning to her. Granted, I would have been terrified to lose my hand at any other point, but this was a desperate situation and my hand could probably be restored later. "I'm serious! The H-Buster is the only reliable weapon system I have left now and I can't access it if my hand can't retract into my arm! You need to chop it off so I can defend myself!"

"But darling... I..." Rarity said with hesitation while drawing near as the axe's head started to rise in the air. She knew what she needed to do. However, it quickly became too much for her as the axe just dropped to the ground while she began to weep uncontrollably before rushing to my side. "I can't! Not to you! I can't maim the man I love! I just can't!"

I was disappointed at her outright refusal to sever my hand, but could not fault her either. I leaned against her while she held onto me in a tearful embrace. I was touched that she would value me so highly even then, but I needed my ruined hand removed.

Soon, our attention was drawn to the minotaur robot that Applejack had taken for a ride. Unicorn robots were bombarding it with concentrated weapons fire and it was clearly starting to reach the end of its endurance. Applejack released its neck from her rope's grip and jumped towards Fluttershy right as it started to give off small explosions and then leaped from her back towards us right as the minotaur collapsed onto several robots and exploded into smoldering scrap. She then hurried over to us and said, "Well, those varmints sure don't know the meanin' of team spirit... Huh? Wha... What in tarnation did those junk piles do to ya, James?!"

Even Applejack was reeling in horror at the damage I had suffered. Not wanting to repeat myself, I tried to calm her. "It's fine, I can still fight! At least I will once you chop this junked up hand off so I can access the H-Buster again."

I then kicked the axe over to Applejack, who seemed to be getting a good look at my mangled hand. But just as it seemed she understood what to do, Rarity stepped between us while conjuring up a saber. She snarled at Applejack and said with a voice seething with malice, "Don't..."

This show of hostility caused Applejack to back away in clear in intimidation. I understood that Rarity holds me very dearly to my heart, but her feelings for me were only getting in the way of our mission at that moment. I reached out and set my arm upon her back to get her attention. "Rarity... Stop it. You know I'll be just fine when we get back to the real world."

My beautiful friend glanced at me with a look of horror as well as worry before glancing back at Applejack. After what felt like far longer than needed, she disposed of her weapon and stepped away with her eyes closed. "Just...make it quick..."

I nodded with a slight smile, hoping this would not hurt much. It felt like I was about to receive an injection during a hospital visit. Not something I was looking forward to, but understanding that it was necessary. Applejack's golden rope coiled around the axe's handle and lifted it into the air. Applejack herself looked on while I set my hand on the ground. She was clearly unwilling to go through with this, but understood it needed to be done. "I'll...try ta make sure this don't hurt, pardner..."

"Thanks, AJ... Just don't miss." I said while Applejack looked away with her eyes squinted shut. Her rope would do the work without her input. I too looked away and braced myself for pain. A second later, there was a crack in front of me followed closely by a brief sting in my wrist. When I opened my eyes, I found my severed wreck of a hand lying before my forearm with the axe's head stuck in the pavement. Some sparks were flying from the stump while Rarity glanced at me before looking as if she was about to hurl while holding her hoof to her mouth. I promptly primed my H-Buster, finding my forearm assuming its weapon mode. "There we go! I'm alive again!"

"Phew, and I was worried I screwed up right there... So, that cannon ya got's workin' just fine now?" Applejack asked while looking very relieved that her rope's aim had been just right. Rarity also seemed the calm down somewhat now that all signs of damage to my wrist could not be seen.

"Yeah, it should be... Hey!" I let out a yelp as a number of unicorn robots managed to get by our friends before concentrating their weapons on me. I took a good number of various energy shots before Rarity conjured up a row of crossbows and launched a volley of bolts right through their heads. That was enough to drop them, but I was forced to one knee as my body sparked. I was reaching the end of my endurance as the wire frame display of my body on my HUD displayed my torso and left leg as being in the yellow.

"Darling, hang on! There's got to be something we can do here!" Rarity shrieked as she and Applejack rushed to my side. I had trouble bringing myself to a standing position, pain flooding various points of my body for the moment.

While my body stabilized, Applejack decided to try speaking to Doctor Luminous. "Hey, doc! What's goin' on with that Ursa Minor varmint! I still ain't seein' it 'round here!"

The doctor's response was much grimmer than I could have expected. "It's... This isn't good. Judging by its movements and the general direction it is heading... That carrier is making its way to the docks in the northeastern sector! 15% of the population have not yet evacuated! If that thing gets there, it'll be a bloodbath!"

I felt a chill flow through my body upon hearing these words. The Ursa Minor carrier was out for blood and the army of drones it had left behind were merely doing all they could to prevent us from interfering. Still, there had to be a way to reach it. As I contemplated my options, thoughts went back to the readings I had seeing while firing my H-Buster into the Devil Gigas ride armor while set to fire a concentrated beam of plasma. My HUD detected a limiter of sorts in effect at the time. "Doc... Back during that fight with Alpha... I noticed something about the H-Buster. Some sort of limiter in place? What's that about?"

Luminous remained silent for a moment as if he was debating whether he should explain what it was I had noticed. He soon spoke, "You saw that, huh? Well... Yes. It is a limiter I installed to limit the amount of energy your primary weapon system draws from your power source. You are powered by a highly compact micro-fusion core and all of your functions draw power from it. The cannon in your right arm could potentially draw even more power from it to increase its efficiency, but..."

"What if I were to remove the limiter? What would happen?" I asked while recalling how my earlier shots seemed to not be able to get by the Ursa Minor robot's armor plating. If the limiter was removed, perhaps it could punch through.

"I don't know... You're still in the prototype stage, so I can't make any guarantees about the outcome. If you think disabling the limiter will insure your success here, then... Godspeed, Project H." The doctor replied grimly. He sounded fearful, yet resigned to whatever my choice would be.

My choice was immediate. With the people of Maretropolis on the verge of a massacre, I had to do everything in my power to make sure that armored carrier would not reach them. Through my will alone, I saw the HUD display tiny text indicating that the limiter on my H-Buster had been disabled. In response, I saw five small vents open up along the sides and underside of the H-Buster most likely to vent excess heat. Furthermore, I noticed a faint red glow that was likely coming from the gemlike design on my helmet's forehead section. Finding my strength returning to me as well as a new drive filling me, the frames of my flight thrusters folded open behind me. Rarity was quick to notice as I climbed to my feet and asked, "Darling...? Where are you going?!"

As my thrusters began to flare up, I looked down at her and smiled. "Just going to do what X would've done."

I rocketed up into the air before rushing forward towards the wall of drones that lined the street. The fliers of the army were quick to try to form a wall with their bodies as the unicorn robots fired at me. Not intending to let anything get in my why, I barreled right through them with the Nova Strike active. Most were outright destroyed while others were sent slamming into the ground or nearby buildings. I increased the output of my thrusters while increasing my altitude before finding myself soaring over the city. With my map lost, I would have to search by air for the Ursa Minor carrier.

It was not long before I got a clue of the direction it was in. A massive flock of pegasi and griffon robots were coming right for me from the northeast. I fired off a flurry of smaller shots, but found that my H-Buster was giving off more recoil as usual. The plasma shots also had a reddish hue as they flew through the air. The pegasus robots took only a few hits to drop while the lightly armored griffon drones were blown apart with one shot. I was already impressed with how much more powerful the H-Buster had become and I was feeling no ill effects so far.

Even so, I could not hit them all. And before long, I saw what looked like a massive swarm of glowing flies rising in the distance. It must have been dozens of drones coming for me. But I soon heard something coming up from behind. I turned over so I could look back and grinned as I saw Rainbow Dash soaring towards me while surrounded by a swirling tornado. I heard her call out over the howl of the wind, "I'll take care of these pests! You take out the hive!"

"Gotcha, Rainbow! You rock!" I yelled while she flew right past me. When she flew by the approaching swarm of machines, they were all sucked into the tornado and carried along with the tornado seemingly having turned red from the dozens of glowing visors inside it. As Rainbow Dash flew off with her cargo, I rushed ahead to locate the source of our enemy. I did not take long to find it with those seven lights on each side giving away its position.

The massive Ursa Minor seemed to be lumbering its way through a junkyard as a means of making a shortcut. A fitting place for it to be destroyed. Once I lined up a shot, I charged the H-Buster as long as it would take to normally reach full charge and fired off a huge red shot. It flew right down through the air and slammed into the Ursa Minor with shocking force that left significant structural damage on one of its hindquarters.

I rushed towards the ground and landed with a thud as I felt a change in the air pressure. Water droplets began to fall as lightning burst across the sky. The tone of the struggle had reached a fever pitch as even a thunderstorm began to pour down onto the city. It made the situation feel all the more grim as I felt rain pelting my metallic shell. At least the water would help keep my H-Buster from overheating. As the towering Ursa roared at me, I pointed my buster at it while it began to charge once more. "Just you and me now, Bongo!"

I fired off a number of shots at the Ursa Minor's face and only succeeded in inflicting light damage before it charged right at me in an attempt to trample or crush me in its jaws. The Rocket Tackle saved me as I zoomed out of the way and unleashed a partially charged shot into its side before coming to a stop. The mechanical bear crashed right into a scrap pile before turning and letting out a roar at me before launching a massive plasma beam from its maw. It tore through the softening ground while I was only barely able to avoid taking a direct hit. I managed to unleash yet another partially charged shot and struck it in the jaw. This disrupted its attack as the lower jaw hung loosely from its head, but my HUD was quick to detect some sort of internal mechanism working to repair the damage. Perhaps it was able to put together tiny robots inside itself to repair damage from within?

I fired a shot at its elbow joint and caused the massive carrier to fall into the mud as it struggled to stand. In response, one of each type of its robotic drones burst out of the hatches on its back. The parasprite bomb fluttered towards me, but I merely shot it out of the air. It exploded in a burst of frigid mist, freezing the rain around it into ice crystal and even freezing the passing griffon robot almost completely solid. I shot its head off before it could even hope to break out of its icy prison. The pegasus and earth pony robots were quickly blown apart by a few shots while a partially charged barreled right through the energy shots the unicorn sent my way and tore it apart. The minotaur robot took one swing at me with its mighty hammer before I unleashed a fully charged shot right into its torso and blew it apart just as easily. The drones were little more than a nuisance by that point. Although it was enough time for the Ursa Minor carrier to get back on its feet.

"I'm really sick of you guys by now, so how about you just stand there and take it?!" I yelled while charging up another plasma shot. However, I paused in my aiming when I saw a number of missile ports open up along the front and sides of its body. "Huh... Good answer."

At least two dozen missiles were launched at me, but I was not about to have any of that. I unleashed the Nova Strike once more and tore right through them before slamming into the Ursa's head. I then fired a shot right into its eye, causing a small explosion in it with only one glowing eye remaining. I began to unleash a flurry of shots in the hopes of taking out the missile ports. And I could not have picked a better time to do it. The missiles had just been reloaded, allowing me to shoot them directly and blow up the entire missile ports. With its secondary weapon systems ruined, the Uras Minor unleashed its plasma cannon at me again while I countered with my own. It was risky to fire with the concentrated beam settings active, but I was running out of patience. I did all I could as my fierce red plasma beam slammed into the Ursa's beam and effortlessly pushed through it before slamming into its head. It pushed the metal beast back as well, tearing off its lower jaw and even obliterating a leg.

I was feeling rather hot after that last shot, but the rain was helping cool my robotic body down. With the Ursa Minor now momentarily disabled, it was a good time to finish it off. The longer it remained online, the longer my friends were still in danger holding off the drones. I flew to the top of a large scrap pile nearby and took aim with the H-Buster beginning to charge. But when it reached the point where it would normally be fully charged, it just kept going! "Huh?! Whoa, this is what the lack of a limiter will do to this thing?!"

It just kept going. 200%. 500%. 1000%! By the time it reached 2500% total charge, the H-Buster was engulfed in a fiery white glow as its vents hissed with excess heat. It felt like it was on the verge of overheating! Furthermore, I saw a gauge rising on my HUD the further I charged. And by the time I reached 800%, a warning siren was going off in my head. And it was by this point that Doctor Luminous started to yell at me over the comm system. "Project H, you're too close! Get away! GET AWAY!!!"

Was he fearful of me getting caught in the blast radius? I was firing a plasma burst, not an explosive device. My H-Buster finally stopped charging once its accumulated energy reached 3000% and my arm felt unbearably hot. The Ursa Minor robot was already showing signs of being almost back on its feet as it looked at me and let out a roar. I had to act now before it could become a threat again. I took aim at its face and spoke softly to Luminous. "Sorry, doc... I can't afford to let this one go!"

And then, I launched it. The recoil was massive enough to throw my arm straight up. The shot looked like a bright star or meteor as it flew towards the disabled carrier. But before I could even try to fly out of range of the resulting explosion from the carrier, my vision was engulfed by a bright flash, my body began to rumble as pain began to fill my body, and nothing but static and rumbling noise filled my ears. Soon, static spread across my vision as I lost all feeling in my body. But soon, a message in bold red text flashed across my vision among the static that filled me with a nameless sense of terror.

SYSTEM FAILURE

And then...nothing. Nothing but the same blackness I had seen upon first entering this world of fiction set between the pages of a comic book. And I felt the same as then too. No sense of fear. No pain. No anger. No confusion. Just... My mind was blank.

What just happened to me? Was I caught in the blast? And...what happened to me? I did not even really feel like I was waiting for anything. It was just...void. But among the deafening silence, I could hear it. Somewhere within the depths of my robotic mind. My human soul screaming out. Calling for anyone who may be there.

Questions flooded my blank mind. Did I survive the blast? Was this what happens when a machine dies? Was this all there was to expect? And...was I going to be stuck here in this void for eternity?

After what felt like an eternity, I got a response. Much like when my adventure in this world began, my vision saw a blinking white cursor in the top left corner. In its wake, white text appeared along my field of vision. Another startup screen. Was my body trying to reactivate itself?

MICRO-FUSION CORE OUTPUT - MALFUNCTION

The first row of text that actually meant something to me filled me with a sense of dread as my mind slowly started to come back to me. And it was not just that one. With every diagnostic my systems ran on my body's most important functions, the results were always MALFUNCTION or OFFLINE.

Over and over, the diagnostic repeated itself. After five times, it started to get somewhere.

MICRO-FUSION CORE OUTPUT - 1%

At last, it was making some progress. My power source was damaged, but was at least functional. My system's diagnostic was more than likely running on backup power at the time.

PRIMARY MOTION SYSTEMS - MALFUNCTION

AUDIO RECOGNITION SYSTEM - ONLINE

It was then I regained my sense of hearing. All I could hear was rain over a layer of static. And among that sound... Voices? And was that...crying?

VOICE GENERATION UNIT - ONLINE

OPTIC SENSORS - ONLINE

I felt my voice come back to me, although when my vision finally returned, it was nothing but a field of jumbling static. However, it was then I heard Applejack's voice over the static. "Gather round, y'all! I think he's comin' to!"

I barely had any control over my neck and I felt no feeling in my limbs and just felt so...so tired. But slowly, the static in my vision began to clear. It did not entirely fade away, but I was able to see well enough. Slowly and rigidly, I tilted my head forward as it seemed I was lying down on the ground. And there they were. All seven of my companions stood before me drenched by the rain. They all seemed to be either relieved or even in tears. Rainbow Dash even looked as if she had been crying hard due to her irritated eyes. I tried to speak and found my voice filled with static. "Hey... Did I...get it?"

Twilight removed her goggles and wiped her eyes while letting out a bit of a sob. "Yes... You got it. All the drones just stopped moving and fell over and... Well, there wasn't much left of that Ursa Minor thing when we got here. Whatever you did wrecked the whole area."

From what little I could see, the piles of scrap had either been melted by extreme heat or otherwise been blown away or destroyed. It was as if my overcharged plasma shot's resulting blast radius engulfed the entire scrap yard. And nearly destroyed myself in the process. I chuckled a bit at my predicament, noticing that I did not feel my jaw move when I spoke. "Dang... I guess I...just don't know my own strength..."

Fluttershy then hurried forward and held me in her arms while trying so very hard to not cry. "It's OK... It's all over... Just...please don't scare us like that again..."

"Sorry, honey... I really wasn't expecting to blow myself up like that... Crash course and all that." I said in reply while trying to hug her back only to realize both of my arms were missing by that point. I would have been horrified if it happened earlier, but I was just too exhausted to care much. "Hey... What...happened to me anyway? Can't really...look right now..."

Rarity wiped her eyes free of tears and rain before frowning at me sorrowfully. "You... You really don't want to know, darling. Just...don't look at yourself."

I took her word for it and just focused on my friends instead. Pinkie Pie then tried to interject a bit of humor while patting Rarity on the shoulder, "Hey, it's OK if you have to cry... Just look at Rainbow Dash. She was sobbing buckets a few minutes ago!"

Rainbow Dash did not seemed to be very happy to have that brought up since she then yelled, "I couldn't help it! It was too soon! I'm just not ready to deal with this kinda drama again just yet!"

Our friends managed to get a little laugh out of Rainbow Dash showing a delicate side, as did I. But I soon noticed Spike walk up to me looking utterly guilt-ridden as he beheld my ruined body. I looked at him and said, "Hey, Spike... It's OK. I'll be...fine... Let's just assume this is part of the plot..."

"I'm so sorry..." He muttered while dropping to his knees. "All that's happened... This is my fault... I only I didn't read..."

Twilight was quick to hold Spike to her chest. "Don't say that, Spike. None of us knew this would happen. And just remember, that isn't entirely James. That's Project H. And the hero never dies in the first chapter, right?"

Spike said nothing, although Twilight's words did seem to calm him just a bit. However, Applejack then asked, "So... What now? Those last junk piles just fell over and that Alpha varmint's gone for now, so... What's next? How're we gettin' back home?"

No sooner had she said that, a voice filled with static started coming from nowhere. It was Luminous. "Pow... Nies... You... Hear... Thi... Ah, there! Project H! Power Ponies! Do you read me?!"

Rainbow Dash rushed to my side as it seemed the voice was coming from an internal mechanism inside me. "Yeah, we hear you! Now please tell me that thing was the last problem we've gotta handle tonight!"

"Well... Yes, that would seem to be the case. The signal coming from that armored carrier has ceased transmitting. The drones have all deactivated and I'm not picking up Alpha's presence anywhere. I think it's safe to say the danger has passed. Thank you all." Luminous replied with a sigh of relief.

"OK, nice! But...uh... What about James here?! Is he OK?! Is he gonna be all right?!" Pinkie Pie asked quickly while my friends all gathered around me. Even I was starting to wonder what my ultimate fate would be and whether or not I could really die in this fictional world.

Luminous let out another sigh before he spoke. "This isn't good... These readings are... Power Ponies. I know I've already asked a lot of you tonight, but please... I need you to get him back to my lab so I can perform a full diagnostic. I'm already detecting a critical malfunction in his micro-fusion core. Please! I'll guide you so long as I can see his location."

Pinkie Pie then stepped forward. "Leave it to me, doc! I'll get him home faster than you can say chimichangas!"

"Thank you, Fili-Second. Head south and hug the coastline. I'll keep you updated." Luminous said with a noticeable gasp of gratitude in his voice, probably because he had been holding his breath out of fear that my friends would turn them down.

"All right, Pinkie. Hold still for a moment..." Rarity said softly while using her levitation spell to lift me to Pinkie Pie's back before tenderly setting me down on her. I suppose I should have been grateful that I lost all my limbs by that point since it made it easier for me to fit on her. "Applejack, your rope?"

"Got it, Rarity." Applejack said before her golden rope wound around us a few times before tying itself in a knot over my chest plate. "How's that, Pinkie? Tight enough for ya?"

"Oof... A little tight around the middle, but it'll be fine." My perky friend replied while sounding like the rope was really uncomfortable in a few spots. "Guess I better get going. I'll stick with James once I get there, all right?"

"Please... Watch over him, Pinkie." Fluttershy replied quietly while all our friends watched in solemn silence. My fate was entirely in their hooves.

"OK, here we go!" Pinkie Pie said before... It was just such a sight seeing things zooming by me to the point that everything was a blur. I had always been fast in the air, but... This was absurd! The thunderstorm had thankfully let up and had dissolved into a light downpour. Pinkie Pie constantly stayed close to the southern shoreline while running through a forest. I did not move at all, choosing to place all my faith in her. I soon heard her call out, "Hey, doc! I'm going the right way, right?"

"Yes, my home should be coming up soon. I'll be at the door." I heard Luminous say over the static before he fell silent. Although I could not make out anything beyond the blurs of green and brown around me, it did feel like we eventually started going uphill. And soon, we came to an abrupt stop not even a full minute after Pinkie Pie had started running. It was then that I heard the doctor's voice without the extra static of my comm system. "There you are! This way, please."

My optic sensors began to malfunction at that time and filled my vision with almost nothing but static. I could still hear Pinkie Pie over the static in my ears. "Ooh, nice place you got!"

"Well, I do have to keep my home livable... Oh my goodness... It's even worse than I thought. Quickly, down here." Luminous replied before my optic sensors started to stabilize enough to get a somewhat clear picture. I soon felt myself lying down as I was secured to a flat surface. While I glanced around while finally noticing that I could not even blink, I found that I was back in the very same lab where I had first awoken. And right before me was Pinkie Pie and the same pony scientist as before. "Thank goodness you're still online, Project H. I was fearful we would not meet again."

"Hey there, doc... Sorry if I screwed up back there. Never would've guessed my own shot would blow up in my face like that..." I replied while trying to at least lighten the mood a bit. I was sure the end was within sight, so I was not terribly worried about anything.

"It's all right, Project H. The good news is you made it back online. And besides, you brought an end to the current threat that plagued Maretropolis. And by now, Alpha's role as the source of the city's robots going rogue has been brought to light. He will never be able to hide now. Now then, let me start up this diagnosis to see exactly what's wrong with you..." Doctor Luminous said as he began to fiddle around with his supercomputer's keyboard while windows opened up on the screen. Pinkie Pie just began to wander the room to explore the lab, but would frequently come up to me to check on me.

Around halfway into the diagnostic scan, I heard a doorbell ring somewhere upstairs. Luminous turned to Pinkie Pie and asked, "I'm sorry, but could you please answer the door, Fili-Second? I'd really rather not leave this alone right now."

"Sure thing! I'll be right back." She replied before zipping up the stairs that led down into the lab. Moments later, I heard Pinkie Pie's voice speak up in the distance. "Hey there, girls! He's right down here."

I waited for Pinkie Pie to return and had already assumed that our friends had just arrived as well, although I felt no need to ask them how they managed to get there so soon. And sure enough, I saw Pinkie Pie emerge from the stairway only to be immediately followed by our six friends. Spike and Twilight instantly marveled at the appearance of the lab with Spike saying, "Whoa... So this is where Project H was built?"

Doctor Luminous was clearly not expecting the rest of the Power Ponies to arrive as he seemed very surprised by his guests. "Oh, you're here?! Well... Welcome to my lab. I never imagined I would ever have the honor of being in the same room as all of you."

"Well... You have a very nice...um...lab, doctor." Fluttershy replied with a hesitant smile, clearly not used to being in such an environment. I know she prefers the natural settings of the meadows and woods around her home back in the real world. However, she then glanced at me with a gaze of concern before trotting over to me and hovering up to my face. "How're you holding up, dear? Feeling all right?"

"Well, I'm still conscious... And I'm not feeling a whole lot of pain. Does that count?" I asked in return while still having no real means to move.

Fluttershy smiled somberly before reaching out and placing a kiss on my forehead. "Leave dinner to me tonight. You deserve to take it easy when we get back home." I tried to smile to no avail, leading me to suspect that most of my face had been melted away.

Rainbow Dash then trotted over to Luminous and asked, "So, how's he looking, doc? You think you can fix him up?"

Luminous was oddly silent for a moment while he observed the data on the screen. His response was not what I was hoping to hear. "To be completely honest with you all... I don't know."

My friends all glanced at me with gazes of shock. Applejack then raised her voice and asked, "Ya serious?! But you made the guy, doc! There's gotta be somethin' ya can do ta get the guy back on his feet!"

"Just look at him, Mare-velous." Luminous replied as he turned to face them. "One look is all it takes to see how extensive his damage is. Most importantly, his micro-fusion core is one-of-a-kind and difficult to replace, let alone repair. And it's on the verge of failure. It's a miracle he's still online."

"But... But surely you're not going to just give up on him, are you?" Rarity asked while taking the situation far more seriously than she needed to. I could feel it too. I was feeling more and more lethargic with every passing moment. My power was failing.

Luminous shook his head. "Of course not. Restoring him will be a challenge, but I'm not going to let Project H be scrapped before he could even see the light of day. I'm not certain if I can save him, but... I will try."

"Thank you, doctor..." Twilight said softly before she turned to face me. She then stepped forward and seemed to be trying to emulate Masked Matter-Horn's real personality as she spoke to me. "Project H... If you don't survive this, I swear we will hunt Alpha down and finish him in your name. As far as I'm concerned, you've earned your place as an honorary member of the Power Ponies."

More static than usual began to spark across my vision as I felt my power source beginning to fail. "Thanks... Doc... When I wake up... How about an...actual name...? Maybe something...like...Hu..."

At that moment, my vision went black. But I still heard the good doctor speak to me. "As you wish, Project H."

I was expecting to feel all feeling fade from my body and mind. But instead, the blackness before me became a bright light. I soon found myself being drawn into it. And before I even knew what was happening, I let out a yell as I felt myself getting thrown through the air and getting the wind knocked out of me when I hit the floor. "Ow! What the devil just... OWWW!!!"

I had no idea what hit me! I was lying on the floor before I felt a jumbled mass fall on me while hearing my friends let out shouts of surprise too. I heard Fluttershy say, "Oh my! Where... Huh? Wait... What happened to our costumes?"

"And why do you girls feel so heavy?!" I asked while trying to look up while pinned to the floor. As I expected, all of my friends were just piled onto me with Fluttershy balancing at the top of the pile with Spike seated on her back. And sure enough, they were missing their jumpsuits. "Huh?! Wait a second..."

I looked around at our surroundings. I found that I was breathing again and was having a harder time of it with my friends piled on me. Furthermore, I had my arms back! And the area around us was all wood with teapots set up. And perched at the far end of the room was an owl. "Hey! We're all back home!"

"We are...? Hey, we are! Come on, girls! Get off!" Twilight said loudly as she too struggled to get out from under the pile. One by one, everyone stood up and climbed off. It felt good to be flesh and blood again in a strange way. "Phew, feels good to be home! What a trip!"

"Yep! But it was a might fun, wasn't it?" Applejack replied while adjusting her hat. I wonder where that thing went while she was in there.....

"Yeah, you bet it was! I've never had so much action in one day of my life!" Rainbow Dash replied excitedly. However, she then let a long yawn before sitting down. "But right now..... I just wanna chill for a while... That took a lot outta me."

"You and me both, Rainbow! I know I'm gonna sleep good tonight... Huh?" Pinkie Pie added before going over to the teapots. She then tried pouring herself another cup. "Hey, girls! The tea's still good! Although I think it's a bit cool right now..."

"Who says tea's no good chilled? Why not finish off this little adventure by finishing our little soiree?" Rarity then asked before she fetched herself another teacup.

While my friends were distracted by the tea sampling, I looked around before...groping my crotch. Just to make sure everything was where they needed to be. "Phew. Great to have those back..."

Fluttershy trotted over to me just before I could be discovered while I hoped she had no idea what I had just been doing. "Everything all right, James?"

"Yeah, I'm good. I honestly forgot how good it feels to not be a machine." I sighed as I relaxed for the first time in what felt like hours. But when I glanced at Fluttershy, my eyes fell upon her belly. "Hey, honey. Is she...you know... Still there?"

"She...? Oh!" Fluttershy gasped before sidling up to me. "Can you feel and check, please?"

I did as she asked and rubbed my hand over the underside of her belly. In mere seconds, I felt it. A noticeable firm spot. "Yep. She's still there, honey."

Fluttershy let out a giggle before kissing me on the cheek. She then winked at me and whispered, "So... You still a bit frustrated after seeing us walking around in those jumpsuits, now that you've got your...equipment back?"

I snickered at Fluttershy's unexpected innuendo. I swear she has gotten increasingly bolder the more her pregnancy has developed. I then smirked at her and whispered, "How about I give you my answer tonight?"

After another quick kiss, we joined our friends for more tea. Each of the different types of tea had long since cooled, but they were still rich with flavor. While I sipped from a cup, I noticed that Spike's comic book was still lying on the podium it had been set on before we all got dragged into it. I went over to it just as Spike did and almost ended up bumping into him. I glanced down at him and said with a smile, "Quite an adventure, huh?"

Spike nodded while sipping from his own cup of tea. "You bet! Although... I don't think I'd wanna go through that kind of hassle again. That was exhausting."

"Ditto. That really took a lot out of me. It might be fun to watch and read about, but it's a totally different story when you personally experience it. I don't envy those superheroes..." I said with a sigh before looking down at the comic book. It was open to the very last page and I was quick to notice the tiny text on the inside of the back cover that likely triggered the magic that sucked us all in. After going through all that once, I was careful to not give it too much attention. But on the last page, I saw the last few panels of the pilot showing what I saw as Project H from his eyes before more and more static filled his vision just before the final panel showed a black square with the last words I heard from Doctor Luminous printed on it. And in the bottom of the page were the words 'To be continued...?' written in large bold letters. "Dang... Ending the pilot on such a cliffhanger..."

"Yeah... I really thought you were a goner a few times back there." Spike said softly while he looked up at me. He then looked back at the final page and noticed the instructions on how to send feedback to the EAC offices in Manehatten, along with the words that Project H's fate was entirely in the hands of the readers. "Hey, I get it! They made it end on a cliffhanger like this just in case it didn't take off. If it doesn't turn out to be all that popular, they could just end it here and leave the readers thinking the Power Ponies managed to take down Alpha."

"Hmmm... Crafty. A little safeguard to cover their tracks regardless of where the series goes. Well, I'd say that after what we saw, this series is all but guaranteed to succeed." I replied with a bit of a smirk. "You gonna send that feedback?"

Spike seemed pretty pumped to send his thoughts on the pilot in to the EAC staff. "You bet! And I'll be sure to mention on how to make Hum Drum somepony who can help out instead of just getting in the way. I'm gonna go do that right now!" He then ran up the stairs and into the loft, probably to fetch a piece of paper and quill.

I looked back down at the comic book and gently closed it. I did not need to read its contents. I had just lived it. And I was left with a fatigued, yet satisfied feeling. I got to see my hero. And that was at least worth something.

I could go into detail about what else happened after that, but... After the absurdly awesome adventure we all had together, there is nothing I can add that could hold anyone's attention quite like that. It was a fairly uneventful, yet enjoyable day just perfect for unwinding after such a fictional crisis. And that is exactly what we did.

Also, with how much there was to write about, this is the first entry I have written that took more than one session to finish. It has been two days since I first started writing this journal entry and I have only just now finished. What an adventure... I could not make that stuff up if I tried. Well, time to get ready for bed. Fluttershy is wearing her sexy lingerie again, so we are probably about to have some fun first.