B0rderings

"Ugh..."

Dan wiped his face from the dirt that stung his eyes as he tried to open them. He coughed and the sharp smell of pure gasoline stung his nose. Dan gaged once again and tried to regain his composure. Except...he was standing on all fours. Dan tried to force open his eyes, but still couldn't from the sharp gasoline fumes wafting around. Once he did managed to force open his eyes, he was closer to the ground from what he would have been if he was standing on two legs. He found him self with much more fur and had no fingers. Stranger yet, he had hooves. Suddenly, all the memories came back in one painful surge. Dan clasped his head as he collapsed to the ground and began screaming from torture. One by one, the memories appeared in the back of his eyelids.

The mare.

The flying.

Her friends.

The club.

The disaster.

The battle.

The sing from the heart.

The kiss.

Discord? Dan was confused by this name for a slit second, as the rest of the memories rolled in.

The Gala.

The Assassins.

The Zebra.

The Alicorn.

The...farewell...

The song.

One last kiss...

Dan now had tears in his eyes. Not from the gasoline and smoke around him, but from his loss. He remembered the name. Rainbow Dash. Suddenly, Dan began looking left to right, as if expecting to be somewhere. He now remembered the day before, as he began remembering all of his long lost memories. But, the area he was in wasn't all peaceful and tranquil, as he had remembered Equestria to be like. He was staring at a huge junkyard that was filled with scrap metal of all shapes and sizes. He focused his eyes on the machinery, and it looked way too advanced, despite it looked like crap, for Equestrians to manufacture. Dan turned his head and saw a small cyan outline in the distance. Dan crept closer to it on all fours, as he realized he can't rise from this position. Dan looked around and saw he had the body of a horse with wings, and there was a Bass Clef music symbol on his flank.

"I...I'm a pegasus."

Dan now broke into a full gallop towards the cyan outline. He kept his eyes trained on it forever, not daring to take his eyes off of it. It could only be one thing. Dan raced with all of his heart and broke through the smoke that was surrounding the blue lump. Dan whipped the smoke with his wings and stared at the fragile body of Rainbow Dash. She was not moving, but when Dan put his ear to her chest, and suddenly, he heard a steady pulse. From this, Dan nearly cried. No...he was crying. He was so happy to see her again. After 15 years. But then, doubts began racing his mind. But, one doubt crossed his mind that he dared not to venture into it.

"This isn't Equestria."

Dan looked down at Rainbow Dash and feared that she could be unconscious. But, it looked like she was...sleeping. Dan took a deep breath in, and shook her gently. Rainbow Dash groaned, and Dan saw her nose twitch. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash shot up and grasped her nose with her hooves and began hyperventilating.

"AH! IT STINKS!"

Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings to try and find where the smell was coming from. She began to get a new look on her face, as if she didn't know where she was. She began to panic, until she saw Dan, who was just standing there. Motionless this whole time. Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes met Dan's golden eyes and she slowly trotted forward.

"Where am I? Who..."

Rainbow Dash's mouth stopped in its position.

"Dan...? I-Is that you?"

Dan smiled and walked over to Rainbow Dash. He wiped away some of the tears in Rainbow Dash's eyes and his golden eyes seemed to gleam as he did this. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and leaned forward. Dan did the same after he realized what Rainbow Dash wanted, and they kissed. Dan had no idea what it was like to kiss Rainbow Dash after 15 years. He now remembered it to be the best thing that he had ever felt. Suddenly, Dan heard heavy footsteps. And from the succession of them, it appeared there were multiple beings approaching. Dan pulled away from the kiss.

"Rainbow Dash! There's somepony coming! Hide!"

Rainbow Dash snapped back to her senses and found a pile of rubble that king of made a shelter. She pointed at the ruble, and Dan nodded as they both galloped as fast as their legs to carry them. They got to the shelter just in time as Dan focuses his eyes on the figures that were appearing out of the clearing smoke. They were humans, but they had some armor on. Just a metal shoulder plate and a few sheets of armor was laced here and there across them. They were all carrying what resembled improvised guns. And by the looks of their magazines, they seemed to be auto-matic.

"Dan?", Rainbow Dash whispered,"Where are we? And what are those?"

"I don't know the answer to any of those questions Dashie.", Dan replied. He had called her by her nickname to keep her calm a tiny bit, but those hostile looking humanoids were approaching.

"ARG! How long do we have to search here? My legs are killing me!", one of them spoke up in a very squeaky voice.

"Hey, shut up and lets find that power conductor! That gateway isn't going to build itself.", another yelled.

"When we find that power conductor, what do you think our cut will be?", the third one spoke up.

"Ya talk like that, and Boros is gonna cut you.", the second one scolded the third.

Dan saw a small opening that he was sure that was in the three human's blind spot. He pointed to the spot, but Rainbow Dash was huddled down and refused to move. Dan just picked her up, mounted her across his back, then slowly fled away from the aggressors.

"Dan, I'm scared.", Rainbow Dash sulked.

"Me too. Just breath slowly and we'll find a way out."

Rainbow Dash then set her head down on Dan's back and from the felling of wetness, he could tell Rainbow Dash was crying again. Suddenly, Dan heard something that made him want to break into a full gallop if he could.

"I heard something over there!"

"Could be other people! I know! Let's kill them!"

Dan scooted to a halt when he came to another lean-to pile of ruble. He quickly hid Rainbow Dash in there, and tried to get himself in there too. But, this one was smaller, and it could not fit both of them. Dan was now panicking and looked back to see the humans in clear sight. He saw one of them point a finger and could slightly make out their voices.

"Hey! What's that?!"

"It looks like some sort of tiny horse!"

...

"Let's have some target practice!"

The humans held up their assortment of firearms and three lasers shone over Dan and his blue coat. Dan looked up and saw the humans, ready to fire.

"Alright boys! Let's see how we can butcher a horse with fire rounds!"

The humans smiled deviously as Rainbow Dash cried out.

"DAN!......."

Dan was sure that he had been killed instantly and heard Rainbow Dash's voice fade away. But, he still felt the ground, and was knocked towards it. He collapsed as if something had pushed him. Dan opened his eyes and saw the humans with incredibly shocked eyes. He then looked down and found himself in some very familiar armor. It was blue, and the joints were a shade of black. But what really shocked him the most, was that he was now holding two golden scimitars. Dan looked up, and saw that the bandits had recovered from what just happened.

"SHOOT IT!"

Another wave of gunfire erupted and the attackers began moving away from each other to spread out. Time suddenly slowed down for some reason, and Dan could see the bullets slowly making their way towards him. Dan then swung his scimitar at one of the bullets, and it bounced right off the scimitar without leaving a dent. The bullet sailed back to one of the shooters and struck him in the head. The attacker's head recoiled and made him fire his gun into the air. Dan then turned around and found the other bandits lining up their sights on something else. Dan looked to his right and saw the attackers aiming at the shelter that Rainbow Dash was huddled up in. Dan screamed as he dashed towards the shelter and held his scimitars in front of him like a shield. The bullets began impacting as sparks flew every where. Dan had to muster up all of his strength to keep his swords up from the force of the repeating bullet strikes. He looked back at Rainbow Dash, who had her head down and was covering her ears from the load noise of the attackers' machine guns. Dan saw two more humans looking very similar to the humans that had opened fire round a corner of junk. Now they began training their weapons at Dan and Rainbow Dash, who were staring to get over whelmed. Suddenly, the two humans that had fired on them earlier stopped firing and looked at their guns, indicating that they were out of ammo. Then, they did the strangest thing. They threw the empty weapons at Dan, which clattered at his feet uselessly.

"Wow", Dan thought,"These guys are really desperate to kill me."

Then, Dan heard a small beeping noise. It sounded a lot like an explosive timer counting down towards detonation. While blocking the incoming fire, Dan looked down and found the source of the beeping. It was the guns that were thrown down towards him. Dan opened his eyes wide as he rushed back towards the shelter and picked up Rainbow Dash.

"We gotta get out of here!"

BOOM!

A massive explosion occurred right behind Dan and Rainbow Dash, which sent them flying. They smashed onto the hard, dirty ground. Dan looked back and saw the attackers running up to catch them.

"Rainbow Dash! Get behind me!"

Rainbow Dash nodded and hid behind Dan, who was standing on two hooves. But, when the attackers stopped, they didn't fire. Instead, they took out their guns and held them in a different manner. Dan then realized that the guns had blades on them.

"Oh, you do not want to do that.", Dan smirked as he twirled his swords.

"YARRRRR!", the attackers all shouted as they charged Dan with their improvised weapons. Dan stepped forward and spun his swords. He waited for the humans to come charging into their doom, when suddenly, one of them brought the gun blade down on Dan's armor much faster than what he had anticipated. He barley leapt backwards and his armor was surprisingly pierced. Dan looked down, then back up and slashed with his scimitar. The attacker brought up his blade and deflected the attack, but Dan slashed in succession with his other sword and sliced the attacker's stomach open. Dan kicked him down and looked back at Rainbow Dash. She was backing away from two humans that were forcing her into a corner. Dan did some quick thinking and called out.

"RAINBOW DASH!"

Dan threw his clean sword at Rainbow Dash, who surprisingly caught it. She then whirled it around and took flight. The attackers stared at her in disbelief, until they got smart and aimed with their guns. Rainbow Dash descended and slashed at one of the bandits. She then spun around and slashed one across the back and stabbed the sword in its head. Dan was rather shocked at this violent display and the other bandit' head came off of its neck and collapsed, while the other was spurting blood from all places and fell down, shaking. Dan looked around to find that all of the humans were dead. He looked back at Rainbow Dash who looked at the ground, ashamed.

"I'm sorry you had to see that Dan."

"Rainbow Dash, I didn't know you could fight like that."

"Eclipse taught me some moves in addition to Blazing Dawn."

Dan was about to ask how it was like while he was gone, but suddenly, a bandit stepped out of a pile of ruble and got behind Rainbow Dash in the blink of an eye. He took her by her arms and threw a hard punch to her face in order to knock her out. Dan screamed as the bandit brought up his gun blade to her neck and began making some dangerous signals, indicating that he was not joking.

"You make one move, and I will slit its throat open."

Dan looked behind him, and he saw at least four more humans with their guns drawn, and targeting lasers dancing across Dan's back. Dan looked down and then looked back at the smiling human who was holding Rainbow Dash captive. Dan then dropped his sword and put his hooves behind his head. The bandit smiled and held the blade closer to Rainbow Dash's neck.

"I'm just playing around. I was going to kill this thing anyways."

Dan opened his eyes wide as the bandit raised his arm to enter the blade into Rainbow Dash. In a split second, Dan began to remember all the good time he had with that mare. Dan wanted to cry knowing that his soulmate was going to die right before his eyes. And he could do nothing about it. Suddenly, what appeared to be a metal rod impacted itself into the bandit's head and ripped it off from its neck. The other bandits looked around at what just happened, and from somewhere, a voice echoed throughout the junkyard like a ghost.

"Your eyes deceive you; an illusion fools you all; I move for the kill."

Out of now where, a high-tech looking humanoid appeared out of thin air behind the group of bandits with their guns drawn, and unsheathed a very long and dangerous looking sword. The bandits didn't even have enough time to turn around as the figure impaled his sword into one of the bandit's stomachs and caused him to flail around and fire his weapon into the junk from pain. The figure withdrew the sword and disappeared once again. The bandits began firing in front of them, hoping to catch the killer, but their bullets did not collide with anything. The humanoid appeared again, this time on a large pile of junk with a sniper rifle. The figure shot once, and one of the bandit's heads exploded. The figure turned invisible once again and re-appeared behind a bandit, picked him up, then stabbed his sword into the bandit and disappeared once again. The last bandit tried to make a run for it, but another metal rod flew out at hyper velocities and impacted in his back. The figure who had just dispatched the bandits then turned around and faced Dan. Dan looked to his left and saw Rainbow Dash trying to get up. That meant that she was okay. Right as Dan was about to thank the high-tech looking human, it held up a hand and outstretched its palm. Dan took this as a peace sign and smiled. But then, the figure closed its hand and made it into a fist. Suddenly, dan realized it wasn't a sign of peace. It was a signal. Dan looked behind him and saw another figure standing on top of a mountain of junk. It wore very similar armor, but it was much darker with a shade of black all over it. The other figure was holding a gigantic sniper rifle and fired out a small device at Rainbow Dash. It attached to her back and lit up, sending an electrical pulse through her body. She screamed as she fell to the ground. Dan then felt something attach to his back, a massive electrical pulse surge through his nerves. Then...nothing...

Dan rubbed his eyes open and found himself in some sort of glass container. He nearly freaked out from the sudden change of scenery, but he calmed down when he saw Rainbow Dash was right next to him. Dan inspected her for any signs of damage, but found nothing noticeable. Dan then heard voices coming from outside the container.

"One of the creatures is awake."

Dan heard footsteps coming towards the glass container that him and Rainbow Dash were being held in. The smaller figure opened the container and Dan could fully see the figures that stood before him. Dan could clearly recognize the taller one as the being that had dispatched the attackers from before. The slightly smaller one who wore darker and very similar armor was what Dan believed to be the sniper that had shot him and Dashie. Wait a minute.

"Don't hurt her!"

The larger figure suddenly flashed "?" on his helmet. The other one still looked at Dan through his polarized helmet and looked back at the taller figure. Dan looked around the room and found something very frightening about the taller figure. It was a wanted poster.

Dan gritted his teeth and stared down the two humanoids. The one that matched the description in the wanted poster stepped forward and leaned towards the glass container.

"Do not be alarmed; I have no intent to harm; but, unless provoked.", The one that Dan decided who's hame was Zer0. Dan looked back at Rainbow Dash and looked back up.

"How can I trust you? And who are you?"

The other one spoke up.

"We should be asking you the same question."

Zer0 held up a hand and silenced the other.

"N-3gativ-3, not now; we must make him believe us; we mean them no harm."

The strange thin was that the words appeared in a holographic display over the larger humanoid's helmet. As if it were typing it in his mind. Dan once again looked at Rainbow Dash.

"What did you do to her? What did you do to me?!", he screamed.

"Easy.", N-3gativ-3 stated,"I just gave you both a small...jolt...so you would not resist us when we took you in. Your companion has no serious injuries, other then a bullet impact in its hoof, but we patched it up."

"Why did you take us in?"

"My apologies; I am Zer0, assassin; now, I am your friend."

Dan found there was something strange about how Zer0 talked, but he couldn't put his hoof on it.

"I am N-3gativ-3."

No other word came from the other as Zer0 approached.

"My apologies."

Zer0 pressed a button on the container and it disappeared before Dan's eyes. Dan was asked to stand up.

"Now, what are you?"

Dan shook his head.

"Wait, why on Equestria would you keep me and Rainbow Dash captive, even though you seem like you want to befriend us. Is there something of value with us?"

After Dan finished his sentence, he got into an aggressive stance and spread his wings.

"God help you if you harm Rainbow Dash or me!"

N-3gativ-3 chuckled.

"What?", Dan sneered.

"The only thing that would actually interest us was how you could wield those golden scimitars without fingers.", N-3gativ-3 laughed.

"We are wasting time; Boros could be on the move; we must go right now.", Zer0 stated.

"Boros?"

Zer0 remained in his still and cold state, but N-3gativ-3 quickly whispered that he would explain everything to Dan.

"We know that you're from a different pane of existence.", N-3gativ-3 said.

"How do you know?", Dan questioned suspiciously.

"I tried to scan you; my helmet went hay-wire; that is how we know.", Zer0 spoke.

"What is that you're speaking? I know I've heard something like that before.", Dan asked.

"He speaks in Haiku most of the time.", N-3gativ-3 answered.

"Yes! That makes perfect sense!", Dan said triumphantly.

"We know how we could get you back to where ever you came from.", N-3gativ-3 said suddenly. Dan stopped his mini-celebration and looked up.

"What did you say?"

"A dimension gate was made by Boros, the one who we have been trying to track down and kill. We don't now what he could be using it for, but we have also discovered it is capable of sending beings and objects to different parts of the universe. How he got this technology is unknown to us, but if could help us finally rid Boros, then we will return the favor and send you home."

"I don't trust you. After all, you are political assassins."

":("

Zer0 flashed an emoticon across his hemet. Dan then heard Rainbow Dash murmur a bit and start to rise up from her knock-out. Dan came over to her before she opened her eyes and wrapped her in his hooves. She sniffled a bit and she opened her eyes. Dan could not compare anything more beautiful than Rainbow Dash's magenta eyes. Rainbow Dash then began to look around and saw Zer0 and N-3gativ-3, whom Zer0 was displaying the "<3" emoticon across his hemet.

"Dan! Look out! It's those two again!"

Rainbow Dash immediately bolted out of her position in Dan's arms and used his face as a launchpad. Dan was hurled to the ground as Rainbow Dash charged for Zer0, who disappeared before her eyes. She took a cheesy boxing stance and began looking around to where the political assassin had vanished to. Suddenly, Dan realized that N-3gativ-3 had disappeared also. She turned around and took Dan by his arm.

"We have to get out of here!"

"WAIT!"

Rainbow Dash suddenly let go and stumbled backwards. She stared up at Dan with a little shine of fear in her eyes.

"You can come out now."

Zer0 uncloaked right behind Dan and N-3gativ-3 was attached to the roof like a cat burglar.

"Rainbow Dash, these are some friends. That's Zer0 and that's N-3gativ-3. They won't harm us, okay?"

"Dan! They have you fooled! They shot me in the back with something that made me go all numb and black me out! And did you even see what they did to those other two-legged things? They killed them in an instant! Do you expect me to be fooled by them?!"

She spoke the last sentence right at Zer0, who produced the ";(" emoticon.

"Rainbow Dash! You must listen to me! They won't harm us! They say that they could get us back home! Do you want to go home or not?!"

She took a look at the dark and concrete walled room around her and saw all of the swords, guns, and wanted posters everywhere. Dan was pretty sure they made the right impression.

"Y-yes Dan, I want to go home. But, don't think I'm going to lay my eyes off of you two", she yelled the last sentence at N-3gative-3.

"I'm flattered.", N-3gativ-3 joked.

Rainbow Dash suddenly blushed up and hurried back to Dan.

"Knock it off.", Dan scolded N-3gativ-3.

"My mistake."

"Let's get a move on; I will explain everything; after we get out.", Zer0 stated.

"Okay, you promised us a way home, now show us how to get there."

Zer0 nodded and they exited the house. Dan had to shield his eyes from the sand that was blowing in the wind, as they stung him. Rainbow Dash couldn't see a thing, and she had to hold onto Dan as a guide. N-3gativ-3 was talking to Zer0 about something, but he was well out of earshot. N-3gativ-3 came back and Dan spoke up.

"What were you two talking about?"

N-3gativ-3 stretched his arms over his head.

"We were discussing strategy in order to bring you back to your world without being noticed. After you two are through the portal, me and Zer0 will kill Boros."

"Okay, who's Boros?", Rainbow Dash questioned.

"Okay, here's the story so far. I was pretty much a wasteland scrounger. Ya know, bottom of the food chain, rats of the world, a person who is disgusted by many others. So, I was on a cliff side and I heard sounds of a battle. By the time I got there, the fighting had died down and there were dead bodies and valuables strewn everywhere. I came onto the dead battlefield in hopes of taking some weapons and pawning them off for some money. I was about to leave, when i saw one body move. I would have taken off with my tail in between my legs-"

"You don't have a tail.", Rainbow Dash said.

"Figure of speech. ANYWAYS, I saw where the shuffling had come from, and I found Zer0, up against a boulder, and was bleeding heavily. There was something about him that I trusted, but I didn't know what. I walked over to him, and when I reached him, he passed out. I took him and hurried back to a nearby town, threatened a doctor, and got him fixed up. He spent quite a while at a place of metal that was suspended with a rod to make a shelter, which I called my home. He woke up one day and nearly killed me before i explained everything to him. I could tell that he knew I wasn't lying, so he released me and he just took off. I spent some more day cursing myself for saving him as I got no benefit out of it. And to top it off, he said,"Thank you for saving a not-so innocent life." When I found a weapon shipment that had crashed into a dune, Zer0 seemed to have beat me there. I tried to kill him, but he just mocked me and kept dodging my moves. He laughed and laughed and laughed and he said that I had 'quite the skill' in me. I didn't know what he was thinking of until he handed me a small flyer. It was his wanted poster claiming a 32 billion dollar reward on his head. He put it away and he offered me to take up political assassination. I was very skeptical of it, but he said that it provided quite the challenge, gets you 'famous', and sometimes, blowing open a politician's head was quite entertaining. I guess the only reason I chose to come was that it pays very handsomely. So, I accepted, and Zer0 didn't keep his eyes off of me, to make sure I didn't kill him. The next thing I know, I have very similar stealth armor to Zer0 and I got my first weapons, a pike that produces and electric charge and a giant foldable and retractible sniper rifle literally shoots metal rods that can rip someone's head off from two and a half miles away. Eventually, Zer0 became like a father to me. A father that I never had. One time, we went back to the original battle field where I had met Zer0, and all of the bodies had become skeletons. Zer0 took three skeletons in particular and began to pray. After that was done, I asked him what those skeletons were. He just said they were some 'teammates' he was paying tribute to. He probably didn't know this, but he produced the ";(" emoticon the whole time on his hemet. He told me that an A.I. that posed as a human body named Boros had killed his team. Boros was said to be highly dangerous as he was a tactical genius an he had gotten a giant group of bandits to follow his command and made them extremely organized. So, Zer0 is hunting Boros out of revenge for his fallen teammates."

Dan was listening intently, while Rainbow Dash was bored to death. It was a very long walk, but the four reached a large outpost that had bandits going to and fro. Zer0 and N-3gativ-3 said they would scout the base to find the portal, and they set off, leaving Dan and Rainbow Dash behind.

"Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we'll get home? What if this is all a dream?"

"I don't think we would be sharing the same dream."

"When it's time to go, just stick with me and listen to Zer0. Okay Dashie?"

She nodded with courage, but Dan could tell she was afraid after the junkyard encounter. Zer0 and N-3gativ-3 came back and said that they had found a gap in the guarding and they had to move now. Dan and Rainbow Dash got up and Zer0 and N-3gativ-3 cloaked. The next thing he knew, two guards were shoved down from towers and they impaled themselves on the many spike decorations peppering the ground. Next, a bandit guard suddenly got his head taken off by a metal rod. Zer0 and N-3gativ-3 uncloaked and made the "follow me" sign. Dan and Rainbow Dash followed after Zer0 dispatched another guard and the number "0" was displayed on his helmet. They kept walking until they found a large metal structure that resembled some sort of archway. Zer0 began pushing a few buttons on it and the portal whirred to life. A bright red glow appeared in it and Dan could see a picture of Ponyville in there. He took Rainbow Dash's hoof, and they walked towards the portal.

BOOM!

The gateway exploded, sending the four flying in opposite directions. Zer0 looked up after hitting the ground and the "WTF Bro?!" message appeared on his helmet. Dan saw a trail of smoke snaking from the portal and he traced it back to a large mechanized suit that had a flap open, which appeared to be a missile pod.

"AHAHAHA! Welcome to my fort! You must be that one pesky assassin that I couldn't kill. How has life been going for you?", the mechanized suit bellowed.

"Boros...", N-3gativ-3 scowled.

"So, Zer0 is this what kind of a fighting force you plan to use to defeat ME? AHAHAHA! I can't believe you picked Equestrians! They know nothing but peace! And I will put you all to it!"

Dan suddenly opened his eyes wide.

"What did you say?!"

Boros inside the mechanized suit raised a gloved hand and the machine copied his movement. The mech's hand opened up and reviled a three barreled Gatling Cannon, and began to rotate and increase speed. He pointed it at N-3gativ-3 and let loose a barrage of bullets. Round began impacting on M-3gativ-3 position and dust rose all around him. Dan and Rainbow Dash watched form behind a boulder as N-3gativ-3 was thrown into a cloud of dust and bullets. The dust cleared, the Gatling Cannon stopped spinning, and N-3gativ-3 was no where to be found. Dan and Rainbow Dash suddenly heard Zer0 mutter something.

"That's my boy."

Suddenly, N-3gativ-3 appeared right on top of Boros's mechanized suit, drew his electric pike, and jabbed it right down into the back of it. The machine began thrashing around and Zer0 appeared in front of Boros, threw some sort of electric device onto its foot, and the mechanized suit began to spark and short-circuit.

"Dan and Rainbow Dash!; I need to attack now!; Hit the cockpit it's stunned!", Zer0 yelled.

Dan had no idea how Zer0 would have known their names, as Dan and Rainbow Dash hadn't introduced themselves, but Dan shrugged off the thought and handed one of his scimitars to Rainbow Dash.

"Ya ready?"

"Of course!"

Dan and Rainbow Dash charged out of their hiding place, and Rainbow Dash began to pick up speed. She started going faster, faster, and faster, until she made a sharp turn and shot straight up into the sky. Dan immediately knew what she was going to do as he hopped onto the glass cockpit of Boros's mechanized suit. Now, Dan could see the details of Boros's fake human body. Bald, very pale skin, and pure black eyes. Dan had to admit it was very convincing.

"Alright! Withstand this!"

Dan raised his sword and repeatedly slashed across the glass cockpit, damaging it, and causing it to crack. He could see Boros's regaining power from the recent sap in power, so Dan hurried up his slashes and the glass cracked even more. Suddenly, a cyan glint appeared in the sky with a rainbow trail surrounding it. It was nearly as bright as the glaring sun and it seemed to be approaching at hyper-velocities. Dan hopped off and ran for cover, which confused Zer0 and N-3gativ-3.

"RUN! SHE'S GOING TO NUKE HIM!"

Zer0 flashed the "OMFG" text across his helmet and N-3gativ-3 was trying to pry his electric pike from the back of the mech suit.

"JUST LEAVE IT AND GET INTO COVER!"

N-3gativ-3 was very reluctant at first, but then he looked up and found the same cyan and rainbow colored trail that Dan had warned the two assassins of earlier. N-3gativ-3 jumped off and dove for cover behind a nearby boulder. Boros recovered and looked up too late at the incoming trail. He held his arms up in a pathetic attempt to block the incoming nuclear bomb that was Rainbow Dash.

"GET DOWN!"

KA-BOOM!

The shockwave was tremendous, sending bandits that hadn't fled the battlefield fast enough flying and smashing into all sorts of buildings and debris. Dan, N-3gativ-3 and Zer0 clung to their cover for dear life as the second shockwave came after the implosion. Dan could barely peek out of cover to see the rainbow colored mushroom cloud sprout up slowly, which turned the sky hazy red. The smoke was tremendous, and Dan could hardly see anything.

"There was no way that Boros could survive that. Heh, way to go Dashie."

Suddenly, the smoke was fanned away, and the heavily scorched mechanized suit that Boros piloted walked out slowly, and held up Rainbow Dash's unmoving body.

"RAINBOW DASH!", Dan screamed.

"How could he have survived that?", N-3gativ-3 questioned.

"If anyone of you move, I will blow open this pathetic pegasus's head and force you to eat it after I'm done with you.", Boros broadcasted as he shifted one of the Gatling Gun's barrels onto Rainbow Dash's head. Dan was frozen with shock while Zer0 flashed "Dn't wrry bro" on bis helmet, and disappeared. Dan now knew what he had to do.

"We surrender!"

Boros's suit shifted a bit.

"Then give me the Seventh Element."

Dan was in shock.

"How did you know about that?"

"Give me the Seventh Element or I'll blow open her head!"

Boros shoved the gun barrel to the side of Rainbow Dash's head and rotated it slowly. Dan had now thanked that he was a famous actor back on Earth and stood up, along with N-3gativ-3. For some reason, Dan also saw Zer0 stand up and walk towards Boros. Every one walked towards him and Dan took off his armor and threw down his swords.

"Okay, give back Rainbow Dash."

"Hahahaha...I don't think so."

Boros raised Rainbow Dash up and his other arm took a chainsaw-like sword from it back and revved it up. Dan watched in horror as Boros held the spinning chainsaw blade up to Rainbow Dash's neck and prepare to mesh her throat open.

"Let's see what the fastest flyer in all of Equestria looks like spattered all over you..."

"NO!"

Suddenly, Zer0 appeared right on top of Boros, and threw down another electric device, which caused him to short-circut. Dan, acting on instinct, ran up to Boros, pried the unconscious Rainbow Dash from his grip and slashed open the cockpit and shattered the glass all over the ground. Boros's mech suit was quicker to react and it shot out a cable from its shoulder. Dan was too busy handing off Rainbow Dash to Zer0 than to notice the cable impact on his back. Dan felt a tight pinch of pain, and suddenly, a massive electrical surge jogged through is veins and sent him sprawling on the floor. He could feel the intensity increasing as his vision began to white out. Dan could barely open his eyes and see Boros through the cracked cockpit, with a devious smile on his face. Dan began to white out even more as the electricity increased.

Then, a metal rod flew out from behind Dan and sliced the cable, separating it from Dan and Boros, and cut off the electricity. Dan still could not move, as he was paralyzed and twitching on the ground. Another rod flew out and impacted into Boros's chest, causing the mech suit to tumble backwards. Another metal rod shot out from N-3gativ-3's sniper rifle and this time, it impacted into Boros's head. The mech suit began to stumble more and Zer0 appeared right in front of Boros, who was trapped inside the cockpit.

"As I take revenge...", Zer0 began.

Boros was sputtering and sparks were flying out of his mechanical body.

";I must ask you one more question...", Zer0 continued.

Dan could now see the metal exoskeleton that made up Boros's body. it looked a ton like the Terminator, but there was something much more frightening about it that Dan couldn't put his hoof on.

"'Do you remember...?"

Dan didn't understand what Zer0 had actually asked, but Zer0 had sunk his sword into Boros's chest, effectivly silencing him. Zer0 leapt off the machine, began walking back, and the number "0" appeared on his helmet. Right as he reached me, the mech suit exploded and debris flew around Dan, Rainbow Dash, and N-3gativ-3. Ban looked back at the destroyed portal gate and turned back to Zer0, who was well aware of what Dan was looking at.

"Okay Zer0, you promised me and Rainbow Dash a way home, now fulfill that promise if you can."

Zer0 nodded and he walked off with N-3gativ-3. They discussed something for a while, but Dan couldn't tell what they were talking about. They broke into an argument, and began yelling something inaudible at the distance that was at. He focused at Rainbow Dash's knock-out body. He felt a tear grow into his eye as he kissed Rainbow Dash one more time as Zer0 and N-3gativ-3 were walking back. They came back to Dan and he could tell that something wasn't right.

"Did you find a way?"

Zer0 looked down and then he looked back up.

"Yes..."

"What's wrong"

N-3gativ-3 started talking.

"The stealth generator that is built into my armor can redirect and manipulate currents of energy. Zer0 had found that the power couplings on the portal gateway and the quantum generator has remained undamaged, but they are starting to drain slowly. I can redirect the energy and send you two back home, but...it will kill me."

Dan looked at N-3gativ-3 as if he were kidding, but with that polarized mask on, it was certain he was serious.

"No...there has to be another way.", Dan pleaded.

"I'm sorry Dan. But we need to do this."

Dan was staring at the ground. He couldn't describe the thoughts running across his mind, but his heart wanted to save N-3gativ-3 and return to Equestria.

"No! I won't let you die!"

Suddenly, Zer0 appeared right behind him and took out his sniper rifle.

"You don't have a choice."

Zer0 slammed the but of the rifle into Dan's head and made him black out.

--

“Unbelievable...” Dan muttered to himself as he flew over the town of Ponyville, gazing at everything new that was around him.

Dan found remembering how to fly as easy as riding a bike after so long; it felt like instinct. He was overjoyed to be flying again, but his mood quickly changed when he laid his golden eyes on the now “city” of Ponyville down beneath him.

The dreary weather only added to the musky feeling of the city below. The care-free, fun-filled thatched roof houses he used to know were now gone, replaced with modernized versions. They still had cheery personal touches here and there, but the fact remained the overall look had completed changed.

“15 years sure is a long time for these ponies...” Dan muttered before arching his body downward and beelining towards the town square.

Suddenly, for a spit second before he touched down, a poster flew by his face. He could barely make it out, but it seemed familiar.

Dan shrugged as he touched down and looked at his surroundings.

That was my contest entry! Please do not judge by the number of dislikes. I really worked hard on this one. If it wasn't a one shot and if I wasn't about to go to Costa Rica, this MAY have been a little better. Again, good luck on your future stories ThunderHawk!