Chapter Seven
ELEMENT GEAR

Princess Celestia and Luna watched very angrily the unmarked tape they had received in the mail, seeing it was combat footage of the Peace Fighters assaulting the canine capital. News had quickly spread of the Peace Fighters allying with the canines, and all of the Empire was outraged.

The tape told it all; it was just day one of the battle to retake the capital, but the Peace Fighters were fighting tenaciously, like they were morally offended by the Empire invading and taking what they wanted from those disgusting dogs.

We are better than those dogs. We’ve ALWAYS been superior. We are superior to any other life on this planet Celestia thought.

The camera told a scene of the IMRT-96 the PFs captured blasting through the capital, obliterating any Imperial tank that tried to stop it.

Suddenly there was a gunshot close by and the video was thrown ajar, and when focus came back the camera was staring into the sky. Celestia was about to turn it off when it moved again, being picked up by somepony else. The camera turned away from the battle and came to bear on--

Shining Armor.

Now seething with anger the Princesses watched as he smirked like the smug little bastard he is and began to talk.

“Well well well, Princesses, seems you continue to shock all the world with your childishness. The canines told you ‘no’, something mommy and daddy never had the BALLS to, and you throw a tantrum and just take what you want? Pathetic. You see all this, Princess?” Shining started, turning the camera back just in time to see the PFs’ IMRT in the street below obliterate a wing of Imperial DRAVMs.

“You brought all this upon yourselves you selfish cows. The Peace Fighters are going to FREE the canines and then we’re going to FREE all of Equestria. I’m coming for you next, Princess Celestia, and not even your walking tank can protect the carefully woven blanket of lies you have spread all over your ponies. I’m going to free them ALL, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do to stop us you bitch” Shining finished, smashing the camera.

Princess Celestia remained sitting for half a second before she stood up and grabbed the TV, wrapping her entire hoof around it and dragging it and the cart to the floor, smashing the TV in a display of glass and sparks and then turning to her sister and shouting off a list of orders.

“Drum up a wing of DRAVMs, one transport and one heavy lifter along with escorts! I want ELEMENT GEAR and METAL LANCE deployed to the canine capital to exterminate these foals IMMEDIATELY!” Celestia barked, storming from the room as her sister got to work.

You want to spit in the face of me, a divine and holy Goddess? Spit in the face of a being so vastly superior to you, Shining Armor? Then I will show you the true wrath of God the solar Princess mused, each thought of the former Imperial Captain pouring gas all over the flames of her fury.

It had been a few hours since they had received that tape, and Shining Armor and his pitiful band of freedom fighters were assuredly still fighting to free the dogs.

Which means the Princesses’ favorite toys wouldn’t be late to the party.

~~~~

“METAL LANCE and ELEMENT GEAR, you are five minutes out. Give those Peace Fighter bastards what they deserve” Princess Celestia herself said over the radio to the experimental soldiers currently en route to the canine capital.

“We will do as you wish, Holy One” EG Commander replied, turning to face her comrades. “Peace Fighter forces are sweeping through the canine capital at an alarming pace, and it is up to us and METAL LANCE to stop them. We are tasked with finding the leader of the PFs, Captain Shining Armor, whilst METAL LANCE will busy itself with the bulk of his forces. Mission is strict Kill on Sight, target: Shining Armor. Target ID code is SA-1164-3372. Are these mission parameters and orders understood?”

“We confirm: Kill On Sight target Shining Armor, ID code SA-1164-3372” the rest of ELEMENT GEAR responded monotonously.

EG Lead nodded and turned around, opening the hatch and standing on the edge, looking down as the other DRAVM deployed METAL LANCE to deal with the IMRT and other vehicles the Peace Fighters had brought in.

“ELEMENT GEAR...DEPLOY!” EG Lead announced, leaping from the DRAVM and falling through the sky towards the canine, watching the flashes of gunfire and explosions emanating from the city streets.

Halfway to the ground ELEMENT GEAR came under assault by Peace Fighter DRAVMs, the aerial vehicles harassing them with machine guns and lock on missiles. High-maneuverability thruster packs allowed them to bob and weave back forth to avoid the missiles, and their magic shields and suits deflected many of the bullets.

Finally as they neared the ground ELEMENT GEAR rolled forward and blasted their thruster packs, slowing their descent enough to safely land and organize themselves.

“ELEMENT GEAR, let’s split up. The target was last seen on the roof of Burning Desires*, a romance shop with apartments above it, on the southwest side of the city. We should be able to pick up on his location from there. LOYALTY GEAR, KINDNESS GEAR, and I will look for the target there. HONESTY GEAR, GENEROSITY GEAR, and LAUGHTER GEAR, you three should attempt to pick up on any clue to his location through any other means available.”

The teams went their separate ways, and EG Lead led her comrades on a trek that would take them halfway across the city.

~~~~

Where am I? Why can’t I feel my body? Am I dead? No... No, because I can still see. Where am I? What is this place?

Wait...there’s a light, let’s look out through it.

Gunfire, explosions, tanks and aircraft? We must be fighting the Peace Fighters. But if I’m watching this battle, then where am I? There’s a tank...sweet Goddess that thing is HUGE. It’s got the peace sign printed on it, too. Darn Peace Fighters.

No...I should at least think of them with respect, even if they are my enemy.

Oh my, there are an awful lot of explosions. I hope whoever this pony is that I’m seeing the world from will be OK. We need all the soldiers we have and can get.

Shoot, WHERE am I? What is this dark place where can I only see what this pony is seeing?

Oh crap, the pony’s fallen over. Is he OK? Get up... GET UP!

OH, it worked! Oh shoot, his helmet’s fallen off. Grab it! OK, he got it back on. Good, he’s gonna need that. Hmm, it’s not a normal helmet, this one covers his whole head.

Oh no...somepony’s holding his leg down with a hoof. A white hoof. Who is the Peace Fighter holding down your leg? Look up at him!

Oh Goddess...it’s Shining Armor.

SHINING ARMOR’S A PEACE FIGHTER?! The Princess told me he died! WHAT is he doing leading these “revolutionaries”?

...Kill him...

What?! NO!

...Kill Shining Armor...

NO! STOP!

...Target ID code SA-1164-3372...

The stallion smacked the pony across the face with his other hoof and he tumbled through the air, his helmet once again falling off.

The pony scrambled over and picked up the helmet, flipping it over and staring into the visor, the face of Twilight Sparkle reflected back.

Oh no...It’s me...I’M the soldier...

I am a prisoner in my own mind...

~~~~

“Shoot, where’d she go?!” EG Lead heard the target yell out as he and his comrades looked for her, the stallions searching through the rubble.

They hadn’t seen her face, they didn’t know who it was.

MAGIC GEAR slipped her helmet back on and made sure it was fully fastened into place before drawing her SPR and peering out from behind the rubble, seeing the target standing in the middle of a group of Peace Fighters, all of them looking for EG Lead. There were too many enemy soldiers in the way, and MAGIC couldn’t get a clear shot on the target. There was only one thing she could do.

Distract them.

Crouching down and lightly knocking on the rubble MAGIC heard one of the Peace Fighters say “what was that noise?” and began to walk her way, the rocks crunching underneath his hooves as he steadily approached.

Finally, just before he saw MAGIC, he stopped and turned around, shrugging it off with “guess it was nothing” and prepared to head back.

That’s when MAGIC struck.

Darting out of her cover the mare grabbed the stallion by the throat and dragged him behind the rubble, holding him against her body by his neck.

“Start talking!” EG Lead demanded in a forceful whisper.

“D-don’t hurt me...!” the stallion responded. MAGIC tightened her grip around his throat until he passed out and then hid his body under the rubble.

Peering back out the mare saw that the target was now in the open, still perusing the rubble from the street. Slithering on out MAGIC went around to his backside and stealthily approached, easing her hooves along the cracked concrete closer and closer to the target.

I should radio LOYALTY and KINDNESS, but I won’t; I got this one the ELEMENT soldier thought, just about to reach the target.

Suddenly the mare stepped on an unseen rock and her hoof slipped off, the rock launching off and striking Shining Armor in his leg, prompting him to turn around and see MAGIC.

“Oh crap!” the target yelled, leaping forward and tackling the ELEMENT soldier, about to hit her when she kicked him off.

Now, together on the street, the two were forced to fight in CQC.

Shining Armor made the first strike, a right-hook left-hoof fake out; he swung his right hoof in a hook and as the mare blocked he delivered and under-hoof blow to her midsection, one that completely reverberated off her titanium suit.

MAGIC took this opportunity to strike back; standing on her hind legs the mare spun and round-house kicked Shining across the face, sending him reeling long enough for her step up pummel on him with her forehooves.

Suddenly Shining grabbed her by the head and cracked his knee into her side, the blow connecting well enough for her to feel it as he grabbed her by the neck and smashed the back of his hoof along her head.

Amazed at the stallion’s strength and how he was still able to reasonably attack her through the suit MAGIC recovered and stepped back, the two of them walking in circles on their hands as they surveyed each other and possible weak spots.

Finally they both attacked; a straight punch aimed at each other’s faces. Their hooves met in the middle and slammed together, prompting both of them to unleash themselves in a storm of attacks on their respective opponent.

Shining kicked low and MAGIC kicked low, their legs striking together and doing no serious damage. Shining swung high with his left hoof and Magic blocked with her right, again doing naught to each other.

Shining spun and kicked MAGIC in her barrel, a blow she quickly recovered from and kicked the stallion in the side. They both punched their right hooves low and they both connected in the stomach, then did the same with their lefts. MAGIC stepped forward first and turned around, swinging her left arm back to backwards-clothesline the stallion.

She failed, and Shining grabbed her arm, popping the bones within as MAGIC swung her other arm back, hitting the Captain in the head and attempting to do it again when he blocked her arm and hit her in the back of the head, kicking her forward after that.

MAGIC turned around and tried to straight punch Shining and was rewarded by her hoof connecting. Her victory was short-lived, however, as the Captain grabbed her hoof and dragged her to the ground, her entire body doing a 180 before she slammed down.

Shining Armor stepped back and allowed MAGIC to get back up before continuing his assault. MAGIC decided she had enough, and blocked both of his attempted punches by grabbing his hooves and throwing him over her body, throwing him hard onto the concrete. While he was down MAGIC did a front-flip and slammed herself down onto his torso, stunning the stallion.

Spinning around MAGIC was about to start beating Shining to death when her right fore-hoof was shot, the bullet slashing clean through her shield, suit, and leg on both sides.

When she looked up, Lieutenant Strong Spear was standing across the street, holding a Solar-Pulse Sniper Rifle Model 47, the barrel still smoking. The SP-SR 47 was a bolt action high caliber rifle with a wood and steel construction. The SP-SR 47 is a relic from long before the Mid-Morning War, but still sees heavy use from both the Peace Fighters and the Princesses’ Empire. The bolt and bolt handle are enlarged for ease-of-use by Equestrians, as the rifle is of Minotaur design. Firing a heavy round fed from an internal box mag reloaded through use of a ‘square clip’ the rifle was hard hitting and extremely accurate.

The Lieutenant’s rifle had a 4x zoom scope fitted ahead of the loading port via pin-and-bracket mount, and the mount allowed the iron sights to be used if necessary.

“You better run, you witch!” Strong Spear yelled, cycling the bolt and lining up another shot as MAGIC bolted, running into the buildings behind her as Shining started to get up.

“Who the heck was that?” Strong asked, helping the Captain to his hooves.

“She had a name printed on the side of her suit; ELEMENT GEAR. Sounds like some kind of special operations team” Captain Armor answered.

“Hmm... Well I guess we’ll worry about that later. Right now I gotta tell you that the battle’s going well in our favor, but there’s a bit of a problem” Lieutenant Spear said.

“What kind of problem?”

“That walker you encountered on the Cobra Star, the one called PEACE FIGHTER? It’s here, fighting us, and it’s gotta new name” Strong told him.

“What?” Shining stated, almost scared of what the answer would be. The Lieutenant looked a little concerned, and that only added to Shining’s fears.

“METAL LANCE.”

~~~~

Author's Note

*This is a reference to the mission Burning Desire in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

8:30? 9:00? Hahaha, I have no idea what my schedule is!!!

No but seriously, I changed the schedule again; all future chapters will be posted at 8:00PM Eastern Standard Time.

Legal note: Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, and all related characters belong to Hasbro. Lieutenant Strong Spear and all related characters belong to me. My Little Pony belongs to Hasbro.