Industrial Era 0072, war has broken out across all of Equestria. It all began when a group of scientists discovered a new element a long time ago. This element was something that was very rare to come by, but very, very powerful. Its name was Granorium. The scientists actually found it by accident, it fell from the sky one fateful night. Of course, this being the only sample of Granorium they could find at the time everything made from it since then has been a replication and not a pure substance. The ponies sure did work fast though. In just a hundred years all of Equestria has been converted from grassy plains to a metal metropolis. It was then after converting Equestria that everyone was in agreement. This was a new age for all ponies, a new era. This was the Industrial Era.
Of course, all resources must be exhausted eventually. Industrial Era 0055 and Granorium is at its last straw, all of our resources have almost been consumed. Even the stuff we use to make fakes of the fakes are starting to disappear. The world is thrown into chaos at the statement from the Princess Celestia that we are running out of power. The world is split into two, both disagreeing on what to do next. One side, the Union, believes we should hold onto our remaining resources and use them sparingly. The other, the Allies, believe we should not and should just adapt to our new circumstances. As with all opposing opinions with this many people a little tussle can turn into a giant fight. This is no exception. Just a couple of months ago we were all thrust into war over it.
War, just three little words. How bad can it be? It can be a lot more than you can even imagine. Those three words kill hundreds of ponies every day. Those three words killed my parent’s right in front of me. War is a fire, a fire that needs to be stopped. Because if you don’t stop a fire everything goes up in smoke. But those who play with fire are always the ones who get burned.
“Caste, you ready?” I snap out of my thoughts and back into reality. I look around inside the cockpit of my machine and observe all the flashing lights. This is the cockpit of the world’s newest type of weapon, a mobile suit. So far their only variety is the XMSN-0001 Altair. If you want a description it’s basically like if you took a pony and enlarged it two-hundred times over. Then you caste it over in metal and add a few guns and boom, you got yourself an Altair MS. Whoever developed these is a real pain in the flank, they are supplying them to both the Union and the Allies.
“Yeah,” I say, “I’m ready,”
“Good,” the voice says coming out of my cockpits microphone, “We’re just going to go through normal system checkups, all right?”
“Kay,”
“All right,” I hear the sound of flipping paper, “Sticky keys?”
“None,”
“Internals?”
“Check,”
“Externals?” I tap a few buttons on the top of my cockpit with my forehoof to check the status of my MS’s frame.
“Check, no problems,”
“Okay, AMMS?”
“Advanced-Mobility-Matrix check,” I say after swiping to check the Operating System of my suit. Everything looks to be in good condition. My suit is a dark green with blue lines streaking down its flank. Unlike a normal pony it only has one eye, a big glowing white dot on the front of its head. For weapons my MS has a pair of twin 500MM gatling guns. Two are mounted on its side while two are on its back. With the AMMS I am able to operate them all at once or each one individually. Being the only unicorn I will probably be the only one able to operate all four guns on my team. The other two members of my team consist of Rain, my best friend, and Blast, a random guy I barely know. Rain’s Mobile Suit has a stabilizer built in which enables it to stand on two legs. Considering it uses swords this is very useful. It is equipped with two one-hundred foot long steel swords. She has the option of wielding them both in her suits hands or holding one it’s “mouth.” I do not know what Blast’s weapons are, he’s new to the team. Well, so are Rain and myself, it’s a newly formed team. I just know what Rain’s weapons are because she told me. Blast is completely introverted and doesn’t talk much. It’s a real pain trying to get anything out of his lifeless stare.
“All right, you seem good to go,” the voice coming through my mic’ is Doctor Featherborne. He’s a bit crazy but defiantly knows what he’s doing. He modified the teams Altair’s and also runs the pit crew. The Doc’ and his two assistants are all that make up the Sixth-Union-Strike-Team. We’re currently on a mission to go take down a jammer that’s been cutting off communications for our men in the general area. It being in a desert makes for great cover.
“Ten minutes until drop zone,” Doc’ says, “You ready?”
“Yeah, I’m ready,” I say, “This isn’t my first mission,”
“Well no, it isn’t,” the doc’ holds back a chuckle, “But it is your first on the front lines. It’s also your first in a desert terrain,”
“I know that, you know what I mean,”
“Of course I do. Don’t underestimate the sand though; it can be a real flank kicker. Step on it wrong and your whole suit will fall to the ground and be nothing more than scrap metal or a target,”
“I’ve read the debrief Doc’, I know all this,” at this he bursts out into laughter.
“That won’t prepare you for the real thing kid.” I look at the timer on my screen, nine minutes left. I won’t screw up, I’m going to do this mission perfectly. I can not fail.
I can not die.
