Of a Dying Breed

The pink one attacked with a blast from her horn, and I dodged to the right. I ran forward and was on her in a flash; she barely stood a chance. I smashed her head with the stun rod, sending her into spasms; and kicked to my right, hitting the white one and sending it flying. The dark one hit me and launched me a few feet, but I recovered and landed on my feet with ease. Both of the remaining combatants fired at once, but I absorbed the hit with my stun rod.

Did I mention that certain stun rods can "eat" energy, from laser to plasma to solar? And that they can send excess power back? Because they totally fucking can, and I abused that power right at the dark one. I figured it was rather powerful, since it seemed to either kill or knock it out.

Whitey was about to try again, when 16 of my mechs rolled out of the forest and a dozen soldiers jumped off of them and next to me. The white mute hesitated, then lowered its body to the floor submissively. I guess threats travel well through the language barrier.

"Sh-she's surrendering!?" Twilight said in surprise.

"There's no way she could have won, Twilight." Fluttershy said sympathetically.

Twilight shot a death glare at her in return.

"I am no match for you, please spare this town and its inhabitants." Celestia spoke to the creatures humbly.

One of the creatures turned to another and barked something. The other barked a return.

Realization hit Twilight suddenly as the creatures continued barking.

"Girls, Princess Celestia isn't really surrendering!" She said excitedly.

"What do y'ah mean?" Applejack questioned, as she tended to Pinke, who was now semi-conscious.

"She's just distracting them so that we can counter-attack!" Twilight turned to the monsters.

"Ah don't think-" It was too late, Twilight was already careening towards them.

She got about three meters, before being shot down off-handedly. Twilight lost all feeling in her body, as it shut down completely.

"Switch to open talk, let them hear our voices. Give them something to fear, eh?" I suggested to the rest of the men. I heard everybody switch out of the current station, to broadcast.

"So," The black soldier came to me, "can you tell what she's saying?"

"It's probably a surrender, but I don't have the foggiest idea beyond that." I responded.

"Does anyone speak this shit?" He continued. Nobody made themselves known.

"Somebody get a translator, there may be one in one of the mechs. Somebody take care off that mute coming towards us; I think it was one of the intruders, so try not to kill it." I didn't need to look to hear her clopping getting louder as she approached. There was a blast and I heard her fall, as well as the surrendered mute's yell. I backhanded it and put my stun rod in its face. Threats carry well through all languages.

There was a noticeable wave of anger that spread through the town upon my strike of the white.

"Look, they're getting angry. Looks like this mute made some friends!" I joked to the others.

"Hey, I have an idea; watch this." A soldier of average build stepped up to the mute. He repeatedly slapped it back and forth, for awhile, then slapped her to the ground. The response of yells was rather entertaining to the men.

"Okay, enough fooling around, looks like we've got a translator." I acknowledged the soldier carrying a large white ball. I took it from him and put it in front of our capture. It offered no recognition of the device, so I made puppet movements with my hands. It seemed to understand, because it started blabbering into it. I patted her on the head, and turned to the men.

"Well? Secure the place!" I motioned to the angry denizens of the city.

As the soldiers and mechs spread out, I went back over to the mute and asked, "You understand me yet?

She looked up at me, confused. "You... speak us?"

"No, that does," I pointed at the translator, "but it's clear it's not doing a good job. Tell it your life story, try to use varied words. I'm beginning to have some doubts about you and your language, it would be in your interest to work off of those; but I'll abandon them immediately and make sure nothing survives in this town if you give me reason."

The first exchange between our races was a threat that was probably lost in translation.

A soldier walked up to me from a street in the city holding a clipboard and said, "We're having a bit of trouble with some of the residents, no casualties on our side. There has been some uh... dispute about how much force should be used."

"Subdue them, keep them conscious, and show them one of our captures. Hit your hands threateningly and prepare your stun rod, that should send a clear message. If that doesn't work... well, betting to see how many plasma blasts something will survive is one of the most popular past times. Make sure the residents can participate." I responded.

"Yes, sir." He turned around and walked back to the street, where he was picked up by a mech

I switched to a direct link with the guys at HQ, "We need something to transport our prisoners. We've got three here that need moving, and they're not exactly small. Also, only one is awake."

"You-" They began.

"Thanks!" I switched back to broadcast.

I walked to the mute, "We're taking you and two of your friends to our base, depending on how popular they are."

"What?" She responded.

"You're popular with the things here; are any of your buddies here as popular as you?"

"The 'things' are my citizens. My sister may not be as popular, but she is more well known and loved than Cadence, or my student Twilight Sparkle."

"Yeah, you're going to have to specify who any of those fucking people are."

"The purple one is my sister, Luna, the dark one is Twilight, and the pink one is my student Cadence." She lied to me.

"You tripped over your lie. I think we'll just take all of you and beat anyone here who opposes us. We'll beat the truth out of you, and your friends as well."

The secure transport vehicle arrived through the pre-made clearing. It looked like a giant, white, reinforced box on wheels; about four meters tall and six wide. I walked over to the unconscious pile, which the men had been throwing together, and grabbed a certain three from it.

"Get on the thing or we'll make you." I kicked on the mech' s square door in the center.

        "What are-" it stood up.

        "It would make my men's day for you to make them, and ruin yours." I interrupted.

        It walked slowly onto the mobile box; I threw in its buddies after it. I tried to hit it with the bodies, and, from the grunt and thunk, I think I succeeded.

        I hopped on top of Snake' s heaven, and told the driver to get out. When prompted with an unsatisfactory response, I politely and reasonably threw him out of the mech with a choice selection of words about his mother. He tried to rebuke, but I guess I had gained popularity, because a soldier pushed his face into the dirt with his heel.

       With the cockpit now vacant, I made myself comfortable. All mechs drive in a rather similar way, so I was confident in driving the glorified crate, despite never having done so before.

       Zitra was not happy. As the unofficial local organizer, she was charged with ensuring the safety of a bunch of new muted, and those around them.

       With two guys and a locked door.

       So basically, she was a scapegoat if anything bad happened.

       She respected the soldier for his bravery and command in dire times, but not his interrogation planning. Bring the most powerful mutes to their top-secret, undermanned outpost? That can't go wrong, let's do it!

       The unnatural lack of din in The Centre bugged her as she leaned back in her chair and sighed. At least he was doing better than any other leader had in the last 200 years.

       Except one.

       She shook her head to clear the thought, and put a call through comm, "How much longer?"

       "Couple of minutes. Is your security force ready?" Somebody responded.

       "'Security force'? I don't have any fucking thing. I've tried to prepare a couple of idiots for this specific task, though. Mostly a formality, because fuck you, but they're there." She responded concisely.

       "Supposedly they were easily subdued-" They began.

       "Yeah, they fell asleep halfway through our first simulation."

       "No, they-"

       "Page me when they get here." Zitra hung up on the comm guy.

        She began leaning in her chair again when she heard a door about 25 meters away open, and somebody walk through it. "I'm right here, you git! You can't just hang up on me!" The comm guy shouted.

        Zitra got up and walked up to him. She pushed him back through the door and locked it.

        She walked back to her chair, and got back to being annoyed. There wasn't even a real leader, just that military guy, and a junta is not what they need...

        I hopped out of the hollow rectangle, and opened the door into it. This was not a popular move in the garage lacking any readily armed soldiers of merit.

       Very bad for their pants,I assume, but I didn't bother wasting time reassuring them.

       I walked into the mech, grabbed the pile, and called for the conscious one to follow. I calmly walked through the exit, and headed for the predetermined interrogation room/broom closet.

      Two minutes later, I was pressing a button to open an armored make-out room with one hand, and tossing in a pile with the other. I didn't need to indicate that that was where It needed to be.

      I closed the door behind It, and heard a- not an exotic, but accented female voice behind me, "If you go in there, only three people will be there to help you out."

      I turned around and put my hand on her shoulder, "I have the utmost confidence in my ability."

      I walked into the room.