//------------------------------// // Boss Battle! Climate Clash: Twilight vs. Raider Phase 1 // Story: Magic Gear Solid: Broken Balance // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// "Twilight! Calm down!", Octavia said into her ear. Twilight was pressed herself against the wall as she stared at the corpse of the pegasi on the floor. Tears streamed down her face, her chest felt like there were hot coals in it and her breathing became rapid as panic took over. Her head hurt, her face hurt, she was confused. This was the first time she'd ever witnessed death. "He's... he's dead! He's dead!", her frightened voice shook violently between breaths as she spoke into the communicator. She tried to think quickly, she had to get away. She wanted to run, wanted to hide. The adrenaline had been keeping Twilight together but alone, in the dark and afraid for her life it ebbed away into nothing. "Twilight, listen to me. You need to relax. He's dead, you can't help him now. But more will join him if you lose it now.", Vinyl said. Her words were stern but offered little comfort. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Twilight's logical self agreed and fought to press on but this part of her was under the pressure of a tidal wave of fear that threatened to consume her every impulse. She stood there, paralyzed, hypyerventilating and sobbing. "Think of your friends Twilight. They need you right now, Equestria needs you to be strong right now.", Vinyl continued. Twilight swallowed hard and lowered her hooves onto the ground. She took several deep breaths, her hooves shook. "We're right here with you Twilight. It's going to be okay.", Octavia said. What she wouldn't have given to have her friends, even one of her friends with her right now. She took one final deep breath and approached the door. It was locked. She looked over at the terminal, covered in blood. The stallion who'd died standing there must've been trying to get the door open when he... when he'd been stabbed by something. Twilight pressed a green button splattered with blood on the terminal and the door opened. Sparing one last glance at the victim, she walked on. "You okay now Twilight?", Octavia asked. "Yeah... I'm okay.", she said. She tried to quickly forget about the incident behind her. She stepped through the doorway into the reactor control room, a small suite overlooking the reactor. Instrument panels lined the wall in front of her and provided the only light in the room itself. A low, droning hum filled the air as she looked around. Above the panels, windows provided a view of the reactor beyond. The reactor itself glowed a faint, eerie blue against the darkness of the large room beyond the windows. "Spitfire? Anypony here?" Twilight called out into the darkness. No answer. Her heart still raced and her hooves were cold as ice. She wanted more than anything else to turn around and run in the opposite direction but still she pressed on. Taking another deep breath, she opened the control room's door into the main reactor and stepped into the room itself. A catwalk ran across the peremiter of the room. There weren't any railings to hold onto. Twilight guessed it had been designed for pegasi so they could fly around easier. Staying close to the wall, she stepped out onto the catwalk. The pipes that she'd followed to get there still traced the wall so she continued to follow them. They lead her around the corner to the opposite side of the room. A ramp lead down to reactor. Carefully, she approached the large glowing cylinder in the room. The Tri-Tesla Reactor looked like a large, grey pineapple in the center of the room with several thick blue rings around its body. The hum grew louder as she got closer to the reactor. As she finally reached the end of the ramp, her horn finally illuminated the floor though she wished it hadn't. Two more dead pegasi were near the base of the ramp, their throats slashed. She closed her eyes hard and looked up and away from the bloody sight before her. Again, it was hard for her to just be there. "Is... is anypony here? Please..." Twilight cried out in a pained voice. "Twilight..." a voice answered weakly. It was Spitfire. Twilight ran around to the other side of the reactor, ignoring the ground at her hooves and hugging the reactor as she ran. Spitfire sat slumped in front of a terminal facing the reactor. Her Wonderbolt costume she wore was punctured in the side and a dark wet spot surrounded the hole. She winced as she saw Twilight. "Must look pretty bad huh?" Spitfire said as she clutched the wound in her side. Twilight didn't realize her expression was one of pure shock and horror. "What did this? What happened?" Twilight asked. "We don't have time. Soarin led it outside but it could come back." Spitfire said. "We have to get you help. We need to end the lockdown and get you out of here." Twilight said as she reached for the controls. Quickly she found the button to release the security features and pressed it. "NO! Don't touch that, if you do-" Spitfire called out but Twilight had already pressed the button. Lamps on the ceiling crackled on and illuminated the room. Twilight felt like she was going to throw up. Bodies of pegasi, maybe a dozen, surrounded them. Blood and feathers coated the floor. Spitfire closed her own eyes and slammed a hoof into the floor. Quickly, she tried scrambling to her feet. "Why did you do that?! We've got to reengage the lockdown and-" "We need to get you medical attention right now Spitfire." Twilight did her best to shut out everything that was around her and focus on Spitfire's wounds. She was also eager to get out herself and leave this place behind them. Above them, the lights crackled again and went out. "Power failure. I've been draining all the facility's electricity into the reactor to build up a charge. But I had to switch some back to security in case that-" a door on the ground floor opened right in front of them interrupting Spitfire. Two glowing magenta orbs pierced the darkness in front of them. "...in case it came back." Spitfire finished. Twilight's stomach knotted and did a backflip as she saw the two glowing spheres before them. "What is it?" she asked, her voice a fearful whisper. "Twilight, run." Spitfire told her. Twilight let fear take over and started running around the reactor again to the ramp. She had to take a few seconds to walk over a few of the pegasi bodies as she made it around the reactor. She was halfway around the reactor when a noise like a rocket filled the air. A blaze of light flew over her and landed on top of the ramp. Twilight made out what looked to be a body of a pegasus attatched to the two red orbs as the light from its back illuminated the darkness. The sound of metal pounding on metal echoed off the room's walls as the pegasus started walking down the ramp. Twilight turned and ran the other way. A piece of stell cut through the air as Twilight rounded the corner. It struck the wall in front of Twilight and made her stop in her tracks. What looked like a feather only longer, sharper and metallic jutted out of one of the pipes attatched to the wall. Twilight turned around as the two red orbs drew closer to her. Twilight had to duck underneath the metal feather in order to get by, she turned around to keep an eye on the attacker. She had to get past whatever this was and get up the ramp. Still, the strange metal pegasus came closer to her, the sound of its hooves clanked on the floor. Twilight thought fast. Using her magic, she ripped the pipe that had been punctured out of the wall as the pegasi walked past it. The end of the pipe smacked the pegasus in the head and sent it flying to the floor. It started to get up when Twilight ripped a section of the pipe out of the wall and threw it as hard as she could at the assailant. The creature recovered and used one of its wings to slice the pipe in half before it could strike. Twilight saw a flash of silver in the light and realized that the creature's wings were made of steel and sharpened like blades. Running out of options, Twilight used her magic to pull the metal feather out of pipe and levitated it before her. The creature came at her quickly with blades out, Twilight used her improvised weapon to block, shoving it between the blades of the attacker. She grunted as the creature bore down to break the metal feather, her magic straining. Twilight ripped another section of the piping out of the wall and bashed the pegasus with it while its wings were blocked. The sound of metal clanging against metal rang out as the pipe struck the pegasus' head. The creature didn't even flinch as the pipe hit it repeatedly. Twilight released the piece of metal temporarily and put even more power into the next blow. She brought the piece of piping right into the side of the pegasus' head with enough strength to lift it off the ground. It smacked into the side of the reactor and fell to the floor with a metal crash. The lights in the room flickered on again. "Most impressive Twilight Sparkle." a familiar voice said. Twilight recognized it immediately as the same voice that had come from the machine that had attacked them at the castle. Twilight looked around. Where was it coming from now? "I think a little more direct action is necessary." the voice came from the pegasus as it picked itself up off the floor. Twilight was shocked again as she looked at the creature that had attacked her. Its entire body was covered in a greyish-blue metal and its wings were tipped with blood. It shook its head as it stood. The sight of it was frightful but what shocked Twilight most was what was on top of its head, the tuft of a rainbow-colored mane. "Who... what are you?!" Twilight asked as she stepped back. "What's the matter Twilight? Surprised to see an old friend?" the voice said as it came closer. "Rai... Rainbow Dash?" Twilight gasped. "That name no longer exists. Meet the 'improved' pegasus, rebuilt from the ground up. Fast, deadly, effecient and loyal to me. Reinfroced armor, enhanced propulsion and advanced targeting and weapons systems make her far more lethal than the average pegasi. The first in a line of my personal soldiers, Raider is the perfect killing machine, perfect for tearing apart other worthless pegasi." the eyes of the creature narrowed as it walked towards Twilight. "You... what did you do to her? What did you make her do?!" Twilight demanded in horror and confusion. "Allow me to demonstrate." the voice said confidently. "Raider" unsheathed its wings and drew closer for an attack.