//------------------------------// // Borderlands: Equestrian Frontier // Story: The Rejected Ideas Bin // by Darkened Paradise //------------------------------// Borderlands: The Equestrian Frontier “I wonder what exactly Princess Celestia wanted with us,” Twilight Sparkled asked aloud, as she and her six friends waited at the Ponyville Train Station. The violet mare sat as she pondered what her mentor wanted, what with a small triple red ribbon summons from her assistant Spike. “Got me,” Applejack said, keeping a look out for the train. “It's been pretty quiet, so it can' be anything too terrible.” “I guess,” Twilight muttered, still not convinced. “Oh come now darling,” Rarity said, sitting in her usual red velvet lounging couch, slightly fanning herself. “Think about it; there have been no reports of King Sombra's return, nothing about the Changelings, and thankfully no news about Discord relapsing! You really must relax.” “I gotta agree,” Rainbow Dash said, landing next to Twilight. “Just take it easy! What could possibly go wrong with a quick trip to Canterlot?” Nopony said anything. But Fluttershy did squeak. “Whelp, the trains here!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, her usual bounce missing from her step. As the six mares entered the train, Twilight still couldn't shake the disturbing feeling she was getting. =====*=====*===== The six mares sat in silence, no pony able to come up with a topic for conversation. Rarity had excused herself from the group, citing personal reasons. However, the still silence itself was deafening. “ARGH!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, jumping to her hooves. “Oh come on! Somepony say something!!!” “Hmm?” Twilight looked up from her book. “Whats wrong Dash?” Applejack asked, looking at her. “Its nothing! Its just that WHY ARE WE ALL BEING SO QUIET!?” Rainbow bellowed, hovering up a bit “Um,” Fluttershy stammered. “Maybe its because we have nothing to say...?” “Ugh!” Rainbow moaned, landing and falling to her stomach. “So bored...” “Right,” Applejack said, continuing to look out the window. After a few minutes, seeing nothing but a snowy pass as the train chugged on, “Hang on. We're headed to Canterlot, right?” “Yeah, why?” Twilight said, looking up again. “Whats wrong?” “Its just,” the Element of Truth said, pointing at the window. “We typically don't pass a snow pass, right? Or at least, not one this big?” “What?” Twilight said, pushing toward the window. “Wait, this isn't the way to Canterlot! Where are we headed!?” “And where's Rarity?” Pinkie asked, looking around. Shivering, Twilight put her book away and went ahead, saying, “C'mon girls. There's something very wrong here.” Darkened Paradise Presents... Nodding in silence, the remaining five members of the Elements of Harmony followed the Element of Magic, unsure and somewhat afraid of what was going on. As they walked through several train cars, they noticed that their beloved Friendship Express was becoming darker, bleaker and unsettling. A tale of Guns, Adventure, Friendship... “What is going on here?” Twilight muttered, scared and unsure what to do. “Hey, whats that?” Pinkie asked, pointing out to a large blue sign with Princess Celestia's smiling face that said, 'WELCOME MANE SIX!' “Wait, what?” Rainbow asked. “ 'Mane 6'? What the heck does that mean?” Fluttershy just shrugged her shoulders in response. “When have we have ever called ourselves the Mane 6?” Twilight wondered out loud. Before she could even get a response the whole train car went dark. A cold wind blew through every pony present, washing over their bodies and spreading a feeling of wrongness (for lack of a better term), a missing sense of inhibition, and a sudden impact of knowledge, before dissipating as the light to returned to them just a minute later. However, the sign before them had changed. Instead of its original message, it was now a blood red color and read, 'TO YOUR DOOM!' with a smaller message underneath it in parenthesis reading, 'Nothing Personal'. The image of a smiling Celestia was replaced with a more sinister looking grin, almost as if she was expecting this. Thats when the doors blew off, revealing the cold and icy wasteland around them. “What?” Twilight stammered, unable to comprehend everything. She looked down, noticing that her form and that of her friends had been adjusted slightly. “What?” “Twilight! Move!” At the very last second, Pinkie had grabbed her waist and pulled her down, narrowly avoiding a red laser that nearly cleaved their heads, fired from what looked like two yellow and white clumps of boxes with a shiny red stone near their center (although it was more slightly to the left). Fluttershy and Rainbow took advantage of the blown off doorways to jump out and reach the roof of the train as more burst in from behind them, while Applejack chose to say with her two other wingless friends, running up to the downed pair and standing over them. “What's going on!?” Twilight screamed, going into a fetal position, bringing her arms over her head, and tightly shutting her eyes. Without a word, Pinkie reached back for her saddle bag and pulled out a dark blue and pink ball, tossing it lightly on the roof of the car. As soon as it hit, the ball split apart, revealing a medium sized turret cannon, a red laser sight appearing on its head as it started to fire upon the non-organic creatures, tearing them apart with the sheer volume of led it was pumping out. Not even batting an eye, Pinkie reached into her saddle bag again, this time pulling out a smaller version of the cannon she was carrying previously, and mounted it on her shoulder before releasing a rocket from its colorful form. ...featuring Pinkamena Diane Pie, as The Commando... The rocket flew towards its true target, striking a nearby automation that was about to bring its foot down on Twilight's quivering form. As it hit, Applejack pulled her friend up to her feet and ran towards Pinkie, lightly pushing the frightened girl towards her. “Now I got no idea just what the heck is going on,” Applejack muttered, staring down at the other robot that somehow survived the rocket blast as it was getting ready to fire something from its shaky arm. “But I do have one thing to say to ya.” With a smirk, she raised her hand and snapped her fingers, her other hand pulling down her Stetson as a burst of light blue squares started to form in front of her, slowly coming together to reveal a hulking metal goliath that seemed to just hover in the air in front of the blonde. “Let the Anarchy begin! Get 'im Deathtrap!” ...Applejack Smith, as The Mechromancer... “Twilight!” Pinkie yelled, shaking her friend. “Snap out of it! We need your help right now!” “But this is insane! Nothing here is making any sense!” Twilight yelled back. “You can care about that later!” the pinkette insisted, moving her friend's body around to show Applejack and her own little friend getting beaten around by more of the yellow and white things that had shown up. Before Twilight could say anything, Pinkie got on one knee and fired again, throwing away the over-sized launcher and snagging a smaller firearm from the robot's smoking remains. “I,” the violet haired girl stammered, watching as her two friends tried to take out the last automation, but struggling as it absorbed a lot of punishment. She was knocked out of her reverie when she both heard and saw Applejack get hit hard in the gut by the robot's extending arms, blowing through Deathtrap just to get to her. Just as Applejack went down, Twilight suddenly blinked in front of her, extending an arm as her horn glowed, coating her outstretched arm in a swirling runic design that formed a ball on her palm. “BEGONE!” she yelled, as black light surrounded the last yellow and white box creature and encased it, crushing it completely before chucking it outside the ruined Friendship Express. ...Twilight Sparkle, as The Siren... “Hey guys!” Rainbow Dash cried, flying back in, worried. “You girls alright!?” “Never better Rainbow,” Applejack grunted, breathing lightly and placing a tender hand over the area she was punched. “Dang that stung...” “More incoming! Heads up!” Pinkie yelled, aiming at the banging metal of the car door. Twilight took the blonde's other arm over her shoulder and hobbled to a nearby seat, catching a pistol Pinkie tossed at her and taking aim. Reacting quickly, Rainbow grabbed two rifles from the mechanical remains of the former robots and hoisted them under her shoulders, getting a quick feel for their weight. As the back door was blown apart, the prismatic-haired girl let out a battle cry thrusts the guns across her chest and squeezed both triggers, holding her ground as a torrent of hot lead came flying out of their smoking tips. “GET SOME!” she yelled, laughing manically as she held the triggers down, quickly downing her prey. Rushing into forward, despite her friends' cries, she slid on her knees, leaning back to just narrowly avoid hitting her chin on their metallic crotch areas before back-flipping to her feet and unloading more bullets into their backs. ...Rainbow Dash, as The Gunzerker... Above them all and alone on the roof of the train, Fluttershy landed on the car's top, sighing as the cold wind blew her pink mane over her face. Grabbing onto a small piece of cloth, she tied it over her eyes as she her ears perked up at the sound of similar yet different creatures pursuing her. “THERE SHE IS!” one of them cried, clearly male and overweight, if the breathlessness of his voice was anything to go by. “KILL HER!” His companions, perhaps a little more stupid than his fellow would-be assassin, obliged, rushing forward with a mechanical yellow and white over-suit as their only way of defending themselves from the harsh elements. Those poor, poor deluded fools. As the closest one rushed her, his fists ready and expecting to blow a hole through her chest, Fluttershy turned around, causing him to hesitate for one second. One second was all she needed. In a flash of pink flower petals, the Fluttershy disappeared, leaving her would-be assailants to look around, confused and uncertain. In another burst of flower petals, Fluttershy reappeared, a sharpened piece of shrapnel glowing dangerously in her hand. With one quick thrust, she rammed it through her first assailant, and as he gurgled out a cry for help, she jumped over them, twisting and turning her body so that her back feet could easily buck the second into the blade with him. Seeing their first two companions go down, the remaining two charged with reckless abandon, swinging their robotic fists. With a yell of aggravation, they both punched, expecting for their fists to make contact. Instead, their forward momentum just carried through what they felt was just open air. Turning around, the two felt cold wet steel slicing their jugulars as Fluttershy reappeared in front of them, holding two rusty scrap daggers across her chest. They screamed bloody murder as their necks exploded. ...and Fluttershy, as The Bee, in... Back inside the train, Pinkie, Applejack, Twilight and Rainbow made their way to the front car, shooting at anything that tried to shoot at them first. As they reached the final door, Pinkie held up her hand, as Fluttershy came through an open hatch, landing right behind them. Nodding, she asked, “We all ready to go?” “Ready as I'll ever be,” Applejack said, her breathing still a bit labored from the blow. “Oh will you just open the damn door already!?” Rainbow demanded with an aggravated huff. “On my mark,” Pinkie said, readying her gun. “On three!” “One...!” Twilight held Applejack close to her, putting her body in front of the blonde's and readying her magic. “Two...!” Rainbow tossed her guns aside and picked up a new pair, an assault rifle and a carbine, and smirked as she took aim. Fluttershy merely sighed as she readied her rusty daggers, spinning them in her hooves after tightening her blindfold. “THREE!” Pinkie pivoted on her foot, kicking down the door. Pinkie rushed in, followed by Rainbow. Twilight and Applejack hobbled in, with Fluttershy taking up the rear. The sight before them made them freeze in their tracks. The room had a plush red velvet carpet, lined up with rows upon rows of haphazardly placed bundles of explosives. A single throne like spinning chair was in the center, and in it sat an ugly robotic mannequin of their Princess Celestia. With its metal wiring hanging out of its mouth and her joints clearly unfinished, the chair spun, revealing that even the mannequin was filled to the brim with TNT. “You know, I find it rather adorable that you believe yourselves to be the heroes of this little adventure,” came a garbled recording of the Princess' voice. “I personally find it rather cute and endearing to be honest, but unfortunately for you, you're not.” “What the heck is that supposed to mean!?” Rainbow yelled, pointing both of her guns at the doll. “Welcome to Pandora, Mane 6!” the recording answered. “Enjoy your stay in hell!” Everything around them exploded. ...Borderlands: The Equestrian Frontier!