> Standby for ponyfall. > by That_Delusional_Pegasus > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The new recruit. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Late at night, I hide out in a sewer under smugglers cove. I'm searching stuff about the supposed, 'IMC' on my wristwatch. Wondering how I got that? A unicorn infused magic into a watch, giving it a hologram display and all the functions of a computer. Paid 50000 black market credits and a sniper IMC suit. I have my ways. I click the first page, and do my research. 'The IMC stands for Interstellar Manufacturing Company. Leaders consist of: Marked Graves, Sergeant Blisk, and the Spyglass advanced spectre unit. Originally Hammond Industries, a century of merging, corruption and power lead to their being ruthless men, who will use force, even if it's just to get a beer at the bar.' 'Well, they seem like jerks.' I think to myself. I close up my watch, and check the time. Will you look at that. It's three in the morning. Luckily, the bar gave me a day off, so tomorrow I'm just walking around the stands, maybe getting drunk. "Hey! Firelight Glow! You still awake down there?" I hear my best friend rattle the bars that separate me from smugglers cove. "What do you want, Wind? Don't try and sell me your autopistol again, you know that I can get one myself!" "Oh, okay. Wanna go to the bar?" "Why not. Let's go." So here I am, going to the bar at three in the morning. I pull out a pouch of credits, and throw five of them onto the bar counter. "I need a virgin mimosa!" I watch as a glass of orange juice slides into my hoof. I chug it in seven seconds, then let off a burp. A few ponies near me clapped, because, you know, burping in a bar is a reason to celebrate when you're drunk. I wasn't drunk. Still, I kinda ignored manners after I turned 19. I check my watch. It's 7:23 right now, and the sun is starting to rise. I'm starting to feel drowsy, so I head back home. Wind waves to me as I leave, and I almost crash into a wall on my way home. The bar manager walks up, and I tell him that I'm just tired. He looks sceptical, but he understands. I wake up in bed, and check my watch. 7:00 pm. I feel better, so I stand up and go to the mirror I snatched so I can rub off any grime on my face. I take a few moments to examine myself. My fire-red and orange mane and tail, smooth, but the ends are messy, and a orange-red coat. I stare into my eyes. Blue. The only part of my body that doesn't match my name. I turn away, and head towards my clothes pile. I slip into a nice IMC camo suit, without the logos. If anyone saw that in this place, they would kill me. I leave the helmet there, and step outside. Gunshots. I hear gunshots. "An IMC pilot! Get him!" I jump into the air, using my wings to propulse myself higher, and pull out a smart pistol I bought. As the last lock on confirms, I fire off three rounds. "Hey, you must be new! I didn't see you on the dropship!" I spin around and jump back to see a female unicorn IMC pilot. "Where are the logos on your suit?" I hesitate. "And doesn't that suit come with a mask?" Shoot. I think he might figure it out. Here goes nothing. "The mask is kinda stuffy, and all the logos tore off." I put on my most casual face, and wait. "You must be REALLY new, it's protocol to wear your mask, and ask for a new suit, it's protocol to have an IMC logo on you in battle. And nice shot earlier, for a beginner." Whoa. A female unicorn just complimented me. I blush, but luckily, my coat colour hides it. "And the helmet has a radio, put it on and tune in to the E7s4 frequency. That's the IMC channel. And just flick the switch on the side. It opens up vents all over the helmet." She runs off into the cove. I run back into my sewer hideout, and put on the helmet. I find the switch, and flick it. Everything is going well so far. I tune into the E7s4 frequency, and hear chatter about war. "All ponies, we have sustained critical damage. Get to the dropship. ETA five minutes.Marking extraction point on the map," Looks like I joined the IMC. This is mad. I don't know how to get a map, or anything with this helmet, so I take a wild guess. "Enable minimap." A small map appears in the upper left corner of the viewscreen of the helmet. Madness! I see a pistol I recognize as a B3 Wingpony. I don't have a sidearm, so I take it. "ETA 3 minutes!" Looks like I need to hurry. "Enable viewscreen waypoints." The dropship arrival point pops up on the screen. More madness. I begin to run to the extraction. And my wings help me replace what all pilots use. Jump kits. A few jumps, and I'm up on the streets. A huge metal pony turns and aims a giant gun at me. "Oh god..." I run across the streets as the metal pony chases after me. "ETA 30 seconds!" I look around, and don't see a ship. Good, can't get distracted for too long, or this giant thing might kill me. So far, all that's been getting me by is agility. I turn around, and everything seems to slow down as a spiral of rockets fire at me. I take a moment too long to make my move to jump through the rockets and look cool, and one sends me flying off, and I land somewhere. I get up, and almost fall from how hurt my side is. "Dropship has arrived! Leaving in 15 seconds!" I look at where the dropship is, then realize something. The blast threw me into the dropship. A Pegasus approaches me. "Wow, that was crazy, man. Here, take this, just for managing that stunt." He hands me a bag that has a light on it, and a detonator. "This is just a satchel. How is this detonator any good if there isn't an explosive?" "That satchel is the explosive." The unicorn from earlier jumps onto the dropship. "Good job, newbie. You got out of a fight alive." I look and see that everything seems to have a militia logo on it. I didn't recognize the logo, but it said militia, so yeah. The dropship door closes, and begins to rise. "What now?" The other two stay silent, and I feel my body start to stretch. Suddenly, I'm in space. "If you're using a smart pistol, kid, that means you can't aim. And when did you get a B3?" "I can aim, just choose not to. And I found my B3 on the ground." "Really, newbie? You choose not to? That's pathetic." The ship stays quiet. "By the way, newbie, what is your name? It's wierd calling you newbie." "Firelight." For the next few minutes, nobody says anything, then the intercom breaks the silence. "Docking on the IMS Colossus momentarily." The ship pulls into a hangar, and we jump out. "You there, red pegasus! Come here a second!" A light brown pony with a dark brown mane calls out to me. I walk over to the pony. "Sir?" I can tell he's a pony of authority. "We don't have records of a Pegasus like you on our team. As you've seemed to just randomly join the IMC, go down that hall there, and find yourself a room." I nod, and run off towards the hall he pointed out. I wander along, and I find a doorway that says 'empty'. I step in, and the panel switches to 'Firelight Glow'. The room has some IMC suits, a gun wall, and a bed. The gun wall only has five weapons right now. Under primary, R101c carbine, a Eva 8 Shotgun, and a smart pistol. Under secondary, there's an auto pistol. Under ordinance, (explosives) some frag grenades. I spot a small panel that contains a cloak kit. "This is nice. May as well settle down." I jump onto the bed, and fall asleep quickly. > Unexpected fighting strategies. > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Y'know, my life seems at least 20% better now that I've joined the IMC. Killing hostile ponies in an endless fight for victory is actually a bit addicting. I think I might be going insane. There's one way I know that can cure insanity: Genning. The IMC scientists say that when you Gen, you keep all your memories, but traits are wiped, and you become a completely new person. I think they'd let me Gen, but it's kinda scary, even for a battle-hardened psychopath. That's me. "All Gen 1 pilots report to the main hangar in 5 minutes. All Gen 1 pilots to the hangar in 5 minutes." Finally. They call upon me for a mission. I think they depend too much on those insanely cool and skilled people that have Genned a bunch. The hangar is pretty far away. I need to leave soon. First, I equip myself. Today's loadout: Primary: Longbow-DMR sniper rifle. Secondary: B3 Wingpony. Anti-Mech-pony: Charge beam. Bombs: Frag grenades. Ability: Cloak Today, I'm going stealth. I run out of my room, and dash for the hangar. "Pilots, today's mission will be difficult. The militia have put in Gen 3 pilots. Beware, as they are more skilled than you in almost every way." The officer glances at me, then my sniper. "So stay on guard, and, if anything, try and take them by surprise. Good luck out there." He nods towards the ship, and we all jump in. I raise my sniper rifle, testing out the scope. Seems a bit distorted, but I can make do. "Go go go!" The person piloting the ship orders us to drop into the battlefield. My hooves have touched the ground by the time he finishes his order. The first shot rings across the field. A body drops on to me, and I fall from the impact. I shove the corpse away, and take a good look at it. Shot down before he even touched the ground. That's sad. He was close to being able to Gen. I don't have any more time, so I cloak, and jump to a sniping point, as marked by something I bought in the IMC upgrade store. I see a militia below me. I aim, and the red dot practically sticks to the pilot. Two shots, and he's de-my scope was off, blame my scope, peace out. I duck down, and I watch the trails of several bullets as they shoot past where I was only moments ago. So much for stealth. I forgot the silencer in my room. I jump back up, popping the scope off my gun. It has iron sights that aren't very good, but I make do. I watch the militia as they drop dead on the rooftops. Four shots, two kills. Footsteps. I hear footsteps. My minimap doesn't show an IMC pilot, so... I jump up into the air, but not in time to dodge the knife thrown at my side. I pull out a frag, and throw it at my attacker. I know I got a kill, but only time will tell if I'm going to live. I fall for a while, but my jump kit stops any damage from falling. I pull the knife, now bloody, out of my side. It's a hunting knife, you know, with the jagged edges? One of those. Man, does it ever hurt. "FL is hurt! Get him an evacuation ship!" That's Questr, he's super paranoid about everything except his life. "Stop being paranoid, QR. I just need a bit." I inch into a building, where nobody seems to go, and wait for my side to stop hurting like hell. Not like anyone threw an arc mine at the entrances. I officially can't see, hurt like hell, and just want to go die. But no. I refuse to die. The arc mine wears off, and eventually, so does the pain. I'm up and running at near full efficiency in about twenty minutes after when I got hit with the knife. Battle hardened psychopath, right? "I can't believe you're already back up, FL." "I can't believe you're paranoid about if an enemy pilot is dead or not. Just shoot them!" "Can you guys stop? You're messing up my concentration!" Another pilot joins the chat. "You know what?" I say. "I'm gonna turn off my radio." I switch it off, and I just barely get a chance to hear QR saying, "But protocol..." Screw protocol. I decide to go close-range, after my knife incident, I decide to give them some of their own medicine. In about ten minutes, I tracked down 7 militia pilots, and they all died. I'm about to ambush the eighth. I drop down behind him, about to snap his neck, but he turns around and shoves me down. "You may be a good fighter, but your life ends now!" He pins me into a corner. "That's what they all say, sucker." I do a technique I learnt from a guy back a few years ago that can get you out of being pinned down, but it doesn't work. "I've been aware of your skills. I know counters. It's great that I can finally stop trying to kill you, and just do it." He raises a knife high above his head, and starts to swing it down towards my front left leg. "Not today." A feminine voice speaks from behind me, and as the knive wierdo's corpse falls on me, I see the face of the unicorn I met on my first day. "Aren't you gen 4? This is supposed to be a Gen 1 mission!" She pulls me up onto my hooves. " I figured I'd sneak in. I can't resist a good easy kill in the morning." "Your Pony-Mech is ready. Drop it down when you'd like." Right away, I send a signal for the Mech. I throw the knife-guy's body off me, and jump in my mech. "Welcome back, pilot." You were just made, mech. How can you welcome me back? Whatever. As run around the area for a bit and I look at the corpses of dead militia around me, a militia Titan attacks me. I dash to the side, and fire a missile barrage at him. He uses his vortex shield, and they blast back at me. They hit, dealing damage, but not before I fire off a few 40mm cannon shots. Suddenly, my OS detects an enemy pilot trying to shoot the main section. A bit of electric smoke and time finishes it off, and I'm guessing that that mech was his, because it collapsed and exploded. "All pilots, the militia have suffered major casualties, and they are trying to escape by dropship. I've marked their evacuation point on your map." Sounds like we won. I get out of my mech, and run to a vantage point above their evacuation point. Not like a militia pilot is already there. I get shoved down, but she doesn't kill me. "Listen, you. I've heard of you. I respect you. You are the one I look up to." She compares our loadouts, and they're the exact same. "Now just keep up with this war, and next time we meet, I won't be so friendly." I lay there, stunned, and watch as their dropship takes off. That pilot waves to me on their warp out, and in a few minutes, a dropship is here to pick us up too. > Attack on section R2 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Hi, Firelight!" That unicorn wanders up to me. "Are you going to Gen soon?" "Who knows? You need to have a lot of battle experience to Gen." We begin to wander through the corridors. As we turn a corner, I bump into her and it feels as though gravity just got inverted! A blaring alarm rings through the ship... And I wake up on the floor in my room. My sight is fuzzy, and I feel dizzy. I hear a voice over the intercom. "All pilots, please proceed to section R2, prepared for battle. Militia have warped into the ship. Repeat, report to section R2, prepared for battle. Militia have warped into the ship." Need to get there. Maybe what's her name will be there. I jump upright, and stagger over to the equipment rack. I pull a few weapons off the rack, and run out. Bumping into the wall beside the door first, though. Not on puropse. I begin to run/stumble to section R2. "Hey, Fire! We need-" "To get to section R2. Shut up, Questr, and please wait about five minutes before going any further." "Why?" Because I'm a Gen two, so I have authority over you." "Oh, yes sir!" I so fooled him there. I've never Genned. I start running towards section R2. I decide to challenge myself. I have five minutes, once I get there, to help the others kill the militia. I enter section R2. All the IMC are unleashing hell on the militia, but they have stronger weapons. A huge ship drops five Titans from its ill, and five more begin building. Looks like this will be harder than I thought. "Firelight! Run!" I look over to see that Gen 4 sniper pony about to be crushed by a mech hoof. "No!" I throw a satchel charge at the mech and blow the leg out. It falls onto the pony, but how broken it was allowed it to split in two upon touching the ground. The sniper nods and pulls out a Marksman Heavy Rocket. I pull out a charge rifle, and we both begin firing off rounds in random directions. I have four minutes. She jumps up to rodeo a mech, and I run towards a nearby blast door. It opens up briefly and I sneak inside. This is why I live. The blast door opens, revealing me in a badass GIANT pony-mech. I fire off rounds towards the mech ship, and it begins to burn. Turns out the gun was an oversized arc cannon, not my preference, but whatever. It's still on fire. The mech that has the Gen 4 on it somehow jumps up onto the super-mech back, and starts ripping out the systems. Three minutes. I deploy a whopping electric smoke. And the rodeo mech collapses to the ground. Three down, three to go, two and a half minutes. I dash over and begin bombing the little mechs with cluster missiles. The mech I'm in is so big that it has, like, ten of them compared to the original mechs. I watch with metaphorical popcorn in my mouth as all the tiny mechs begin to fall apart, and the pilots inside the mechs splatter. A glob of blood makes it up to the window I'm observing through. I can't see, but luckily they installed everything in this. A brief switch on and off of the window wipers did the trick. 30 seconds. I open an airlock, and throw everything in. 20 seconds. I close the airlock and depressurize the airlock. 10 seconds. I open the airlock and quickly return the giant mech to its spot. 2 seconds. I break through the glass and hop onto the ground below, entering section R2 again. That's when Questr runs in. "Where's the danger?!?!" He's all primed with about five guns, a bunch of bombs, and a nuclear core on a wagon. "Turns out some guy thought a militia guy warped in and killed a pony, observe the burn marks and blood, and set off the alarm." "So no need for five guns, about fifteen assorted bombs, and a nuclear core?" "No. How did you even get that core out of construction? That's supposed to be in a mech. "No worries." During the next mission: "Call in my mech, I need it!" "Got it, Questr." A mech majestically falls down onto the battlefield, and explodes from the impact on the ground. The mech is intact, but nonfunctional. As Questr inspects it further. He sees it. His mech was the mech that he stole the core from. "GOD DAMMIT KARMA!"