//------------------------------// // -50- // Story: Coarse Diamonds // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// “Well this isn’t nearly as bad as Ewesen, at least I don’t have to go out in that mess.” One of the things Rarity hoped would happen would be a victory for the side of keeping her alive, she was pretty sure the nobles would agree with her on that much. She watched as another explosion shook the early morning sky where the sun had yet to rise. “Yeah, but those P-wings are taking a heavy beating out there and I don’t think our side is winning at the moment.” From the ballroom Greta could see the machines towering and slowly taking steps forward while launching the Flak Missiles anytime a fighter flew into range. “Even if they are still taking hits from all those rocket launchers those large machines have yet to lose their shields, but when they do they’ll be pretty easy to take down. From what I gather they are built a bit top heavy with those shield generators on their backs; if they fall then they are certainly not getting back up. If they combined their firepower to a single point to knock them over, the guard might be able to keep them down.” “We should tell the princesses that… or maybe Queen Chrysalis as at least she’s still capable of communicating with her people and able to get the word out.” One of the bat ponies otherwise known as Luna’s Thestrals guarding the gala party flew off to do just that. “Do you think Opal is taking this well?” There was a lack of response to Rarity’s question from Greta. “Honestly, not really. She might send Gilda to help us.” Drinking some punch Greta acted as if they were talking about the weather. “If Gilda has finished whatever it is she was working on it will be useful.” - “I could remote pilot the Caravel Boutique, but Rarity would get mad at me for getting it destroyed or scratched. She worked really hard to buy it.” Opal was still on the fence about whether to send the Caravel Boutique down there. “Rarity did not appreciate being a waitress and I don’t think Gilda or Greta would appreciate having to build a way back up here. Besides Gilda is already down there and made it through the flak missiles already.” “I’m sure they’ll be okay Opal, I mean they are with the princesses and I hear the captain of the guard is a barrier expert.” Trapeze was willing to say that things would be okay, mostly because she figured out that Opal was a rather unusual being and needed a lot of reassurance. Especially after hearing what happened to the mare sleeping in medical possibly being her fault. “They have enough magic there to protect a bunch of ponies.” “Boss lady be fine, Rover thinks boss lady is tough!” The Diamond Dog was learning new tricks and that was something, Trapeze had the patience of a saint. Bernard was less saintly given he could stare Rover into the ground, the dog winced but still asked. “Now how does Rover juggle five balls again?” The Shining Jewels exercise room was being occupied by every active crew member not involved in what was happening on the planet. They were all just waiting for some good news about the survival of their other crew members. Vera couldn’t be by Sassy’s side forever and needed more social interaction than just Opal, also food, sleep and in general exercise. If she wanted everyone else onboard to hold up to a certain standard, then she had to hold herself to said standard too. - Some pony already figured out what Greta had and it was Mare-Do-Well, who wasn’t about to get shot at by the thugs staying around the feet of the machine she was closest to. She had some laundry cord and needed help to get it around the large machines legs; even then she wasn’t sure if that would work. She heard somebody land next to her and prepared for a fight, but stopped when she saw it Daring Do looking at her. “You look like you have an idea, need some help?” Daring hadn’t skipped town, because there was danger and action to be found. Plus her next book was going to be very interesting, the costumed vigilante nodded as there were no hard feelings as to what happened the other night. The two set off to planning how to bring at least one of these things down together. Which obviously would mean taking care of their supporting Hands of Midas infantry, these two were good at fighting and could do at least that much. If they could take down one of these things the situation might not look so bad with something that was heavily shielded as these things were. This brought up the question as to whether or not the cord was strong enough to not immediately be destroyed by the shields of the Colossus and hold together long enough to even trip it. The magic shield protected against all forms of magic, but the regular shield only protected against projectiles, explosions and objects moving above a certain speed. Mare-Do-Well would distract the Hands of Midas goons while Daring Do tried to trip up the Colossus they were near. The cord managed to wrap around it, but it didn’t hold and snapped from the movement of the legs. Both Mare-Do-Well and Daring Do retreated while being shot at to look for something a little bit stronger, they had just proved that if they got a strong enough wire that it could possibly trip one up. - “Shining, Cadence, power the barrier, Chrysalis please tell me you have something going on out there?” Sure Celestia might have gotten bit violent with her, but Chrysalis was up and standing like it never happened. Having fur covered chitin and a light weight skeleton with an absurdly high tensile strength certainly prevented Chrysalis from being seriously injured, didn’t mean she couldn’t be hurt and regular Changelings didn’t have nearly the same sturdy biological construction of a queens body. “Working on it, you have no idea how hard it is to coordinate your forces, my forces and Luna’s forces by myself.” With her eyes closed Chrysalis was sending messages around the city through her changelings, there were so many orders to give and it was actually challenging her. She was so glad she had her people stockpile explosives, now if only she had stockpiled something that could rip through energy shields or even just knock those top heavy things down. Discord was free and seen teleporting about toying with Hands of Midas infantry. Thanks to the combined efforts of the defenders of Canterlot, they were now taking down the infantry quickly even if they had yet to take down a single Colossus. “It’s actually a bit of a challenge for my coordination skills. Looking left, blue, porpoise and upside down is a bit of a headache though.” Whoever planned this attack had a pretty good idea of what they were dealing with. They had kept Changelings from infiltrating them, but they didn’t stop Changelings from being useful now. Among the things they had prepared for the communications blackout could have been worse for Luna and Celestia, which explained why they wanted to take Chrysalis out by attacking her at the gala among trying to possibly achieve other agendas. It could have been worse had Chrysalis not been relaying information around through Changelings as a communications conduit for all of it, she was rather immobile while she was giving rapid fire orders to every single Changeling out there. They had certainly prepared for Discord, which was saying something about their preparations. Only the colossal machines were immune to Discord and those were the main threat here as they were putting up a major offensive against everything that attacked them. Whoever was the mastermind behind this was doing pretty well at putting the fear of themselves into everyone in the room by how well they planned this, so simply put Chrysalis was a little jealous that it wasn’t her causing said fear. “Can anyone think of a way through those shields?” Switching the tactics of her people she decided that the infantry were to be dealt with immediately before they can even begin dealing with the Colossus problem, she was giving orders to all Changelings to go for the unshielded people and to throw dirt in their eyes if they felt like it. “Our guys are having a lot of trouble getting through them, even if there’s no trouble with hitting them. Ones already made it here and it’s about to hit the barrier, I suggest everyone who knows how should brace it.” Celestia, Luna, along with their recently arrived niece Cadence and captain of the guard Shining Armor all lit their horns in unison as a giant palm pointed towards the barrier and let loose a beam of raw energy into it. The barrier held, but it probably wouldn’t hold under a concerted effort of three or more humanoid machines and it wouldn’t be long before a second and third started attacking the barrier around Canterlot Castle. In the corner away from everyone else was Twilight covering her head with her hooves and whimpering about her sudden ascension to princess, she was missing the battle that had begun around her. Right next to her were Spike and Moon Dancer trying to speak calming words. “Luna please stay here to watch the barrier, I’ll go get the elements of harmony!” Celestia left flying for the vault where she stashed the six elements that three ponies held, even if they couldn’t be used offensively to stop the colossal incursion then they would use them defensively. Twilight just became an Alicorn; as such Celestia wouldn’t risk losing her now on what was supposed to be a joyous occasion. - “Entering combat area, Lightning wake up and get ready to start shooting. Fire when you think you have a good shot, because I’m going to be driving like a maniac and hope we don’t get hit when you do.” It also just occurred to Gilda that they might be shot at by friendly people if they didn’t make their presence known as helpful against the colossal machine. “Be aware that we might have friendly targets in the area that could accidentally mistake us for hostile.” “Stop worrying Big G, I’m not going to hit any civilians… though I might shoot at a Wonder Bolt on the principle of the matter.” Not that Lightning Dust would ever intentionally hit them, well not at the moment anyway. There was no mistake Lightning was quite hostile, but it did feel good to be the brains behind a gun again. “Alright let’s get this penguin rolling, one of those things is already attacking the castle and our paycheck is in there!” “It hasn’t noticed us yet. I sometimes wonder why the ponies can’t get funding for their military to have a heavy weapons division.” Gilda put her talons on the controls and tightened her grip, she then place right lions paw over the accelerator. “Then I realize how little they needed them up to this point, let’s knock this guy down.” - Rarity and Greta were within the barrier, but were just outside the gala room watching the large machine attack. It wasn’t like there were any better places they could go or be, given that going deeper in the castle meant that it could be collapsed on top of them if the barrier faltered anyway. They watched as the machine twisted its upper torso to the left before quickly turning to the right and thrusting out its left fist, the barrier was struck forcefully. It knocked the machine off balance when the barrier successfully held up to the impact its upper torso leaned backwards moderately. At that moment a ball of vibrant blue energy dropped into its chest and exploded violently causing its shields to fail for a second where a smaller sphere of energy followed that and ripped into it. It was knocked further backwards and started teetering a bit; the small shot almost toppled it. A rocket was fired by a Royal Guard from the castles roof and that was what finished the now falling machine that toppled over. The machine slammed into the ground violently and its shoulders ruptured setting off the explosive held in them blowing off both its arms and its legs were bent entirely out of shape. Its legs became rather twisted; the resulting wreckage looked like a pretzel put through a wood chipper. “Where did that shot come from?” Looking about Rarity didn’t see any weapons that could create an energy blast that powerful. In fact the P-wings were doing the most damage despite being shot down near constantly. P-wings or Pegasus designed fighters were made to be used by any race of pony; they looked like P’s from the side and were dart like fighters that moved through the air swiftly while in atmospheric conditions thanks rounded wings at the back. They lacked proper shielding, but made up for it in maneuverability that led them to being excellent interceptor class fighters which meant they were exceptionally good against other fighters. They clearly weren’t made to fight giant robots, though they could be armed with heavier munitions in a pinch. “That looked like… I guess Gilda is here. What did she make though? She sent me some schematics earlier, but I didn’t think she could build it that quickly! Unless she was in the middle of working on it when she sent me the data she wanted me to look at.” Taking to the air and flying high enough under the barrier to get a good look at what had shot the machine; she saw it and landed next to Rarity pointing straight for it as it drove around. “There it is Rarity; I think that’s what Gilda has been working on… and by the looks of it she had been at it all week.” “She built a tank… in less than a week… she built a tank! When are we ever going to need a tank? Well I mean aside from now that is, I mean really now… a tank!?” The tank Rarity had pointed out to her had a wingless griffon style motif going for it, looked like to be part armored personnel carrier. “What reason could she have had to even see a need to build something like this?” “I wouldn’t know the reason, as I actually expected her to build a walker, it does seem pretty fitting for Gilda. It looks like it has variable capability, though the fuel consumption for that thing must suck. I hope she wasn’t stupid enough to make the variables capable of making a conversion from fuel to energy with them.” Greta watched as the tank fired a moderate size ball of energy and it blew a hole in the downed machine sending parts of it scattering everywhere. Her eyes narrowed at the tank after watching it fire, anyone who saw what she had would know the tank had a problem. “That idiot, how could she get the wires crossed on the tank and not know what the problem is to fix it!” “What’s the matter Greta dear? The tank looks perfectly capable, well in as far as it’s not an equestrian party tank and thank goodness that it is not.” Why Rarity would practically cringe if Gilda built a party tank, party tanks existed in Equestria and they weren’t useful for combat aside from having a thick shell. It was an unfortunate problem that Equestria doesn’t have an armored division, but Rarity certainly did as of right now even if it was relegated to one tank. That was more than Celestia or Luna could say they’ve ever had, then again they were about air superiority. The Bombing Peregrine had one large energy cannon on it and two small turrets at the side. The most interesting feature was how fast it was moving despite its size. It was four wheeled and those wheels were as armored as the rest of the tank, covered protectively with what looked to be stylized griffon talons and lion paws at the front and back. It rolled up to the castle and came to a stop outside the barrier. “Hey boss lady you still in there, the Kitten is flipping out up there and worried about you. You’d think she’d be more worried about me making an orbital drop in a tank.” The tank couldn’t move closer, but Gilda’s voice was heard clearly and she sounded oddly jealous of the attention Rarity received from Opal. “Oh and Greta, if you’re here and can hear this… I actually managed to land this thing perfectly. You know that’s a first for me, I must be getting better!” “Who are you and to whom is this boss lady you speak of? Identify yourself!” If Luna could speak louder she would, but she would rather not cause deafness in the ponies nearest to her as she walked out. Hearing this made Rarity and Greta go running towards her to prevent an incident. “This is Gilda G. Gottfrieda. Tell the princess to let us through if you’re in there Rarity.” The loudspeaker was a nice touch on the tank, even if it wasn’t very useful in space. She put a lot of time and effort into it, the cup holders were a bit excessive as was the water cooler that delivered fresh water via water condenser and the microwave could be run off the tanks energy source. Gilda went for convenience and had plenty of spare parts to add said conveniences, now if only she could install a small refrigerator she’d be in business for a comfortable combat machine. “Please let her through Princess Luna, she works for me though I’m particularly shocked at the moment by what she’s recently been up to.” Rarity came up to the gathered royals and Luna nodded, the barrier parted slightly creating a hole large enough for the tank to swiftly roll on through and up to them before closing up once more. “Nice to see you’re alright boss lady!” The tank with the griffon face design on the front swiftly spun around creating tracks wherever it moved and the rear end of the vehicle opened up by the vacuum sealed door unlocking and dropping down to form a ramp. Gilda walked down the ramp a second later with an amused smirk. “So, how do you like The Bombing Peregrine?” “Still think it’s more of a Plucky Penguin.” Lightning could be faintly heard mumbling from inside the tank and moving the turret to track the distant Colossuses closing in. “She’s beautiful for the most part, but the part where the shields drop when you fire the main gun is kind of a huge sticking point and a design flaw.” Tanks were not a specialty of Greta’s, but they weren’t Gilda’s either and she built a working one with a chargeable energy cannon that was obviously quite powerful. However shooting said cannon dropped the shields immediately upon every single shot it fired, whether it was a charged up shot or not. “Also please tell me you can’t switch the variables over to energy propulsion because that would be plainly idiotic on top of the shielding system you have going on right now. Not to mention there would be other problems with using energy based propulsion systems on a tank that is not necessarily made for aerial maneuvers is also bad. The fact that you’ve even managed to land this thing is a miracle, I will however say that I missed you Gilda.” “I can’t say I share the same sentiment, but I can see where you’re coming from Greta. There’s a reason I haven’t removed the design flaw yet and I don’t think we have the time to do so at the moment or explain why the flaw even exists in the first place.” She looked into the city and saw the nine machines still slowly plodding along through the city and two were getting closer by the minute. “You know, since we’ve got more pressing matters and my tank seems to be the only thing that can put a hole in their shields, even if temporarily at that with a full charge. I suggest we discuss this matter later.” “Yes, let us focus more on the more danger at hoof!” Interjected a slightly annoyed Luna, what was annoying her was that she didn’t get a chance to finish ironing her towels so she could use them and she was stuck defending the castle until Celestia got back with the elements. “Danger that requires the power of rubber ducks and towels to defeat, that is the true weakness of giant robots! We would use banana peels, but Celestia says that I am still not allowed to eat bananas after what happened last time a thousand years ago. That was the night I became Nightmare Moon… I really shouldn’t have eaten that entire bushel in one go.” “Hold that thought for one second if you will you Princess Luna… YOU BUILT A TANK IN LESS THAN A WEEK!” Rarity’s eruption caused everyone to slowly reel back. Whether it was in shock from the news that Gilda had apparently built the tank in less than a week or that Rarity was telling Luna to ignore the dangerous machines still making their way towards the castle. There were still nine of them standing after all. “Yes, built, tested and… well haven’t actually entirely put it through its paces yet, but at least the cannon didn’t violently explode when it was fired so that’s good. We are going to do the paces now after having survived a rather hectic orbital drop. Those eight flak missiles were more than I ever wanted shot at me for one lifetime.” The bland tone Gilda used became a bit sardonic. Flak missiles were even more dangerous in space because the explosives they released were harder to dodge. “So if you could speed it up on what you want and stop freaking out over the tank, I would like to get to business and get out there to blow the other nine threats apart. Maybe convince the princess to have us seen as allies and not be shot at by the people we’re trying to help?” “Yes, well, it is just simply amazing what you do with your time darling. What’s your secret?” Rarity didn’t think she could be more impressed given the tank was aesthetically pleasing as it was functional in its powerful energy cannon that wasn’t very long. “Coffee, lot’s of it. Oh and sleep deprivation, can’t forget that. Now if you will excuse me, can you tell your people to not shoot at us while we’re helping them? Good thanks!” Gilda didn’t even wait for a reply and ran off back into the tank and barely closed up the rear ramp before driving off towards the barrier at full speed. Luna shook her head and turned back to the castle to tell Chrysalis that they had the assistance of the Shining Jewel estate; the tank was going to be pretty helpful. In the distance the seventh Colossus toppled into the streets of Canterlot and exploded. - “Yeah, we did it, we got one!” It was rather incredible, the fire haired Spitfire Flare was joyous in the victory over at least one of those things. After summarily having her P-wing shot out from under her, she found two noted heroes and took to working with them in bringing at least one Colossus down. It was a rough effort of three mares distracting the machine from catching them in its hands or being shot by blasts of powerful energy from said hands. Mare-Do-Well looked at the wired that was melted by the explosion and shook her head, now they needed to get another one before they could go after another giant and that was a big problem. “Don’t celebrate yet, even Mare-Do-Well can see we just lost the wire we used to just bring down one of them. We need more!” A nearby building was destroyed and as one of the robots smashed it out of the way, Daring Do didn’t like the damage being done to the city nor did she like the fact that civilians were still trying to get to shelter. “Right, Changeling, we need a Changeling here, we have information to relay to all other units in combat!” Even having been forced to eject Spitfire didn’t cower or quite even in insurmountable odds. “Here… over here, help me!” A voice shouted out from among the rubble immediately. They found a Changeling with one wing missing and his body shot to hell and full of holes, well more holes than an average Changeling tended to have and those orifices weren’t usually used for recreational purposes. Half of one of his rear legs was missing, likely vaporized by a Colossus’s palm blaster, but he was still alive and had been brought down after being shot multiple times. “You’re going to be a hero, what’s your name soldier?” Spitfire started to pull back the rubble and was quickly aided by Mare-Do-Well and Daring Do. The Changeling was found lying near a lot of dead bodies of various races, he had apparently survived this long even if he was slowly losing the light in his eyes. “Private Privates… Captain Spitfire.” Private Privates wasn’t even the worst Changeling name Spitfire had ever heard. “Am I… going to make it ma’am?” “You have three heroes with you, what do you think solder?!” The livid Spitfire got into his face to declare proudly and boastfully. This Changeling certainly gave a part of one of his limb for the cause; she was going to go to hell and back to stop his life from meeting the same fate. She would exaggerate a little to give him the confidence needed to keep breathing. “Live or so help me I will become a necromancer and raise you from the dead to make your life a living nightmare you maggot, do you hear me?! Now listen to the message I want you to deliver!” “Yes ma’am… if I must say you sounded almost like the queen for a second there.” All Changelings knew of Chrysalis’s motivational speeches and seminars on how to torture someone in cruel and awesome ways, some light came back into his eyes as he was helped up. “She would have threatened to also use a blender on top of that ma’am!” - “Damn it all, how can we be losing? Someone get Discord collared again and stop them from taking out our support units, the mighty Hands of Midas will not go down without a fight!” The shadowy figure glared at all the peons running around and continued to push the Colossus to move forward faster, they might have had a few flaws but they were built to survive heavy punishment and they had just about effectively shot down ever P-wing Canterlot had. “We cannot falter now; we must show them how the hands of gold will touch them all! We must take down the corrupt nobles and we must take control of the princesses, the hands shall rule with an iron fists!” The colossus clenched its left fist before punch opening it and blasting several running earth ponies that dropped their rocket launchers to evade the deadly beam. The Hands of Midas were losing infantry fast and the shadowy figure wasn’t happy that things weren’t going entirely to plan given they figure that twenty four soldiers could have at least handled Chrysalis, but the ‘Colossuses of Roads’ were performing as expected and quite admirably at that only two had been taken down so far. The eight that were left were pulverizing builds and pushing through hundreds of explosions threatening to take them down. “Once this all over with, I can finally achieve my dreams.” The figure pushed forward, knowing that what they were doing was horrible. The figure made their ultimate decision to press forward in spite of an unsure future. “I know I might die today, but we can be together when you eventually die too… I’m sorry for all of this Bonny, but this needed to be done after what they did!” The Colossus continued marching forward under extreme amounts of fire causing a slew of death, pain and suffering. The reason behind the assault was still shrouded in shadows; there was a future that was looking entirely bleak for the leader piloting their own personal Colossus. The shadowy figure hoped to at least achieve the death of various certain parties and they were determined to continue the fight even if their machine went down, even if their body was broken by the end of it. The leader of the Hands of Midas would have their revenge!