//------------------------------// // III - Resist // Story: Half-Hoof: A Revolution // by Alfoals Trottenbauer //------------------------------// A knock boomed on the door they were behind. "Come on Ace, we gotta go." Rumble had a sort of urgency in his voice. They galloped to a drink machine, in which Rumble pressed a few buttons. "Why are we getting drinks?" Ace asked. The cover to the drink machine opened, a puff of steam escaping, the rest of the machine was hollow, acting as a doorway into a lab of sorts. They galloped in as the door shut, the sound of hoofsteps moved across the corridor to the right of the machine. "Ace! I thought you died at Black Forest!" A balding pony cantered over to them from behind a desk, the top covered with beakers and test tubes. "We should get you into the new HEMV model, my creation." He indicated toward a sort of small locker room, with the armor in a capsule, already open. Ace trotted over to the suit and put it on without asking questions. This time, the system didn't list it's readings in voice, instead, it made a ringing noise as the readings were listed on the suit's helmet itself. He trotted out of the capsule and followed the stallion to a sort of machine with a platform under it, the old stallion guided him to the machine. "This is my most recent model of the teleporter used by the Resistance, it should get you to Black Forest East, so we can get you to where the Resistance needs it most." He stated proudly. "Alright." Ace assured as he trotted onto the platform. "Did you happen to see Freemane on your way here?" He randomly asked. "Freemane?" Ace inquired. "Gordon Freemane, the One With the Free Mane?" He restated the question. "I remember seeing him at Black Forest, that's about it." He answered. The aged stallion pulled a lever, activating the teleporter. Rings spun around the machine, suddenly, he was in another part of City 27, in a cramped lab, he trotted off the platform, into a hall, papers and other trash littered the floors, He cantered out of the building. Outside, at least a hundred ponies were galloping around an open plaza of sorts, shooting at the police with gasmasks, some kind of giant spider the size of buildings crawled, firing a mounted gun below it's body. A rocket hit the spider, it made a moan-like screech as it fell. Out of nowhere, a bullet whizzed past Ace's ear. Ace galloped to a cop, wielding the rod he got off one of them with his horn. The cop shot a submachine gun at Ace, bullets denting the suit. Ace used all his strength on the blow, breaking the mask off the stallion's head, underneath was a bare skull, with wires sticking through it. Ace levitated the submachine gun, galloping over to a Resistance pony. "Ace Sparks? Glad to see you here." The mare greeted. A cop wearing a red uniform galloped over to them, wielding a shotgun. Ace aimed at the cop's snout, firing in short bursts. The policeman's shotgun flew out from his magic due to the speed at which he was galloping. Ace picked up the shotgun, stowing the submachine gun. A helicopter flew overhead. Another rocket took flight into the air, hitting the chopper. Suddenly, an otherworldly roaring sounded in the sky, a gigantic, whale-like creature with a giant rotor in it's back soared above. "We got a gunship!" A stallion called. "Get ready!" A different mare called. Shells started dotting the sky, falling through the air, some started crashing into the ground. "They're shelling us!" A stallion cried out, letting out a shout as one hit him. The shells didn't explode, however. They started opening, letting out a hiss of steam. Crab creatures started jumping out of them by the thousand. Red lasers beamed out of windows, striking a few more Resistance with sniper rounds. The mare Ace was next to started panicking. The shells kept falling, the whale ship roared, firing onto the remaining Resistance, the smart members started galloping for life into buildings, others stood and stared, and got killed quickly. Ace grabbed the adjacent mare and galloped to a building, seemingly an office. Inside was a rocket launcher next to a fallen Resistance pony. Ace picked up the rocket launcher. He started searching the body for ammo or anything that could help,finding some grenades. Ace galloped out of the building. He pulled the ring off of a grenade, flinging it at a large group of crabs. The blast flung the crabs, hitting a few others. He fired a rocket at the gunship, it making a screech as it crashed onto the plaza, crushing most of the crabs. A Resistance pony got up off the ground, a crab on it's head. It moaned as it got up next to the ship. It started to catch fire from the ship's blaze, screaming while shuffling toward Ace. Ace got close enough to hit it with the shotgun, it flew back from the shot. A red laser aimed at Ace's chest, Making a loud crash as the sniper took his shot. A large dent formed on the suit, almost penetrating the armor. Ace fired a rocket at the sniper, hitting the others around him, some fell out of the window, dropping their rifles. Ace galloped to a sniper rifle, picking it up. Resistance started flooding out of the buildings. "Wow, Ace, you're a real terror!" A pink-coated pony with a likewise mane exclaimed. "Totally awesome!" A blue Pegasus shouted. Ace said nothing, still terrified at what he had witnessed, tightly gripping his shotgun, looking around twitchy-eyed. "Not much of a talker, I see." The blue one observed.