//------------------------------// // Desolate Land // Story: Tales of the Battle Foals // by Sirdubya //------------------------------// When tomorrow finally came, the Battle Foals and their new allies arose and Fire Fight cooked them all a hearty breakfast of mushroom omelettes and toasted wheat. Frostbite, of course, had some of his gems along with. Without much discussion, they wasted no time making their way towards the exit, ready for the perilous trek ahead. Frostbite moved the boulder out of the way, revealing the ice wall he’d created, which was surprisingly unscratched and unthawed even from all the time that had passed. Quantum Tech seemed to have made a valid point about dragon’s not being completely unrelated to magic. Frostbite then used his draconic strength to effortlessly punch out the ice wall, shattering it into thousands of pieces. “Don’t slip.” Frostbite said as he led his friends out into the desolate landscape. The sandstorm from yesterday had subsided, but the way the sunlight reflected off of the red sand and off the forest of mesas made it seem as though it was still blowing. The eerie howls of the dry winds could be heard echoing throughout the lifeless geography. “You remember exactly where this ‘city’ is, Frostbite?” Fire Fight asked. Frostbite nodded. “It’s pretty much straight ahead to the east of here. We’d have to be idiots to get lost.” “Just follow the rising sun.” Spiral Galaxy said. “Or my built-in compass.” Quantum said. “Let’s just be ready for whatever made that huge roar. I don’t want some sand monster to catch us off guard.” Tidal Wave said. “Shroud and I will feel it coming before it can even plan an ambush, then we’ll f*** it up six ways from Sunday.” Bullseye growled. “My thoughts exactly.” Shadow Shroud said. “Regardless, we should remain as cautious as we have been thus far.” Air Slash said. With everyone agreeing and without further delay, the Battle Foals ventured out into territory that was foreign to everyone alive, uncharted territory. They kept their senses on high alert for whatever made that guttural roar yesterday, and Quantum Tech had her scanners set into high gear, tuning them to detect anything that was of similar nature to the flying orb or the destroyed mechs. She was indeed getting a strong signal coming from straight out east as Frostbite said, but the readings she got made little sense. It all made her really wonder about the origin of these bizarre creations. As they hiked through the vast desert and through the towers of sandstone, the only thing breaking their silence was the howling wind….and Crazylocks buzzing around like a honey bee. The mesas had a somewhat imposing presence, as if they were silently observing who was probably the first company they received in Celestia-knows-how long. Every sand dune they had to climb made them apprehensive about what they’d discover over it, and they even had to shoo off a few bugs for the risk that they were venomous. Frostbite seemed to exude a cold aura that kept them all relatively cool in the heat, which wasn’t quite as intense as the one surrounding Dodge City, but it was still hot. Greensprout diligently watched everyone’s health. Midway into their hike, Turf War broke the silence. “Yo homegirl, you find anything else out ‘bout these weird-a** robots?” “First of all, mind your language!” Quantum scolded. “Second, I’m afraid that whatever these technological entities are, they were created by some means that I cannot comprehend. Whoever made them had higher level of understanding of science and access to materials I’ve never seen before. It’s difficult to discern what we might be up against.” “Doesn’t mean they can’t be destroyed. I mean, did you see Frostbite’s mess back in the mine? He sure made quick work of them. Who says we can’t?” Valkyrie said. “I highly doubt they’re all quite so fragile, Valkyrie. Where there are grunts, there are always higher ranked troops.” Shroud said. “How much of a fight did they put up with you, Frostbite?” Air Slash inquired. “Admittedly….pretty big. They were more coordinated than you guys, that’s for sure.” Frostbite said. “You had tough time with them on your own?” Kickback asked calmly. “Pfft! No! All I did was blow on them, and they dropped like flies!” Frostbite scoffed. “Ah thought when ya blew on somethin’, it just froze.” Kickback said. Frostbite rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Real funny, smart aleck.” He said. “Point is that I trashed them easily, but I had to get a little creative, ok?” “Message received…” Spiral muttered. “I mean Valkyrie still got a good point. These things ain’t invulnerable.” Turf War said. “It will simply be a matter of studying their weaknesses.” Greensprout said. “I ONCE HAD A WEAKNESS!! IT WAS JUNGLE HIP-HOP!!” Crazylocks blurted. “Err….. Me too…” Valkyrie mumbled. Crazylocks went about buzzing around again, largely ignoring her friends, which gave Valkyrie the opportunity to lean in and whisper. “Ok seriously, what happened to her?” “Tell me too.” Bullseye said. Fire Fight took a deep breath. “Prepare for some nightmare fuel.” He went into detail about their encounter Gene Splice minus the part where Shroud executed him, and how they were able to discern that Crazylocks was somehow a victim of his. He let Quantum Tech go into detail about how he must have tried to genetically engineer Crazylocks into an alicorn, resulting in her trimorphism and enhanced physical strength apart from her insanity. Frostbite listened in on their explanation, pretending to ignore them, but even he found himself a bit queasy at the thought of what she must have endured. “Holy s***….” Bullseye mumbled while Valkyrie shook her head in disbelief and her jaw hanging. “That’s…..wow. Poor filly.” Tidal Wave said. Bullseye looked up at Crazylocks as she fluttered about without a care in the world. How great would her trauma have had to have been if she so actively repressed her memories? There were times when she secretly wished that she could block out her memories of her parents abuse despite claiming that her anger was the source of her strength. In a strange way, she both envied Crazylocks and felt sorry for her. She gritted her teeth as a burning question loomed in her mind. “What happened to the douchebag scientist?” “W-Well….” Fire Fight was worried about what might happen if he told those who didn’t know yet. “It’s ok, Fire Fight. I shouldn’t be so ashamed anymore.” Shadow Shroud said. She took a deep breath. “As per my duty as a Shadewalker…..I ended his life.” “WHAT!?!” Greensprout exclaimed. “Air Slash, is that true!?” Air Slash sighed as he recalled that heavy moment. “I’m afraid so. I wanted to stop her, but…..we would have been fools to let him live. If only you could have seen him, then you might not be so flustered.” “I say serves him right! He better count whatever blessings he has left in hell that I wasn’t there!” Bullseye hissed. “I’m….just gonna stay outta pony affairs like this.” Valkyrie said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, Greensprout. I didn’t want you to think I was just some cold-blooded killer, or any of us for that matter.” Shroud said. “Yeah….We kinda wanted to forget about it anyway.” Fire Fight said. “Ugh! That day was the worst!” Spiral said. “Sure sounds like it was…” Tidal Wave commented. “Sister, I….” Greensprout felt confused. She trusted her friends to make the right decision, but she knew how delicate of a topic death was. Her experiences so far had hardened however, and she wasn’t quite as judgmental as she would have been. “As long as you felt that it was the absolute right choice….I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.” Hearing this from her made Air Slash smile. “Thank you, Greensprout. And you need not worry; my clan takes those kinds of matters very seriously.” Shroud said. “How much you wanna bet he had a second cousin twice removed, and that’s who’s making these robots?” Valkyrie joked. “Mm, Mm, Mm. That’d mean we’d have to come through and be like ‘how you doin’?’ right b’fore my hammer come out to say wassup and nail that b**** into the ground!” Turf War said. “AHEM!” Quantum said, glaring authoritatively at Turf War. Turf War winced. “Whoa!” “Regardless of who we face, they shall receive our fullest might nevertheless. They are clearly a threat that must be checked, and we shall be the ones to pass judgment.” Zebota said. Shrapnel suddenly perked up as he gazed at the top of a mesa towering right above them and started growling very aggressively, concerning everyone. “What’s his problem?” Frostbite asked. Zebota drew his boomerang as he followed his monster’s glare. “Up there!” Everyone else’s attention was turned upwards, and they were met with the sight of a large silhouette falling towards them! “OUTTA THE WAY, Y’ALL!” Kickback shouted. They all jumped out the path of the black mass that nearly crushed them. When they stood back up, they were met with the sight of something as enigmatic as it was terrifying. “” Before them was a gigantic lion-like beast that barely towered Shrapnel…..but it was mechanical! Its black and red armor made it clear that it came from the same assembly line as the foot soldiers that laid in heaps in Frostbite’s cave, and its artificial roar was recognized by all to be the very same they heard last night before retreating into the cave. Despite being an artificial intelligence, its piercing glare stared at them like a predator ready to strike its prey. Bullseye drew her bow and smiled wickedly. “Finally came out to play, huh? Good. ‘Cause we got a great game for ya. IT’S CALLED SENDING YOU CRYING INTO HELL!!!!!!” She fired an explosive arrow, but the beast swiped it out of the air, barely taking any damage. Bullseye’s rage only grew fiercer. “Ok, m***********!!” The beast narrowed its eyes just before electrifying its claws and slamming them down on the ground. “” The electric waves surged across the ground towards the foals, violently zapping them. Air Slash, however, managed to absorb some of the lighting with his swords, and he managed to gather enough strength to counter the mecha’s attack. The electric sword beams stunned the beast for a moment as it malfunctioned. Greensprout released a large heal pulse that jumpstarted everyone’s parameters. “EVERYPONY, STAY STRONG!!” she shouted. Shrapnel’s wooden body protected him from the electrical assault, and he charged the mechanical monster without needing word from his master. While it was stunned, Shrapnel crashed into it with all of his strength, throwing it to the ground. He clamped his jaws onto its right paw and managed to crush it, causing it to spark; he then ripped off some of the armor on its paw, but the beast quickly got up and body slammed Shrapnel right over the foals’ heads. “SHRAPNEL!!” Zebota exclaimed. He saw Greensprout running to his aid, so he turned his rage towards their opponent. “You will pay dearly for that!” “Don’t be so hasty, darling!” Quantum Tech called out. She ran some scans on the beast, but every indiscernible reading she got on the foot soldiers and the floating orb were present here. All she could discern was that its armor had been worn down a little, apparently by the local sandstorms as indications of abrasion suggested, hence why it was so easily ripped off by Shrapnel. All she could do was charge her railguns and blast it with her magic turrets. “Nrgh! Just attack it!” Fire Fight, Shadow Shroud, Air Slash, Crazylocks, Zebota, Bullseye, Tidal Wave and Frostbite came at it from all directions from the front. Turf War and Valkyrie hung in the back in case it jumped over the others so they could defend the backline, who was comprised of Quantum, Kickback, Spiral, and Greensprout who was still tending to Shrapnel. Kickback aimed for the small gaps between its armor in hopes that he could cripple it while Quantum put pressure on the machine as the attackers made their assault. Spiral had difficulty focusing her gravity bind onto it because it was moving so fast, so she opted to keep her eyes on it until she could charge a cosmic blast to obliterate it, which she did slowly due to being under the open sky. Tidal Wave couldn’t find any aquifers below them for him to gather any water, so he had to rely on his reflexes and dexterity alone. He thrust his trident in the beast’s left shin, piercing its armor, but he panicked when he couldn’t pull it out. The mecha glared down at him. “Oh, crap!” It shook him off while he still clutched his spear, and he went flying towards its rear. The beast then smacked him away with its tail. “ARGH!” he skidded across the ground in an agonized heap. “TIDAL WAVE!!” Spiral exclaimed. She gradually increased the charge speed of her nova beam while Greensprout went to his aid posthaste. Zebota decided to sheathe his boomerang and load his sling, frustrated that he couldn’t call upon Nature to empower him. He went for the weakness Shrapnel had created and flung his ammo at the exposed paw, which hit, but it just ricocheted off of it without the beast so much as flinching. As it was distracted, Fire Fight jump kicked it in the left shoulder and followed up with a blast of fire when he landed. Shadow Shroud then slipped under its belly and slashed at what could be described as a tendon on the back of its left foot with her kama. It started blowing smoke, but the beast just jumped up without looking down. As it was ready to strike down onto her, Quantum tech blasted her rails guns at it and threw it off balance. It wasn’t noticeably damaged, but it certainly felt some pain if machines could feel some sort of pain. Even though it barely managed to land on its feet, Crazylocks suddenly appeared beside it and grabbed its steaming paw and started shaking it up and down violently. “PLEASED TO MEET YOU! PLEASED TO MEET YOU! PLEASED TO MEET YOU! PLEASED TO MEET YOU!” She threw it over her head and slammed it into the ground, and then she sprouted her horn and blasted a magic wave at it that blew it across the sand towards Turf War and Valkyrie, who smirked when they were about to get their chance. “DOGPILE!!” Valkyrie shouted. She and Turf War charged towards it and were ready to strike when it suddenly rolled over and swiped its electrified claw at them. Turf War smacked into with his shield, bouncing the shock back at the mecha and leaving an opening for the two of them to uppercut it with their weapons, knocking it onto its back. Just before it had the chance to get up, Shrapnel suddenly jumped over the shield warriors and pounced onto his bestial opponent. He clamped his jaws into its armored chest and ripped off its protective metal plating, tossing it to the side. The beast struggled against the wooden titan as they savagely tried to bite at one another’s heads, and it was then that Kickback got an idea. “FROSTBITE, FREEZE ITS PAWS TO THE GROUND!!!” Kickback shouted. “Huh!? Why should I listen to-” Frostbite was about to protest when he suddenly caught onto Kickback’s plan. “Oh, you clever little…” He smirked deviously as he soared around the pinned mecha and blasted its four paws with powerful vomits of ice, cementing them to the ground. He froze its tail down for good measure. “SHRAPNEL, COME!” Zebota ordered, and his monster followed suit. Kickback tipped his hat at the restrained machine. “Nice knowin’ ya, partner.” He said. “OK, Y’ALL! SEND IT PACKIN’! YEEEEE-HAAAAAW!!!” He fired his electrified bullets into the exposed mechanical innards while Quantum fired her railguns, causing it to malfunction and let out continuous roars. It began to spark quite violently, so Frostbite covered it up with more ice. That’s when Spiral knew it was her chance. “EVERYPONY, STAND CLEAR!!” Her horn shone like a miniature sun around them, and she fired her cosmic blasted. It raged beyond the beast as it quickly tore the machine apart little by little and blasted away the ice trapping it. When her storm subsided, little was left of the beast, and a mesa out in the distance suddenly toppled over from its base. Spiral needed to take only a few deep breaths before her headache began to mitigate. “Phew…” “Everypony ok?” Fire Fight asked. They all nodded confidently, feeling pretty good about themselves. “Good call, Kickback.” “Aww, shucks. It was nothin’, sheriff.” Kickback said. “Frostbite sure made everything easier. We oughta thank him too.” Frostbite grinned at them smugly. “See? Told you guys you’d need me to protect you.” Spiral walked up to Tidal Wave as he staggered to his hooves. “You okay, dude? That was a nasty hit.” “Ugh…. Yeah, but I doubt it was the worst thing that could’ve happened. How about you?” Tidal Wave replied. Spiral rubbed her head. “I’m ok. Thanks.” The two shared a little laugh. Zebota held out his hoof and let Shrapnel lower his chin into it so he could scratch it. “Very well done, my friend. It seems I was wrong to doubt our strength. But nevertheless, We should still keep our guard up in this place.” Shrapnel howled in affirmation. However, his howls seemed to be answered by three others, howls that sounded mechanical and pretty close. Suddenly, three more mecha lions jumped down in front of them, and the foals were ready to put up another fight, but then they noticed that they were accompanied by another entity floating above them……one that Valkyrie was flabbergasted to even see.