From the shadows behind the iron curtains before the foals emerged a small legion of machines. Some of them were the foot soldiers they’d seen plenty of, and the rest were taller versions of them but looked far more combat-oriented. They were equipped with gauntlets the foals could only guess housed a multitude of deadly arsenal ready to tear them to shreds.
Turf War confidently popped his neck and shoulders before raising his hammer and shield. “This joint ‘bout to look like a scrapyard back in the hood!”
Fire Fight ignited his horn and gauntlets. “Careful, dude. We haven’t fought these guys yet.” He said as he raised his guard. “We should probably keep an eye on Crazylocks too.”
“Uh, homie? You coulda been said that a second ago…” Turf War said.
“Huh?” Fire Fight looked at him for a second and then back at the battlefield. “AAHH!!”
Crazylocks had somehow charged into the fray without them noticing and was violently thrashing around one of the foot soldiers. “I. PAID. MY. LATE FEEEEEESSSSS!!!!” Crazylocks spun it around for a moment and flung it into another of its robotic brothers, shattering them both. Suddenly, a small group of them from her left started firing their lasers at her, but she spread her wings and soared skyward to dodge them.
The robots took aim upward, but one of them noticed a brown disc flying towards it. It got struck in the head, and the disc ricocheted off of them one by one before it flew in the direction it initially came from where Turf War caught it, revealing it to be his shield. “Cook ‘em, son!” he shouted as he held out his hammer towards Fire Fight, who jumped onto it and was launched it the air.
The fiery colt reached out to the flying frenzy. “Crazylocks!” Upon seeing him, she flew towards him and joined hooves. They spun each other around using their aerial momentum and flung each other in opposite directions. Fire Fight was hurled towards another small group of the foot soldiers, and he dove into a flaming a kick that impacted on one of them, destroying it and leaping off of it so he could launch a fire blast at the rest of them. The engulfing flames distracted the mechs just long enough for Fire Fight to punch them into pieces one by one.
Crazylocks withdrew her wings and somersaulted into one of the bigger mechs, impacting into its chest and causing it to topple over while violently sparking. She flew away just before it could start exploding in multiple places. Another battle giant beside it opened a compartment on its gauntlets and began firing energy bolts similar to the electromagnetic blasts from Quantum Tech’s railguns. Crazylocks barely evaded each shot as she soared towards the mechanical titan. Just before she could get close to it, it swung its other gauntlet at her with an electro saber drawn, knocking her into the ground hard.
“Hol’ up!” Turf War exclaimed, noticing the pattern. “Tell me this b**** ain’t…”
The speakers came on. “Hehehehe. I must apologize for not warning you in advance. I figured you’d be a tid more comfortable if you fought something you’re relatively familiar with, so I let my elite guards assimilate the weaponry found in your friend’s battle mech.” Skadi sneered.
Turf War gritted his teeth. “Ooooh! That’s one more time my hammer gonna smack the s*** outta you!”
In Skadi’s control room…
“HOW DARE YOU!!” Quantum Tech exclaimed.
“Oh, get a grip, little one. If I didn’t view your little science fair project as a masterpiece of engineering, I would have scrapped it as soon as I captured you all. I have the dignity to respect another intelligent mind’s accomplishments, and I’ll certainly cite my work when I ravage Griffonstone.” Skadi said.
Quantum couldn’t contain her anger and stood up in her seat. “My technology will NOT be used for the purpose of terrorism! Is that clear!?”
Skadi chuckled. “Yes. Not yours, but rather mine. I simply took inspiration from you. No need to fret.” She said. “No I suggest you put that rebellious tone away lest you terrible harm to come to your friends.” She threatened.
Quantum reluctantly did what she asked while staring daggers at the heinous hen, knowing that she was still in no position to fight back….at least directly.
“This is your last warning, child.” Skadi hissed.
“Understood, madam….” Quantum said, hiding a devious smirk as she felt her way around the foreign files under the guise of gathering battle data. While she was still not sure how to interpret the seemingly alien dialect, but she was able to discern a file that was labeled with letters that looked similar to the word that according to Skadi spelled out ‘war’ or ‘warrior’. When she opened it, she discovered the location where their weapons were being kept, including two more holding cells where Zebota and Shrapnel were being held; Skadi probably knew that keeping the two apart could be dangerous given that Shrapnel was such a powerful beast, and his connection with Zebota couldn’t be under the risk of being severed. A little frustrated that she couldn’t arm herself with more knowledge against her captor, she went back to monitoring the battle at hand.
In the Arena…
Fire Fight had just finished trashing the rest of the small foot soldiers as Turf War found himself face to face with the other super mech, unable to aid the downed Crazylocks. “Ok, m***********. You gonna do homegirl dirty like that, I’m a show how do things back in Detrot! COME WITH IT!!” He aggressively smacked his shield to taunt it.
The robot must not have seen him as a big threat, because it saw fit to only try and step on him. It quickly learned the error of its ways when Turf War struck its foot with his hammer, causing the mech to terribly tremble. He then jumped and shield-rammed its other leg and followed with another swing, but he was sudden struck by a laser blast that seemed to come out of nowhere. “UGH!!” He crumbled to the ground but quickly got up to see what was wrong. “The hell!?” When he looked up, another wave of foot soldiers came marching out of the shadows guns blazing.
Just before he could react, they managed to shoot his hammer and shield clean out of his hooves. “AAH!! S***!!” His hooves seethed from the blasts, and he could only watch as the super mech made another attempt to crush him under its gigantic foot. “IT’S A WRAAAAAP!!!!”
He closed his eyes just before his untimely demise…..only to open them again to find Crazylocks struggling against it for him. She shifted her body around and finally gained enough leverage to lift it off the ground and swing it around, the giant mech shielding her from the smaller ones’ laser blasts. With enough momentum built up, she tossed straight up into the air above her and then sprouted her horn. She used her magic to catch laser blasts from the little ones and congregate them into a huge ball of energy that she then launched above her, obliterating the super mech. “THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONOATIONS TO CRAZYLOCKS’ VEGGIE BURGER BOAT ACCESSORIES!!”
Turf War watched the whole spectacle in awe. “When the f*** she learn how to do that?”
“Don’t question it! Just fight!!” Fire Fight called out. He engulfed himself in flames and kamikaze charged into the foot soldiers’ formation. The intense heat created a force field of fire that let him crash through the robots until he got near the center and let it off like a volcano, frying them all to a crisp. “Or…just leave the rest to me.” A robot beside him tried to get up, but he punched back into the ground. “Get down, you!”
“Yo Crazylocks, real thanks fo’ comin’ fo’ ya boy like that.” Turf War said.
“Anything for my favorite grasshopper farmer!” Crazylocks said.
Turf War’s smile quickly fell into a frown as Fire Fight had to hold back chuckling. “Uhh…b****….”
Skadi’s speakers suddenly came on again. “Well, well, well. Who would have thought the mentally challenged shifter get be the most creative of your lot? Predictable perhaps, but still entertaining.”
“Let us go, Skadi! We haven’t done you any harm!” Fire Fight demanded.
“I’m afraid you’re in no position to make such demands, little colt.” Skadi said. “And besides, you may not have harmed me initially, but someone has to throw the first punch in order for a conflict to erupt, and this conflict is worthwhile with all of the battle data I’ll be able to program into all my precious babies. After all, doing harm is the first step to progress.”
“I’M ‘BOUT PROGRESS MY AXE INTO YO’ DAMN HE-“
“Yes, yes. You like making idle threats. Adorable.” Skadi said. “However, your shifter here does catch my interest. Her ability to change body types at will is something I ought to prioritize. So if you don’t mind… Hehehehehehe-Hahahahahaha!!”
The collar around her neck seemed to turn back on as its red light turned blue, and the crazy filly was out like a light. A section of the floor then opened, and a robot arm emerged from it that grabbed Crazylocks and dragged her into the abyss below.
“Crazylocks!!” Fire Fight shouted. He and Turf War tried to catch her, but the arm drew her in too fast. “What have you done with her!?”
“Taken her to a private chamber where she’ll be thoroughly studied and examined. Keeping a dangerous pony like her away from the sane folk would be doing you a favor anyway, wouldn’t it?” Skadi answered.
“GIVE US BACK OUR FRIEND!!” Fire Fight shouted.
“I’m sorry. It seems I wasn’t clear enough. You’re in no position to makes demands!” Skadi hissed. “Now if I were you, I’d calmly return to the transport platform so you can be taken back to your rooms for your bad behavior.” However reluctantly, the two colts knew that they’d just tire themselves trying to fight back all the forces Skadi could throw their way, so they opted to obey her and let their weapons be confiscated again, and Fire Fight’s magic suppressed.
In Skadi’s control room…
“Quantum Tech, I trust you gathered sufficient results?” Skadi said as she walked up to captive assistant.
“I think you’ll be pleased.” Quantum said.
Skadi looked through Quantum’s feedback and found herself delighted. “Hmm…. Not exactly what I hoping for, but I suppose we’re merely scratching the surface. Good work.” Skadi exited the room for some reason, giving Quantum the opportunity she needed to complete her dirty work.
She scoured through more of the files she’d stumbled upon and began formulating a discreet plan of attack. She let out a devious little chuckle. “You’ll soon witness the true extent of my genius, 'Councilor'.”
In the holding cells…
Bullseye and Valkyrie waited patiently for the right opportunity to execute their escape plan. They couldn’t risk trying to tell the others for the risk of Skadi finding out about it, so they could only hope that they’d wise up and follow through.
“This better work, Cyclops. Otherwise, Skadi may not give us an edge next time.” Valkyrie whispered.
“There won’t be a next time for that old b****. Just keep that in mind.” Bullseye said.
Valkyrie chuckled. “Good point.” After another tense moment or so, they heard the hallway doors finally open up and be accompanied by the familiar metallic clangs for footsteps. They wasted no time executing their ‘genius plan’. “OPEN UP, YOU BUCKET OF BOLTS!!”
The two started wildly shouting and slamming on their cell door, and it didn’t take long for one of the guards to smack it with its stun baton, sending the electric shock through the ancient door. Monitoring it, Bullseye could see that the electric lock wasn’t quite ready to spring. “COME ON, LOSERS! YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!!” she shouted.
Eventually, the other guard felt the need to take action and started hitting the door with its own stun baton, more than what the archer and warrior could ask for. It didn’t take much longer for the electric lock to finally lose its hold due to the overload, and it was ajar just enough for Valkyrie to grab the door and force it open. “NOW!!” Bullseye commanded, and Valkyrie wasted no time.
Bullseye and Valkyrie soared out of their cell to see Fire Fight and Turf War with them. The colts helped them tackle the robots to the ground, and Fire Fight carefully welded one of the batons off of the robot holding it. Much to his delight, it still worked as if it had its own battery stored inside, and he tossed it to Valkyrie. “Get working on the others’ cells while I get the other one!”
Valkyrie caught the baton. “Got it!” She started smacking away at Frostbite and Kickback’s cells first, knowing that the icy drake would immediately be the most help. It wasn’t long before Turf War was wielding the other baton and smacking at the door with her, and mere seconds later for their draconic friend to force his door open and let Kickback out.
“Much obliged, y’all!” Kickback said. Frostbite wasted no time making the doors force open more easily with his immense strength, and everypony was free one by one.
“Nice thinking, you two!” Fire Fight said standing over the destroyed guards.
Valkyrie wiped her nose. “Hehe. No sweat, boss.”
“I guess even these hi-tech doors can succumb to the passage of time.” Spiral Galaxy said.
“It seems Zebota’s wisdom is making itself known.” Greensprout said.
“Where’s Crazylocks!?” Bullseye demanded.
Fire Fight gulped, fearing how Bullseye might react to the news. “Skadi took her somewhere else. I don’t know where, but something tells me she won’t be having fun.”
Bullseye’s pupil dilated to the point that it was almost swallowed by her iris as intense anger built up inside her. “If that feathered hag does so much as breathe on her…”
“I promise we’ll get her back, Bullseye. We need to find Quantum Tech, Zebota, Shrapnel and Shadow Shroud too.” Fire Fight said.
“But how are we gonna fight back when we don’t have our weapons? Even Greensprout’s staff is gone.” Tidal Wave said.
“Yeah! And me and Fire Fight can’t use our magic as long as they stupid horn locks are suppressing us.” Spiral said.
“We’ll just have to make do without them. I don’t believe we’re so weak that we can’t fight back when not at our peak.” Air Slash said.
“We’ll just have to very careful.” Greensprout said.
“Actually…” Frostbite said. “Let me try something.” He suddenly exhaled a cloud of ice at both Spiral Galaxy and Fire Fight, freezing both of their suppressors solid, which seemed to short-circuit them, and he ripped them right off. “Awesome.” He tossed them aside.
Spiral rubbed her head. “Ugh. Little warning next time, maybe?”
Frostbite narrowed his eyes. “You’re welcome.” Suddenly, they could hear a multitude of metal footsteps rushing both of their exits.
“Homie and I might know where to go, so follow us this way.” Turf War said as he motioned them to follow towards one of the exits. Frostbite froze the other one solid, preventing any of the guards from getting in.
Just before they could open the door to their exit, guards burst in with their lasers pointed, but that didn’t stop Frostbite from soaring above the foals and diving into the crowd of robots, which he proceeded to tear to shreds. The foals followed him outside where they witnessed him use his ice powers to completely bulldoze the mechanical fodder. Whether he shot piercing icicles at them, froze his fists to give them more blunt force, or just shot blasts of ice at them, he decimated to wave of guards within minutes. He landed in front of the foals and let out a powerful roar.
"Yeeee-Haaaw!!” Kickback cheered.
Frostbite smirked proudly. “Hehe. You leave the toy soldiers to me. Just lead the way. I’ll cover you.”
“Thanks, Frostbite!” Fire Fight said. “Are you gonna help us take down Skadi too?”
“Hell yeah!” Frostbite declared. “After all….” He cracked his knuckles and puffed frigid air from his sinuses. “Revenge is a dish best served cold!”