//------------------------------// // The Elements! // Story: Assignment: Equestria // by Naxanz //------------------------------// “H-how did you know!?” stuttered Nick in surprise. The captain smirked before replying, “Let’s just say that your commander, Trent, decided to find out if you were telling the truth or not…” “Ugh! Damit Trent!” cursed Nick in frustration. “W-what are we going to do now?” questioned Dr. Whooves from behind. “Yes, what are you going to do?” agreed the captain coolly. That was a good question; what was Nick going to do? He had four armored starplanes chasing him that weren’t afraid to knock him out of the sky if he didn’t comply with the captain. He was just about to give in when suddenly an idea struck him. “Well?” inquired the captain impatiently. “Well…” replied Nick as he slowly slid his hand over the megadrive lever, “…I think I’m going to chance it!” With that Nick pushed the lever to maximum speed and shot towards that planet at about mach 20. The starplanes that were pursuing him were soon nothing but small specks behind him. The holographic captain gave Nick a threatening glare before saying, “Fine, have it your way Nick…” The captain then held two fingers up to his ear as he spoke into a small mike that was most likely connected to the other four starplanes that were chasing Nick, “He refused to comply. I want you to kill him at all costs; he’s a traitor!” And with that the holographic captain disappeared as he ended the connection. Nick knew what he had to do. Every machine onboard the Atropos had a tracking device installed inside it so that no matter where it was in the galaxy the Atropos would know exactly where it was. Nick needed to somehow disable the tracking device before landing in Equestria. If he didn’t then the captain would know exactly where he landed and Nick would have no chance of escaping. “Nicole, I need you to hack into the main system of this starplane and disable the tracking device!” ordered Nick as he whipped her out of his pocket. “Okay… but it may take awhile,” replied Nicole as seemingly endless paragraphs of code began to pour down her screen. Nick checked his radar and found that his pursuers were rapidly gaining on him and were now almost within firing range. Nick knew that there was no way he would be able to out run them and he also knew that there was nowhere for him to hide in space; so his best bet was to fly down to the planet and try to lose them by flying through mountains or confusing terrain. Without hesitation Nick suddenly did a nose dive for the planet while still flying in megadrive. He then pulled the lever back out of megadrive and let go of the gas; he was now free falling towards Equestria at an alarmingly dangerous speed. His pursuers, shocked by his sudden and unexpected dive, followed with great determination. “I think I’m going to be sick!” exclaimed Dr. Whooves as the space soon became sky and the ground started to grow closer with every passing second. At the last moment Nick pulled out of his nose dive and sped forwards at a supersonic speed with only a mere four thousand feet to spare. Three of the starplanes chasing him did so as well but the forth was not able to pull out of its nose dive in time and crashed into the ground causing a massive explosion. Nick cringed at the sight; although he was rebelling against the Atropos he still hated to see one of his fellow crewmen die in such a way. “Nicole, which way to Ponyville?” inquired Nick remembering the name of the small pony village. “Head East,” replied the PC as it continued to hack the starplane. Just as they started to approach what seemed to be a ravine Nicole happily exclaimed that she had finished hacking into the starplane’s main system and that they were no longer being tracked by the Atropos. “Great!” answered Nick with excitement, “Now all we have to do is shake these people…” “Why this is Ghastly Bottom Gorge!” exclaimed Dr. Whooves as they descended down into the ravine. “Is there a problem?” asked Nick as they continued to speed along. “No, just be very careful though,” warned the doctor, “This place is dangerous…” At that moment a giant eel suddenly shot out of the side of the gorge narrowly missing Nick’s starplane. As Nick continued to speed through the ravine he was continuously dodging giant eels while making sharp and tight turns. The pilot’s of the starplanes behind Nick were fearing more for their own lives then trying to get a lock on him. If he was able to keep this up he might just be able to shake them. That is, until one of the starplanes chasing Nick lost control and crashed into the side of the gorge causing yet again another massive explosion. The explosion shook the ravine causing some boulders and rocks to break free and fall to the canyon floor. As Nick dodged the falling rocks he realized that it was too dangerous to stay in the gorge any longer so he pulled out and continued to fly east. Just as Nick was beginning to reach what seemed to be a city floating in the sky one of the two F-56’s following him launched two old fashioned heat seeking missiles at him. Although the technology was old it still proved to be quite effective in many cases. Nick quickly dispatched flares which eliminated one of the two oncoming missiles. But what was he going to do now? Those were his only flares! It was only about thirty seconds until impact when Nick finally reached the outskirts of the floating city. He started doing tight turns around random floating buildings in hope of shaking the oncoming missile. “Wow, this must be Cloudsdale!” exclaimed Dr. Whooves in amazement, “I’ve always wanted to see it, but it’s not like I could just fly up here and visit…” Nick was half tuning the doctor out as he continued to make what seemed to be futile efforts in shaking the remaining missile. With only ten seconds left before impact Nick made one last hopeful attempt by nose diving through what seemed be a coliseum. The missile, unable to make such a tight turn, continued to fly straight. Nick then pulled out of his nose dive and started flying east once more. Nick glanced behind himself to check if his pursuers were still following him or not. Only one of the two starplanes that had followed him into Cloudsdale was still behind him, which means that something must have happened to the other one back at Cloudsdale because they always flew together. Nick knew that he was going to have to fight back. He really didn’t want to do it but it seemed like it was the only possible way of escape. Nick did a quick u-turn and went into a subsonic speed. The sudden turn and decrease in speed surprised his pursuer who shot right past Nick. Nick then did another quick 180 degree turn and was now behind his follower. Then, without hesitation, Nick pressed the fire button and shot his lasers. The F-56 did a barrel roll and narrowly dodged the fatal beam of light. Determined to end it Nick fired his two missiles at the last starplane. Same as Nick the F-56 launched flares but unfortunately lost none of the oncoming missiles. He put up a good fight as he tried to shake the missiles, but in the end he ended up exploding just like the rest of the ones before him. Nick hated himself for killing one of his own crewmen but he knew that there was no other way of escape. Nick pushed the thought to the back of his mind as he continued to fly east towards his destination. A few minutes later Nick was flying above Ponyville looking for a place to land. After a little consideration Nick decided to land right next to Twilight’s house. He slowly flew above it before making a vertical decent down to the ground and landing. Once on the ground Nick undid the air-lock and jumped out of the starplane. Dr. Whoove also climbed out of the starplane and looked around, “Why, this is Ponyville! But how did you know that I live here?” “I didn’t,” replied Nick turning to face the pony, “I was flying here for my own purposes, but I’m glad that it’s also your home.” “Well, thank you for saving me. I owe you one. If there’s anything that I could ever do for you just let me know,” smiled Dr. Whooves before walking away. “Bye,” called Nick after the doctor as he disappeared around a corner. Nick then turned and made a dash for Twilight’s door. --Meanwhile in Twilight’s house-- Twilight was just about done sorting some books when suddenly Nick burst into the library. “Nick your bac-” “Twilight!” interrupted Nick jogging over to her, “I’m so glad to see you. Listen, I’ve got some really important information that you all need to hear!” “Wait, what?” replied Twilight a little confused. “It’s about Las Pegasus, the attackers, and the elements!” “Whoa Nick, try to calm down. Go slower… what about Las Pagesus!?” “It’s us Twilight! It’s the humans! And if we don’t act quickly they’ll take the elements!” “You mean the Elements of Harmony?” inquired Twilight becoming concerned. “Yes!” “When did you learn about this?” “Only about six or seven hours ago, but listen, if we don’t do something quick then nothing will be able to stop them. Trust me Twilight, I know how powerful we humans are; we’d be able to crush Equestria like a bug…”