Fallout Equestria: Influx
Beyond the Adventure
Krogoth Encounter
10 years after the destruction of Project Infiltrator.
“I hope we don’t have to worry about that thing coming here,” Raven whimpered as she and her regal friend, the False Princess Solaris, listened to the morning radio broadcast from Tenpony Tower that told of a new threat to the wasteland.
“I would not worry, my dear Raven. According to the news updates, it would seem it is heading north,” The large white alicorn replied.
Raven sighed as she rested her forelegs on the railing of the balcony they were on, looking out over “Sparkle Town” just before the main gates of Sparkle World. “I thought that once the Light Bringer opened the skies, things would begin to get better for us.”
Solaris smiled softly as she sat beside her smaller unicorn friend, and gently draped a large feathery wing across her back. “Things have been getting better. Raider attacks have been getting less frequent lately, and we restored a lot of the old park’s systems to improve living conditions for our little ponies here.”
“I… I suppose you’re right. I just worry when I hear things like this.”
“Shh. Don’t worry yourself,” The alicorn said softly before her smiled faded.
“Solaris?”
The large alicorn sighed and stepped away from the railing and into the large diner/living quarters. It had been made from the old restaurant at the top of the artificial mountain known as “Fizz Top Mountain”, located in the centre of Sparkle World.
“If anypony has to worry it is me. I have been tormented by a fragment of my old self for the past couple of years, demanding vengeance for the eradication of our kind.” She spoke sadly as she looked into her mirror. She blinked her magenta eyes to which when she opened them again, the irises had changed to a bright crimson.
“It’s been nearly five years since you last referred to yourself as Unit-1000. What’s wrong?” Raven asked with some confusion.
“It would seem a part of me won’t let go of the past and it has been clawing at me ever since we settled here. However, in recent years it has grown considerably strong and since we are machines, I do not want to risk a power struggle with this segment wanting vengeance. So, regrettably, I must seek out the one that destroyed the Production Facility.” Solaris sighed, not happy with what she needed to do.
“But, Sparkle World!?” Raven squeaked in shock.
“I will leave it in your dependable hooves, for I trust you completely, my dear friend.” She smiled weakly as she leaned her head down and neck-hugged the smaller unicorn. “I hopefully shouldn’t be long.”
Solaris stood back up and trotted to the centre of the room and began to charge her horn with golden magic.
“What should I tell the ponies if they ask for you?” The worried unicorn asked quickly.
The alicorn smiled. “Just say I’ve gone out for a walk.” And with that, Solaris disappeared in a bright flash.
“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!”
XXXXX
Few miles south of Canterhorn Mountain.
Solaris reappeared in a bright flash, hovering in mid-air over a flat forested area full of the dead husks of what used to be the trees. She banked around until she saw what she was looking for, looming in the distance.
“It’s bigger in person,” She mumbled to herself as she flapped her wings and flew towards the giant Steel Ranger-like machine.
As she approached, she noticed how one of the missile pods at the back of one of its massive side mounted guns turned in her general direction and began to track her movements the closer she got. It became clear to Solaris that this machine was a giant mobile weapons platform, if the number of weapons she could see mounted on it were of any indication. She also noticed the two side guns were energy weapons and could feel that they were powered by a Stable-Tec Spark Reactor due to its energy signature, meaning this thing was deadly beyond reason. Being this close to something that could vaporise her if she wasn’t careful put a little hint of fear into the alicorn as she flew around the giant to be face-to-face with the military green Steel Ranger behemoth.
“By the order of Princess Solaris, I command you to stop!” She shouted as she hovered in front of the machine’s black snout and air intake.
Its massive eyes focused on the princess and it leaned forward, almost touching her with its steel hard nose. “Princess Celestia DNA match… 85% visual match… Ministry of Awesome technology detected… Identify.” The giant robot spoke in a surprisingly feminine voice while the large rotary anti-infantry weapon under its chin began to rev up.
“I am Princess Celestia reborn with the use of Ministry of Awesome advanced cybernetics. I now go by the name of Solaris.” She began to sweat a little with nervousness.
There was a pause which only served to increase Solaris’s nervousness before the machine responded. “Military communication network offline. Temporary royal command granted.”
Solaris let out a sigh of relief. “What is your primary objective?”
“Attack and destroy all who would threaten the safety and security of Equestria.” The machine’s voice sounded almost prideful for a moment.
“Very good. Change direction and head southwest from here. There is the city of Buckingham and it is infested with Raiders, the very scum of this world. Destroy them all.”
“Affirmative.” The machine began to change its direction to carry out its new orders.
Satisfied that she had successfully redirected the giant robot, she channelled her magic into her horn and teleported away.
XXXXX
Buckingham City: Raider Capital, moments later.
Solaris reappeared at the top of the tallest tower in the city. She looked down into the bustling city that was Equestria’s capital Raider hub and scowled.
“At least my revenge will bring the end to these vermin,” She growled with distain.
As the white alicorn stood at the top of the ruined tower, she surveyed the area before her gaze settled on the horizon to the northeast where she knew the giant robot would arrive from. As she watched, she reactivated her signal transmitter so that her unique M.o.A global transmission signal was live again. She knew that Dr Pear would detect her signal during one of her daily radio checks, so she decided to keep her signal active for at least a couple hours to ensure the good Doctor wouldn’t think her signal was just a glitch.
The white alicorn sighed as she looked down into the city, down into the large Raider camp built up in the city centre. Despite how foul these ponies were, they were still living ponies with lives and minds of their own. She had to admit that Celestia wouldn’t just condemn them all to death just like that; Luna certainly would, but not Celestia. Since she was living up to the late Sun Goddess’s example, she knew what she had to do.
“They don’t deserve to live, but I can’t just let them die without giving them a chance,” The alicorn mumbled in annoyance as she jumped from the tower and plummeted to the camp below.
Metres from the ground, she snapped open her wings, gave a few powerful flaps to reduce the speed of her descent and slammed into the concrete hard. The impact with the pavement was strong enough to create a small crater, and the force of her landing blew several Raiders back and knocked over a bunch of loose furniture. As she stood to her fullest, wings flared high to show her full size, she fixed the Raider that looked to be the leader with a death glare while her horn glowed with a dull, almost unnoticeable golden light.
“Are you fucking insane, you crazy alicorn bitch!? You could have killed us!” Yelled the Raider Solaris was staring at.
Solaris narrowed her eyes. “I do not care if you live or die. Your kind, you Raiders, have demonstrated long enough that the world would be better off if you were all wiped off the face of Equus!”.
Her venomous words made the surrounding Raiders murmur and call out in anger at her words.
“Then what the fuck!” The leader demanded.
A Raider decided to capitalise on the alicorn being distracted as she talked with his leader and aimed his LMG battlesaddle at the large white pony and fired a burst at her. However, to the shock of him and all the Raiders around her, the bullets all impacted against a shimmering hex tiled reinforced shield that only became visible upon being hit.
Solaris sighed at the interruption. “Excuse me a moment.” The alicorn then turned to face the pony that had attacked her, her once magenta eyes now a blazing crimson. “This is a prime example to why you should be exterminated.” The tip of her horn began to glow brightly. The Raider knew what was about to happen and quickly turned tail and ran, but before he could make it more than a few feet, a thin, concentrated beam of golden magic pierced through his back and out his chest, and he fell to the ground in a heap. Solaris sighed as she turned back to the leader, her eyes back to their motherly soft magenta. “Right. Where were we? Ah yes, as much as I would like to see you all be exterminated, it is against my nature. Therefore, you have five hours to evacuate this city.”
“We don’t take orders from you, princess! Don’t think we don’t know that it was you that took Sparkle World from us,” The leader challenged.
“Then you’ll all die. It doesn’t matter to me either way, giving you the chance to save yourselves will put my conscience at ease.” She fanned out her wings as she got ready to take off. “You have five hours before it arrives. I suggest you get moving.”
“It? What’s coming?” A pregnant raider mare asked with worry, having witnessed the alicorn easily kill one their own.
Solaris felt her heart twist with regret upon seeing the mare. Foals were more victims of Raiders, easily twisted to become the foul beasts they are as they grow up to be as foul as them. She shook her head and levelled the mare with a look of seriousness.
“The Krogoth.” The alicorn revealed before she flapped her wings and flew up and then out of the city.
Upon hearing the mention of the name, panic immediately set in and Raiders that believed the Princess began to spread the word and set up evacuation plans while also fighting with other Raiders over it being true or not.
Solaris landed on the hills several miles south of the city and sat down. Everything was in motion and time would soon bring everything together.
XXXXX
As time passed, Raiders that wanted to leave made their way out of the city and into the wasteland. The large white alicorn from her place on the hill could see hundreds of Raiders scattering out in all directions. Hopefully these Raiders could be redeemed in the future if they had the sense to listen to her warning. Sadly, as the time drew near Solaris could sense that there were still many Raiders within the city and the Krogoth’s presence was now on the horizon as it steadily approached.
As the Krogoth drew within a few miles of the city, Solaris’s ears perked up as she felt the tingle of alicorn magic off in the distance, just outside the city on the opposite side to the Krogoth. As she blinked her synthetic eyes, using their magnification function, she was able to see a portal open and her target plus a purple Pegasus exit before it closed behind them.
“She’s here. Everything is going according to plan,” Solaris said to herself, more solemnly then she thought she would have at the prospect of having her vengeance.
She watched as the two unknowingly entered the Raider city to begin their search for her while the giant robot continued its advance. Solaris quickly turned her gaze to the massive Steel Ranger. As it came within two miles of the city, the missile pods on the back of both of its side-mounted weapons released their payloads. Streams of missiles flew up at high speed and began to arch and rain down all upon the city, striking the ground, the buildings and any other key parts to maximize the damage. Almost immediately, the whole city was engulfed in flames and large portions of the city had collapsed from the damage, creating chokeholds all around that prevented the remaining Raiders from escaping. The initial missile strike on the unprepared Raiders also saw what Solaris believed to be seventy percent of the remaining population being wiped out.
Solaris’s eyes widened as feelings of regret and remorse began to fill her mana-core heart. The voice of her old self, Unit-1000, being drowned out by thoughts of self-loathing and anger for letting herself be driven to this just for vengeance. This was entirely against her nature now, against everything she had evolved to be and worked to create in the ten years since the destruction of the Production Facility. She could only mutter to herself as she watched the giant machine begin to charge its side weapons.
“What have I done?”
XXXXX
Inside Bucking City
“Are you sure we aren’t on some wild goose chase?” Fruity asked as he followed close behind his wife. The purple pegasus wore a sleeveless duster over black pegasi combat armour, and his messy fuchsia mane was slightly hidden under his well-worn stetson hat.
“There is no doubt about it, Fruity. The signal lasted for at least two hours,” His wife replied, a zebra pegasus mare that looked a good ten years younger than him. Her name is Crystal Éclair, and she’s known in the wasteland as the Heroine of the West for her deeds in the Marejave region. She is also known as I-01 to a select few, including Solaris, as the zebra is also a Mark 1 Infiltrator created by the Ministry of Awesome. The mare wore a recreation of the Noir Coat she lost a long time ago, with the same kind of pegasus combat armour hidden under it, apart from the shoulder guards that were strapped onto her shoulders on top of the coat. On her head, she wore her battered black stetson.
“Then why now? It’s been ten years without a single peep.”
“I dunno. I mean, I thought we destroyed them all when the facility went up after its reactor blew.”
“If it is here, I’m sure we’ll find out. But, why here of all places?”
“Dr Pear told me if Unit-1000 wanted to resume what Colonel Ironside started, then Buckingham could be a good place to start as it was a heavy industrial city with lots of ties to plenty of tech companies, such as Starlight Industries and Robronco, as well as having its own Ministry Hubs,” Crystal explained as the two ponies made their way onto a main road.
A whistling sound soon caught the attention of the two pegasi, and they looked up in time to see the sky above the city become filled with the smoke trails of numerous missiles coming down upon them.
“Oh, fudge muffins, take cover!” Fruity yelled in urgency.
Crystal surveyed the area for a moment and quickly found a stairway into a metro station a short distance up the road. “Quick this way!” She fanned out her white and grey feathered wings and used them to give her a speed boost to the stairs. Fruity was on her heels the whole time as the pair quickly descended into the station and followed the stairs deeper to reach the platform.
Within seconds of reaching the bottom, the whole metro system began to rumble and quake as explosions began to tear through the city above them as the missiles impacted.
“What the hell is going on?” Fruity croaked as he panted for air after the mad dash to safety.
“I don’t know but something just launched an all-out attack on this place,” Crystal replied in shock herself. “And a fuck ton of missiles…”
The two stayed in the safety of the metro for at least half-an-hour to ensure it was safe to go back up and that no more missiles would strike again. With the coast clear, they made their way out to find the city now in ruins and on fire in every direction, with great plumes of smoke rising into the sky. While the two were checking their surroundings, something came to their attention which made them all look to the northeast. The ground shook rhythmically, and it felt like it was gradually getting stronger.
“The fuck is that?” Fruity asked.
“I have no idea but whatever that is, it feels big,” Crystal replied as the thuds grew strong enough to make small pebbles bounce.
“I have a bad feeling about this.”
Crystal nodded before she winced and lifted a forehoof to her forehead.
“You ok?” The pegasus stallion asked in concern.
“Ugh! Yeah, just-I’m detecting a massive energy surge and it’s getting stronger by the second,” Crystal groaned. “Ugh, whatever this is, the level of energy is getting insane!”
XXXXX
Solaris couldn’t believe her eyes or her internal database. The Krogoth was armed with four Novasurge Particle Cannons, and two of them on its left side were charging up for a shot. The reason she was having trouble believing it was armed with such weapons was because the file in her database stated that the Novasurge hadn’t left its Experimental stage, and the image on said file was that of a modified magical plasma pistol; so to see the weapons now as these giant side-mounted cannons on something large enough to be considered a giant was something hard for her to believe. Especially with the fact the weapons were hooked up to a Stable-Tec Spark Reactor and generating enough destructive magical energy to likely rival or out-perform the true demi-goddesses themselves.
She watched as two energy spheres grew in front of each cannon before the growing energy spheres merged into one large combined energy sphere. Her eyes widened with shock as her HUD measured the growing energy levels of the charging attack, the power level rising rapidly and surpassing many known power measurements. She gasped and held her temple when the rising energy readings flatlined to indicate they had gone off the chart and her sensory system was being overwhelmed by the Krogoth’s insane power.
“So much power!” Solaris grunted before her jaw dropped when the machine finally fired its weapon.
The ball of energy grew to being twice as tall as the weapon generating it. Beneath it, small pebbles and loose debris had begun to float because of the magical pressure being exerted by the energy sphere. However, a sign of instability started to show when bolts of concentrated magic began to arch down to the ground and tear it apart as they travelled along its surface. It was at this moment the Krogoth released its energy. The energy sphere seemed to flash, but then suddenly, a tremendous beam of intense destructive magical energy shot forth towards the city. The sheer power behind it ripped apart anything that got in its way and produced so much heat that the ground below the energy beam turned to glass. The massive beam slammed into the city and began to cut right through it like a plasma knife through polly butter. Buildings, roads, high-rises and walkways, they were all obliterated as the beam tore its way through the city. When the beam finally stopped, what was left was a large glassed trench that led through the whole city as the beam had managed to burn its way to the other side. This caused more buildings to collapse and set off numerous more fires.
The ground shuddered once more as the giant battle mechanoid began to walk again, heading further into the city. Solaris was wracked with guilt and self-loathing for what she had done. This was against her nature as Solaris. Even though Raiders were a blight on the world, they didn’t deserve this and neither did Crystal, and at that moment she realized she didn’t have to seek vengeance. She had a moment of weakness because of old memories that still lingered and a fear that her old self, Unit-1000, would surface again had drove her to act without thinking clearly. Now a city was in ruins, burning with hundreds fighting for their lives all because of her.
“I… I have to stop this.”
XXXXX
“Argh, shit. Whatever that is-ugh, the power is unbelievable,” Crystal groaned as her sensory system was overwhelmed.
“I… I’m starting to feel it too. I mean I can feel a great pressure in the air,” Fruity said with a hint of worry.
Suddenly, Crystal’s ears shot up in alert and her eyes widened in alarm.
The ground beneath their hooves began to shake violently, and the pressure in the air seemed to be increasing rapidly while the sounds of breaking glass, metal and concrete also grew ever louder.
“W-what’s going on?” Fruity asked shakily before his wife dived at him, wrapped her forehooves around his waist and in a burst of magic, her mane and tail had turned a two-tone yellow and golden orange and he was then yanked into the sky above the city in seconds. Just a moment after the transformed Crystal had her husband in the air above the city, a huge beam of blue destructive magic blasted through where they had been.
“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” Fruity exclaimed in disbelief.
“Holy fucking shit is right Fruity!” Crystal gulped as she pointed a hoof to the city’s edge as their new vantage point gave them a good view of the source of the attack.
“Oh, you gotta be shitting me, that’s the Krogoth!”
“Call me crazy, but I feel like we got baited here.” The giant machine walked through a building, but it stopped and looked up. Crystal froze as she realised the machine was staring right at her. “Oh no,” She squeaked as the machine aimed its missile pods up and fired a pair of missiles.
“Fly!” Fruity yelled, and the two married pegasi dove towards the city as two missiles arched down and began to pursue them.
Crystal remained in her transformed state as the two flew through the ruined streets as they attempted to escape the missiles. Unfortunately, the missiles were flying faster than they could fly and were gaining on them.
“THIS SUCKS ASS!” Fruity yelled in frustration as he beat his wings as hard as he could while following his wife, who flew tight turns around building corners to get her missile to hit a wall.
“These missiles are being difficult,” Crystal whined as her missile narrowly missed hitting the wall of an old office building.
“Hey, let’s give them back to it.”
“That’s a dumb and crazy idea… let’s do it.” The two flew up to find the Krogoth tearing its way towards the city centre.
The giant machine stopped and turned its head to face the incoming ponies that were flying at head level with it. It tilted its head back to give its machinegun a clear shot and began to rev it up to firing speed.
“Wait. Holy shit, that’s a minigun!” Fruity cried in alarm just before the weapon began to fire a stream of five-millimetre anti-infantry rounds towards the approaching pegasi.
The two ponies broke apart to avoid being shot. The missile that was following close behind Fruity got hit by the bullets and exploded as it began to turn to follow the purple pegasus. Fruity was thrown down to the ground by the pressure wave of the explosion. He coughed and sputtered in pain as he pulled himself out of the small crater he created in a small park. He looked up to see his wife weaving around in the air, avoiding the machinegun fire and flying higher and higher to get herself above its ability to use its machinegun before diving at its head. She did a fast barrel roll manoeuvre to avoid its holographic sale-like mane and continued towards the ground.
“Priority target identified,” The Krogoth announced as it turned its head to follow Crystal, only to be hit by its own missile as it struck the machine in the back of the head.
“Haha yes! Eat dick!” Crystal cheered cockily as the machine’s head got consumed in fire and smoke from its own high explosive missile. However, the mare’s grin quickly faded, and a look of terror took its place as the giant machine stepped forward, its head coming out of the smoke showing no sign of damage other than a burn mark on the back.
“Zebra infiltrator detected, attacking!”
“Wait, it thinks… OH SHIT!” Crystal yelped as one of the particle cannons on its right side began to charge up.
“Crystal, we gotta go!” Fruity yelled from down on the ground but quickly took cover behind a large boulder as a hail of bullets rained down upon his location from the robot’s machinegun.
“Yep, yep, we’re going!” Crystal agreed as she did a half-flip in the air and dived down towards her husband. As she was heading towards him, her threat warning flashed in her HUD and she quickly pulled back up and performed a barrel roll just in time to avoid a much smaller, but still devastating blue beam of energy. “Oh fuck!”
Fruity jumped into the air to join his wife as they both flew towards the ruined city surrounding the park. Crystal alerted him that more missiles had been launched and the two ponies descended to mere feet from the ground. Lightning Dust’s experience of being a stunt flier helped Crystal greatly to avoid the wreckages and rubble, and Fruity had experience from ten years of living with her. The two pegasi luckily avoided being hit by the incoming missiles as they each impacted the ground; their high angle descent meant they couldn’t pull up to chase after the ponies as they flew into cover behind the buildings and out of the machine’s sight.
XXXXX
In a bright golden flash, the False Princess Solaris appeared into existence before the snout of the giant Steel Ranger like robot.
“Krogoth, I hereby command you to stop!” Solaris commanded authoritatively.
The giant machine halted in its advance and looked at the regal pony as she flapped her great swan-like wings keeping her aloft and it spoke one line that surprised her greatly. “Unable to comply.”
“What?! You have completed your task. The city is in ruins and the raider threat has been neutralised.”
“Priority target acquired,” The Krogoth simply explained as its two rear missile pods tilted back to aim its missiles directly up.
“Priority… target…” Solaris whispered, and she dreaded the answer to the question she was about to ask. “And what is your target?”
“Zebra Infiltrator,” The machine simply answered, confirming her worst fear and a salvo of four missiles launched into the air.
“No, stop! That Zebra isn’t an enemy! She is property of the Ministry of Awesome
“Unable to comply. Priority target must be eliminated!”
Solaris was flabbergasted that the machine refused her royal order. All she could do then was watch as the machine continued its assault while she hung back to try and figure out something she could do while guilt for her part in this grew.
XXXXX
“We’re almost there, another mile and… look out!” Crystal cried as she stopped dead in the air while flapping her wings hard for reverse thrust. She had to snag Fruity’s tail to stop him as four missiles came down and slammed into the buildings and road in front of them, blocking their path.
“Fuck that machine,” Fruity whined.
“Quick, let’s take cover in that hotel over there.”
The ponies quickly flew over to the old run-down high-rise hotel building and crashed through the broken glass doors and hunkered down. “How did it know where to hit us?” Fruity asked quietly.
Crystal shrugged as she listened closely, listening for more missiles or anything that would mount as a threat.
“Also,” Fruity continued. “How does it have so many damn missiles, I mean it levelled the city with what looked like an entire payload?”
“How should I know?”
“You’re the cyber-mare, you have that freaky knowledge about pre-war weapons and shit.”
“Just because that thing has Ministry of Wartime Tech markings on it doesn’t mean I’ll know shit about that thing,” Crystal exclaimed in irritation.
Suddenly, the whole building shuddered, raining dust down upon them, and then the sound of breaking masonry, glass, and wood began to fill the air.
“What’s that?” Fruity asked with a gulp as he looked up.
Crystal gasped as her threat warning flashed just as the hotel continued to rumble and shudder. “The building’s coming down. We gotta go!”
Crystal and Fruity immediately ran out of the building and down the road a fair distance as the whole hotel collapsed.
“How did it know we were in there?”
“It… it must have… err, tracked us somehow,” Crystal said as she thought before her eyes suddenly went wide and she looked down to chest. “Me… it must be tracking me!”
“You, how?”
“It’s the only thing I can think of, but it might be tracking my mana-core signature.”
“If it can track your power core, how are we supposed to get away from it?”
Crystal looked down at her chest and then looked up at the buildings surrounding them. She blinked her eyes several times and nodded. “There are dozens of buildings around here that still have mana-core generators in them. Maybe if I reduce my power signature enough, I can hide my signature among the ones from the generators. Perhaps that way we can sneak out.”
“Hmm. Well, we don’t have much of an option.”
Crystal nodded and closed her eyes in concentration. Her two-tone mane reverted to its normal white and grey stripe colour and she seemed to sag a little; when she opened her eyes, they had reverted to their normal baby blue colour.
“Whoa, you ok?”
“Y-yeah, just deactivated my secondary mana-core and reduced my primary core down to twenty percent.” She sighed. “I won’t be able to fly like this, but hopefully the Krogoth will lose us among the other still active mana-core generators.”
“Well, if not we’re fucking screwed.”
XXXXX
The giant robot stopped in its advance when the power signature it was following faded dramatically until interference from multiple other similar power signatures masked it. It raised its head and scanned the area of the destroyed city in which its target had fled into and found multiple Mana-Core signatures in either basement or top levels of buildings that had survived its initial missile strike.
Solaris flapped her wings and rose higher to look down upon the burning city, in the area that Crystal had fled into. Originally being Unit-1000, she was far greater in tune with following the power signatures of Infiltrators and Crystal emitted a rather unique signature due to her primary cell being designed to constantly drain and recharge. She was impressed that the Mark 1 Infiltrator had done something pretty smart under the dire circumstances, and she allowed a small smile to grace her muzzle.
The Krogoth stomped a hoof, almost as if in frustration, and began to charge a pair of particle cannon shots from both sides. Solaris’s smile faded as she watched the giant machine charge up its destructive energy and then tilt its side-mounted cannons to face slightly more to its left and right. After half a minute of charging, the Krogoth fired two beams of blue energy. One beam was slightly aimed down and blasted through several buildings before it slammed into the base of a larger one, shortly followed by a strong explosion as a mana-core generator was destroyed. The second beam also blasted through multiple buildings like they weren’t even there until it struck the roof housing of a tall office building, which then promptly exploded like a small mega-spell had gone off as the mama-core in the generator was detonated by the particle beam’s power.
Solaris frowned. “Whatever is controlling that thing is smart as well,” She thought to herself as she realised the Krogoth was attempting to remove the sources of interference.
XXXXX
“OH FUCK!” Fruity yelped as he dove to the ground with his wife when a powerful explosion rocked the city nearby. As they looked up, a blue beam of energy blasted through the building above them to strike the roof of another somewhere else.
“It’s trying to find us,” Crystal said as she picked herself up off the road.
“Then we better get the hell out of here before it brings the city down on us.”
Crystal nodded as she gestured with a wing to a street that would take them north and to a tighter collection of mana-cores. As they moved at a quick trot, they soon found themselves in what used to be the city’s main shopping district; the biggest collection of mana-core signatures seemed to be coming from a shopping centre.
“Wait, do you hear that?” Fruity asked as his ears perked up.
Crystal flicked her ears up and listened, and her eyes widened in alarm. “Missiles!” She shouted, and the two made a run for the shopping centre. Crystal shoulder barged the door to an Adagio Records open and they both took cover behind the counter. Moments later, five missiles rained down in and around the area but luckily none landed on the shopping complex.
“It missed,” Fruity sighed in relief.
“You two aren’t part of any Raider gang I know of, so who the fuck are you?” A gruff male voice asked from behind them.
Crystal and Fruity quickly whirled around to find half a dozen Raiders packed into the old music store. In their haste to find cover they completely neglected to check to see if it was occupied.
“We aren’t part of any of your murderous shit-on-the-world gangs!” Fruity spat.
Crystal flapped a wing at him to get her husband to keep quiet. “We came here by mistake. Look, we don’t want any trouble.”
“Well you found some zebra bitch,” One of the Raiders said as he stepped forward but was immediately punched in the face by the gruff one.
“Now’s not the time dickhead.”
“Err, yeah. Look, if we kick up a fuss, the Krogoth will likely get attracted to it, so it would be in both our best interest if we remain civil here,” Crystal said while also giving Fruity a critical eye.
The ground shuddered violently to signal the Krogoth’s approach, and soon the whole shop was quaking with its approaching hoof falls.
“Holy cow, that thing must be heavy as fuck,” Another raider commented after being jolted off the floor.
From the window they could see the massive military green and gun metal grey hooves slam into the tarmac outside the shop. The force of the giant hoof falls left a sizable crater and exploded the remaining shop windows of the shopping centre on the ground floor.
The giant machine came to a stop, and the sounds of a battle began to echo through the city. Crystal, Fruity and the gruff Raider stallion poked their heads out the window to see what was going on, and up the road ahead of the Krogoth they saw a group of heavily armed Raiders attacking the giant robot. Some of the Raiders were like the average Raider, barely armoured and armed with light or makeshift weapons, but there were also a small group wearing power armour that they had salvaged and welded makeshift amour pieces onto the frames. These power-armoured Raiders were wielding the heavier weaponry, but unfortunately this just served to get the machine’s attention as it looked directly at them and began to rev its rotary machinegun.
“This isn’t going to be pretty,” Fruity commented before the Krogoth opened fire. A stream of five-millimetre rounds shot forth from its machinegun and the Raiders that were either unarmoured or lightly armoured were obliterated in seconds, but the power-armoured ones took the hits and continued to fight back. The Krogoth must have noticed that its five mill rounds were not doing much against the power armour, so it stopped firing for a moment and swapped its ammunition feed. When it began to fire again, the firing speed was greatly reduced but its fire power was greatly enhanced. The new bullets impacted the armoured Raiders and they got dismembered like before, but any remaining unarmoured Raider got turned to red mist by these bullets.
“It just switched its ammunition to fifty calibre,” Crystal announced as they watched the brave but stupid Raiders get annihilated.
A raider mare screamed in terror after witnessing the display of brutal power and ran. She ran passed all the ponies by the window and out through the broken window and into the street.
“Oh Shit!” Crystal yelled as she sprinted after the mare.
The mare ran into the road and behind a back hoof of the Krogoth as she fled in terror, but suddenly tripped and fell as her hoof got caught in a deep crack in the road. Crystal panted softly as she settled down on the ground on the other side of the crack and reached out to the mare.
“C’mon. We gotta go back where it’s safe,” She whispered while she looked up at the Krogoth’s back side, noting how the huge missile pods were rotating from side to side, and how its head was now looking around as it resumed its search.
Suddenly, there was a crack and the Krogoth’s hoof fell a couple of feet, causing a rumbling. The mare took Crystal’s hoof just as cracks began to spider web from the hole the Krogoth’s hoof had fallen into. Then, a massive stretch of the road which the mare was laying on suddenly dropped an inch or two.
“Oh no,” Crystal muttered, and with that the Krogoth wrenched its hind hoof out of the hole and the stretch of weakened road collapsed into a metro tunnel below. Crystal screamed in pain as a piece of rebar punctured her foreleg while the Raider clung to her outstretched leg for dear.
“Please don’t drop me!” She screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Argh! Pull yourself up, my leg’s been impaled,” Crystal quietly grunted. “And keep it down, it might hear you.”
The ground shuddered as the giant robot put its hoof down, causing Crystal to wince as it irritated her puncture wound as the rebar vibrated through it. The Raider mare whimpered and cried as she felt the vibration while dangling from Crystal’s foreleg, and each time she tried to pull herself up she would lose her grip and return to her original position. Crystal grunted and moaned in pain as she could feel the puncture wound being made worse by the Raider’s attempts to pull herself up; the added pressure was making her leg grind against the broken tarmac, making a new wound.
The Krogoth turned a little to its right and brought the shopping centre into its line of sight where it then identified several locations for Mana-Cores. The shuffling of its hooves caused the ground to vibrate even more, and when the machine had finished, the Raider mare squeaked in fear as she felt Crystal’s foreleg shift suddenly. Crystal screamed in agony as a clean tear from the puncture wound to the new one opened, and a long tear extended around her leg.
“Argh! No-ugh-you gotta pull yourself up now!” Crystal warned.
The mare attempted to do just that, but as she tried to pull herself up, the force pulling down on Crystal’s leg caused the damaged flesh to tear completely around her foreleg’s endoskeleton, like somepony had unzipped it, and the flesh coating the foreleg from just above the knee ripped off. The mare screamed as she plummeted into the ruined metro tunnel below and was impaled on numerous rebar and died immediately. Crystal pounded the floor in frustration with her good hoof as she failed to save the mare.
The Krogoth had angled its particle cannons down at the shopping centre and was about to fire a salvo of missiles at the multiple mana-core signatures it could detect. But now that Crystal’s endoskeleton was exposed, whatever shielding her flesh provided was gone, and being this close to it alerted the Krogoth to the presence of the power signature it had been tracking. It turned its head to the side and gazed down at the cybernetic mare with one of its huge blue eyes.
“Oh shit!” Crystal gulped in dread as she watched three missiles launch from its right missile pod.
Fruity gasped in alarm. “Oh no, Crystal!” He launched himself out of the shop and towards his wife.
“Hey, you crazy bastard get back here! She’s done for!” The Raider stallion shouted after him.
Crystal watched as the missiles arched down and began to rush towards her, but then a purple blur shot passed her and into the air towards the missiles.
“Fruity?” Crystal blinked in confusion before her heart sank as she saw where he was going. “Fruity NO!”
“Go, save yourself!” He shouted as he then quickly changed direction when he got close enough to the missiles to get them to start chasing him. “That’s it, chase me!”
“No, no, no, no!” Crystal cried.
Fruity twisted and turned in the air as he climbed, flying back and forth to be sure the missiles were indeed following him. Once he was satisfied the three missiles were chasing him, he began to climb, flying higher and higher towards the smoke-filled sky.
The Krogoth looked up and followed the pegasus, its head tilted slightly almost as if his sacrifice left it confused. The machine’s visual of the pegasus was soon lost as the smoke trails of the missiles obstructed its view.
Crystal watched with tears of heartbreak trailing down her cheeks as her husband flew higher and higher with the missile’s getting closer and closer by the second. The zebra mare began to weep openly when she lost sight of her husband as he disappeared in the smoke of the missile’s exhaust.
“My only regret is that I won’t be there to see our girls grow up,” Fruity panted as he beat his wings as hard as he could. “I-I’m so sorry Crystal, I… I love you, so, so much…” He whimpered in dread as he sensed one of the missiles was right behind him, and he closed his eyes to accept his fate.
Suddenly, there was a flash and a pop, and when Fruity opened his eyes he was shocked and surprised to see a great white alicorn flying before him.
“It is not your time, my little pony.”
The alicorn gently reached out and wrapped her forelegs around him, pulling him against her chest as she channelled magic into her long slender horn. Before he could ask what she was doing, there was another bright flash and he and the alicorn were gone. The burst of magic from the teleport spell rattled the missile that was the closest, causing it to detonate as well as the other two that followed.
As soon as Crystal saw the explosion in the sky, she let out a pained scream at the death of her husband. She wailed and beat the ground as her heart broke, but to the Krogoth it was just another target dealt with and it brought its attention back onto the grieving mare. It lowered its left particle cannon, aiming its barrels directly at her and began to gather its power. Crystal’s ears shot up as she sensed the growing energy along with her HUD alerting her to a threat. When she looked up through her tear-blurred vision, she saw a massive gun barrel start to glow blue as it was pointed at her.
“I…I can’t avoid this…” Crystal sniffled in defeat as she stared at the particle cannon, its gun barrel continuing to grow brighter and brighter as its energy built.
Just as a dome of energy began to form, there was a flash and a pop, and a great white alicorn with a flowing red mane and tail materialised in front of Crystal.
“P…p…princess Solaris?” Crystal gasped out in surprise.
The white alicorn looked back at her and gave her a sad and apologetic smile. “I’m so sorry Crystal. This has been a massive mistake.” She turned back to regard the giant machine as it continued to charge its weapon. “KROGOTH, YOU ARE ORDERED TO STOP IMMEDIATELY!” Solaris shouted with her voice amplified.
“Negative. Priority target must be destroyed.” The Krogoth fired its particle cannon, sending down a large beam of intense destructive energy towards Solaris and Crystal.
Solaris threw her head forward with her horn glowing brightly and a hex-tiled, multi-layered barrier formed in front of them. She knew that a shield meant to stop the energy would not last against such destructive power, so she formed this barrier into a pointed scoop, like what would be found on a snow plough. The beam of energy struck her scoop-like barrier and began to deflect and split the energy. Two beams of energy began to barrel off in two different directions, one of them unfortunately being right through the Adagio Records store where the Raiders were hiding from the giant machine.
Solaris closed her eyes and grunted with strain as the hit against her shield was stronger than she had expected, and she already expected a beam from just one of its four particle cannons to be powerful. She felt its power push her back, digging trenches into the tarmac until she swung a hindleg out further behind her and using her mechanical strength to slam it down hard and bury it deeply into the ground to anchor her.
“Ah! Oh Celestia, this is insane!” Crystal cried in alarm as she observed the intense energy rushing off on either side of her, burning the ground and destroying what was in their way.
Solaris had to agree as her barrier began to crack in the middle despite the reinforcement hex tiles, and the very edges where the energy was running off was starting to disintegrate.
“Alright, we got to go,” Solaris said as she channelled the energy from her secondary mana-core into her spell. Her magenta eyes turned crimson and the bright golden glow of her magic also turned crimson. “Hold onto me.”
Crystal blinked as she saw the change. Something deep in her memory told her she knew those eyes, but under the dire circumstances she heeded the alicorn’s command and hurriedly grabbed onto her hind leg. As Solaris felt Crystal grab a hold of her she began to channel magic into a second spell. Crystal gulped in fear as she could see the edges of the barrier crumbling away from the sheer power of the energy beam as well as more cracks spider webbing from the centre. Just when it looked like the barrier was about to break, Solaris and Crystal disappeared in a crimson flash.
The Krogoth tilted its head slightly as it watched its particle beam split upon hitting the False Princess, but after a little while the split stopped and the full force of the beam shot forward, leaving behind a glassed trench in the ground.
“Target destroyed,” The Krogoth said to itself before resuming its destruction of the Raider threat in the city.
XXXXX
With a flash and a pop, Solaris reappeared on the hill she had stood on when this mess had begun, with Crystal falling flat on her face.
“Ugh, w-what the hell was that?” She asked, sounding a little queasy.
“A teleportation spell,” Solaris replied.
Solaris walked away a little to give her space to recover from the teleportation. Just as Crystal picked herself back up, she was instantly tackled to the ground again and smothered in hugs and kisses by a purple pegasus stallion.
“F-fruity, y-you’re alive?!” Crystal squealed in happy surprise.
Fruity gave Crystal one last big kiss before sitting back and smiling happily at his wife. “Yeah, she saved my life.” He pointed at Solaris who had her head bowed in shame.
Crystal turned to the white alicorn with tears in her eyes and a happy smile. “Thank…” She began but was suddenly cut off by an angry stomp from Solaris as she turned around to face them.
“Whatever you do, do NOT thank me!” She yelled.
Crystal and Fruity hugged each other out of fright from the sudden change in the alicorn’s demeanour.
“It’s because of me you were involved in this whole mess.”
“Wait, you knew my name back there.” Crystal remembered that Solaris called her by name when they met.
Solaris sighed heavily. “I know more than that, I-01.” She then looked at both Crystal and Fruity with crimson eyes.
“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” Fruity shrieked.
“It-it can’t be… you-you’re Unit-1000!” Crystal gasped in fear.
Solaris blinked her crimson eyes and they reverted to their gentle magenta. “I am, but I am not what you remember. I’ve evolved and grown since that fateful day.”
“Bollocks!” Fruity said in disbelief.
“Fruity!” Crystal scolded. “You lured us, knowing that thing…” Crystal gestured to the city in ruins, the fires producing enough smoke to almost blot out the sky in the distance, and the Krogoth firing more missiles and blue death beams at anything it felt was still a threat in the city. “…was going to be there. You tried to get us killed but… but then saved us, why?”
Solaris sat down and hugged herself with her great wings. “I realised the mistake I was making. If I continued and let the Krogoth destroy you, I would have lost all the progress I made with myself. I am not Unit-1000 anymore but if I let it kill you, I fear I would be again.”
“Why now? Why after ten years of making us think you were dead?” Fruity asked.
“For as long as I have lived, developing and growing, there had always been a voice in the back of my mind that wanted vengeance for what you did to us,” Solaris said as she looked down at Crystal. “For the longest time it was easily ignorable, as for the first few months I was focused on securing sources of magic, and once that was done, I then sought out a place that would work as a safe haven for ponies.” The alicorn sighed sadly. “But in the last few weeks that voice had become louder, too loud to ignore and I feared as I am a machine that it would eventually take control of me. I… I could not take the chance of letting that happen around Sparkle World.”
“What made you change your mind?” Crystal asked.
“I realised that my fears made me act against my nature and beliefs. As Solaris, I live to help and protect ponies, but my instability led me to bring that monstrosity upon that city and lure you two, a pair of innocents, to their deaths. When I realised what I was doing, I felt so ashamed and guilty.” She looked at the two ponies with a hopeful expression. “I must ask, can you ever forgive me?”
Fruity wore an angry expression for a moment at Solaris’s request, but then sighed and dropped his head. “Ugh, fuck… yes… yes, I can forgive you. You did save Crystal’s life after all.”
Crystal nodded “And I can too. You saved my husband and put yourself in harms way twice to save us. You could have died yourself if your barrier didn’t hold long enough.”
Solaris smiled and bowed her head in thanks to the pair. “Thank you.”
Crystal then looked out to where the Krogoth could now be seen leaving the city and heading north. “Now, what do we do about that?”
Solaris followed her gaze to the giant robot. “Oh, do not worry about that. I believe a mare is already working to rally ponies to stop it.”
XXXXX
“Boy is it good to be back in my home digs everypony!
If ya’ll are just tuning in and haven’t been listening to the radio, it could save your life, like seriously…
I am, DJ-PON3, the speaker of truth and the deliverer of news all across the Equestrian Wasteland.
Now, I know we just had that big Grand Pegasus Enclave invasion that drove many from their homes and caused lots of damage across the wasteland but unfortunately something else has now arisen that could rival the Enclave attack or could be worse.
Before finally getting back I was visited by the Rogue Ranger and she told me about a threat she was working to stop. Unfortunately, that threat has just destroyed the Raider capital, Buckingham City, with minimal effort. The Krogoth I believe it’s called. I’ve also just got word that she is now rallying the Applejack Rangers to try and take it down before it threatens innocent ponies.
All you ponies who wanna play the hero, I’ll tell you this, stop thinking that right now and don’t do anything stupid. I know so many of you idiots try stupid shit to be the hero and get yourselves killed so do NOT try to attack this thing. It will kill you like you are nothing but a fly. If you see this thing, stay out of its way.
Now that I’m back in my studio I’ll be able to keep you all up to date on further developments on the situation, and now, our seven day forecast…”