//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 Pony protection // Story: The metal HAWKEN // by NinjaTurtle //------------------------------// Chapter 18 Pony protection I sat in the barn, on my bed as I played my games on the hologram projector projecting it onto the wall. I had set it up a while ago and usually played games if i wasn't exercising, at Twi's or helping on the farm. It reminded me of home enough to not forget. Behind me stood DB. He was resting there and was probably working through the copious amounts of data he or I had recorded or discovered. He still had his green linings, which I thought would of been scratched off by now, and his eye bulb hadn't broke yet. Surprised his wiring hasn't snapped either. I got up and walked towards the ladder as I began to feel hungry. I climbed down and went outside. As I walked towards the apple's house, I heard DB stir up behind me. He got up and walked off somewhere. I had my Comms in my ear as I had been using them as earphones, so I wasn't worried about him. Also the fact he could take on a small pony army gave me reassurance enough. I opened the door and entered, shutting it behind me. From the kitchen, I heard Granny Smith. From the silence elsewhere, I gathered that Apple Bloom was out crusading and Big Mac was working at the stall. I could already smell the apple pie from where I stood and I saw apple fritters on the table. There were usually leftovers after the apple family was finished, which used to be binned, but instead, are given to me. Even if I was also given a portion, I could probably eat the leftovers as well. "Hey Granny Smith. Got anything for me? " I asked. "Yep. Ah have some apple pie bakin' and ya got some soup on here side. " she said, not even turning to face me. The soup on the side was one of the few things that DIDN'T contain apples. It was still warm and smelled delicious. With the clean spoon on the side, I sat at the table and ate. Once I was done, I placed the bowl in the sink. "Thanks for dinner, see you tomorrow. " I said as I headed towards the door. "Ya welcome. See ya tomorrow youngin'. " Granny called back. I closed the door behind me. I was going to head to the barn until DB's voice came through the comms I still had on. "Warning, warning, warning, hostiles sighted in ponyville. Repeat, hostile sighted in ponyville. Possibly changelings, ponies in danger. Meet at town edge. " DB said in his emotionless tone. If he had emotional tones, this would be panic. I ran to the barn first to grab my minigun, which I slung over my back. I then pegged it towards ponyville. From my view, they were packed on the train station side of town and working there way out, taking everything with them. I heard DB running behind me, which meant he was engaging on my current location. As we ran, the town's features became clearer. Smoke was rising from a house or two, some of the houses had burn marks and others just had holes in their walls. I stopped and turned around. DB was also slowing down. He lowered to pick me up and then continued to walk while I climbed in. I landed in the cockpit and put my minigun that was on my back to the side so I could sit back. DB's monitors turned on as he displayed everything I needed to know. Radar, weapon ammo and heat, targeting radical, hull integrity and my abilities and equipment. DB had walked his way to sugar cube corner, which hasn't been taken yet, and voiced myself through the mic. "Alright, everyone needs to evacuate now! Get to the schoolhouse at the edge of town! I'll deal with the changelings! " I shouted, getting a quick response as the ponies ran past me to the schoolhouse. As the ponies ran, they caught the attention of changelings as they started coming after them and towards me. This group was roughly made of 30 to 50 of the pests. DB aimed and fired. We took out a good half of them before more showed up. Although we were holding them, even we could only do so much. DB fired use his hellfire missiles to deal with a large portion of them as we continued firing the machine gun. We couldn't hold this as the weapons got close to overheating. We stopped firing and got to a fighting stance. DB extended his arm blade. Come get some, then. The changelings engaged first. Some tried to ram us while the others shot spells. The spells had no effect, so we focused on the ramming ones. We took a swings, catching one or two every time. He then grabbed one from the air. He had done with enemy pilots as he crushed it in his hand, then through the corpse at the spell using ones. DB and I stepped back to give ourselves breathing room. We also checked the weapons, both of which had cooled by now. We pushed them back as their rapidly decreasing numbers failed to keep up with our killing speed. Now with such low numbers, DB and I went around and hunted the last of them. We stomped on them like bugs which also sent the little tremors which made them take flight or stumble. Both of these made it easier to hit as the stumbling ones were exploded with the missiles and the flying ones were shot down. We finished off the changelings with some gun fire just before it overheated. The very few of at least a hundred flew off. They would probably get back to their queen and tell them about my carnage. Or they would die of injuries and / or blood loss. "DB, looks like we are going to canterlot castle after all. " I said. We turned around to walk towards the ponies. Hey had all grouped near the school house and were frantically looking and talking. They were, at least, till they saw me and DB walk out. "He did it! They saved us! " called a familiar voice from the huge crowd which spontaneously cheered. They were giving hugs and raising hooves. "Can you check for changelings amongst the crowd?" I asked after turning the radio off. "Affirmative. Scanning... Scanning…No changelings found. " DB said to me, making it much easier for me. I climbed up and out the cockpit and was lifted down. I looked at the crowd then behind me. "Come on DB, we need to get a move on if we are ever make it to Canterlot. " I said. DB followed and we walked towards the station. The train was there but it seemed that the changelings had derailed the front of the train. BD knew my thoughts before even needing them said as he picked me up and started walking. He had done the calculations and showed that we would get there early the day after tomorrow at the latest... --------------------- Applejack, Canterlot --------------------- Applejack walked with her friends to the castle. The city seemed to be busy with jobs or errands as they were totally ignored. They had guard escorts via the princesses orders and were guided through the crowds on the street and to the gate. She noticed there were more guards around the castle. Pegasus guards roamed the sky while earth ponies and unicorns were patrolling the grounds. The closer they got to the throne room, the more guards were around. As they walked into the room, Princess Celestia, who was currently on her throne, looked over and smiled. "Ah, my little ponies. Thank you for coming on such short notice. " Princess Celestia said, smiling at all of us. "Yes, your highness. We came as soon as we could. " said Twilight sparkle as we all bowed. "Well, as you have probably noticed, we have had to increase the number of guards. This is due to the latest problem. " explained Princess Celestia. The ponies knew of the latest indecent as Twilight had told them on the train here. "What do we need to do? Whatever it is, we can handle it, Princess. " Twilight said, getting Applejack and her friends straighten up. "I need you to get the elements of harmony back from Chrysalis and use them to stop her and the other changelings. " the Princess said. "Yes, we will get them back as soon as - ". Twilight was cut off mid-sentence by a royal guard entering the room. The guard was clearly nervous and had sweat over his coat, under his armour. He also seemed to have a few cuts and bruises, although not serious. "Your highness. Ponyville has been attacked by changelings. Last I saw before flying here was the metal creature running towards ponyville. By now, the town may be gone but we are unclear. " the guard said. The ponies were shocked. They're homes might be gone and all they're friends captured. They needed to get those elements back as soon as possible. "Assemble a squad of guards and go to ponyville to help the ponies. Twilight, you and your friends shall stay here for the night and can depart tomorrow as to keep you safe for the time being. " Celestia said. The guard bowed and left. Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy also bowed and left with their goodbyes. They were walking down the hallway towards their room. The silence was broken by Twilight as they turned a corner. "Do you think ponyville's going to be OK when we get back? " she asked. Rarity was quick to respond. "Of course darling. They'll be fine. " she said. "Yeah, of course! Connor can take em. He and his mech could take on a small army if he wanted. Those bugs don't stand a chance! " Rainbow Dash said proudly. "Connor could easily take em. Ah saw 'im beat a manticore quicker than a snake strike. He has his weird weapons, he oughta be fit as a fiddle. " Applejack said, recalling the time she saw him eat manticore meat. "Yeah. Connor can take those meanies on easy as pie. He could be all like this and that and take that and those meanies wouldn't stand a chance. " Pinkie said, waving her arms in a way to replicate his movements. Fluttershy stayed silent as she was probably worried about her animals and the other ponies. They arrived at their room. It was a typical royal guest room with a neat living room, a tidy kitchen, four separate rooms, one being a bathroom and the others being bedrooms meaning that they would need to share. The walls were decorated in marble and had windows giving a beautiful view of the garden outside. Then rooms were split Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy and Twilight and Rarity. Applejack started unpacking a few bits and pieces that she had brought. She looked over to see RD napping on her bed. After she was finished, Applejack walked out the room. In the kitchen was Pinkie Pie, Twilight was on the sofa with a hefty looking book, Rarity was stitching a nice hat together and Fluttershy was also in her room sleeping. Applejack took her seat on the sofa and tried to start a conversation. "So, do ya think Connor's gonna be OK? " she asked. "From what I saw when he fought those cultist ponies, he'll come through. He actually said something like this would happen. " Twilight said, looking up from her book, after book marking it of course. "Wait, really? " Applejack asked. "Yeah. He was there when I got the letter. " said Twilight. "So why didn't he come along? " Applejack questioned. "The Princess only put six tickets in the letter. I said 'what if we're attacked?' and he replied with 'what happens if ponyville is attacked?'. He said that the royal guards could protect us but pointed out that there are not many guards in ponyville. So he stayed behind. Kind of surprised he was right. " Twi explained. They continued talking, Pinkie or Rarity commenting every now and then. The ponies soon followed the pegasus's example and they all went to bed. They would need their energy for tomorrow. End of chapter 18