//------------------------------// // Chapter 7 // Story: Mobile Suit Gundam: Alicorn - Volume 2 // by Alines Reinhard //------------------------------// Megan immediately recognized the white Zeta Gundam charging right for her. Its white paint was reflected by the sun, and its huge shield is in a position that it is ready to stab through the cockpit. But still, she chuckled: “Foolish move… I’ll slay you into pieces!” The side skirt armor slighted a little bit to allow the beam saber to pop out. It was a mechanism that all Zeta Gundams have, which makes the sabers deployment more rapid in the cramped body of Zeta Gundams. The bright pink blade of the saber popped out right after, tearing through the air with its hot particles that are thousands of degrees Celsius. The gray mobile suit swung it with both its hands towards the bright white WR mode Strike Zeta, aimed to cut its opponent in half. However, the Strike Zeta quickly changed its form and engaged her, also with its beam saber. The two clash with the classic beam blade explosion and sounds, lighting up both suits in its bright flash. Being transferred to Equus just a few weeks before, Megan herself has a lot to learn. However, as a soldier, she has no other choice but to quickly adapt and learn. At 24 years old Lieutenant, commanding a squad of her own is something she is used to, even if her squad at that moment consists of newly trained ponies. They are mostly old suits, but the overwhelming missile strikes make it less a problem to her. Additionally, there are only four enemy suits. Megan looked right into the opponent’s eyes, thinking that she somehow can see the pilot and their minds. “Lieutenant, the airship still haven’t sunk yet!” Warmth Air, a pegasi that served alongside her, reported “What should we do?” “Order another salvo! They can’t be built with magical armor!” the orange hair pilot said. The squad didn’t come alone. They are deployed from the Thunderbirds and the Miranda, which are Mattia class battleships. The second was even more violent than the previous one, which completely leveled half the port and a large part of Kirin’s Groove. Turns out, the ships were heavily armed for missile bombardment: they even carried extra missile pods outside of the hulls. After the strike, they dumped the missile pods and started to turn away. This time, they did take down the Blackhawk. The poor airship was hit in the stern, causing it to be destroyed and detaching the balloon. The airship ended up to be a pile of smoke and fire on the tarmac. “No!” screamed Yamina “Captain Issa…” “We're gonna take care of them later! Just fight!” Haystack commanded. “Okay Megan squad, I think we got them this time!” the commander of the Thunderbird said “You can do what you want now!” “Roger that, Captain Mihessa!” Megan replied as she still held her position with Flash’s mobile suit “I’ll teach these filthy creatures a lesson!” Her suit then performed a kick right into its opponent’s torso, causing it to fly back a little bit. However, Flash has used this suspiciously widely used close combat tactic, so he retaliates with a direct kick into it’s left knee, making the joints get loosen. The Zeta Plus have no choice but to dispatch its own damaged lower legs and continue fighting. “Darn it! I forgot this suit has a long rifle! Foolish Megan!” Megan criticizes herself as she gets away from her opponent. The gray mobile suit aimed its long rifle for a few seconds before open fire. Its bright blue beam from the barrel tore through the air and aimed right at Flash’s cockpit. Not letting his enemy have an easy shot, Flash quickly gets out of its way, letting the shot go into nothing but the ground. The explosion blows up the soil, making some part of them fly up to where the duo is fighting. “That’s one powerful shot!” Flash exclaimed. Megan continued her salvo by just pushing the button on the control stick. The 120 mm beam gun was a formidable weapon, built to completely take down a mobile suit in a single shot in long range combat. Megan was specifically trained with this kind of weapon, as she had previously piloted a Jegan Sniper Pack back when she was still at the Earthsphere. Just as her fellow human comrades, she initially despise the creatures, thinking that they are just dumb talking mythical animal just like the ponies. But to her surprise, they are extremely smart and to add with all that intelligence is the magic that each creature has. And just in that moment, she has to be extra careful as her enemy is smoothly evaded from every single shot, making all of the beams hit nothing but the ground. Megan grinds her teeth every time she aims her gun, and she always groans every time she misses. “Darn it, why can’t you just stay in one place!” she exclaimed “Fine, come and fight me like a man!” Then, she turned her suit into Wave Rider and began chasing her opponent. Sensing the danger is closing, Flash also does the same. One of the most unique types of mobile suits has begun: dog fighting like fighter jets. It is the type of duel that is only made possible if your suit can turn itself into a plane shaped mode. “Haystack, look!” exclaimed Blue Thunder. His suit is still dodging the shots from a duo of GMIIIs, but he is still free enough to point his finger to where Flash and Megan are fighting “They are chasing each other!” Looking at where his subordinate was pointing, Haystack let out a smug in satisfaction. He thought to himself “That’s what I wanted from him”. He knew that his proposal to keep Flash at S.M.I.L.E is, perhaps, the necessary way to drive the struggle further. Looking at the speed of the two WR mode MS, he knew only that pilot and Flash can make such a rapid move. … After the talk with Flash in the sick bay, Haystack was left with mixed feelings.  Flash has just woken up after a month in coma, and he needs some rest. But Haystack still thinks  such a criminal like Flash should not be trusted and treated nicely. He then came to the mission room, where Lyra and Bonbon were sitting to wait for him. He made a glance inside to see the couple cuddling each other. The Lieutenant knew that they had married, and he was genuinely happy for them. But his heart wrenching slightly when it reminded him of his wife back home, especially the moment when they just cuddled each other with love on the sofa. But understanding why he’s there, the brown stallion slightly knocked the door. The mares quickly adjust themselves on the chair and allow him to come in. “So… how’ s the talk?” Lyra started. “Well… I’ve learned that he’s actually a Federation pilot, just like your speculation when we pulled that midget out of the cockpit. The suit is still relatively intact, right?” “We’re still checking, but initial data said that the suit can still be used”, said Bonbon, who is reading the report from the engineer. “Good one. That means we will need him. Listen, I have given him the name of Brandon Cultrich, or Brad for short…” “Stop… What am I doing? I said stop…” his mind screamed. “Why?” asked Lyra. “Because he is Flash Sentry, the pony who stole Princess Twilight’s crown moons ago!” The two mares look at each other in confusion. Then they let out a hysterical laugh: “You… you… tell me that human is Flash Sentry? Such a Pegasus like him can’t be magically turned into a human all by himself, ya know? By the way, after that court, the ponies shot him dead!” Instead of telling ponies about what really happened to Flash, the Equestrian Guard decided to tell the citizens that the notorious thief had been executed. Haystack knew that, he saw it on the news paper the other day. But some weird sensation tells him that he is really Flash Sentry, and he should bring him to S.M.I.L.E as well. But it is also not an un-logical statement: S.M.I.L.E is desperately in need of MS as well as pilots, and there are two that fall from the sky at the same time for them to pick up? Of course, S.M.I.L.E never let that chance slip away. Knowing this, Haystack said to them: “But anyway, I think we should let him into S.M.I.L.E, we are in need to capture that Alicorn Gundam and fight back Black Wine’s and his minion!” Haystack said “Look… he can fall hundreds of meters down but everything he suffers is a coma. We’ve checked: he didn’t break any bones..” “Haystack, stop! You know how bad Flash Sentry is, right?” his mind continued to scream. But another voice fights back “But this is for a greater good, not for your ego!” Needless to say, the couple agree. They used the reasons that Haystack had thought, although some extra training and precaution are still needed. Months after that talk have proven his vision to be true, and Flash has shown his immense skill on the battlefield with countless saves. … But in Flash’s cockpit at that moment, things are not so easy. He remembers that he has been tested by the Federation to make sure he didn’t pass out in a high G-force situation, but why is he feeling so dizzy. The Strike Zeta made turn to turn, trying to dodged as many beam shots as it could. The two warbirds danced along in the sky, leaving the contrails behind them like two long white ribbons, twisted right in the middle of the air. After about 2 minutes, when seeing his opponent getting closer to his tail, Flash decided to stun his opposite side by doing a barrel roll. The white Strike Zeta Gundam quickly find itself right behind the Zeta Plus A1 and the roll was switched. Flash decided to fire his side skirt beam gun as a response to what Megan had done with him. But just as Flash’s outstanding maneuver skill, Megan dodges shots after shots, causing as much frustration to Flash as he did to her. “Haha! You have no chance fighting me!” the aqua haired pilot said in her cockpit “You are on the wrong side, fool!” It was a smart move from her. Flash knew that he couldn’t fire his shield mounted beam rifle as most of the energy was diverted to smaller side skirt beam guns and for the engines, which was working as hard as it could to make the white MS stay airborne. Flash decided to check whether he had ever been in his own shed, only to find out that his missile reserve is empty at the moment. As for the rest of the squad, things are not better for them. So far, they have just taken out 2 base jabbers. The rest have their mobile suit deployed to the ground for them to release more there rockets and beam shots onto the S.M.I.L.E’s position. Haystack is busy battling with a Nemo that was armed with a beam javelin, something that he didn’t expect them to have. The Nemo’s pilot seems to have outstanding skill, as it just keeps making attacks without letting any weak spot be exposed to him. In one of the strikes, it nearly cutted him in half if it wasn't for his backward move with the thrusters just in time. The suit flies up to let the javelin’s blade hit nothing but the air. The pilot seems to be furious with that unfortunate move, causing him to strike with even more force and energy. Haystack has to constantly parry with either his beam saber’s blade or his shield. His effort finally paid off when the opponent's fury exposed a weak point, as he tried to stab Haystack with his javelin’s blade: his torso. The black Jesta Commander put aside its beam rifle to the ground and held the javelin middle body. Haystack put up his shield and launched the grenades toward that openly unshielded part of its torso. The grenade exploded right after touching the metallic surface of Nemo's body’ s middle part. It was so fast the pilot was unable to put up his shield. Haystack launched himself back to avoid the explosion, which allowed Haystack to see the moment his first kill of the battle occurred: the explosion tore the Nemo into half causing a large fireball and plum of dark smoke. Some trees around it were also leveled to the ground. “That’s a hard one! Such a dumbass!” he mumbled before turning to his comrades “Hey! What’s going on over there?” “Still… holding… Argh!” Blue Thunder groaned from his cockpit. Haystack could hear several explosion sounds from his reply. The GMIIIs try to bombard him with their beam rifle. The only thing that covers him is a large rock half the size of a regular mobile suit. To make matters worse, Yamina’s position seemed to be exposed and she was hesitant to fire any shot towards the enemy. Haystack rarely sees her fire her sniper rifle in anger. “Sorry… Sir… But they’re too near!” Yamina replied as her voice crackled “They already bombed me…” “Okay… hold on!” … It’s certainly not easy to see her pilot suffer, especially after one of the ships was sunk. Captain Celaeno grinds her teeth, sweating hard while looking at the monitors to find as much good sign as possible. The Parrot’s Strength has drifted away from her designated mooring area for nearly a kilometer. The ship’s anchor while somehow still not being pulled up, it still can’t find a place to hold the airship. But Celeano soon notices that and orders to lower the altitude so they can safely stop. At the moment, she and her crew are desperate to get any help from friendly forces. The port’s main radio station has been destroyed from the first salvo, its wreckage can still be visible from Parrot’s Strength if any creatures have enough guts to get to the open upper deck to view it for themselves. Their only hope is the advanced communication system that they have on board, which is why Angie is putting all of her effort at the radio monitor and trying to find an appropriate radio frequency to transmit her message. “Hello, this is the Harmony Alliance’s Attack Cruiser Parrot’s Strength…” Angie said through the microphone “…we are under enemy attack. Are there any friendly forces out there?” The radio repeated with just some disturbed noises. Sometimes there are even sounds of a program being broadcast, but it can’t go well for at least 5 seconds until having some glitch. “Argh… Angie groaned in frustration. “Dang it… I have promised to the queen!” Celaeno mumbled “C’mon guys… Hold a little longer…” Angie changed the frequency from 98.9 MHz to 99.9 MHz. The changing sound brought her some hope as there were some voices at the other end, indicating it might be a communication station somewhere near them. “Hello, this is the Harmony Alliance’s Attack Cruiser Parrot ‘s Strength. We are under enemy attack, please send help!” the small green parrot repeated. “Hello?” “Hello? Who is there?” a deep voice reply. “This is the Harmony Alliance’s Attack Cruiser Parrot’s Strength! We are asking for help!” “Cruiser Parrot’s Strength, this is R8 Military Radio Station of the Griffonstone Army! What’s the emergency?” “We are being attacked by the Equestrian Army’s mobile suits! 3 Nemos, 3 GMIII, and a Zeta Plus C1, deployed from 2 Mattia class battleships!” “Jeez… one of them is certainly an upgraded ship… Hey, stay there! We’ll call the Alliance HQ! The Chancellor has already declared war! That dumbass dictator certainly lost his mind!” “Wait… what?” Celaeno came right by with a shocked face “How did we never hear about this?” “Be… Because… you… you guys are having some in… formation… blockade!” the radio operator said with some interruption. It was not so hard to understand why since they are in the middle of a war. “Quick! Said to them we need immediate reinforcement! Contact Lady Rainbow Dash if you can!” “They are actually on your way!” … “Come on… Come on!” Flash exclaimed with grinding teeth. The statistics from the monitor are showing him some worrying numbers: the power from the left foot’s thermal nuclear ramjet engine is getting weaker. The fast diagnosis from the sensors have detected something that stuck into the fan, causing its rpm to decrease. “You’re getting into trouble right now? No please…” Flash thought “Give me some hope!” If he somehow is tailed, he knows he might not be so lucky again. Previously, one of the Zeta Plus’s shots hit parts of the right wing’s tips, causing him to lose balance a little bit. Somehow, his guts tell him that this pilot might surpass Black Wine to be the best pilot he has ever faced. The numbers on the left engine’s fan’s rpm gradually declined. Flash has to make a decision as fast as possible. But it’s too late. The gray Zeta began its barrel roll and soon ended up behind the tail of the Strike Zeta. Until that moment, he didn’t notice that the speed had decreased and he was getting slower. The opponent must have noticed he is declining in speed and make the same move that he has made before. The role was switched again. Flash is now desperately trying to anything in his power to avoid being hit: side to side tipping, constant change of altitude, and baiting. He even tries to fly into low altitude clouds in order to hide his opponent's vision, but it seems like the one that is tailing him is utilizing its thermal detector: the radar shows that it is still behind and it is closing the gap. Flash decided to lowering the altitude and fly towards the main battlefield in order to get some help. “Lieutenant, I need your help!” Flash said through the com link “My left engine is in trouble!” “Yeah yeah, I could see that!” looking up to his subordinate, the brown pony could see some gray smoke going out of the left engine. “What’s going on?” “Seems like there is some debris making the exhaust fan stuck! I don’t think I can hold longer!” “Understood!” But not long after that, his greatest fear has come, as the locking alarm goes off, indicating he will have to endure at least some damage. The yellow light from the long rifle’s barrel lit up, carefully pointing its muzzle towards Flash’s suit. With a smug victory on her face, Megan has ready her hands for a decisive shot. Her mind was all concentrated on her target, pointing right in the middle of the Strike Zeta. She is near to the possible first kill ever and it would bring her to be the one of the most influential first kills for the Federation force at Equestria, since the target was a Gundam. “Say hello to HELL!” she screamed. But then, something stopped her from doing that: a sudden explosion occurred right next to her right side, denying any chance of proper aiming and possibly, damaging her suit. The gray mobile suit was blown aside and it took her awhile to regain vision and control over her own MS. “Wh… What the?” Megan looked around in anger “Who dares disrupt my fight?” But there’s even more missiles coming to the attacking force, tearing through the air to their targets. Megan attempted to contact her mother ship, but it was a cold silence. It does not take long for the blonde human to find out her ship has been taken down. The thick smoke from the Thunderbirds is slowly makes its way into the atmosphere, which allows the wreck site to be visible for miles. “No way…” she mumbled. The ship’s defense system failed her and sealed her fate, the Captain of the Miranda described “It was targeted with around a dozen of warheads. 2 of the hit the ship!” “Wait, where are those things coming from?” Haystack mumbled in confusion “Are they friendly forces?” To Haystack, there seems to be a salvo from somewhere. There are multiple missiles coming for the enemy, attempting to crush them with their sheer numbers. One Nemo bravely took down 5 of them before getting blasted by a warhead that hit right into the torso. “It’s our friends from the Canterlot! They are here to break the Equestrian’s Grip!” Celaeno explained through the com link. “Brad, pull back! There’s no need to engage!” Haystack commanded. To Flash, it was a massive relief. He really missed his own ship after about a month wandering Equus trying to outrun Black Wine’s Army. The gray Zeta has given up its hope to shoot him down. It quickly changed its course and flew back to the ships. Along with the 2 Mattia class are 3 Cloudsdale class cruisers, which provide Megan with hope that the remaining mobile suit can have some space. Megan then issued a command to retreat. “Hop back to your ship as fast as you can! Do not let those filthy creatures outrun you!” she said. But there is still not enough time for her squad. On the way, a GMIII was unluckily being shot right into the back, when Yamina found her confidence due to her space being freed. The explosion once again rocked the dense jungle around and made the birds panic. The one that still has it’s base jabber around hop right on to them and retreating. “Parrot’s Strength, Parrot’s Strength. This is Captain Discord of the Harmony Alliance, commander of assault cruiser Canterlot, please reply!” the voice from the ship’s draconequus commander echoed into the combat bridge. Celaeno was never happier to hear the sound of the usually annoying guy. She replied “assault cruiser Canterlot, this is Captain Celaeno of Parrot’s Strength. Glad to see some reinforcement!” … Standing on the bridge, Rainbow Dash is pumped up to see her pilots back. Initial reports from the Vice Admiral Hiram have shown they have already lost one vessel. The loss of the Blackhawk is a major loss for S.M.I.L.E, with around 25 crew members estimated to be killed in action. Rainbow’s heart wrenched when she heard the brief report from the reinforcement fleet’s commander, Admiral Gimbal. Along with them are around 20 airships with just additional MS that the Orthinians have bought. The deal with AE is painful to them, but it was necessary for their war effort. In fact, mobile suits might be the strategic weapons to fight back Black Wine’s greed of ruling the world. Rainbow Dash’s mind unintentionally called back the moment when she heard the dark blue unicorn declare war through the radio. “My fellow ponies…” he said on the television. It was a pre-recorded video that he and his government have carefully prepared, as much as the war itself. The Generals in Canterlot have said to launch a full assault on to the jungle of Everfree, a member kingdom of Harmony Alliance, forcing the reindeer there to get out of what they call “historical land of the ponies”. “…today will mark the turning point in Equestrian history, as we launch a full blown attack on the illegal settlers in the Everfree forest. For many years, our sacred forest has been occupied illegally, disturbed the ponies with their dark magic that can swallow us all the way to this place, Canterlot…” He is actually true. The Everfree dignity have some kind of “Repairing Magic” to fix their home when it was damaged by using rapid growing plants. In an incident, the Everfree reindeer have used this kind of magic to threaten the Equestrian to loosen the grip of a destructive development plan: building real estates. The two sides later come to an agreement to pull back their forces. Fear mongering his population about that “Repairing Magic” is a perfect excuse for Black Wine to start war on the reindeer and push them out of their land forever. In the initial hour of the war, the technical advantage of the ponies overwhelmed the “Repairing Magic”, to the point that the reindeer can only defend their main city and the royal palace. “…our goal is to push them out of our historical land and return peace to Equestria, eliminating the threat of that dark magic forever!” But deep down inside, every pony knew he would destroy the whole forest for endless exploitation of natural resources, and possibly, magic. It would not be surprising if Black Wine took advantage of the “Repairing Magic” for his own benefits. Needless to say, the attacks have invoked the Alliance collective defense. Countless weapons, supply and man power are now being poured into Everfree. Seizing the opportunity to steal more lands with valuable resources, Black Wine ordered his Army to attack all military targets within Alliance member’s territory, crushing them with endless missiles and airstrikes. In the midst of war, anything can happen. And now, she rushes to reinforce Kirin’s Groove. All of the Alliance was surprised to see the technological advantages from the Equestrian with their mobile suits and cruise missiles, in the scale that not even the most ambitious general 25 years earlier even dreamt of. They obviously come from the AE supply. Along with the fleet is the Eagle Scream, which was carrying Water Vapor and his Jegan D Type at that moment. He also wanted to meet his comrades again. The Canterlot then fired her 300 mm Mega Particle cannon to finish off the Miranda. But that shot was somehow getting missed. Rainbow Dash and Discord then agree to just let the remaining attackers pull back. “Let them go! We should not waste ammunition!” … The battle ended after just a morning, with the enemy being either wiped out or retreated. 3 mobile suits,  two base jabbers and a Mattia class is not a bad result for such a small force. But ending up losing the Blackhawk and a whole port is certainly a huge setback for S.M.I.L.E. Salvos of missiles have left a whole ammunition warehouse blown up, along with dozens of craters on the tarmac. The port also made its new paved runway unusable. It was also estimated that around a thousand kirins, both military personnel and innocent civilians, have lost their lives. It is always the innocent lives lost that have the most consequential impact after each battle, since they are the primary reasons why the Alliance exists, even higher than preserving magic and friendship. Rainbow Dash then asked for permission to leave the fleet, after taking the entirety of Haystack’s squad back on to the Canterlot. The Parrot’s Strength and the Eagle Scream decided to follow soon after. The rest will stay at Kirin’s Groove until the war ends to provide protection, as the collective defense mechanism is supposed to work. “Celaeno, I think you and your crew should abandon your ship and come here. The ship might not be safe anymore.” Rainbow Dash said to the white parrot. She also said the same to the griffon commander of the Eagle Scream, Captain Glomar. “Our ship is still fine, we can handle it. We only need supply right now, Miss!” Celaeno said.